Box and Fiddle
Year 22 No 02
October 1998
Price £1
32 Page Magazine
7 month subscription £10.00
Editor – Charlie Todd, 63 Station Road, Thankerton, Biggar, ML12 6NZ
B&F Treasurer – Mrs Margaret Smith, Smeaton Farm Cottage, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 2NL
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
The October 97 issue of the B&F was my first and what I didn’t realise at that time was it is the quietest of the year. After the sheer volume of Club Reports which accumulate from mid March to mid August and appear in the September issue, this month’s sees the majority of Clubs just getting under way and hence the number of reports is small by comparison. I have therefore taken the opportunity to make this an ‘Information Issue’ by incorporating the ‘Guest Artiste List’ and even though the 1998/99 Registration Forms are still with Club Secretaries, the anticipated ‘Club Directory’. As I say, if previous years are anything to go by there won’t be another chance. Having said that, no-one should be disappointed since I’m pleased to see interesting articles submitted by a number of readers. My thanks to them and please keep the articles coming. Please note recent changes on the Guest artiste List for Alan Gardiner, Allan MacIntosh, the Caberston Ceilidh Band, Burns Brothers and the Tain Trio.
Do we have any readers who could devise us a crossword periodically or anyone who can draw cartoons if readers supply the ideas?
It was nice to meet up with Stuart and Elsie McInnes on my recent annual outing to Dunoon for the Cowal Games. Stuart is Secretary of the Dunoon and Cowal Club An additional highlight of the weekend, other than Elsie’s cooking that is, was a concert in the Queen’s Hall with the Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band as guests hosted by the Mid Argyll Pipe Band.
It’s about this time of year Margaret Smith starts to make husband George’s, and Chairman Jim’s life Hell if the subscriptions are not coming in on time so if you still haven’t paid your B&F 98/99 sub (£10) would you be kind enough to get it off to Margaret NOW.
As ever, all ideas to improve the B&F are welcome.
Charlie Todd
Livingston Club Celebrates 25 Years
by Murdo McLeod
Having been present at the first Accordion Club, started by Max Houliston at the Hole in the Wa’, Dumfries in 1965 and since then associated with Clubs, in particular Livingston, it is a pleasure to respond to a request to write a ‘history’ of the Club which celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 1998.
The Club, however, had its roots somewhat earlier in Edinburgh about 1971 and for a short spell thereafter as an informal practice group in Ladywell Community Hall in Livingston.
The Edinburgh period is mentioned because its influence carried through to the new Livingston Accordion and Fiddle Club. The Edinburgh venue was at the ‘famous’ West End Hotel in Palmerston Place. One or two enthusiasts including John MacGregor, the well known bandleader and Senior Scottish Accordion Champion (as well as composer of the tune Mr and Mrs Alex Ross) and Roger Knox, a folk singer and musician, started it. The Club featured a guest musician one month and a folk artiste the next. Many well known artistes were featured including Josh McRae (remember his song ‘Messing About On The River’). Incidentally the writer has never been allowed to forget that he turned down a folk singer by the name of Barbara Dickson on the basis that folk might not know who she was. Ah well, you can’t win them all.
Being located in the West End of Edinburgh and adjacent to the studios of the one and only Chrissie Leatham, accordion teacher, who tutored many well known names in the music world – we had a supply of talented youngsters we could call on. When the Club later moved to Livingston, Chrissie continued to encourage her pupils to visit us. Chrissie Leatham was a powerful force in the accordion music and we in Livingston were privileged to hear some of her best known protégés- John MacGregor, Jim Johnstone, Iain MacPhail, Craig McCallum, Graham Edwardson and her own son Owen who is a world famous free bass accordionist and currently Professor of Accordion at the Guildhall, London. Another pupil was Phil Cunningham. Did he play at Livingston? That is another story but read on…………
For a short time after we left Edinburgh a small group of enthusiasts including Arthur Brown – the long serving Secretary of the Club – Alec Ross, who incidentally was a founder member of the Tain Scottish Dance Band, Jock and Dorothy Glenn, Alex Grant, George Wilson, John Morrison and Bobby More from Kirkcaldy, met at the Community Hall in Ladywell for fortnightly practice sessions. These were very pleasurable evenings and led naturally to a desire for a bigger and more formal organisation in keeping with the national trend which was growing at the time. Thus in September, 1973, the Livingston Accordion and Fiddle Club was formed.
Much excitement was engendered in the local community by the local media which one supposes was only natural in an area that had produced such famous names as Will Hannah and from a little further west came the Wyper Brothers. The Club became an instant success and not a little of the credit for this must be given to the fantastic support on the opening night which was at the cosy houf in Deans, Livingston known as ‘Rab’s Bar’. This is a timely opportunity to Acknowledge the support received from some wonderful musicians that night, principally Bobby Jack who brought along his complete band: Brian Forrest (second accordion), Jim Barrie (fiddle), Vic Laidlaw (drums) and that great band pianist Derek Lawrence who composed the tune ‘Livingston Accordion Club’ subsequently recorded by Sandy Coghill. On that night much support was given by Jock and Dorothy Glenn, who always ensured that we had adequate amplifiers, etc. The late Murdo Campbell from Uist ensured that essentials of door keeping were supervised.
The high quality of music was sustained by well known names from ‘Hannah’ country, including Jimmy Todd and his Trio from Blackburn, a young lad embarking on a sparkling musical career came along from Whitburn – this was Jim Clelland now part of the famous Jim MacLeod Band. From Mid Calder came a popular fiddler who had performed on the cruise liners – John Toll whose fiddle was recently donated to St. Mary’s School of Music in Edinburgh.
The very first guest spot was filled by the one and only Bert Shorthouse who sadly died recently, mourned by the whole musical fraternity. At one time he had played second accordion with Bobby MacLeod and Jimmy Shand. Bert agreed to perform for the princely sum of £12! And what a performance! No modern electronics, just a box (the trusty Atlantic) and a chair. Yet, off the cuff and as a special request from yours truly, came a faultless rendition of ‘Czardas’. And this is when the large audience realised what accordion playing was all about.
It was indeed a grand night which augured well for the Club’s future. Mention is made here of some of the musicians who gave so much of their time to ensure the success of the Club in what was really an unknown venture. Included amongst them are the aforementioned Jock and Dorothy Glenn. Jock is sadly no longer with us, but Dorothy still performs at clubs, as an accordionist and vocalist. Arthur Brown, a pillar of the Club over 25 years and later his daughter Jackie on piano, Alex Grant, John Rae (always generous with his amplifiers) and his son Derek (now an established performer as part of the Pentland Ceilidh Band along with Colin Brown from Edinburgh, the wizard of the 5 row).
Another stalwart was John Morrison on fiddle, ex-Balerno now retired to the Orkneys. Also George Shanks who supplied the Continental flavour, and a very young and much smaller Graham Edwardson who found fame with the Oakbank Sound and has now settled in Shetland. Lending a special ambience to the Club was the constant supply of great young players from the Wilson Wood School of Music, Whitburn. A few of the names that spring to mind include David Wilson, also a founder member of the Oakbank Sound and now broadcasting regularly. Michael Wynne, who could play ‘Under the Double Eagle’ like no-one else. Ian Skinner from Longridge, Diane Armstrong from Armadale …….the list goes on.
During the Club’s time at Rab’s Bar we had guests who included the fine player Bobby Crowe (the Club sends good wishes and hopes you are on the mend), Angus Cameron from Kirriemuir who is sadly no longer with us, Jimmy Lindsay from Glenalmond, George Bell (the blind accordionist) and Jimmy Yeaman from Drymen who all gave impressive performances. Last but not least a duo – specially recommended by Iain MacPhail – Ronnie Easton and Brian Griffin. Brian subsequently became an artiste in his own right and still performs on the circuit.
In the early days of the Club the venue ranged from Rab’s Bar to Livingston Village Hall and then back to Rab’s Bar (after completion of renovations). Next stop was the Meadowhead Hotel and then on to the Cameron Irons Works Social Club which was our base for many years.
Among highlights of our time at the Meadowhead were Arthur Spink as he prepared to leave for Australia where he is now domiciled. John Mason on fiddle, now with an M.B.E. after his name and the Conductor of the world famous Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. The late Bill Powrie, accompanied by Joan Blue, who played a new tune of his own composition ‘The Cherrybank Polka’ – it has since achieved classic fame. At one of these nights the Writer brought along a completely unknown pupil from Chrissie Leatham’s School. He didn’t play the box, strangely enough, but boy did he play the penny whistle. His name? None other than Phil Cunningham.
This was a time when a large number of established musicians and even Broadcasting Band players were members. The larger premises at the Cameron Iron Works Social Club attracted more members. One of the stalwarts of the Club, Lawrence Edwardson, who was there at the very beginning held the posts of Doorman, Cashier, Treasurer, Vice Chairman and Chairman – not all at the same time of course – as chief talent scout he discovered somewhere in Edinburgh a young student who greatly assisted in raising the standard of out Club to greater heights. This was none other than the ‘inimitable’ Sandy Coghill who ensured that folk sat up and listened to his special music and rare crack. Later Sandy brought along a pal – a new phenomenon – Freeland Barbour and when he played Bobby MacLeod’s ‘Jean’s Reel’ the audience rose as one to applaud. Freeland and Sandy formed the well known and very successful Wallochmor Ceilidh Band.
Freeland now leads the equally famous ‘Occasionals’ and Sandy is now a successful businessman in Skye. Sandy and Freeland brought along quite a few new faces. The fiddle player Charlie McKerron, now with the Capercaillie Band. Also a brilliant young Duo in Edinburgh to make a recording – a very young Gordon Pattullo and Addie Harper Jnr from Wick. The contribution from Sandy and Freeland in the early days was a real bonus.
It was at this period in the late 70’s – early 80’s we had a young and enthusiastic compere from Pumpherston (brother of Graham of drumming fame). Sadly Gordon’s premature death a few years ago deprived the Scottish scene of one of its most dedicated ‘researchers’ whose prodigious knowledge of Scottish music was often called upon by musicians for recording or broadcasting purposes, etc. His name lives on in that fine tune compoased by his friend ‘Iain MacPhail’s Compliments to Gordon Jamieson’. Gordon had a rare rapport especially with younger players so that we had a constant succession of talented musicians. Players like Jacqueline Dick, Marie Fielding on fiddle and brother Owen, pianist with top bands. Andrew Knight was a boon to the Club with his powerful style of fiddle playing. Andrew now leads the popular West Telferton Band.
At this time we were also fortunate in having in our midst the Graham Ross Broadcasting Band led by Graham on Shand Morino, Derek McLeod on fiddle, Neil Barron second box, Ian McMillan on piano and son Ian on drums. A little later on we had the Oakbank Sound formed after Graham Edwardson and David Wilson had been accordionists playing solo at the Club for some time. The band was made up with Catherine Wilson (David’s sister) on piano, Gregor Borland on fiddle, Gordon Smith on drums and Bobby Miller on double bass. The band were really exciting when they arrived on the scene after winning Musselburgh. They were firm favourites both at dances and Club appearances.
Probably one of the most talked about nights while at the Cameron was a visit from Fintan Stanley back in the 70’s. Such was the reputation of this 5-row player from Ireland that the Cameron Social Club was full to capacity and the visiting musician roll call was something else.
The Club moved to the Masonic Hall in Mid Calder the highlights being a visit from the late Angus Fitchet and his full band, also the dup Tommy Ford and Jim Clelland. A series of moves followed 1) The Livingston British Legion for a short stay, the guest who springs to mind here was The Dermot O’Brien Trio. 2) The Golden Hind, Blackburn. Two special nights stand out here, these were John Ellis and his Band and the late Sandy MacArthur an old friend of the Club.
On now to the Golden Circle at Bathgate where our Club settles for a few seasons, and where we were able to have most of our younger musicians as guests. Due to hotel refurbishment the Club had to move out twice, first to the Deans Community Centre in Livingston where guests Ian Powrie, Tom Alexander and the Donal Ring Band come to mind. Then a short spell in the Hilton Hotel, Livingston before going back to the Golden Circle for the last two nights of the 97/98 season, the last guest being someone who first played at the Club as a very young lass. This was none other than Jennifer Forrest and her Broadcasting Band who played some lovely Gaelic music (her mother being from Skye).
The Club starts the 98/99 season in another new venue, The Hillcroft Hotel, Whitburn.
In conclusion it is clear that over many years, as the article shows, the Livingston A&F Club has made a significant contribution to the musical life of the community (in fact after 14 moves you could call us a traveling Accordion and Fiddle Club), as area rich in musical tradition going back, as mentioned, to the Hannahs, Jimmy Todd, Willie McFarlane, Dick Black and many others. It is part of the phenomenon started by Max Houliston at the Hole in the Wa’ those 30 years ago, and surely a worthy part of our Scottish musical heritage that will hopefully continue to flourish into the new Millennium to accompany the New Parliament at Holyrood.
Roger Crook
A Lifetown in Scottish Music
Although the Thistle Ceilidh Band is a relatively recent band on the scene, it’s leader has been involved in Scottish music for many years as singer, fiddler, pianist, arranger, accordionist, conductor and teacher.
Born in Forfar, he was brought up on a poultry farm in Aberlemno, a parish midway between Forfar and Brechin, and famous for its Pictish Standing Stones.
He was educated first of all at Aberlemno Primary School, a two-teacher school at which Mr and Mrs Bain put on a lot of school concerts. Mrs Bain played the piano and gave him great encouragement by playing for him more or less from the very beginning of his violin lessons. He also remembers, as a child, attending the class of a traveling dancing master who cycled around the area giving dancing lessons using his own fiddle accompaniment for adults and children after school hours.
At the age of 6, Roger had been given the choice of having violin or piano lessons, and as he had an uncle who played the violin a little he plumped for that. Then began his lessons with J. D. Michie of Brechin. “I owe my parents a lot for giving me that opportunity as neither of them was at all musical.”
On going to Brechin High School, he naturally got involved in the School Orchestra and the Brechin Light Orchestra which were both taken by Mr R. K. Brown. After a year or two, he left Mr Michie (after a good grounding and with his blessing) to begin having violin lessons with Mr Brown in order to get him through the advanced grades on the violin and began having piano lessons with Miss Evelyn Murray at the age of 16 in order to gain his Higher Music.
Before then, his Granny’s piano having been moved to the farm, he had begun to vamp to the bands on the dance music programmes on Saturdays prior to having proper lessons. He was soon able to earn his keep playing either fiddle or piano at local Scout or Guide dances. There were also monthly dances in the in the school hall at Aberlemno after concerts or whist drives and there he learned to dance Rory O’More, The Haymakers, Circassian Circle and many others.
His singing voice was beginning to settle about this time and he started to have lessons with Mrs Anne Nicoll of Forfar and sang the part of Nanki Poo in the school production of the Mikado. “I think that all these lessons; playing football for the school on a Saturday morning and Forfar Swifts in the afternoon; cycling six miles each way to sing in the Gardner Memorial Church Choir in Brechin on a Sunday (sometime twice), prepared me for the frantic pace of my life later on!” He also earned his first professional singing fee around this time singing in a concert following the Fettercairn Show for the very kind and couthy John Mearns. Roger’s interest in football was to pay off later!
Although singing was beginning to play a bigger part in his life it was as a violinist that he entered the Academy of Music in Glasgow. There he was to meet up with Mabel McCallum (now Gray) and John Crawford, both now well-known pianists in the band world. “Our kind of music wasn’t encouraged at all in the Academy in these days. I had a wonderful singing teacher at college (Miss Ena Mitchell) and really enjoyed the Opera Class performances. These were shared with the Drama College and as well as meeting nice music students I shared the stage with aspiring actors and actresses like Tom Conti and Hannah Gordon – I wonder whatever happened to them?”
“One especially nice music student, Nancy Moffat from Callander, became my wife and my accompanist in more ways than one. We celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary this year.”
On leaving the Academy he started to teach in schools in the Clydebank area. By this time he was singing all over the country for Choral Societies and doing a lot of broadcasting on the B.B.C. singing all kinds of music – with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (including the solo tenor part in the first broadcast performance of ‘Laudate Dominum’ by Martin Dalby and conducted by Andrew Davis, who is now one of the foremost conductors in the world, giving solo classical recitals and taking part in lunchtime shows such as ‘For Your Entertainment’. A very considerate Headmaster always let him off school to do any of the recorded shows because of the time he gave up to take footballs teams during the week
(one team contained the current Dumbarton F.C. Manager).
His very first broadcast had been done in the Coldside Library in Dundee and was a programme of ‘Scots Songs and Dances’ with the David Cunningham Trio (David on accordion, Douglas Cargill on bass and David Findlay on piano). He was to meet up with David Cunningham again later on a few occasions when their paths crossed in David’s role as musician and businessman. Roger sang in a lot of these types of programmes – some were also called ‘Scots Songs, Airs and Dances’ and had fiddlers like Willie McPherson of Elgin and others performing solo items.
“Singers also used to be involved weekly with the Scottish Radio Orchestra under Iain Sutherland. We would normally sing one classical piece and one Scots song with the Orchestra, then a Scots song accompanied on the piano by Harry Carmichael or Andrew Bryson (amongst others) in the 25 minute programme. Other singers like Peter Morrison and Helen McArthur were also starting out then, and, because of the output of the BBC at that time there was plenty of work for everyone.” Many of these programme were produced by Eoin Hamilton and had titles like ‘Tune Your Fiddles’. There was a weekly classical recital and also a great output of Scottish song at that time – I did recitals of songs by poets like Tannahill and Hogg – lovely songs that are rarely heard nowadays.”
As well as being leading tenor in the Wellington church in Glasgow he began his choral conducting career with the Dorian Choir in Helenburgh, and also began a thirteen year stint as resident singer at the Tourist Board Highland Nights in Pitlochry singing with Bert Cameron and Band.
