Box and Fiddle
Year 34 No 09
May 2011
Price £2.60
44 Page Magazine
12 month subscription £28.60 + p&p £10.45 (UK)
Editor – Karin Ingram, Hawick
B&F Treasurer – Charlie Todd, Thankerton
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time-consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
Don’t forget to book your places for the NAAFC Golf Day at Dunblane on 7th June. There aren’t many places left. Entry forms must be in by 17th May.
Also please book your tickets now for the NAAFC Luncheon & Celebrity Ceilidh on 26th June. Once again we anticipate a full house.
Have a wonderful summer!
Karin Ingram
Bobby Brown
by
As an individual performer, member of two Scottish Country Dance Bands, Musical Director of the internationally renowned fiddle troupe The Cape Breton Symphony and current leader of The Scottish Accent, Bobby Brown has been a leading proponent of Scottish Country Dance and traditional Scottish music in Canada, the United States, Britain and Europe for fifty years. Moreover, he is actively engaged in the perpetuation and expansion of this Scottish heritage by encouraging young Canadian musicians to learn and preserve the songs and tunes of that tradition.
Robert Watt Brown was born in Dennyloanhead, Scotland in 1941. His father, John Brown, as a young man spent time in Canada, where he tried his luck searching for gold in the Yukon. Perhaps this early adventuring may have implanted some prenatal urge among his children to return to seek their pot of gold and rainbow’s end in Canada, for Bobby and his two sisters, Christine and Jean, subsequently all made their homes in Canada. Bobby’s second name, Watt, is a label to be worn proudly. A distant relative among his forebears was James Watt (1736-1819), whom everyone knows as the inventor of the steam engine.
Bobby grew up in a family devoted to the field of Scottish musical entertainment. His mother, Jean Day, was widely known throughout Scotland as a concert soprano, often performing with Harry Lauder and Will Fyffe. His father was a fiddler, and several uncles were pipers and drummers. Uncle John Day formed one of the early dance bands. As children of a nationally known singer and a father who was a “passing fair” violinist, it is not surprising that Bobby and his sisters all had music lessons. As a wee boy, Bobby played the mouth organ, but later his instrument was the piano. It was not until he went to Canada and could only afford to buy an accordion that he learned to play one – mainly self-taught.
In 1957, Bobby Brown emigrated from Scotland to Canada where he joined his sister Christine. He brought with him his knowledge and love of traditional Scottish music, coming from a family of musicians. Starved of his native music, Bobby befriended pipers and drummers in the local pipe band and, shortly after, began taking accordion lessons. Through his other sister Jean, he met a trio of Scots musicians who had begun to play for Country Dancing in Hamilton. Two of these, newly arrived in Canada also, were living in London, Ontario – Stan Hamilton and Bobby Frew. One thing led to another and soon Bobby Brown had been added to this trio as second accordionist. Up to this point in his life the accordion had been a plaything, now here was the challenge to become its master. Here too was the opportunity to delve deeply into the rich treasures of the traditional Scottish music that provides a unique setting for its national dancing.
What followed is part of Scottish Country Dance history. For the next seventeen years, the two Bobbies and Stan Hamilton, with an evolving back-row of bass and drum players (of whom Don Wood and Fred Collins still play with Bobby in The Scottish Accent band today) comprised “the great band” known as “The Clansmen” to become later “The Flying Scotsmen”. Despite a full-time career in the engineering industry, Bobby maintained a gruelling schedule as an individual performer and as a key member of one of North America’s most respected bands. This band made appearances at the New York World’s Fair, Grand Bahamas Hotel, Scottish Country Dance functions, Burns Suppers, Highland Games and Celtic Heritage Festivals across Canada and USA and on national television.
By the 1970s Bobby Brown was developing additional musical interests. He had become acquainted with many of the old-time fiddlers, who among other things, congregate annually at Shelburne, Ontario, not far from Bobby’s home in Brampton. In 1973, he was invited to share with the celebrated folk singer and entertainer John Allan Cameron in arranging, producing and performing in a musical series on the national CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) television network and later on CTV. Bobby was instrumental in the formation of “The Cape Breton Symphony Fiddlers”, a unique group of four Nova Scotian musicians specialising in the Cape Breton style of Scottish fiddle music, who performed regularly on the show. They also appeared many times on other television variety shows, including The Tommy Hunter Show and Bob McLean Show, and at the annual Canada Day celebrations at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. Bobby has always had an affinity with fiddlers, enjoyed playing the piano and producing albums for them.
Other touring and broadcasting opportunities followed so that by 1976 Bobby made the crucial decision to become a full-time professional musician and to leave The Stan Hamilton Band, to more easily schedule his own musical activities. Bobby was given the opportunity to become heavily involved in folk music (television and tours) as an entertainer manager, but it would mean leaving Scottish music, as there would no time to commit to dates. Despite the lure of huge salaries and fame in folk music, deep down Bobby knew that he wanted to play the music he loved most – Scottish music. He took a huge financial risk, leaving a full-time management position and giving up folk music opportunities to pursue his one true love – Scottish music. Very soon afterwards, his own Scottish Country Dance Band known as “The Scottish Accent” was formed. This band plays all over North America – from east to west and north to south – and travels extensively in all types of weather to bring live music to dancers. It has become the leading Scottish Country Dance Band in North America.
The field of traditional Scottish and Country Dance music is outside the popular mainstream and few performers are willing to commit their careers to this type of artistic expression which requires specialised historic knowledge and a high level of musical proficiency. Consequently Bobby and his Band have travelled extensively to support a variety of Scottish cultural events with their authentic traditional live music in strict tempo. The band also contributes its considerable entertainment appeal to free concerts at senior citizens homes, community gatherings and fundraisers.
As a composer and arranger in his own right, Bobby maintains one of the few original manuscript libraries of traditional Scottish Music in the world. This is a rich resource which is utilised constantly during preparations for both live performances and numerous recordings for which this individual has always demanded strict quality and integrity. Bobby has been involved in the production and arranging of over 100 recordings of Scottish Canadian Music by various artists. With his own band, The Scottish Accent and The Cape Breton Symphony, he has now recorded over twenty albums, with special guests including Alasdair Fraser, Graham Townsend, John Allan Cameron and Christine Scott. He has worked on stage with other Scottish and Canadian performers such as Moira Anderson, Andy Stewart, Hamish Imlach, Robin Brock, Alex Beaton, Peter Glen, John Carmichael, Billy Meek, Rita MacNeil, Edith Butler, The Rankins and Ashley MacIsaac and has appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts.
Bobby has toured Britain and parts of Europe with both “The Scottish Accent” band and “The Cape Breton Symphony Fiddlers”, and other artists to marvellous reviews. Also, with grant support from the Canadian government, he has taken musical shows to West Germany and Ireland and of course has toured across Canada. In 1984 he was invited with supporting players to perform at the University Games in Edmonton, winning commendations from the honorary patrons of the occasion, TRH The Prince and Princess of Wales. He has shared his love for Scottish music with audiences at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, The Alaska State Fair, The Pan Celtic Festival, Scottish World Festival at the Canadian National Exhibition (to audiences of 25,000), and numerous folk festivals and fairs across Canada. The Scottish Accent band was the first and only band in North America to broadcast live from Toronto for BBC’s Take The Floor and was also the only band outside Scotland to record for The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
Still today, Bobby plays regularly for Scottish Country Dance events – workshops, dances, classes, candidates’ exams and balls, across North America. TAC (Teacher’s Association Canada) annually runs a week long Summer School (similar to St. Andrews) and Bobby Brown and “The Scottish Accent” provide music for both social dancing and for classes each year. His band is known for its unique sound and energy with a good drive and rock solid tempo. Bobby’s encyclopaedic knowledge and his love of traditional Scottish music make his work and his band’s music stand apart. His arrangements and settings have made The Scottish Accent band tremendously successful.
Bobby has given many workshops for musicians during Summer School and Thistle School (North Carolina) as well as in various other places, providing leadership and encouragement to others to keep Scottish traditional music alive. He has accomplished this latter, by helping with the production of recordings of other musicians and has passed his love of traditional Scottish music and heritage to his son, Laird. Laird is now not only second accordion player for the “The Scottish Accent” but is actively involved in playing for classes around North America and assisting his father in the studio with the production and arranging of various musical projects. Bobby has just recently produced Laird’s first album as a lead player.
In the last few years, Bobby’s great concern with maintaining the standards of “real” Scottish music as opposed to what many consider the real thing has encouraged him to take on the onerous job of tutor, teaching young musicians what makes for really good traditional Scottish music. His real concern with maintaining the highest standard is beginning to produce some visible results in the United States. Other musicians who have played with him over the years in his band, or been under his tutelage as “apprentices” have gone on to become professional musicians or form their own band or be part of a band playing Scottish music, particularly in the United States. Including for example, Paul Langley (principal bassist of Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada), Jim Creeggan (bass of Barenaked Ladies), Rob Wolanski (principal bass of Hamilton Philharmonic, Steve Ozorak (accordion for Music Makars in USA), Barbara McGowan, Mara Shea, (both fiddlers in USA),
Understanding that cultural preservation is dependent upon the devoted cultivation and transition of knowledge, Bobby has encouraged and taught many young Canadians in their pursuit of excellence in the field of Scottish music. At workshops and classes, Bobby sets aside his performer responsibilities to become an engaging teacher and eagerly instructs participants in the subtle idiomatic nuances of traditional Scottish music. Recently he has started writing articles for RSCDS branch newsletters in the hopes of educating dancers about the music they are dancing to.
Bobby has always kept his finger on the pulse of music in Scotland. Besides the tours of Scotland he organised, he visits regularly. He also maintains constant contact with many friends in Scotland, who are also band leaders and involved in Scottish music. His CDs are available in Scotland and are featured on Scottish Radio broadcasts, particularly Take the Floor. Many of the younger band leaders are well aware of Bobby Brown’s influence on Scottish traditional music, particularly dance bands.
Bobby has devoted his life to the playing, researching, recording and teaching of Scottish Dance Music. He loves playing and Scottish music is in his soul.
