Where it all started.
Biggar Accordion and Fiddle Club opened its doors in October 1974 at the Clydesdale Hotel, Biggar which had been purchased the previous month by Alex and Evelyn MacArthur. As anyone who visited the Club in those days will remember, the room where the Club met was extremely small, lined with chairs (no room for tables!) with a stage which consisted of an old piece of flooring sitting on empty beer crates. Players will remember the great atmosphere in the room with only a small space between the stage and the first row of the audience. Consequently this was a great training ground - if your nerves could stand playing at Biggar you could play anywhere! Alex (or Sandy as some people preferred to call him) MacArthur had a long playing history behind him. Firstly with the “Arthur MacLeod Trio” consisting of Alex on accordion, Jim MacLeod (later of Dunblane Hydro fame) on piano and Willie Tervit on drums. Then he enjoyed a long spell with the famous “Ian Powrie Band” before forming his own band based in Elgin. Alex moved south to play with the “Jim Johnstone Band” before his move to Biggar where he reformed the “Alex MacArthur Scottish Dance Band” (pictured below).
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As well as being a fine accordionist, Alex was a marvellous MC which ensured that the Club was never short of either players or listeners. Alex and his new right-hand man John Anderson (both pictured below left) settled on the second Monday of the month as their meeting date. Jim Johnstone’s Band (pictured below right) did the honours as first “Guest Artiste” with Ian Powrie, who was home on holiday from Australia, and numerous other well known musicians arriving to make it a night to remember.
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Also in attendance was Alex's 11 year old nephew, one Nicol McLaren from Blairgowrie, (pictured below left) who is today Chairman of the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs. Initially Alex did almost everything himself but soon John and other willing helpers began to assume some of the duties. Since Alex knew many of the people involved within the Accordion Music scene it was he who usually made suggestions, with John making the arrangements. It was on a visit to a competition in Ireland that Alex first heard a young accordionist called Paddy Neary (pictured below right) whom he arranged to bring over on a short tour which lead to a successful professional playing career.
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Alex was well known for encouraging young people to become involved, bringing to the fore a number of well known musicians including Jennifer Forrest and Alan Gardiner (pictured with Alex, below).
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After ten successful years it was with a certain amount of sadness that regulars learned that Alex and Evelyn had decided to sell the Clydesdale Hotel and move to the Farmers Arms, in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. However the scene had changed over the years and new Chairman John Anderson decided to introduce dancing to try encouraging a bigger crowd. Since this was not possible at the Clydesdale Hotel it was reluctantly decided to move the venue, briefly to the Toftcombs Hotel, and then to its present venue the Biggar Municipal Hall (pictured below left) in December 1988. There were many memorable nights marred only by the untimely death of John Anderson (pictured below right) in 2005. The club recently formed closer links with local accordion based group KODA continuing to emphasise the importance of young musicians taking part with the club now meeting from 7.00pm to 10.30pm.
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Thanks to Peter Rae for the use of many of the photographs used within the Photo Gallery and the Club History.
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