THE story of a remarkable family and a remarkable fiddle comes to Peebles later this month.

The Cranston Fiddle will be performed by Borders based group ‘Riddell Fiddles’ at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles on Friday, September 19.

With text and narration by Haddington based Bob Mitchell (an author and historian) this production will feature musical pieces composed by local guitarist Donald Knox especially for the project.

The true story of a ‘Scottish Brothers in Arms’ and the sacrifices made during the First World War unfolds.

This story of loss is uniquely told from the perspective of the surviving fiddle and the traditional music it played and continues to play.

The Cranston story is related in terms of the music of the time.

The project features fiddler, singers, guitarists, percussion, whistle and a small group of teenage musicians from Selkirk based Riddell Fiddles with slides put together and presented by Selkirk photographer Ian Oliver.

The song ‘Calling doon the Line’ by Hawick singer/songwriter Alan Brydon is beautifully delivered by Ron Hastings in an emotive rendering which summarises the awfulness of the euphemistically named ‘Great War’.

Interwoven throughout the whole performance there is the message, out of all the sadness, of hope with the younger musicians putting in an outstanding performance and the fiddle singing in and out of the tunes.

Supported by a grant from the First World War Heritage Lottery fund, entry costs only £8 (£6). The show lasts just over an hour.