Lanarkshire Bands of Yesteryear
by Charlie Todd
After an interesting history of just under 80 years, the mining village of Douglas Water in Lanarkshire, practically ceased to exist when an underground fire, which proved to be uncontrollable, closed the Douglas colliery in 1967. The seams were due to become exhausted two years later anyway so it was deemed economically unviable to extinguish the fire and repair the damage. The fire burned for many years afterwards with a tell-tale trickle of smoke from the pithead gear.
While researching for a local history of the village I came across the following two mentions regarding dance bands in the articles of the late Jim Hamilton (they appeared in his ‘Rigside Record.’) Fortunately Ben Morris of Rigside, an avid collector of old Douglas Water photographs, happened to have photos of three of the bands referred to, which prompted me to collect a few more of bands around the Lanark area in the 40s and 50s. There are still photos while elude me, particularly of the Forth based Locarno Band, Martin Miller’s Leadhills based band and Huge Devine’s resident band at the ‘The Palais’, Lanark’s Loch Ballroom. (This brings to mind a story from my own secondary schooldays at Lanark Grammar. There are two school pals involved John McCahon, nickname ‘Mally’ and ?, nickname ‘Slev’. One summer evening Slev and partner were walking on Hyndford Road having come from ‘The Pally’ and they met Mally and partner heading in the opposite direction i.e. towards the Pally. “Gaun tae The Pally, Mally?” enquired Slev. “Naw, gaun for a bev Slev?” Mally responded and they both continued on their way.)
Douglas Water and other surrounding mining villages had very successful Silver Bands from which several of the band members were drawn. Sam Girdwood, who appears as a young man in The Astorians photograph, gradually became completely blind due to a generic illness, but continued playing right up until the 1970s. Indeed he was my introduction to dance bands since it was his band which played for the Christmas dances at Lanark Grammar School at that time. I also knew Bobby Park, the drummer seated next to him, when he tutored the drummers of The Vale of Clyde Pipe Band in Lanark in the 1980s, by which time he stayed in Biggar. He claimed to be the first drummer in the area to use a hi-hat. It’s fascinating to come across this visual record of them 40 years earlier.
Jim Simpson (excerpt from interview in Vol 2 of The Rigside Record issued June 1992)
“I was never athletic at school. As a boy I played golf at Rigside and got my handicap reduced to ‘plus 2’ which I considered good. However, I gave up the game when I took up playing the accordion.
“Tom Martin gave me instruction when I got ma first accordion. It was an Italian made Crucianelli with 60 bass. Later I got a Hohner and it had 120 bass. I was soon playing at dances with a small group including Tom Martin and me on the accordions, Bobby Kennedy on dulcimer and Jimmy Hynds played the drums. I must give some credit to Tom Martin for being a wonderful player of the concertina. He could finger it crisply and to get vibration he would swing it about, sometime above his head.
“Our small combination played at dances in the village and surrounding hamlets. We played regularly at Carmichael. Before I mention another band I was associated with, I must tell you that my playing improved a lot when I went to get lessons from Mr Adamson in Muirkirk.
(Bobby Adamson, as well as being the composer of Triumph March, also taught Ronnie Easton, Kenny and Stuart Thomson from Cumnock, Brian Griffin and Matt Lammie all of them excellent players.)
“He was a close friend of Jimmy (Darkie) Davidson who was an organist. I remember Darkie went to fill in a gap as organist at St Bride’s Kirk in Douglas. It was supposed to be pro tem. He was there for over 40 years! Darkie was the Douglas Water correspondent for ‘The Hamilton Advertiser’. Nearly every year he wrote an essay about his climb of Tinto to mark his birthday. After Darkie gave up the post, Richard Dunn became the village correspondent.
“I was called on to play with The Georgians Dance Band when there was likely to be a lot of Scottish dances wi’ plenty of burling and hooching. All the instrumentalists in the band were excellent sight-readers and played with sheet music so we got the proper harmonies.”
Jim and I exchanged views about dancing in the 1930s and 40s. It was the years of ‘haud-on-tae-me’ dancing when partners were permitted body contact with their hands and arms. The scene today is quite different when the young attend discos and partners seem to circle round each other as if eyeing each other suspiciously.
Then there was the custom, which seems strange on reflection, that the males sat or stood along one side of the dance floor and the females on the opposite side. When a dance was announced by the MC the more confident males would cross the floor like missiles heading for the partner of their choice. The more bashful men would wait until some couples were already on the floor before deciding to walk across the floor to ask a lady for a dance. The drawback to being reticent was that the lady you intended to ask for a dance might be selected in the first rush. It reduced the prospects of getting the ‘lumber’ you wanted to take home at the end of the dance.
Jim mentioned The Astorians Dance Band from Douglas Water which had what was considered, in the 1940s, a favourite combination of instruments for a small dance band – two saxophones, trumpet, piano accordion, drums and crooner. All the players were fine instrumentalists and I can still recall the pleasure of listening and dancing to them in The Miners’ Welfare Hall in Coalburn.
The McCabe Family (excerpt from interview in Vol 5 of The Rigside Record issued January 1994)
Peter McCabe, son of Pat and Grace, was serving as a motor driver in the RAF and while stationed at RAF Bawdsey in Suffolk, he met his future wife Maud, who was a Radar Operator in the WAAF. Her first visit to Scotland was at Hogmanay 1948, arriving at Ponfeigh Station at 7.30 in the morning. Maud remembers there was snow on the ground and it was very, very cold but she received a warm welcome from Mrs McCabe and the family at 25 Townfoot Place.
Maud was impressed by the friendliness of the people and liked the wonderful spirit shown by the compact community. The lives of the villagers revolved around the Douglas Colliery which gave most of the men employment and the local Co-operative Store which supplied most of the families’ needs by way of food and clothing. The Store was where the women met and could have a blether about village affairs. She thought that the housewives of the miners were very industrious and kept spotless homes.
Peter and Maud were married on 28th June 1949 in St Peter’s church, Ludlow in Shropshire, and in 1952 came to live in Scotland. Maud had been brought up on a farm in Shropshire, not far from Ludlow.
On coming to Scotland, Maud and Peter at first lived at Side Cottage, near Towers Farm, for a year and then for a period at Douglas. Next they were at Douglas Water then Rigside. Their present home is at Douglas Water.
Peter drove lorries for other companies before taking over the McCabe business in 1964. He had taxis, mini-buses and latterly coaches. Maud talked about the commitment of the work in the hiring business – the long hours and being on-call every day of the week. She was a regular driver of the family taxis and mini-buses. She quoted that she can remember after the war and in the 50s, when fewer people had cars of their own, regularly collecting Dance Bands at 2.20 in the morning dance, and delivering the bandsmen to their homes. Sometimes, with less than two hours in bed, she was up again driving at six in the morning taking miners to their work. The firm had regular contract work such as taking children to and from school. When the local pit closed in the late 60s they conveyed miners from Douglas Water and Rigside to Coalburn, Kennox and also to collieries in Ayrshire, including Cairnhill, Barony and Killoch.
Captain Craig Brown (6/8 pipe march)
Sourced by Charlie Todd
The Man
Ernest Craig-Brown was born in Selkirk in 1871. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. In 1895 he was commissioned into the West India Regiment, Afro-Caribbean soldiers with British Officers. Excellent fighting troops, they were deployed in West Africa, being resistant to the many local diseases. In 1898 an attempt to impose a Hut Tax on the people of Sierra Leone led to an armed insurrection. During the subsequent fighting Craig-Brown was severely wounded, but came out alive with a campaign medal plus a battle clasp.
He transferred to the Cameron Highlanders later that year and fought in the Boer War, where he picked up Queen Victoria’s South African medal with three battle clasps and King Edward VII’s with two. His rapid promotion to Captain was the result of the raising by the Camerons of a 2nd Battalion between 1897-99. After qualifying at the Staff College, he served with the 1st Camerons from 1905-08, at the War Office from 1908-1912 and with the 1st Camerons from 1912-14. Like several other officers, Craig-Brown was a very keen piper, presumably having learned at school, and was also a member of the Royal Scottish Pipers Society.
The Composer
Charles Cameron was the son of P/M John Cameron of the 3rd Battalion Cameron Highlanders. The 3rd was the Militia Battalion, liable for Home Defence only. Most of the men were crofter/fisherman from Skye and the Outer Isles. The working language of the Battalion was Gaelic, in which all the Permanent Staff instructors had to be fluent. Every year the Battalion was embodied for 28 days training in camp at Fort George, but otherwise did no training. This represented a month’s paid holiday on the mainland plus a bounty so the 3rd Camerons were rarely short of men. John Cameron was a Gaelic speaker from Cromdale in Strathspey. A pupil of Donald MacKay, grandson of John MacKay (Raasay, father of the famed Angus MacKay, first Sovereign’s Piper) and also of Sandy Cameron, son of Donald Cameron (another of history’s great pipers) he had won the Oban Gold Medal in 1885, the Inverness Gold Medal in 1892 and the Gold Clasp in 1899. His Pipe Sergeant was the famous Lachie ‘Ban’ MacCormick of Benbecula.
P/M John Cameron was the composer of ‘The Highland Brigade at Tel el Kebir’ the battle fought in Egypt in 1882. At the time he had been a piper in the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry. He was a well-known ‘character’ and a popular man, if somewhat eccentric. As with all pipers of his generation, he had been taught piobaireachd in the traditional style. When requested to play a certain piobaireachd at the Skye Games he retorted ‘Am I to play it the correct way or the Piobaireachd Society way?’ He died in 1908 after a short illness, while still serving, and was buried with full military honours. Because the 3rd Battalion was not embodied at the time, his old regiment, the 1st H.L.I. from Fort George provided the pipe band and bearer party. His four sons all enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders, Charlie in 1908. He soon became an NCO, featuring regularly in the piping and dancing prize lists at the Regimental Games, although the best piper with the 1st Camerons at the time was Sandy Thomson.
Charlie was therefore serving with the 1st Battalion when Captain Craig-Brown re-joined in 1913. He was a piper to ‘A’ Company, of which Craig-Brown took command. Those were still the marching days, so when ‘A’ company marched to the rifle range or anywhere else, it would be with Charlie Cameron playing at its head, followed by Craig-Brown. The tune must therefore date from 1913, as Craig-Brown was posted from the 1st Camerons back to the General Staff early in 1914.
