st andrew's society newsletter 2014-15 version 3 · the hong kong st. andrew’s society...

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The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society Annual Newsletter 2014-2015

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1 – OCTOBER 2013

The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society

NEWSLETTER ISSUE

1 – OCTOBER 2013

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The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society Newsletter 2014-2015 Contents

Welcome to our second Society newsletter. The purpose of this newsletter is to give members of the society information on past and forthcoming events and to encourage members to participate in the Society’s activities. Contents Chieftain’s Message Annual General Meeting Annual General Meeting St Andrew’s Ball Burns Supper Burns Drinks Sports Race Night Jock’s Pot Soccer St Andrew’s Rugby Hong Kong Scottish Napier – live project History Music and Literature Involvement and Sponsorship Contact Us

The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1

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Chieftain’s Message It is my privilege to address you as the 120th Chieftain of the Hong Kong St. Andrew's Society, and I would wish to record my thanks to all my predecessors for handing over to me such a healthy, vibrant Society which is held in such high esteem both here and abroad. Many of you attended the St Andrew's Ball in November, and the Burns Supper and the Burns drinks more recently. Thank you to everyone who gave us such positive feedback. These events are reviewed within this Newsletter, and I hope help you to recall great times spent together. Your support for these events has been fantastic, and I thank you very much. Please keep in touch with future events on the St Andrew’s Society web site, so that you can continue to enjoy fellowship with other members and guests. Your Committee has recognised that we must actively engage our younger community in order to sustain and grow our Society into the future, and three of our younger members have been co-opted on to the Committee to help focus on this. We are also considering options for those with young families, and of course all of this will take place without sacrificing the tradition and values of the Society. If you have any suggestions, please let me, or indeed any Committee member know, and we will give our full consideration. Yours aye, Stewart Saunders. Chieftain 2014-15.

The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society Newsletter

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Annual General Meeting – Thursday 19th June 2014 Held at the Jardine’s penthouse, the Society’s AGM saw the Annual Report and Accounts of the Society presented and approved. Graeme Brechin stepped down as Chieftain and was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by incoming Chieftain Stewart Saunders.

The AGM deliberates on appointment of new office bearers The AGM welcomed the new committee and endorsed the appointment of Stewart Saunders as Chieftain, Alan Macdonald as Vice Chieftain and Alan Dalgleish as the Hon. Secretary. A schedule of events was deliberated upon and agreed for the new chieftains’ period of tenure (2014/2015).

Educational Grants were given to the successful candidates by the outgoing chieftain

Certificate of Appreciation given to outgoing chieftain Graeme Brechin

In keeping with the past traditions of the Society two one off educational grants were given to Laura McKeown, French International School and Jack McMillan, South Island School in recognition of their academic achievements. The awards are given on a competitive basis and only best performing candidates are selected .

As a new policy the Society has also begun the process of issuing “Certificates of Appreciation” to its past chieftain’s in recognition of the time and effort that they contribute during their period of tenure.

Former Chieftain Jacqui Donaldson Receives her Certificate

Former Chieftain Jock Mackie receives his Certificate.

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St Andrew’s Ball – Saturday 29th November 2014 The ball once again took place at the Football Club with over 400 members and guests in attendance The very capable MC for the evening was your Treasurer Mr Ian Reid. Attendees enjoyed a fine performance by the ‘Red Guards’ pipers then took to the dance floor until the wee small hours, with music provided by the Ian Carmichael Ceilidh Band.

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Our thanks to Glenlivet for providing the Whisky Bar for thirsty dancers (and those avoiding the dancing!) Hailing from Speyside, The Glenlivet Single Malt is a smooth, full flavoured Whisky and as one of the first distilleries to go legal in 1824, also a rich part of Scotland’s heritage. So it is no surprise that the Glenlivet made an appearance at the recent Burns supper held by the St Andrews Society to help honour the great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race.

The Ball was preceded by four dance practices held at the Hong Kong Football Club. These were sponsored by Bruce Rae Property and were well attended as well as being great fun .

