Today I’m running around like a madman. Suffering from hay fever in this hot but grey sticky day and trying to pack. We’re all excited to be going to Germany tomorrow morning to play for Janet’s wedding. We’ll fly to Berlin and have a night there, then on Saturday we travel to Dresden to play at the wedding which we are very much looking forward to. We are to give the Germans a taste of Scottish Culture. I hope the recent flooding hasn’t caused too much damage. Fred’s Splashing White Sergeant might be our first dance. Maybe we can find a session in Berlin tomorrow night, anyone know of any? If not I’m sure we are in for a good time anyhow. Can’t wait for some good German food and a massive glass of German beer. (I’ll be bringing my bib and a spare pair of trousers Tom) Think I’ll take a Kilt as well.
Author: admin
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Glamis Lumo Stage
We enjoyed our performances at Glamis Castle. The weather was atrocious especially on the Saturday. Thanks to those who persisted to listen to Iron Broo at the end of the evening to ceilidh in the torrential rain and darkness… We will never forget you!
I found it strange being on the stage with the light in my face which meant that when looking out to the audience we couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. Only the odd High-Viz jacket dancing around which gave me a wee chuckle.
The Sunday weather was slightly better. It drizzled on and off most of the day. Although when we went on to perform at the end of the day the sun came out and even gave us a bit of colour.
Myself and all the other families enjoyed the Singing Kettle who were great. Children love them and I saw quite a lot of adults enjoying the fun, myself included. My son Marco was over the moon to get a chance to be on stage with them and play the maracas. We have seen them several times at their shows and he had always wished to be picked to go on stage with them and so he was very very happy. Thanks Gary!
The Kilted Chef – Craig Wilson’s cookery demonstration was excellent. He was joined by the lovely Andrea Brymer of STV. I was standing watching when Marco went to the front just as Craig was making a Chocolate sauce. ‘Would you like to try some?” he asked Marco in front of everyone. “No” replied Marco.
He must have been the only person, everyone laughed. He’s a fussy eater but then he is only 6. Craig demonstrated his recipes using Local ingredients which he gathered from the stalls of Local producers who were selling their fare at Glamis. So anyone could go and buy the ingredients there and then. I think it’s great to see local fresh produce being used in our cooking. For a long time Scotland has had a poor reputation for it’s culinary excellence. Things are changing now. Scotland produces some of the finest ingredients for the table you will find anywhere in the world. Our meat is second to none. Fantastic fresh fish. Any vegetables that like rain are far better in Scotland, tatties, carrots etc. I have always been annoyed to see supermarkets sell tatties and carrots that come from the other side of the continent when we have the best tasting right here on our doorstep. Apples and Strawberries are another example.
I really enjoy cooking and hope to try some of Craig’s apricot chicken soon. It’s important that people cook their own food. I despair when I look at what some folk buy in the Supermarket. -
Glamis Gathering 2013
After the huge success last year, Glamis Gathering 2013 is set to be a great weekend out for all. Set in the grounds of Glamis Castle, in front of the castle, a weekend of fun is promised for everyone on Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th of May 2013. Tickets and information can be found here: (No longer available.)Saturday the 18th May from 3pm in front of the castle.
Live on the Lawn
Featuring:
MICHAEL BUBLE Tribute – Drew Wilson
IRON BROO – Ceilidh Band (yippeee)
GLITZ – All Girl Rock Band
Pipe Band Blairgowrie
Paul Anderson – International Fiddler (Quality!)
Local Choir
Master of Ceremonies – Mr Doug Duthie
Sunday 19th
Family Fun Day
Family Day of Music/Dance including Food/Crafts
from 10.30amFeaturing:
THE SINGING KETTLE – With their new show (ace)
GLAMMERJACK – a take on the famous CRACKERJACK television programme
Hosted by HILARY WHITLEY of BBC SCOTLAND
TEDDY BEAR PICNIC
Competition for best dressed Teddy
IRON BROO – Ceilidh Band (hurraaay!)GLITZ – All Girl Rock Band
GARRY SEAGREAVES – Magician for Children
LOCAL MUSICIANS – on Stage during the afternoon
COOKERY DEMONSTRATION – CRAIG WILSON
The Kilted Chef from Eat on the Green Restaurant
with a special guest appearance from
ANDREA BRYMER of STV
FOOD AND CRAFT VILLAGE
including stalls from local producers and crafts
POLICE AWARENESS UNIT ON SITE
ANGUS COMMUNITY COUNCIL DISPLAYS
Funfair and Food Outlets all day -
New photographs playing Live.
We had some great photos recently from gifted wedding photographer Janie Barclay. ( see her site http://www.janiebarclay.com ) They were just taken at weddings where we both working. I’ve put some up on our Facebook and will use them on the website and other projects.
Thanks Janie.
