Year 33 No 03 November 2009
We started the season in September with a tribute to our late Founder, Alex MacArthur, who died 20 years ago in October 1989. Needless to say there was only one choice of guest artiste – nephew Nicol McLaren and the Glencraig SDB. As always Nicol rose to the occasion and fielded a 6-piece band with Davie Bell on drums, John Sinton on string bass, Issy Hodgson of keyboard, Alan Gardiner on second box (standing in at short notice for Meil Caul who was calvin’ a coo), Gordon Howe on fiddle and Nicol himself on lead. 2009 also marks the 35th season of the Club which started in 1974 and Nicol was there on that very first night at The Clydesdale Hotel just across the road (he’s obviously a lot older than we thought!)
Nicol was playing his late uncle’s straight tuned Domino IV and interspersed a variety of Alex’s original sets (which brought back a flood of memories) and medleys of the tunes which Alex had played, with some of his own more recent sets. We were also delighted to have three generations with us for the evening, namely Evelyn MacArthur, daughter Fiona and grand-daughter Heather.
Local players on the night were accordionists Charlie Todd, Jennifer Cowie, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Alan Gardiner and Iain MacPhail, who made a surprise but very welcome visit to the Club.
On fiddle were Emma Gardiner and Tom Gold.
On concertina David Corner.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner and Keith Dickson.
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom hope, Andrew Gibb and Neil McGregor (who made the trip all the way from Thurso). We also had a couple of excellent vocal renditions from Shelley Clark.
We have no meeting in October (due to the number of players attending The Shetland Festival)
Year 33 No 04 December 2009
Our November meeting attracted a good turnout and an excellent response from local players. Congratulations in particular to one of those, 16-year-old Andrew Gibb, on his recent wins at the Perth Festival – the Senior Scottish, the Senior Pipe, the Trio and the Bands and not forgetting his teacher, of course, Keith Dickson. Well done to them both.
On accordions we had James Paterson, Charlie Todd, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Duncan Hutchison, Alan Gardiner, Fiona Paul, Paul Capaldi, Lynne Christie, Scott Nichol, Willlie McFarlane and Darren Broadley.
On fiddle were Tom Gold, Robert Menzies, David Corner and Emma Gardiner.
On keyboard were Jim Nichol, Alan Gardiner and Jim Gold.
On drums James Paterson, George Shiels, Tom Hope, Andrew Barrie and Andrew Gibb.
David Corner gave us a couple of concertina selections.
All in all a very respectable turnout.
Accordionist Robert Menzies was invited up to the recent Shetland Festival as a solo fiddler, which speaks volumes for his ability on his ‘second instrument’. The talents of some of these young players seem to know no bounds.
Our guests for the evening were the well traveled and ever popular Marian Anderson SDB with Marian taking the lead, Graham Bell on second accordion, Issy Hodgson on keyboard and Max Ketchin on drums. Marian mentioned they had recently been playing in North Carolina, quite a difference from a freezing cold night in South Lanarkshire I imagine. They gave us an interesting and varied programme with some rather nice arrangements away from the country dance idiom. Many thanks to them for making the long journey to entertain us so ably.
Year 33 No 06 February 2010
December - Once again the weather played havoc with our audience numbers (and players also for that matter) with a weekend of severe frost. The Council seems to be saving on the gritting this year, certainly as far as the side roads go, and as a result many of our regulars understandably opted to stay at home. But for those who did turn out it was the usual feast of Festive entertainment.
On accordions were Jim Gold, Andrew and Adam Gibb, Emma Dickson, Charlie Todd and Alan Gardiner and we were particularly pleased to see Dochie McCallum (who came through with our guests) and John Weaks who made the long journey from Glasgow to be with us.
On fiddle were Tom Gold, Emma Gardiner, Hannah Dickson and David Corner.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner, Adam Gibb and Keith Dickson and
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, James Dickson, Andrew Gibb and Andrew Barrie.
David Corner gave us a few selections on his concertina.
Good to see so many young players taking the stage and giving such an excellent account of themselves and all credit to their teachers for their guidance and encouragement.