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Burns Supper – Friday 24th January 2014 Earlier this year, the Conrad Hotel ballroom survived yet another St Andrew’s Society Burns Supper to celebrate the life of our Bard, Rabbie Burns. A fine evening was enjoyed by 500 members and their guests. Toasts were proposed in the traditional way by Mr. John Elliot (Immortal Memory), Mr. Bertie Weatherall (The Lassies) Andy Hall (Reply on behalf of the Lassies) and Mr. Kevin Zervos (Guest of Honour). Sensibly not drinking through the proceedings the Master of Ceremonies Alan Macdonald made sure that all proceeded smoothly (Alan apparently made up for his sobriety subsequent to the commencement of the community singing ). It was of note that the majority of the members and guests stayed back for the community singing . Each song was belted out with gusto. For many at the event it was the best ever Hong Kong St Andrew’s Society Burns Supper!!

The Speakers , Vice Chieftain and Chieftain (Centre)

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Burns Drinks at the HSBC

There is something Scottish about the structure of the bank !!

The 2015 Burns Drinks was held on the HSBC Banqueting Suite located on the 41st floor of the HSBC main building. This is a unique venue which enjoys spectacular views of Central. It provided members with an opportunity to visit a part of the bank that is not generally accessible to the public. There was also a whisky bar (the whisky was provided by the Glenlivet), drinks and light snacks. Entertainment included a piper (Chris Lee –see following article) and a fiddler. Shirley Adriane (chieftain of the Hong Kong Cricket Club gave a rendition of ‘Aye Fond Kiss and the “Deils awa wi the Excise man”. Other entertainment included John Bruce who gave a powerful rendition of Holy Willie’s prayer and Vincent Connor provided a very theatrical and entertaining reading of Tam O’ Shanter . The proceedings were punctuated by a powerful address to the haggis given by the chieftain.

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Chris Lee was our Piper at the Burns Drinks. Here is his story in his own words: I started piping in the Boys' Brigade in 2003, then I started to take online lessons from Bruce Gandy in 2006 and started my first piobaireachd as well, in 2008, I went to the Halifax Citadel School of Piping on a scholarship and worked for the living history program at the Halifax Citadel National Historical site as Highland Bagpiper/Historical Interpreter from 2008 to 2010, and competing at competitions with the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) grade one band (top 20 pipe band in the world) as well. In 2009, the band were invited to perform Mull of Kintyre with Sir Paul McCartney for his live concert in Halifax. During the time I went to sessions, ceilidhs and square dances, really experienced the Cape Breton music over there, as Nova Scotia has really strong Gaelic culture , and Cape Breton style has became my favourite type of style of Celtic music. In 2010, I have been invited to the Nicol-Brown Invitational contest, the competition only invite ten solo competitors across North America each year and I got 1st for the 6/8 event and 2nd for piobaireachd and 2nd overall as well. Back to Hong Kong in December 2010, and started teaching piping at some secondary schools and group classes as well as organizing introduction seminars at schools and cultural organizations since then. In 2011, I went to Scotland for 2 months for some lessons, competitions, PDQB tutor exam and experienced the culture in Scotland, went to some folk sessions as well , competed at the Uist games and young piper of the year contest in Benbecula, Blairgowrie & Rattray Highland Games, and got 5th prize for the Competing Pipers Association C grade piobaireachd there. In 2012, I had my first recital in Hong Kong, the recital included solo piping, a fusion set highland pipes with traditional Chinese instruments, smallpipes with Irish flute and bluegrass string band playing Celtic folk music and a couple bluegrass songs. I was very happy with it, full house of 150 audience. In 2013, I created a website of bagpipe resource in Chinese, hopefully more local people can able to know more about the bagpipes. In the summer of 2013, I went to Singapore piping championship, and won the open grade solo piping as well as winning the pipe band competition with the Hong Kong Pipe Band

