Box and Fiddle
Year 21 No 05
February 1998
Price 70p
28 Page Magazine
7 month subscription £8.00
Editor – Charlie Todd, 63 Station Road, Thankerton, Biggar, ML12 6NZ
B&F Treasurer – Mrs Margaret Smith, Smeaton Farm Cottage, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 2NL
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
Well here we are, back in harness, with a bumper issue to start off the New Year. For this one at least there was no need to ponder what the lead article would be. I’m sure I speak for all Box and Fiddle readers when I wish Jimmy Shand a very Happy 90th Birthday. When considering how to mark the occasion I was delighted to hear from Sandy Tulloch about Dr. Ian Cameron’s project to bring out an updated and revised biography of Jimmy. I am indebted to Dr Cameron for taking the time to prepare an article for me.
In a similar vein I would ask all our readers to keep me informed of anything that concerns our music scene that fellow readers would find of interest. Bands’ for example, are already receiving enquiries about the Millennium which, of course, is shaping up to be a huge event. No doubt some bands will end up in exotic or unusual locations so perhaps they could let me know as things unfold and I’ll do an article nearer the time. Anniversaries, of course, are also of interest. By pure coincidence I spoke to Tom Alexander at Biggar Club at the end of last year to discover that this year would be the Alexander Brothers 40th professional year. If readers can flag up any such notable events in advance I would be obliged.
Photographs are of interest to us all and I’ve been looking for a theme to give some structure to a feature. Tom Cowing has sparked an idea by providing photographs of Felix Burns at different stages in his career. The same could be applied to other players, past and present, so a few letters are on their way and I await a response with interest.
The delay in the December issue generated some criticism, not of the constructive variety. Ron Ramsay highlighted the need for an Assistant Editor for just such eventualities at the last AGM but n0-one has come forward. Proof reading the printers output a couple of times and distribution of 1,550 copies are the tasks involved so perhaps anyone interested could contact the Chairman.
Our Teachers Directory has been kick started by a few phone calls from myself. Many of these names will be familiar to everyone from our Guest Artiste List and all are already involved in teaching. From now on the list will be updated and published on a monthly basis from information received.
Congratulations to the hard-working Committee of the Windygates Club. The afternoon on Sunday, 18th January saw the latest ‘Shand Morino Day’ and the Windygates Institute was bulging at the seams. Perhaps not the biggest gathering of Shand Morino’s but definitely the biggest gathering of listeners to hear them. A great afternoon and a chance to put faces to names. Who’s interested in organizing a Domino Morino Day?
Charlie Todd
Jimmy Shand – Ninety Years Young
by Ian Cameron
Whenever anyone reaches ninety it is a cause for celebrations but when that person is Jimmy Shand hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world feel they must add their good wishes. To so many people his name is magic and he is the magician who has transported them on musical journeys through their lives regardless of wherever they were staying. The Box and Fiddle and Scottish Country Dance communities have long recognised and appreciated his technical brilliance and innovations, while others have just ‘liked’ what they heard and requested more and more.
No-one could have foreseen when he was born on 28th January, 1908 in East Wemyss in Fife that as his life progressed he was to become the most loved and respected musician in Scotland and regarded as a musical ambassador all over the world. Music played an important part in the leisure time his family had and even as a young schoolboy Jimmy was always hoping for “a shot o’ dad’s box”. If permission was given Jimmy would spend hours practising, trying to emulate his father and his older brother Dod in the way they manipulated the keys, the spoon bass and the air-valve of the melodeon. As his skill developed he increased his repertoire by talking to and listening to the many gifted melodeon players who lived in the area. Another source of inspiration was the family phonograph with its collection of shiny black cylinders carefully kept in felt-lined boxes. This invention ensured that the family were introduced to various types of music until one day, when Jimmy and his brother Erskine were in the house themselves, the motor was over-wound and the spring snapped.
Before the Shands had their own gramophone Jimmy listened to recordings either at the school or outside a neighbour’s window and was greatly impressed by the music of Peter and Daniel Wyper, Peter Leatham, Jimmy Brown, Jack Williams and Palmy Dick. The person Jimmy admired most of all was Willie Hannah who was, as he has often said, “A master at playing waltzes, barn dances and two steps. I learned a lot o’ new tunes aff Hannah”.
By the time he was eleven he was playing at occasional dances supporting his brother Dod and in his late school days he was entering Go-As-You-Please competitions. These events were useful in getting Jimmy used to facing an audience, something he found very difficult as he was very shy and continued to be all his professional life. When he left school Jimmy worked in the mining industry for four years and although the work was hard and the hours long he did not neglect practising on his box, “After my shift doon the mine – a tune or twa every day”. Jimmy owned an International 19 Key, 4 Spoon bass and Air Valve melodeon in 1926 and he put it to good use in various competitions often coming home with first prize of ten bob. During the General Strike and Lock Out of that year Jimmy and others wandered from town to town playing for coppers to help subsidise the soup kitchens for miners families.
It was at this time that Jimmy met Johnny McDill, a skilled box player, who, apart from becoming a good friend, introduced him to the workings of the melodeon and taught him how to strip the instrument for repair and re-tuning. Jimmy was always grateful he was taught these skills and he put them into good use over the years. When the miners were finally forced back to work Jimmy decided to seek employment on the surface taking any job he could get and often having to travel many miles to get there. For seven years he was lucky if he worked two or three months each year and although he won some music competitions during this period he was often happy to play at weddings and other events knowing he would get his supper as a fee.
In 1933, while visiting friends and looking for work in Dundee, Jimmy was persuaded to enter the J.T. Forbes music shop to try some melodeons. Once inside he was introduced to Charles S. Forbes who listened to him playing and promptly offered him a job. Although he declined at the time Jimmy was working for Forbes as an accordion demonstrator before the end of the year. This contact with Charles Forbes was the start of a chain of events which have become part of the legend of Jimmy Shand and to the delight of millions of people all over the world, the legend happens to be true.
The recording sessions, the demonstration tours, the early solo broadcasts for the BBC, his first composition and the spread of his fame. The minimum of bellows movement when he played led one little girl to say to her mother, “The man just came oot, and just stood, and the music came itself!” His continuing interest in trying to improve the sound and performance of his melodeons led eventually to the Shand Morino. Despite his growing fame through the wireless and records, Jimmy felt that it was not until the early years of the Second World War that he learned to play Scottish music correctly in a disciplined form suitable for dancers and set dances. In later years the musical timing of the Shand Bands were to become their trade mark.
The almost endless band tours throughout the British Isles, Jimmy’s tours abroad, the countless broadcasts on radio and television, the famous recordings and his many awards as well as his endless charity work are all part of this remarkable man’s life. Sometimes the hectic workload has been brought to a halt by his body saying enough! And he has been seriously ill at times but he has always pulled through.
Much of what Jimmy has achieved would not have been possible if he had not been so wonderfully supported by his wife Anne and his family. Four days before his ninetieth birthday Jimmy and Anne celebrated their sixty-second wedding anniversary. Congratulations and Happy Birthday Jimmy Shand and may you have many more.
Composers Corner
P/M Willie Ross
by Bruce Campbell
The latter half of the 18th century saw the birth of many destined to become excellent pipers and indeed it seems an era in which great solo players were much more common place than today. Players of the calibre of George S. McLennan, Jimmy Center, George Allan, John MacDonald, Robert U. Brown and Bob Nicol were all a product of this time, yet one name rises above the rest and somehow manages to sparkle amongst an array of genuine stars – Willie Ross.