The Great War broke out on 4th August 1914. The Regular Army suffered severe casualties in the opening weeks and Craig-Brown was recalled in haste from the War Office to the 1st Camerons and promoted Major. He was soon awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He commanded the 1st Camerons from early 1915 until 1917, including the Battles of Loos and the Somme. In 1917 he was promoted Brigadier General. Charlie Cameron also served with the 1st Camerons throughout the Great War, the P/M from 1915 being Willie Cruickshank. Charlie was later lent as P/M to the 10th H.L.I., his father’s old regiment.
After the Great War
In 1921, Craig-Brown became Commanding Officer of the 1st Camerons then serving in India. When Willie Cruickshank retired in 1922 Craig-Brown appointed Charlie Cameron to the post, which he held until 1928, thereafter becoming the P/M of the Depot at Inverness. On taking over command Craig-Brown had ordered all officers to learn to play the pipes, and of an evening they could be seen sitting on the steps of the bungalows solemnly blowing away at their chanters. Craig-Brown (‘The Fizzer’ to the officers and ‘Auld Craigie’ or ‘Craigie-Broon’ to the troops) also forbade the Military Band to play anything other than Scottish tunes on the march. This disgusted the Battalion and the route marches became tedious indeed with the military Band plodding through ‘Duncan Gray’ and ‘Bonnie Mary of Argyll’ instead of ‘Colonel Bogie’ and the like. Craig-Brown retired in 1925. Forthwith the officers stopped blowing their chanters and the band dusted down their march library.
As always the tune appears under various titles including ‘Captain Craig-Brown’, ‘Lieutenant Colonel Craig-Brown DSO’ and ‘Lieutenant Colonel Craig-Brown DSO’s Farewell to the 79th’ Unusually it was originally written as a three part tune. A fourth part exists in the Queen’s Own Highlanders Standard Settings but the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band have a rather better fourth part on their CD ‘Live at Carnegie Hall’.
Charlie Cameron retired as P/M of the Cameron Highlanders Depot at Inverness in 1933. He then became tutor and P/M of the Dagenham Girl Pipers He died in 1943, still a young man, like so many other Great War veterans. Craig-Brown was luckier, attending the Royal Scottish Pipers Society practice meetings until he was well over eighty, marching up and down the drill hall at York Place, his back ramrod straight, bass drone slanted at the regimental angle. Promptly at 9pm a taxi called to take him home and the others present played “The Pibroch o’ Donuil Dubh’, the marchpast of the Cameron Highlanders, after which the old General went home to bed. He died in 1966, just short of his 96th birthday. His pipes he left to the regiment for the use of any young officer learning to play.
Callum Wilson of Biggar
by Charlie Todd
Although living in Biggar for some years now, Callum was born in Edinburgh and raised in the Midlothian village of Lasswade and then Loanhead where he resided for many years. Parents Charles and Helen enjoyed music but were not musicians, however grandfather William Williamson, a gamekeeper who latterly stayed at Stichhill near Kelso played the fiddle in his younger days. Unfortunately he was unable to play in latter years due to deafness as a result of his service in the First World War. Callum’s Christian name comes from his maternal grandmother who was a McCallum from Argyllshire, so perhaps there was also a musical influence there.
At the age of ten, Callum started piano lessons with local teacher Miss Jean Monteith in Loanhead. He spent four years under her tuition and did become proficient in the theory of music, which was to stand him in good stead in years to come. The Scottish influence possibly developed in the early nineteen fifties when he visited his grandfather, referred to above, and they would listen to the various Scottish Dance Music programmes on the old accumulator radio, Jimmy Shand and his Band being one of the favourite bands amongst others. At fourteen Callum decided to move over to the piano accordion so he bought himself a second hand 120 bass Frontilini. Getting tuition though was more of a problem. The best local teacher, without doubt, was the renowned Chrissie Letham who taught in a studio below Gordon Simpson’s music shop in Stafford Street, Edinburgh but she had a sizeable waiting list so it was with nearby Bilston teacher Harry Dougan the accordion lessons began. Harry was elderly but had played both accordion and dulcimer in dance bands for most of his life and as we all know there’s no substitute for experience. His job was made easier by the fact that Callum already knew about the right hand and they were able to concentrate on bass technique.
Callum also reminded me that in the 1970’s Chrissie Letham ran an ‘accordion club’ in Edinburgh which he enjoyed attending, firstly in the English Speaking Union in Athole Cresent and then in the Rifle Masonic Lodge in Broughton Street before latterly moving to premises in Gorgie Road before finally settling briefly in Abbeyhill.
Anyway back to the story, in the late sixties/early seventies Callum met in with Penicuik fiddler Alex Baptie, a good player who was competing at various competitions and whose composition “Echoes of Perth City Hall” won the Own Composition section at the Perth Festival around 1975. Alex was a great devotee of pipe music and Skinner tunes and Callum’s repertoire increased considerably.
Callum and Alex started to do “wee jobs” which helped Callum to gain experience in front of an audience. At this stage these were more in the nature of a spot in a concert programme rather than playing for dancing, for example with the Penicuik Male Voice Choir.They were also augmented by Bob McMath on second accordion and if a drummer was required a young lad just starting on the scene was Penicuik’s Max Ketchin and they sometimes shared the platform with Max’s dad Davy, who was just retiring from the pipe band competition scene to start on a long and successful career as a solo piper playing for entertainment, not trophies. Further experience was gained by sitting in on second box at the weekly Atholl Country Dance Club which met initially in The Assembly Rooms in Leith, then later in the Churchill Theatre, Edinburgh and now in Inverleith Church Hall. Anyone was, and still is, welcome to bring along an instrument and sit in and the band, then as now, is fronted by accordionist Iain MacPhail. It was through the ‘Atholl’ that Callum met many other musicians who were to play a part in his future musical career, for example, Shetland fiddler Alan Gifford who worked at that time in Edinburgh. Callum also recalls one of his earliest introductions to playing for Scottish Country Dancing when he was asked by the late Willie Stoddart to deputise for him by playing for the Juniper Green and Clermiston Dancers led by Captain Bain, which also involved a trip to Saverne in France in 1972 for a Folk Dance Festival.
In the early 70’s Bobby Jack, Gordon Young and Robin Brock started an Accordion Club at the ‘Alan Ramsay’ at Carlops near Penicuik. As with all early Clubs this was an inspiration to all local enthusiasts, players, listeners and dancers alike, who could not only hear their idols but also see them performing on stage, listen to their anecdotes and meet them in person. Will Starr, Jimmy Blue, Jim Johnstone, Iain MacPhail, David Cunningham Snr, Ian Holmes, Bert Shorthouse, Bobby Crowe, Tommy Ford, Jack Delaney, a young Jimmy Cassidy and fiddler Bobby Christie are some of the names that Callum remembers from this venue.
From the Frontilini mentioned above Callum had moved on to a black Atlantic IV, then in 1972 he bought a Morino IV from Clinkscales of Melrose for £340 (happy days!) which he still uses today for lead box. This was augmented in 1981 by a well used Domino V which he has used mainly for second box work after he had it fully restored by Geoff Holter at Darlington.
In 1975 Callum recalls traveling south with Iain McPhail’s Band to play second box at a Leeds University Country Dance Festival with Max Ketchin on drums, John Strachan on bass and Ena Wilson from Elvanfoot on piano. With his introduction to playing with a dance band Callum gradually started to play for dancing with his own group. Country Dancing and village hall dances were still thriving, so with a combination, as required, of Alan Gifford on fiddle, Arthur Speed (Penicuik) on second box, Margaret Winchester (Penicuik) on piano, Jimmy Ritchie (Penicuik) on bass and Robbie Dickson (Dolphinton) on drums, things got under way. Everything went well, with the band building both repertoire and experience and following the natural sequence of events Callum applied for an audition with BBC Radio Scotland, which took place in December 1976. Early the following month they heard that they had been successful and the band recorded their first studio broadcast for the BBC on 3rd March 1977.
As with every band, personnel changed gradually over the years and Callum has been good enough to list his BBC broadcasts, he also did three for Radio Forth between 1977 and 1981 the first being a programme entitled “Caperceilidh” then two for “The Folks Around Robin” presented by Robin Brock.
Band personnel on broadcasts over the years were
Fiddlers:- Alan Gifford (Edinburgh), Bob Christie (Stirling), Paul Jordan (Edinburgh).
Second accordion :- Arthur Speed (Penicuik).
Pianists: Margaret Winchester (Penicuik), Ray Milbourne (Dalkeith) John Gibson (Dalkeith), David Flockhart (Musselburgh), Adam Anderson (Broughton), Ena Wilson (Biggar)
Bass players: Jimmy Ritchie (Penicuik), Neil MacMillan (Balmaha), Rab Carruthers (Broughton), Stan Saunders (Dollar), Suzanne Gray (Alloa)
Drums : Robbie Dickson (Dolphinton), Ian Wilson (Millfield), Danny MacPhail (Longniddry), George Shiels (Biggar)
Over the years Callum was fortunate to ‘sit in’ with various established bands and he feels this was invaluable experience as there is nothing like learning on the job - almost like serving an apprenticeship. In this respect he acknowledges band leaders Iain MacPhail, George Meikle, Andrew Stoddart, the late Peter Innes and the late Alex McPhie as well as musical colleague Derek McLeod. 1977 saw one of Callum’s most memorable jobs on second accordion with The Lothian Scottish Dance Band when they were asked to play for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference at Gleneagles Hotel. Afterwards the band members were introduced personally to the then British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan and all of the Heads of State present. The previous year, 1976, Callum had auditioned for the BBC on second box with The Lothian Scottish Dance Band. The band passed with flying colours but they already had a full diary and were looking for a full time band member which didn’t suit Callum, so by the time their first recording came along it was Alan Ross who was carrying out that role although Callum did feature as second accordion on their first LP “Introducing The Lothian Scottish Dance Band”. Further broadcasts as second accordion were to follow when fiddler Alex McPhie formed his own band in the early nineties.
