BIGGAR Accordion & Fiddle Club gathered on Sunday for its January meeting.

A club spokesman said: “We saw a large turnout assemble to hear some excellent entertainment. Local accordionists were Joe Finkelstein, Alan Gardiner, Jim Gold, Janet Graham, Fin Hope, David Kennedy, Davy Millar, Fiona Paul, Kyle Rowan, Anna Scott, Allan Smith, Brian Smith, India Smith, Charlie Todd, Ann Wall and Angus Webster. 

“Additionally, we welcomed the following accordionists from the Scots Music Group in Edinburgh – Ally Carmichael, Angus Creech, Sheena Dickson, Pat Drewitt, Rachel Frith, Liz Hall, Billy Higgins, Ed Murray, Ian Ramsay and Bill Wallace.

“Our only fiddler was Tom Gold and on piano were Keith Dickson, Alan Gardiner, Fiona Paul, Alan Rowan and Stevie Todd. Drummers were Ross Anderson, Andrew Gibb, Tom Hope and Charlie Todd. Shelley Clark sang us a couple of songs and four-year-old Emily Gold told us a wee story.

“Our guests for the afternoon were John Somerville (accordion) and Hamish Napier (piano) – pictured. John, originally from Abriachan on the north shore of Loch Ness, and Hamish, originally from Speyside, entertained our attentive audience with a wide variety of tunes played in a contemporary folk music style, including several of their own compositions – later kindly donating copies of the sheet music to the local musicians.

“The duo clearly explained the background to the tunes and Hamish provided even more variety by singing a couple of traditional songs and playing the Strathspey “The Sweetness of Mary” on wooden flute.

“Thanks again to the Biggar Bowling Club for hosting us, the KODA mums for the excellent half-time buffet and to Alan Gardiner and Joan Gold for making the whole afternoon run like a well-oiled machine. Our next meeting is on Sunday, February 12, when we have Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid and guitarist Kevin Mackenzie joining us – 2pm at the Bowling Club.”