Forres A&F Club’s 21st Anniversary
by I.H.
We had over 300 at our 21st Birthday party on January 13th, some of whom compere Andy Ross recognised from the earliest meetings of the Club.
Andy and the present Chairman, George Hutcheson, cut the birthday cake decorated with the Club logo, and it was served to the company along with a finger buffet provided by the Club.
Outlining the Club’s history, George paid tribute to the many people who had helped to make it a success over the years – members of the original Committee Mrs Gray and Mrs Reid, Fred Donald, instigator along with the late Ray Mackenzie of the idea of a Club in Forres; Jim MacIntosh, Sandy Strathdee and Andy Ross, first Chairman and now a Life Member; subsequent Chairman Ian Anderson, Bobby Gibson and Garry Mackintosh; Jack Cameron, photographer; James Gordon, auditor, and the Armour brothers, Ian and Charlie, who owned the brig hotel when the Club first started.
Guest artistes for the evening were the six-piece Graeme Mitchell SDB. Graeme was the Club’s first guest in 1978, just after becoming Scottish Champion, and he played again at our tenth anniversary.
He is the only original member in the present line-up, the others being Gordon Duguid on second box, Susan MacIntosh on fiddle, Brian Cruickshank on bass guitar, Duncan Christie on drums and Scott Gordon on piano.
We all know Graeme as a staunch upholder of traditional music, and there were plenty of rousing pipe marches in his programme, including two great Ian Crichton tunes, ‘Norman Yorston Williams’ and ‘Captain Ian MacDonald of Toronto’. His 6/8’s ‘Dovecote Park’ and ‘Locheil’s Welcome to Glasgow’ were, he said, the set he used for his one and only TV appearance – what’s wrong with these TV folk we wonder?
There was so much of the programme that was memorable, though we can list only a few titles – Graeme’s own waltz for his parents, ‘Sandy and Aileen Mitchell’, a jig set with some of Fergie MacDonald’s tunes, and another of Graeme’s, ‘Bill’s Legacy Lives On’, a slow air in tribute to the late Bill Smith of Banchory. This was a lovely blending of Susan MacIntosh’s fiddle with the richness of the accordion and piano backing, and deserves to be heard more.
As always our Club players sustained the rest of the programme, though there wasn’t so much time for solo spots on the occasion. Bill Brian, fiddle, and Ena Anderson on piano, gave us an appropriate selection – tributes to founder member the late Ray Mackenzie and the late Bob Watt, to Andy Ross and Donnie Mackenzie, ending with Bill’s own tune, ‘Forres Accordion and Fiddle Club’s 21st Anniversary’.
Carol Cook, home on holiday from Ohio, where she is studying viola, showed her expertise on fiddle with a couple of pipe marches and a set of reels and the beautiful slow air ‘Coleburn’ by local fiddler William Macpherson. It was a delight to listen to her expressive interpretation and masterly use of the bow.
The Club has produced a booklet with photographs, outlining highlights of the past 21 years, and over 100 of these were sold during the evening. The Club players’ new tape, recorded in September, was also selling well.
Players were reminded that the annual trios competition for the Ray Mackenzie Memorial Trophy and money prizes, will be held at the March meeting of the Club, when judges will be guest artistes the Nicol McLaren SDB.
Box and Fiddle
March 1999
Andy and the present Chairman, George Hutcheson, cut the birthday cake decorated with the Club logo, and it was served to the company along with a finger buffet provided by the Club.
Outlining the Club’s history, George paid tribute to the many people who had helped to make it a success over the years – members of the original Committee Mrs Gray and Mrs Reid, Fred Donald, instigator along with the late Ray Mackenzie of the idea of a Club in Forres; Jim MacIntosh, Sandy Strathdee and Andy Ross, first Chairman and now a Life Member; subsequent Chairman Ian Anderson, Bobby Gibson and Garry Mackintosh; Jack Cameron, photographer; James Gordon, auditor, and the Armour brothers, Ian and Charlie, who owned the brig hotel when the Club first started.
Guest artistes for the evening were the six-piece Graeme Mitchell SDB. Graeme was the Club’s first guest in 1978, just after becoming Scottish Champion, and he played again at our tenth anniversary.
He is the only original member in the present line-up, the others being Gordon Duguid on second box, Susan MacIntosh on fiddle, Brian Cruickshank on bass guitar, Duncan Christie on drums and Scott Gordon on piano.
We all know Graeme as a staunch upholder of traditional music, and there were plenty of rousing pipe marches in his programme, including two great Ian Crichton tunes, ‘Norman Yorston Williams’ and ‘Captain Ian MacDonald of Toronto’. His 6/8’s ‘Dovecote Park’ and ‘Locheil’s Welcome to Glasgow’ were, he said, the set he used for his one and only TV appearance – what’s wrong with these TV folk we wonder?
There was so much of the programme that was memorable, though we can list only a few titles – Graeme’s own waltz for his parents, ‘Sandy and Aileen Mitchell’, a jig set with some of Fergie MacDonald’s tunes, and another of Graeme’s, ‘Bill’s Legacy Lives On’, a slow air in tribute to the late Bill Smith of Banchory. This was a lovely blending of Susan MacIntosh’s fiddle with the richness of the accordion and piano backing, and deserves to be heard more.
As always our Club players sustained the rest of the programme, though there wasn’t so much time for solo spots on the occasion. Bill Brian, fiddle, and Ena Anderson on piano, gave us an appropriate selection – tributes to founder member the late Ray Mackenzie and the late Bob Watt, to Andy Ross and Donnie Mackenzie, ending with Bill’s own tune, ‘Forres Accordion and Fiddle Club’s 21st Anniversary’.
Carol Cook, home on holiday from Ohio, where she is studying viola, showed her expertise on fiddle with a couple of pipe marches and a set of reels and the beautiful slow air ‘Coleburn’ by local fiddler William Macpherson. It was a delight to listen to her expressive interpretation and masterly use of the bow.
The Club has produced a booklet with photographs, outlining highlights of the past 21 years, and over 100 of these were sold during the evening. The Club players’ new tape, recorded in September, was also selling well.
Players were reminded that the annual trios competition for the Ray Mackenzie Memorial Trophy and money prizes, will be held at the March meeting of the Club, when judges will be guest artistes the Nicol McLaren SDB.
Box and Fiddle
March 1999