Born in Glenstrathfarrer in 1879, his father was Head Forrester to Lord Lovat, and it was in these surroundings that he spent his formative years. Willie Ross’s maternal Grand Uncle, Aneas Rose, was a first class piper and during his school holidays he traveled south to Blair Castle for instruction in the art of the Highland bagpipes. Throughout his long life Ross was regarded as something of a practical joker and story teller and one of his favourite ‘stories’ was how he was taught all of his piping by his mother. In fact he received nearly all of his formal instruction from Aneas Rose.
In 1896 he enlisted as a piper in the Scots Guards and on his departure from his native hills and glens composed that lovely, haunting slow air ‘Loch Morar’. Clearly already he had considerable piping talent and it didn’t take long before he became a formidable force on the piping contest circuit. He won the first of his major prizes, the Gold Medal for Piobaireachd at the Northern Meeting in 1904, and added Clasps to it in 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1912, 1919, 1923 and 1928. The Gold Medal at Oban was added to his list of successes in 1907 and further successes in the Oban Open Piobaireachd came in 1907, 1912 and 1928. In all he won a total of 11 Former Winners, March, Strathspey and Reels at either Oban or Inverness to prove he was as versatile in Ceol Beag as he was in Ceol Mor.
The Scots Guards recognised his outstanding talent and in 1905 he was appointed Pipe Major of the 2nd Battalion in succession to Henry Forsyth who later became piper to the Sovereign. Willie’s younger brother Alick also joined the Scots Guards and when he became the Pipe Major of the 1st Battalion in 1911 they created history as the only brothers ever to serve as Battalion Pipe Majors at the same time.
Unfortunately Army Pipers have always had their bit of soldiering to do as well and Pipe Major Ross saw considerable active service, firstly during the Boer War and latterly in France during World War 1. In 1918 he was invalided out of the Army with severe rheumatism that he had contracted in France.
After the cessation of hostilities the Piobaireachd Society was keen to appoint Pipe Major Ross as their permanent instructor in succession to John MacDonald. A stumbling block was the requirement of the instructor, who was also responsible for the Society’s Army Class, to be in some sort of military service. However, this was overcome when Lord Lovat appointed Ross as Pipe Major of the Lovat Scout’s and so began a period of 38 years during which time the Army Class became established as the Army School of Piping with its permanent home at Edinburgh Castle. During that time Willie Ross gave instruction to all of the best pipers in the British Army as well as the Commonwealth countries. Included amongst his best pupils are Gold Medalists Donald MacLeod, John MacLennan, Andrew Pitkeathly, Donald MacLean and, of course, his boy prodigy, John D. Burgess whom he taught from the age of seven. All of these men went on to become champion pipers in their own right and two of them, John MacLennan and Andrew Pitkeathly, became Directors of the Army School of Piping.
The five books of light music published by Patersons as the Pipe Major W. Ross Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music is considered to be the finest pipe collection ever printed. Many of Ross’s own excellent compositions are included and his settings of the classical style Marches, Strathspeys and Reels are considered by today’s leading players as standards. Of his own tunes ‘Leaving Port Askaig’, ‘Corriechoillie’, ‘Captain Norman Orr Ewing’, ‘Brigadier Ronald Cheape of Tororan’, ‘Centre’s Bonnet’ and ‘John Morrison of Assynt House’ are all well played by soloists and bands alike.
D. R. MacLennan once said of his playing, “he had good, crisp fingering, he could tickle the chanter”. This sums up the playing of a man who played at breakneck tempos, yet always cracked his notes and embellishments in with stunning accuracy. The old 78 rpm recordings of his playing are now collector’s pieces although a compilation tape was released some years ago by Piping tapes – the brainchild of a former pupil John MacLellan. Appropriately enough the cassette is simply called ‘The Legendary William Ross’.
In 1945 Pipe Major William Ross’s services to piping were recognised by his investiture as a member of the Order of the British Empire. In the years up to his death in 1966 he was known affectionately as Willie Ross, the Castle. A great man and a great figure in piping.
40 Years in Showbiz – The Alexander Brothers
by Charlie Todd
1998 marks a milestone in the careers of two of Scotland’s most successful stage performers – Tom and Jack, the Alexander Brothers, because it is now 40 years since the duos first appearance as professional entertainers.
I took the opportunity to speak to Tom when he visited Biggar Club, as guest artiste, and ask him where it all began. Tom was born in 1934 in the Cambusnethan area of Wishaw. Dad, Jimmy Alexander, was a steel worker with Clyde Alloy in Motherwell and mum, Helen, was a housewife who could sing and play the piano.
At the age of nine Tom started to learn the accordion with a succession of local teachers, half a dozen in all he reckons, and had reached such a level of proficiency that word spread locally and he was asked by perhaps the best known (and highly qualified) local teacher, Bill Brown of the Brown School of Accordion, to join his for tuition, which he did for 14 months. Indeed in 1952 Tom was entered for the Classical Section of the N.A.O. Championship at the Christian Institute in Glasgow. He was confident enough about playing the test pieces, ‘Bats at Sunset’ by Frosini and Eugene Ettore’s ‘Spanish Holiday’ but the trouble was his accordion, an old 140 bass Hohner, which he knew wouldn’t stand comparison with the rest of the competitors. The solution was to talk Bill Brown into lending him his Fratelli Crosio with which Tom took the title.
On leaving school both Tom and brother Jack had started as apprentice painter and decorators with ‘Torrance’ the painters in Motherwell. Meanwhile from about the age of about 14 into their early twenties the Brothers gained invaluable experience in front of live audiences by regularly attending ‘Go As You Please’ talent contests which were held in those days in every Miners Welfare. Tom changed from the Hohner to a Galanti Super Dominator, a box which suited the programme for these competitions which was light classics, ‘The Poet and Peasant Overture’, ‘The Carnival of Venice’ etc., - Scottish music came much later. Prize money initially was only £3, £2 ot £1 at the time but gradually it improved and mounted up until the great day when the family could afford to buy their first car, a 1939 Flying Standard.
This enabled dad, who did the driving initially, and the boys to travel further afield and attend larger contests.
It was when Jack completed his National Service in 1958 that the Brothers decided to give up their trade and try entertaining professionally. Their first season was in the Webster Theatre in Arbroath. Tom remembers it well. The stage dress was tuxedo and blue suede shoes and the programme was light classics. It didn’t work at all. The audience of holiday makers sat stony faced every night with the disinterred being broken occasionally by a cry of “Geeze the High Level son”. Obviously something would have to be done Obviously something would have to be done. An old comedian on the same bill suggested they try ‘The Road and the Miles tae Dundee’. They did and it worked. Rapidly the programme changed to Scottish (Tom made enquiries about what the High Level actually was) and dress changed firstly to tartan jackets, then later to kilts. They had found the recipe for success and they had learned a lot by doing it the hard way. In future they would mould their act to what the audience wanted to hear. Ross Bowie was to become their manager in 1959 and would stay with them for the next 35 years guiding them through many future successes.
More shows and summer seasons followed, then in 1962 came a major break. Songwriter Tony Hatch heard them and took them down to London to record ‘Nobody’s Child’. They weren’t the first incidentally. Hank Snow had recorded it in the U.S.A., as had the Beatles over here but both without success. For the Alexander Brothers however, it would be different. Their interpretation captured the mood of the moment and it took off, outselling even the current Beatles hits of the time. To date Tom reckons some 1.5 million copies have sold and let’s face it, even today, no slow foxtrot selection is complete without it. Tony also produced their first album ‘Highland Fling’ in 1962 which retailed at about 21/- in those days. It would be joined by a new LP recording in each of the next twelve years.
