Box & Fiddle Octobre 2015 preview

Fiddle The magazine for Scottish music enthusiasts

Jack Delaney HIS STORY: PART 1

2015 NAAFC AGM MINUTES

Maggie Adamson takes Centre Stage Hjaltibonhoga at the Tattoo CLUB REPORTS PLUS CLUB & DANCE DIARIES, REVIEWS, AND MUCH MORE...

39th Year No. 02 Oct 2015

£2.70

BOX&

Welcome

B&F • EDITORIAL

3

...to the October issue of Box & Fiddle The magazine for Scottish music enthusiasts

Editor • Pia Walker 7 Tarvit Gardens Cupar, Fife, KY15 5BT Tel: 01334 657 850 Mob: 07715 115 489 editor@boxandfiddle.com Designer • Marie Irvine mamidesigns@hotmail.com Section icons by: FlatIcon

Cover Image © Fotolia.com - kaprizka Printer • Meigle Colour Printers www.meigleprint.co.uk

NAAFC Chairman • Nicol McLaren 9 Sheila Road, Blairgowrie Perthshire, PH10 6RP Tel: 01250 874 526 nicol@boxandfiddle.com Vice Chairman • Iain Cathcart Tel: 01555 661 017 iain@boxandfiddle.com Secretary • Susan MacFadyen Carlung Farm, West Kilbride Ayrshire, KA23 9PU Tel: 01294 823 865 susan@boxandfiddle.com Treasurer • Willie Johnstone treasurer@boxandfiddle.com Executive Committee: Charlie Kirkpatrick David Cunningham Margo Maclennan Richard Ross Tom Orr

Where did September go? I spent most of it on the phone explaining why your parcels were late and/or asking for magazine orders and your meeting dates (see article on p.6). I apologize for the lateness of those September magazines that were sent by mail rather than courier. The magazines were mailed on the 27th of august to avoid the bank holiday Monday Pia Walker, Editor and what happened then is still a mystery. The printer and I have traced it to the Royal Mail and therefore we have no come-back, as they have late delivery of second class post well covered in their terms. The printer and I will again keep a close watch on mailing times, and ensure that all who have club meetings in the first week of the month will have theirs sent by courier. The positive side of this was that a) most of you notified me (politely) in time for me to try and do something for you and b) most of you acknowledge that it was unusual for this to happen.

October is the month that all clubs get into full swing, so welcome back all with the very best wishes for a great year. Enjoy this issue with all its news and information. No need for viagra this month, just read the review from Bill Brown! It is one of many in this issue, and there’s some for the dancers too. Do also read first part of Heather Delaney’s article about her granddad, Jack Delaney, and you can look forward to the rest of her long and loving tribute in the November issue. We also start a new service to advertisers - you can now advertise on our website, so do contact me for our new media-pack.

October is also the month I will be seeing a lot of you at various Festivals, I look forward to meeting you all here and there.

Finally Have I Got News For You! Received an e-mail the other day with: We are very interested in potentially using ‘Box and Fiddle Magazine’ as our guest publication one week during our 50th series this autumn. As a result I have sent several magazines to this TV-programme, which they will look at to see if they can use. No guarantee that it is what they are looking for, but it shows that an online presence works as they had found our website.

See you around.

Keep up with the latest news at

www.boxandfiddle.com Box & Fiddle (NAAFC)

Pia

The editorial team reserves the right to refuse or edit all copy. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. Use of material and advertising from this publication is strictly prohibited without permission in writing from the editor.

While every care has been taken in compiling Box & Fiddle to ensure that it is correct at the time of going to press, Box & Fiddle assume no responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions.

Contents

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B&F • CONTENTS

45 6

7

Photo: © Bruce Neill

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News Clubs get ready for the new season; Hjaltibonhoga at Edinburgh Castle; Celebrations; The Forth Bridges Accordion Band; Squeezing into the Spotlight

13 Centre State

We talk to Maggie Adamson

14 NAAFC 2015 AGM Minutes Susan MacFadyen reports on the meeting

16 The Jack Delaney Story

Told by his granddaughter Heather

The latest news from our clubs

33 Club Diary

You are never too old to go Clubbing!

39 Dance Diary

Find the nearest dances and ceilidhs

42 Reviews

The Joy of Sets; Note Before Time;

20 In Memory

The Man From Auchtermuchty;

George Anderson

20 Take The Floor

Tune into October’s guest list

Deadlines:

23 Club News

RSCDS Book 49

46 Music

Anne Watt’s Waltz by Ian Thow

All articles, adverts, club reports and text for the magazine must be e-mailed to the editor by the 5th of every month at the latest. Copy received after this date cannot be guaranteed to feature in the next issue.

B&F • NEWS

News

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Send in your story. If you have a photo that tells a story, send it in with an explanation.

