Year 20 No 4 – December 95 / January 96
It was a murky Hallowe’en evening as a group of sinister conspirators huddled in a dark hotel corridor in Lennoxtown. The plot was hatched and the Campsie A&F Club was born.
The main inspiration for the Club came from Billy Hutton of Milton of Campsie. Over the past season Billy and I have regularly attended Dunblane, Stirling and Fintry Clubs and have been occasional visitors to Balloch and Milngavie. On the long journeys back he often floated the idea of a Club nearer home but I think the night we came out of Stirling Club to find a parking ticket on the car was the real decider.
November 7th was fixed as the first meeting and thereafter panic set in. There was much rushing about to arrange the hotel, the newspaper adverts, the posters and the mentions on radio. The 7th seemed to come all to quickly and the hotel function room seemed very lonely as we set out the seats. Was this a case of ‘where angels fear to tread?’ Apprehension proved to be unfounded. The first paying guest arrived at 7.15pm and from then on there was a steady stream. Our supply of ‘Box and Fiddles’ was exhausted within 15 minutes and I was soon begging the hotel manager for more chairs as we reached a capacity audience.
We had a marvelous selection of players and a great audience. The standard was excellent and all the players were well received by the audience. Many thanks are due to the players who were – Accordion Iain Lockhart, Alec Fitzsimmons, Donald Watson, Janet Graham, Andrew Muirhead, Neil McMillan, Iain Anderson, Donald MacLeod, Alasdair MacLeod, Pauline Bradley, Duncan McCallum.
Fiddle – Ross Thompson, John Lightbody.
Drums Steven Mills.
Keyboard Alasdair MacLeod.
Mouth organ – Eric Smith
I hope they will all continue to support the Club.
The guest artiste was Duncan Black (on accordion) with Neil McMillan on keyboard and Billy Thom on drums. I have often had the out-of-body experience of dancing to the sounds of Neil McMillan and Duncan Black at the Winnoch Hotel in Drymen. Their Sunday sessions are the tops.
When they arrived to do the guest artiste spot I was absolutely delighted, especially when Billy Thom on drums was added to the equation. With that mischievous twinkle in his eye, Duncan looked into space, his fingers started moving and what followed was pure magic. The audience were thrilled. Too soon the evening was over.
Our first meeting has made us confident that a Club covering the Campsie and surrounding area is viable.
Robin Christie
It was a murky Hallowe’en evening as a group of sinister conspirators huddled in a dark hotel corridor in Lennoxtown. The plot was hatched and the Campsie A&F Club was born.
The main inspiration for the Club came from Billy Hutton of Milton of Campsie. Over the past season Billy and I have regularly attended Dunblane, Stirling and Fintry Clubs and have been occasional visitors to Balloch and Milngavie. On the long journeys back he often floated the idea of a Club nearer home but I think the night we came out of Stirling Club to find a parking ticket on the car was the real decider.
November 7th was fixed as the first meeting and thereafter panic set in. There was much rushing about to arrange the hotel, the newspaper adverts, the posters and the mentions on radio. The 7th seemed to come all to quickly and the hotel function room seemed very lonely as we set out the seats. Was this a case of ‘where angels fear to tread?’ Apprehension proved to be unfounded. The first paying guest arrived at 7.15pm and from then on there was a steady stream. Our supply of ‘Box and Fiddles’ was exhausted within 15 minutes and I was soon begging the hotel manager for more chairs as we reached a capacity audience.
We had a marvelous selection of players and a great audience. The standard was excellent and all the players were well received by the audience. Many thanks are due to the players who were – Accordion Iain Lockhart, Alec Fitzsimmons, Donald Watson, Janet Graham, Andrew Muirhead, Neil McMillan, Iain Anderson, Donald MacLeod, Alasdair MacLeod, Pauline Bradley, Duncan McCallum.
Fiddle – Ross Thompson, John Lightbody.
Drums Steven Mills.
Keyboard Alasdair MacLeod.
Mouth organ – Eric Smith
I hope they will all continue to support the Club.
The guest artiste was Duncan Black (on accordion) with Neil McMillan on keyboard and Billy Thom on drums. I have often had the out-of-body experience of dancing to the sounds of Neil McMillan and Duncan Black at the Winnoch Hotel in Drymen. Their Sunday sessions are the tops.
When they arrived to do the guest artiste spot I was absolutely delighted, especially when Billy Thom on drums was added to the equation. With that mischievous twinkle in his eye, Duncan looked into space, his fingers started moving and what followed was pure magic. The audience were thrilled. Too soon the evening was over.
Our first meeting has made us confident that a Club covering the Campsie and surrounding area is viable.
Robin Christie