Guests for the evening were The Ian Muir Trio, with Ian taking the lead accordion, Neil McMillan on keyboard and Ian Adamson from Cupar on drums. As usual the boys gave a sparkling performance of Scottish dance music with various other idioms thrown in for good measure interspersed with Ian’s excellent jokes and anecdotes.
Year 33 No 07 March 2010
After a January cancellation due to the prevailing weather conditions it was all systems go for our February meeting. Chairman, Alan Gardiner, opened the meeting with a mention of the sad and untimely death of one of our most regular supporters, Jim Paterson from Peebles on 2nd February, and extended the sympathy of everyone at the Club to Jim’s family. The Club had been well represented among the many hundreds of mourners at Jim’s funeral earlier in the week, a mark of the esteem in which he was held by all.
But back to the regular business of the evening. Our guests were a young band based in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire – The David Kennedy SDB – with David taking lead accordion, Alele Queen (Closeburn) on second accordion, Steven Todd (Dalkeith) on keyboard, Tom Gold (Douglas) on fiddle and Andrew Gibb (Biggar) on drums. It almost goes without saying that almost all are pupils of Keith Dickson. David explained that he had been suffering from a cold for the last couple of weeks and wasn’t feeling 100% but the band put on an excellent performance, giving us a variety of tempos. Also of note was the piece played by Adele when she took the lead, a lovely and technically demanding Continental Polka entitled Perles de Crystal backed by Steven, Andrew and David. The band brought a large contingent of family and friends with them, which helped fill the hall and create a great atmosphere.
Local musicians who turned out to support us were :-
Accordionists – JimmGold, Riddell Cairns, Fiona Sinclair, Charlie Todd, Alan Gardiner, Andrew Gibb and Bobby Elder (all the way from Auchtermuchty in Fife.)
On concertina was David Corner.
On fiddle Emma Gardiner and Tom Gold.
On keyboard were Jim Gold, Keith Dickson and Alan Gardiner.
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, Ross Anderson and Garry Kellow, also visiting us from Kinross in Fife. Many thanks to them all for their excellent contribution.
Year 33 No 08 April 2010
March was a busier than usual month at the Biggar Club with a ‘Pre-Inshyra’ Dance at Ravenstruther Hall on Friday 12th March followed by the Club meeting itself on Sunday 14th March. It was decided that since our Club Chairman, Alan Gardiner, was bringing his band together to do the Inshyra dance, it was an ideal opportunity to hold the first Club Dance for many years. Inevitably, as always seems to happen, it clashed with other local dances but 75 attended and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Alan was accompanied by the far traveled Richard Currieon keyboard, wife Emma on fiddle, Keith Dickson on second box and Andrew Barrie on drums. Thanks to the Committee and Chrissie and Sandra, who looked after the catering, for all their hard work on the night.
A few of us who attended the dance then had the pleasure of attending the NAAFC’s Annual Competitions the following day at the Inshyra Hotel, Grangemouth. A marvelous day of accordion and fiddle playing with a record number of entries. Congratulations to the hard working Committee who put the day together. As mentioned above it was rounded off by the Grand Dance with our very own Alan Gardiner and his SDB while at the same time his nephew, Blair Gardiner from Law Village, was broadcasting for the first time on Take the Floor with Alan on second box. A real family ‘day out’.
The guest artiste for our Club meeting on Sunday evening was the extremely talented James Lindsay Trio from Guildtown. We were expecting great things and the lads, James on lead, Ron Kerr on fiddle and Graham Berry on keyboard, didn’t let us down. Their programme was varied and interesting with highlights such as Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5, Bel Fiore – played in a 40 bar arrangement for the dance ‘Marigold’ – and several of Ron Kerr’s excellent compositions. A thoroughly memorable performance.
Supporting us on the night were accordionists Jim Gold, Paul Capaldi, Riddell Cairns, Charlie Todd, Katie Todd, Steven Todd, Emma Dickson, David Kennedy, Scott Nichol and Blair Gardiner with David Corner on concertina.
On fiddle were Tom Gold and Hannah Dickson.
On keyboard we had Jim Gold, Keith Dickson, Jim and Scott Nichol and Dorothy Lawson and finally on drums we had Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, Andrew Barrie and David Kennedy.
