Introduction
The Kinlochard Ceilidh Band
from Kinlochard, The Trossachs, Scotland currently has five members.
Select one or read on to learn about them:-
From the village of Aberfoyle in the Trossachs, Eilidh comes from a family of fiddle players. Both she and her brother, Ruaridh have won gold medals at the Mod. Eilidh is currently living in Nova Scotia.
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Neil is a former junior medallist at the Gaelic Mod. He is an exceptionally fine solo player -listen to "Mhairi Bhan Ogg" on the "Spirit of Freedom". Both he and Eilidh started their fiddle playing careers while pupils at McLaren High School, Callander. Neil is an executive in an IT company in Glasgow.
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Tommy plays a five-row button accordion. He has been playing accordion for almost 40 years. Tommy was a hill-sheep farmer in he Trossachs. He composed the beautiful modern waltz "Miss Carol Ann Walker" which is in the "Spirit of Freedom" album. The tune is called after his daughter.
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The grandaddy - literally - of the band. Fergus is a hill sheep farmer at Kinlochard in the Trossachs, right in the shadows of Ben Lomond. He also runs the famous "Story of Scottish Wool" show at the Scottish Wool Centre in Aberfoyle -Scotland's answer to the Agrodome. In his younger years played side, bass and tenor drum in a number of pipe bands, including the army. A keen prop forward in his day, he gave up club rugby at 45. Married to an Italian lady with an operatic voice, he has three children and three grandchildren. Unsually for Scotland, he runs a flock of merinos!
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John, currently living in Larbert, was the 1999/2000 All Scotland Accordion Champion and the Scottish Musette Champion in 2002. An extremely accomplished player and composer, John has toured with the band in the United States of America and Prague. He also has his own band, The Burns Brothers, in which he plays with his brother, George.
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