Chris Lee - Piper

In November, I organized my first seminar to introduce the public to Scottish Bagpipe music, to demonstrate 3 types of Scottish pipes (Highland, Border and Small), explain how the instruments work and the types of music, and had one of my youngest students on practice chanter. It went well and 80 people came and some people signed up the classes. And I have been performing regularly at the Hong Kong Celtic Connections Chamber Choir concerts as guest soloist. In the same year, I have been fortune enough to meet a very good fiddler who just moved to Hong Kong, she was from the UK and has done her degree in folk music at the university of New Castle, and we have formed our pipe and fiddle duo "Over the Border" and have been performing around the venues in Hong Kong, try to promote this type of music, and show people the musical side of the bagpipe (as most of the people who have heard of the bagpipes, they only think the bagpipes are only for the military parades) In 2004 summer, I went back to Halifax, and played in the 78th Highlanders Halifax Citadel pipe band, and we won the grade one North American championship at the Glengarry Highland Games. during the time, I went to visit the Gaelic College in Cape Breton island, and got to perform with some well known Celtic musicians at 2 ceilidhs. Recently, I led the HK Sea School piping quartet to the Japan Highland Games, it was the first ever contest for the school and we got 2nd place out of 5 bands.

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St Andrew’s Society (AKA Scotland) Vs Hong Kong Football Club Rovers In January 2015 The St Andrew’s Society took on the HK Football Club . The team fought hard well into the second half to secure a resounding win over the Rovers team. In a highly competitive game the Gazelles took an early lead. It was a highly entertaining match with some excellent play by players on both side. St Andrew’s however prevailed and remain undefeated against Football Club teams. The full match report by Scott Semple (the team manager ) is to be found below

Eight and a half minutes into the Game and we are doing well.

Half-Time and we are still holding our own.

St. Andrews Society (3) v HKFC Rovers (2) Tuesday, 13th January 2015 With the St. Andrew’s Society Football team having a full year sabbatical from any match in 2014 another game was long overdue. New Year and all that. Our opponents for the evening were once again the HKFC Rovers, of whom we pitted our wits against in our very first match way back in May 2013. On that particular night honours were even in a tight 2-2 draw having shown great spirit coming back from a two goal halftime deficit. Conditions this time around were perfect - nice and cold with a stiff breeze - only the rain missing to make the squad feel right at home. The match was scheduled to begin at 7pm on a Tuesday night hence the squad rushed to get to Happy Valley in time for kick-off. Some succeeded, some not quite. We’re not 100% sure but rumours were abound that the delay of some getting out the dressing room was mainly due to the tight fitting second skin jerseys…...or was that body paint? Getting into some of those crevices can take a while. In any case 11 tartan souls kicked off, including Laurence “the cat” Denvir in goals. In the lead up to the match we had heard tales of Laurence having kept a clean sheet against Celtic! Okay it was their under 11’s side when he held the gloves for Pollok United, but nonetheless it was the best offer we had. The game started brightly enough with chances for both sides at either end; however it was our hosts Rovers that took the lead midway through the first half. Thankfully the ever reliable and consistent Allan Fraser managed to equalise before half time thanks to a delightful through ball / hoof up the park from Mark Bavis. One other first half highlight was the disintegration of Tommy Nevin’s football boots midway through the half. Following a quick substitution Tommy ran off up the tunnel to buy another pair of boots. I tell you what, you can’t say our players are not committed! 20 odd minutes later and Tommy returns with what can only be described as possibly the worst pair of bright yellow football boots that would even make Justin Fashanu blush! Causeway Bay sports shops have their limitations!

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St Andrew’s Society (AKA Scotland) Vs Hong Kong Football Club Rovers –Match Report Cont.)

Full time and its Victory!!