Several of our players had successes at the NAAFC Competitions the previous day hence we were treated to some superb playing. If I could single one piece out as particularly outstanding it has to be Dance of the Comedians a lengthy and testing classical piece which was performed by young Emma Dickson. Congratulations to all who competed, winners or not, and to their teacher Keith Dickson for all his efforts to keep traditional music alive.
Year 33 No 09 May 2010
April - Our last night of the season saw the Club moving to a new venue for the first time in many years – so it was goodbye to The Municipal Hall and hello to The Biggar Bowling Club just off Edinburgh Road at the top end of Biggar. Since this was decided at rather short notice after the Council decided to double the hall charges on a Sunday from the start of April, many thanks to Tom gold Snr for spending his first hour redirecting people to the new venue.
Our guest artiste for the evening was one-time local lad Nicky McMichan and his Trio. Originally from Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Nicky is now based a bit further north in Muir of Ord. Accompanying him were Matthew MacLennan on second accordion and Seonaid MacPherson from Oban on drums. Oh and not forgetting Seonaid’s ‘Heinz 57’ terrier Meg, who lay attentively at her feet during the two performances.
Nicky and his colleagues gave us an excellent selection of Scottish dance musicrather unusually, these days, played on two Domino Morino Vs. There’s still nothing to beat the sound. Good tempos and good tunes, with a few own compositions, held the audiences attentionthroughout both sessions. It was also good to see amongst the audience, for the first time in a while, Rob and Elizabeth Wood, parents of another one-time local accordionist, Shetland-based Peter Wood.
Local players who came along to support us on the evening were :-
Accordionists – Charlie Todd, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Paul Capaldi, Alan Gardiner, Kevin Gardiner, Sheena and Emma Dickson and Jennifer Cowie.
On fiddle were Emma Gardiner, Hannah Dickson and Tom Gold.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner and Keith Dickson.
On concertina was David Corner.
On drums Tom Hope, Andrew Gibb, Andrew Barrie, Ross Anderson and James Dickson.
It’s not often a whole family can take to the stage as a very competent band but when dad is renowned local teacher Keith Dickson it is perhaps less surprising.
We started the season in September with a tribute to our late Founder, Alex MacArthur, who died 20 years ago in October 1989. Needless to say there was only one choice of guest artiste – nephew Nicol McLaren and the Glencraig SDB. As always Nicol rose to the occasion and fielded a 6-piece band with Davie Bell on drums, John Sinton on string bass, Issy Hodgson of keyboard, Alan Gardiner on second box (standing in at short notice for Meil Caul who was calvin’ a coo), Gordon Howe on fiddle and Nicol himself on lead. 2009 also marks the 35th season of the Club which started in 1974 and Nicol was there on that very first night at The Clydesdale Hotel just across the road (he’s obviously a lot older than we thought!)
Nicol was playing his late uncle’s straight tuned Domino IV and interspersed a variety of Alex’s original sets (which brought back a flood of memories) and medleys of the tunes which Alex had played, with some of his own more recent sets. We were also delighted to have three generations with us for the evening, namely Evelyn MacArthur, daughter Fiona and grand-daughter Heather.
Local players on the night were accordionists Charlie Todd, Jennifer Cowie, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Alan Gardiner and Iain MacPhail, who made a surprise but very welcome visit to the Club.
On fiddle were Emma Gardiner and Tom Gold.
On concertina David Corner.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner and Keith Dickson.
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom hope, Andrew Gibb and Neil McGregor (who made the trip all the way from Thurso). We also had a couple of excellent vocal renditions from Shelley Clark.
We have no meeting in October (due to the number of players attending The Shetland Festival)
Year 33 No 04 December 2009
Our November meeting attracted a good turnout and an excellent response from local players. Congratulations in particular to one of those, 16-year-old Andrew Gibb, on his recent wins at the Perth Festival – the Senior Scottish, the Senior Pipe, the Trio and the Bands and not forgetting his teacher, of course, Keith Dickson. Well done to them both.
On accordions we had James Paterson, Charlie Todd, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Duncan Hutchison, Alan Gardiner, Fiona Paul, Paul Capaldi, Lynne Christie, Scott Nichol, Willlie McFarlane and Darren Broadley.