In 1973 an Assistant Principal of Music post in fife beckoned and the family (which included baby Ross by this time) moved house to Kirkcaldy and he began to teach at Kirkland High in Methil. There was a great amount of talent in the school and this inspired him to start arranging music. Initially this was for a vocal group which he led and also the first school Scottish dance band he formed (The Kirkland Five!) He also began conducting the East Fife Ladies choir, which he did for four years.
After three years in Methil he moved to Auchterderran Junior High School in Cardenden to take up his first Head of Department post and where, having another very supportive Head Teacher, many concerts (mainly consisting of Scottish music) were put on and a lot of innovative work was done in the classroom. Although there was only a small staff there it nevertheless boasted a lot of musical talent – an excellent guitarist in the Modern Studies Department, a gifted multi-instrumentalist in Languages Department. Roger, along with the Headmaster, the Head of Technical Subjects and the Head of Art formed a successful Barber Shop Quartet! And he had his second dance band!
By this time he was conducting the Glenrothes Choral Society and between them and Quatrain his arrangements for voices of mainly Scottish material were being well used, including many on two LP records with Quatrain.
After six years in Cardenden he moved to Viewforth High in Kirkcaldy to run the Music Department, still singing with groups like the John Curries Singers, Fife Opera, Tayside Opera and his good friends in the Quatrain. This vocal quartet (plus Nancy) sang together professionally for 20 years and traveled many happy miles together. They ‘retired’ last year.
Singing tours abroad with various groups took him to Israel three times, Germany and Denmark, and included a broadcast which really must have been really worth hearing – singing Ae Fond Kiss on Danish Radio from the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen with a very bad dose of ‘flu!
“I was very happy at Viewforth – there were lots of lovely loyal pupils in my choir and concert party, who were so smartly turned out that I was always so proud when I took them anywhere to entertain or to go to listen to a concert. There I had another Scottish band who actually did a broadcast on BBC Radio Schools programme.” He played the piano in the band but by this time had acquired a piano accordion which he had always said he was going to learn for his retirement. “I got help in the beginning from the boys in the band who were both excellent players. It was when I started to arrange parts for them that I began arranging for a band in the way that I do.”
He had also arranged the music for the winning group (Fife Strathspey & Reel Society) at the Golden Fiddle Awards in the Kelvin Hall in 1981 and likes to think that the type of arrangement that he wrote influenced the entrants in the following years although it was criticized at the time for being too ‘classical’. The adjudicator was someone whom he hadn’t then met, but who was to play a big part in his future, Ron Gonella.
While at Viewforth he began what was to become a long association with John Ellis and the Highland Country Band (playing piano at the beginning). “My first few jobs really opened my eyes to the talents of the players in that band. The reading skill and the sheer technical ability in all sections of the band was a real eye-opener. And the bandleader was not long in telling me quite pointedly when he felt I wasn’t on the right lines! I had been a fan of the band for years and it was a funny feeling actually playing sets that I had listened to on tapes for years. I still fill in occasionally if a player is ill (and still get rows!)
A pleasant surprise came when David Cunningham’s band played Roger’s first composition ‘Lynne’s Reel’ (names after his daughter) on a programme on Radio Forth called ‘Folk’s Around Robin’ which was presented by Robin Brock. “I happened by chance to be listening – it was a programme which was very interesting and I was sorry when it was taken off. There was a band on every week and the bandleader or representative was interviewed in an informal way by Robin, who really knew the band scene.”
Through three singing engagements in Shetland he had the great pleasure of meeting Tom Anderson – he was particularly interested in Roger’s connection with J. D. Michie. As a result of the meetings Roger and Nancy performed at two of the concerts at the end of the early Heritage of Scotland Summer Schools run by tom and by Robert Innes at Stirling University.
Roger moved to Inverkeithing High School in 1986 and soon had a dance band going. It started as a traditional 6-piece and went through different groupings as pupils left school – he recalls 2 fiddles playing separate harmonies to his accordion lead with rhythm backing as being a particularly successful one.
On moving to stay in Dunfermline he reluctantly gave up the Glenrothes Choral. Rather than take on a permanent position he then began to stand in for conductors of choirs at rehearsals. In this way he had the pleasure of working with groups notably the RSNO Chorus, Edinburgh and Dundee Choral Unions, and also the Perth and Dunfermline choral Societies.
Going to a Scottish Country Dancing Class in Burntisland he found learning six new dances every week a bit beyond him. So began three years of playing for the group on accordion which he found to be very good experience in playing for dancers, and one that he feels all players should go through. “I tried to get a good dancing couple in the corner of my eye and played for them, adjusting my tempos as required.” He doesn’t for as much Country Dancing as he would like to nowadays, being more involved with ceilidhs and corporate events, but gas enjoyed playing on occasion for the Dunedin Dancers and various groups of the RSCDS. He also enjoys playing for a day each year for the primary children of Fife when around 10,000 of them get together during a fortnight to dance Scottish Country Dances (and not just the easy ones either!)
Another regional involvement is writing the music which is played at the concerts of the Young Fife Fiddlers. “I’ve written around 60 arrangements for them but nowadays find it really difficult to find the time to write more.” An unusual incident as a result of these arrangements was when he passed a young busker in the High Street in Dunfermline and felt that what the girl was playing was familiar but couldn’t place it. “After a wee while I realised that what the public were being entertained by were second fiddle parts of arrangements that I had written – she was unaware that she was not playing the melody. I know I try to make all the parts interesting – but they’ve never been as interesting as the tune!”
Nancy and Roger were guest artistes of the Arbroath Ladies Choir in 1987 along with Ron Gonella who was playing solo unaccompanied pieces on the same bill. Meeting for the first time and chatting backstage, they decided to get together to do some work for Arts Guilds and other groups combining fiddle solos, songs, piano solos and trios – either for voice, fiddle and piano or for fiddle, accordion and piano.
As the Doric Trio they became very busy and had many pleasant times together – on one occasion (we’d better not say where), the evening finished with the audience shouting out the titles of tunes which were combined into their final selection. Very unArts Guild-like! “I’m still frightened to say where it was in case they get into trouble”, says Roger.
“Both of us were absolutely shattered when Ron died so suddenly but were pleased that we had performed on what turned out to be his last CD, one he did for Historic Scotland and which was produced by David Cunningham. The three of us had actually started work on arranging trios for the CD of the Doric Trio only week’s before Ron’s death.
In 1990 Roger and Nancy were involved in an interesting project at Hospitalfield House, just outside Arbroath. David Hampton wrote an ‘entertainment’ to mark the centenary of the birth of James Lyall, a local boy who had been sent to Italy to study singing with the leading teachers of the day by the Frasers of Hospitalfield. He returned to Britain and, under his stage name of Durward Lely, created a number of the leading tenor roles in the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. “Along with an actor, Bill Murdoch, who played the part of Lely, Nancy and I provided the material that he had sung while training in Italy. It also gave me a chance to sing all the tenor work in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the second half of the programme. I really enjoyed the performances as both my parents were originally from Arbroath. We performed in that beautiful house in front of an impressive fireplace which had been built by the tenor’s father!
Roger had the great pleasure of playing with Jim Johnstone in Edinburgh for a number of months, filling in on piano for the ailing Bill Hendry of Falkirk. Despite the circumstances it was a nice experience. “There was always a lot of spare time between setting up and playing for the show, and it was really terrific to blether with someone who is a legend but who treated me so well, giving me a lot of tips (and laughs) from his vast experience. Later he was kind enough to send me a copy of his book of compositions when it came out – like Ian Holmes’ book more recently it is packed with really good and well crafted tunes – which is not always the case.
Soon after that Roger had a throat operation which curtailed his singing for a while and he began to make his plans to form his own band. The Thistle Ceilidh Band was decided on as the name, and the personnel began to take shape, ending up with the four piece band which he has now – Barbara Archibald on second accordion, Yvonne Ferguson and son Ross on drums.
“The band went through various formations because before Barbara joined, Nancy often played piano, Yvonne played second box, Ross played fiddle and we used a number of different drummers. I’m also very grateful to musical friends who have helped out during periods of illness and holiday, among them Louise Timney, Chic Bonar, Bill Anderson and George Boath. These players also included daughter Lynne who graduated last year from the Guildhall School of Music in London with a BMus Honours. Although the cello is her main instrument she can provide a mean vamp on the piano!”
The band have played well over 200 engagements including two trips to Guernsey to play for the St. Andrew’s Night Balls held by the Caledonian Society there. Last November they joined the ranks of many bands before them when the airline ‘misplaced’ their two accordions and they were delivered to the venue just before the dance. They also managed to damage Barbara’s case on the way back – Roger read the recent correspondence in the B&F on airline baggage staff with interest!
The band has recently produced a promotional CD containing 7 tracks at David Cunningham’s studio in Cupar. “It turned out to be a very pleasant experience meeting up with David again. To be perfectly honest, I had hesitated for a long time before making contact because I was scared stiff at the thought of David and David Jnr listening to me. But they were most professional and kept their thoughts to themselves!” The band intends to go back to Thane Multimedia to do a complete CD soon which will include two of Roger’s tunes – The Lifeboat Two-Step and the Inverkeithing High School 25th Anniversary Polka (there didn’t need to be much thought about the title of that one!)
Roger intends to keep encouraging pupils to become interested in playing and writing Scottish music and also looks forward to performing more for the Council for Music in Hospitals. His big regret is that although he has met most of the big names in Scottish entertainment, he has never met his idol, Kenneth McKellar.
He also has strong opinions on the way our kind of music is presented by the media and in some Accordion and fiddle clubs. No doubt as well as providing more articles for the Box and Fiddle in the future, we will also come to find out these opinions!
Bobby Cronie
by John Carmichael
Sadly the end of July saw the passing of Bobby Cronie, one of Scotland’s ‘character musicians’.
Everyone who worked with Bobby, and there were plenty of us (far too many to list here), admired the way he could entertain and control an audience.
Bobby was at his best with the drum sticks in one hand and the mic in the other….not to mention his old woman act!
Originally from Wigtonshire, of farming stock, Bobby played in the early days with local accordionist Isobel Duffy. He then moved with his wife Joy to Paisley in 1957 and that’s when he really got the music bug.
I first met Bobby in the early 60’s when he was driving a party from the Bearsden Ski Club to Aviemore for their Christmas bash. Bobby just happened to have his drum kit in the boot of the bus. It was a two day musical experience!
Over the years Bobby ran and played in many musical groups. One that I recall with fond memories was ‘Bobby Cronie and the Cronies’, as diverse a group of characters as one would find anywhere. Not the least being ‘Wufftie’ the trumpet player, so named by Bobby for his habit of starting each conversation with …..”wufftie start now”, “wufftie stop for the interval”. Although Bobby toured the length and breadth of the country playing, singing, entertaining and encouraging young players, many will also remember him as the drummer who reluctantly drove the bus on Calum Kennedy’s ‘Commando Tour’ of the Western Isles. On that occasion we had to be ‘invalided out’ suffering from exhaustion.
Bobby will be sadly missed by his wife Joy and sons Derek, Garry, Richard and Douglas, his many friends from Charleston Bowling Club and the musicians will also miss his ready quip and lively humour.
Memories of Angus Cameron
by Alan Kindness (leader – Glendaruel SDB)
I first met Angus back in the summer of 1970 when I was asked to include a fiddle player in my band for the summer season of Scottish Country Dancing in Perth City Halls. Ron Kerr, who had assisted me on previous occasions at Scottish Country Dance Balls and the like was unable to undertake the full season with me and it was he who introduced me to Angus.
It is fair to say that Angus and I ‘bonded’ right away. He was not a strong, powerful fiddler – ‘couthie’ was a more apt description of his style – and this suited my particular style of playing. One record producer complained that he ‘had great difficulty in splitting the fiddle and the lead accordion for stereo’ – I took this ‘complaint’ as a ‘compliment’. Angus had the unique ability of being able to adapt his style to suit the style of the lead accordion. As said earlier, he was not a powerful fiddler – he was never willing to sacrifice sweetness of tone for power – all he ever asked was that the fiddle be shown sympathy, “no problem” as fat as I was concerned. He never tried to influence the sound of the band – he had his own ideas but these he kept for his own band. He was always willing to give advice if asked and I found his opinion well worth taking on board, never more so than when it came to playing strathspeys.
I was never, in my early days, happy with this particular tempo and in the course of conversation mentioned this to Angus. He simply said “follow the fiddle”. I did, and from then on the strathspey tempo took on a new dimension for me. Angus, of course, was famed for his strathspey technique and has been subject to analysis on many occasions. The general opinion seems to be (from those who know more about these things than me) was that it all came from his own brand of ‘bowing’.
As well as being a top class fiddler Angus was also an expert on the piano and he did enjoy himself after Mo Rutherford joined my Lima band, when the two of them would change seats – Angus on the piano and Mo on the fiddle.
He was, of course, a prolific composer of Scottish music and I am sure that for years to come we will hear the likes of ‘Taps o’ Fechle’ and ‘Harry Scott of Froickheim’ being performed at Festivals and clubs. I am equally sure that in future times he will rank along side Gow, Skinner, etc. as one of Scotland’s all time great composers. Some of his tunes were reasonably easy to play, others were ‘buggers’ but the musicality of the tunes made the hard practice well worth the effort.
I enjoyed playing alongside Angus for 17 years. We played our last ‘TTF’ in the spring of 1987 when, due to ill health, I was forced to stop playing. I did continue to enjoy his friendship right up until, his sad and premature death in March of this year. He was a tremendous musician, a great guy to be with – I’ll miss him a lot.
Mr J. D. Michie (1884-1960)
by Roger Crook (4th July, 198)
There have been many well deserved tributes to the memory of Angus Fitchet. As well as joining in these tributes to the great violinist and character, his recent death led me to rekindle my memories of someone whom Angus considered to be one of his greatest friends – Mr J. D. Michie of Brechin – musician, shopkeeper, inventor, composer, teacher, craftsman, poet and character.
“Brechin has lost one of its oldest businessmen and one of its most interesting characters at the age of 75” – so ran the headline in the Brechin Advertiser in January 1960, on the death of J. D. Michie.
He was the proprietor of a music shop at 22 Panmuir Street which became a meeting place for musicians and his friends of many years. He sold sheet music, instruments and records, and had a proud boast that he was able to procure any piece of music or record that anyone wanted!
My own memories of him date from when I first went for violin lessons at the age of 6. The 2/- was duly paid at the end of the hour lesson – the amount of teaching depended on how busy the shop was between 4 and 5p.m.!
I have memories of Robert Wilson and Will Starr coming into the shop and being so thrilled that they wanted to hear me play. And the sight of Will Starr supporting the neck of a violin against the wall as he played, presumably to aid his fingering without having to support the instrument.
I was taught by Mr Michie for around nine years. I think the fee probably remained at 2/- and I was introduced to a wide range of music during these lessons. My eyes were opened to a wide repertoire, although deep down my love was for Scottish music. He had himself been a fine player, but a badly set broken bone in his wrist hampered his playing by the time I knew him.
Some of the material he taught me were his own fine published compositions – a Hornpipe Suite in Eb which he published in 1933 and consisted of ‘The Autocrat’, ‘The Jester’ and ‘The Optimist’.
Then came a Second Hornpipe Suite (with Introductory Slow Air) which gave us ‘The Dying Year’, ‘The Cynic’, ‘The Desclaimer’ and ‘The Recluse’.
Later he published a Suite of Old World Dances which included a Minuet, Hornpipe, Mazurka, Gavotte and Minuet, and a Cradle Song.
These pieces were all published with good piano accompaniments, but his last published work was an Unaccompanied Suite which contained a Prelude and Minuetto (which he dedicated to Thom B. Shaw), a Reverie and a Cradle Song again. This last piece featured a harmonized ‘rock’ which he was really proud of. That set was published in 1940 and ‘The Strad’ commented “These old dances have a strong sense of melody and individuality” and in ‘The Musical Opinion’ “There is something rare in the type of expression reached by the composer and his writing is always interesting.” I often wish that some of today’s players would play some of them! (I have copies of the music for anyone to try out).
Many readers will be acquainted with the two recordings which Angus Fitchet made of ‘The Dying Year’ (which was dedicated to him) and ‘The Autocrat’. I well remember Mr Michie’s own pride at the appearance of the march ‘Mr Michie’ which Angus had written and which was included in an early book of his compositions. This is also a very popular tune and was reckoned recently by some authorities on a recent Robbie Shepherd programme to have been Angus’ finest composition.
Mr Michie started his business in 1908 and on his death it was taken over by Lindsay Ross on March 8th, 1960 advertising ‘Accordions, new and second hand from £7’ and ‘Violins complete with case and bow’ from £2.
Lindsay also found quite a number of original manuscripts of tunes by Scott Skinner in the shop. Some of them had been written on menus and concert programmes as the tunes came into his head, and then later submitted to Mr Michie for his comments and approval.
As a craftsman he used the same deliberate and careful approach that he did with everything else in his life – my own fiddle only has a very small mark on it where it was repaired having been given a ‘gey good dunt’ in my youth. In 1929 he patented ‘An improved sound post’ and also a special mute. I have been unable to find fuller details of these – memory suggests that the sound post might have been flexible?
As well as music and the shop he wrote a lot of poetry. His ‘Rhymes fae Angus’ (published in 1946 by J. Balfour of Montrose) were marked, according to a critic of the time, by ‘pawky wit and warm humanity’.
Many of the poems had appeared over the years in the Montrose Standard and the Brechin Advertiser. Over 2,000 copies of the book were sold.
My own particular favourite is Bacchus (The Quick-Change Artist)
A young man who was feeling morose,
With drinking became quite jacose,
In rapid succession, he wound up the session,
Bellicose, lachrymose, comatose.