From 1967 till 1972 they hosted their new show on STV and it was also in 1967 that they made their first trip to Canada and the Unites States with Andy Stewart and the White Heather club. They have been back every year since and now working themselves make a spring and a fall tour of two to four weeks duration taking in venues in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver Island, Boston, New York and Baltimore. They also continue to make regular visits to Australia and New Zealand. One of Tom’s enduring memories is of the time Jimmy Shand returned to the Southern Hemisphere, scene of many of his own successful trips in earlier years, as their special guest in the early 1980’s. “It’s the only occasion I can recall of anyone getting a standing ovation as soon as they appeared on stage, before they performed”. Such was the magic associated with the name Jimmy Shand.
To celebrate their 40th professional year Tom and Jack are planning tours covering as many as possible of the venues in which they have appeared over the last 40 years. Details of dates and events are eagerly awaited by, amongst others, their official Fan Club. I hadn’t even been aware that one existed but it’s very much alive and in the capable hands of Springburn (Glasgow) born Flora Smyth.
Flora now runs the Club from her home in Drogheda in the Irish Republic. Membership is around the 400 mark and while the majority are Scots, England, Canada and the USA are well represented. Members are kept up to date by a regular newsletter while Flora journeys to hear the Brothers when they appear in Ireland or when she’s home on holiday in Scotland.
And what of the future? Well Tom says they have no immediate plans to retire from show business. Indeed since at the time of writing he was packing in preparation for a flight to South America with Jack and Peter Morrison to entertain for two weeks aboard a luxury cruise liner I ask myself ‘in his position would I?’ – and the answer as I look out at the January gales in an emphatic NO.
All that remains, therefore, is to thank Tom for his assistance in preparing this article and to wish both him and Jack continuing success in the future.
Saying Goodbye to the Committee
Our Outgoing Friend – Norrie Williams
by Jimmy Blue
On Norman Williams’ retiral from the Executive Committee of the N.A.A.F.C. I, as past Chairman, thought a few words of appreciation would not go amiss. Alec Little had, since he took over in 1974, really put Musselburgh on the map so that when he announced that he felt it was time to give up as Festival Organiser we were more than a little concerned. Who would – in fact, who COULD take on this mammoth task? Much to our relief, two names were suggested, one of which was Norrie Williams.
We all knew it was quite an undertaking and were delighted when Norrie agreed to take on the position. No sooner was the AGM over than Norrie was chatting up a few members and before the Celebration Lunch was over, he had his Committee appointed. He is never one to waste time! Festival Committee meetings, I have heard, were never dull – especially when originally they were held in the Salutation Hotel in Perth where, during one meeting, a pipe band was rehearsing on the premises! He conducted the meeting with one ear very definitely cocked!!
Nothing was too much bother for him to discuss or to cogitate over or to take action on. And with his wife, Sheila, at his side as Secretary, this was a formidable team. Norrie’s ability to listen to other points of view – and to disagree with them if he felt it necessary (he is a man of principle and of strong opinions) and his untiring interest in all aspects of Scottish music, meant that no stone was left unturned in improving and building up the Festival both in content and entries. He and Sheila enjoyed visiting other clubs and Festivals and were always welcome guests. Norrie is a very fine man and, although not always in good health, what he has done for the N.A.A.F.C., and, in particular, for the Musselburgh Festival, has been an outstanding contribution to our kind of music.
Bobby Crowe
by ?
Bobby Crowe the well-known Scottish danceband leader from Balmullo, Fife, was honoured by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in November for his ‘outstanding contribution’ to music. Bobby traveled to the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen to receive an illuminated scroll at the Society’s annual meeting. More than 500 members from as far afield as Japan and Canada were present as well as bandleaders from across the U.K.
The following week, Bobby, accompanied by his wife Agnes, was honoured by the Leeds and Doncaster Branch of the R.S.C.D.S. which presented him with a cheque and a limited edition print of a picture of the Yorkshire Dales.
Bobby originally played with the Olympian’s Dance Band. With his own band, he was a regular broadcaster and made numerous recordings, many of them for the R.S.C.D.S. for which he is now an adviser. Bobby was forced to retire from the music scene four years ago when he had a stroke but he never lost his interest in and enthusiasm for Scottish music. In fact, bobby is also a jazz enthusiast and has frequently traveled to hear Stephan Grapelli, Jack Emblow or Martin Green in concert.
Bobby recalls, “I suppose some of the highlights of my career have been playing for the Queen (three times) at Balmoral and appearing on ‘Sunlight Serenade’ which was televised in 1977 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. I have made more than 12 records over the years for the R.S.C.D.S. and I am really pleased that the Society has recognised my contribution and dedication to our musical heritage”.
The Session
by Dr Liam Farrell, General Practitioner, Co Armagh
One of the joys of Irish culture are our music sessions. You stagger out of the lashing rain into a pub, someone is playing in the corner. You grab a beer, whip out your fiddle or your guitar and get involved. More fun than Disneyland, more team spirit than the SAS, particularly at our annual Folk Festival, where we have never had any problems with the paramilitaries. ‘We know where you live’ we threaten them ‘and we’ll come and play outside your house”.
There is a down side. Music is in our blood they say, but so is cholesterol, and years of clandestine observation have led to the conclusion that there are many hidden dangers involved, and every instrument has its own unique hazards. The Corner House in Rostrevor has provided me with the following observational data, and any resemblance to persons alive or dead is right on the money.
Guitar – a gentleman has been defined as someone who doesn’t play the guitar at a session. It is a perilous diversion. If you play it badly, the other musicians will hate you. If you play it well, the other guitarists – that is, 90% of the other musicians – will hate you. So beware of being mugged on the way home. Bring bandages and antiseptic and get insured.
Uileann pipes – for some bizarre, unfathomable reason beautiful, exotic foreign women find grotesquely sweaty, hairy, ruddy featured men, maniacally pumping their right elbow, irresistibly attractive. So before rushing out for lessons, stop at the chemist for supplies.
Fiddle – Virtuosos, believing that all others are there only to give them backing, can develop paranoid delusions of supremacy and rush out at any moment to receive imaginary awards. May need sedation. Their ‘flying right elbow’ can cause eye, skull and dental injuries to unwary neighbours.
Doubles bass – He-men, they moonlight as lumberjacks and have wrists thicker than a fiddler’s waist, which they could wrench as easily as a chicken’s neck. Luckily they are gentle and easily intimidated. Can get splinters, so bring tweezers and local anesthetic.
Bodhran – a kind of drum. The instrument of last resort, for those who can play nothing else and basically an excuse to hang out with the band for a drink. These unfortunate individuals are prone to depression, because everyone else, even the guitarists, at worst despises and at best feels pity towards them – that is ‘pity we’ve no shotgun’. Bulletproof clothing is advisable and be ready to borrow the bass man’s tweezers to extract the pellets from your arse.
Accordion – the musical equivalent of an infectious, purulent skin rash, which is a bizarre coincidence as they sweat profusely with the effort required to carry the damn thing and are prone to develop infectious, purulent skin rashes.
Banjo – suffer from a chronic inferiority complex, but, as they constantly reassure themselves, at least they ain’t guitarists. Hate mandolin players for associated personalities. Usually have domineering mothers, and make particularly pathetic and offensively melancholy drunks.
Tin whistle – prone to falling forward when stuporous and consequently liable to teeth and palate injury. As the whistle is usually still in position. Gumshields are advised and uniquely, mat improve the appearance.
Flute – slobber a lot, so other musicians must sit some distance away lest body fluids are inadvertently exchanged. It is stating the obvious that they are usually farmers.
Mandolin – bags of street cred, but this instrument is utterly inaudible, the musician often wears a wet T-shirt to attract attention. Chronic chest problems as a consequence.
It is indeed a perverse and bizarre world where you need a license to own a dog yet any fool can play a bodhran. But are we simply avoiding intimacy issues in a fog of wild ceilidh tunes and whisky fumes? And who wants to be there when the music stops?