On with the second half and a few tactical changes were required with Oliver Li was now taking up duties between the sticks. As the half wore on both teams started to tire and the game really started to open up with a number of chances on either side. Our back 4 were starting to creak under the pressure of the young speed-merchant of Rovers. Thankfully he was soon dealt with as following a stramash just outside the box Niall Bennie managed to land on top of the young lad and ended his match! That still didn’t stop wave after wave of Rovers attacks however, and we managed to keep the score line level thanks to a couple of headers off the line; one from Bobby Tsang and one from Tommy Nevin, although there is no doubt Tommy’s day-glo banana boots helped blind the opposition at the moment of truth! Eventually the defence, which included a fine performance from Colin McCallum before his hamstrings gave up, let in a goal after more relentless attacking from Rovers. The Scots were now up against it 2-1 down with about 20 minutes to go. John McCorkindale had ran himself into the ground, whilst Patric Dougan minced around in the middle of the park doing his best not to impersonate a headless chicken. Dougan was under strict instruction to stay out of the road of the growing midfield understanding of Jim Rose & Allan Fraser, but was failing miserably. Some tactical changes ensued with John “The Bruce” Bruce going on at right-back to cause some havoc, whilst pushing forward the “Scottish (rotund) Cafu” Jamie Milne to offer help to the forwards. Soon the Scots were back on level terms. After some fine pressing play Fraser swung in a corner for Denvir to metamorphosis from a cat and leap like a salmon to nod one home! The Scots were now on the ascendancy and with time slowly running out, some more fine play down the right-hand side saw a tantalising cross put into the heart of the box for Hibbee Jamie Miller to score the winner and cap of nicely an excellent debut! Overall it was yet another fine display from the Scots and the unbeaten run continues! Record: Played 4, Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 0 Full squad: Laurence Denvir, Oliver Li (Hearts), Mark Bavis (Celtic), Colin McCallum (Rangers), Niall Bennie (St. Johnstone), Bobby Tsang (Rangers), Jamie Milne (Hearts), Jamie Miller (Hibs), Tommy Nevin (Hibs), Patric Dougan (Aberdeen), Allan Fraser (Aberdeen), Jim Rose (Dundee Utd), John McCorkindale (Partick Thistle), John Bruce (Morton). Manager: Scott Semple (Rangers)

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St Andrew’s Society Vs the St George’s and the St Patrick's Societies

Hot on the heals of the Football club match the Society hosted a soccer tournament between the societies . These were hard fought games and a hugely successful event . The great thing was the audience turn out. Many of the players brought along their families. This added enormously to the atmosphere during the tournament. As for the games we scored a resounding but hard fought victory over the English. Conversely at full time we were drawn 1-1 with the Irish. The game went to penalties and the Irish were triumphant. The competition was an enormously successful day out for the players and their families. It is intended to repeat the event in February 2016. Watch out for more news and announcements during the course of the year.

The St Andrew’s A Team with the St Patrick’s boys after a hard fought match that went to penalties.

Resounding St Andrew’s B team victory over the English

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St. Andrew’s Football: Inter-port Football Competition In late 2013 the Shanghai Scots and The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society played the first inter-port sports challenge to be held in many years. Played at the Hong Kong Football Club, the soccer challenge kicked off with a pipe band and a splendid rendition of ‘Oh Flower of Scotland’. The St Andrew’s team achieved a 7-1 victory. The score belied the intensity of the match and the boys had to fight hard to achieve the result. A return match is planned to be held in Shanghai in June 2015. Please let the society know if you are interested in playing. The Society has just defeated the Hong Kong Football Club (see match report and photographs on previous page).

Pre match Line Out – St. Andrew’s on the left and the Shanghai Scots on the right

A rendition of ‘Flower of Scotland’ kicked off the match. The singer provided the boys with pre match ‘inspiration’.

Pipes and Drums Heralded the Match


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St. Andrew’s Rugby - The Calcutta Cup. St. Andrew’s vs. St. George’s The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society has once again formed a rugby team to take on the St Georges Society. The match will be held at the Hong Kong football club on the 12th of March 2015. The Scots have one the last two matches and are set to defend their record . A curry dinner will be served after the match. Spectators can also enjoy the curry at nominal cost (an announcement will be made via e mail). Both societies are taking this event very seriously. So get along and support your team.

KPMG have sponsored a new kit for the St Andrew’s Team


Trophy Presentation after the Society’s last victory

Scottish National Seven’s Rugby Team Reception

The Society will again be hosting the Scottish players prior to the 7’s tournament at the end of March 2015. The reception will be held on Monday the 23rd of March in the Penthouse of Jardine House in Central. Not only is this a great opportunity to meet the team but you will get exclusive access to a stupendous venue that enjoys great views over the harbour . Get along and show your support for the team! An announcement will be made prior to the event.

