Memories of Billy Stewart
(1928 - 22nd Sept 2016)
by Derek Hamilton
It was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Billy Stewart of Galston, Ayrshire, on the 22nd of September 2016 aged 88.
I first got to know Billy in 1949 when as a wee boy from the Border village of Chirnside we moved to Galston. Billy was a general handyman with the local ironmongers and then the local ‘toon plumber’ in the days when local authorities were Burgh Councils. Billy, in this capacity, knew every valve, pipe, hydrant and everything else that was lurking under the streets of Galston. He was a master tradesman who knew his trade inside out.
My father had a licensed grocer’s shop in the town and as such didn’t have many holidays, but on New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay, he would close at the obligatory 9.30pm and be home preparing for the Ne’erday party at 9 Titchfield Street. Billy was regularly our ‘first foot’. I can always remember Billy at these New Year parties at our house playing the fiddle, which he did very well. His party piece, at about 4 in the morning, was The Mist Covered Mountains, which was duly accompanied by himself sliding down the chair and ending up on the floor to finish off the tune!
Billy’s mum and dad used to come to these parties too and his mum was a superb Irish dancer, so Billy would strike up The Irish Washerwoman while mum danced an Irish jig!
Billy played drums in a few bands over the years and actually married the singer in one of these, Margaret Hunter. A long and happy marriage that lasted until the untimely passing of Margaret about 12 years ago.
Son Bobby (currently second box player with Roy Hendrie) was born in 1956 and Billy and Margaret were over the moon. Bobby flourished as an accordion player and he and his dad played together for many years. Bobby too has a famous offspring in the shape of a Scottish Champion accordionist, Liam, who was the apple of Billy’s eye – and rightly so.
Along with David Ross and Bill Rodie, Billy set up Galston Accordion Club in 1968 and in 1971 was, with David Ross, at the first exploratory meeting of the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs. Billy remained as regular MC at Galston for all of its 38 year existence as well as being resident drummer there too.
Highlights at the Club for me were the nights that the late Billy Hume of Kilmarnock came and the drumming prowess of our resident drummer was taxed to the limit with just a snare drum, hi-hats and a pair of wire brushes. What a drummer! Fantastic stuff as Messrs. Hume and Stewart worked their way impeccably through tunes like Sweet Georgia Brown and The Lady is a Tramp in double time!
From plumber to drummer to fiddler to Worshipful Master, Billy Stewart was indeed a very complete human being. A man I admired all my life as a gentleman, a family man and most of all, a friend. Billy, you will never be forgotten and thanks for everything you were.
Box and Fiddle
November 2016
I first got to know Billy in 1949 when as a wee boy from the Border village of Chirnside we moved to Galston. Billy was a general handyman with the local ironmongers and then the local ‘toon plumber’ in the days when local authorities were Burgh Councils. Billy, in this capacity, knew every valve, pipe, hydrant and everything else that was lurking under the streets of Galston. He was a master tradesman who knew his trade inside out.
My father had a licensed grocer’s shop in the town and as such didn’t have many holidays, but on New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay, he would close at the obligatory 9.30pm and be home preparing for the Ne’erday party at 9 Titchfield Street. Billy was regularly our ‘first foot’. I can always remember Billy at these New Year parties at our house playing the fiddle, which he did very well. His party piece, at about 4 in the morning, was The Mist Covered Mountains, which was duly accompanied by himself sliding down the chair and ending up on the floor to finish off the tune!
Billy’s mum and dad used to come to these parties too and his mum was a superb Irish dancer, so Billy would strike up The Irish Washerwoman while mum danced an Irish jig!
Billy played drums in a few bands over the years and actually married the singer in one of these, Margaret Hunter. A long and happy marriage that lasted until the untimely passing of Margaret about 12 years ago.
Son Bobby (currently second box player with Roy Hendrie) was born in 1956 and Billy and Margaret were over the moon. Bobby flourished as an accordion player and he and his dad played together for many years. Bobby too has a famous offspring in the shape of a Scottish Champion accordionist, Liam, who was the apple of Billy’s eye – and rightly so.
Along with David Ross and Bill Rodie, Billy set up Galston Accordion Club in 1968 and in 1971 was, with David Ross, at the first exploratory meeting of the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs. Billy remained as regular MC at Galston for all of its 38 year existence as well as being resident drummer there too.
Highlights at the Club for me were the nights that the late Billy Hume of Kilmarnock came and the drumming prowess of our resident drummer was taxed to the limit with just a snare drum, hi-hats and a pair of wire brushes. What a drummer! Fantastic stuff as Messrs. Hume and Stewart worked their way impeccably through tunes like Sweet Georgia Brown and The Lady is a Tramp in double time!
From plumber to drummer to fiddler to Worshipful Master, Billy Stewart was indeed a very complete human being. A man I admired all my life as a gentleman, a family man and most of all, a friend. Billy, you will never be forgotten and thanks for everything you were.
Box and Fiddle
November 2016