Record Review
Alastair Hunter & the Lorne SDB - Lorne Choice of Scottish Country Dances – Deeay Music – DACD9716
Eilidh Shaw – Heepirumbo – Greentrax – CDTRAX131
Fergie MacDonald – the 21st Album – Greentrax – CDTRAX129
The Inverness Fiddlers – Ruby’s Reel - Ness Bank Records – INFC0001
Roy Hendrie – A Different Blend – ROYCD5
Book Review
Puirt a Eilean Leodhais (Tunes from the Isle of Lewis) Book 4 - Ian Crichton
The Eildon Collection. Original Compositions for Accordion and Fiddle – by Paul Chamberlain
Take the Floor – Saturdays at 6.30pm with Robbie Shepherd
7th Feb 98 – Michael Garvin SDB
14th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner SDB
21st Feb 98 – West Telferton Caledonian Ceilidh Band
28th Feb 98 – James Coutts SDB
7th Mar 98 – Neil Barron SDB
14th Mar 98 – Ian Muir SDB
21st Mar 98 – David Cunningham SDB
28th Mar 98 – Robert Black All Stars
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Dee Motel) – 24th Feb 98 – Ian H. Cruickshank Quartet (Elgin)
Alnwick (White Swan Hotel) – members only 11th Feb 98 - tba
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 15th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner SDB
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 1st Feb 98 – James Coutts SDB
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 5th Feb 98 – John Morgan
Ayr (Gartferry Hotel) – 1st Feb 98 – Carlyle Family Band
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Hall) – 15th Feb 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 23rd Feb 98 – Craig McCallum SDB
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 25thn Feb 98 – Alastair Salter & Ian Thow
Beith & District (Hotel de Croft, Dalry) – 16th Feb 98 – Colin Dewar Trio
Belford (Community Club) – 26th Feb 98 – Andy Gregg
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 8th Feb 98 – Tom Porteous & Friends
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 10th Feb 98 – Ian Anderson & Jim Ritchie
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 10th Feb 97 – Club Night
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 12th Feb 98 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Campbeltown (Royal or Argyll Hotel) - tba
Campsie (Glazert House Hotel) - 3rd Feb 98 – Robert Black SDB
Carlisle (Border Regiment Club, Carlisle Castle) - 5th Feb 98 – Gary Blair Duo
Castle Douglas (Ernespie House Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Tommy Ford
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 19th Feb 98 – Burns Brothers
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 8th Feb 98 – Local players
Crieff & District (Arduthie Hotel) 5th Feb 97 – John Stuart & the Scott Lee Band
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) 17th Feb 98 - tba
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – Hector MacFadyen SDB
Dunblane (Westlands Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner Trio
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 10th Feb 98 – Gary Donaldson
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 6th Feb 98 – no meeting
East Kilbride (Sweepers, Cambuslang) – 26th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner Trio
Ellon (Ladbroke Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Aberdeen Club
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 23rd Feb 98 – Seamus O’Sullivan
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 22nd Fen 98 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Forres (Brig Motel) – 11th Feb 98 – Julie MacRitchie Trio
Fort William (Alexandra Hotel) –
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 5th Feb 98 – no meeting
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 9th Feb 98 – Roy Hendrie
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel – Wooler) – 19th Feb 98 – Max Houliston
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 4th Feb 98 – Jim Berry
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 24th Feb 98 - tba
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 18th Feb 98 – Coila Sound
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 16th Feb 98 – Gordon Gunn
Inveraray (Loch Fyne Hotel) - 3rd Feb 98 – McColl’s Ceilidh Band
Islay (White Hart Hotel) -
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 5th Feb 98 – Black Rose Ceilidh Band
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 3rd Feb 98 – Donald Ridley
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 25th Feb 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – West Telferton Caledonian CB
Lanark (Masonic Hall) - 26th Feb 98 – Pentland Ceilidh Band
Langholm (Crown Hotel) –
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 12th Feb 98 – Seamus O’Sullivan
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 5th Feb 98 – Jock Fraser SDB
Livingston (The Hilton National Hotel) - 19th Feb 98 – Roger Dobson SDB
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 24th Feb 98 – Jim Cleland Quartet
Mauchline (Sorn Village Hall) 17th Feb 98 – Roy Hendrie Trio
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – AGM & Bruce Lindsay
Muirhead (Belmont Arms, Meigle) -
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 23rd Feb 98 – Sandy Legget & the Carseloch CB
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 3rd Feb 98 – Gordon Pattullo
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 5th Feb 98 – local players
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) –
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – 26th Feb 98 – The Bon Accords
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Simon Howie SDB
Premier NI (Camlin Function Rooms) -
Reading Fiddlers (Piggot School) -
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 10th Feb 98 – Judith Linton Trio
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 5th Feb 98 – Lynne Valley Band
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 5th Feb 98 – Judith Linton Trio
Shetland (venue?) - 26th Feb 98 – Black Rose Ceilidh Band
Stirling (Terraces Hotel) - 8th Feb 98 – Gordon Shand SDB
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) -
Thornhill (Dumfries-shire) - 11th Feb 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 2nd Feb 98 – Local Band Night
Turriff (Royal Oak Hotel) – 5th Feb 98 – Alan & Jan Roy
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 3rd Feb 98 – no meeting
Wick (McKay’s Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – The Wick Fiddlers
Yarrow (Gordon Arms) - 18th Feb 98 – Bill Black SDB
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Annan
3. Arbroath
4. Balloch
5. Banchory
6. Banff
7. Beith
8. Biggar
9. Blairgowrie
10. Bromley
11. Button Key
12. Campsie
13. Carlisle
14. Castle Douglas
15. Coalburn
16. Crieff
17. Dingwall
18. Dunfermline
19. Dunoon & Cowal
20. East Kilbride
21. Fintry
22. Forres
23. Galston
24. Glendale
25. Glenrothes
26. Gretna
27. Islesteps
28. Kelso
29. Kintore
30. Lanark
31. Lesmahagow
32. Livingston
33. Lockerbie
34. Montrose
35. Muirhead
36. Newtongrange
37. North East
38. Oban
39. Perth
40. Reading Fiddlers
41. Rothbury
42. Shetland
43. Stirling
44. Thornhill
45. Thurso
46. Turriff
47. Tynedale
48. Wick
49. Yarrow
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT SEPT 1997
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Sept 1976 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started?
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
7. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
8. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
9. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
10. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
11. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
12. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
13. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
14. Bromley A&F Club
15. Button Key A&F Club (
16. Campbeltown A&F Club (
17. Campsie A&F Club (
18. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
19. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
20. Coalburn A&F Club (
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
23. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
24. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
25. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
26. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
27. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
28. Ellon A&F Club (
29. Etterick & Yarrow (Jan 1989 -
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
34. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
35. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
36. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
37. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
38. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
39. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
40. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
41. Inveraray A&F Club (Oct 1991 - present)
42. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
43. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
44. Isle of Skye A&F Club (
45. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
46. Kintore A&F Club (
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (first mention 1986? - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
57. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
58. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
59. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
60. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
61. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
62. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
63. Renfrew A&F Club (
64. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
65. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
66. Selkirk A&F Club (
67. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
68. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
69. Sutherland A&F Club (
70. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
71. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
72. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
73. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
74. Vancouver
75. Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
76. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
77. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
78. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
79. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
80. Buchan A&F Club
81. Callander A&F Club (
82. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
83. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
84. Club Accord
85. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
86. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
87. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
88. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
89. Derwentside A&F Club
90. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
91. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
92. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
93. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
94. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
95. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
96. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
97. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
98. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
99. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
100. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
101. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
102. Mull A&F Club
103. Newcastleton Accordion Club
104. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
105. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
106. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
107. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
108. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
109. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
110. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
111. Tranent A&F Club
112. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
113. Wellbank A&F Club
Advertising rates increased
Full Page - £113 from Sept 96
Half Page - £57
Quarter Page - £29
B&F Treasurer – Mrs Margaret Smith, Smeaton Farm Cottage, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 2NL
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
Well here we are, back in harness, with a bumper issue to start off the New Year. For this one at least there was no need to ponder what the lead article would be. I’m sure I speak for all Box and Fiddle readers when I wish Jimmy Shand a very Happy 90th Birthday. When considering how to mark the occasion I was delighted to hear from Sandy Tulloch about Dr. Ian Cameron’s project to bring out an updated and revised biography of Jimmy. I am indebted to Dr Cameron for taking the time to prepare an article for me.
