Box and Fiddle
Year 19 No 02
October 1995
Memorial Service for Joe Hutton
by Fred Calvert
We are indebted to Fred Calvert for the following excerpt of the Memorial Service held in the United Reformed Church, Thropton, on Friday, 21st July, 1995.
May I begin by saying that it is a great privilege to have been asked by Hannah to say a few words. There are people here today who knew Joe better than I did, but I hope that I can express the sentiments which we all feel.
We are here to remember with gratitude the life of Joe Hutton and to give our support to Hannah, Richard, Doreen and grandchildren Lewis and Stewart.
No more suitable place could be found to pay our tribute to Joe than this church set in the midst of the Coquet Valley, which he loved so much and which was the inspiration for much of his music. Hannah has said that she doesn’t want this afternoon’s service to be a sad affair and neither I am sure, would Joe.
I last had the pleasure of talking with him, and it was always a pleasure to talk to Joe, last Sunday evening at Chillingham Castle. It was a concert in aid of the Yellow Brick Road Appeal and as I have done on so many occasions in the past I had the privilege of introducing Joe to a most appreciative audience. We joked before he went on stage, as we usually did I said something like, “Have you got the hang of those pipes yet Joe?” His reply was typical, “Aye, just aboot”, and Hannah also sang most beautifully to Joe’s accompaniment.
Joe Hutton was born ion 1923 at Halton Lea Gate, a tiny village on the Cumbria/Northumberland border. His father was a keen fiddle player and so Joe had an early introduction to traditional music. It was here that he acquired his first set of small pipes and was taught his first tune by George Armstrong ‘Bluebells of Scotland’. He won his first novice piping competition in 1937, at the age of 14. In 1940 the family moved to Blackshaws but the war put a stop to piping competitions. It wasn’t until 1950 that Joe came back to the pipes in earnest, coming second at Bellingham. In 1951 he won the Bellingham open and for two years he won all five open piping competitions. It is recorded that he remembers those as difficult times for piping. There were few instruments available and travel was still difficult. If Joe wanted to play with Tommy Breckons he would have had to walk five miles to Gilsland, catch the bus to Hexham, then a bus from Hexham to Billingham…..as hs put it “man it was a days work just getting there”.
Playing the pipes one day with Hannah’s brother John at Carrowbrough, resulted in the start of a two year courtship between Joe and Hannah. Married life began at Stewartshields from where, after two years, they moved to Shilmoor and thence to Rowhope.
A hill shepherd all his working life, his relaxation was the pipes and in the family scrapbook there is a marvelous photograph of Joe with David and Elsie Burleigh, John Armstrong, Carol and Anthony Robb, Richard Butler, Arch Bertram, John Leitch and Doreen taken at a gathering at Rowhope in June 1974.
This represents a typical scene from Joe’s life…..content with his family, his music and his friends, and how many friends did Joe Hutton have……more perhaps than we will ever know.
Stories about Joe abound but they all have a similarity. They are of a kind man, a considerate man, a family man. A man with a lively sense of humour. A man proud of his roots who saw part of his life’s work as a responsibility to preserve and foster Northumberland musical heritage.
Anthony Robb recalls an occasion when he and Carol entered a piping competition shortly after Carol had taken up the instrument. Anthony played a piece consisting of some 880 notes whilst Carol selected the simpler ;Jamie Allen’. Joe was the judge and he gave Carol first place. As Anthony puts it, “Joe was not impressed with flashy playing”, he was also not particularly impressed by a lady journalist who asked, “And how often do you play to your sheep?”
Recalling that gathering at Rowhope which was the first time he had met Joe, Anthony says that he was immediately impressed by Joe’s sheer charm…..a delight to be with…….it was just the whole warmth of the fellow.
A story recalled by Adrian Ions was during the Alnwick Music Festival when an American visitor, having just heard Joe play, asked Adrian if that gentleman could let me hear him play again. Joe’s response was ‘no bother’, and he gave an encore just for the visitor half way down the back stairs of the Northumberland Hall.
