Year 21 No 5 – February 1998
On Friday, 21st November, 1997, Reading Scottish Fiddlers hosted a concert / ceilidh at Piggott School, Wargarve, Berkshire. The group, some 20 strong, which included several youngsters who were new to this type of music and one or two ‘oldsters’ who knew no other kind of music, entertained an enthusiastic audience with about eight or nine sets of tunes.
These sets ranged from pipe marches to Scottish waltzes and the warm arrangement of Mary o’ Argyll was particularly well received.
The special guests for this occasion, making a rare appearance in the area were Nicol McLaren and the Glencraig SDB. Nicol on lead accordion was supported by Gordon Howe (fiddle), Neil Caul (second accordion), David Bell (drums) and Maureen Rutherford (keyboard / vocals). The band played with their usual verve / gusto and the punters who understood Nicol’s jokes laughed and the ones who didn’t understand them laughed anyway. It was therefore difficult to complete any valid performance measurement on the subject of Nicol’s jokes. Much of the material (i.e. music, not jokes) will be included in the forthcoming album).
The second half was more or less dedicated to ceilidh dancing, which, alas, is still rare in these parts. A notable exception was the Highland Dance demonstrated by a local fiddler, Teri Robertson of the Scottish National Dance Company. This showed a lot of originality and inventiveness and was much appreciated by an audience who were clearly enjoying themselves. The final eightsome was played by all the musicians with most of the dancers taking part.
All in all, a very successful and most enjoyable evening and a lot of punters had the bonus of being able to dance to a band at a Country Dance held nearby on the following evening. For those readers who majored in geography, the Royal County of Berkshire will no longer exist after April 1998.
Stuart Forbes
On Friday, 21st November, 1997, Reading Scottish Fiddlers hosted a concert / ceilidh at Piggott School, Wargarve, Berkshire. The group, some 20 strong, which included several youngsters who were new to this type of music and one or two ‘oldsters’ who knew no other kind of music, entertained an enthusiastic audience with about eight or nine sets of tunes.
These sets ranged from pipe marches to Scottish waltzes and the warm arrangement of Mary o’ Argyll was particularly well received.
The special guests for this occasion, making a rare appearance in the area were Nicol McLaren and the Glencraig SDB. Nicol on lead accordion was supported by Gordon Howe (fiddle), Neil Caul (second accordion), David Bell (drums) and Maureen Rutherford (keyboard / vocals). The band played with their usual verve / gusto and the punters who understood Nicol’s jokes laughed and the ones who didn’t understand them laughed anyway. It was therefore difficult to complete any valid performance measurement on the subject of Nicol’s jokes. Much of the material (i.e. music, not jokes) will be included in the forthcoming album).
The second half was more or less dedicated to ceilidh dancing, which, alas, is still rare in these parts. A notable exception was the Highland Dance demonstrated by a local fiddler, Teri Robertson of the Scottish National Dance Company. This showed a lot of originality and inventiveness and was much appreciated by an audience who were clearly enjoying themselves. The final eightsome was played by all the musicians with most of the dancers taking part.
All in all, a very successful and most enjoyable evening and a lot of punters had the bonus of being able to dance to a band at a Country Dance held nearby on the following evening. For those readers who majored in geography, the Royal County of Berkshire will no longer exist after April 1998.
Stuart Forbes