Callum’s own band cut their first LP in 1980 on the Lismor label with Arthur Speed on second box, Bob Christie on fiddle, Margaret Winchester on piano, Neil McMillan on bass and Danny MacPhail on drums and various tracks from it were also on Lismor compilation albums. This was followed by a privately recorded CD in 1997 with 15 full length country dances and 2 ceilidh dances, this time the line up being Arthur Speed second box, Paul Jordan fiddle, Ena Wilson piano, Suzanne Gray bass and George Shiels drums. George Shiels, who literally stays two doors along from Callum and Ena in Cardon Drive, Biggar had joined the band in 1990 and still plays with them. Their latest private commercial recording to date was in 2007 called “Band Favourites” with 18 tracks of mostly ceilidh dances the line up being Arthur Speed second box, Paul Jordan fiddle, Ena Wilson piano/bass and George Shiels drums.
In1982 Callum (Wilson) of Loanhead married Ena (Wilson) of Elvanfoot (of whom more in a later issue of the B&F). When looking for a home they settled on a compromise between those two locations, namely Biggar which was ideally situated for work and band travel. In 1980, and for the next 14 years, Callum, Ena and Alan Gifford were guests at the annual Up Helly Aa Festival in Lerwick, their particular venue being the Islesburgh Community Centre for what is recognized as the marathon playing session in the Scottish Dance Band calendar.
On retiral from that annual event Callum and his band were given the opportunity by Barrhead Travel to be one of the bands providing the music for one of the week’s in an annual two week Scottish Country Dance holiday to various Mediterranean seaside locations. For Callum and the band it kicked off in Malta in 1997 and continued in 1998 (Costa Del Sol), 1999 (the Algarve), 2000 (Costa Blanca), 2001 (Majorca), 2002 and 2003 (Cyprus). By then, having visited all the available venues and particularly after the luggage restrictions which came into being after the 9/11 bombing, the band decided to bow out gracefully.
On concluding this article Callum gives his greatest acknowledgement to his wife Ena for her past and continuing support and encouragement.
Whilst Callum is now retired from his work / business as a Clerk of Works he remains active on the band scene and although dancing and dances in general have decreased in recent years the band still has enough work to “keep their hand in” and while they leave the broadcasting to the “younger players” they continue to enjoy an occasional tune. Long may they continue to do so.
Perthshire Amber
by
The eagerly awaited………..
Union Hill
by Liz Quinn
An enthusiastic audience………..
New Tunes and Dances
by Liz Quinn
Well-known folk musician ……………..
Take the Floor – Saturday Evenings 19.05 – 21.00 with Robbie Shepherd (repeated on Sunday’s)
7th May 11 – Hector McFadyen SDB (OB from Argyllshire Gathering Hall with Oban High School Pipe Band and Joy Dunlop)
14th May 11 – Graeme Munro SDB
21st May 11 – John Carmichael SDB
28th May 11 – Ian Hutson SDB (OB from Blairgowrie Town Hall)
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Old Machar RBL) – 31st May 11 – AGM + Iain Anderson Trio
Alnwick (The Farrier’s Arms – Shilbottle) 11th May 11 – Steven Carcary Trio
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 15th May 11 – Leonard Brown & Malcolm Ross
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 1st May 11 – Sandy Nixon SDB
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Church Hall) –
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 30th May 11 – Scott Band Trio
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 25th May 11 – Roy Hendrie
Beith & District (Anderson Hotel) –
Biggar (Municipal Hall) –
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 10th May 11 – Gordon Shand SDB
Britannia (Arden House Hotel) -
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) -
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 12th May 11 – Fife S&R Group
Campsie (Glazert Country House Hotel) - 3rd May 11 – Glenelvan SDB
Carlisle (St Margaret Mary Social Club) -
Castle Douglas (Urr Valley Country House Hotel) – 6th May 11 – Dance to Roger Dobson SDB
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) -
Coldingham (Village Hall) -
Crieff & District (Crieff Hotel) 5th May 11 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Cults (Culter Sports & Social Club)
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 4th May 11 – Nicky McMichan Trio
Dunblane (Victoria Hall) – 18th May 11 – West Telferton C.B.
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 10th May 11 - AGM
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel)
Duns (Royal British Legion Club, Langtongate) 16th May 11 – AGM & Club Night
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 24th May 11 – Davie Stewart SDB
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – May 11 -
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 29th May 11 – Willie McFarlane Band
Forres (Victoria Hotel) – 11th May 11 – Dave Husband Sound
Fort William (Railway Club, Inverlochy) -
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) –
Glendale (The Glendale Hall) - 12th May 11 – Marie Fielding & Duncan Black
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 4th May 11 – Perth S&R Society
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) -
Gretna (Athlitic & Social Club) -
Haddington (Railway Inn) - 15th May 11 – Iain Anderson & Gemma Donald
Highland (Waterside Hotel) – 16th May 11 – Wayne Robertson & Malcolm Ross
Inveraray (Argyll Hotel) -
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 5th May 11 – Iain Cathcart Trio 26th – 28th May 11 - Festival
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) –
Kelso (Cross Keys Hotel) – 25th May 11 – Lyne Valley Band
Kintore (Torryburn Arms Hotel) –
Ladybank (Ladybank Tavern) - 19th May 11 – Alan Small & the Early Learning Ceilidh Band
Lanark (Ravenstruther Hall) -
Langholm (Eskdale Hotel) –
Lauder (Black Bull Hotel) - 1st May 11 – Ewan Galloway Trio
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 5th May 11 – Ross MacPherson Trio
Livingston (Hilcroft Hotel, Whitburn) 17th May 11 – Ian Kirkpatrick SDB
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) -
Mauchline (Harry Lyle Suite) -
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 4th May 11 – Steven Carcary Trio
Newburgh (The Ship Inn) -
Newmill-on-Teviot / Teviotdale (Thorterdykes Roadhouse)
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) –
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 3rd May 11 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Oban (The Argyllshire Gathering) –
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) –
Peebles (Rugby Social Club) –
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 17th May 11 – Iain Cathcart SDB
Premier NI (Chimney Corner Hotel) -
Reading Scottish Fiddlers (Willowbank Infant School, Woodley) -
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) –
Rothbury (Queen’s Head Hotel) - 5th May 11 – Scott Band Trio
Scottish Accordion Music (Banchory) -
Seghill (Old Comrades Club) - 10th May 11 – Wayne Robertson
Selkirk (Angus O’Malley’s) -
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) -
Stonehouse (Stonehouse Violet Football Social Club) -
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) -
Thornhill (Bowling Club Hall) -
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 9th May 11 – Craig Paton
Turriff (Commercial Hotel, Cuminestown) – 5th May 11 – Nicol McLaren SDB
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 19th May 11 – Walter Perrie
Uist & Benbecula (C of S Hall, Griminish) -
West Barnes (West Barnes Inn) 12th May 11 – Deirdre Adamson
Wick (MacKay’s Hotel) – 17th May 11 – Susan MAcFadyen Trio
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Arbroath
3. Banchory
4. Banff
5. Beith
6. Biggar
7. Blairgowrie
8. Button-key
9. Campsie
10. Coalburn
11. Coldingham
12. Crieff
13. Dingwall
14. Dunblane
15. Duns
16. Forfar
17. Forres
18. Fort William
19. Glendale
20. Gretna
21. Haddington
22. Highland
23. Isle of Skye
24. Islesteps
25. Kelso
26. Lanark
27. Lewis & Harris
28. Lockerbie
29. Mauchline
30. Montrose
31. Newburgh
32. Newtongrange
33. North East
34. Perth
35. Rothbury
36. Shetland
37. Sutherland
38. Thurso
39. Tynedale
40. Uist & Benbecula
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 2010
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Aug 1975 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started 1985 – present)
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
6. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
7. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
8. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
9. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
10. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
11. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
12. Britannia B&F Club ( joined 07-08 but much older
13. Bromley A&F Club (joined 95-96 – closed early 08-09)
14. Button Key A&F Club (
15. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
16. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
17. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
18. Coalburn A&F Club (
19. Coldingham A&F Club (Nov 2008 -
20. Crathes (aka Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes) (Nov 1997 -
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Cults A & F Club (
23. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
24. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
25. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
26. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
27. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
28. Duns A&F Club (formed 20th Sept 04 – present)
29. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980 – Closed 04/05)
30. Ellon A&F Club (
31. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
32. Forfar A&F Club (
33. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
34. Fort William A&F Club (2009 -
35. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
36. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
37. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
38. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
39. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
40. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
41. Haddington A&F Club (formed Feb 2005 - )
42. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
43. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
44. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
45. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
46. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
47. Kintore A&F Club (
48. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed earlier
49. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – closed March 2015)
50. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
51. Lauder A&F Club (May 2010 -
52. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
53. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
54 Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
55 Maine Valley A&F Club (
56 Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
57 Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
58 Newburgh A&F Club (joined 2002 but founded
59 Newmill-on-Teviot (Hawick) (Formed late 1988 joined Assoc 1999 - closed March 2016)
60 Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
61. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
62. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
63. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
64. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
65. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
66. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
67. Phoenix A&F Club, Ardrishaig (Dec 2004 -
68. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
69. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
70. Selkirk A&F Club (
71. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
72 Stonehouse A&F Club (first report June 05 -
73 Sutherland A&F Club (Nov 1982 -
74 Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
75 Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
76 Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
77 Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
78 Uist & Benbecula A&F Club (Dec 2007 but formed 1994 -
79 West Barnes ( - present)
80 Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
81. Araharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
82. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Last meeting May 2010
83. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
84. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
85. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
86. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
87. Buchan A&F Club
88 Callander A&F Club (
89 Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
90 Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
91 Club Accord
92 Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
93. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
94. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
95. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
96. Derwentside A&F Club
97. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
98. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
99. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
100. Dundee & District A&F Club (January 1971 – 1995?)
101. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
102. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
103. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
104. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
105. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
106. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
107. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
108. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
109. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
110. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
111. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
112. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
113. Mull A&F Club
114. Newcastleton Accordion Club
115. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
116. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
117. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
118. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
119. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
120. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 – closed 20000/01?)
121. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
122. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
123. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
124. Tranent A&F Club
125. Vancouver
126. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
127. Wellbank A&F Club
128. Yarrow (prev known as Etterick & Yarrow) (Jan 1989 – closed 2001/02)
Advertising rates
Back Page (colour) - £300
Full Page (colour) - £220
Full Page (b&w) - £140
Half Page (colour) - £110
Half Page (b&w) - £70
Quarter Page (colour) - £55
Quarter Page (b&w) - £35
Eighth Page - £18
Small Boxed £12
B&F Treasurer – Charlie Todd, Thankerton
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time-consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
Don’t forget to book your places for the NAAFC Golf Day at Dunblane on 7th June. There aren’t many places left. Entry forms must be in by 17th May.
