ORGANISERS of a national bagpipe championship say more pupils from state schools are taking up the traditional Scottish instrument than ever before.

More than 400 pupils will descend on Edinburgh on Sunday for the inaugural Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships.

David Johnston, who is leading the competition, said more than half of the contestants are from mainstream schools.

Mr Johnston said: "We have pretty big ambitions for seeing piping and drumming revived across all our schools, so to see quite so many bands from the state sector is a fantastic result and something we can really build on."

A total of 40 schools are taking part in the event, which will be held at Broughton High School.