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April 2009Scott Nichol S.D.B.The Biggar Club held its last meeting of the 2008/09 season on Easter Sunday and had a very enjoyable evening with Scott Nichol and his Band as guest artist. Scott has been coming along to the club for many years, spending much of his time accompanying other musicians, but this time he led his own band and reeled out a superb performance of great tunes, arrangements and tempos which delighted the audience. The band consisted of Scott on lead accordion, Tom Orr on 2nd box, Robert Menzies on fiddle, Jim Nichol on piano and Gordon Smith on drums. Well done one and all. We had a number of excellent supporting musicians in the form of Fiona Paul, Jim Paterson, George Sheils, David Corner, Claire Black, Alan Gardiner, Emma Gardiner, Paul Capaldi, Tom Hope, Andrew Gibb, Tom Gold, Jim Gold, Keith Dickson, Blair Gardiner and Alison Menzies. It was also very encouraging to see three musicians visiting the club for the first time.- Avril Black from Thankerton on keyboard, Matthew Bramhall from Coventry on keyboard and Derek Edmond from Haddington on accordion. It’s always good to see new musicians attending the club and we hope they will visit again next season. 
March 2009Simon Howie S.D.B. The club enjoyed an excellent evening on Sunday 8th March with Simon Howie and his Scottish Dance Band as our guest artistes. Fresh from playing at the NAAFC Festival Dance at Inchyra Grange in Grangemouth the night before they were in top form, thrilling the audience with a great selection of traditional music played in Simon’s usual immaculate style. The 5 piece band consisted of Simon on lead box, Robert Black on 2nd box, Ron Kerr on fiddle, Jim Lindsay (keyboard) and David Scott on drums. All superb musicians in their own right. We hope to persuade Simon and the band to return to the club in the not too distant future. Supporting accordionists on the night included Charlie Todd, Jennifer Cowie, Fiona Paul, Jim Paterson, Jim Gold, Alan Gardiner, Helen Murray (all the way from Inverness), Andrew Gibb, Tom Orr and Scott Nichol. Emma Gardiner, David Corner and Tom Gold played fiddle, with Tom delighting the audience with a couple of selections ably accompanied by brother Jim on keyboard. It was good to see Dorothy Lawson back at the club on keyboard with Tom Orr also accompanying other artists on keyboard. George Shiells, Charlie Todd, Tom Hope and Andrew Gibb all took a turn on drums. 
February 2009Duncan Hutchison S.D.B. February’s meeting looked for a time like being a repeat of January except with snow and ice replacing the wind and rain of last month. However, even with a steady fall, and the prospect of a lot more, we enjoyed rather a good turnout, particularly of players. On accordion were Claire Black, Charlie Todd, Gavin Jackson, Katie Todd, Jim Paterson, Fraser Hewitt, Robbie Paterson, Adam Gibb, Emma Dickson, Bill and Elaine Crookston, Paul Capaldi, Jim Gold, Scott Nichol and Tom Orr – and some very fine entertainment they all provided. On fiddle were Hannah Dickson, Tom Gold and David Corner who also did his usual doubling up on concertina. On drums were Geordie Shiels, Andrew Gibb, Tom Hope and James Dickson and giving us a couple of songs were Shelley Clark. It’s always good to see a new bandleader coming through and joining the ranks of the Guests Artist List – after all variety is the spice of life as they say. Our guests for the evening were a relatively young and relatively local band in the shape of the Duncan Hutchison SDB from Moffat. Duncan is a senior pupil of Keith Dickson and accompanied by Jamie Young (Thornhill another KD pupil) on second accordion, Ian Anderson (Livingston) on fiddle, Neil Cranston on drums and regular Jim Nichol on keyboard they gave us two energetic and entertaining sessions of the very best of Scottish dance music. Congratulations to the lads on such a polished performance. 
January 2009Neil Hardie S.D.B.A somewhat diminished audience turned out on a cold and wet night to see Neil Hardie and his Scottish Dance Band entertain at our first meeting of the new year. Club players for the evening were; on accordion: Jim Paterson, Emma Dickson, Jennifer Cowie, Paul Capaldi, Adam Gibb, Bill Crookston, Elaine Crookston, Jim Gold and Scott Nichol. On fiddle we had Hannah Dickson, Tom Gold and David Corner, who also gave a couple of selections on his concertina. Accompaniment for the evening was supplied by on drums, George Shields and Tom Hope and on piano, Keith Dickson, Jim Gold and Scott Nichol. Borders based Neil Hardie then took to the stage with his band to finish off the first half. The band consisted of; on lead accordion, Neil Hardie, on fiddle, sister Caroline Hardie, 2nd box Brian Forrest, Jim Nichol on piano and Andrew Morton on drums. The band gave two half-hour slots of fine swinging music with a great fiddle solo from Caroline and a few sing-along sets which had most of the audience exercising their vocal chords. The night ended with a rousing set of reels from Neil and the band who thanked the audience for coming along and the club for inviting them to play. 