Also please book your tickets now for the NAAFC Luncheon & Celebrity Ceilidh on 26th June. Once again we anticipate a full house.
Have a wonderful summer!
Karin Ingram
Bobby Brown
by
As an individual performer, member of two Scottish Country Dance Bands, Musical Director of the internationally renowned fiddle troupe The Cape Breton Symphony and current leader of The Scottish Accent, Bobby Brown has been a leading proponent of Scottish Country Dance and traditional Scottish music in Canada, the United States, Britain and Europe for fifty years. Moreover, he is actively engaged in the perpetuation and expansion of this Scottish heritage by encouraging young Canadian musicians to learn and preserve the songs and tunes of that tradition.
Robert Watt Brown was born in Dennyloanhead, Scotland in 1941. His father, John Brown, as a young man spent time in Canada, where he tried his luck searching for gold in the Yukon. Perhaps this early adventuring may have implanted some prenatal urge among his children to return to seek their pot of gold and rainbow’s end in Canada, for Bobby and his two sisters, Christine and Jean, subsequently all made their homes in Canada. Bobby’s second name, Watt, is a label to be worn proudly. A distant relative among his forebears was James Watt (1736-1819), whom everyone knows as the inventor of the steam engine.
Bobby grew up in a family devoted to the field of Scottish musical entertainment. His mother, Jean Day, was widely known throughout Scotland as a concert soprano, often performing with Harry Lauder and Will Fyffe. His father was a fiddler, and several uncles were pipers and drummers. Uncle John Day formed one of the early dance bands. As children of a nationally known singer and a father who was a “passing fair” violinist, it is not surprising that Bobby and his sisters all had music lessons. As a wee boy, Bobby played the mouth organ, but later his instrument was the piano. It was not until he went to Canada and could only afford to buy an accordion that he learned to play one – mainly self-taught.
In 1957, Bobby Brown emigrated from Scotland to Canada where he joined his sister Christine. He brought with him his knowledge and love of traditional Scottish music, coming from a family of musicians. Starved of his native music, Bobby befriended pipers and drummers in the local pipe band and, shortly after, began taking accordion lessons. Through his other sister Jean, he met a trio of Scots musicians who had begun to play for Country Dancing in Hamilton. Two of these, newly arrived in Canada also, were living in London, Ontario – Stan Hamilton and Bobby Frew. One thing led to another and soon Bobby Brown had been added to this trio as second accordionist. Up to this point in his life the accordion had been a plaything, now here was the challenge to become its master. Here too was the opportunity to delve deeply into the rich treasures of the traditional Scottish music that provides a unique setting for its national dancing.
What followed is part of Scottish Country Dance history. For the next seventeen years, the two Bobbies and Stan Hamilton, with an evolving back-row of bass and drum players (of whom Don Wood and Fred Collins still play with Bobby in The Scottish Accent band today) comprised “the great band” known as “The Clansmen” to become later “The Flying Scotsmen”. Despite a full-time career in the engineering industry, Bobby maintained a gruelling schedule as an individual performer and as a key member of one of North America’s most respected bands. This band made appearances at the New York World’s Fair, Grand Bahamas Hotel, Scottish Country Dance functions, Burns Suppers, Highland Games and Celtic Heritage Festivals across Canada and USA and on national television.
By the 1970s Bobby Brown was developing additional musical interests. He had become acquainted with many of the old-time fiddlers, who among other things, congregate annually at Shelburne, Ontario, not far from Bobby’s home in Brampton. In 1973, he was invited to share with the celebrated folk singer and entertainer John Allan Cameron in arranging, producing and performing in a musical series on the national CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) television network and later on CTV. Bobby was instrumental in the formation of “The Cape Breton Symphony Fiddlers”, a unique group of four Nova Scotian musicians specialising in the Cape Breton style of Scottish fiddle music, who performed regularly on the show. They also appeared many times on other television variety shows, including The Tommy Hunter Show and Bob McLean Show, and at the annual Canada Day celebrations at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. Bobby has always had an affinity with fiddlers, enjoyed playing the piano and producing albums for them.
Other touring and broadcasting opportunities followed so that by 1976 Bobby made the crucial decision to become a full-time professional musician and to leave The Stan Hamilton Band, to more easily schedule his own musical activities. Bobby was given the opportunity to become heavily involved in folk music (television and tours) as an entertainer manager, but it would mean leaving Scottish music, as there would no time to commit to dates. Despite the lure of huge salaries and fame in folk music, deep down Bobby knew that he wanted to play the music he loved most – Scottish music. He took a huge financial risk, leaving a full-time management position and giving up folk music opportunities to pursue his one true love – Scottish music. Very soon afterwards, his own Scottish Country Dance Band known as “The Scottish Accent” was formed. This band plays all over North America – from east to west and north to south – and travels extensively in all types of weather to bring live music to dancers. It has become the leading Scottish Country Dance Band in North America.
The field of traditional Scottish and Country Dance music is outside the popular mainstream and few performers are willing to commit their careers to this type of artistic expression which requires specialised historic knowledge and a high level of musical proficiency. Consequently Bobby and his Band have travelled extensively to support a variety of Scottish cultural events with their authentic traditional live music in strict tempo. The band also contributes its considerable entertainment appeal to free concerts at senior citizens homes, community gatherings and fundraisers.
As a composer and arranger in his own right, Bobby maintains one of the few original manuscript libraries of traditional Scottish Music in the world. This is a rich resource which is utilised constantly during preparations for both live performances and numerous recordings for which this individual has always demanded strict quality and integrity. Bobby has been involved in the production and arranging of over 100 recordings of Scottish Canadian Music by various artists. With his own band, The Scottish Accent and The Cape Breton Symphony, he has now recorded over twenty albums, with special guests including Alasdair Fraser, Graham Townsend, John Allan Cameron and Christine Scott. He has worked on stage with other Scottish and Canadian performers such as Moira Anderson, Andy Stewart, Hamish Imlach, Robin Brock, Alex Beaton, Peter Glen, John Carmichael, Billy Meek, Rita MacNeil, Edith Butler, The Rankins and Ashley MacIsaac and has appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts.
Bobby has toured Britain and parts of Europe with both “The Scottish Accent” band and “The Cape Breton Symphony Fiddlers”, and other artists to marvellous reviews. Also, with grant support from the Canadian government, he has taken musical shows to West Germany and Ireland and of course has toured across Canada. In 1984 he was invited with supporting players to perform at the University Games in Edmonton, winning commendations from the honorary patrons of the occasion, TRH The Prince and Princess of Wales. He has shared his love for Scottish music with audiences at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, The Alaska State Fair, The Pan Celtic Festival, Scottish World Festival at the Canadian National Exhibition (to audiences of 25,000), and numerous folk festivals and fairs across Canada. The Scottish Accent band was the first and only band in North America to broadcast live from Toronto for BBC’s Take The Floor and was also the only band outside Scotland to record for The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
Still today, Bobby plays regularly for Scottish Country Dance events – workshops, dances, classes, candidates’ exams and balls, across North America. TAC (Teacher’s Association Canada) annually runs a week long Summer School (similar to St. Andrews) and Bobby Brown and “The Scottish Accent” provide music for both social dancing and for classes each year. His band is known for its unique sound and energy with a good drive and rock solid tempo. Bobby’s encyclopaedic knowledge and his love of traditional Scottish music make his work and his band’s music stand apart. His arrangements and settings have made The Scottish Accent band tremendously successful.
Bobby has given many workshops for musicians during Summer School and Thistle School (North Carolina) as well as in various other places, providing leadership and encouragement to others to keep Scottish traditional music alive. He has accomplished this latter, by helping with the production of recordings of other musicians and has passed his love of traditional Scottish music and heritage to his son, Laird. Laird is now not only second accordion player for the “The Scottish Accent” but is actively involved in playing for classes around North America and assisting his father in the studio with the production and arranging of various musical projects. Bobby has just recently produced Laird’s first album as a lead player.
In the last few years, Bobby’s great concern with maintaining the standards of “real” Scottish music as opposed to what many consider the real thing has encouraged him to take on the onerous job of tutor, teaching young musicians what makes for really good traditional Scottish music. His real concern with maintaining the highest standard is beginning to produce some visible results in the United States. Other musicians who have played with him over the years in his band, or been under his tutelage as “apprentices” have gone on to become professional musicians or form their own band or be part of a band playing Scottish music, particularly in the United States. Including for example, Paul Langley (principal bassist of Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada), Jim Creeggan (bass of Barenaked Ladies), Rob Wolanski (principal bass of Hamilton Philharmonic, Steve Ozorak (accordion for Music Makars in USA), Barbara McGowan, Mara Shea, (both fiddlers in USA),
Understanding that cultural preservation is dependent upon the devoted cultivation and transition of knowledge, Bobby has encouraged and taught many young Canadians in their pursuit of excellence in the field of Scottish music. At workshops and classes, Bobby sets aside his performer responsibilities to become an engaging teacher and eagerly instructs participants in the subtle idiomatic nuances of traditional Scottish music. Recently he has started writing articles for RSCDS branch newsletters in the hopes of educating dancers about the music they are dancing to.
Bobby has always kept his finger on the pulse of music in Scotland. Besides the tours of Scotland he organised, he visits regularly. He also maintains constant contact with many friends in Scotland, who are also band leaders and involved in Scottish music. His CDs are available in Scotland and are featured on Scottish Radio broadcasts, particularly Take the Floor. Many of the younger band leaders are well aware of Bobby Brown’s influence on Scottish traditional music, particularly dance bands.
Bobby has devoted his life to the playing, researching, recording and teaching of Scottish Dance Music. He loves playing and Scottish music is in his soul.
Lanarkshire Bands of Yesteryear
by Charlie Todd
After an interesting history of just under 80 years, the mining village of Douglas Water in Lanarkshire, practically ceased to exist when an underground fire, which proved to be uncontrollable, closed the Douglas colliery in 1967. The seams were due to become exhausted two years later anyway so it was deemed economically unviable to extinguish the fire and repair the damage. The fire burned for many years afterwards with a tell-tale trickle of smoke from the pithead gear.
