Box and Fiddle
Year 15 No 02
October 1991
Introducing the Clubs
No 2 Dingwall
The idea of an Accordion and Fiddle Club in Dingwall came from two Scottish music enthusiasts, Bill MacDonald, Dingwall and Neil MacDonald, Strathpeffer, as they made the tedious journey round the Beauly firth to and from the Highland Club at Inverness in the days before Kessock Bridge opened.
They decided to put an advert in the local newspaper to discover the interest in forming a Club in Dingwall. A meeting was arranged for March, 1979, and as a result the first Committee was formed. Mike Shaw was the first Chairman, Donald MacKillop, Vice Chairman, Vivian Samet, Secretary, George MacIntosh, Treasurer and the Committee members were John Pirie, Calum MacLean, Bill MacDonald and Neil MacDonald. In the excitement, Neil and Bill were nearly omitted from the Committee. Fortunately, this was noticed in time and both are still on the Committee 12 years later.
Frank Thomson, of Jack Sinclair’s Band, who was Bank Manager at Alness was invited to join because of his administrative and musical experience.
Three musical evenings were arranged for the summer months in the Ross County Social Club, the aim being to raise money for guest artistes.
Hamish Polson of the Strathpeffer Band offered the loan of P.A. equipment. It was decided to ask Ali MacGregor and the Tain Scottish Dance Band to launch proceedings and for them it was the first of many occasions when they supported the Club.
The loan of a piano was negotiated with Mr Terry Kennedy of the Strathpeffer Hotel, on condition that it was returned to the hotel when required. This turned out to be a weighty undertaking for the men of the Committee as on numerous occasions the piano had to be loaded on to a trailer borrowed from the Auction Rooms, attached to a Landrover, transported to the venue and back. By September, 1979, the first priority was the purchase of a piano for £100 to be housed in the Ross County Club.
This solved the problem temporarily but there were still occasions when the piano had to be transported around Dingwall’s one-way system because of the alternative venues.
The Club held its first official musical evening on 12th September, 1979, with guest artiste Bobby MacLeod, an evening enjoyed by all.
In October, Graeme Mitchell was guest and later in the month there was a dance with John Ellis and his band. Eventually musical evenings settled down to the first Wednesday of each month and remain so.
By this time Mike Shaw was putting in a tremendous amount of work as Chairman, Secretary and organizer of guest artistes. His wife, Jenny, often accommodated guests and bands.
The major problem in the early days was the venue. Although ideal in many way, the Ross County Social Club being a private Club, required all entrants to be members and as such had to pay to join the Social Club, in addition to the Accordion and Fiddle Club or else be signed in.
By 1983, the problem had never been solved satisfactorily and it was felt that many prospective members were put off by the situation, so a move to the National Hotel was suggested. At this point, the National Hotel was state owned and the Club had to pay £25 for the hall and pay for the sausage rolls ordered, even if not consumed. Thus the Committee could have been munching sausage rolls at the end of the evening rather than waste them. Both items were obviously a drain on profits, but fortunately the hotel was soon sold. When the new owner was approached, he dropped the room charge and suggested stovies be sold.
Without the accommodation and sausage roll problem, Committee meetings were a lot smoother. George Hogg became the second Chairman and with his experience on Committees elsewhere, meetings became shorter and more productive in the mid-80’s.
The present Chairman is Jock Stephen, well known as a drummer and always kept busy on Club evenings. He leads a Committee which works well together. Everyone has a specific job to do and they work as a team.
The compere is Jack Sutherland, who does an excellent job and Pat Gillanders is a very efficient Treasurer, keeping the books in order.
One of the Club’s aims has always been to encourage youngsters. Roslyn MacDonald will be remembered for her fine playing of pipe marches. Jamie Pirie traveled to Dundee for lessons and the Club benefited greatly from his lively playing.
Melanie Christie and Lindsay Weir played at the Club when 7 years old. Both went on to compete, Melanie winning the Junior Pipe Section at Perth and Lindsay the Senior Pipe Section at Musselburgh.
The Club was fortunate to have keen young fiddlers also. Jamie’s sister Fiona and cousin Carol Pirie played from an early age and became very talented fiddlers.
Brothers David and Mark MacDougal came along with their parents. David has just qualified as a doctor, while Mark has made his name by winning competitions at Newtongrange, Musselburgh, Perth and Oban, and now plays a variety of instruments.