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Hong Kong Scottish The past year has seen Hong Kong Scottish break new ground once again as they continue on their way to the top of HK rugby. Membership of the club continues to grow at a rapid rate with over 400 playing and social members. In rugby, the 1st XV have a new sponsor in the shape of Bloomberg and finished 4th in the HK Premiership in the 2013/14 season, playing a semi-final in the Grand Championships against Hong Kong Cricket Club where they were edged out at Aberdeen Stadium. The new 2014/15 season has seen Scottish make a real breakthrough as they have won 5 of their first 6 games to lie second in the league and captured the Broony Quaich from Hong Kong Football Club on the opening day of the season. Scottish have since defended the Quaich 3 times to become the longest holders of the trophy. This November saw HK Scottish with 5 call ups to the HK squad to take on Russia with John Aikman, Dave Whiteford, Lachlan Chubb, Jack Parfitt and Charles Cheung getting the call. With Scottish providing Craig Hammond, forwards coach, Luke Davey, Strength & Conditioning coach, Stephen Dowse, Analyst and Dave Garrick, Physio to the backroom staff, it is a great achievement for Scottish to have so many people involved. Further down the grades at the club, Hong Kong Scottish Bravehearts once again finished the season with silverware in the cabinet as they claimed the National 4B Grand Championship after overcoming Kowloon at The Rock, Shek Kip Mei. The club launched a new ladies side, Hong Kong Scottish Kukris, who boast Rosie Fong, the Hong Kong Ladies Player of the Year, in their ranks. The ladies claimed the Hong Kong Scottish Day 10s title at our club day back in September and have started the season in blistering form. The club have made a number of key signings in the off season with Scotland A centre Bryan Rennie the pick of the bunch. The club has now added a football section with the side taking part in the City League. The team are currently undefeated 3 weeks into the season

. Hong Kong Scottish Netball continues to go from strength to strength with over 80 members across 6 sides now in the leagues. The Hong Kong Scottish Thistles came agonisingly close to victory in the Division 4 Grand Final against Discovery Bay. Hong Kong Scottish Lacrosse became the largest ladies lacrosse section in Hong Kong with the Lassies being joined by the Bonnies. Once again, it was heartbreak in a final for Scottish as the Lassies were agonisingly beaten 11-9 by Mavericks. The club has continued to grow its group of illustrious Life Members with current chieftain Stewart Saunders being joined by past chieftains Jacqui Donaldson, John Bruce and Alan McTaggart as well as vice Chieftain, Alan Macdonald. There are now 40 Life Members of the Club.

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Hong Kong Scottish

The club have begun a hugely successful Life timers Lunch series with guest speakers Iain Milne and Craig Chalmers entertaining revellers so far. They were followed by 1990 Grand Slam winning captain David Sole on 31st January, 2015 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Scotland’s last Grand Slam.

The club now has a hugely successful community coaching programme sponsored by Edinburgh Napier University. Charles Cheung was appointed the first full time community coach of the club and has begun coaching programmes at schools in the Shek Kip Mei and Sham Shui Po area as well as charities youth clubs such as Changing Young Lives Foundation and The Hub.

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Jock’s Pot Golf Tournament Initiated and named after Jock Mackie (a former chieftain) the Jock’s Pot was success fully convened at Shek O Golf Course. The competition was fierce. Useful prizes such as vacuum cleaners abounded


As shown in the above photos food and beverage's were on hand to sustain the golfers and prize winners.

Chieftain’s Bottle

Although not strictly a sport the Chieftain’s Bottle has continued to be held on each Thursday when there is a meeting of the General Committee of the Society. This is a extremely informal event that gives members a chance to have a chat and enjoy a bottle of the Chieftain’s best. The venue for the bottle is the Canny Man in Wan Chai (Hong Kong’s only Scottish Bar). The next event when be announced through e mail. Come along and enjoy this great gathering.