While researching for a local history of the village I came across the following two mentions regarding dance bands in the articles of the late Jim Hamilton (they appeared in his ‘Rigside Record.’) Fortunately Ben Morris of Rigside, an avid collector of old Douglas Water photographs, happened to have photos of three of the bands referred to, which prompted me to collect a few more of bands around the Lanark area in the 40s and 50s. There are still photos while elude me, particularly of the Forth based Locarno Band, Martin Miller’s Leadhills based band and Huge Devine’s resident band at the ‘The Palais’, Lanark’s Loch Ballroom. (This brings to mind a story from my own secondary schooldays at Lanark Grammar. There are two school pals involved John McCahon, nickname ‘Mally’ and ?, nickname ‘Slev’. One summer evening Slev and partner were walking on Hyndford Road having come from ‘The Pally’ and they met Mally and partner heading in the opposite direction i.e. towards the Pally. “Gaun tae The Pally, Mally?” enquired Slev. “Naw, gaun for a bev Slev?” Mally responded and they both continued on their way.)
Douglas Water and other surrounding mining villages had very successful Silver Bands from which several of the band members were drawn. Sam Girdwood, who appears as a young man in The Astorians photograph, gradually became completely blind due to a generic illness, but continued playing right up until the 1970s. Indeed he was my introduction to dance bands since it was his band which played for the Christmas dances at Lanark Grammar School at that time. I also knew Bobby Park, the drummer seated next to him, when he tutored the drummers of The Vale of Clyde Pipe Band in Lanark in the 1980s, by which time he stayed in Biggar. He claimed to be the first drummer in the area to use a hi-hat. It’s fascinating to come across this visual record of them 40 years earlier.
Jim Simpson (excerpt from interview in Vol 2 of The Rigside Record issued June 1992)
“I was never athletic at school. As a boy I played golf at Rigside and got my handicap reduced to ‘plus 2’ which I considered good. However, I gave up the game when I took up playing the accordion.
“Tom Martin gave me instruction when I got ma first accordion. It was an Italian made Crucianelli with 60 bass. Later I got a Hohner and it had 120 bass. I was soon playing at dances with a small group including Tom Martin and me on the accordions, Bobby Kennedy on dulcimer and Jimmy Hynds played the drums. I must give some credit to Tom Martin for being a wonderful player of the concertina. He could finger it crisply and to get vibration he would swing it about, sometime above his head.
“Our small combination played at dances in the village and surrounding hamlets. We played regularly at Carmichael. Before I mention another band I was associated with, I must tell you that my playing improved a lot when I went to get lessons from Mr Adamson in Muirkirk.
(Bobby Adamson, as well as being the composer of Triumph March, also taught Ronnie Easton, Kenny and Stuart Thomson from Cumnock, Brian Griffin and Matt Lammie all of them excellent players.)
“He was a close friend of Jimmy (Darkie) Davidson who was an organist. I remember Darkie went to fill in a gap as organist at St Bride’s Kirk in Douglas. It was supposed to be pro tem. He was there for over 40 years! Darkie was the Douglas Water correspondent for ‘The Hamilton Advertiser’. Nearly every year he wrote an essay about his climb of Tinto to mark his birthday. After Darkie gave up the post, Richard Dunn became the village correspondent.
“I was called on to play with The Georgians Dance Band when there was likely to be a lot of Scottish dances wi’ plenty of burling and hooching. All the instrumentalists in the band were excellent sight-readers and played with sheet music so we got the proper harmonies.”
Jim and I exchanged views about dancing in the 1930s and 40s. It was the years of ‘haud-on-tae-me’ dancing when partners were permitted body contact with their hands and arms. The scene today is quite different when the young attend discos and partners seem to circle round each other as if eyeing each other suspiciously.
Then there was the custom, which seems strange on reflection, that the males sat or stood along one side of the dance floor and the females on the opposite side. When a dance was announced by the MC the more confident males would cross the floor like missiles heading for the partner of their choice. The more bashful men would wait until some couples were already on the floor before deciding to walk across the floor to ask a lady for a dance. The drawback to being reticent was that the lady you intended to ask for a dance might be selected in the first rush. It reduced the prospects of getting the ‘lumber’ you wanted to take home at the end of the dance.
Jim mentioned The Astorians Dance Band from Douglas Water which had what was considered, in the 1940s, a favourite combination of instruments for a small dance band – two saxophones, trumpet, piano accordion, drums and crooner. All the players were fine instrumentalists and I can still recall the pleasure of listening and dancing to them in The Miners’ Welfare Hall in Coalburn.
The McCabe Family (excerpt from interview in Vol 5 of The Rigside Record issued January 1994)
Peter McCabe, son of Pat and Grace, was serving as a motor driver in the RAF and while stationed at RAF Bawdsey in Suffolk, he met his future wife Maud, who was a Radar Operator in the WAAF. Her first visit to Scotland was at Hogmanay 1948, arriving at Ponfeigh Station at 7.30 in the morning. Maud remembers there was snow on the ground and it was very, very cold but she received a warm welcome from Mrs McCabe and the family at 25 Townfoot Place.
Maud was impressed by the friendliness of the people and liked the wonderful spirit shown by the compact community. The lives of the villagers revolved around the Douglas Colliery which gave most of the men employment and the local Co-operative Store which supplied most of the families’ needs by way of food and clothing. The Store was where the women met and could have a blether about village affairs. She thought that the housewives of the miners were very industrious and kept spotless homes.
Peter and Maud were married on 28th June 1949 in St Peter’s church, Ludlow in Shropshire, and in 1952 came to live in Scotland. Maud had been brought up on a farm in Shropshire, not far from Ludlow.
On coming to Scotland, Maud and Peter at first lived at Side Cottage, near Towers Farm, for a year and then for a period at Douglas. Next they were at Douglas Water then Rigside. Their present home is at Douglas Water.
Peter drove lorries for other companies before taking over the McCabe business in 1964. He had taxis, mini-buses and latterly coaches. Maud talked about the commitment of the work in the hiring business – the long hours and being on-call every day of the week. She was a regular driver of the family taxis and mini-buses. She quoted that she can remember after the war and in the 50s, when fewer people had cars of their own, regularly collecting Dance Bands at 2.20 in the morning dance, and delivering the bandsmen to their homes. Sometimes, with less than two hours in bed, she was up again driving at six in the morning taking miners to their work. The firm had regular contract work such as taking children to and from school. When the local pit closed in the late 60s they conveyed miners from Douglas Water and Rigside to Coalburn, Kennox and also to collieries in Ayrshire, including Cairnhill, Barony and Killoch.
Captain Craig Brown (6/8 pipe march)
Sourced by Charlie Todd
The Man
Ernest Craig-Brown was born in Selkirk in 1871. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. In 1895 he was commissioned into the West India Regiment, Afro-Caribbean soldiers with British Officers. Excellent fighting troops, they were deployed in West Africa, being resistant to the many local diseases. In 1898 an attempt to impose a Hut Tax on the people of Sierra Leone led to an armed insurrection. During the subsequent fighting Craig-Brown was severely wounded, but came out alive with a campaign medal plus a battle clasp.
He transferred to the Cameron Highlanders later that year and fought in the Boer War, where he picked up Queen Victoria’s South African medal with three battle clasps and King Edward VII’s with two. His rapid promotion to Captain was the result of the raising by the Camerons of a 2nd Battalion between 1897-99. After qualifying at the Staff College, he served with the 1st Camerons from 1905-08, at the War Office from 1908-1912 and with the 1st Camerons from 1912-14. Like several other officers, Craig-Brown was a very keen piper, presumably having learned at school, and was also a member of the Royal Scottish Pipers Society.
The Composer
Charles Cameron was the son of P/M John Cameron of the 3rd Battalion Cameron Highlanders. The 3rd was the Militia Battalion, liable for Home Defence only. Most of the men were crofter/fisherman from Skye and the Outer Isles. The working language of the Battalion was Gaelic, in which all the Permanent Staff instructors had to be fluent. Every year the Battalion was embodied for 28 days training in camp at Fort George, but otherwise did no training. This represented a month’s paid holiday on the mainland plus a bounty so the 3rd Camerons were rarely short of men. John Cameron was a Gaelic speaker from Cromdale in Strathspey. A pupil of Donald MacKay, grandson of John MacKay (Raasay, father of the famed Angus MacKay, first Sovereign’s Piper) and also of Sandy Cameron, son of Donald Cameron (another of history’s great pipers) he had won the Oban Gold Medal in 1885, the Inverness Gold Medal in 1892 and the Gold Clasp in 1899. His Pipe Sergeant was the famous Lachie ‘Ban’ MacCormick of Benbecula.
P/M John Cameron was the composer of ‘The Highland Brigade at Tel el Kebir’ the battle fought in Egypt in 1882. At the time he had been a piper in the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry. He was a well-known ‘character’ and a popular man, if somewhat eccentric. As with all pipers of his generation, he had been taught piobaireachd in the traditional style. When requested to play a certain piobaireachd at the Skye Games he retorted ‘Am I to play it the correct way or the Piobaireachd Society way?’ He died in 1908 after a short illness, while still serving, and was buried with full military honours. Because the 3rd Battalion was not embodied at the time, his old regiment, the 1st H.L.I. from Fort George provided the pipe band and bearer party. His four sons all enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders, Charlie in 1908. He soon became an NCO, featuring regularly in the piping and dancing prize lists at the Regimental Games, although the best piper with the 1st Camerons at the time was Sandy Thomson.
Charlie was therefore serving with the 1st Battalion when Captain Craig-Brown re-joined in 1913. He was a piper to ‘A’ Company, of which Craig-Brown took command. Those were still the marching days, so when ‘A’ company marched to the rifle range or anywhere else, it would be with Charlie Cameron playing at its head, followed by Craig-Brown. The tune must therefore date from 1913, as Craig-Brown was posted from the 1st Camerons back to the General Staff early in 1914.
