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Course History

Origins

This course was first run in 1991 as a Shetland Fiddle course by Hazel and Greg Smith on behalf of the charity Duxford Saturday Workshop. The accordion and flute and whistle courses were added in subsequent years.

The "Shetland Fiddle, Accordion, Flute and Whistle" summer school soon became established as a very popular five day course with the main tutors being Brian Finnegan (Flute/Whistle), Catriona Macdonald (Fiddle) and Ian Lowthian (Accordion) running Monday to Friday at the beginning of every summer.

But then...

Organising this course (which became known as the "Musical Madness" summer school) proved to be very demanding, and after several changes of hands, in 2001 there was no course offered.

However, later in the year, Stephen Bardwell (a regular member of the course) managed to secure Brian, Kathryn Tickell (Fiddle) and Sam for a weekend in the summer. Also, for the first time, Band workshops were also offered, and proved very popular.

In 2002,the course reverted to the five-day scheme under Stephen's direction. Without doubt a good time was had by all, with new tutor Nancy Kerr along with Brian and Sam. It saw the DIY Ceilidh, Musical Quiz and One Night Stand Competition for the first time, all of which proved to be excellent events! Everyone came away buzzing with inspiration and happy memories! (Take a look at the Reviews section!)

In 2003, a similar set-up saw Brian and Sam return, this time with previous tutor Ed Boyd on Guitar and Liz Doherty on Fiddle. Another great course, despite the record-breaking heat that week!

Now...

The course is still run by Stephen, but with help from other volunteers. This year's course will follow much the same pattern as recent years, and will run from Monday to Friday.

Traditions that we hope will continue are the good weather, juggling and rounders games on the back lawn (during breaks between classes) and the humourous "Girls Dorm" act during the end-of-week concert. And Zip-Bop, of course!

If you attended one of the previous courses, we'd love to hear from you! Join the Yahoo! Group or contact us.

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