In a similar vein I would ask all our readers to keep me informed of anything that concerns our music scene that fellow readers would find of interest. Bands’ for example, are already receiving enquiries about the Millennium which, of course, is shaping up to be a huge event. No doubt some bands will end up in exotic or unusual locations so perhaps they could let me know as things unfold and I’ll do an article nearer the time. Anniversaries, of course, are also of interest. By pure coincidence I spoke to Tom Alexander at Biggar Club at the end of last year to discover that this year would be the Alexander Brothers 40th professional year. If readers can flag up any such notable events in advance I would be obliged.
Photographs are of interest to us all and I’ve been looking for a theme to give some structure to a feature. Tom Cowing has sparked an idea by providing photographs of Felix Burns at different stages in his career. The same could be applied to other players, past and present, so a few letters are on their way and I await a response with interest.
The delay in the December issue generated some criticism, not of the constructive variety. Ron Ramsay highlighted the need for an Assistant Editor for just such eventualities at the last AGM but n0-one has come forward. Proof reading the printers output a couple of times and distribution of 1,550 copies are the tasks involved so perhaps anyone interested could contact the Chairman.
Our Teachers Directory has been kick started by a few phone calls from myself. Many of these names will be familiar to everyone from our Guest Artiste List and all are already involved in teaching. From now on the list will be updated and published on a monthly basis from information received.
Congratulations to the hard-working Committee of the Windygates Club. The afternoon on Sunday, 18th January saw the latest ‘Shand Morino Day’ and the Windygates Institute was bulging at the seams. Perhaps not the biggest gathering of Shand Morino’s but definitely the biggest gathering of listeners to hear them. A great afternoon and a chance to put faces to names. Who’s interested in organizing a Domino Morino Day?
Charlie Todd
Jimmy Shand – Ninety Years Young
by Ian Cameron
Whenever anyone reaches ninety it is a cause for celebrations but when that person is Jimmy Shand hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world feel they must add their good wishes. To so many people his name is magic and he is the magician who has transported them on musical journeys through their lives regardless of wherever they were staying. The Box and Fiddle and Scottish Country Dance communities have long recognised and appreciated his technical brilliance and innovations, while others have just ‘liked’ what they heard and requested more and more.
No-one could have foreseen when he was born on 28th January, 1908 in East Wemyss in Fife that as his life progressed he was to become the most loved and respected musician in Scotland and regarded as a musical ambassador all over the world. Music played an important part in the leisure time his family had and even as a young schoolboy Jimmy was always hoping for “a shot o’ dad’s box”. If permission was given Jimmy would spend hours practising, trying to emulate his father and his older brother Dod in the way they manipulated the keys, the spoon bass and the air-valve of the melodeon. As his skill developed he increased his repertoire by talking to and listening to the many gifted melodeon players who lived in the area. Another source of inspiration was the family phonograph with its collection of shiny black cylinders carefully kept in felt-lined boxes. This invention ensured that the family were introduced to various types of music until one day, when Jimmy and his brother Erskine were in the house themselves, the motor was over-wound and the spring snapped.
Before the Shands had their own gramophone Jimmy listened to recordings either at the school or outside a neighbour’s window and was greatly impressed by the music of Peter and Daniel Wyper, Peter Leatham, Jimmy Brown, Jack Williams and Palmy Dick. The person Jimmy admired most of all was Willie Hannah who was, as he has often said, “A master at playing waltzes, barn dances and two steps. I learned a lot o’ new tunes aff Hannah”.
By the time he was eleven he was playing at occasional dances supporting his brother Dod and in his late school days he was entering Go-As-You-Please competitions. These events were useful in getting Jimmy used to facing an audience, something he found very difficult as he was very shy and continued to be all his professional life. When he left school Jimmy worked in the mining industry for four years and although the work was hard and the hours long he did not neglect practising on his box, “After my shift doon the mine – a tune or twa every day”. Jimmy owned an International 19 Key, 4 Spoon bass and Air Valve melodeon in 1926 and he put it to good use in various competitions often coming home with first prize of ten bob. During the General Strike and Lock Out of that year Jimmy and others wandered from town to town playing for coppers to help subsidise the soup kitchens for miners families.
It was at this time that Jimmy met Johnny McDill, a skilled box player, who, apart from becoming a good friend, introduced him to the workings of the melodeon and taught him how to strip the instrument for repair and re-tuning. Jimmy was always grateful he was taught these skills and he put them into good use over the years. When the miners were finally forced back to work Jimmy decided to seek employment on the surface taking any job he could get and often having to travel many miles to get there. For seven years he was lucky if he worked two or three months each year and although he won some music competitions during this period he was often happy to play at weddings and other events knowing he would get his supper as a fee.
In 1933, while visiting friends and looking for work in Dundee, Jimmy was persuaded to enter the J.T. Forbes music shop to try some melodeons. Once inside he was introduced to Charles S. Forbes who listened to him playing and promptly offered him a job. Although he declined at the time Jimmy was working for Forbes as an accordion demonstrator before the end of the year. This contact with Charles Forbes was the start of a chain of events which have become part of the legend of Jimmy Shand and to the delight of millions of people all over the world, the legend happens to be true.
The recording sessions, the demonstration tours, the early solo broadcasts for the BBC, his first composition and the spread of his fame. The minimum of bellows movement when he played led one little girl to say to her mother, “The man just came oot, and just stood, and the music came itself!” His continuing interest in trying to improve the sound and performance of his melodeons led eventually to the Shand Morino. Despite his growing fame through the wireless and records, Jimmy felt that it was not until the early years of the Second World War that he learned to play Scottish music correctly in a disciplined form suitable for dancers and set dances. In later years the musical timing of the Shand Bands were to become their trade mark.
The almost endless band tours throughout the British Isles, Jimmy’s tours abroad, the countless broadcasts on radio and television, the famous recordings and his many awards as well as his endless charity work are all part of this remarkable man’s life. Sometimes the hectic workload has been brought to a halt by his body saying enough! And he has been seriously ill at times but he has always pulled through.
Much of what Jimmy has achieved would not have been possible if he had not been so wonderfully supported by his wife Anne and his family. Four days before his ninetieth birthday Jimmy and Anne celebrated their sixty-second wedding anniversary. Congratulations and Happy Birthday Jimmy Shand and may you have many more.
Composers Corner
P/M Willie Ross
by Bruce Campbell
The latter half of the 18th century saw the birth of many destined to become excellent pipers and indeed it seems an era in which great solo players were much more common place than today. Players of the calibre of George S. McLennan, Jimmy Center, George Allan, John MacDonald, Robert U. Brown and Bob Nicol were all a product of this time, yet one name rises above the rest and somehow manages to sparkle amongst an array of genuine stars – Willie Ross.
Born in Glenstrathfarrer in 1879, his father was Head Forrester to Lord Lovat, and it was in these surroundings that he spent his formative years. Willie Ross’s maternal Grand Uncle, Aneas Rose, was a first class piper and during his school holidays he traveled south to Blair Castle for instruction in the art of the Highland bagpipes. Throughout his long life Ross was regarded as something of a practical joker and story teller and one of his favourite ‘stories’ was how he was taught all of his piping by his mother. In fact he received nearly all of his formal instruction from Aneas Rose.