December 2008Graeme Mitchell S.D.B. Biggar Accordion and Fiddle Club welcomed a far travelled Graeme Mitchell and his SDB as guests at their December meeting. But first there was the usual array of local talent to entertain us. On accordions were Alan Gardiner, Davy Miller, Charlie Todd, Andrew Gibb, Fiona Paul, Jim Gold, Jennifer Cowie, James Paterson, Scott Nichol, Tom Orr, Stuart Adamson, Lynne Christie and Blair Gardiner. On concertina was David Corner and on fiddle Tom Gold, Emma Gardiner, Robert Menzies and David Corner. Drummers were Geordie Shiells, Tom Hope and Andrew Gibb and on keyboard were Jim Gold and Alan Gardiner. Many thanks to them all for their excellent contribution to the evening. Graeme and the band had made the long journey down from Huntly in Aberdeenshire and gave us two excellent session of what could only be described as “vintage” Graeme Mitchell music. Accompanied by his usual line up of “deceptively youthful” Duncan Christie, “follicley challenged” Gordon Duguid, a “fraying at the edges” Brian Cruickshank and a “far older than he actually looks” Neil McMillan – a relative local at with a mere 2 hour drive from Loch Lomond - the band gave us two excellent sessions of the lilting, rhythmical dance music they are so well known for. Graeme also waxed lyrical in his sales pitch for his latest CD, conjuring up a rather amusing picture of Christmas in the Christie household. Needless to say they were selling like hotcakes anyway. Many thanks to the lads for making the long journey down to entertain us. 
November 2008Alan Gardiner SDBAfter skipping a meeting in October it was back to business as usual for our November meeting and it was our Club Chairman Alan Gardiner, by popular request it has to be said, making a rare appearance as Guest Artiste. Alan had been persuaded to make a recording for Take the Floor, his first for 7 years, and had invited pianist Richard Currie over for the event. Having made the recording at Pacific Quay in the afternoon it was then on to Biggar for 4 of the band members leaving Brian Cruickshank to return home. But firstly we were entertained by an absolute wealth of talent in the form of accordionists James Paterson, Davy Miller, Charlie Todd, Andrew and Adam Gibb, Jim Gold, Fiona Paul, Kevin Gardiner, Emma Dickson, Paul Capaldi, Allan Smith, Roger Dobson, Eric Goodfellow, Tom Orr, Scott Nichol, Lynne Christie and Duncan Hutchison. On fiddle were Adam Gibb, David Corner, Hannah Dickson and Tom Gold. On keyboard were Jim Gold, Emma Dickson, Tom Orr, Jim and Scott Nichol and on drums Geordie Shiels, Andrew Barrie, Eric Goodfellow and Andrew Gibb and on concertina David Corner. Four of our youngest players namely, Adam Gibb (lead accordion), Emma Dickson (keyboard), Hannah Dickson (fiddle) and Andrew Gibb (drums) played their Perth Band set readily demonstrating where the future of the Club lies. Again our thanks must go to our two local teachers Keith Dickson and Andy Kain for their sterling efforts in tutoring the youngsters of the area. One other item of local note is that Tom Orr from Hyndfordbridge has brought out his first band CD “Tomorrow’s World” which was selling like hotcakes. No-one who has heard Tom or his band could be in any doubt that it would be anything but brilliant. For our two guest spots Alan, Gordon Smith, Keith Dickson and Dr Richard Currie provided a variety of selections in the immaculate style that used to be associated with the band when they were featuring regularly on the air waves. Alan explained that Richard had been resident in Padova, near Venice in Italy for the last 6 years but such is the standard of his musicianship that there was no noticeable difference, indeed he undertook a solo piece called Song C by Bruce Hornsby. So here’s hoping it’s not another 7 years before they grace the stage at Biggar again. 
September 2008Craigowl S.D.B.Meeting a week earlier than usual had an unfortunate effect on audience size at Biggar but that didn’t deter from the quality of the performers. Local performers were- on accordion Jim Gold, Gavin Jackson, Jim Paterson, Jennifer Cowie, Charlie Todd, Scott Nichol, Tom Orr, Alan Gardiner, Keith Dickson and a first time visitor all the way from Musselburgh, Ronnie Johnstone – thanks to him for making the long trip to be with us. On fiddle were Tom Gold and Emma Gardiner, on drums Geordie Shiels, Tom Hope and Ross Anderson and on keyboard Alan Gardiner, Jim Nichol, Scott Nichol and Jim Gold. Our guests for the evening were the Craigowl SDB. Despite leader Kevin Clark being a relative local, staying at Bothwell for 19 years, the Club had never got round to inviting him as guest. This was finally rectified and in the company of sister Stella Wilkie (Falkland) on fiddle, Graham Sheritt (Friockheim) on drums, Bruce Quirie (Perth) 2nd accordion and Mark MacDougall (Newcastleton) on keyboard they gave us two excellent sessions of dance music. Many of our audience members recall the band’s origins as the young Dundee Accordion and Fiddle Club Band when they appeared annually at the Association’s AGM Weekend in it’s Dunblane Hydro days and time may have changed a few of the faces but it has also added a wealth of experience which shone through.
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