On fiddle were Tom Gold, Robert Menzies, David Corner and Emma Gardiner.
On keyboard were Jim Nichol, Alan Gardiner and Jim Gold.
On drums James Paterson, George Shiels, Tom Hope, Andrew Barrie and Andrew Gibb.
David Corner gave us a couple of concertina selections.
All in all a very respectable turnout.
Accordionist Robert Menzies was invited up to the recent Shetland Festival as a solo fiddler, which speaks volumes for his ability on his ‘second instrument’. The talents of some of these young players seem to know no bounds.
Our guests for the evening were the well traveled and ever popular Marian Anderson SDB with Marian taking the lead, Graham Bell on second accordion, Issy Hodgson on keyboard and Max Ketchin on drums. Marian mentioned they had recently been playing in North Carolina, quite a difference from a freezing cold night in South Lanarkshire I imagine. They gave us an interesting and varied programme with some rather nice arrangements away from the country dance idiom. Many thanks to them for making the long journey to entertain us so ably.
Year 33 No 06 February 2010
December - Once again the weather played havoc with our audience numbers (and players also for that matter) with a weekend of severe frost. The Council seems to be saving on the gritting this year, certainly as far as the side roads go, and as a result many of our regulars understandably opted to stay at home. But for those who did turn out it was the usual feast of Festive entertainment.
On accordions were Jim Gold, Andrew and Adam Gibb, Emma Dickson, Charlie Todd and Alan Gardiner and we were particularly pleased to see Dochie McCallum (who came through with our guests) and John Weaks who made the long journey from Glasgow to be with us.
On fiddle were Tom Gold, Emma Gardiner, Hannah Dickson and David Corner.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner, Adam Gibb and Keith Dickson and
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, James Dickson, Andrew Gibb and Andrew Barrie.
David Corner gave us a few selections on his concertina.
Good to see so many young players taking the stage and giving such an excellent account of themselves and all credit to their teachers for their guidance and encouragement.
Guests for the evening were The Ian Muir Trio, with Ian taking the lead accordion, Neil McMillan on keyboard and Ian Adamson from Cupar on drums. As usual the boys gave a sparkling performance of Scottish dance music with various other idioms thrown in for good measure interspersed with Ian’s excellent jokes and anecdotes.
Year 33 No 07 March 2010
After a January cancellation due to the prevailing weather conditions it was all systems go for our February meeting. Chairman, Alan Gardiner, opened the meeting with a mention of the sad and untimely death of one of our most regular supporters, Jim Paterson from Peebles on 2nd February, and extended the sympathy of everyone at the Club to Jim’s family. The Club had been well represented among the many hundreds of mourners at Jim’s funeral earlier in the week, a mark of the esteem in which he was held by all.
But back to the regular business of the evening. Our guests were a young band based in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire – The David Kennedy SDB – with David taking lead accordion, Alele Queen (Closeburn) on second accordion, Steven Todd (Dalkeith) on keyboard, Tom Gold (Douglas) on fiddle and Andrew Gibb (Biggar) on drums. It almost goes without saying that almost all are pupils of Keith Dickson. David explained that he had been suffering from a cold for the last couple of weeks and wasn’t feeling 100% but the band put on an excellent performance, giving us a variety of tempos. Also of note was the piece played by Adele when she took the lead, a lovely and technically demanding Continental Polka entitled Perles de Crystal backed by Steven, Andrew and David. The band brought a large contingent of family and friends with them, which helped fill the hall and create a great atmosphere.
Local musicians who turned out to support us were :-
Accordionists – JimmGold, Riddell Cairns, Fiona Sinclair, Charlie Todd, Alan Gardiner, Andrew Gibb and Bobby Elder (all the way from Auchtermuchty in Fife.)
On concertina was David Corner.
On fiddle Emma Gardiner and Tom Gold.
On keyboard were Jim Gold, Keith Dickson and Alan Gardiner.
On drums Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, Ross Anderson and Garry Kellow, also visiting us from Kinross in Fife. Many thanks to them all for their excellent contribution.