Hjaltibonhoga Represents Shetland

at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2015 Whilst still in its infancy, Hjaltibonhoga is very much a happening group. The group was formed in May 2014 to prepare for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August that year. Fiddlers representative of the entire county of Shetland were invited to be part of the group who would bring Shetland fiddling to a yet wider audience. Finally with a group of 97 fiddlers rotating to provide 40 on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle each night Music Director Margaret Scollay took the group to perform the Tattoo show named ‘Our Home, Family and Friends’. The group performed at a number of outreach events during their stay in Edinburgh and firmly believed to have had a unique, once off experience whilst hoping that some day it would be repeated. However, this was not what happened.

In January of this year, Margaret learned from the Brigadier (Retd.) H David Allfrey MBE - Producer & Chief Executive, whilst he visited Shetland for the Up Helly Aa celebrations, that the group were indeed to visit Edinburgh again this year.

This unexpected invitation to participate in the phenomenon that is the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for the second year running was one which the group simply could not refuse.

The theme ‘East meets West’ was one of the most impressive ever staged: presenting a fertile fusion of military and cultural talent from around the globe. Performers from all over Europe, America, Asia, Australasia and Canada shared the stage with some of the finest British Armed Forces performers and musicians marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Wearing locally designed and produced costumes, Hjaltibonhoga featured 40 players each evening aged from 13 to 60, exemplifying an aural tradition of fiddling; a tradition that has been sustained so successfully across the generations.

Margaret composed a set for the group within the parameters of the East meets West theme and the inspiration for her compositions was taken from Shetland’s geographical location. The first tune in the set is Hallett’s Mazurka, which is influenced by Scandinavia to our East and written for local fiddler Nigel Hallett whose generous donation to the group enabled us to start fundraising back in 2014.

The second tune, Ava’s Adventures is written for Margaret’s granddaughter and has a lively American feel taking into account our Western influences. The penultimate tune The Cross Jig,

Photo: © Dana Stewart

NEWS

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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM

THE

Jack Delaney STORY

By Heather Delaney

In this issue we publish the first instalment of Jack Delaney’s story as told by his granddaughter Heather. A story impossible to cut down as it so obviously is written with a great deal of love and understanding of Jack’s personality and sense of humour. Enjoy the read – I did. The second half will be published in the November issue.

J

ohn (Jack to everyone) Gordon Delaney was born on 19th February 1935, in Inverkeithing … and we haven’t had any peace since (based on information from my Gran and all the family!).

Jack was 15 when he first picked up an accordion and started having a tune with pal Allen Barnett while on his dinner break at Jack’s family business, a plant nursery. Not having a music teacher or able to read the dots the lads ‘lugged’ tunes from records and the radio. (He calls it ‘the wireless’, but I’m sure it’s the same thing!). While practising in one of the glasshouses the conductor of the Alva Youth Club Choir overheard them and invited them to play in the choir’s annual concert.

They became regular guests with the choir, which helped build up confidence to set up ‘The Rowan Band’ with Bert O’Donnell (fiddle), Andrew Grant (drums) and Jimmy Scott (piano). The Rowan Band played together for three years and became well known locally. Unfortunately, they had to part

company as some of the members went to do their National Service.

While in Leeds with the Royal Army Pay Corps Jack was invited to play for the Leeds Scottish Country Dance Club. Having no experience of Scottish country dancing and little knowledge of the skills required, Jack embarked on a steep learning curve to find original tunes and learn the discipline of counting bars etc. He managed to enlist the help of some of his fellow National Servicemen to play with him, namely Arthur McKinney on drums, Alastair Reid on piano and Dave McGirr on double bass. They played together for almost two years and even travelled to Burnley on occasions to play at the country dance club there.

In 1955, after his National Service Jack was back in Alloa. A friend, Andrew Rankine, asked him if he would like to join his band. This was a great opportunity as Andrew was a really good, swingy player, and playing melody alongside him was a

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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM

In Memory George Anderson (1936-2015) Memories of ‘Doddie’

S

t Rufus Church in Keith was justifiably full for the recent funeral of George (Doddie) Anderson who passed away on the 13th of August. Doddie was an enthusiastic and gifted box player all his life, playing in bands from the 1950’s. My first encounter with Doddie was when I was approached to play piano in a local band alongside their accordionist (Doddie), two saxophonists and drummer, playing weddings, dinner dances and the like. After the demise of the ‘Carlton’ as it was known, Doddie and I moved on to a Scottish dance band from Keith which included accordionist Walter Rutherford and the late Ian Duncan on bass. Around this time Doddie, Ian and myself formed a trio known as ‘The Chordettes’, which over the years increased

to a fairly successful four then five piece band performing in the north east.