Even Chieftain’s can get a little amorous

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Edinburgh Napier University is seeking Hong Kong organisations that have marketing projects on their 'to do' list that may benefit from a team of marketing students. The University is the UK’s largest provider of higher education in Hong Kong and offers various degree programmes in the territory through local partners, like CityU SCOPE. As part of their qualification, marketing students can elect to undertake a module that is a real marketing project. By working in teams of four, the students can gain experience of applying their studies to help an organisation address a self-contained project that is on its marketing 'to do' list. Hence the name of the module: Live Projects. The Hong Kong organisations are NOT required to host the students; more the request is to define the marketing project, brief the students and mark their final report and presentation.

Marketing Internments

Many organisations find the extra resource a helpful boost to progress marketing initiatives, while giving the organisation another ‘score’ for CSR activity. Also, depending on the project, the Gen Y perspective of the students can add an insight often not readily available within an organization's staff. The teams will be available to help during two time periods: during Q1-2 and during Summer. This means the deadlines for finalising Project Briefs – the initial template that sets out the background, objectives and your project requirements – are mid Jan 2015 and early June 2015 respectively. For more details including the timeline and more information about the process involved, please visit the new Live Projects website: http://www.napier.ac.uk/research/centresandprojects/LiveProject/Pages/home.aspx If you have a self-contained marketing project that would be well suited to the students then please contact at [email protected]

https://owa.napier.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=Wp9A99qGIUWI0wnpzDdXxMr-y-B01tEI39EYfVgumq3Rv82qHgvSmuMWaiou-epJoP8ZxBl7t8M.&URL=http://www.napier.ac.uk/research/centresandprojects/LiveProject/Pages/home.aspx

https://owa.napier.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=Wp9A99qGIUWI0wnpzDdXxMr-y-B01tEI39EYfVgumq3Rv82qHgvSmuMWaiou-epJoP8ZxBl7t8M.&URL=http://www.napier.ac.uk/research/centresandprojects/LiveProject/Pages/home.aspx

mailto:[email protected]

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The following is an extract from the predecessor of the SCMP describing a very different St Andrew’s Ball than that described earlier. It outlines an account of the ball, who was there and what was served

History: St Andrews Ball 1895

City Hall southern face and the St Andrew’s Hall circa 1890

City Hall northern façade and the St Andrew’s Hall (right) circa 1880 at the foreshore.

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Historical Literature

Emigrants carried a rich array of associations with them to the new worlds in which they settled, often ‘clubbing together’ along ethnic lines shortly after first footfall. Yet while a crucial element of immigrant community life, one of the richest examples, that of Scottish migrants, has received only patchy coverage. Moreover, no one has yet problematized Scottish associations, such as St Andrew’s societies or Burns clubs, as a series of transnational connections that were deeply rooted in the civic life of their respective communities. This book provides the first global study to capture the wider reliance of the Scots’ ethnic associationalism, arguing that associations and formal, sociability are critical to explaining how migrants negotiated their ethnicity in the diaspora and connected to social structures in diverse settlements. Moving beyond the traditional nineteenth-century settler dominions, the book offers a unique comparative focus by binging together Scotland’s near diaspora in England and Ireland with that in North America, Africa, the Antipodes and the Far East to assess the evolution of Scottish ethnic associations, as well as their diverse roles as sites of both memory and civility.

The book reveals that the structures offered by Scottish associations engaged directly with the local, New World contexts, developing distinct characteristics that cannot be subsumed under one simplistic label – that of an overseas ‘national society’. The book promotes understanding only of Scottish ethnicity overseas, but also of how different types of ethnic associational activism made diaspora tangible. Dr Tanja Bueltmann is Senior Lecturer in History at Northumbria University and co-editor of Locating the English Diaspora, 1500-2010 (LUP, 2012).

Lost Sherlock Homes Book Found in Attic in Selkirk. A lost short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been found in an attic by Walter Elliot an 80 year old historian. The story follows Holmes deducing how he knew his old friend Watson was going to the Border country. Calling it a “matter of deduction” Watson added he was going to Selkirk in “aid of a bridge” (there were a series of very damaging storms in Selkirk at the end of the last century). The recovered volume is to go on display at the Cross-Keys Selkirk Pop-Up Community Museum

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Alasdair Roberts I Scottish indie-folk musician Alasdair Roberts is gearing up to follow A Wonder Working Stone with a new, self-titled LP. Ahead of its release, he's shared a new song.