In 1896 he enlisted as a piper in the Scots Guards and on his departure from his native hills and glens composed that lovely, haunting slow air ‘Loch Morar’. Clearly already he had considerable piping talent and it didn’t take long before he became a formidable force on the piping contest circuit. He won the first of his major prizes, the Gold Medal for Piobaireachd at the Northern Meeting in 1904, and added Clasps to it in 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1912, 1919, 1923 and 1928. The Gold Medal at Oban was added to his list of successes in 1907 and further successes in the Oban Open Piobaireachd came in 1907, 1912 and 1928. In all he won a total of 11 Former Winners, March, Strathspey and Reels at either Oban or Inverness to prove he was as versatile in Ceol Beag as he was in Ceol Mor.
The Scots Guards recognised his outstanding talent and in 1905 he was appointed Pipe Major of the 2nd Battalion in succession to Henry Forsyth who later became piper to the Sovereign. Willie’s younger brother Alick also joined the Scots Guards and when he became the Pipe Major of the 1st Battalion in 1911 they created history as the only brothers ever to serve as Battalion Pipe Majors at the same time.
Unfortunately Army Pipers have always had their bit of soldiering to do as well and Pipe Major Ross saw considerable active service, firstly during the Boer War and latterly in France during World War 1. In 1918 he was invalided out of the Army with severe rheumatism that he had contracted in France.
After the cessation of hostilities the Piobaireachd Society was keen to appoint Pipe Major Ross as their permanent instructor in succession to John MacDonald. A stumbling block was the requirement of the instructor, who was also responsible for the Society’s Army Class, to be in some sort of military service. However, this was overcome when Lord Lovat appointed Ross as Pipe Major of the Lovat Scout’s and so began a period of 38 years during which time the Army Class became established as the Army School of Piping with its permanent home at Edinburgh Castle. During that time Willie Ross gave instruction to all of the best pipers in the British Army as well as the Commonwealth countries. Included amongst his best pupils are Gold Medalists Donald MacLeod, John MacLennan, Andrew Pitkeathly, Donald MacLean and, of course, his boy prodigy, John D. Burgess whom he taught from the age of seven. All of these men went on to become champion pipers in their own right and two of them, John MacLennan and Andrew Pitkeathly, became Directors of the Army School of Piping.
The five books of light music published by Patersons as the Pipe Major W. Ross Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music is considered to be the finest pipe collection ever printed. Many of Ross’s own excellent compositions are included and his settings of the classical style Marches, Strathspeys and Reels are considered by today’s leading players as standards. Of his own tunes ‘Leaving Port Askaig’, ‘Corriechoillie’, ‘Captain Norman Orr Ewing’, ‘Brigadier Ronald Cheape of Tororan’, ‘Centre’s Bonnet’ and ‘John Morrison of Assynt House’ are all well played by soloists and bands alike.
D. R. MacLennan once said of his playing, “he had good, crisp fingering, he could tickle the chanter”. This sums up the playing of a man who played at breakneck tempos, yet always cracked his notes and embellishments in with stunning accuracy. The old 78 rpm recordings of his playing are now collector’s pieces although a compilation tape was released some years ago by Piping tapes – the brainchild of a former pupil John MacLellan. Appropriately enough the cassette is simply called ‘The Legendary William Ross’.
In 1945 Pipe Major William Ross’s services to piping were recognised by his investiture as a member of the Order of the British Empire. In the years up to his death in 1966 he was known affectionately as Willie Ross, the Castle. A great man and a great figure in piping.
40 Years in Showbiz – The Alexander Brothers
by Charlie Todd
1998 marks a milestone in the careers of two of Scotland’s most successful stage performers – Tom and Jack, the Alexander Brothers, because it is now 40 years since the duos first appearance as professional entertainers.
I took the opportunity to speak to Tom when he visited Biggar Club, as guest artiste, and ask him where it all began. Tom was born in 1934 in the Cambusnethan area of Wishaw. Dad, Jimmy Alexander, was a steel worker with Clyde Alloy in Motherwell and mum, Helen, was a housewife who could sing and play the piano.
At the age of nine Tom started to learn the accordion with a succession of local teachers, half a dozen in all he reckons, and had reached such a level of proficiency that word spread locally and he was asked by perhaps the best known (and highly qualified) local teacher, Bill Brown of the Brown School of Accordion, to join his for tuition, which he did for 14 months. Indeed in 1952 Tom was entered for the Classical Section of the N.A.O. Championship at the Christian Institute in Glasgow. He was confident enough about playing the test pieces, ‘Bats at Sunset’ by Frosini and Eugene Ettore’s ‘Spanish Holiday’ but the trouble was his accordion, an old 140 bass Hohner, which he knew wouldn’t stand comparison with the rest of the competitors. The solution was to talk Bill Brown into lending him his Fratelli Crosio with which Tom took the title.
On leaving school both Tom and brother Jack had started as apprentice painter and decorators with ‘Torrance’ the painters in Motherwell. Meanwhile from about the age of about 14 into their early twenties the Brothers gained invaluable experience in front of live audiences by regularly attending ‘Go As You Please’ talent contests which were held in those days in every Miners Welfare. Tom changed from the Hohner to a Galanti Super Dominator, a box which suited the programme for these competitions which was light classics, ‘The Poet and Peasant Overture’, ‘The Carnival of Venice’ etc., - Scottish music came much later. Prize money initially was only £3, £2 ot £1 at the time but gradually it improved and mounted up until the great day when the family could afford to buy their first car, a 1939 Flying Standard.
This enabled dad, who did the driving initially, and the boys to travel further afield and attend larger contests.
It was when Jack completed his National Service in 1958 that the Brothers decided to give up their trade and try entertaining professionally. Their first season was in the Webster Theatre in Arbroath. Tom remembers it well. The stage dress was tuxedo and blue suede shoes and the programme was light classics. It didn’t work at all. The audience of holiday makers sat stony faced every night with the disinterred being broken occasionally by a cry of “Geeze the High Level son”. Obviously something would have to be done Obviously something would have to be done. An old comedian on the same bill suggested they try ‘The Road and the Miles tae Dundee’. They did and it worked. Rapidly the programme changed to Scottish (Tom made enquiries about what the High Level actually was) and dress changed firstly to tartan jackets, then later to kilts. They had found the recipe for success and they had learned a lot by doing it the hard way. In future they would mould their act to what the audience wanted to hear. Ross Bowie was to become their manager in 1959 and would stay with them for the next 35 years guiding them through many future successes.
More shows and summer seasons followed, then in 1962 came a major break. Songwriter Tony Hatch heard them and took them down to London to record ‘Nobody’s Child’. They weren’t the first incidentally. Hank Snow had recorded it in the U.S.A., as had the Beatles over here but both without success. For the Alexander Brothers however, it would be different. Their interpretation captured the mood of the moment and it took off, outselling even the current Beatles hits of the time. To date Tom reckons some 1.5 million copies have sold and let’s face it, even today, no slow foxtrot selection is complete without it. Tony also produced their first album ‘Highland Fling’ in 1962 which retailed at about 21/- in those days. It would be joined by a new LP recording in each of the next twelve years.
From 1967 till 1972 they hosted their new show on STV and it was also in 1967 that they made their first trip to Canada and the Unites States with Andy Stewart and the White Heather club. They have been back every year since and now working themselves make a spring and a fall tour of two to four weeks duration taking in venues in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver Island, Boston, New York and Baltimore. They also continue to make regular visits to Australia and New Zealand. One of Tom’s enduring memories is of the time Jimmy Shand returned to the Southern Hemisphere, scene of many of his own successful trips in earlier years, as their special guest in the early 1980’s. “It’s the only occasion I can recall of anyone getting a standing ovation as soon as they appeared on stage, before they performed”. Such was the magic associated with the name Jimmy Shand.
