We had an absolutely wonderful time at our September fundraiser, Shawfest. The festivities began on Saturday 24th in St Peter’s hall, Partick. From 2pm there was a craft and activities fair, with pottery and knitting demonstrations, face painting, and a kids corner which included lots of fun games for our young attendees.
After the success of last years auction, we decided to hold another one, which had a range of fantastic items up for bids such as artwork, jewellery and the chance to name a tune written by musician and composer Hamish Napier. Our raffle table was also jam packed full of amazing prizes!
The craft stall holders this year were, Stef Baxter Pottery, Something Corny, The Braw Wee Emporium, Peter Gillies Art and Scottish Prints. A rep from the MS Society, Niall also was present with lots of information on the disease, and on the fantastic work that the society do.
Unfortunately, the weather was very poor that day, but we still had a brilliant turnout and there was a great atmosphere in the hall. Erin and her mum Alison were hard at work in the kitchen making stovies for the evening concert, and there was soup and sandwiches served during the day. We also had a wee cake stall, with Scottish tablet, brownies, biscuits and cupcakes.
In one corner of the room was our “sitting room” which Frankie has decorated beautifully and at 5pm, Dr Libby McGugan gave a workshop on Midlessness & Stress Management. This went down a real treat, and if you want to catch one of these talks follow Libby’s page on Facebook.
After our Gaelic MC Fi Dunn introduced the evening, the concert began. First up was Carla Feuerstein & Seán Gray. Carla is a German folk singer and guitarist and regularly tours with her family band, Die Feuerstein’s. Seán, a flute and guitar player, is a member of The Paul McKenna Band. The pair played a beautiful selection of German folk songs and Scottish tunes and songs and their mellow sound was a perfect start to the evening.
Next up was the Blas Collective. This group play a weekly jam session in Bar Bloc and is made up of a plethora of musicians based in Glasgow. On this occasion the band consisted of Jenn Butterworth, Hamish Napier, Adam Sutherland and Steve Forman. They played an eclectic selection of tunes and songs, including an amazing rendition of Fraser’s classic, The C-Side.
The concert took a break with a game of “toss the coin” wherein a bottle of Caorunn gin could be won by sliding a pound coin across the floor towards it. The winner hits the bottle! There was a good queue of people wanting a turn but few were coming close, until Hilda (my mum) hit the bottle head on! She was delighted with her prize.
After the break, there was an hour of ceilidh which was absolutely brilliant craic and had everyone up dancing the night away!
The second half of the festival carried on the following evening in The Sparkle Horse. It was lovely to meet up with everyone; to eat, drink and chat. There was also an informal trad session with Jenn, Laura-Beth and co. Here, the auction and raffle winners were to be announced. The auction had been open for bids from the previous Thursday and were still taking bids up to 10pm that night. Our auctioneer Tait, done a great job in the final throws of it, encouraging people to up the bids at the last minute!
Hamish’s tune, an uplifting 9/8 march, was purchased by Ross Ainslie and was aptly named “Frien’ship Brings Us Here the Night”. The title comes from a classic Scots song “Happy We Are A’ Thegither” which very much echoes the great priority Fraser put on friendships and social gatherings during his life. Have a listen to the tune here. After all the prizes were announced the tunes started up again and carried on into the night. It was a really brilliant evening and night, a fantastic finish to a lovely weekend, and the team raised a grand total of £2000 for the Fraser Shaw Trust.
Happy We Are Thegither
Here around the ingle bleezin’,
Wha see happy and see free?
Tho’ the northern wind blaws freezin’,
Frien’ship warms baith you and me.Happy we are a’ thegither,
Happy we’ll be, ane an’ a’;
Time shall see us a’ the blyther
Ere we rise to gang awa’.
See the miser o’er his treasure
Gloatin’ wi’ a greedy ee!
Can he feel the glow o pleasure
That around us here we see?
Thus then let us a’ be tassin’
Aff our stoups o gen’rous flame;
And while roun’ the board ’tis passin’,
Raise a sang in frien’ship’s name.
Frien’ship maks us a’ mair happy’
Frien’ship gies us a’ delight;
Frien’ship consecrates the drappie,
Frien’ship brings us here the night.
Happy we are a’ thegither,
Happy we’ve been, ane an’ a’;
Time shall find us a’ the blyther
Ere we rise to gang awe.