6th Hexham Piper’s Gathering – May 11th-13th 2012

Posted on by Rob

After visits to Seattle in the US and Blankenheim, Germany time for some more piping back at home:

  • 18th April, Gun Inn, 8pm
  • 26th April, Presentation for the Village Society, Wall Village Hall, 7.30pm
  • 28th April, Hexham Farmer’s Market (morning)
  • 11-13th May, Hexham Piper’s Gathering

The Hexham Piper’s Gathering is now in it’s 6th year and is a regular fixture on the 2nd weekend in May. There’ll be a session in the Abbey undercroft on Friday night, workshops throughout Saturday, informal ceilidh on Saturday evening in the Moot Hall and a follow up session at the Dipton Mill Pub (great food) on the Sunday.

Andrew Davison is organising this one and there’s more details and booking forms over at the Northumbrian Piper’s Society or contact me for for more details.

Concertina – Blankenheim, Germany

Posted on by Rob


Those lovely people in Germany invited me over to the Blankenheim Osterbordunale again this year. It’s a great week with expert tuition in French pipes, Hurdy Gurdy, Song, Button Accordian and Dance. I was there principally to play and teach the smallpipes .. but then they discovered I played Concertina. My good friend Wim Dictus (Button Accordian, Guitarist, Singer and outstandingly good dancer!) managed to capture a couple of the sets from the Friday concert and offered to put them up – so here’s Caller Herrin’.

It’s a tune attributed to Nathaniel Gow and the song incorporates the fish wives calls to buy the fresh fish and the carillon of the bells in town (still working on those!) It’s been around in Northumbrian piping circles for a long time and morphed in to a fine air – some of the other versions on youtube are really quite different.

There’s another excerpt of a set of mine at the same concert which you should be able to get to from this one – thanks Wim!