INVERARAY and District Accordion and Fiddle Club held its monthly meeting in the Argyll Hotel on March 12.
As chairman, Niall Iain MacLean, was off to sunnier climes, John Renton very kindly stood in as compere for the night.
Proceedings opened as usual with Fyne Folk - Janette Gibson, Sally Hall, Duncan Crawford, Jake MacKay and Agnes Liddell - with a fine medley of sets, followed by James MacArthur on melodeon with a couple of Irish and Gaelic waltz sets.
The youngsters from Strachur, Arlene and Alexander MacKechnie were back again, playing a duet first and then a solo by Alexander. They were given great applause as ever and were congratulated by the chairman on their lovely playing and assured them that they had a great musical career ahead.
Next on stage was Jake McKay on ‘moothie’, John Rebton on second box and Agnes Liddell on keyboard, with a grand selection of pipe marches and this was followed by John and Agnes with a couple of 2/4’s and then 6/8’s – great toe-tapping stuff.
It was now time for the guest artistes – The Neil Sinclair Sound – from Connel to do their first spot.
With Neil on accordion, his wife, Sheila on keyboard, Don MacAllister on fiddle and Kevin McGlynn on drums, they played a nice mixture of sets, from well known Gaelic waltzes to rousing reels, which brought the audience up to the interval.
The second half got underway with Peter Stewart from Pitlochry, who delighted the audience on accordion and, with John on second box and Agnes on keyboard, played a lovely set of waltzes followed by a medley of two-steps.
Jake McKay was persuaded back for another spot with John and Agnes and played some more of the old favourite pipe marches.
It was then over to Neil and the band for the remainder of the second half and they played a great variety of sets, with tunes from many of the great bandleaders past and present, along with some amusing stories from Neil.
All too soon it was time for the last set of reels and compere John Renton thanked all the artistes for yet another excellent night’s music.
Committee member Roddie MacDiarmid had organised a quiz night at Cairndow in February to raise funds for the club and this realised the magnificent sum of £561.00. The chairman had written a letter expressing the sincere thanks of the committee.
Next week is the last meeting for the season, when the ever-popular Ross MacPherson and his Band - again Connel based - will be the guests, so a grand finale is in store.