Of course many of us will recall the incredible success which Joe, Willy Taylor and Will Atkinson had after their retirement. ‘The Shepherd’s’, as they were known traveled far and wide playing their own special brand of music to the delight of their audiences. As Joe put it in an interview, “We’ve really enjoyed it all and have met a tremendous lot of nice folk on our travels”. In the same article the author states, “of one cannot get to experience the enjoyment, humour and musicianship inherent in their live performances, try and listen to ‘Harthope Burn’ or ‘From Sewingshields to Glendale’, for a true reflection of the living tradition of Northumberland and the Borders. I am sure that Joe would than Alistair Anderson for all that he did the shepherding the shepherds.
The late Joan Gale wrote in 1950, “You don’t have to be a technical expert to enjoy Joe Hutton’s playing of the Northumbrian pipes. You don’t even have to recognize the tunes. All you need is to have feet for dancing, to love Northumberland and want to keep it’s traditions alive.” Joe undoubtedly achieved that as his Chairmanship of Alnwick Pipers Society for many years and his skill as a tutor of his beloved pipes proved. Joe liked everything to be sorted out. He was, on one occasion asked to play with the organist at the wedding. She was somewhat nervous and Joe was asked to go and see her. “Did you see the organist” he was asked. “Aye, I got her sorted out”.
Someone else wrote of Joe some years ago, “As well as his skillful playing and highly individual repertoire, Joe Hutton has integrity both as a musician and an individual which makes his a worthy ambassador for Northumberland piping”. This was Borne out during his trips to Switzerland, Shetland, Orkney and Ireland where he represented England at St Patrick’s Night celebrations in the Guinness Hall in Dublin.
I should like to conclude by quoting some words which have been a great comfort to Hannah. “Life has two hands, one takes and the other gives. I know we find this very hard to learn. We’re always hoping for the gifts of life, forgetting that we too must give in turn.
Life has two hands, and though we’d like to choose the one so full of lovely gifts and rare,
We can’t be happy if we only take, and leave life’s other hand outstretched and bare.
Life has two hands and this one thing is sure, gifts which we give to life come back again.
But things we take, we hold and then we lose, the things we give are those we really gain.
And so you see we need not be afraid if life takes almost all we had to give.
Because all hoarded treasures fade and die, but place them in life’s hand and they will live”.
Joe Hutton gave us all so much, his friendship, his love and his music, and for that we must be grateful. Thank you Joe we’ll miss you.
by Fred Calvert
We are indebted to Fred Calvert for the following excerpt of the Memorial Service held in the United Reformed Church, Thropton, on Friday, 21st July, 1995.
May I begin by saying that it is a great privilege to have been asked by Hannah to say a few words. There are people here today who knew Joe better than I did, but I hope that I can express the sentiments which we all feel.
We are here to remember with gratitude the life of Joe Hutton and to give our support to Hannah, Richard, Doreen and grandchildren Lewis and Stewart.
No more suitable place could be found to pay our tribute to Joe than this church set in the midst of the Coquet Valley, which he loved so much and which was the inspiration for much of his music. Hannah has said that she doesn’t want this afternoon’s service to be a sad affair and neither I am sure, would Joe.
I last had the pleasure of talking with him, and it was always a pleasure to talk to Joe, last Sunday evening at Chillingham Castle. It was a concert in aid of the Yellow Brick Road Appeal and as I have done on so many occasions in the past I had the privilege of introducing Joe to a most appreciative audience. We joked before he went on stage, as we usually did I said something like, “Have you got the hang of those pipes yet Joe?” His reply was typical, “Aye, just aboot”, and Hannah also sang most beautifully to Joe’s accompaniment.
Joe Hutton was born ion 1923 at Halton Lea Gate, a tiny village on the Cumbria/Northumberland border. His father was a keen fiddle player and so Joe had an early introduction to traditional music. It was here that he acquired his first set of small pipes and was taught his first tune by George Armstrong ‘Bluebells of Scotland’. He won his first novice piping competition in 1937, at the age of 14. In 1940 the family moved to Blackshaws but the war put a stop to piping competitions. It wasn’t until 1950 that Joe came back to the pipes in earnest, coming second at Bellingham. In 1951 he won the Bellingham open and for two years he won all five open piping competitions. It is recorded that he remembers those as difficult times for piping. There were few instruments available and travel was still difficult. If Joe wanted to play with Tommy Breckons he would have had to walk five miles to Gilsland, catch the bus to Hexham, then a bus from Hexham to Billingham…..as hs put it “man it was a days work just getting there”.