To celebrate their 40th professional year Tom and Jack are planning tours covering as many as possible of the venues in which they have appeared over the last 40 years. Details of dates and events are eagerly awaited by, amongst others, their official Fan Club. I hadn’t even been aware that one existed but it’s very much alive and in the capable hands of Springburn (Glasgow) born Flora Smyth.
Flora now runs the Club from her home in Drogheda in the Irish Republic. Membership is around the 400 mark and while the majority are Scots, England, Canada and the USA are well represented. Members are kept up to date by a regular newsletter while Flora journeys to hear the Brothers when they appear in Ireland or when she’s home on holiday in Scotland.
And what of the future? Well Tom says they have no immediate plans to retire from show business. Indeed since at the time of writing he was packing in preparation for a flight to South America with Jack and Peter Morrison to entertain for two weeks aboard a luxury cruise liner I ask myself ‘in his position would I?’ – and the answer as I look out at the January gales in an emphatic NO.
All that remains, therefore, is to thank Tom for his assistance in preparing this article and to wish both him and Jack continuing success in the future.
Saying Goodbye to the Committee
Our Outgoing Friend – Norrie Williams
by Jimmy Blue
On Norman Williams’ retiral from the Executive Committee of the N.A.A.F.C. I, as past Chairman, thought a few words of appreciation would not go amiss. Alec Little had, since he took over in 1974, really put Musselburgh on the map so that when he announced that he felt it was time to give up as Festival Organiser we were more than a little concerned. Who would – in fact, who COULD take on this mammoth task? Much to our relief, two names were suggested, one of which was Norrie Williams.
We all knew it was quite an undertaking and were delighted when Norrie agreed to take on the position. No sooner was the AGM over than Norrie was chatting up a few members and before the Celebration Lunch was over, he had his Committee appointed. He is never one to waste time! Festival Committee meetings, I have heard, were never dull – especially when originally they were held in the Salutation Hotel in Perth where, during one meeting, a pipe band was rehearsing on the premises! He conducted the meeting with one ear very definitely cocked!!
Nothing was too much bother for him to discuss or to cogitate over or to take action on. And with his wife, Sheila, at his side as Secretary, this was a formidable team. Norrie’s ability to listen to other points of view – and to disagree with them if he felt it necessary (he is a man of principle and of strong opinions) and his untiring interest in all aspects of Scottish music, meant that no stone was left unturned in improving and building up the Festival both in content and entries. He and Sheila enjoyed visiting other clubs and Festivals and were always welcome guests. Norrie is a very fine man and, although not always in good health, what he has done for the N.A.A.F.C., and, in particular, for the Musselburgh Festival, has been an outstanding contribution to our kind of music.
Bobby Crowe
by ?
Bobby Crowe the well-known Scottish danceband leader from Balmullo, Fife, was honoured by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in November for his ‘outstanding contribution’ to music. Bobby traveled to the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen to receive an illuminated scroll at the Society’s annual meeting. More than 500 members from as far afield as Japan and Canada were present as well as bandleaders from across the U.K.
The following week, Bobby, accompanied by his wife Agnes, was honoured by the Leeds and Doncaster Branch of the R.S.C.D.S. which presented him with a cheque and a limited edition print of a picture of the Yorkshire Dales.
Bobby originally played with the Olympian’s Dance Band. With his own band, he was a regular broadcaster and made numerous recordings, many of them for the R.S.C.D.S. for which he is now an adviser. Bobby was forced to retire from the music scene four years ago when he had a stroke but he never lost his interest in and enthusiasm for Scottish music. In fact, bobby is also a jazz enthusiast and has frequently traveled to hear Stephan Grapelli, Jack Emblow or Martin Green in concert.
Bobby recalls, “I suppose some of the highlights of my career have been playing for the Queen (three times) at Balmoral and appearing on ‘Sunlight Serenade’ which was televised in 1977 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. I have made more than 12 records over the years for the R.S.C.D.S. and I am really pleased that the Society has recognised my contribution and dedication to our musical heritage”.
The Session
by Dr Liam Farrell, General Practitioner, Co Armagh
One of the joys of Irish culture are our music sessions. You stagger out of the lashing rain into a pub, someone is playing in the corner. You grab a beer, whip out your fiddle or your guitar and get involved. More fun than Disneyland, more team spirit than the SAS, particularly at our annual Folk Festival, where we have never had any problems with the paramilitaries. ‘We know where you live’ we threaten them ‘and we’ll come and play outside your house”.
There is a down side. Music is in our blood they say, but so is cholesterol, and years of clandestine observation have led to the conclusion that there are many hidden dangers involved, and every instrument has its own unique hazards. The Corner House in Rostrevor has provided me with the following observational data, and any resemblance to persons alive or dead is right on the money.
Guitar – a gentleman has been defined as someone who doesn’t play the guitar at a session. It is a perilous diversion. If you play it badly, the other musicians will hate you. If you play it well, the other guitarists – that is, 90% of the other musicians – will hate you. So beware of being mugged on the way home. Bring bandages and antiseptic and get insured.
Uileann pipes – for some bizarre, unfathomable reason beautiful, exotic foreign women find grotesquely sweaty, hairy, ruddy featured men, maniacally pumping their right elbow, irresistibly attractive. So before rushing out for lessons, stop at the chemist for supplies.
Fiddle – Virtuosos, believing that all others are there only to give them backing, can develop paranoid delusions of supremacy and rush out at any moment to receive imaginary awards. May need sedation. Their ‘flying right elbow’ can cause eye, skull and dental injuries to unwary neighbours.
Doubles bass – He-men, they moonlight as lumberjacks and have wrists thicker than a fiddler’s waist, which they could wrench as easily as a chicken’s neck. Luckily they are gentle and easily intimidated. Can get splinters, so bring tweezers and local anesthetic.
Bodhran – a kind of drum. The instrument of last resort, for those who can play nothing else and basically an excuse to hang out with the band for a drink. These unfortunate individuals are prone to depression, because everyone else, even the guitarists, at worst despises and at best feels pity towards them – that is ‘pity we’ve no shotgun’. Bulletproof clothing is advisable and be ready to borrow the bass man’s tweezers to extract the pellets from your arse.
Accordion – the musical equivalent of an infectious, purulent skin rash, which is a bizarre coincidence as they sweat profusely with the effort required to carry the damn thing and are prone to develop infectious, purulent skin rashes.
Banjo – suffer from a chronic inferiority complex, but, as they constantly reassure themselves, at least they ain’t guitarists. Hate mandolin players for associated personalities. Usually have domineering mothers, and make particularly pathetic and offensively melancholy drunks.
Tin whistle – prone to falling forward when stuporous and consequently liable to teeth and palate injury. As the whistle is usually still in position. Gumshields are advised and uniquely, mat improve the appearance.
Flute – slobber a lot, so other musicians must sit some distance away lest body fluids are inadvertently exchanged. It is stating the obvious that they are usually farmers.
Mandolin – bags of street cred, but this instrument is utterly inaudible, the musician often wears a wet T-shirt to attract attention. Chronic chest problems as a consequence.
It is indeed a perverse and bizarre world where you need a license to own a dog yet any fool can play a bodhran. But are we simply avoiding intimacy issues in a fog of wild ceilidh tunes and whisky fumes? And who wants to be there when the music stops?