His love of nature and his fellow man was probably nurtured by his upbringing in Glenesk, where his father, and in particular his grandfather, were notable members of the community. The template of Mr Michie’s violin, along with correspondence from Scott Skinner, can be found in the museum at ‘The Retreat’ in Glenesk which also includes many other items of local and general interest.
His grandfather was a recognised authority on botany and geology as well as being known for forthright speech! Mr Michie was always happy to relate the story of his grandfather and father attending a concert in the Mechanics Institute in Brechin. A violinist was playing and the grandfather jumped to his feet and shouted “Stop!” His son remonstrated “Wheesht, we’ll be put out o’ the hall” to which the reply was “He canna go on – he’s out of tune!”
I hope that my reminiscences will inspire other memories of Mr Michie. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who remembers him and the shop.
A memory I have of the Doric Trio is when the late Ron Gonella, accompanied by my wife Nancy, included ‘The Dying Year’ at my request in our programme which we gave for the Brechin Arts Guild in the Mechanics Institute a few years ago. It linked for me two men (and a lady) each of whom have had an influence on my musical life – I feel that Mr Michie’s grandfather would not have jumped up on that occasion and shouted “Stop!”
4th July 1998
What should That Tune be Called?
by John Browne (North Wales ex Edinburgh)
A number of well-known tunes in the Scottish repertoire have actually been known by more than one name over the years and the naming of some tunes can still cause confusion today. Why has this happened and is there a ‘correct’ name for such tunes? Fiddle and accordion player John Browne investigates…
On one occasion the lead box player in the band I was playing in called out the name of the next tune as ‘Yiddle Diddle Dum Dum’. Bemused I waited for the tune to start and immediately recognised it, of course, as Davy Knick Knack.
It is not uncommon to find more than one name for a tune. Flicking through a copy of Kerr’s Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin recently I came across a number of tunes that I immediately recognised by other names. These included Judy’s Reel (The Barmaid), Pride of the Ball (The Swallow’s Tail) and Teddy Malo’s Jig (Welcome to Cork). Delving further I found some tunes which were repeated in other volumes in the series but with different names including I Lost My Love (Vol 1, No 1 Page 31) as My Mither’s Aye Glowerin’ Ower Me (Vol 3 No 296) and Air by Haydn (Vol 3 No 405) as Paddy the Piper (Vol 1, No 20, Page 37).
Tunes can have different names for a number of reasons. In times gone by many tunes were presumably handed down by ear and there will doubtless have been times when a ‘composer’ mistakenly claimed (and renamed) someone else’s tune. On other occasions, however’ the intentions will have been less innocent with a ‘composer’ putting his own name to someone else’s composition. A much quoted example of such plagiarism is the ‘theft’ of William Marshall’s ‘Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey’ by Niel Gow for the latter’s ‘Major Graham of Inchbrakie’, although I personally find insufficient similarity between these particular tunes for such an accusation in this case. Marshall was slow to publish his tunes in his own collections and because of this many appeared in other collections first, not just those of the Gows (where some of Marshall’s compositions are in fact correctly attributed to the composer) but also those of Charles Duff, John Anderson, James Aird and Alexander McGlashan. The renaming of his tunes upset Marshall to the point that he wrote a stern rebuke of the practice on the cover of his 1822 collection!
Returning to our theme of the names of tunes Marshall himself was to frequently change the names of his tunes to suit his own purposes, perhaps on occasion to flatter his own benefactors amongst other reasons. Mary Anne Alburger in her book Scottish Fiddlers and their Music points out that 31 of the 49 pieces contained in Marshall’s first collection published in 1781 were republished in later collections with different titles! Marshall was not the only composer to change the names of his tunes. In an article in the B&F earlier this year it was pointed out that Felix Burns also did this on a number of occasions. He also included a number of well known traditional tunes in some of his collections but with different names, including Timour the Tartar (Scottish Rifles) and Highland Whisky (The Lochnagar).
The names of tunes can also change when the tune is taken for a different purpose, such as for use in a song or a dance, and the tune then becomes more commonly known through this new association. This has been the case with many of Burns’ songs, for example, the original tune names sounding quite unfamiliar. These include ‘My Love She’s But A Lassie Yet’ (Lady Badinscoth’s Reel or Miss Farquharson’s Reel), Scots Wha Hae (Hey, Tuttie, Tuttie), Comin’ Through the Rye (The Miller’s Daughter), The Deil’s Awa’ Wi’ The Exciseman (The Hemp Dresser), O’ a’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw (the aforementioned Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey) and My Love is Like a Red Red Rose (Low Down in the Broom). Interestingly this last tune appears under this title in Kerr’s Vol 2, No 147 but as the Red Red Rose in Vol 3 No27.
Tunes can also become associated with dance titles. Few danceband leaders would today call the original for the dance Hamilton House as its full title of ‘The Hon Colonel Hamilton’s Delight’, or the dance Monymusk as Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk. Sometimes, on the other hand, the difference between the dance or song title and its associated tune title is not so different, as in the dance Duran Ranger (tune: Duran Rangers), or the songs This Is No’ My Ain Lassie (tune: This is No’ My Ain Hoose) and My Wife’s a Winsome Wee Thing (tune: My Wife’s a Wanton Wee Thing). Tunes can also become known by the first line of the song rather than by either the song itself or the original tune title, as in the jig ‘There Cam a Young Man’ (song: The Cauldrife Wooer; tune; Bung Your Eye in the Morning). This last tune also appears as A brisk Young Lad in Annie Shand’s book of Old Scottish Music and there is also a dance to this title which uses the tune as its original.
Tunes can also take different names when the tune is played in a different tempo. The Strathspey ‘The Pipe o’ Dundee’ becomes The Drummer, for example, when it is played as a reel, and likewise the strathspey ‘Orange and Blue’ become the jig ‘Hot Punch’. A different variation on a tune can give an apparently new tune and hence a new title, and example being the reels Timour the Tartar and Babes in the Wood which are essentially the same tune.
Finally, tunes can become known by different names purely for convenience. The tune named simply as Quickstep by J. Pringle in Annie Shand’s collection of Old Scottish Music appears – sensibly – on an RSCDS record as Pringle’s Quickstep. I am surprised that the same thing has not yet happened with the tune named Quickstep by Nathanial Gow which is used as the original tune for the dance It’s Just for Fun. A tune title may gain identity by alteration, as in John Robertson’s Scottish Waltz, which was originally published simply as Scottish Waltz by John Robertson in 1949 and recorded under this shorter title by a number of well known bands in the 1950’s and 60’s.
So, returning to the original question, what should tunes with more than one recognizable title be called today? I personally prefer the idea giving such tunes the name which is either the most convenient to remember or the name which is most widely recognised. To this effect I would not call the tune The Laird o’ Cockpen by its original title of When She Cam’ Ben She Bobbit, nor I Lo’e Nae A Laddie But Ane as My Lodging Is On The Cold Ground! Similarly I would not keep the original title if this had been published in old English, such as Argile’s Bouling Green or Floors of Edinboro’! The answer has to be ‘keep it simple’ – so do call Davy Knick Knack by Yiddle Diddle Dum Dum if you really do find it easier to remember!
Aus Der Harmonikastadt
(From the Harmonica-Town )
Venanzio Morino ( 11 Dec 1876 – 1 Feb 1961) Accordion Design Genius
(Translated Article from 1956, on the occasion of Herr Morino’s 80th Birthday)
A man, his coat collar turned up, a pipe in his mouth and minding his own business, briskly striding along in the company of his dog which answers which answers to German, French and Italian commands. This Trossingen citizen who lives wholly for his craft is called Venanzio Morino, Germany’s most significant accordion builder of his time, and designer of the Hohner Morino accordion which is often claimed to be the best in the world.
Today we are able to extend to Herr Morino our best wishes on his 80th birthday and good health and happiness for the future. Nor will we forget that the 80-year-old still goes to work every day to be with his friend and excellent successor, Giovanni Gola, in order to plan, construct and achieve.
The secret behind such enduring love of work coupled with astounding vitality may be due to Herr Morino’s healthy outlook on life. Asked about his political views he answered “I am neither a Nationalist nor a Fascist but an Accordionist”. His hobbies are travel, with trips to Italy, Switzerland, French, Denmark and Belgium, the study of technical literature and also the more relaxing reading of mostly Italian newspapers and good books. His family and work mean everything to him. Blessed with a healthy and regular sleep pattern helping him to restore body and mind throughout a busy lifetime Herr Morino hardly noticed the quickly passing years. Only in his quieter moments may he occasionally have realised that he had reached the Biblical age of 80.
Our birthday-boy can look back on a lifetime of hard work. When only a young boy he had to go to work with his father, helping to feed a big family. Born on the 11th December, 1876 in the northern Italian village of Burnasco, we can see him daily walking to work in Turin to earn money.
It was a hard but instructive youth. It made him more aware and stimulated his inborn sense for invention. His foremost talent was for tinkering with things, so he had to become a joiner. The fragrant wood one could plane and shave was a welcome material for his talented hands. The hidden longing for music and the dream of a musical instrument suitable for the general public and it’s aspirations led Herr Morino, the apprentice joiner to construct his first melodeon. It was a difficult beginning but there was a sense of destiny. When Morino moved from Italy to Geneva he met an accordion builder from whom he gained more useful knowledge. About 1900 he set up on his own.
When, shortly after the turn of the century, management of the Hohner company decided to include production of melodeons and accordions, it was clear from the beginning that with the increase in production it would also be desirable to improve artistic quality to its utmost. Was it accident or fate that shortly after the First Would War Swiss friends of director DR. Earnest Hohner, mentioned Morino to him. After the two men’s meeting Morino decided to come to Trossingen. That was the planner and master of accordion building was able to take advantage of all the opportunities a worldwide company could offer him. Intuition and working expertise merged with ambitious plans of the Hohner company. Always encouraged by his friends Ernst Hohner and Elias Messner, in constant touch with old master Schittenhelm and numerous requests by accordionists led Morino to develop the Hohner Morino accordion which was to become a sign of world wide quality.
Despite these creative successes he remained unassuming, a humble man spending his life in the midst of his family, constantly working and planning. A widower for 10 years he married Fran Hella – nee Gottling – in 1932. She gave the man, who loved home and family life, a new home. His son Raymond and daughter Germaine, both from his first marriage, live in Geneva. Raymond manages an accordion school, Germaine is married. His second son Guido is an electrical engineer, having inherited his father’s technical talent. That is the family circle of this considerate and caring man who built and gave the world so many excellent accordions without ever expecting any thanks in return.
Working, yo make life worthwhile – cultivating the arts to gather new strength, helping and guiding the next generation – caring beyond one’s own self. These are the marked characteristics of our birthday child for whom are the following words “Only what we have loved have we understood”.
Kurzlich 100, Jahrestag (Recent 100th Anniversary)
Lieve Sagen Venanzio Morino Genialtat Nach
(Many Say Benanvio Morino was a Genius)
Widely reputed as brilliant, his Hohner Morino accordions were available around the world: designer Venanzio Morino, whose 100th birthday would have been this year on 11th December, 1976. He died, aged 85, on 1st February, 1961 in Trossingen, his adopted home town.
He was born in the northern part of Italy, a village called Burnasco which was near Turin and became a well respected citizen of Trossingen.
Through young Morino’s tinkering his talent became prominent. The fresh wood which he planed and shaved was welcome work material to his gifted hands. Already as an apprentice joiner he developed his first melodeon. Round about the turn of the century his skill for making things was so well known that he was able to set up independently as an accordion maker. After the First World War Morino joined up with Ernst Hohner and emigrated to Trossingen in order to work in the House of Hohner. The year wa 1928.
Now the planner and master had the opportunity to bring together his ideas with those of the Hohner firm. In a long lasting partnership with Ernst Hohner, with Hermann Schittenhelm as the accordion player and Elias Messner as the expert on accordion, together with being close to the wishes of the accordion elite, Venanzio Morino created, in the course of the year, the top performing instrument which would make him famous across the world – the Hohner Morino accordion.
Despite his success the gifted designed had no airs and graces. Morino lived a humble life, dedicated to his work, in the small town of Trossingen. He chose to work at Hohner into his eighties, bound by friendship to his successor Giovanni Gola and with his work colleagues from his workshop. They worshipped him like a father.
Being busy to continue to give life real meaning, to cultivate his craft, to draw new strength – these were the characteristics of the accordion designer Venanzio Morino. The very best accordions which Hohner produce today continue to carry his name.
Thanks to Haik Wenzel from the Deutsches Harmonikamuseum in Trossingen for providing me with a copy of these two newspaper articles from 1956 and 1976 and to Mrs Isle Currie and her daughter Mrs Irene Clark, both of East Kilbride, for translating them. I’d be delighted to hear from readers who have any more information on Hohner, Morino or Gola.
Composers Corner
Gideon Stove (1874-1954)
In January, 1954, under the headline ‘Maestro Dies’ there appeared in one of the National Newspapers the following obituary :-
“Nimble fingers that set the Shetland Isles dancing have been stilled by the death of Mr Gideon Stove, Lerwick’s oldest music master. He was 79. A violinist, self-taught, and an expert in Shetland reels and folk tunes, he was equally accomplished in the classics. “He had been playing his fiddle for more than 60 years at local musical events and was a member, and for a long time leader, of the first Lerwick orchestra. He played at successive Gilbert and Sullivan operas and was also fiddler to a squad of Guizers at the Norse festival of Up-Helly-A’. He taught the violin to hundreds of children.”
That was a fair enough summing-up of Gideon’s career as a teacher and music maker, but one which failed to do justice to the great influence he had on fiddle-playing throughout the islands, for his music room at 24 Burns Lane, on the site of the present Swimming Pool, was a Mecca for fiddlers from all over Shetland. They would come to him for advice, for instruction, and to show him their instruments for his approval and appraisal. Very often their visits were just for the sheer pleasure of playing together with him.
Nor does it give Gideon credit for the hundreds of tunes that he kept composing, and whose echoes still linger on in the memories of those still alive who remember his skilled and technically perfect performances.
The present volume will, I hope, introduce some of those tunes into the ken of the present generation of fiddlers and music makers.
My father, Gideon Stove, was born in Burravoe, North Roe on 28th June, 1874. Shortly after the death of his mother, nee Margaret Ratter, the family moved from North Roe to 4 Burns Lane, where the Peerie Shop is now, when Gideon was only five years of age.
Gideon was the youngest of a family of eight, most of whom, prior to the move to Lerwick had married or gone further afield. Jeannie, Mrs Nicolson, was in Ediinburgh, married to a contractor. Grace died young. William, who had settled in Australia, became engaged to a teacher, but died tragically of a fever on what was to be his wedding day. Mary, Mrs Smith, lived in Whiteness. Katie married Laurence Tulloch of Lerwick. Magnus went to Edinburgh and became a head confectioner with McVitie and Price. John went sailing and was lost at sea.
When my grandfather, Magnus Stove, came to Lerwick he worked as a stonemason. The only photo extant of him is in Tom Henderson’s excellent publication ‘Shetland from Old Photographs’ at photo No 52 where he is seen standing at the foot of Burns Lane wearing his stonemason’s leggings in the year 1895.
In that year Magnus was still corresponding with a relative in Bergen, and my grandfather’s tale was that, in the long ago, three Stove brothers came from Norway and settled in different parts of Shetland, giving rise to the different branches of the Stoves. This correspondence petered out, probably on the demise of the Bergen correspondent.
Probably with the intention of emulating his brother Magnus’s success as a confectioner, Gideon started work as a baker and completed his apprenticeship with Bally Mouat. However, very soon he found that the hours of work in a bakery conflicted with the late night musical engagements that he was constantly called upon to fulfill and furthermore there was an ever growing demand on his time as more and more pupils came to him for lessons. He therefore, made the brave decision to leave the bakery and try to make a career out of music, teaching, playing, collecting and composing.
As a self-taught musician he was so keen that he probably did more daily practice than any student at music college, setting himself a rigorous routine of daily practice in the studies of Kreutzer, the classics and the main schools of music, until he reached such a high standard of technical excellence that he was tempted to join a Symphony Orchestra in the south when an approach was made to him. However having just got married to Miss Jessie C. Sandison of 15 Market Street and having put a brass plate on the door of 24 Burns Lane, which read ‘G. Stove, Teacher of Music’, he decided to persevere with a musical career in Shetland. Making music in those days did not make much money, but Gideon was happy doing what he most wanted to do – to devote his life to music.
Gideon was in great demand for playing at Lerwick dances in the days when violin and piano were the only instruments used, except when occasionally augmented by drum or guitar. In those days Miss Joan Williamson, later to become Mrs Mustard, was his most frequent accompanist on the piano, and together they made an excellent partnership for all the big occasions in the Lerwick dance halls, until the days when ‘the wireless’ popularized the big bands and there came a demand for bigger bands in Lerwick too.
As the family grew up and we all learned to play instruments, we had our own ‘G. Stove’s Band’ of father, mother and three sons augmented at times by some of the Burns Lane boys who could play. Between the wars, before we left home to follow our own careers, our band was in demand to play at functions in Lerwick and in the country districts.
About 1933 Gideon moved house to 15 Market Street, to the house which had been built by my maternal grandfather, when the Market Street Company of Fishermen had built a West Side to Market Street. There, in his retirement years, Gideon continued to give some lessons. Mr Peter Fraser, the well-known folk music devotee, was a frequent visitor as they co-operated in collecting and writing down the old Shetland tunes.
Gideon’s Pupils
Many good pupils passed through his hands and benefited from his meticulous instruction. Two of the most prominent and well-known of his pupils still actively playing at the present day are Arthur Scott Robertson, who gained renown as Scotland’s Champion fiddler and Willie Hunter, who is also regarded as one of Scotland’s finest fiddle players.
My brother Harold, Gideon’s youngest son, who died last year, was also one of his best pupils. He reviled in playing the classics and often performed solos with the Lerwick Orchestra. For a time he was leader of a Palm Court type orchestra which gave regular Sunday evening performances.