Hugh Morrison from Tain came along with his button box and made a great impact. He has since made a tape and plays regularly with Ali MacGregor and the Tain SDB. Melanie, Lindsay, Mark and Hugh have been invited to be guest artistes at the Dingwall Club this season with their own bands and have done guest spots elsewhere.
The Club has made a contribution to charitable causes regularly, one of them being concerts to raise money for the ‘Friends of Seaforth’, a support group for local handicapped people.
The 10th Anniversary celebrations in September, 1989, were two-fold. Part 1 was a Buffet Dance with one of the early guest artistes Graeme Mitchell and his Band. Part 2 was a musical evening with Jim Johnstone and proceeds of this went to the local branch of ‘Hearstart’. A donation was also made to the Mod, to be held in Dingwall this month. Club members as a group provided music in the streets during the summer months at the request of the Leisure services.
George Hogg suggested that as a Club we should be encouraging some of the more reticent members to come forward to play singly or in groups. With this in mind, a fiddle and accordion workshop was held in September, 1990, with tuition by Florence Burns and Alasdair Hunter, Aberdeen. A total of 38 players attended. As a follow up, monthly accordion tuition with Alasdair Hunter started in April this year and 14 people are enjoying individual tuition. In this venture, the Club has been supported by a grant from the District Council and from the H.I.D.B. Hi-Light Year of the Arts enterprise.
Dances feature in the Club programme due to the upsurge of interest in Scottish dancing in the immediate area. Four dances are held in September, November, February and April. With the enthusiasm and energy of members Alan and Leila MacIsaac, Jimmy and Nellie Milroy, Charlie and Sandra MacPherson and their ever increasing circle of dancing friends, the dances are very lively and many new dances have been introduced.
For some years now, Hamish MacDougal has been responsible for engaging guest artistes. With his knowledge of young players and bands, he has brought many of them north for the first time and their talent has been appreciated by Dingwall audiences.
Thus, from Bill and Neil MacDonald’s idea, a flourishing Club has developed. It was fulfilled it’s aim of fostering and encouraging interest in accordion and fiddle music through musical evenings and has gone further by reaching out to the community. It has not been afraid to develop new ideas and therefore looks forward to the future with confidence.
No 2 Dingwall
The idea of an Accordion and Fiddle Club in Dingwall came from two Scottish music enthusiasts, Bill MacDonald, Dingwall and Neil MacDonald, Strathpeffer, as they made the tedious journey round the Beauly firth to and from the Highland Club at Inverness in the days before Kessock Bridge opened.
They decided to put an advert in the local newspaper to discover the interest in forming a Club in Dingwall. A meeting was arranged for March, 1979, and as a result the first Committee was formed. Mike Shaw was the first Chairman, Donald MacKillop, Vice Chairman, Vivian Samet, Secretary, George MacIntosh, Treasurer and the Committee members were John Pirie, Calum MacLean, Bill MacDonald and Neil MacDonald. In the excitement, Neil and Bill were nearly omitted from the Committee. Fortunately, this was noticed in time and both are still on the Committee 12 years later.
Frank Thomson, of Jack Sinclair’s Band, who was Bank Manager at Alness was invited to join because of his administrative and musical experience.
Three musical evenings were arranged for the summer months in the Ross County Social Club, the aim being to raise money for guest artistes.
Hamish Polson of the Strathpeffer Band offered the loan of P.A. equipment. It was decided to ask Ali MacGregor and the Tain Scottish Dance Band to launch proceedings and for them it was the first of many occasions when they supported the Club.
The loan of a piano was negotiated with Mr Terry Kennedy of the Strathpeffer Hotel, on condition that it was returned to the hotel when required. This turned out to be a weighty undertaking for the men of the Committee as on numerous occasions the piano had to be loaded on to a trailer borrowed from the Auction Rooms, attached to a Landrover, transported to the venue and back. By September, 1979, the first priority was the purchase of a piano for £100 to be housed in the Ross County Club.
This solved the problem temporarily but there were still occasions when the piano had to be transported around Dingwall’s one-way system because of the alternative venues.
The Club held its first official musical evening on 12th September, 1979, with guest artiste Bobby MacLeod, an evening enjoyed by all.
In October, Graeme Mitchell was guest and later in the month there was a dance with John Ellis and his band. Eventually musical evenings settled down to the first Wednesday of each month and remain so.