Year 33 No 08 April 2010
March was a busier than usual month at the Biggar Club with a ‘Pre-Inshyra’ Dance at Ravenstruther Hall on Friday 12th March followed by the Club meeting itself on Sunday 14th March. It was decided that since our Club Chairman, Alan Gardiner, was bringing his band together to do the Inshyra dance, it was an ideal opportunity to hold the first Club Dance for many years. Inevitably, as always seems to happen, it clashed with other local dances but 75 attended and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Alan was accompanied by the far traveled Richard Currieon keyboard, wife Emma on fiddle, Keith Dickson on second box and Andrew Barrie on drums. Thanks to the Committee and Chrissie and Sandra, who looked after the catering, for all their hard work on the night.
A few of us who attended the dance then had the pleasure of attending the NAAFC’s Annual Competitions the following day at the Inshyra Hotel, Grangemouth. A marvelous day of accordion and fiddle playing with a record number of entries. Congratulations to the hard working Committee who put the day together. As mentioned above it was rounded off by the Grand Dance with our very own Alan Gardiner and his SDB while at the same time his nephew, Blair Gardiner from Law Village, was broadcasting for the first time on Take the Floor with Alan on second box. A real family ‘day out’.
The guest artiste for our Club meeting on Sunday evening was the extremely talented James Lindsay Trio from Guildtown. We were expecting great things and the lads, James on lead, Ron Kerr on fiddle and Graham Berry on keyboard, didn’t let us down. Their programme was varied and interesting with highlights such as Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5, Bel Fiore – played in a 40 bar arrangement for the dance ‘Marigold’ – and several of Ron Kerr’s excellent compositions. A thoroughly memorable performance.
Supporting us on the night were accordionists Jim Gold, Paul Capaldi, Riddell Cairns, Charlie Todd, Katie Todd, Steven Todd, Emma Dickson, David Kennedy, Scott Nichol and Blair Gardiner with David Corner on concertina.
On fiddle were Tom Gold and Hannah Dickson.
On keyboard we had Jim Gold, Keith Dickson, Jim and Scott Nichol and Dorothy Lawson and finally on drums we had Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope, Andrew Barrie and David Kennedy.
Several of our players had successes at the NAAFC Competitions the previous day hence we were treated to some superb playing. If I could single one piece out as particularly outstanding it has to be Dance of the Comedians a lengthy and testing classical piece which was performed by young Emma Dickson. Congratulations to all who competed, winners or not, and to their teacher Keith Dickson for all his efforts to keep traditional music alive.
Year 33 No 09 May 2010
April - Our last night of the season saw the Club moving to a new venue for the first time in many years – so it was goodbye to The Municipal Hall and hello to The Biggar Bowling Club just off Edinburgh Road at the top end of Biggar. Since this was decided at rather short notice after the Council decided to double the hall charges on a Sunday from the start of April, many thanks to Tom gold Snr for spending his first hour redirecting people to the new venue.
Our guest artiste for the evening was one-time local lad Nicky McMichan and his Trio. Originally from Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Nicky is now based a bit further north in Muir of Ord. Accompanying him were Matthew MacLennan on second accordion and Seonaid MacPherson from Oban on drums. Oh and not forgetting Seonaid’s ‘Heinz 57’ terrier Meg, who lay attentively at her feet during the two performances.
Nicky and his colleagues gave us an excellent selection of Scottish dance musicrather unusually, these days, played on two Domino Morino Vs. There’s still nothing to beat the sound. Good tempos and good tunes, with a few own compositions, held the audiences attentionthroughout both sessions. It was also good to see amongst the audience, for the first time in a while, Rob and Elizabeth Wood, parents of another one-time local accordionist, Shetland-based Peter Wood.
Local players who came along to support us on the evening were :-
Accordionists – Charlie Todd, Jim Gold, Andrew Gibb, Paul Capaldi, Alan Gardiner, Kevin Gardiner, Sheena and Emma Dickson and Jennifer Cowie.
On fiddle were Emma Gardiner, Hannah Dickson and Tom Gold.
On keyboard Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner and Keith Dickson.
On concertina was David Corner.
On drums Tom Hope, Andrew Gibb, Andrew Barrie, Ross Anderson and James Dickson.
It’s not often a whole family can take to the stage as a very competent band but when dad is renowned local teacher Keith Dickson it is perhaps less surprising.