In Memory
Walter Rutherford (03/05/1931 - 06/01/2018)
by Ian Thomson
B&F April 2018
I first met Walter Rutherford in 1989 at the Perth Accordion Festival, when my band was competing in the band section and it so happened that Walter’s daughter Ann was playing piano in the band that day. My first impressions were that he was full of life, enthusiastic about music (particularly Scottish Dance music) and liked a laugh. Little was I to know of how much of an influence he was going to become in my life and not just musically.
Walter was brought up in Fordyce, which is near Portsoy in Banffshire, and at the age of 7 he started piano lessons. He quickly moved on to the piano accordion and was effectively self-taught. It wasn’t long before his natural ability was noticed by some local musicians and he joined his first band (The Rainbow Band) at the age of 14.
He left school not long after and worked firstly at his family croft before taking up a job at Ardimannoch Farm in Keith. The Shaws owned this farm and they had a son, Sandy and daughter, Betty. Walter struck up a “friendship” with Betty which led to them marrying in 1959. Walter and Betty had two daughters, Maureen and Ann. Both Mo and Ann are well respected in the Scottish dance music scene and have featured on BBC’s “Take the Floor” on numerous occasions with various bands throughout the last 20 years or so. Walter was immensely proud of both of them and became a great friend to their respective husbands, namely Neil Copland (Mo’s husband), and myself.
Walter also played at the Keith Scottish country dance class where Betty taught dancing and they were honoured with a Branch award for their contribution to Scottish Country dancing on the 11th November 2005.
Both Walter and Betty were stalwarts of the North East Accordion and Fiddle club for many years, in fact Walter was on stage there on the 6th December 2017, just 2 days before he was taken into hospital. His influence on local young musicians was huge, and more than I realised. Duncan Christie, the well-respected drummer with Graeme Mitchell's band (and many others) had his very first gig with Walter. His sister Lynne Christie (now McIver) was heavily influenced by Walter in her early days, and of course has gone on to become one of our top broadcasting bands.
Walter and Betty missed very few of the major festivals over the years attending Musselburgh, Oban and Perth religiously. They also helped out particularly at Musselburgh festival and became well known to all the musicians attending. He also composed some well known tunes such as the strathspeys “Miss Ann Rutherford”, and “Mrs Elizabeth Rutherford of Moranbank” plus many others which can be heard regularly on Take the Floor.
I became part of the family on the 31st August 2001, as Walter said in his father of the bride speech “was finally welcomed into the family!”. Of course, Betty had written it for him and it should have been “formally” not “finally”! It felt that I had been accepted many years previously and I was always greeted with an enthusiastic welcome when I visited the farm at Ardimannoch in Keith. I would have many a “news” with Walter over a wee dram where we would discuss Scottish dance music, he would give a critical review of my band's most recent broadcast, and we would generally speak rubbish which was a specialist subject for both of us.
Over the last couple of years Walter would visit us regularly in Netherley, and such was his character that he became a firm favourite with all of our neighbours who always asked for him and looked forward to his visits. Although on one occasion Walter had been very considerate in taking his shoes of when visiting one of our neighbour’s houses, but on his way out he decided to put on the owner's shoes which looked much better than the shoes he had come with!! His natural and easy-going character was consistent, you very rarely found Walter any other way. He was mostly always polite, jovial and always asked took an interest in how others were doing.
He came along to my band gigs especially in the last couple of years, and was so enthusiastic about the music. Last May we played at a country dance in Stonehaven Town Hall, he came along, helped with the band gear, and sat at the side of the stage swinging away to the music all night.
When he was admitted to the Turner Memorial Hospital in Keith in early December he was still in good spirits and had all the nurses running after him. Mo, Neil, Ann and myself did some concerts in the hospital and he just loved the music. He knew he didn’t have long to live and made me promise that no matter what happened I was not to cancel a gig because of his situation
He passed away on the 6th January 2018 in the afternoon, we were due to play at the New Year's ceilidh at Cookney Hall, so, as promised, we went ahead with the dance, but every set was played for Walter. The first set of marches were played with a few tears…..
The final testament to the man came from Neil Dawson, the great fiddler, who was attending the dance on the 6th January, he told me that if it hadn’t been for Walter he would not be playing the fiddle to the standard he does today and would not have enjoyed such a successful career (Neil has played in most of the top bands from Bill Black to Tom Orr and many more).
Walter will be a huge loss to many, not just his family (Mo, Ann, Neil, myself, granddaughters Ellen and Isla), but also the many friends he has left behind. There were very few days when someone didn’t visit him at home, and indeed when he was in the hospital he was receiving anything up to 20 visitors every day.