Gideon’s second son, Alex Gideon, was a Head Postman, who was affectionately known as Dollar. He received his training from his father, and after starting on the fiddle, took up the accordion and became renowned as an expert on that instrument.
I also started on the violin and played first violin in the Lerwick Orchestra while still at school. Then I took up the piano and clarinet, playing both in the dance band. Now in my retirement, I am a church organist, playing the pipe organ in the Congregational Church, where James Stout Angus, for whom my father composed a strathspey, was a deacon.
When I was Headmaster at Uyeasound School I took after-school classes in violin and piano and continued to do so when I went to Mid Yell Junior High School. After a serious operation in 1959, I had reluctantly to give up the evening classes in music and thereafter I concentrated my music teaching into the school hours during the day.
After I retired I was delighted when the Education Committee instated an enlightened policy of employing violin instructors to visit schools. Of these instructors, the best known is Dr Tom Anderson, who did good work with the ‘Forty Fiddlers’ and the ‘Young Heritage’. Gideon Stove would most certainly have heartily approved of what Tom did in the cause of Shetland music.
The Strad
Gideon’s brother John, on his penultimate voyage to the Mediterranean, brought back for his brother, Gideon, the present which was to delight his heart and thrill its hearers. John is said to have parted with all he possessed to acquire this magnificent instrument which was to inspire Gideon to practice on it to reach a high degree of perfection in violin technique. This present from his brother was to become known as ‘Gideon Stove’s Strad’.
As years went by, substantiated by the opinion and appraisal of visiting experts, he became convinced that it was indeed a genuine Stradivarius violin. Be that as it may, the violin had a marvelous tone and great carrying power and was admired by all who heard it. Mr C. Williamson of the Studio in Scalloway once told me that he heard my father’s violin ringing out, over the rooftops of Scalloway, from a Christmas dance in the Scalloway Hall, to the Studio at the shore where he was standing listening; and that was before the days of amplifiers.
It was tragic that John was lost at sea on the very next voyage after presenting Gideon with such an instrument. Perhaps it was traumatic experience that steeled Gideon’s resolve to “practice, practice, practice” as he would always exhort his pupils to do.
I have no doubt that this instrument was an inspiration to my father. He gave it all his loving care and attention. We were not allowed to touch it and we began to revere it as much as he did. Very few were allowed to play on it, but Willie told me that, during a lesson, as a special favour, he was once allowed to draw a bow across the strings to test the tone and to be able to say that he had held a ‘Strad’ in his hands.
On the death of my father in January, 1954, I waived my right as eldest son to claim the ‘Strad’ and told my brother, Harold, that, as he was now the violinist in the family, he could take charge of it and I would get it when he was finished with it. Sad to say, while in Harold’s possession, but through no fault of his, the violin met with a serious accident, the exact details of which were never made clear to me. Harold told me that the violin was beyond repair although some attempt had been made to repair it.
I never saw it again and I felt as though a death had occurred in the family. I could not help thinking of how Gideon would have felt had he known the sad end to the ‘Strad’ that had been the ‘apple of his eye.’
Gideon collected so many of the photogravure plates of famous violins presented by the ‘Strad’ magazine, which he read monthly from cover to cover, that it is surprising that he never, to my knowledge, had a photo taken of his ‘Strad’.
However, he was photographed many times holding the instrument in the many group photos of the String Band, the Lerwick Orchestra and the Gilbert Sullivan Opera Groups, but the violin itself is usually more or less in the shade.
Sadly these shadows are all that remain of ‘Gideon Stove’s Strad’.
The above article appears as the ‘Introduction’ to The Shetland Violinist, The Gideon Stove Tune Book, Volume 1, and was written by his son Magnus J. Stove in 1986. It gives us a very full picture of his father’s life and therefore is reproduced here in its original form.
This Book is available at £6.50 +p&p from High Level Music in Lerwick Tele 01595 692618
World Exclusive – The Beatles S.D.B.
by Charlie Todd
The Box and Fiddle offers conclusive proof that but for bad advice from Producer, George Martin, The Beatles might have joined Jimmy Shand in enjoying ongoing popularity and still be with us today instead of fading into obscurity.
With John Lennon leading on Hohner Gola, Paul McCartney on trombone and Ringo Starr (probably some distant relation of Will) and George Harrison out for chips, the boys are shown having a run through their debut Scottish Country Dance LP ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’.
Apparently the choice of instruments was greatly influenced by the appearance, a few years earlier, of the Olympians at the annual Liverpool and District Herds Ball i.e. to include a brass instrument (after hearing Dougie Maxwell) and not to include a fiddle (after hearing Jimmy Yeaman).
An alternative explanation offered by well-known West Kilbride accordionist Iain Cathcart could be that the picture were taken at Abbey Road Studio 1, London during the recording of ‘All You Need Is Love’ on or around 23rd/25th June, 1967. The accordion can only be that of Jack Emblow who was employed as a session musician on these recordings. Come on Iain, pull the other one!
The Kenny Thomson Gallery
Book Review
Puirt a Eilean Leodhais (Tunes from the Isle of Lewis) Book 5, Composed by Ian Crichton.
The Cheviot Collection – 82 Original Compositions for Accordion and Fiddle by 38 Leading Players and Cpmposers.
The Old time Dances Vol 1. Traditional Tunes for the Dances arranged for Accordion and Fiddle by Deirdre Adamson.
Fiddles and Folk by G. Wallace Lockhart
Letters to the Editor
Dear me, what a tantrum Master anonymous!
Your reasons for withholding your name rubbish the entire contents of your letter. Those ‘on high’ might not be amused – whether referring to the BBC with its ‘fuddy duddy’ programme, or musicians from some ‘outdated’ band – you care? Oh! – I see, no doubt you are one of the ‘super’ players not getting enough exposure!
There is, perhaps, a clue to your spleen in the first paragraph – “I have appeared on the programme in the past”. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
How big a poll did you conduct to be able to confidently write “we, the public….” You are entitled to your views but don’t foist them on more persons unknown. It would be a funny old world if we all liked the same. A squeal, drag or lack of timing to one, might be perfect pitch and proper rhythm to another.
A wee tip for your benefit – Scottish music is entirely about timing. A classical pianist, visiting our home, was given his first sight of The High Level, which he played through absolutely note perfect – and it was rubbish!
No emphasis and no timing.
Play a speedier ballad – It’s jazz.
Play a speedier pop tune – It’s hard rock or heavy metal.
Play speedier Scottish – It’s …..nothing.
It also does rather matter to have variety in the programmes. I feel I can safely say the majority of listeners are not competition judges willing to hear slight alterations to the same there over and over.
Your comments regarding who decides the balance of a broadcast, as well as on timing and dress, can be covered by another adage – he who pays the piper calls the tune. No bookings, no bands.
As for those ‘limp wrested, old’ dancers, they care for, are more knowledgeable about, and do more to keep Scottish music alive, in far flung countries as well as at home, than any other group. Contrary to being ‘looked down on’, a ‘joke’, or being ‘ashamed’ of Scottish music, set a band down anywhere, any country, and I predict a large crowd will immediately form – not laughing and sneering, but smiling and toe-tapping.
I am sure, in your rambling rant, there is somewhere a genuine point you wish to make, but in such a comprehensive whinge, where nothing is acceptable, it gets lost. Constructive criticism of the only Scottish dance programme is welcome, but recommending the ‘off’ switch could awfully easily cause the programme’s permanent demise.
Dress like a peacock, play like a fury, and heed no-one else’s opinion as to the balance of your band. If your views are indeed what ‘the public’ want, you’ll have bookings galore and out the rest of the business – and you can say ‘I told you so!’
As for your imaginary band, that is, in my opinion, what is wrong with some broadcasts – rent-a-band rather than regular players.
Irene Bell, Kirklinton Park, Kirklinton, Carlisle.
Welcome back to the Box and Fiddle – still excellent value at £10.
I have to express some doubt however about allowing an anonymous diatribe against ‘Take the Floor’. I’ve nothing against healthy, constructive criticism, but I heartily disapprove of what amounts to a prolonged, highly personal, prejudiced moan with no trace of proposed solutions and no qualification / illustration. And all under the cloak of anonymity. What is your correspondent afraid of?
It happens that I have some sympathy with some of the points made, however devalued they may be by the general tone. Perhaps I can address one or two of them.
I have spent many years working with PA and Hi-fi and ‘plodding bass’ is more often than not a function of the sound system rather than a product of the original signal. Perhaps your correspondent’s speakers are insufficiently damped, or simply put out too much bass for the room?
‘Out of time’ bass can also be a function of an audio system, but I know one highly regarded bass player who pulls the strings so hard that most notes are sharp. I’ll allow the individual to remain anonymous, with no reference other than to ‘Robin Hood’. Thankfully there are many more bass players who do play in tune (and time).
I do agree that second box, fiddle and drums often feature scarcely at all in the TTF mix – the most glaring example being when Brian Griffin guested last year with Iain MacPhail. We don’t often hear the wonderful MacPhail / Griffin partnership these days so it was an opportunity squandered.
However the ‘disappearance’ of the fiddle can often be down to the listening system. Perhaps TTF should mix for poor resolution system, as (God help us!) Radio 1 does for its largely ‘tranny’ audience.
I am sure that your correspondent will provoke a good response, so I will close an already long letter by saying that in this present era we should perhaps be grateful the ‘Take the Floor’ and other minority interest programmes are allowed to continue.
Bob Parsons
It was interesting to read the wide ranging attack on ‘Take the Floor’ in September’s issue. A pity the writer decided against signing it; I would have thought that upsetting ‘those on high’ was the object of the exercise. Such high heid yins tend to pay less attention to anonymous critics.
In any case, your correspondent writes ‘….a review needs to be carried out into how those in charge of the programme make their selection of the bands which are allowed to play frequently”.
Some years ago I wrote to ‘TTF’ asking for the criteria by which bands were chosen for repeat broadcast, because from where I was sitting the process seemed a fairly random one. I received a reply, but it did not explain the process or outline the criteria. On that score, I remain in the dark.
Playing as I do in a broadcasting band I have to declare a vested interest; and having broadcast over many years, I know that broadcasting was probably more responsible than any other activity for raising and maintaining the playing standard of bands. But I am talking about a time when most broadcasting bands assured of at least two broadcasts a year. So many bands are broadcasting now that a band is more likely to broadcast once every two years.
For one thing, I wonder how many of the bands now broadcasting actually exist outside the BBC’s broadcasting studios; for another, I would contend that the rarity of the broadcasting experience for most bands now is unlikely to have the beneficial effect on standards that a more frequent broadcast experience had on bands in the past.
By the way, may I suggest that your correspondent’s conjecture about ‘mega all-time bands’ is a waste of time. From what I can see, the bringing together of outstanding individuals never guaranteed an outstanding band. The process is more complex than that.
Douglas Muir
Dear Sir
I read the letter concerning Scottish Dance Music on Radio Scotland with great interest, If any of your readers would like to discuss our programme output they are most welcome to get in touch
Andrew Jones, Head of Programmes, North BBC Scotland, Aberdeen
Take the Floor – Saturdays at 6.30pm with Robbie Shepherd
3rd Oct 98 – Ian Cruickshank SDB
10th Oct 98 – OB Alan Gardiner SDB + guest William Williamson from the Ross Bandstand, Edinburgh
17h Oct 98 – Neil MacEachern SDB + feature
24th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB + guest Gordon Simpson & George & John burns from the Station Hotel, Perth
31st Oct 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
7th Nov 98 – Fraser McGlynn Duo
14th Nov 98 – Ian Thomson SDB
21st Nov 98 – Iain Cathcart SDB
28th Nov 98 – Jim Johnstone SDB. OB from Jordanhill College, Glasgow
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Dee Motel) – 26th Oct 98 – Jim Lindsay Trio (Amulree)
Alnwick (White Swan Hotel) – members only 14th Oct 98 - tbc
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 18th Oct 98 – Bruce Lindsay
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 4th Oct 98 – Garioch Fiddlers S&R Society
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 1st Oct 98 – David Vernon
Ayr (Gartferry Hotel) – 4th Oct 98 - tbc
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Hall) – 18th Oct 98 – Da Fustra
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 26th Oct 98 – Graeme Mitchell SDB
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 28th Oct 98 – John Ellis & the Highland Country Dance Band
Beith & District (Hotel de Croft, Dalry) – 19th Oct 98 – Jimmy Cassidy
Belford (Community Club) – 29th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 11th Oct 98 – Meoran Ciuil Trio
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 13th Oct 98 – Lindsay Weir Trio
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 13th Oct 98 – Deirdre Adamson
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 8th Oct 98 – Players Open Night
Campbeltown (Royal or Argyll Hotel) - ??
Campsie (Glazert House Hotel) - 6th Oct 98 – Wayne Robertson & Nigel Jelks
Carlisle (Border Regiment Club, Carlisle Castle) - 1st Oct 98 – John Renton SDB
Castle Douglas (Ernespie House Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Bobby Abbott
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 15th Oct 98 – MacKay’s Ceilidh Band (Meoran Ciuil)
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 11th Oct 98 – All Players Welcome
Crieff & District (Arduthie Hotel) 1st Oct 98 – Colin Dewar
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) 20th Oct 98 – Maurice Duncan Trio
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Paul Anderson
Dunblane (Westlands Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Forbes McFarlane SDB
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 13th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 9th Oct 98 - tbc
East Kilbride (Sweepers, Cambuslang) – 29th Oct 98 – Fraser McGlynn Duo
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Gordon Pattullo
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 26th Oct 98 – George Hood SDB
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 25th Oct 98 - tbc
Forres (Brig Motel) – 14th Oct 98 – Aberdeen A&F Club
Fort William (Alexandra Hotel) – ??
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 1st Oct 98 - tbc
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 12th Oct 98 – Meoran Ciuil
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel – Wooler) – 15th Oct 98 – Roger Dobson SDB
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 7th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 27th Oct 98 - tbc
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 4th Oct 98 – Andrew Knight SDB
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 19th Oct 98 – Johnny Duncan Duo
Inveraray (Loch Fyne Hotel) - 6th Oct 98 – Colin Dewar SDB
Islay (White Hart Hotel) - ??
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 16th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 6th Oct 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 28th Oct 98 – Seamus Shannon
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Lanark (Masonic Hall) - 26th Oct 98 – Eric Goodfellow Jnr
Langholm (Crown Hotel) – ??
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 8th Oct 98 – Milton Fiddlers
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 1st Oct 98 - tbc
Livingston (Cairn Hotel) - 20th Oct 98 – Club Night
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 27th Oct 98 – David Sturgeon & the Waverley SDB
Mauchline (Sorn Village Hall) 20th Oct 98 – Michael Philip & Paul Clancy
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Scott Gordon Trio
Muirhead (Belmont Arms, Meigle) - 21st Oct 98 – Local Artistes
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 26th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB (Club’s 21st)
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 6th Oct 98 – Johnny Duncan Duo
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 1st Oct 98 – Charlie Kirkpatrick Trio
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) – Closed for winter
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – 29th Oct 98 – Robert Whitehead & the Danelaw SDB
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Jimmy Cassidy
Premier NI (Camlin Function Rooms) - 6th Oct 98 - tbc
Reading Fiddlers (Piggot School) - ??
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 13th Oct 98 – Burns Brothers
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 1st Oct 98 – Ian Cruickshanks Trio
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 8th Oct 98 – Alistair McLeod
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) - ??
Stirling (Terraces Hotel) - 11th Oct 98 – James Coutts SDB
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) - ??
Thornhill (Masonic Hall) - 14th Oct 98 – Tom MacKay Trio (Meoran Ciuil)
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 5th Oct 98 – Alan Gardiner Duo
Turriff (Royal Oak Hotel) – 1st Oct 98 – Allan McIntosh & Heather SDB
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 6th Oct 98 – Langholm Club
Wick (McKay’s Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Wyvis Sound
Yarrow (Gordon Arms) - 21st Oct 98 – Iain Cathcart
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Annan
2. Belford
3. Blairgowrie
4. Button Key
5. Campsie
6. Crieff & District
7. Dingwall & District
8. Dunfermline & District
9. Dunoon & Cowal
10. Forres
11. Glendale
12. Gretna
13. Islesteps
14. Inveraray & District
15. Kelso
16. Kintore
17. Lesmahagow
18. Montrose
19. North East
20. Renfrew
21. Thornhill
22. Turriff
23. Tynedale
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 1998
(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. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
7. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
8. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
9. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
10. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
11. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
12. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
13. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
14. Bromley A&F Club
15. Button Key A&F Club (
16. Campbeltown A&F Club (
17. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
18. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
19. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
20. Coalburn A&F Club (
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
23. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
24. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
25. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
26. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
27. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
28. Ellon A&F Club (
29. Etterick & Yarrow (Jan 1989 -
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
34. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
35. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
36. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
37. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
38. 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)
39. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
40. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
41. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
42. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
43. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
44. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
45. Kintore A&F Club (
46. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
57. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
58. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
59. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
60. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
61. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
62. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
63. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
64. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
65. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
66. Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes (Nov 1997 -
67. Selkirk A&F Club (
68. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
69. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
70. Sutherland A&F Club (
71. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
72. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
73. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
74. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
75. Vancouver
76. 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?)
77. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
78. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
79. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
80. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
81. Buchan A&F Club
82. Callander A&F Club (
83. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
84. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
85. Club Accord
86. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
87. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
88. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
89. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
90. Derwentside A&F Club
91. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
92. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
93. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
94. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
95. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
96. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
97. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
98. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
99. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
100. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
101. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
102. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
103. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
104. Mull A&F Club
105. Newcastleton Accordion Club
106. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
107. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
108. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
109. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
110. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
111. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
112. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
113. Tranent A&F Club
114. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
115. Wellbank A&F Club
Advertising rates
Full Page - £120
Half Page - £60
Quarter Page - £30
B&F Treasurer – Mrs Margaret Smith, Smeaton Farm Cottage, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 2NL
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
The October 97 issue of the B&F was my first and what I didn’t realise at that time was it is the quietest of the year. After the sheer volume of Club Reports which accumulate from mid March to mid August and appear in the September issue, this month’s sees the majority of Clubs just getting under way and hence the number of reports is small by comparison. I have therefore taken the opportunity to make this an ‘Information Issue’ by incorporating the ‘Guest Artiste List’ and even though the 1998/99 Registration Forms are still with Club Secretaries, the anticipated ‘Club Directory’. As I say, if previous years are anything to go by there won’t be another chance. Having said that, no-one should be disappointed since I’m pleased to see interesting articles submitted by a number of readers. My thanks to them and please keep the articles coming. Please note recent changes on the Guest artiste List for Alan Gardiner, Allan MacIntosh, the Caberston Ceilidh Band, Burns Brothers and the Tain Trio.
Do we have any readers who could devise us a crossword periodically or anyone who can draw cartoons if readers supply the ideas?
It was nice to meet up with Stuart and Elsie McInnes on my recent annual outing to Dunoon for the Cowal Games. Stuart is Secretary of the Dunoon and Cowal Club An additional highlight of the weekend, other than Elsie’s cooking that is, was a concert in the Queen’s Hall with the Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band as guests hosted by the Mid Argyll Pipe Band.
It’s about this time of year Margaret Smith starts to make husband George’s, and Chairman Jim’s life Hell if the subscriptions are not coming in on time so if you still haven’t paid your B&F 98/99 sub (£10) would you be kind enough to get it off to Margaret NOW.
As ever, all ideas to improve the B&F are welcome.
Charlie Todd
Livingston Club Celebrates 25 Years
by Murdo McLeod
Having been present at the first Accordion Club, started by Max Houliston at the Hole in the Wa’, Dumfries in 1965 and since then associated with Clubs, in particular Livingston, it is a pleasure to respond to a request to write a ‘history’ of the Club which celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 1998.
The Club, however, had its roots somewhat earlier in Edinburgh about 1971 and for a short spell thereafter as an informal practice group in Ladywell Community Hall in Livingston.
The Edinburgh period is mentioned because its influence carried through to the new Livingston Accordion and Fiddle Club. The Edinburgh venue was at the ‘famous’ West End Hotel in Palmerston Place. One or two enthusiasts including John MacGregor, the well known bandleader and Senior Scottish Accordion Champion (as well as composer of the tune Mr and Mrs Alex Ross) and Roger Knox, a folk singer and musician, started it. The Club featured a guest musician one month and a folk artiste the next. Many well known artistes were featured including Josh McRae (remember his song ‘Messing About On The River’). Incidentally the writer has never been allowed to forget that he turned down a folk singer by the name of Barbara Dickson on the basis that folk might not know who she was. Ah well, you can’t win them all.
Being located in the West End of Edinburgh and adjacent to the studios of the one and only Chrissie Leatham, accordion teacher, who tutored many well known names in the music world – we had a supply of talented youngsters we could call on. When the Club later moved to Livingston, Chrissie continued to encourage her pupils to visit us. Chrissie Leatham was a powerful force in the accordion music and we in Livingston were privileged to hear some of her best known protégés- John MacGregor, Jim Johnstone, Iain MacPhail, Craig McCallum, Graham Edwardson and her own son Owen who is a world famous free bass accordionist and currently Professor of Accordion at the Guildhall, London. Another pupil was Phil Cunningham. Did he play at Livingston? That is another story but read on…………
For a short time after we left Edinburgh a small group of enthusiasts including Arthur Brown – the long serving Secretary of the Club – Alec Ross, who incidentally was a founder member of the Tain Scottish Dance Band, Jock and Dorothy Glenn, Alex Grant, George Wilson, John Morrison and Bobby More from Kirkcaldy, met at the Community Hall in Ladywell for fortnightly practice sessions. These were very pleasurable evenings and led naturally to a desire for a bigger and more formal organisation in keeping with the national trend which was growing at the time. Thus in September, 1973, the Livingston Accordion and Fiddle Club was formed.
Much excitement was engendered in the local community by the local media which one supposes was only natural in an area that had produced such famous names as Will Hannah and from a little further west came the Wyper Brothers. The Club became an instant success and not a little of the credit for this must be given to the fantastic support on the opening night which was at the cosy houf in Deans, Livingston known as ‘Rab’s Bar’. This is a timely opportunity to Acknowledge the support received from some wonderful musicians that night, principally Bobby Jack who brought along his complete band: Brian Forrest (second accordion), Jim Barrie (fiddle), Vic Laidlaw (drums) and that great band pianist Derek Lawrence who composed the tune ‘Livingston Accordion Club’ subsequently recorded by Sandy Coghill. On that night much support was given by Jock and Dorothy Glenn, who always ensured that we had adequate amplifiers, etc. The late Murdo Campbell from Uist ensured that essentials of door keeping were supervised.
The high quality of music was sustained by well known names from ‘Hannah’ country, including Jimmy Todd and his Trio from Blackburn, a young lad embarking on a sparkling musical career came along from Whitburn – this was Jim Clelland now part of the famous Jim MacLeod Band. From Mid Calder came a popular fiddler who had performed on the cruise liners – John Toll whose fiddle was recently donated to St. Mary’s School of Music in Edinburgh.
The very first guest spot was filled by the one and only Bert Shorthouse who sadly died recently, mourned by the whole musical fraternity. At one time he had played second accordion with Bobby MacLeod and Jimmy Shand. Bert agreed to perform for the princely sum of £12! And what a performance! No modern electronics, just a box (the trusty Atlantic) and a chair. Yet, off the cuff and as a special request from yours truly, came a faultless rendition of ‘Czardas’. And this is when the large audience realised what accordion playing was all about.
It was indeed a grand night which augured well for the Club’s future. Mention is made here of some of the musicians who gave so much of their time to ensure the success of the Club in what was really an unknown venture. Included amongst them are the aforementioned Jock and Dorothy Glenn. Jock is sadly no longer with us, but Dorothy still performs at clubs, as an accordionist and vocalist. Arthur Brown, a pillar of the Club over 25 years and later his daughter Jackie on piano, Alex Grant, John Rae (always generous with his amplifiers) and his son Derek (now an established performer as part of the Pentland Ceilidh Band along with Colin Brown from Edinburgh, the wizard of the 5 row).
Another stalwart was John Morrison on fiddle, ex-Balerno now retired to the Orkneys. Also George Shanks who supplied the Continental flavour, and a very young and much smaller Graham Edwardson who found fame with the Oakbank Sound and has now settled in Shetland. Lending a special ambience to the Club was the constant supply of great young players from the Wilson Wood School of Music, Whitburn. A few of the names that spring to mind include David Wilson, also a founder member of the Oakbank Sound and now broadcasting regularly. Michael Wynne, who could play ‘Under the Double Eagle’ like no-one else. Ian Skinner from Longridge, Diane Armstrong from Armadale …….the list goes on.
During the Club’s time at Rab’s Bar we had guests who included the fine player Bobby Crowe (the Club sends good wishes and hopes you are on the mend), Angus Cameron from Kirriemuir who is sadly no longer with us, Jimmy Lindsay from Glenalmond, George Bell (the blind accordionist) and Jimmy Yeaman from Drymen who all gave impressive performances. Last but not least a duo – specially recommended by Iain MacPhail – Ronnie Easton and Brian Griffin. Brian subsequently became an artiste in his own right and still performs on the circuit.
In the early days of the Club the venue ranged from Rab’s Bar to Livingston Village Hall and then back to Rab’s Bar (after completion of renovations). Next stop was the Meadowhead Hotel and then on to the Cameron Irons Works Social Club which was our base for many years.
Among highlights of our time at the Meadowhead were Arthur Spink as he prepared to leave for Australia where he is now domiciled. John Mason on fiddle, now with an M.B.E. after his name and the Conductor of the world famous Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. The late Bill Powrie, accompanied by Joan Blue, who played a new tune of his own composition ‘The Cherrybank Polka’ – it has since achieved classic fame. At one of these nights the Writer brought along a completely unknown pupil from Chrissie Leatham’s School. He didn’t play the box, strangely enough, but boy did he play the penny whistle. His name? None other than Phil Cunningham.
This was a time when a large number of established musicians and even Broadcasting Band players were members. The larger premises at the Cameron Iron Works Social Club attracted more members. One of the stalwarts of the Club, Lawrence Edwardson, who was there at the very beginning held the posts of Doorman, Cashier, Treasurer, Vice Chairman and Chairman – not all at the same time of course – as chief talent scout he discovered somewhere in Edinburgh a young student who greatly assisted in raising the standard of out Club to greater heights. This was none other than the ‘inimitable’ Sandy Coghill who ensured that folk sat up and listened to his special music and rare crack. Later Sandy brought along a pal – a new phenomenon – Freeland Barbour and when he played Bobby MacLeod’s ‘Jean’s Reel’ the audience rose as one to applaud. Freeland and Sandy formed the well known and very successful Wallochmor Ceilidh Band.
Freeland now leads the equally famous ‘Occasionals’ and Sandy is now a successful businessman in Skye. Sandy and Freeland brought along quite a few new faces. The fiddle player Charlie McKerron, now with the Capercaillie Band. Also a brilliant young Duo in Edinburgh to make a recording – a very young Gordon Pattullo and Addie Harper Jnr from Wick. The contribution from Sandy and Freeland in the early days was a real bonus.
It was at this period in the late 70’s – early 80’s we had a young and enthusiastic compere from Pumpherston (brother of Graham of drumming fame). Sadly Gordon’s premature death a few years ago deprived the Scottish scene of one of its most dedicated ‘researchers’ whose prodigious knowledge of Scottish music was often called upon by musicians for recording or broadcasting purposes, etc. His name lives on in that fine tune compoased by his friend ‘Iain MacPhail’s Compliments to Gordon Jamieson’. Gordon had a rare rapport especially with younger players so that we had a constant succession of talented musicians. Players like Jacqueline Dick, Marie Fielding on fiddle and brother Owen, pianist with top bands. Andrew Knight was a boon to the Club with his powerful style of fiddle playing. Andrew now leads the popular West Telferton Band.
At this time we were also fortunate in having in our midst the Graham Ross Broadcasting Band led by Graham on Shand Morino, Derek McLeod on fiddle, Neil Barron second box, Ian McMillan on piano and son Ian on drums. A little later on we had the Oakbank Sound formed after Graham Edwardson and David Wilson had been accordionists playing solo at the Club for some time. The band was made up with Catherine Wilson (David’s sister) on piano, Gregor Borland on fiddle, Gordon Smith on drums and Bobby Miller on double bass. The band were really exciting when they arrived on the scene after winning Musselburgh. They were firm favourites both at dances and Club appearances.
Probably one of the most talked about nights while at the Cameron was a visit from Fintan Stanley back in the 70’s. Such was the reputation of this 5-row player from Ireland that the Cameron Social Club was full to capacity and the visiting musician roll call was something else.
The Club moved to the Masonic Hall in Mid Calder the highlights being a visit from the late Angus Fitchet and his full band, also the dup Tommy Ford and Jim Clelland. A series of moves followed 1) The Livingston British Legion for a short stay, the guest who springs to mind here was The Dermot O’Brien Trio. 2) The Golden Hind, Blackburn. Two special nights stand out here, these were John Ellis and his Band and the late Sandy MacArthur an old friend of the Club.
On now to the Golden Circle at Bathgate where our Club settles for a few seasons, and where we were able to have most of our younger musicians as guests. Due to hotel refurbishment the Club had to move out twice, first to the Deans Community Centre in Livingston where guests Ian Powrie, Tom Alexander and the Donal Ring Band come to mind. Then a short spell in the Hilton Hotel, Livingston before going back to the Golden Circle for the last two nights of the 97/98 season, the last guest being someone who first played at the Club as a very young lass. This was none other than Jennifer Forrest and her Broadcasting Band who played some lovely Gaelic music (her mother being from Skye).
The Club starts the 98/99 season in another new venue, The Hillcroft Hotel, Whitburn.
In conclusion it is clear that over many years, as the article shows, the Livingston A&F Club has made a significant contribution to the musical life of the community (in fact after 14 moves you could call us a traveling Accordion and Fiddle Club), as area rich in musical tradition going back, as mentioned, to the Hannahs, Jimmy Todd, Willie McFarlane, Dick Black and many others. It is part of the phenomenon started by Max Houliston at the Hole in the Wa’ those 30 years ago, and surely a worthy part of our Scottish musical heritage that will hopefully continue to flourish into the new Millennium to accompany the New Parliament at Holyrood.
Roger Crook
A Lifetown in Scottish Music
Although the Thistle Ceilidh Band is a relatively recent band on the scene, it’s leader has been involved in Scottish music for many years as singer, fiddler, pianist, arranger, accordionist, conductor and teacher.
Born in Forfar, he was brought up on a poultry farm in Aberlemno, a parish midway between Forfar and Brechin, and famous for its Pictish Standing Stones.
He was educated first of all at Aberlemno Primary School, a two-teacher school at which Mr and Mrs Bain put on a lot of school concerts. Mrs Bain played the piano and gave him great encouragement by playing for him more or less from the very beginning of his violin lessons. He also remembers, as a child, attending the class of a traveling dancing master who cycled around the area giving dancing lessons using his own fiddle accompaniment for adults and children after school hours.
At the age of 6, Roger had been given the choice of having violin or piano lessons, and as he had an uncle who played the violin a little he plumped for that. Then began his lessons with J. D. Michie of Brechin. “I owe my parents a lot for giving me that opportunity as neither of them was at all musical.”
On going to Brechin High School, he naturally got involved in the School Orchestra and the Brechin Light Orchestra which were both taken by Mr R. K. Brown. After a year or two, he left Mr Michie (after a good grounding and with his blessing) to begin having violin lessons with Mr Brown in order to get him through the advanced grades on the violin and began having piano lessons with Miss Evelyn Murray at the age of 16 in order to gain his Higher Music.
Before then, his Granny’s piano having been moved to the farm, he had begun to vamp to the bands on the dance music programmes on Saturdays prior to having proper lessons. He was soon able to earn his keep playing either fiddle or piano at local Scout or Guide dances. There were also monthly dances in the in the school hall at Aberlemno after concerts or whist drives and there he learned to dance Rory O’More, The Haymakers, Circassian Circle and many others.
His singing voice was beginning to settle about this time and he started to have lessons with Mrs Anne Nicoll of Forfar and sang the part of Nanki Poo in the school production of the Mikado. “I think that all these lessons; playing football for the school on a Saturday morning and Forfar Swifts in the afternoon; cycling six miles each way to sing in the Gardner Memorial Church Choir in Brechin on a Sunday (sometime twice), prepared me for the frantic pace of my life later on!” He also earned his first professional singing fee around this time singing in a concert following the Fettercairn Show for the very kind and couthy John Mearns. Roger’s interest in football was to pay off later!
Although singing was beginning to play a bigger part in his life it was as a violinist that he entered the Academy of Music in Glasgow. There he was to meet up with Mabel McCallum (now Gray) and John Crawford, both now well-known pianists in the band world. “Our kind of music wasn’t encouraged at all in the Academy in these days. I had a wonderful singing teacher at college (Miss Ena Mitchell) and really enjoyed the Opera Class performances. These were shared with the Drama College and as well as meeting nice music students I shared the stage with aspiring actors and actresses like Tom Conti and Hannah Gordon – I wonder whatever happened to them?”
“One especially nice music student, Nancy Moffat from Callander, became my wife and my accompanist in more ways than one. We celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary this year.”
On leaving the Academy he started to teach in schools in the Clydebank area. By this time he was singing all over the country for Choral Societies and doing a lot of broadcasting on the B.B.C. singing all kinds of music – with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (including the solo tenor part in the first broadcast performance of ‘Laudate Dominum’ by Martin Dalby and conducted by Andrew Davis, who is now one of the foremost conductors in the world, giving solo classical recitals and taking part in lunchtime shows such as ‘For Your Entertainment’. A very considerate Headmaster always let him off school to do any of the recorded shows because of the time he gave up to take footballs teams during the week
(one team contained the current Dumbarton F.C. Manager).
His very first broadcast had been done in the Coldside Library in Dundee and was a programme of ‘Scots Songs and Dances’ with the David Cunningham Trio (David on accordion, Douglas Cargill on bass and David Findlay on piano). He was to meet up with David Cunningham again later on a few occasions when their paths crossed in David’s role as musician and businessman. Roger sang in a lot of these types of programmes – some were also called ‘Scots Songs, Airs and Dances’ and had fiddlers like Willie McPherson of Elgin and others performing solo items.
“Singers also used to be involved weekly with the Scottish Radio Orchestra under Iain Sutherland. We would normally sing one classical piece and one Scots song with the Orchestra, then a Scots song accompanied on the piano by Harry Carmichael or Andrew Bryson (amongst others) in the 25 minute programme. Other singers like Peter Morrison and Helen McArthur were also starting out then, and, because of the output of the BBC at that time there was plenty of work for everyone.” Many of these programme were produced by Eoin Hamilton and had titles like ‘Tune Your Fiddles’. There was a weekly classical recital and also a great output of Scottish song at that time – I did recitals of songs by poets like Tannahill and Hogg – lovely songs that are rarely heard nowadays.”
As well as being leading tenor in the Wellington church in Glasgow he began his choral conducting career with the Dorian Choir in Helenburgh, and also began a thirteen year stint as resident singer at the Tourist Board Highland Nights in Pitlochry singing with Bert Cameron and Band.
In 1973 an Assistant Principal of Music post in fife beckoned and the family (which included baby Ross by this time) moved house to Kirkcaldy and he began to teach at Kirkland High in Methil. There was a great amount of talent in the school and this inspired him to start arranging music. Initially this was for a vocal group which he led and also the first school Scottish dance band he formed (The Kirkland Five!) He also began conducting the East Fife Ladies choir, which he did for four years.