Playing the pipes one day with Hannah’s brother John at Carrowbrough, resulted in the start of a two year courtship between Joe and Hannah. Married life began at Stewartshields from where, after two years, they moved to Shilmoor and thence to Rowhope.
A hill shepherd all his working life, his relaxation was the pipes and in the family scrapbook there is a marvelous photograph of Joe with David and Elsie Burleigh, John Armstrong, Carol and Anthony Robb, Richard Butler, Arch Bertram, John Leitch and Doreen taken at a gathering at Rowhope in June 1974.
This represents a typical scene from Joe’s life…..content with his family, his music and his friends, and how many friends did Joe Hutton have……more perhaps than we will ever know.
Stories about Joe abound but they all have a similarity. They are of a kind man, a considerate man, a family man. A man with a lively sense of humour. A man proud of his roots who saw part of his life’s work as a responsibility to preserve and foster Northumberland musical heritage.
Anthony Robb recalls an occasion when he and Carol entered a piping competition shortly after Carol had taken up the instrument. Anthony played a piece consisting of some 880 notes whilst Carol selected the simpler ;Jamie Allen’. Joe was the judge and he gave Carol first place. As Anthony puts it, “Joe was not impressed with flashy playing”, he was also not particularly impressed by a lady journalist who asked, “And how often do you play to your sheep?”
Recalling that gathering at Rowhope which was the first time he had met Joe, Anthony says that he was immediately impressed by Joe’s sheer charm…..a delight to be with…….it was just the whole warmth of the fellow.
A story recalled by Adrian Ions was during the Alnwick Music Festival when an American visitor, having just heard Joe play, asked Adrian if that gentleman could let me hear him play again. Joe’s response was ‘no bother’, and he gave an encore just for the visitor half way down the back stairs of the Northumberland Hall.
Of course many of us will recall the incredible success which Joe, Willy Taylor and Will Atkinson had after their retirement. ‘The Shepherd’s’, as they were known traveled far and wide playing their own special brand of music to the delight of their audiences. As Joe put it in an interview, “We’ve really enjoyed it all and have met a tremendous lot of nice folk on our travels”. In the same article the author states, “of one cannot get to experience the enjoyment, humour and musicianship inherent in their live performances, try and listen to ‘Harthope Burn’ or ‘From Sewingshields to Glendale’, for a true reflection of the living tradition of Northumberland and the Borders. I am sure that Joe would than Alistair Anderson for all that he did the shepherding the shepherds.
The late Joan Gale wrote in 1950, “You don’t have to be a technical expert to enjoy Joe Hutton’s playing of the Northumbrian pipes. You don’t even have to recognize the tunes. All you need is to have feet for dancing, to love Northumberland and want to keep it’s traditions alive.” Joe undoubtedly achieved that as his Chairmanship of Alnwick Pipers Society for many years and his skill as a tutor of his beloved pipes proved. Joe liked everything to be sorted out. He was, on one occasion asked to play with the organist at the wedding. She was somewhat nervous and Joe was asked to go and see her. “Did you see the organist” he was asked. “Aye, I got her sorted out”.
Someone else wrote of Joe some years ago, “As well as his skillful playing and highly individual repertoire, Joe Hutton has integrity both as a musician and an individual which makes his a worthy ambassador for Northumberland piping”. This was Borne out during his trips to Switzerland, Shetland, Orkney and Ireland where he represented England at St Patrick’s Night celebrations in the Guinness Hall in Dublin.
I should like to conclude by quoting some words which have been a great comfort to Hannah. “Life has two hands, one takes and the other gives. I know we find this very hard to learn. We’re always hoping for the gifts of life, forgetting that we too must give in turn.
Life has two hands, and though we’d like to choose the one so full of lovely gifts and rare,
We can’t be happy if we only take, and leave life’s other hand outstretched and bare.
Life has two hands and this one thing is sure, gifts which we give to life come back again.
But things we take, we hold and then we lose, the things we give are those we really gain.
And so you see we need not be afraid if life takes almost all we had to give.
Because all hoarded treasures fade and die, but place them in life’s hand and they will live”.
Joe Hutton gave us all so much, his friendship, his love and his music, and for that we must be grateful. Thank you Joe we’ll miss you.