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Accordion Lessons with SC&T
This week is the start of the new term for the Scottish Culture and Traditions Adult classes in traditional music and culture. Know locally as SC&T (scat). Tomorrow evening will be the start of the new accordion class for players of all levels wishing to learn or brush up on their accordion skills. I’ll be taking the class 7pm till 9pm at Harlaw academy, Albyn Place, Aberdeen. Places are limited to a maximum size of 16 people so if you are interested contact SC&T direct on their website www.scottishculture.org http://www.scottishculture.orgIf you have any pieces you’d like to learn (meant to be Scottish music but I’m flexible) let me know I’ll do my best to help you.If you need a new accordion or for the best hand made Italian instruments, accessories and digital accordions visit accordioncloud.scot. Or check out Ebay or the local papers for a cheapo squeeze box to practice on before shelling out on the best.
I hope to see you there.
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What goes up must come down
Fred and I had a great gig at the weekend at Skene hall. A farewell party for an Aberdeen Lass off to Toronto to seek her fortune across the pond. It left us on a high for the rest of the weekend but as the rule says, what goes up, must come down and I am suffering the man flu this week. Michty me. I’m aff ma legs wi it!
I’ve a sair back, a sair heid and my limbs are aching. The paperwork is piling up, the accordion is screaming for a tune but the body says nae chunce!
I think myself lucky I’m nae somebody that gets nae weel too much. It must be that time of year again. Not to worry, I’ve got the log burner on, a pot o’ broth on the go and a hale box o Lemsips.
Let the cleansing begin! -
Happy Easter
Happy Easter folks.
I’ve painted and rolled my eggs, have you? We had fun this afternoon rolling Eggs in the garden with the kids. My Egg won.
For lunch we had home made Lasagna and chocolate eggs.
Tonight we are playing for a wedding. It’s been a lovely day. I’m looking forward to a tune and a good ceilidh….
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Baltic Weather, Photos & Accordion Lessons.
This cold weather has really been starting to bother me lately. It seems never ending. I can’t wait until our trips abroad over the summer. If the Sun won’t come to Iron Broo then Iron Broo willl come to the Sun! I’m looking forward to Germany, Sicily and Italy later in the year. I was hoping for a chance to go to Canada too but that might have to wait until next year…we’ll see.
Here’s hoping Scotland gets a summer this year.Fred and I are doing a photo shoot tomorrow morning for a publicity spot for a gig Iron Broo are playing at in May. I’ll tell you more about that one shortly. Just so I tell you the correct info.Accordion Lessons
SCAT in Aberdeen will be running an accordion class starting next month. Subject to a to class size of at least 7 pupils attending. I am happy to tell you that I will once again be taking the class after an absence of over 11 years from teaching for SCAT and I am very much looking forward to it. I think it will be held on a Wednesday night for 6 weeks starting 24th April. 7pm till 9pm with a break for refreshmentssshh…The SCAT website, will have the info up there shortly or you can contact them for the details if you want to learn the piano accordion.
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Lizzie’s Hoose
Balmoral CastleIt’s been a busy week. We’ve had a lot of enquiries and have taken 6 more confirmed wedding bookings with some more in the pipeline. Last weekend saw us at Balmoral Castle again. For Gillian and Gary’s wedding. What an evening it was. Good crack and it was nice to see so many kent faces fae Ballater. (Fit like Lisa!) It was a bit difficult to drag some folk away from the bar to begin with but in the end we couldn’t get them to stop dancing. We had to knock back the request for the third encore after 1am because we thought Lizzie might come knocking.
We made it home safely at around 3am and headed off for a well earned sleep. I managed till about 7am when the kids got up.I am considering adding a Forum to the site. Any suggestions? -
A new beginning…
Today – It’s a new beginning for Iron Broo. 2013 is going to be a good year for us. We start with our new website. A lot of people commented on how much they liked the last one but I felt I could still improve it as things are changing all the time. So are they way people like to communicate. I’ve tried to keep up with all these trends and as a result I have integrated some new features to our website. This Blog for example. I’ll try and keep it as up to date as possible and let you in on some of what goes on behind the scenes in a busy ceilidh band. More than you can imagine!
In this Blog I’ll keep you informed of what I’m doing to Keep Iron Broo at the Top of their game. We are currently no.1 position on FreeIndex in bands categories based on our customers reviews. We have a lot of competition for the 1st spot!
There is also now a facility for you to upload files to our site on our clip page. If you have any pictures or videos you’d like to share with us. Especially if they involve an Iron Broo ceilidh. I’ll need to verify them of course.You can follow us on Twitter or on Facebook now as well. The twitter account is me and there is a dedicated page for Iron Broo on Facebook. Please click the like buttons below if you like us. It’s a big help. The site is new and I’ve lost the old likes so we look kind of lonely here now.Please feel free to add comments to this Blog. I welcome comments. It will help to keep me motivated to write.
