As mentioned in our first blog post, May was our quietest month for a considerable time, but a welcome break to recharge our batteries.
The four week break from gigs still gave us regular players plenty to do: I headed up to Shetland Folk Festival on May Day weekend (I seriously cannot recommend it enough!), Gareth had a fun filled history school trip to Belgium, Matt concluded his secondary music education placements ahead of starting with Dundee City Council in August, and Jenna played some ‘proper’ music with Aberdeen Sinfonietta and various choral societies. A break from gigs, but still just a busy!
25th May saw the band head down to Gareth’s hometown and land of the Bridie, Forfar. And of course, we couldn’t visit without sampling the local delicacy:
We didn’t just go to eat bridies; soon after we headed off to Strathmore Hall at Forfar Mart for Louise’s 21st birthday party. It took all of a few bars for our fingers to find their place again as Louise’s guests joined us for the first half of dancing. Strathmore Hall is now a performance space and function room and the sizeable dance floor was welcome when it came to the end of the evening:
Two weeks later, and we have a triple gig weekend. Firstly, on Friday night we headed to home of Aberdeen Football Club, Pittodrie Stadium for Jane’s retirement do in the Richard Donald Suite. An exhausted (from a conference during the day) bunch of colleagues joined us to wish Jane a fond retirement.
Next we headed to The Barn in Banchory for Jane (a different one!) and Steven’s wedding reception. We always love going to The Barn for a number of reasons: a firm guarantee of pies at half time, fantastic get in with direct access to the huge stage, and a large dancing space for enthusiastic guests. When we arrived, overhearing one of the guests say the words ‘I just can’t wait to get dancing’ made us aware early on that we were in for a great night. Mr and Mrs Mair and their guests were an absolute delight to play for from start to finish:
The third gig of the weekend saw us return to the beautiful Maryculter House Hotel for Steven and Judith’s wedding reception. With Matt away playing some ‘serious music’ on cello with Marischal Chamber Orchestra, Tommy joined Gareth and Joe for a three piece gig:
Maryculter House is certainly one of our more popular venues and we are frequently booked to play there.
Throughout this month we are heading all over the north-east, from Portsoy in the north to Dundee in the south. I wonder what the next load of gigs have in store for us?