During this time we discussed the possibility of forming an Accordion and Fiddle Club in Keith. We travelled to Perth to get an idea of the format a club should

take, and suitably impressed we formed the North East Accordion and Fiddle Club, with Doddie as Chairman, Ian as Secretary and I as Treasurer, opening our doors in The Seafield Hotel in September 1971 to a full house.

Doddie remained Chairman for many years and was always willing to do a turn. In the early eighties his finest moment came with a recording of ‘Take the Floor’, where he played second box with The Ian Cruickshank Band, from Keith.

He will be sadly missed playing his beloved Morino V on stages around the north east, and in particular amongst his many friends at The North East Accordion and Fiddle Club’s venue in The Legion, Keith. l Alistair C. Gray

Take The Floor 3rd Oct – Matthew Maclennan Scottish Dance Band 10th Oct – Neil MacEachern Scottish Dance Band

17th Oct – David Kennedy Scottish Dance Band + Guest – Jenna Reid 24th Oct – An Archive Session 31st Oct – The Burns Brothers Ceilidh Band

+ Glenfiddich Fiddle Championships

B&F • CLUB NEWS

Club News Just remember to seek permission to publish the photos and tell us the name of the photographers.

To ensure a more readable section, please only send in max 250-300 words.

A photo tells a better story, so add one or two of those too. Why not of your audience? If you don’t have a report to write, then mention someone from your club or a special event and send in a relevant photo. Information in Club News helps attract visitors to your club, so make sure your club sounds like the place we want to go to.

ANNAN ST ANDREWS The guest band in August was the Blackthorne Ceilidh Band, with Bob Liddle from Kelso on 5-row button-key accordion, Charlie McIntee from Kelso on piano accordion and Louise Douglas from Kirkton, near Hawick, on fiddle. They are very popular across the Borders and Lothians playing for ceilidhs, weddings and private functions and have been the guests at a number of accordion clubs. The band commenced the evening by playing for a number of dances.

The local players, accompanied by Ian Wilson on keyboard, Billy Porter and Ian Riddet on drums and occasionally by John Douglas on second accordion were: Richard Brown playing a Square Tango on piano accordion; Jim Fraser played a quickstep on piano accordion; Kenny Jackson played a number of popular tunes on piano accordion; Norman Swainson played two sets on piano accordion; Barbara Fisher played a waltz on piano accordion, accompanied

by John Douglas and Ian Wilson; Newby Park is very

versatile and with equal ability can play piano and button-key accordion. On this occasion he played piano accordion; David Bell played for an Eva Three Step on piano accordion; John Waugh then played for an Edinburgh Mixture on piano accordion; James Laurie played for a Britannia Two Step on a 5-row button-key accordion; Finally, John Douglas played for a Dinky One Step on piano accordion.

The guests returned to the stage and played for further dancing. At the end of the evening, MC Jack Murdoch thanked the band and each and every one of the local players.

ARBROATH Vice-chairman, Avril Abbott welcomed everyone and Chairman Tony Simpson intimated the death of one of our founder members, Bette Neilson, who at 91 years of age was still an active member till very recently. Condolences were sent to the family.

Our music commenced with local players: Tony Simpson, John Hart, Alan Petrie, Margaret Patullo, David Stokes and Eric Davidson all on accordions, Avril Abbott on drums. On fiddles were Dave Smith and Liz Arthur with Tony Simpson and John White accompanying

Arbroath: Ross with Cajon box and Tom and Jim

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B&F • CLUB DIARY

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Club Diary

Please contact editor@boxandfiddle.com for any corrections to the diary.

Please note that the column for Guest Artistes have moved to between Club and Venue

October 2015 DATE

CLUB

GUEST ARTISTE

VENUE

TIME

CONTACT

1

Crieff

Gary Sutherland

The British Legion, Crieff PH7 3EB

8.00 pm

Lil Watson 01383 410 131

1

Galashiels

Matthew Maclennan Trio

Clovenfords Hotel, Galashiels TD1 3LU

7.30 pm

Robert Cleland 01896 754 463

1

Lewis and Harris

Robert Nairn Trio

Caladh Inn, Stornoway HS1 2QN

8.00 pm

Janette MacIver 01851 704 870

1

Oban

Iain Muir

The Royal Hotel, Oban PA34 4BE

7.30 pm

Anne McFadyen 01631 562 077

1

Rothbury

Leonard Brown & Malcolm Ross

Queens Head Hotel, Rothbury NE65 7SR

7.30 pm

Mary Davidson 01668 281 307

1

Isle of Skye

Charlie Kirkpatrick Trio

The Royal Hotel, Portree IV51 9BU

7.30 pm

info@skyemusic. co.uk.

