Adventures of a Scottish Fiddler
Tim Edey at Migvie Kirk
Tim Edey is one the World's most acclaimed traditional musicians and it was a great pleasure to welcome him to Migvie Kirk for a recital. Tim had performed at our Strathspey King Memorial fundraising concert in Aberdeen Music Hall with Ross Ainslie, and at the end of that great event he had expressed a desire to play in Migvie Kirk. A date was quickly arranged.
Migvie Kirk is a special place and it has the most wonderful acoustic and we're lucky enough to now have a long list of wonderful musicians and singers perform there.
We had almost a sell out show of about 60 folk and they were treated to a remarkable performance notable not just by Tim's incredible musicianship but also by the pure joy Tim takes in making music. It was a great pleasure to join Tim for a couple of tunes and Shona was accompanied for the Robert Burns classic, "My Luv is Like a Red, Red Rose"
It was a memorable event.
After the concert Tim joined a group of us in the Commercial Hotel where we ended up playing till about 9.30pm. As I said, a memorable day and if you get the chance to see Tim life, grab it with both hands; you wont be disappointed.
Paul accompanied on "Rowan Tree" and "Tullochgorum" by Tim Edey in Migvie Kirk.
Fèile Colm Cille, 6th - 9th June 2026
On Friday the 5th of June I was up bright and early for the journey South to Cairnryan for the ferry route Larne in Northern Ireland and then on to Gartan in Donegal in tue Republic of Ireland.
It was a long and tiring day but a pleasant journey none the less, passing beautiful Scenery, Red Deer in Glen Clunie and Ailsa Craig off the coast of Ayreshire.
It was into the evening before I arrived in Gartan. After getting a little lost I managed to track down and check into a wonderful B&B called Bridgeburn House which was about 2 miles outside the main settlement of Church Hill. I was met later in the evening by James Boyle from Committee and we spent a sociable evening in the towns Wilkin's Bar with some of the locals. James was a slendid host and after a day than began at 4am I was a little surprised to see that it was 1.30am when I finally made it to bed.
In the early afternoon I made my way to St Columba's Church in Church Hill where a superb choir from Letterkenny gave a recital to locals, visitors and a group who had just completed a 7 km walk in the footsteps of St Colm Cille, the inspiration for the festival. Colm Cille would become better known to the world as St Columba, a Prince of the local Ui Neill dynasty who was born and brought up in Gartan.
Later that afternoon and it was back to Wilkin's Bar for a session from 5 till 7pm with local musicians and what a great atmosphere there was. Ann and Francy Devine arrived from Dublin and it was great to catch up. Francy would be taking part in the main concert with me on Sunday at Gartan Heritage Centre.
The main driving force for the festival was Claire Murray and Francy, Ann and I were invited to dinner with Clair's family that evening and were treated to traditional Irish stew; beautiful.
Claire's parents were with us and as it happens, her father Ignatious is a cousin of Francy and it was only the second time they'd met. We had a few tunes and songs and Claire's young daughter Cladagh introduced us to her pet rabbit Midnight.
A great day.
I visited Colm Cille's birthplace which has a massive Celtic Cross to mark the spot. Beside the remains of an ancient tomb is the cup marked birthing stone where tue Saint is said to have been born in 521 AD. It's a beautiful and tranquil spot.
After lunch at the Heritage Centre it was back to the B&B to prepare for the evenings concert which was mainly music and poems from Francy and I from out Iona album. The packed hall were also treated to poetry recitations from lical poets and a wonderful performance on pipes, fiddle and concertina by the O Donnell Sisters. As a bit of a departure for myself I sang my hymn "Light of the West" which was inspired by St Columba.
My pal Martin McGinley and his partner Violet came along from Ramelton which is only 20 minutes away so we retired to Wilkin's Bar again after the concert for a catch up and tunes with Francy and Ann.
Another great day.
Before heading home on Monday Francy and I attended an event at the Heritage Centre where 6 local schools gave short presentations on the life of Columba in poetry, songs and music. They did brilliantly. Francy and I gave short performances before I got back on the road and made for Larne and my ferry back to Scotland. I made it home at 11pm with still a little light in the sky.
St Columba's (Colmcille) birthplace
Salute to the King
Saturday the 25th of April was the special concert to raise funds for the life size bronze statue of James Scott Skinner, titled "Salute to the King."
The attendance was good and a full page article on the event in Press and Journal (biggest newspaper in the North of Scotland) did no harm at all.
The audience were treated to a wonderful night of some World class traditional Scottish music and song. Arriving at Aberdeen Music Hall they were met by members of the Invercauld Highlanders with pipers, creating quite a stir on Union Street. The lads then started the show off by escorting the evenings host, Fiona Kennedy OBE on stage to the rousing strains of "Scotland the Brave."
Fiona has a long and distinguished career in entertainment and despite a broken collar bone managed to keep things moving beautifully, introducing conductor Jane Davidson to the stage to conduct the massed fiddlers led by the Banchory Strathspey and Reel Society. There were almost 90 musicians on stage with players from the Elgin Strathspey and Reel Society, the Fochabers Fiddlers, Strathbogie Fiddlers, Garioch Fiddlers, Ythan Fiddlers and Aberdeen Strathspey and Reel Society joining Banchory. Despite the afternoon rehearsal being the first time everyone had played together, they played together beautifully and you would have thought they'd been rehearsing for weeks.
Shona Donaldson, who is a winner of Scots Singer of the Year and a two time winner of the Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions (only woman to win it) was on top form and when the audience wasnt singing along you could've heard a pin drop. It was lovely to join Shona for Robert Burns' most famous song "My Luv is Like a Red, Red Rose" to the original melody with Tim Edey on guitar; really rather moving.
The 30 young members of the Banchory Junior Strathspey and Reel Society were just superb and were a big hit with the audience; a real credit to parents and tutors alike.
Fiona, an acclaimed singer, actor and TV and radio presenter (Record Breakers, Wicker Man etc) gave us some wonderful songs accompanied by the talented Nils Elders on guitar. Like Shona, she had the audience singing along at times and gave a varied programme of self penned songs like "The Maple Tree" and favourites like "Wild Mountain Thyme."
Top of the bill was the sensational Ross Ainslie and Tim Edey who are virtuoso performers on multiple instruments and not surprisingly in demand the world over. Ross was actually heading off to Vancouver the next morning.
Their playing was unbelievable and they undoubtedly deserve the acclaime of being two of the most exciting and talented ted musicians in Scotland today. A personal favourite from them was their performance of JS Skinner's "Mathematician" and "The Hurricane."
For myself, I stuck more or less to the music of Skinner although I did perform "Lament for King George V" by Donald Riddell. Donald’s son and grand-daughter were in the audience and Donald was a great admirer of Skinner. It was a highlight for myself to have Tim accompany me on "Tullochgorum" with Skinner's variations and then to be joined by Ross for Skinner’s classic lament "Hector the Hero."
The concert ended with everyone joining the massed fiddlers for "The Atholl Highlanders." Standing ovation and the end to a great and memorable night.
PS the Strathspey King Memorial Fund committee members collected almost £1000 on the night collecting with buckets; a superb effort.