"Artless One" is another wonderfully timeless track from Roberts, pairing his voice and guitar work with a bass clarinet, tin whistle and sparse-yet-evocative harmonies from the Crying Lion.

Alasdair Roberts is expected to arrive in early 2015 via Drag City. Alasdair Roberts is a musician (primarily a guitarist and singer) who is based in Glasgow Scotland. He has worked with Drag City Records since 1997, firstly releasing three albums of self-written material under the name Appendix Out and then several albums under his own name, the most recent being A Wonder Working Stone by Alasdair Roberts & Friends (Drag City, 2013). He has also released music on labels such as Secretly Canadian, Galaxia and Stone Tape Recordings. His work mainly consists of two parallel strands: self-written song material (which can be heard on albums such as Farewell Sorrow, The Amber Gatherers, Spoils and A Wonder Working Stone) and interpretations of traditional songs and ballads from Scotland and beyond (which can be heard on albums such as The Crook of My Arm, No Earthly Man and Too Long In This Condition). Alasdair has collaborated widely with many different musicians throughout his musical career, including the Scottish Gaelic singer Mairi Morrison, with whom he made the 2012 album Urstan. He has also collaborated with artists from other disciplines such as puppeteers (Shane Connolly, with whom he worked on a puppet theatre interpretation of the Scottish folk play ‘Galoshins’), film makers (including Luke Fowler, contributing a soundtrack to his film ‘All Divided Selves’) and, most recently, a poet (fellow Scot Robin Robertson, with whom he made the 2013 album Hirta Songs). In addition to these projects, Alasdair also recently became a member of the English/Scottish folk quartet The Furrow Collective, along with Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton and Emily Portman. The group’s first album At Our Next Meeting was released earlier this year.

Scottish Music

Aaron Fyfe Another Scottish musician in the news is Aaron Fyfe who has only started his career in music . The Dunblane- born 26-year old singer- songwriter sings in a Scottish accent as broad as both Proclaimers, but it’s indicative his determination to travel a singular path. Fyfe lives and tours in a van. Fyfe is an amazingly talented singer son writer. Fyfe is generally self-accompanied on guitar and gives strong renditions of modern grass roots Scottish folk music. It is doubtful that his van will be seen anywhere in Hong Kong but look out for him on tour when you go back to Scotland

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This newsletter was written by Alan Macdonald and Alan Dalgleish and produced by The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society. Graphics by Ho Fong. Additional Material Provided by those credited. http://www.standrewshk.org

Get Involved!! The Society is not just its committee members participation in its events is vital. If you can assist in organizing or promoting event please get in touch with the society. Sponsorship is also encouraged!!. Nothing comes for nothing these days!! Please also encourage fellow Scots who are not members to join.


St. Andrew’s Day 1942 Stanley Camp Programme. Readers of the last newsletter will be aware that the Society has loaned the Original St. Andrew’s Day 1942 Stanley Camp Programme to St Stephen’s Heritage Museum. The Society has made 100 limited edition copies of the programme . Members may purchase a copy by writing to the society This is a splendid piece of history . The programme is printed on high quality card and costs HK$ 1,000. All proceeds will go to charity.

The Arts

Brave Scottish general, Macbeth, receives a prophecy from a trio of sinister witches promising him a golden future as ruler of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. But he soon learns the meaning of terror as he is wracked with guilt and paranoia, becoming a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death.

Join us at the Fringe Club in April 2015 for a re-telling of this most murderous. Bookings can be made through the following e mail address. [email protected]

The Original St. Andrew’s Day 1942 Stanley Camp Programme now under the care of St Stephen’s Heritage Museum.

http://www.standrewshk.org/


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The Hong Kong St. Andrew’s Society Unit G, 18th Floor Seabright Plaza 9-23 Shell Street North Point Hong Kong Tel: 3113 6940 Fax 28505477 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.standrewshk.org


http://www.standrewshk.org/

st andrew's society newsletter 2014-15 version 3 · the hong kong st. andrew’s society...

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