By this time Mike Shaw was putting in a tremendous amount of work as Chairman, Secretary and organizer of guest artistes. His wife, Jenny, often accommodated guests and bands.
The major problem in the early days was the venue. Although ideal in many way, the Ross County Social Club being a private Club, required all entrants to be members and as such had to pay to join the Social Club, in addition to the Accordion and Fiddle Club or else be signed in.
By 1983, the problem had never been solved satisfactorily and it was felt that many prospective members were put off by the situation, so a move to the National Hotel was suggested. At this point, the National Hotel was state owned and the Club had to pay £25 for the hall and pay for the sausage rolls ordered, even if not consumed. Thus the Committee could have been munching sausage rolls at the end of the evening rather than waste them. Both items were obviously a drain on profits, but fortunately the hotel was soon sold. When the new owner was approached, he dropped the room charge and suggested stovies be sold.
Without the accommodation and sausage roll problem, Committee meetings were a lot smoother. George Hogg became the second Chairman and with his experience on Committees elsewhere, meetings became shorter and more productive in the mid-80’s.
The present Chairman is Jock Stephen, well known as a drummer and always kept busy on Club evenings. He leads a Committee which works well together. Everyone has a specific job to do and they work as a team.
The compere is Jack Sutherland, who does an excellent job and Pat Gillanders is a very efficient Treasurer, keeping the books in order.
One of the Club’s aims has always been to encourage youngsters. Roslyn MacDonald will be remembered for her fine playing of pipe marches. Jamie Pirie traveled to Dundee for lessons and the Club benefited greatly from his lively playing.
Melanie Christie and Lindsay Weir played at the Club when 7 years old. Both went on to compete, Melanie winning the Junior Pipe Section at Perth and Lindsay the Senior Pipe Section at Musselburgh.
The Club was fortunate to have keen young fiddlers also. Jamie’s sister Fiona and cousin Carol Pirie played from an early age and became very talented fiddlers.
Brothers David and Mark MacDougal came along with their parents. David has just qualified as a doctor, while Mark has made his name by winning competitions at Newtongrange, Musselburgh, Perth and Oban, and now plays a variety of instruments.
Hugh Morrison from Tain came along with his button box and made a great impact. He has since made a tape and plays regularly with Ali MacGregor and the Tain SDB. Melanie, Lindsay, Mark and Hugh have been invited to be guest artistes at the Dingwall Club this season with their own bands and have done guest spots elsewhere.
The Club has made a contribution to charitable causes regularly, one of them being concerts to raise money for the ‘Friends of Seaforth’, a support group for local handicapped people.
The 10th Anniversary celebrations in September, 1989, were two-fold. Part 1 was a Buffet Dance with one of the early guest artistes Graeme Mitchell and his Band. Part 2 was a musical evening with Jim Johnstone and proceeds of this went to the local branch of ‘Hearstart’. A donation was also made to the Mod, to be held in Dingwall this month. Club members as a group provided music in the streets during the summer months at the request of the Leisure services.
George Hogg suggested that as a Club we should be encouraging some of the more reticent members to come forward to play singly or in groups. With this in mind, a fiddle and accordion workshop was held in September, 1990, with tuition by Florence Burns and Alasdair Hunter, Aberdeen. A total of 38 players attended. As a follow up, monthly accordion tuition with Alasdair Hunter started in April this year and 14 people are enjoying individual tuition. In this venture, the Club has been supported by a grant from the District Council and from the H.I.D.B. Hi-Light Year of the Arts enterprise.
Dances feature in the Club programme due to the upsurge of interest in Scottish dancing in the immediate area. Four dances are held in September, November, February and April. With the enthusiasm and energy of members Alan and Leila MacIsaac, Jimmy and Nellie Milroy, Charlie and Sandra MacPherson and their ever increasing circle of dancing friends, the dances are very lively and many new dances have been introduced.
For some years now, Hamish MacDougal has been responsible for engaging guest artistes. With his knowledge of young players and bands, he has brought many of them north for the first time and their talent has been appreciated by Dingwall audiences.
Thus, from Bill and Neil MacDonald’s idea, a flourishing Club has developed. It was fulfilled it’s aim of fostering and encouraging interest in accordion and fiddle music through musical evenings and has gone further by reaching out to the community. It has not been afraid to develop new ideas and therefore looks forward to the future with confidence.