I will miss him as a good friend, enthusiastic musician and supervisor (when he visited we always got odd jobs done in the house, where I was the labourer and he was the supervisor!).
Till we meet again Walter……..
Walter was brought up in Fordyce, which is near Portsoy in Banffshire, and at the age of 7 he started piano lessons. He quickly moved on to the piano accordion and was effectively self-taught. It wasn’t long before his natural ability was noticed by some local musicians and he joined his first band (The Rainbow Band) at the age of 14.
He left school not long after and worked firstly at his family croft before taking up a job at Ardimannoch Farm in Keith. The Shaws owned this farm and they had a son, Sandy and daughter, Betty. Walter struck up a “friendship” with Betty which led to them marrying in 1959. Walter and Betty had two daughters, Maureen and Ann. Both Mo and Ann are well respected in the Scottish dance music scene and have featured on BBC’s “Take the Floor” on numerous occasions with various bands throughout the last 20 years or so. Walter was immensely proud of both of them and became a great friend to their respective husbands, namely Neil Copland (Mo’s husband), and myself.
Walter also played at the Keith Scottish country dance class where Betty taught dancing and they were honoured with a Branch award for their contribution to Scottish Country dancing on the 11th November 2005.
Both Walter and Betty were stalwarts of the North East Accordion and Fiddle club for many years, in fact Walter was on stage there on the 6th December 2017, just 2 days before he was taken into hospital. His influence on local young musicians was huge, and more than I realised. Duncan Christie, the well-respected drummer with Graeme Mitchell's band (and many others) had his very first gig with Walter. His sister Lynne Christie (now McIver) was heavily influenced by Walter in her early days, and of course has gone on to become one of our top broadcasting bands.
Walter and Betty missed very few of the major festivals over the years attending Musselburgh, Oban and Perth religiously. They also helped out particularly at Musselburgh festival and became well known to all the musicians attending. He also composed some well known tunes such as the strathspeys “Miss Ann Rutherford”, and “Mrs Elizabeth Rutherford of Moranbank” plus many others which can be heard regularly on Take the Floor.
I became part of the family on the 31st August 2001, as Walter said in his father of the bride speech “was finally welcomed into the family!”. Of course, Betty had written it for him and it should have been “formally” not “finally”! It felt that I had been accepted many years previously and I was always greeted with an enthusiastic welcome when I visited the farm at Ardimannoch in Keith. I would have many a “news” with Walter over a wee dram where we would discuss Scottish dance music, he would give a critical review of my band's most recent broadcast, and we would generally speak rubbish which was a specialist subject for both of us.
Over the last couple of years Walter would visit us regularly in Netherley, and such was his character that he became a firm favourite with all of our neighbours who always asked for him and looked forward to his visits. Although on one occasion Walter had been very considerate in taking his shoes of when visiting one of our neighbour’s houses, but on his way out he decided to put on the owner's shoes which looked much better than the shoes he had come with!! His natural and easy-going character was consistent, you very rarely found Walter any other way. He was mostly always polite, jovial and always asked took an interest in how others were doing.
He came along to my band gigs especially in the last couple of years, and was so enthusiastic about the music. Last May we played at a country dance in Stonehaven Town Hall, he came along, helped with the band gear, and sat at the side of the stage swinging away to the music all night.
When he was admitted to the Turner Memorial Hospital in Keith in early December he was still in good spirits and had all the nurses running after him. Mo, Neil, Ann and myself did some concerts in the hospital and he just loved the music. He knew he didn’t have long to live and made me promise that no matter what happened I was not to cancel a gig because of his situation
He passed away on the 6th January 2018 in the afternoon, we were due to play at the New Year's ceilidh at Cookney Hall, so, as promised, we went ahead with the dance, but every set was played for Walter. The first set of marches were played with a few tears…..
The final testament to the man came from Neil Dawson, the great fiddler, who was attending the dance on the 6th January, he told me that if it hadn’t been for Walter he would not be playing the fiddle to the standard he does today and would not have enjoyed such a successful career (Neil has played in most of the top bands from Bill Black to Tom Orr and many more).
Walter will be a huge loss to many, not just his family (Mo, Ann, Neil, myself, granddaughters Ellen and Isla), but also the many friends he has left behind. There were very few days when someone didn’t visit him at home, and indeed when he was in the hospital he was receiving anything up to 20 visitors every day.
I will miss him as a good friend, enthusiastic musician and supervisor (when he visited we always got odd jobs done in the house, where I was the labourer and he was the supervisor!).
Till we meet again Walter……..