Record Review
Alastair Hunter & the Lorne SDB - Lorne Choice of Scottish Country Dances – Deeay Music – DACD9716
Eilidh Shaw – Heepirumbo – Greentrax – CDTRAX131
Fergie MacDonald – the 21st Album – Greentrax – CDTRAX129
The Inverness Fiddlers – Ruby’s Reel - Ness Bank Records – INFC0001
Roy Hendrie – A Different Blend – ROYCD5
Book Review
Puirt a Eilean Leodhais (Tunes from the Isle of Lewis) Book 4 - Ian Crichton
The Eildon Collection. Original Compositions for Accordion and Fiddle – by Paul Chamberlain
Take the Floor – Saturdays at 6.30pm with Robbie Shepherd
7th Feb 98 – Michael Garvin SDB
14th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner SDB
21st Feb 98 – West Telferton Caledonian Ceilidh Band
28th Feb 98 – James Coutts SDB
7th Mar 98 – Neil Barron SDB
14th Mar 98 – Ian Muir SDB
21st Mar 98 – David Cunningham SDB
28th Mar 98 – Robert Black All Stars
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Dee Motel) – 24th Feb 98 – Ian H. Cruickshank Quartet (Elgin)
Alnwick (White Swan Hotel) – members only 11th Feb 98 - tba
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 15th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner SDB
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 1st Feb 98 – James Coutts SDB
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 5th Feb 98 – John Morgan
Ayr (Gartferry Hotel) – 1st Feb 98 – Carlyle Family Band
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Hall) – 15th Feb 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 23rd Feb 98 – Craig McCallum SDB
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 25thn Feb 98 – Alastair Salter & Ian Thow
Beith & District (Hotel de Croft, Dalry) – 16th Feb 98 – Colin Dewar Trio
Belford (Community Club) – 26th Feb 98 – Andy Gregg
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 8th Feb 98 – Tom Porteous & Friends
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 10th Feb 98 – Ian Anderson & Jim Ritchie
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 10th Feb 97 – Club Night
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 12th Feb 98 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Campbeltown (Royal or Argyll Hotel) - tba
Campsie (Glazert House Hotel) - 3rd Feb 98 – Robert Black SDB
Carlisle (Border Regiment Club, Carlisle Castle) - 5th Feb 98 – Gary Blair Duo
Castle Douglas (Ernespie House Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Tommy Ford
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 19th Feb 98 – Burns Brothers
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 8th Feb 98 – Local players
Crieff & District (Arduthie Hotel) 5th Feb 97 – John Stuart & the Scott Lee Band
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) 17th Feb 98 - tba
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – Hector MacFadyen SDB
Dunblane (Westlands Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner Trio
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 10th Feb 98 – Gary Donaldson
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 6th Feb 98 – no meeting
East Kilbride (Sweepers, Cambuslang) – 26th Feb 98 – Alan Gardiner Trio
Ellon (Ladbroke Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Aberdeen Club
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 23rd Feb 98 – Seamus O’Sullivan
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 22nd Fen 98 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Forres (Brig Motel) – 11th Feb 98 – Julie MacRitchie Trio
Fort William (Alexandra Hotel) –
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 5th Feb 98 – no meeting
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 9th Feb 98 – Roy Hendrie
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel – Wooler) – 19th Feb 98 – Max Houliston
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 4th Feb 98 – Jim Berry
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 24th Feb 98 - tba
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 18th Feb 98 – Coila Sound
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 16th Feb 98 – Gordon Gunn
Inveraray (Loch Fyne Hotel) - 3rd Feb 98 – McColl’s Ceilidh Band
Islay (White Hart Hotel) -
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 5th Feb 98 – Black Rose Ceilidh Band
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 3rd Feb 98 – Donald Ridley
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 25th Feb 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – West Telferton Caledonian CB
Lanark (Masonic Hall) - 26th Feb 98 – Pentland Ceilidh Band
Langholm (Crown Hotel) –
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 12th Feb 98 – Seamus O’Sullivan
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 5th Feb 98 – Jock Fraser SDB
Livingston (The Hilton National Hotel) - 19th Feb 98 – Roger Dobson SDB
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 24th Feb 98 – Jim Cleland Quartet
Mauchline (Sorn Village Hall) 17th Feb 98 – Roy Hendrie Trio
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 4th Feb 98 – AGM & Bruce Lindsay
Muirhead (Belmont Arms, Meigle) -
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 23rd Feb 98 – Sandy Legget & the Carseloch CB
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 3rd Feb 98 – Gordon Pattullo
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 5th Feb 98 – local players
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) –
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – 26th Feb 98 – The Bon Accords
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – Simon Howie SDB
Premier NI (Camlin Function Rooms) -
Reading Fiddlers (Piggot School) -
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 10th Feb 98 – Judith Linton Trio
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 5th Feb 98 – Lynne Valley Band
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 5th Feb 98 – Judith Linton Trio
Shetland (venue?) - 26th Feb 98 – Black Rose Ceilidh Band
Stirling (Terraces Hotel) - 8th Feb 98 – Gordon Shand SDB
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) -
Thornhill (Dumfries-shire) - 11th Feb 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 2nd Feb 98 – Local Band Night
Turriff (Royal Oak Hotel) – 5th Feb 98 – Alan & Jan Roy
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 3rd Feb 98 – no meeting
Wick (McKay’s Hotel) – 17th Feb 98 – The Wick Fiddlers
Yarrow (Gordon Arms) - 18th Feb 98 – Bill Black SDB
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Annan
3. Arbroath
4. Balloch
5. Banchory
6. Banff
7. Beith
8. Biggar
9. Blairgowrie
10. Bromley
11. Button Key
12. Campsie
13. Carlisle
14. Castle Douglas
15. Coalburn
16. Crieff
17. Dingwall
18. Dunfermline
19. Dunoon & Cowal
20. East Kilbride
21. Fintry
22. Forres
23. Galston
24. Glendale
25. Glenrothes
26. Gretna
27. Islesteps
28. Kelso
29. Kintore
30. Lanark
31. Lesmahagow
32. Livingston
33. Lockerbie
34. Montrose
35. Muirhead
36. Newtongrange
37. North East
38. Oban
39. Perth
40. Reading Fiddlers
41. Rothbury
42. Shetland
43. Stirling
44. Thornhill
45. Thurso
46. Turriff
47. Tynedale
48. Wick
49. Yarrow
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT SEPT 1997
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Sept 1976 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started?
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
7. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
8. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
9. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
10. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
11. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
12. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
13. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
14. Bromley A&F Club
15. Button Key A&F Club (
16. Campbeltown A&F Club (
17. Campsie A&F Club (
18. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
19. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
20. Coalburn A&F Club (
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
23. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
24. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
25. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
26. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
27. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
28. Ellon A&F Club (
29. Etterick & Yarrow (Jan 1989 -
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
34. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
35. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
36. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
37. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
38. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
39. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
40. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
41. Inveraray A&F Club (Oct 1991 - present)
42. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
43. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
44. Isle of Skye A&F Club (
45. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
46. Kintore A&F Club (
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (first mention 1986? - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
57. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
58. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
59. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
60. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
61. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
62. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
63. Renfrew A&F Club (
64. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
65. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
66. Selkirk A&F Club (
67. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
68. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
69. Sutherland A&F Club (
70. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
71. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
72. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
73. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
74. Vancouver
75. Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
76. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
77. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
78. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
79. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
80. Buchan A&F Club
81. Callander A&F Club (
82. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
83. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
84. Club Accord
85. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
86. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
87. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
88. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
89. Derwentside A&F Club
90. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
91. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
92. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
93. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
94. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
95. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
96. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
97. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
98. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
99. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
100. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
101. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
102. Mull A&F Club
103. Newcastleton Accordion Club
104. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
105. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
106. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
107. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
108. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
109. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
110. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
111. Tranent A&F Club
112. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
113. Wellbank A&F Club
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