After three years in Methil he moved to Auchterderran Junior High School in Cardenden to take up his first Head of Department post and where, having another very supportive Head Teacher, many concerts (mainly consisting of Scottish music) were put on and a lot of innovative work was done in the classroom. Although there was only a small staff there it nevertheless boasted a lot of musical talent – an excellent guitarist in the Modern Studies Department, a gifted multi-instrumentalist in Languages Department. Roger, along with the Headmaster, the Head of Technical Subjects and the Head of Art formed a successful Barber Shop Quartet! And he had his second dance band!
By this time he was conducting the Glenrothes Choral Society and between them and Quatrain his arrangements for voices of mainly Scottish material were being well used, including many on two LP records with Quatrain.
After six years in Cardenden he moved to Viewforth High in Kirkcaldy to run the Music Department, still singing with groups like the John Curries Singers, Fife Opera, Tayside Opera and his good friends in the Quatrain. This vocal quartet (plus Nancy) sang together professionally for 20 years and traveled many happy miles together. They ‘retired’ last year.
Singing tours abroad with various groups took him to Israel three times, Germany and Denmark, and included a broadcast which really must have been really worth hearing – singing Ae Fond Kiss on Danish Radio from the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen with a very bad dose of ‘flu!
“I was very happy at Viewforth – there were lots of lovely loyal pupils in my choir and concert party, who were so smartly turned out that I was always so proud when I took them anywhere to entertain or to go to listen to a concert. There I had another Scottish band who actually did a broadcast on BBC Radio Schools programme.” He played the piano in the band but by this time had acquired a piano accordion which he had always said he was going to learn for his retirement. “I got help in the beginning from the boys in the band who were both excellent players. It was when I started to arrange parts for them that I began arranging for a band in the way that I do.”
He had also arranged the music for the winning group (Fife Strathspey & Reel Society) at the Golden Fiddle Awards in the Kelvin Hall in 1981 and likes to think that the type of arrangement that he wrote influenced the entrants in the following years although it was criticized at the time for being too ‘classical’. The adjudicator was someone whom he hadn’t then met, but who was to play a big part in his future, Ron Gonella.
While at Viewforth he began what was to become a long association with John Ellis and the Highland Country Band (playing piano at the beginning). “My first few jobs really opened my eyes to the talents of the players in that band. The reading skill and the sheer technical ability in all sections of the band was a real eye-opener. And the bandleader was not long in telling me quite pointedly when he felt I wasn’t on the right lines! I had been a fan of the band for years and it was a funny feeling actually playing sets that I had listened to on tapes for years. I still fill in occasionally if a player is ill (and still get rows!)
A pleasant surprise came when David Cunningham’s band played Roger’s first composition ‘Lynne’s Reel’ (names after his daughter) on a programme on Radio Forth called ‘Folk’s Around Robin’ which was presented by Robin Brock. “I happened by chance to be listening – it was a programme which was very interesting and I was sorry when it was taken off. There was a band on every week and the bandleader or representative was interviewed in an informal way by Robin, who really knew the band scene.”
Through three singing engagements in Shetland he had the great pleasure of meeting Tom Anderson – he was particularly interested in Roger’s connection with J. D. Michie. As a result of the meetings Roger and Nancy performed at two of the concerts at the end of the early Heritage of Scotland Summer Schools run by tom and by Robert Innes at Stirling University.
Roger moved to Inverkeithing High School in 1986 and soon had a dance band going. It started as a traditional 6-piece and went through different groupings as pupils left school – he recalls 2 fiddles playing separate harmonies to his accordion lead with rhythm backing as being a particularly successful one.
On moving to stay in Dunfermline he reluctantly gave up the Glenrothes Choral. Rather than take on a permanent position he then began to stand in for conductors of choirs at rehearsals. In this way he had the pleasure of working with groups notably the RSNO Chorus, Edinburgh and Dundee Choral Unions, and also the Perth and Dunfermline choral Societies.
Going to a Scottish Country Dancing Class in Burntisland he found learning six new dances every week a bit beyond him. So began three years of playing for the group on accordion which he found to be very good experience in playing for dancers, and one that he feels all players should go through. “I tried to get a good dancing couple in the corner of my eye and played for them, adjusting my tempos as required.” He doesn’t for as much Country Dancing as he would like to nowadays, being more involved with ceilidhs and corporate events, but gas enjoyed playing on occasion for the Dunedin Dancers and various groups of the RSCDS. He also enjoys playing for a day each year for the primary children of Fife when around 10,000 of them get together during a fortnight to dance Scottish Country Dances (and not just the easy ones either!)
Another regional involvement is writing the music which is played at the concerts of the Young Fife Fiddlers. “I’ve written around 60 arrangements for them but nowadays find it really difficult to find the time to write more.” An unusual incident as a result of these arrangements was when he passed a young busker in the High Street in Dunfermline and felt that what the girl was playing was familiar but couldn’t place it. “After a wee while I realised that what the public were being entertained by were second fiddle parts of arrangements that I had written – she was unaware that she was not playing the melody. I know I try to make all the parts interesting – but they’ve never been as interesting as the tune!”
Nancy and Roger were guest artistes of the Arbroath Ladies Choir in 1987 along with Ron Gonella who was playing solo unaccompanied pieces on the same bill. Meeting for the first time and chatting backstage, they decided to get together to do some work for Arts Guilds and other groups combining fiddle solos, songs, piano solos and trios – either for voice, fiddle and piano or for fiddle, accordion and piano.
As the Doric Trio they became very busy and had many pleasant times together – on one occasion (we’d better not say where), the evening finished with the audience shouting out the titles of tunes which were combined into their final selection. Very unArts Guild-like! “I’m still frightened to say where it was in case they get into trouble”, says Roger.
“Both of us were absolutely shattered when Ron died so suddenly but were pleased that we had performed on what turned out to be his last CD, one he did for Historic Scotland and which was produced by David Cunningham. The three of us had actually started work on arranging trios for the CD of the Doric Trio only week’s before Ron’s death.
In 1990 Roger and Nancy were involved in an interesting project at Hospitalfield House, just outside Arbroath. David Hampton wrote an ‘entertainment’ to mark the centenary of the birth of James Lyall, a local boy who had been sent to Italy to study singing with the leading teachers of the day by the Frasers of Hospitalfield. He returned to Britain and, under his stage name of Durward Lely, created a number of the leading tenor roles in the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. “Along with an actor, Bill Murdoch, who played the part of Lely, Nancy and I provided the material that he had sung while training in Italy. It also gave me a chance to sing all the tenor work in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the second half of the programme. I really enjoyed the performances as both my parents were originally from Arbroath. We performed in that beautiful house in front of an impressive fireplace which had been built by the tenor’s father!
Roger had the great pleasure of playing with Jim Johnstone in Edinburgh for a number of months, filling in on piano for the ailing Bill Hendry of Falkirk. Despite the circumstances it was a nice experience. “There was always a lot of spare time between setting up and playing for the show, and it was really terrific to blether with someone who is a legend but who treated me so well, giving me a lot of tips (and laughs) from his vast experience. Later he was kind enough to send me a copy of his book of compositions when it came out – like Ian Holmes’ book more recently it is packed with really good and well crafted tunes – which is not always the case.
Soon after that Roger had a throat operation which curtailed his singing for a while and he began to make his plans to form his own band. The Thistle Ceilidh Band was decided on as the name, and the personnel began to take shape, ending up with the four piece band which he has now – Barbara Archibald on second accordion, Yvonne Ferguson and son Ross on drums.
“The band went through various formations because before Barbara joined, Nancy often played piano, Yvonne played second box, Ross played fiddle and we used a number of different drummers. I’m also very grateful to musical friends who have helped out during periods of illness and holiday, among them Louise Timney, Chic Bonar, Bill Anderson and George Boath. These players also included daughter Lynne who graduated last year from the Guildhall School of Music in London with a BMus Honours. Although the cello is her main instrument she can provide a mean vamp on the piano!”
The band have played well over 200 engagements including two trips to Guernsey to play for the St. Andrew’s Night Balls held by the Caledonian Society there. Last November they joined the ranks of many bands before them when the airline ‘misplaced’ their two accordions and they were delivered to the venue just before the dance. They also managed to damage Barbara’s case on the way back – Roger read the recent correspondence in the B&F on airline baggage staff with interest!
The band has recently produced a promotional CD containing 7 tracks at David Cunningham’s studio in Cupar. “It turned out to be a very pleasant experience meeting up with David again. To be perfectly honest, I had hesitated for a long time before making contact because I was scared stiff at the thought of David and David Jnr listening to me. But they were most professional and kept their thoughts to themselves!” The band intends to go back to Thane Multimedia to do a complete CD soon which will include two of Roger’s tunes – The Lifeboat Two-Step and the Inverkeithing High School 25th Anniversary Polka (there didn’t need to be much thought about the title of that one!)
Roger intends to keep encouraging pupils to become interested in playing and writing Scottish music and also looks forward to performing more for the Council for Music in Hospitals. His big regret is that although he has met most of the big names in Scottish entertainment, he has never met his idol, Kenneth McKellar.
He also has strong opinions on the way our kind of music is presented by the media and in some Accordion and fiddle clubs. No doubt as well as providing more articles for the Box and Fiddle in the future, we will also come to find out these opinions!
Bobby Cronie
by John Carmichael
Sadly the end of July saw the passing of Bobby Cronie, one of Scotland’s ‘character musicians’.
Everyone who worked with Bobby, and there were plenty of us (far too many to list here), admired the way he could entertain and control an audience.
Bobby was at his best with the drum sticks in one hand and the mic in the other….not to mention his old woman act!
Originally from Wigtonshire, of farming stock, Bobby played in the early days with local accordionist Isobel Duffy. He then moved with his wife Joy to Paisley in 1957 and that’s when he really got the music bug.
I first met Bobby in the early 60’s when he was driving a party from the Bearsden Ski Club to Aviemore for their Christmas bash. Bobby just happened to have his drum kit in the boot of the bus. It was a two day musical experience!
Over the years Bobby ran and played in many musical groups. One that I recall with fond memories was ‘Bobby Cronie and the Cronies’, as diverse a group of characters as one would find anywhere. Not the least being ‘Wufftie’ the trumpet player, so named by Bobby for his habit of starting each conversation with …..”wufftie start now”, “wufftie stop for the interval”. Although Bobby toured the length and breadth of the country playing, singing, entertaining and encouraging young players, many will also remember him as the drummer who reluctantly drove the bus on Calum Kennedy’s ‘Commando Tour’ of the Western Isles. On that occasion we had to be ‘invalided out’ suffering from exhaustion.
Bobby will be sadly missed by his wife Joy and sons Derek, Garry, Richard and Douglas, his many friends from Charleston Bowling Club and the musicians will also miss his ready quip and lively humour.
Memories of Angus Cameron
by Alan Kindness (leader – Glendaruel SDB)
I first met Angus back in the summer of 1970 when I was asked to include a fiddle player in my band for the summer season of Scottish Country Dancing in Perth City Halls. Ron Kerr, who had assisted me on previous occasions at Scottish Country Dance Balls and the like was unable to undertake the full season with me and it was he who introduced me to Angus.
It is fair to say that Angus and I ‘bonded’ right away. He was not a strong, powerful fiddler – ‘couthie’ was a more apt description of his style – and this suited my particular style of playing. One record producer complained that he ‘had great difficulty in splitting the fiddle and the lead accordion for stereo’ – I took this ‘complaint’ as a ‘compliment’. Angus had the unique ability of being able to adapt his style to suit the style of the lead accordion. As said earlier, he was not a powerful fiddler – he was never willing to sacrifice sweetness of tone for power – all he ever asked was that the fiddle be shown sympathy, “no problem” as fat as I was concerned. He never tried to influence the sound of the band – he had his own ideas but these he kept for his own band. He was always willing to give advice if asked and I found his opinion well worth taking on board, never more so than when it came to playing strathspeys.
I was never, in my early days, happy with this particular tempo and in the course of conversation mentioned this to Angus. He simply said “follow the fiddle”. I did, and from then on the strathspey tempo took on a new dimension for me. Angus, of course, was famed for his strathspey technique and has been subject to analysis on many occasions. The general opinion seems to be (from those who know more about these things than me) was that it all came from his own brand of ‘bowing’.
As well as being a top class fiddler Angus was also an expert on the piano and he did enjoy himself after Mo Rutherford joined my Lima band, when the two of them would change seats – Angus on the piano and Mo on the fiddle.
He was, of course, a prolific composer of Scottish music and I am sure that for years to come we will hear the likes of ‘Taps o’ Fechle’ and ‘Harry Scott of Froickheim’ being performed at Festivals and clubs. I am equally sure that in future times he will rank along side Gow, Skinner, etc. as one of Scotland’s all time great composers. Some of his tunes were reasonably easy to play, others were ‘buggers’ but the musicality of the tunes made the hard practice well worth the effort.
I enjoyed playing alongside Angus for 17 years. We played our last ‘TTF’ in the spring of 1987 when, due to ill health, I was forced to stop playing. I did continue to enjoy his friendship right up until, his sad and premature death in March of this year. He was a tremendous musician, a great guy to be with – I’ll miss him a lot.
Mr J. D. Michie (1884-1960)
by Roger Crook (4th July, 198)
There have been many well deserved tributes to the memory of Angus Fitchet. As well as joining in these tributes to the great violinist and character, his recent death led me to rekindle my memories of someone whom Angus considered to be one of his greatest friends – Mr J. D. Michie of Brechin – musician, shopkeeper, inventor, composer, teacher, craftsman, poet and character.
“Brechin has lost one of its oldest businessmen and one of its most interesting characters at the age of 75” – so ran the headline in the Brechin Advertiser in January 1960, on the death of J. D. Michie.
He was the proprietor of a music shop at 22 Panmuir Street which became a meeting place for musicians and his friends of many years. He sold sheet music, instruments and records, and had a proud boast that he was able to procure any piece of music or record that anyone wanted!
My own memories of him date from when I first went for violin lessons at the age of 6. The 2/- was duly paid at the end of the hour lesson – the amount of teaching depended on how busy the shop was between 4 and 5p.m.!
I have memories of Robert Wilson and Will Starr coming into the shop and being so thrilled that they wanted to hear me play. And the sight of Will Starr supporting the neck of a violin against the wall as he played, presumably to aid his fingering without having to support the instrument.
I was taught by Mr Michie for around nine years. I think the fee probably remained at 2/- and I was introduced to a wide range of music during these lessons. My eyes were opened to a wide repertoire, although deep down my love was for Scottish music. He had himself been a fine player, but a badly set broken bone in his wrist hampered his playing by the time I knew him.
Some of the material he taught me were his own fine published compositions – a Hornpipe Suite in Eb which he published in 1933 and consisted of ‘The Autocrat’, ‘The Jester’ and ‘The Optimist’.
Then came a Second Hornpipe Suite (with Introductory Slow Air) which gave us ‘The Dying Year’, ‘The Cynic’, ‘The Desclaimer’ and ‘The Recluse’.
Later he published a Suite of Old World Dances which included a Minuet, Hornpipe, Mazurka, Gavotte and Minuet, and a Cradle Song.
These pieces were all published with good piano accompaniments, but his last published work was an Unaccompanied Suite which contained a Prelude and Minuetto (which he dedicated to Thom B. Shaw), a Reverie and a Cradle Song again. This last piece featured a harmonized ‘rock’ which he was really proud of. That set was published in 1940 and ‘The Strad’ commented “These old dances have a strong sense of melody and individuality” and in ‘The Musical Opinion’ “There is something rare in the type of expression reached by the composer and his writing is always interesting.” I often wish that some of today’s players would play some of them! (I have copies of the music for anyone to try out).
Many readers will be acquainted with the two recordings which Angus Fitchet made of ‘The Dying Year’ (which was dedicated to him) and ‘The Autocrat’. I well remember Mr Michie’s own pride at the appearance of the march ‘Mr Michie’ which Angus had written and which was included in an early book of his compositions. This is also a very popular tune and was reckoned recently by some authorities on a recent Robbie Shepherd programme to have been Angus’ finest composition.
Mr Michie started his business in 1908 and on his death it was taken over by Lindsay Ross on March 8th, 1960 advertising ‘Accordions, new and second hand from £7’ and ‘Violins complete with case and bow’ from £2.
Lindsay also found quite a number of original manuscripts of tunes by Scott Skinner in the shop. Some of them had been written on menus and concert programmes as the tunes came into his head, and then later submitted to Mr Michie for his comments and approval.
As a craftsman he used the same deliberate and careful approach that he did with everything else in his life – my own fiddle only has a very small mark on it where it was repaired having been given a ‘gey good dunt’ in my youth. In 1929 he patented ‘An improved sound post’ and also a special mute. I have been unable to find fuller details of these – memory suggests that the sound post might have been flexible?
As well as music and the shop he wrote a lot of poetry. His ‘Rhymes fae Angus’ (published in 1946 by J. Balfour of Montrose) were marked, according to a critic of the time, by ‘pawky wit and warm humanity’.
Many of the poems had appeared over the years in the Montrose Standard and the Brechin Advertiser. Over 2,000 copies of the book were sold.
My own particular favourite is Bacchus (The Quick-Change Artist)
A young man who was feeling morose,
With drinking became quite jacose,
In rapid succession, he wound up the session,
Bellicose, lachrymose, comatose.
His love of nature and his fellow man was probably nurtured by his upbringing in Glenesk, where his father, and in particular his grandfather, were notable members of the community. The template of Mr Michie’s violin, along with correspondence from Scott Skinner, can be found in the museum at ‘The Retreat’ in Glenesk which also includes many other items of local and general interest.