1

Turriff

George Rennie Duo

Commercial Hotel, Cuminestown AB53 5WJ

7.30 pm

Pat Steele 01888 562 486

4

Arbroath

Club Open Day (Visitors welcome)

The Meadowbank Inn, Arbroath DD1 5RA

2-5 pm

Tony Simpson 01241 875 326

4

Arbroath

Marian Anderson SDB (Open Day Dance)

The Meadowbank Inn, Arbroath DD1 5RA

7:30 pm

Tony Simpson 01241 875 326

4

Gretna

Scott Band Trio

The Gables Hotel Gretna, Gretna Green DG16 5DQ

7.15 pm

David Bell 01228 523 957

5

Thurso

Leonard Brown and Malcolm Ross

Pentland Hotel, Thurso KW14 7AA

7.30 pm

Ian Wright 01847 892 050

6

Campsie

Gavin Piper (Solo)

Glazert Country House Hotel, Lennoxtown G66 7DJ

7.30 pm

Billy Hutton 0141 776 2344

6

Fort William

Leonard Brown

Railway Club, Inverlochy, Fort William PH33 6LY

8.00 pm

Alisdair MacDonald 01397 701505

6

Islesteps

Iain Cathcart Trio

Locharbriggs Social Club, Locharbriggs DG1 1XS

7.30 pm

Ian Gray 01387 760 276

6

North East

David Husband Sound

Royal British Legion, Keith AB55 5EN

7.30 pm

Mrs Petrie 01542 860 246

6

Seghill

Club Night (Visitors welcome)

Seghill Comrades Club, Cramlington NE23 7TQ

7.30 pm

James Youngson 01670 356 410

7

Dingwall

Daniel Mcphee Duo

National Hotel, Dingwall IV15 9HA

7.30 pm

Elspeth Weir 01349 877 675

7

Glenfarg

Gary Donaldson Trio

Glenfarg Village Hall, Glenfarg PH2 9NZ

8.00 pm

Russell Robertson 01577 830 642

7

Montrose

Billy Anderson Trio

Park Hotel, Montrose DD10 8RJ

7.30 pm

Ron Ramsay 01241 879 487

8

Button-Key (Windygates)

Jack Delaney

The Greig Institute, Windygates KY8 5DG

7.00 pm

Mary Cook 01592 713 687

8

Stonehouse

Ronnie Easton Band

The Stonehouse Bowling Club, Stonehouse ML9 3 EB

7.00 pm

Margaret Hannay 01698 791 163

8

West Barns

David Vernon

West Barns Inn, West Barns EH42 1UR

7.30 pm

I McCue 01368 863 448

9

Coalburn

Willie Mcfarlane Band (Club Dance)

Coalburn Miners Welfare, Coalburn ML11 0LH

7.30 pm

Wilma Walsh 01555 892 848

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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM

Reviews

If you wish your CDs, DVDs or books to be reviewed, please send them to: Bill Brown, 3 Galahad Close, Cippenham, Slough, SL1 9DT

The Joy of Sets

James Coutts & His Band Independent 3TRCD02

The title of this new CD from James Coutts and His Band, The Joy of Sets is clearly a play on the “Joy of Sex”.

I can guarantee you a good night where sparks will definitely fly, helping you reach the ultimate musical climax courtesy of our dominant male, James Coutts on lead accordion, the vibrant Iain Cathcart on second box, Graham Berry, a man who likes tinkling his ivories on piano, a man who exercises great control, Brian Cruickshank on bass and Ian Adamson on drums who definitely prefers the rhythm method! John Caskie also lends his rasping vocals to this project. If that’s got you hot under the collar just wait till you hear the explosive mix on this CD, to which a cold shower

maybe the only remedy.

This is the band’s third recording on the 3 Trees Record label and this offering is every bit as good as the previous two. The band begin their moment of passion in rousing fashion with an opening Grand March to the tunes I See Mull, The Bloody Fields of Flanders, The Banks of Allan Water and Archie McKinley. No sooner have they finished, than it’s time to go again with a set of Jigs featuring West Kirkton, Norma’s Tune, The Dancing Doctor (may need

him later) and Pat and Wilson’s Ruby. The playing is tight with plenty of lift and lilt where required with all members of this group being highly compatible and in complete unison, a real explosive combination.

Continuing our night of passion and intrigue, the band’s great waltz country dance set to the tunes My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, The Lea Rig, John Anderson, My Jo, My Heart is Sair and Ca’ the Ewes will continue to keep you hot and in a lather!

Other highlights that will not only tease, but fill you with delight is the band’s fine Irish Rover set.

Like any good relationship, the familiar tunes are both warming and comforting now the dark nights are upon us.

This is a very sexy CD from one very hot band. I’m off to cool down and hopefully you’re off to buy this very exciting new recording from James Coutts and his band.

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