Year 1 No 5 - February 1978
On the anniversary of Burns’ birthday (January 25th) well over 200 people were in the Brig Motel, Forres, to witness the birth of the Forres A&F Club. Andy Ross was MC and extended a welcome to all those present, while the honour of being the first to play at the Club fell to Ian Anderson and his Band who opened the evening in rousing style with ‘The Duke of Perth.’
Local artiste Alison Gray followed with a couple of fiddle selections and then we had 12-year-old Vince Hendry from Elgin who captivated the audience with his playing of a couple of Continental items on accordion, and as an encore played ‘The Dark Island’ with much skill and feeling. Members of the Keith (North East) Club were very much in evidence and the following entertained – Alison Shand, Yvonne Shand, Hector Morrison, Walter Rutherford and Maureen Rutherford.
Our first guest artiste was also from Keith, Graeme Mitchell, the 1977 Scottish Traditional Senior Accordion Champion , and accompanying him were Billy Raeburn (fiddle), Billy Brown (drums) and Maureen Rutherford (piano) and they brought the first half to an end with some marvellous selections.
After a short interval, during which the raffle was drawn, Ian and his Band opened the second half and featured Ewen Cameron on fiddle with a hornpipe and a couple of Shetland reels. Other artistes who participated were ‘Burke and Hair’ of Forres Folk Club (fiddle and guitar) and Davie Davidson (Keith) who gave some ‘spirited’ selections on melodeon. We also had soloists George Anderson from Keith on accordion and local fiddler Charlie Armour, who was accompanied by Ray Mackenzie (piano) and Geordie Hutcheson (drums). Unfortunately, Charlie’s brother Ian was laid low with flu and was most disappointed to have missed our opening night.
The last soloist of the evening was Forres exile Robbie McLean on button key box. Graham Mitchell again enthralled the audience in his second spot and the evening closed with the grand stramash led by himself and most of the artistes mentioned above, together with Bob Watt from Carron, who was persuaded to bring in his accordion from the car by the local Chairman of his fan club! A really enjoyable evening drew to a close around 11.30pm with a vote of thanks to all artistes and accompanists Ena Anderson and Maureen Rutherford.
Our next Club meeting falls on 8th February when our guests will be the Elgin S&R Society. As the audience made its way home on a very frosty night the consensus was that they had had an evening of first-class entertainment and we hope that this will set the Club off on the right foot for a long and happy existence.
On the anniversary of Burns’ birthday (January 25th) well over 200 people were in the Brig Motel, Forres, to witness the birth of the Forres A&F Club. Andy Ross was MC and extended a welcome to all those present, while the honour of being the first to play at the Club fell to Ian Anderson and his Band who opened the evening in rousing style with ‘The Duke of Perth.’
Local artiste Alison Gray followed with a couple of fiddle selections and then we had 12-year-old Vince Hendry from Elgin who captivated the audience with his playing of a couple of Continental items on accordion, and as an encore played ‘The Dark Island’ with much skill and feeling. Members of the Keith (North East) Club were very much in evidence and the following entertained – Alison Shand, Yvonne Shand, Hector Morrison, Walter Rutherford and Maureen Rutherford.
Our first guest artiste was also from Keith, Graeme Mitchell, the 1977 Scottish Traditional Senior Accordion Champion , and accompanying him were Billy Raeburn (fiddle), Billy Brown (drums) and Maureen Rutherford (piano) and they brought the first half to an end with some marvellous selections.
After a short interval, during which the raffle was drawn, Ian and his Band opened the second half and featured Ewen Cameron on fiddle with a hornpipe and a couple of Shetland reels. Other artistes who participated were ‘Burke and Hair’ of Forres Folk Club (fiddle and guitar) and Davie Davidson (Keith) who gave some ‘spirited’ selections on melodeon. We also had soloists George Anderson from Keith on accordion and local fiddler Charlie Armour, who was accompanied by Ray Mackenzie (piano) and Geordie Hutcheson (drums). Unfortunately, Charlie’s brother Ian was laid low with flu and was most disappointed to have missed our opening night.
The last soloist of the evening was Forres exile Robbie McLean on button key box. Graham Mitchell again enthralled the audience in his second spot and the evening closed with the grand stramash led by himself and most of the artistes mentioned above, together with Bob Watt from Carron, who was persuaded to bring in his accordion from the car by the local Chairman of his fan club! A really enjoyable evening drew to a close around 11.30pm with a vote of thanks to all artistes and accompanists Ena Anderson and Maureen Rutherford.
Our next Club meeting falls on 8th February when our guests will be the Elgin S&R Society. As the audience made its way home on a very frosty night the consensus was that they had had an evening of first-class entertainment and we hope that this will set the Club off on the right foot for a long and happy existence.