His grandfather was a recognised authority on botany and geology as well as being known for forthright speech! Mr Michie was always happy to relate the story of his grandfather and father attending a concert in the Mechanics Institute in Brechin. A violinist was playing and the grandfather jumped to his feet and shouted “Stop!” His son remonstrated “Wheesht, we’ll be put out o’ the hall” to which the reply was “He canna go on – he’s out of tune!”
I hope that my reminiscences will inspire other memories of Mr Michie. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who remembers him and the shop.
A memory I have of the Doric Trio is when the late Ron Gonella, accompanied by my wife Nancy, included ‘The Dying Year’ at my request in our programme which we gave for the Brechin Arts Guild in the Mechanics Institute a few years ago. It linked for me two men (and a lady) each of whom have had an influence on my musical life – I feel that Mr Michie’s grandfather would not have jumped up on that occasion and shouted “Stop!”
4th July 1998
What should That Tune be Called?
by John Browne (North Wales ex Edinburgh)
A number of well-known tunes in the Scottish repertoire have actually been known by more than one name over the years and the naming of some tunes can still cause confusion today. Why has this happened and is there a ‘correct’ name for such tunes? Fiddle and accordion player John Browne investigates…
On one occasion the lead box player in the band I was playing in called out the name of the next tune as ‘Yiddle Diddle Dum Dum’. Bemused I waited for the tune to start and immediately recognised it, of course, as Davy Knick Knack.
It is not uncommon to find more than one name for a tune. Flicking through a copy of Kerr’s Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin recently I came across a number of tunes that I immediately recognised by other names. These included Judy’s Reel (The Barmaid), Pride of the Ball (The Swallow’s Tail) and Teddy Malo’s Jig (Welcome to Cork). Delving further I found some tunes which were repeated in other volumes in the series but with different names including I Lost My Love (Vol 1, No 1 Page 31) as My Mither’s Aye Glowerin’ Ower Me (Vol 3 No 296) and Air by Haydn (Vol 3 No 405) as Paddy the Piper (Vol 1, No 20, Page 37).
Tunes can have different names for a number of reasons. In times gone by many tunes were presumably handed down by ear and there will doubtless have been times when a ‘composer’ mistakenly claimed (and renamed) someone else’s tune. On other occasions, however’ the intentions will have been less innocent with a ‘composer’ putting his own name to someone else’s composition. A much quoted example of such plagiarism is the ‘theft’ of William Marshall’s ‘Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey’ by Niel Gow for the latter’s ‘Major Graham of Inchbrakie’, although I personally find insufficient similarity between these particular tunes for such an accusation in this case. Marshall was slow to publish his tunes in his own collections and because of this many appeared in other collections first, not just those of the Gows (where some of Marshall’s compositions are in fact correctly attributed to the composer) but also those of Charles Duff, John Anderson, James Aird and Alexander McGlashan. The renaming of his tunes upset Marshall to the point that he wrote a stern rebuke of the practice on the cover of his 1822 collection!
Returning to our theme of the names of tunes Marshall himself was to frequently change the names of his tunes to suit his own purposes, perhaps on occasion to flatter his own benefactors amongst other reasons. Mary Anne Alburger in her book Scottish Fiddlers and their Music points out that 31 of the 49 pieces contained in Marshall’s first collection published in 1781 were republished in later collections with different titles! Marshall was not the only composer to change the names of his tunes. In an article in the B&F earlier this year it was pointed out that Felix Burns also did this on a number of occasions. He also included a number of well known traditional tunes in some of his collections but with different names, including Timour the Tartar (Scottish Rifles) and Highland Whisky (The Lochnagar).
The names of tunes can also change when the tune is taken for a different purpose, such as for use in a song or a dance, and the tune then becomes more commonly known through this new association. This has been the case with many of Burns’ songs, for example, the original tune names sounding quite unfamiliar. These include ‘My Love She’s But A Lassie Yet’ (Lady Badinscoth’s Reel or Miss Farquharson’s Reel), Scots Wha Hae (Hey, Tuttie, Tuttie), Comin’ Through the Rye (The Miller’s Daughter), The Deil’s Awa’ Wi’ The Exciseman (The Hemp Dresser), O’ a’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw (the aforementioned Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey) and My Love is Like a Red Red Rose (Low Down in the Broom). Interestingly this last tune appears under this title in Kerr’s Vol 2, No 147 but as the Red Red Rose in Vol 3 No27.
Tunes can also become associated with dance titles. Few danceband leaders would today call the original for the dance Hamilton House as its full title of ‘The Hon Colonel Hamilton’s Delight’, or the dance Monymusk as Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk. Sometimes, on the other hand, the difference between the dance or song title and its associated tune title is not so different, as in the dance Duran Ranger (tune: Duran Rangers), or the songs This Is No’ My Ain Lassie (tune: This is No’ My Ain Hoose) and My Wife’s a Winsome Wee Thing (tune: My Wife’s a Wanton Wee Thing). Tunes can also become known by the first line of the song rather than by either the song itself or the original tune title, as in the jig ‘There Cam a Young Man’ (song: The Cauldrife Wooer; tune; Bung Your Eye in the Morning). This last tune also appears as A brisk Young Lad in Annie Shand’s book of Old Scottish Music and there is also a dance to this title which uses the tune as its original.
Tunes can also take different names when the tune is played in a different tempo. The Strathspey ‘The Pipe o’ Dundee’ becomes The Drummer, for example, when it is played as a reel, and likewise the strathspey ‘Orange and Blue’ become the jig ‘Hot Punch’. A different variation on a tune can give an apparently new tune and hence a new title, and example being the reels Timour the Tartar and Babes in the Wood which are essentially the same tune.
Finally, tunes can become known by different names purely for convenience. The tune named simply as Quickstep by J. Pringle in Annie Shand’s collection of Old Scottish Music appears – sensibly – on an RSCDS record as Pringle’s Quickstep. I am surprised that the same thing has not yet happened with the tune named Quickstep by Nathanial Gow which is used as the original tune for the dance It’s Just for Fun. A tune title may gain identity by alteration, as in John Robertson’s Scottish Waltz, which was originally published simply as Scottish Waltz by John Robertson in 1949 and recorded under this shorter title by a number of well known bands in the 1950’s and 60’s.
So, returning to the original question, what should tunes with more than one recognizable title be called today? I personally prefer the idea giving such tunes the name which is either the most convenient to remember or the name which is most widely recognised. To this effect I would not call the tune The Laird o’ Cockpen by its original title of When She Cam’ Ben She Bobbit, nor I Lo’e Nae A Laddie But Ane as My Lodging Is On The Cold Ground! Similarly I would not keep the original title if this had been published in old English, such as Argile’s Bouling Green or Floors of Edinboro’! The answer has to be ‘keep it simple’ – so do call Davy Knick Knack by Yiddle Diddle Dum Dum if you really do find it easier to remember!
Aus Der Harmonikastadt
(From the Harmonica-Town )
Venanzio Morino ( 11 Dec 1876 – 1 Feb 1961) Accordion Design Genius
(Translated Article from 1956, on the occasion of Herr Morino’s 80th Birthday)
A man, his coat collar turned up, a pipe in his mouth and minding his own business, briskly striding along in the company of his dog which answers which answers to German, French and Italian commands. This Trossingen citizen who lives wholly for his craft is called Venanzio Morino, Germany’s most significant accordion builder of his time, and designer of the Hohner Morino accordion which is often claimed to be the best in the world.
Today we are able to extend to Herr Morino our best wishes on his 80th birthday and good health and happiness for the future. Nor will we forget that the 80-year-old still goes to work every day to be with his friend and excellent successor, Giovanni Gola, in order to plan, construct and achieve.
The secret behind such enduring love of work coupled with astounding vitality may be due to Herr Morino’s healthy outlook on life. Asked about his political views he answered “I am neither a Nationalist nor a Fascist but an Accordionist”. His hobbies are travel, with trips to Italy, Switzerland, French, Denmark and Belgium, the study of technical literature and also the more relaxing reading of mostly Italian newspapers and good books. His family and work mean everything to him. Blessed with a healthy and regular sleep pattern helping him to restore body and mind throughout a busy lifetime Herr Morino hardly noticed the quickly passing years. Only in his quieter moments may he occasionally have realised that he had reached the Biblical age of 80.
Our birthday-boy can look back on a lifetime of hard work. When only a young boy he had to go to work with his father, helping to feed a big family. Born on the 11th December, 1876 in the northern Italian village of Burnasco, we can see him daily walking to work in Turin to earn money.
It was a hard but instructive youth. It made him more aware and stimulated his inborn sense for invention. His foremost talent was for tinkering with things, so he had to become a joiner. The fragrant wood one could plane and shave was a welcome material for his talented hands. The hidden longing for music and the dream of a musical instrument suitable for the general public and it’s aspirations led Herr Morino, the apprentice joiner to construct his first melodeon. It was a difficult beginning but there was a sense of destiny. When Morino moved from Italy to Geneva he met an accordion builder from whom he gained more useful knowledge. About 1900 he set up on his own.
When, shortly after the turn of the century, management of the Hohner company decided to include production of melodeons and accordions, it was clear from the beginning that with the increase in production it would also be desirable to improve artistic quality to its utmost. Was it accident or fate that shortly after the First Would War Swiss friends of director DR. Earnest Hohner, mentioned Morino to him. After the two men’s meeting Morino decided to come to Trossingen. That was the planner and master of accordion building was able to take advantage of all the opportunities a worldwide company could offer him. Intuition and working expertise merged with ambitious plans of the Hohner company. Always encouraged by his friends Ernst Hohner and Elias Messner, in constant touch with old master Schittenhelm and numerous requests by accordionists led Morino to develop the Hohner Morino accordion which was to become a sign of world wide quality.
Despite these creative successes he remained unassuming, a humble man spending his life in the midst of his family, constantly working and planning. A widower for 10 years he married Fran Hella – nee Gottling – in 1932. She gave the man, who loved home and family life, a new home. His son Raymond and daughter Germaine, both from his first marriage, live in Geneva. Raymond manages an accordion school, Germaine is married. His second son Guido is an electrical engineer, having inherited his father’s technical talent. That is the family circle of this considerate and caring man who built and gave the world so many excellent accordions without ever expecting any thanks in return.
Working, yo make life worthwhile – cultivating the arts to gather new strength, helping and guiding the next generation – caring beyond one’s own self. These are the marked characteristics of our birthday child for whom are the following words “Only what we have loved have we understood”.
Kurzlich 100, Jahrestag (Recent 100th Anniversary)
Lieve Sagen Venanzio Morino Genialtat Nach
(Many Say Benanvio Morino was a Genius)
Widely reputed as brilliant, his Hohner Morino accordions were available around the world: designer Venanzio Morino, whose 100th birthday would have been this year on 11th December, 1976. He died, aged 85, on 1st February, 1961 in Trossingen, his adopted home town.
He was born in the northern part of Italy, a village called Burnasco which was near Turin and became a well respected citizen of Trossingen.
Through young Morino’s tinkering his talent became prominent. The fresh wood which he planed and shaved was welcome work material to his gifted hands. Already as an apprentice joiner he developed his first melodeon. Round about the turn of the century his skill for making things was so well known that he was able to set up independently as an accordion maker. After the First World War Morino joined up with Ernst Hohner and emigrated to Trossingen in order to work in the House of Hohner. The year wa 1928.
Now the planner and master had the opportunity to bring together his ideas with those of the Hohner firm. In a long lasting partnership with Ernst Hohner, with Hermann Schittenhelm as the accordion player and Elias Messner as the expert on accordion, together with being close to the wishes of the accordion elite, Venanzio Morino created, in the course of the year, the top performing instrument which would make him famous across the world – the Hohner Morino accordion.
Despite his success the gifted designed had no airs and graces. Morino lived a humble life, dedicated to his work, in the small town of Trossingen. He chose to work at Hohner into his eighties, bound by friendship to his successor Giovanni Gola and with his work colleagues from his workshop. They worshipped him like a father.
Being busy to continue to give life real meaning, to cultivate his craft, to draw new strength – these were the characteristics of the accordion designer Venanzio Morino. The very best accordions which Hohner produce today continue to carry his name.
Thanks to Haik Wenzel from the Deutsches Harmonikamuseum in Trossingen for providing me with a copy of these two newspaper articles from 1956 and 1976 and to Mrs Isle Currie and her daughter Mrs Irene Clark, both of East Kilbride, for translating them. I’d be delighted to hear from readers who have any more information on Hohner, Morino or Gola.
Composers Corner
Gideon Stove (1874-1954)
In January, 1954, under the headline ‘Maestro Dies’ there appeared in one of the National Newspapers the following obituary :-
“Nimble fingers that set the Shetland Isles dancing have been stilled by the death of Mr Gideon Stove, Lerwick’s oldest music master. He was 79. A violinist, self-taught, and an expert in Shetland reels and folk tunes, he was equally accomplished in the classics. “He had been playing his fiddle for more than 60 years at local musical events and was a member, and for a long time leader, of the first Lerwick orchestra. He played at successive Gilbert and Sullivan operas and was also fiddler to a squad of Guizers at the Norse festival of Up-Helly-A’. He taught the violin to hundreds of children.”
That was a fair enough summing-up of Gideon’s career as a teacher and music maker, but one which failed to do justice to the great influence he had on fiddle-playing throughout the islands, for his music room at 24 Burns Lane, on the site of the present Swimming Pool, was a Mecca for fiddlers from all over Shetland. They would come to him for advice, for instruction, and to show him their instruments for his approval and appraisal. Very often their visits were just for the sheer pleasure of playing together with him.
Nor does it give Gideon credit for the hundreds of tunes that he kept composing, and whose echoes still linger on in the memories of those still alive who remember his skilled and technically perfect performances.
The present volume will, I hope, introduce some of those tunes into the ken of the present generation of fiddlers and music makers.
My father, Gideon Stove, was born in Burravoe, North Roe on 28th June, 1874. Shortly after the death of his mother, nee Margaret Ratter, the family moved from North Roe to 4 Burns Lane, where the Peerie Shop is now, when Gideon was only five years of age.
Gideon was the youngest of a family of eight, most of whom, prior to the move to Lerwick had married or gone further afield. Jeannie, Mrs Nicolson, was in Ediinburgh, married to a contractor. Grace died young. William, who had settled in Australia, became engaged to a teacher, but died tragically of a fever on what was to be his wedding day. Mary, Mrs Smith, lived in Whiteness. Katie married Laurence Tulloch of Lerwick. Magnus went to Edinburgh and became a head confectioner with McVitie and Price. John went sailing and was lost at sea.
When my grandfather, Magnus Stove, came to Lerwick he worked as a stonemason. The only photo extant of him is in Tom Henderson’s excellent publication ‘Shetland from Old Photographs’ at photo No 52 where he is seen standing at the foot of Burns Lane wearing his stonemason’s leggings in the year 1895.
In that year Magnus was still corresponding with a relative in Bergen, and my grandfather’s tale was that, in the long ago, three Stove brothers came from Norway and settled in different parts of Shetland, giving rise to the different branches of the Stoves. This correspondence petered out, probably on the demise of the Bergen correspondent.
Probably with the intention of emulating his brother Magnus’s success as a confectioner, Gideon started work as a baker and completed his apprenticeship with Bally Mouat. However, very soon he found that the hours of work in a bakery conflicted with the late night musical engagements that he was constantly called upon to fulfill and furthermore there was an ever growing demand on his time as more and more pupils came to him for lessons. He therefore, made the brave decision to leave the bakery and try to make a career out of music, teaching, playing, collecting and composing.
As a self-taught musician he was so keen that he probably did more daily practice than any student at music college, setting himself a rigorous routine of daily practice in the studies of Kreutzer, the classics and the main schools of music, until he reached such a high standard of technical excellence that he was tempted to join a Symphony Orchestra in the south when an approach was made to him. However having just got married to Miss Jessie C. Sandison of 15 Market Street and having put a brass plate on the door of 24 Burns Lane, which read ‘G. Stove, Teacher of Music’, he decided to persevere with a musical career in Shetland. Making music in those days did not make much money, but Gideon was happy doing what he most wanted to do – to devote his life to music.
Gideon was in great demand for playing at Lerwick dances in the days when violin and piano were the only instruments used, except when occasionally augmented by drum or guitar. In those days Miss Joan Williamson, later to become Mrs Mustard, was his most frequent accompanist on the piano, and together they made an excellent partnership for all the big occasions in the Lerwick dance halls, until the days when ‘the wireless’ popularized the big bands and there came a demand for bigger bands in Lerwick too.
As the family grew up and we all learned to play instruments, we had our own ‘G. Stove’s Band’ of father, mother and three sons augmented at times by some of the Burns Lane boys who could play. Between the wars, before we left home to follow our own careers, our band was in demand to play at functions in Lerwick and in the country districts.
About 1933 Gideon moved house to 15 Market Street, to the house which had been built by my maternal grandfather, when the Market Street Company of Fishermen had built a West Side to Market Street. There, in his retirement years, Gideon continued to give some lessons. Mr Peter Fraser, the well-known folk music devotee, was a frequent visitor as they co-operated in collecting and writing down the old Shetland tunes.
Gideon’s Pupils
Many good pupils passed through his hands and benefited from his meticulous instruction. Two of the most prominent and well-known of his pupils still actively playing at the present day are Arthur Scott Robertson, who gained renown as Scotland’s Champion fiddler and Willie Hunter, who is also regarded as one of Scotland’s finest fiddle players.
My brother Harold, Gideon’s youngest son, who died last year, was also one of his best pupils. He reviled in playing the classics and often performed solos with the Lerwick Orchestra. For a time he was leader of a Palm Court type orchestra which gave regular Sunday evening performances.
Gideon’s second son, Alex Gideon, was a Head Postman, who was affectionately known as Dollar. He received his training from his father, and after starting on the fiddle, took up the accordion and became renowned as an expert on that instrument.