The Great War broke out on 4th August 1914. The Regular Army suffered severe casualties in the opening weeks and Craig-Brown was recalled in haste from the War Office to the 1st Camerons and promoted Major. He was soon awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He commanded the 1st Camerons from early 1915 until 1917, including the Battles of Loos and the Somme. In 1917 he was promoted Brigadier General. Charlie Cameron also served with the 1st Camerons throughout the Great War, the P/M from 1915 being Willie Cruickshank. Charlie was later lent as P/M to the 10th H.L.I., his father’s old regiment.
After the Great War
In 1921, Craig-Brown became Commanding Officer of the 1st Camerons then serving in India. When Willie Cruickshank retired in 1922 Craig-Brown appointed Charlie Cameron to the post, which he held until 1928, thereafter becoming the P/M of the Depot at Inverness. On taking over command Craig-Brown had ordered all officers to learn to play the pipes, and of an evening they could be seen sitting on the steps of the bungalows solemnly blowing away at their chanters. Craig-Brown (‘The Fizzer’ to the officers and ‘Auld Craigie’ or ‘Craigie-Broon’ to the troops) also forbade the Military Band to play anything other than Scottish tunes on the march. This disgusted the Battalion and the route marches became tedious indeed with the military Band plodding through ‘Duncan Gray’ and ‘Bonnie Mary of Argyll’ instead of ‘Colonel Bogie’ and the like. Craig-Brown retired in 1925. Forthwith the officers stopped blowing their chanters and the band dusted down their march library.
As always the tune appears under various titles including ‘Captain Craig-Brown’, ‘Lieutenant Colonel Craig-Brown DSO’ and ‘Lieutenant Colonel Craig-Brown DSO’s Farewell to the 79th’ Unusually it was originally written as a three part tune. A fourth part exists in the Queen’s Own Highlanders Standard Settings but the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band have a rather better fourth part on their CD ‘Live at Carnegie Hall’.
Charlie Cameron retired as P/M of the Cameron Highlanders Depot at Inverness in 1933. He then became tutor and P/M of the Dagenham Girl Pipers He died in 1943, still a young man, like so many other Great War veterans. Craig-Brown was luckier, attending the Royal Scottish Pipers Society practice meetings until he was well over eighty, marching up and down the drill hall at York Place, his back ramrod straight, bass drone slanted at the regimental angle. Promptly at 9pm a taxi called to take him home and the others present played “The Pibroch o’ Donuil Dubh’, the marchpast of the Cameron Highlanders, after which the old General went home to bed. He died in 1966, just short of his 96th birthday. His pipes he left to the regiment for the use of any young officer learning to play.
Callum Wilson of Biggar
by Charlie Todd
Although living in Biggar for some years now, Callum was born in Edinburgh and raised in the Midlothian village of Lasswade and then Loanhead where he resided for many years. Parents Charles and Helen enjoyed music but were not musicians, however grandfather William Williamson, a gamekeeper who latterly stayed at Stichhill near Kelso played the fiddle in his younger days. Unfortunately he was unable to play in latter years due to deafness as a result of his service in the First World War. Callum’s Christian name comes from his maternal grandmother who was a McCallum from Argyllshire, so perhaps there was also a musical influence there.
At the age of ten, Callum started piano lessons with local teacher Miss Jean Monteith in Loanhead. He spent four years under her tuition and did become proficient in the theory of music, which was to stand him in good stead in years to come. The Scottish influence possibly developed in the early nineteen fifties when he visited his grandfather, referred to above, and they would listen to the various Scottish Dance Music programmes on the old accumulator radio, Jimmy Shand and his Band being one of the favourite bands amongst others. At fourteen Callum decided to move over to the piano accordion so he bought himself a second hand 120 bass Frontilini. Getting tuition though was more of a problem. The best local teacher, without doubt, was the renowned Chrissie Letham who taught in a studio below Gordon Simpson’s music shop in Stafford Street, Edinburgh but she had a sizeable waiting list so it was with nearby Bilston teacher Harry Dougan the accordion lessons began. Harry was elderly but had played both accordion and dulcimer in dance bands for most of his life and as we all know there’s no substitute for experience. His job was made easier by the fact that Callum already knew about the right hand and they were able to concentrate on bass technique.
Callum also reminded me that in the 1970’s Chrissie Letham ran an ‘accordion club’ in Edinburgh which he enjoyed attending, firstly in the English Speaking Union in Athole Cresent and then in the Rifle Masonic Lodge in Broughton Street before latterly moving to premises in Gorgie Road before finally settling briefly in Abbeyhill.
Anyway back to the story, in the late sixties/early seventies Callum met in with Penicuik fiddler Alex Baptie, a good player who was competing at various competitions and whose composition “Echoes of Perth City Hall” won the Own Composition section at the Perth Festival around 1975. Alex was a great devotee of pipe music and Skinner tunes and Callum’s repertoire increased considerably.
Callum and Alex started to do “wee jobs” which helped Callum to gain experience in front of an audience. At this stage these were more in the nature of a spot in a concert programme rather than playing for dancing, for example with the Penicuik Male Voice Choir.They were also augmented by Bob McMath on second accordion and if a drummer was required a young lad just starting on the scene was Penicuik’s Max Ketchin and they sometimes shared the platform with Max’s dad Davy, who was just retiring from the pipe band competition scene to start on a long and successful career as a solo piper playing for entertainment, not trophies. Further experience was gained by sitting in on second box at the weekly Atholl Country Dance Club which met initially in The Assembly Rooms in Leith, then later in the Churchill Theatre, Edinburgh and now in Inverleith Church Hall. Anyone was, and still is, welcome to bring along an instrument and sit in and the band, then as now, is fronted by accordionist Iain MacPhail. It was through the ‘Atholl’ that Callum met many other musicians who were to play a part in his future musical career, for example, Shetland fiddler Alan Gifford who worked at that time in Edinburgh. Callum also recalls one of his earliest introductions to playing for Scottish Country Dancing when he was asked by the late Willie Stoddart to deputise for him by playing for the Juniper Green and Clermiston Dancers led by Captain Bain, which also involved a trip to Saverne in France in 1972 for a Folk Dance Festival.
In the early 70’s Bobby Jack, Gordon Young and Robin Brock started an Accordion Club at the ‘Alan Ramsay’ at Carlops near Penicuik. As with all early Clubs this was an inspiration to all local enthusiasts, players, listeners and dancers alike, who could not only hear their idols but also see them performing on stage, listen to their anecdotes and meet them in person. Will Starr, Jimmy Blue, Jim Johnstone, Iain MacPhail, David Cunningham Snr, Ian Holmes, Bert Shorthouse, Bobby Crowe, Tommy Ford, Jack Delaney, a young Jimmy Cassidy and fiddler Bobby Christie are some of the names that Callum remembers from this venue.
From the Frontilini mentioned above Callum had moved on to a black Atlantic IV, then in 1972 he bought a Morino IV from Clinkscales of Melrose for £340 (happy days!) which he still uses today for lead box. This was augmented in 1981 by a well used Domino V which he has used mainly for second box work after he had it fully restored by Geoff Holter at Darlington.
In 1975 Callum recalls traveling south with Iain McPhail’s Band to play second box at a Leeds University Country Dance Festival with Max Ketchin on drums, John Strachan on bass and Ena Wilson from Elvanfoot on piano. With his introduction to playing with a dance band Callum gradually started to play for dancing with his own group. Country Dancing and village hall dances were still thriving, so with a combination, as required, of Alan Gifford on fiddle, Arthur Speed (Penicuik) on second box, Margaret Winchester (Penicuik) on piano, Jimmy Ritchie (Penicuik) on bass and Robbie Dickson (Dolphinton) on drums, things got under way. Everything went well, with the band building both repertoire and experience and following the natural sequence of events Callum applied for an audition with BBC Radio Scotland, which took place in December 1976. Early the following month they heard that they had been successful and the band recorded their first studio broadcast for the BBC on 3rd March 1977.
As with every band, personnel changed gradually over the years and Callum has been good enough to list his BBC broadcasts, he also did three for Radio Forth between 1977 and 1981 the first being a programme entitled “Caperceilidh” then two for “The Folks Around Robin” presented by Robin Brock.
Band personnel on broadcasts over the years were
Fiddlers:- Alan Gifford (Edinburgh), Bob Christie (Stirling), Paul Jordan (Edinburgh).
Second accordion :- Arthur Speed (Penicuik).
Pianists: Margaret Winchester (Penicuik), Ray Milbourne (Dalkeith) John Gibson (Dalkeith), David Flockhart (Musselburgh), Adam Anderson (Broughton), Ena Wilson (Biggar)
Bass players: Jimmy Ritchie (Penicuik), Neil MacMillan (Balmaha), Rab Carruthers (Broughton), Stan Saunders (Dollar), Suzanne Gray (Alloa)
Drums : Robbie Dickson (Dolphinton), Ian Wilson (Millfield), Danny MacPhail (Longniddry), George Shiels (Biggar)
Over the years Callum was fortunate to ‘sit in’ with various established bands and he feels this was invaluable experience as there is nothing like learning on the job - almost like serving an apprenticeship. In this respect he acknowledges band leaders Iain MacPhail, George Meikle, Andrew Stoddart, the late Peter Innes and the late Alex McPhie as well as musical colleague Derek McLeod. 1977 saw one of Callum’s most memorable jobs on second accordion with The Lothian Scottish Dance Band when they were asked to play for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference at Gleneagles Hotel. Afterwards the band members were introduced personally to the then British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan and all of the Heads of State present. The previous year, 1976, Callum had auditioned for the BBC on second box with The Lothian Scottish Dance Band. The band passed with flying colours but they already had a full diary and were looking for a full time band member which didn’t suit Callum, so by the time their first recording came along it was Alan Ross who was carrying out that role although Callum did feature as second accordion on their first LP “Introducing The Lothian Scottish Dance Band”. Further broadcasts as second accordion were to follow when fiddler Alex McPhie formed his own band in the early nineties.
