The first President was G. V. B. Charlton, who had been active in encouraging the playing of the smallpipes, and particularly the revival of the half-long pipes.
Its policy aim was to encourage and stimulate 'the younger generation of pipers and beginners in pipe playing'.
The Society's regular meetings and annual competitions are currently held the Chantry Bagpipe Museum, in Morpeth.
It publishes a quarterly newsletter and an annual magazine, as well as many important collections of pipe music, including, in 2000 The Clough Family of Newsham,[1] a detailed study of the music of Tom Clough and his family, and, in 1997, The Border Minstrel,[2] which included all of Billy Pigg's known compositions, and some other tunes from his repertoire.
They also published an important book on pipemaking, by William Alfred Cocks and Jim F. Bryan, The Northumbrian Bagpipes, in 1967.