Year 11 No 6 - February 1988
Blairgowrie A&F Club got 1988 off to a good start with their January meeting, which took the form of a Club members night. The Committee were delighted to see such a large turnout, especially when it was the sort of night for sitting in front of the fire with your feet up!
Chic Boath started the ball rolling with himself on accordion, Derek Hendry on piano and Gary Brand on drums, followed by one of our founder members, Dave Cochrane on accordion, again with Derek and Gary.
David Oswald was next, with his new accordion, backed by Derek and Dave Bell on drums.
David is one of our younger members and has come on in leaps and bounds since he came to the Club.
So has our next player, Freda Nicoll. In the first year that Freda started coming to the Club she won our trophy for most improved player. Freda was accompanied by Pat Wilkie on piano and Dave on drums.
Pat and Dave stayed where they were to accompany our next band – husband Sandy Wilkie on 1st accordion and myself on second accordion, along with a visitor to our Club, Suzanne Gray, who plays double bass. Suzanne was in great demand all night as we’ve never had a bass player before.
Jim McFarlane was next, with his unique style of fiddle playing, again with Pat and Dave.
They were replaced by Derek and Craig Stephen for our next spot, with Bobby Brown on button-box, Sandy Webster on second box. This was their first visit to the Club, and we hope to see them back again.
Sandy, Derek and Craig remained on stage and were joined by Angus Donald on fiddle and Suzanne on bass to round off our first half.
After a short break we got under way with another newcomer to the Club, Ross Davidson, backed by Pat and Jack Stewart on drums. I believe that this is the first time that Ross has played anywhere, and he did very well.
Another visitor, Alex Justice, was next, with Dave Cochrane on second box, and Pat and Jock stayed where they were.
Following that we had a band, with Michael Philip first box, Nicol McLaren second box, Derek on piano, Dave Bell on drums and Suzanne on double bass. They gave us a very lively spot, and Michael and his band are our guests in the Spring.
Our third fiddle player of the evening (and that’s a record – we’re lucky to have one most months), Penny Fraser, was next, accompanied by Derek and Suzanne.
I took the penultimate spot myself, with Pat changing from piano to second box, Derek on piano, Dave on drums and Suzanne on bass.
Nicol McLaren took the last spot, with Michael Philip on second accordion, and Derek, Dave and Suzanne, then it was everyone back on stage for the stramash.
We hope that now we’ve joined the NAAFC that more of you will come along, where you’ll be made very welcome. We meet on the second Tuesday of every month, and our next meeting is on 9th February in the Moorfield Hotel, halfway between Blairgowrie and Coupar Angus, when our guest will be Bill Black and his Band.
Joyce Reid
Year 11 No 7 - March 1988
Blairgowrie Club’s February meeting got off to a good start at the Moorfield Hotel with Sandy Wilkie on accordion, wife Pat on piano, and Dave Bell on drums.
Sandy stepped down to let Freda Nicoll in his place, the rhythm section staying the same. Freda gave her usual fine performance which we have come to expect of her.
David Oswald was next on stage, with Pat on piano and Gary Brand on drums. David gets more confident with every visit to the Club.
Another of our younger players, Ross Davidson, followed David, again with Pat and Gary.
The spot before out guest band was taken by Sandy Webster on accordion, Angus Donald on fiddle, Brian Morrison on piano, and Jock Stewart on drums. We don’t see much of Sandy and Angus, and hope they will start coming on a regular basis.
Now to our guests, Bill Black and his Band. Bill gave his usual excellent performance, ably accompanied by Neil Caul on accordion, Angela Smith on fiddle, Stevie Beattie on drums and our own Derek Hendry on keyboard.
After soup and stovies, we started off the second half with a welcome visitor to the Club, Carol Glen from Kirriemuir. Carol was accompanied by Brian on keyboard and Davie Bell on drums.
Our second fiddler of the night, Jim McFarlane, had a few problems with his microphone, but once they were sorted out, Jim gave us some cracking stuff, with Brian again on keyboard.
Another visitor, Tracey Rogers from Crieff, was next, with Pat back on keyboard and Dave Bell on drums.
Nicol McLaren took the spot before the raffle, backed by Brian Morrison on 2nd accordion, Pat on keyboard and David Scott on drums.
Bill and the band set up for their second spot while our Chairman, Dave Sutherland, drew the raffle, and then gave us another cracking spot, with fine solos from Neil and Angela.
Bill then invited all the musicians on stage for a final styramash to see us out.
We were pleased to see such a good crowd, and hope you’ll all be back for our next meeting on 8th March when our guests are the Muirhead Accordion Band.
Joyce Reid