Callum’s own band cut their first LP in 1980 on the Lismor label with Arthur Speed on second box, Bob Christie on fiddle, Margaret Winchester on piano, Neil McMillan on bass and Danny MacPhail on drums and various tracks from it were also on Lismor compilation albums. This was followed by a privately recorded CD in 1997 with 15 full length country dances and 2 ceilidh dances, this time the line up being Arthur Speed second box, Paul Jordan fiddle, Ena Wilson piano, Suzanne Gray bass and George Shiels drums. George Shiels, who literally stays two doors along from Callum and Ena in Cardon Drive, Biggar had joined the band in 1990 and still plays with them. Their latest private commercial recording to date was in 2007 called “Band Favourites” with 18 tracks of mostly ceilidh dances the line up being Arthur Speed second box, Paul Jordan fiddle, Ena Wilson piano/bass and George Shiels drums.
In1982 Callum (Wilson) of Loanhead married Ena (Wilson) of Elvanfoot (of whom more in a later issue of the B&F). When looking for a home they settled on a compromise between those two locations, namely Biggar which was ideally situated for work and band travel. In 1980, and for the next 14 years, Callum, Ena and Alan Gifford were guests at the annual Up Helly Aa Festival in Lerwick, their particular venue being the Islesburgh Community Centre for what is recognized as the marathon playing session in the Scottish Dance Band calendar.
On retiral from that annual event Callum and his band were given the opportunity by Barrhead Travel to be one of the bands providing the music for one of the week’s in an annual two week Scottish Country Dance holiday to various Mediterranean seaside locations. For Callum and the band it kicked off in Malta in 1997 and continued in 1998 (Costa Del Sol), 1999 (the Algarve), 2000 (Costa Blanca), 2001 (Majorca), 2002 and 2003 (Cyprus). By then, having visited all the available venues and particularly after the luggage restrictions which came into being after the 9/11 bombing, the band decided to bow out gracefully.
On concluding this article Callum gives his greatest acknowledgement to his wife Ena for her past and continuing support and encouragement.
Whilst Callum is now retired from his work / business as a Clerk of Works he remains active on the band scene and although dancing and dances in general have decreased in recent years the band still has enough work to “keep their hand in” and while they leave the broadcasting to the “younger players” they continue to enjoy an occasional tune. Long may they continue to do so.
Perthshire Amber
by
The eagerly awaited………..
Union Hill
by Liz Quinn
An enthusiastic audience………..
New Tunes and Dances
by Liz Quinn
Well-known folk musician ……………..
Take the Floor – Saturday Evenings 19.05 – 21.00 with Robbie Shepherd (repeated on Sunday’s)
7th May 11 – Hector McFadyen SDB (OB from Argyllshire Gathering Hall with Oban High School Pipe Band and Joy Dunlop)
14th May 11 – Graeme Munro SDB
21st May 11 – John Carmichael SDB
28th May 11 – Ian Hutson SDB (OB from Blairgowrie Town Hall)
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Old Machar RBL) – 31st May 11 – AGM + Iain Anderson Trio
Alnwick (The Farrier’s Arms – Shilbottle) 11th May 11 – Steven Carcary Trio
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 15th May 11 – Leonard Brown & Malcolm Ross
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 1st May 11 – Sandy Nixon SDB
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Church Hall) –
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 30th May 11 – Scott Band Trio
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 25th May 11 – Roy Hendrie
Beith & District (Anderson Hotel) –
Biggar (Municipal Hall) –
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 10th May 11 – Gordon Shand SDB
Britannia (Arden House Hotel) -
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) -
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 12th May 11 – Fife S&R Group
Campsie (Glazert Country House Hotel) - 3rd May 11 – Glenelvan SDB
Carlisle (St Margaret Mary Social Club) -
Castle Douglas (Urr Valley Country House Hotel) – 6th May 11 – Dance to Roger Dobson SDB
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) -
Coldingham (Village Hall) -
Crieff & District (Crieff Hotel) 5th May 11 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Cults (Culter Sports & Social Club)
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 4th May 11 – Nicky McMichan Trio
Dunblane (Victoria Hall) – 18th May 11 – West Telferton C.B.
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 10th May 11 - AGM
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel)
Duns (Royal British Legion Club, Langtongate) 16th May 11 – AGM & Club Night
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 24th May 11 – Davie Stewart SDB
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – May 11 -
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 29th May 11 – Willie McFarlane Band
Forres (Victoria Hotel) – 11th May 11 – Dave Husband Sound
Fort William (Railway Club, Inverlochy) -
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) –
Glendale (The Glendale Hall) - 12th May 11 – Marie Fielding & Duncan Black
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 4th May 11 – Perth S&R Society
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) -
Gretna (Athlitic & Social Club) -
Haddington (Railway Inn) - 15th May 11 – Iain Anderson & Gemma Donald
Highland (Waterside Hotel) – 16th May 11 – Wayne Robertson & Malcolm Ross
Inveraray (Argyll Hotel) -
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 5th May 11 – Iain Cathcart Trio 26th – 28th May 11 - Festival
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) –
Kelso (Cross Keys Hotel) – 25th May 11 – Lyne Valley Band
Kintore (Torryburn Arms Hotel) –
Ladybank (Ladybank Tavern) - 19th May 11 – Alan Small & the Early Learning Ceilidh Band
Lanark (Ravenstruther Hall) -
Langholm (Eskdale Hotel) –
Lauder (Black Bull Hotel) - 1st May 11 – Ewan Galloway Trio
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 5th May 11 – Ross MacPherson Trio
Livingston (Hilcroft Hotel, Whitburn) 17th May 11 – Ian Kirkpatrick SDB
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) -
Mauchline (Harry Lyle Suite) -
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 4th May 11 – Steven Carcary Trio
Newburgh (The Ship Inn) -
Newmill-on-Teviot / Teviotdale (Thorterdykes Roadhouse)
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) –
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 3rd May 11 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Oban (The Argyllshire Gathering) –
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) –
Peebles (Rugby Social Club) –
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 17th May 11 – Iain Cathcart SDB
Premier NI (Chimney Corner Hotel) -
Reading Scottish Fiddlers (Willowbank Infant School, Woodley) -
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) –
Rothbury (Queen’s Head Hotel) - 5th May 11 – Scott Band Trio
Scottish Accordion Music (Banchory) -
Seghill (Old Comrades Club) - 10th May 11 – Wayne Robertson
Selkirk (Angus O’Malley’s) -
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) -
Stonehouse (Stonehouse Violet Football Social Club) -
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) -
Thornhill (Bowling Club Hall) -
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 9th May 11 – Craig Paton
Turriff (Commercial Hotel, Cuminestown) – 5th May 11 – Nicol McLaren SDB
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 19th May 11 – Walter Perrie
Uist & Benbecula (C of S Hall, Griminish) -
West Barnes (West Barnes Inn) 12th May 11 – Deirdre Adamson
Wick (MacKay’s Hotel) – 17th May 11 – Susan MAcFadyen Trio
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Arbroath
3. Banchory
4. Banff
5. Beith
6. Biggar
7. Blairgowrie
8. Button-key
9. Campsie
10. Coalburn
11. Coldingham
12. Crieff
13. Dingwall
14. Dunblane
15. Duns
16. Forfar
17. Forres
18. Fort William
19. Glendale
20. Gretna
21. Haddington
22. Highland
23. Isle of Skye
24. Islesteps
25. Kelso
26. Lanark
27. Lewis & Harris
28. Lockerbie
29. Mauchline
30. Montrose
31. Newburgh
32. Newtongrange
33. North East
34. Perth
35. Rothbury
36. Shetland
37. Sutherland
38. Thurso
39. Tynedale
40. Uist & Benbecula
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 2010
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Aug 1975 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started 1985 – present)
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
6. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
7. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
8. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
9. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
10. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
11. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
12. Britannia B&F Club ( joined 07-08 but much older
13. Bromley A&F Club (joined 95-96 – closed early 08-09)
14. Button Key A&F Club (
15. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
16. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
17. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
18. Coalburn A&F Club (
19. Coldingham A&F Club (Nov 2008 -
20. Crathes (aka Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes) (Nov 1997 -
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Cults A & F Club (
23. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
24. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
25. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
26. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
27. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
28. Duns A&F Club (formed 20th Sept 04 – present)
29. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980 – Closed 04/05)
30. Ellon A&F Club (
31. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
32. Forfar A&F Club (
33. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
34. Fort William A&F Club (2009 -
35. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
36. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
37. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
38. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
39. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
40. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
41. Haddington A&F Club (formed Feb 2005 - )
42. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
43. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
44. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
45. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
46. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
47. Kintore A&F Club (
48. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed earlier
49. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – closed March 2015)
50. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
51. Lauder A&F Club (May 2010 -
52. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
53. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
54 Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
55 Maine Valley A&F Club (
56 Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
57 Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
58 Newburgh A&F Club (joined 2002 but founded
59 Newmill-on-Teviot (Hawick) (Formed late 1988 joined Assoc 1999 - closed March 2016)
60 Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
61. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
62. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
63. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
64. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
65. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
66. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
67. Phoenix A&F Club, Ardrishaig (Dec 2004 -
68. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
69. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
70. Selkirk A&F Club (
71. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
72 Stonehouse A&F Club (first report June 05 -
73 Sutherland A&F Club (Nov 1982 -
74 Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
75 Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
76 Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
77 Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
78 Uist & Benbecula A&F Club (Dec 2007 but formed 1994 -
79 West Barnes ( - present)
80 Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
81. Araharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
82. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Last meeting May 2010
83. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
84. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
85. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
86. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
87. Buchan A&F Club
88 Callander A&F Club (
89 Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
90 Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
91 Club Accord
92 Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
93. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
94. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
95. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
96. Derwentside A&F Club
97. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
98. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
99. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
100. Dundee & District A&F Club (January 1971 – 1995?)
101. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
102. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
103. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
104. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
105. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
106. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
107. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
108. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
109. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
110. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
111. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
112. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
113. Mull A&F Club
114. Newcastleton Accordion Club
115. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
116. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
117. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
118. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
119. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
120. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 – closed 20000/01?)
121. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
122. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
123. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
124. Tranent A&F Club
125. Vancouver
126. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
127. Wellbank A&F Club
128. Yarrow (prev known as Etterick & Yarrow) (Jan 1989 – closed 2001/02)
Advertising rates
Back Page (colour) - £300
Full Page (colour) - £220
Full Page (b&w) - £140
Half Page (colour) - £110
Half Page (b&w) - £70
Quarter Page (colour) - £55
Quarter Page (b&w) - £35
Eighth Page - £18
Small Boxed £12