I also started on the violin and played first violin in the Lerwick Orchestra while still at school. Then I took up the piano and clarinet, playing both in the dance band. Now in my retirement, I am a church organist, playing the pipe organ in the Congregational Church, where James Stout Angus, for whom my father composed a strathspey, was a deacon.
When I was Headmaster at Uyeasound School I took after-school classes in violin and piano and continued to do so when I went to Mid Yell Junior High School. After a serious operation in 1959, I had reluctantly to give up the evening classes in music and thereafter I concentrated my music teaching into the school hours during the day.
After I retired I was delighted when the Education Committee instated an enlightened policy of employing violin instructors to visit schools. Of these instructors, the best known is Dr Tom Anderson, who did good work with the ‘Forty Fiddlers’ and the ‘Young Heritage’. Gideon Stove would most certainly have heartily approved of what Tom did in the cause of Shetland music.
The Strad
Gideon’s brother John, on his penultimate voyage to the Mediterranean, brought back for his brother, Gideon, the present which was to delight his heart and thrill its hearers. John is said to have parted with all he possessed to acquire this magnificent instrument which was to inspire Gideon to practice on it to reach a high degree of perfection in violin technique. This present from his brother was to become known as ‘Gideon Stove’s Strad’.
As years went by, substantiated by the opinion and appraisal of visiting experts, he became convinced that it was indeed a genuine Stradivarius violin. Be that as it may, the violin had a marvelous tone and great carrying power and was admired by all who heard it. Mr C. Williamson of the Studio in Scalloway once told me that he heard my father’s violin ringing out, over the rooftops of Scalloway, from a Christmas dance in the Scalloway Hall, to the Studio at the shore where he was standing listening; and that was before the days of amplifiers.
It was tragic that John was lost at sea on the very next voyage after presenting Gideon with such an instrument. Perhaps it was traumatic experience that steeled Gideon’s resolve to “practice, practice, practice” as he would always exhort his pupils to do.
I have no doubt that this instrument was an inspiration to my father. He gave it all his loving care and attention. We were not allowed to touch it and we began to revere it as much as he did. Very few were allowed to play on it, but Willie told me that, during a lesson, as a special favour, he was once allowed to draw a bow across the strings to test the tone and to be able to say that he had held a ‘Strad’ in his hands.
On the death of my father in January, 1954, I waived my right as eldest son to claim the ‘Strad’ and told my brother, Harold, that, as he was now the violinist in the family, he could take charge of it and I would get it when he was finished with it. Sad to say, while in Harold’s possession, but through no fault of his, the violin met with a serious accident, the exact details of which were never made clear to me. Harold told me that the violin was beyond repair although some attempt had been made to repair it.
I never saw it again and I felt as though a death had occurred in the family. I could not help thinking of how Gideon would have felt had he known the sad end to the ‘Strad’ that had been the ‘apple of his eye.’
Gideon collected so many of the photogravure plates of famous violins presented by the ‘Strad’ magazine, which he read monthly from cover to cover, that it is surprising that he never, to my knowledge, had a photo taken of his ‘Strad’.
However, he was photographed many times holding the instrument in the many group photos of the String Band, the Lerwick Orchestra and the Gilbert Sullivan Opera Groups, but the violin itself is usually more or less in the shade.
Sadly these shadows are all that remain of ‘Gideon Stove’s Strad’.
The above article appears as the ‘Introduction’ to The Shetland Violinist, The Gideon Stove Tune Book, Volume 1, and was written by his son Magnus J. Stove in 1986. It gives us a very full picture of his father’s life and therefore is reproduced here in its original form.
This Book is available at £6.50 +p&p from High Level Music in Lerwick Tele 01595 692618
World Exclusive – The Beatles S.D.B.
by Charlie Todd
The Box and Fiddle offers conclusive proof that but for bad advice from Producer, George Martin, The Beatles might have joined Jimmy Shand in enjoying ongoing popularity and still be with us today instead of fading into obscurity.
With John Lennon leading on Hohner Gola, Paul McCartney on trombone and Ringo Starr (probably some distant relation of Will) and George Harrison out for chips, the boys are shown having a run through their debut Scottish Country Dance LP ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’.
Apparently the choice of instruments was greatly influenced by the appearance, a few years earlier, of the Olympians at the annual Liverpool and District Herds Ball i.e. to include a brass instrument (after hearing Dougie Maxwell) and not to include a fiddle (after hearing Jimmy Yeaman).
An alternative explanation offered by well-known West Kilbride accordionist Iain Cathcart could be that the picture were taken at Abbey Road Studio 1, London during the recording of ‘All You Need Is Love’ on or around 23rd/25th June, 1967. The accordion can only be that of Jack Emblow who was employed as a session musician on these recordings. Come on Iain, pull the other one!
The Kenny Thomson Gallery
Book Review
Puirt a Eilean Leodhais (Tunes from the Isle of Lewis) Book 5, Composed by Ian Crichton.
The Cheviot Collection – 82 Original Compositions for Accordion and Fiddle by 38 Leading Players and Cpmposers.
The Old time Dances Vol 1. Traditional Tunes for the Dances arranged for Accordion and Fiddle by Deirdre Adamson.
Fiddles and Folk by G. Wallace Lockhart
Letters to the Editor
Dear me, what a tantrum Master anonymous!
Your reasons for withholding your name rubbish the entire contents of your letter. Those ‘on high’ might not be amused – whether referring to the BBC with its ‘fuddy duddy’ programme, or musicians from some ‘outdated’ band – you care? Oh! – I see, no doubt you are one of the ‘super’ players not getting enough exposure!
There is, perhaps, a clue to your spleen in the first paragraph – “I have appeared on the programme in the past”. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
How big a poll did you conduct to be able to confidently write “we, the public….” You are entitled to your views but don’t foist them on more persons unknown. It would be a funny old world if we all liked the same. A squeal, drag or lack of timing to one, might be perfect pitch and proper rhythm to another.
A wee tip for your benefit – Scottish music is entirely about timing. A classical pianist, visiting our home, was given his first sight of The High Level, which he played through absolutely note perfect – and it was rubbish!
No emphasis and no timing.
Play a speedier ballad – It’s jazz.
Play a speedier pop tune – It’s hard rock or heavy metal.
Play speedier Scottish – It’s …..nothing.
It also does rather matter to have variety in the programmes. I feel I can safely say the majority of listeners are not competition judges willing to hear slight alterations to the same there over and over.
Your comments regarding who decides the balance of a broadcast, as well as on timing and dress, can be covered by another adage – he who pays the piper calls the tune. No bookings, no bands.
As for those ‘limp wrested, old’ dancers, they care for, are more knowledgeable about, and do more to keep Scottish music alive, in far flung countries as well as at home, than any other group. Contrary to being ‘looked down on’, a ‘joke’, or being ‘ashamed’ of Scottish music, set a band down anywhere, any country, and I predict a large crowd will immediately form – not laughing and sneering, but smiling and toe-tapping.
I am sure, in your rambling rant, there is somewhere a genuine point you wish to make, but in such a comprehensive whinge, where nothing is acceptable, it gets lost. Constructive criticism of the only Scottish dance programme is welcome, but recommending the ‘off’ switch could awfully easily cause the programme’s permanent demise.
Dress like a peacock, play like a fury, and heed no-one else’s opinion as to the balance of your band. If your views are indeed what ‘the public’ want, you’ll have bookings galore and out the rest of the business – and you can say ‘I told you so!’
As for your imaginary band, that is, in my opinion, what is wrong with some broadcasts – rent-a-band rather than regular players.
Irene Bell, Kirklinton Park, Kirklinton, Carlisle.
Welcome back to the Box and Fiddle – still excellent value at £10.
I have to express some doubt however about allowing an anonymous diatribe against ‘Take the Floor’. I’ve nothing against healthy, constructive criticism, but I heartily disapprove of what amounts to a prolonged, highly personal, prejudiced moan with no trace of proposed solutions and no qualification / illustration. And all under the cloak of anonymity. What is your correspondent afraid of?
It happens that I have some sympathy with some of the points made, however devalued they may be by the general tone. Perhaps I can address one or two of them.
I have spent many years working with PA and Hi-fi and ‘plodding bass’ is more often than not a function of the sound system rather than a product of the original signal. Perhaps your correspondent’s speakers are insufficiently damped, or simply put out too much bass for the room?
‘Out of time’ bass can also be a function of an audio system, but I know one highly regarded bass player who pulls the strings so hard that most notes are sharp. I’ll allow the individual to remain anonymous, with no reference other than to ‘Robin Hood’. Thankfully there are many more bass players who do play in tune (and time).
I do agree that second box, fiddle and drums often feature scarcely at all in the TTF mix – the most glaring example being when Brian Griffin guested last year with Iain MacPhail. We don’t often hear the wonderful MacPhail / Griffin partnership these days so it was an opportunity squandered.
However the ‘disappearance’ of the fiddle can often be down to the listening system. Perhaps TTF should mix for poor resolution system, as (God help us!) Radio 1 does for its largely ‘tranny’ audience.
I am sure that your correspondent will provoke a good response, so I will close an already long letter by saying that in this present era we should perhaps be grateful the ‘Take the Floor’ and other minority interest programmes are allowed to continue.
Bob Parsons
It was interesting to read the wide ranging attack on ‘Take the Floor’ in September’s issue. A pity the writer decided against signing it; I would have thought that upsetting ‘those on high’ was the object of the exercise. Such high heid yins tend to pay less attention to anonymous critics.
In any case, your correspondent writes ‘….a review needs to be carried out into how those in charge of the programme make their selection of the bands which are allowed to play frequently”.
Some years ago I wrote to ‘TTF’ asking for the criteria by which bands were chosen for repeat broadcast, because from where I was sitting the process seemed a fairly random one. I received a reply, but it did not explain the process or outline the criteria. On that score, I remain in the dark.
Playing as I do in a broadcasting band I have to declare a vested interest; and having broadcast over many years, I know that broadcasting was probably more responsible than any other activity for raising and maintaining the playing standard of bands. But I am talking about a time when most broadcasting bands assured of at least two broadcasts a year. So many bands are broadcasting now that a band is more likely to broadcast once every two years.
For one thing, I wonder how many of the bands now broadcasting actually exist outside the BBC’s broadcasting studios; for another, I would contend that the rarity of the broadcasting experience for most bands now is unlikely to have the beneficial effect on standards that a more frequent broadcast experience had on bands in the past.
By the way, may I suggest that your correspondent’s conjecture about ‘mega all-time bands’ is a waste of time. From what I can see, the bringing together of outstanding individuals never guaranteed an outstanding band. The process is more complex than that.
Douglas Muir
Dear Sir
I read the letter concerning Scottish Dance Music on Radio Scotland with great interest, If any of your readers would like to discuss our programme output they are most welcome to get in touch
Andrew Jones, Head of Programmes, North BBC Scotland, Aberdeen
Take the Floor – Saturdays at 6.30pm with Robbie Shepherd
3rd Oct 98 – Ian Cruickshank SDB
10th Oct 98 – OB Alan Gardiner SDB + guest William Williamson from the Ross Bandstand, Edinburgh
17h Oct 98 – Neil MacEachern SDB + feature
24th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB + guest Gordon Simpson & George & John burns from the Station Hotel, Perth
31st Oct 98 – Sandy Legget SDB
7th Nov 98 – Fraser McGlynn Duo
14th Nov 98 – Ian Thomson SDB
21st Nov 98 – Iain Cathcart SDB
28th Nov 98 – Jim Johnstone SDB. OB from Jordanhill College, Glasgow
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Dee Motel) – 26th Oct 98 – Jim Lindsay Trio (Amulree)
Alnwick (White Swan Hotel) – members only 14th Oct 98 - tbc
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 18th Oct 98 – Bruce Lindsay
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 4th Oct 98 – Garioch Fiddlers S&R Society
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 1st Oct 98 – David Vernon
Ayr (Gartferry Hotel) – 4th Oct 98 - tbc
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Hall) – 18th Oct 98 – Da Fustra
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – 26th Oct 98 – Graeme Mitchell SDB
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 28th Oct 98 – John Ellis & the Highland Country Dance Band
Beith & District (Hotel de Croft, Dalry) – 19th Oct 98 – Jimmy Cassidy
Belford (Community Club) – 29th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 11th Oct 98 – Meoran Ciuil Trio
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 13th Oct 98 – Lindsay Weir Trio
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 13th Oct 98 – Deirdre Adamson
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 8th Oct 98 – Players Open Night
Campbeltown (Royal or Argyll Hotel) - ??
Campsie (Glazert House Hotel) - 6th Oct 98 – Wayne Robertson & Nigel Jelks
Carlisle (Border Regiment Club, Carlisle Castle) - 1st Oct 98 – John Renton SDB
Castle Douglas (Ernespie House Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Bobby Abbott
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 15th Oct 98 – MacKay’s Ceilidh Band (Meoran Ciuil)
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 11th Oct 98 – All Players Welcome
Crieff & District (Arduthie Hotel) 1st Oct 98 – Colin Dewar
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) 20th Oct 98 – Maurice Duncan Trio
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Paul Anderson
Dunblane (Westlands Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Forbes McFarlane SDB
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 13th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 9th Oct 98 - tbc
East Kilbride (Sweepers, Cambuslang) – 29th Oct 98 – Fraser McGlynn Duo
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Gordon Pattullo
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 26th Oct 98 – George Hood SDB
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 25th Oct 98 - tbc
Forres (Brig Motel) – 14th Oct 98 – Aberdeen A&F Club
Fort William (Alexandra Hotel) – ??
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 1st Oct 98 - tbc
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 12th Oct 98 – Meoran Ciuil
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel – Wooler) – 15th Oct 98 – Roger Dobson SDB
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 7th Oct 98 – David Vernon
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 27th Oct 98 - tbc
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 4th Oct 98 – Andrew Knight SDB
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 19th Oct 98 – Johnny Duncan Duo
Inveraray (Loch Fyne Hotel) - 6th Oct 98 – Colin Dewar SDB
Islay (White Hart Hotel) - ??
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 16th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 6th Oct 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 28th Oct 98 – Seamus Shannon
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Ian Muir Trio
Lanark (Masonic Hall) - 26th Oct 98 – Eric Goodfellow Jnr
Langholm (Crown Hotel) – ??
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 8th Oct 98 – Milton Fiddlers
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 1st Oct 98 - tbc
Livingston (Cairn Hotel) - 20th Oct 98 – Club Night
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 27th Oct 98 – David Sturgeon & the Waverley SDB
Mauchline (Sorn Village Hall) 20th Oct 98 – Michael Philip & Paul Clancy
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 7th Oct 98 – Scott Gordon Trio
Muirhead (Belmont Arms, Meigle) - 21st Oct 98 – Local Artistes
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 26th Oct 98 – Bill Black SDB (Club’s 21st)
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – 6th Oct 98 – Johnny Duncan Duo
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 1st Oct 98 – Charlie Kirkpatrick Trio
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) – Closed for winter
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – 29th Oct 98 – Robert Whitehead & the Danelaw SDB
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Jimmy Cassidy
Premier NI (Camlin Function Rooms) - 6th Oct 98 - tbc
Reading Fiddlers (Piggot School) - ??
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 13th Oct 98 – Burns Brothers
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 1st Oct 98 – Ian Cruickshanks Trio
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 8th Oct 98 – Alistair McLeod
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) - ??
Stirling (Terraces Hotel) - 11th Oct 98 – James Coutts SDB
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) - ??
Thornhill (Masonic Hall) - 14th Oct 98 – Tom MacKay Trio (Meoran Ciuil)
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 5th Oct 98 – Alan Gardiner Duo
Turriff (Royal Oak Hotel) – 1st Oct 98 – Allan McIntosh & Heather SDB
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – 6th Oct 98 – Langholm Club
Wick (McKay’s Hotel) – 20th Oct 98 – Wyvis Sound
Yarrow (Gordon Arms) - 21st Oct 98 – Iain Cathcart
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Annan
2. Belford
3. Blairgowrie
4. Button Key
5. Campsie
6. Crieff & District
7. Dingwall & District
8. Dunfermline & District
9. Dunoon & Cowal
10. Forres
11. Glendale
12. Gretna
13. Islesteps
14. Inveraray & District
15. Kelso
16. Kintore
17. Lesmahagow
18. Montrose
19. North East
20. Renfrew
21. Thornhill
22. Turriff
23. Tynedale
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 1998
(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. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
7. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
8. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
9. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
10. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
11. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
12. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
13. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
14. Bromley A&F Club
15. Button Key A&F Club (
16. Campbeltown A&F Club (
17. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
18. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
19. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
20. Coalburn A&F Club (
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
23. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
24. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
25. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
26. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
27. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
28. Ellon A&F Club (
29. Etterick & Yarrow (Jan 1989 -
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
34. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
35. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
36. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
37. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
38. 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)
39. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
40. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
41. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
42. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
43. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
44. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
45. Kintore A&F Club (
46. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
57. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
58. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
59. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
60. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
61. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
62. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
63. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
64. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
65. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
66. Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes (Nov 1997 -
67. Selkirk A&F Club (
68. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
69. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
70. Sutherland A&F Club (
71. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
72. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
73. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
74. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
75. Vancouver
76. 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?)
77. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
78. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
79. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
80. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
81. Buchan A&F Club
82. Callander A&F Club (
83. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
84. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
85. Club Accord
86. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
87. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
88. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
89. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
90. Derwentside A&F Club
91. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
92. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
93. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
94. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
95. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
96. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
97. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
98. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
99. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
100. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
101. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
102. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
103. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
104. Mull A&F Club
105. Newcastleton Accordion Club
106. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
107. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
108. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
109. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
110. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
111. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
112. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
113. Tranent A&F Club
114. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
115. Wellbank A&F Club
Advertising rates
Full Page - £120
Half Page - £60
Quarter Page - £30