The Lesley Hale Memorial Concert is always hotly anticipated and this year took place, as usual, at The Dean Tavern on Saturday 5th October.
The concert is so named in tribute to the wonderful singer and songwriter so sadly missed by the club and the folk world in general. Our chosen charity this year was MND (Motor Neuron Disease) Scotland as one of our long standing members, and Nitten stalwart Alison Gilroy, was recently diagnosed with this terrible condition. It was an absolute pleasure to have Alison in attendance and club members were delighted to see her.
We’re very lucky at Nitten to have a wealth of talent among our members and this was certainly on show during the course of the evening. The sell-out audience was treated to a range of traditional folk songs with rousing choruses, original songs and more contemporary acoustic classics. The Dean Tavern provided delicious stovies for our half-time break so our thanks go to the Dean and their chef. There was, of course, a grand raffle, including a special prize of bounteous amounts of lovely booze for one lucky winner.
One of the best things about Nitten Folk Club is that members are encouraged not only to perform, but to get together and form informal groups. This has led to some wonderful combinations of talented singers and musicians. This was evident on the night with the acts performing all made up of regular members. Unfortunately missing from this evening’s concert was Ronnie Miller, who was unavoidably committed elsewhere on the night. Ronnie usually provides the PA but Jim Weatherston and Tom Fairnie were on hand to fill the gap admirably.
Delighting the capacity audience in the first half were the ‘Rockin’ Chair Rebels’ (Janis & Ian Duncan and May & Jim Weatherston) with some well-known songs beautifully delivered, Gillian Anderson was sensitively accompanied by one of our newer members Jen Kendall on guitar. Fairweather (Tom & Jane Fairnie and Jim & May Weatherston) sang a selection of Tom’s excellent original songs. As the rain ‘chucked it doon’ outside, Tom’s song “The Rain Ain’t Coming Back” brought the first half to a somewhat ironic close.
After a sumptuous repast of stovies and the raffle we were treated to the delightful Uillean Heart (Jen Kendall and her daughter Laura) whose stunning harmonies had the audience spellbound. The fabulous ‘Over the Hill Folk’ (Charlie Boyle and Ian Duncan) kept the party going with some traditional folk and much laughter. This was followed by May Weatherston and George Archibald with Jim Weatherston (three-quarters of the wonderful Ragged Glory).
The main concert closed with a rousing final act, Twa Grey Dugs (Paul Ashcroft and his mate Cieran) who had the whole place joining in. For the inevitable encore the entire cast came together on stage to sing “Rolling Home” with fantastic audience participation which almost took the roof off.
The wonderful Nitten audience went away having been thoroughly entertained and the club is very proud to be able to donate a truly impressive total of £1400.00 to MND Scotland.
Roll on 2025 and the next Lesley Hale Charity Concert.