I never thought I’d actually MEET someone from the Chiffboard…until today:-
Took Seán Potts to Edinburgh airport today at the end of “Strathspey in May”, drove the 3 hours back to Grantown-on-Spey and went to get a pizza.
In the chip shop I met a guy with a festival badge on, we got talking…he gave me a whistle he had made himself…I tried it…and then found out that this was “EricT” !!!
Eric came over to join the whistle/flute workshop given by Flook’s Sarah and Brian.
He said there had been a couple of other C&F members at the festival.
Sarah…your concert was great…wish there had been more time to chat after.
Eric…your whistle was lovely…very light, easy to use and great tone…and it was great to meet you and your family.
For the pipers, Seán Potts is an awesome player, generous teacher, and [since Friday] now able to Spey cast with a 15 foot salmon rod.
[I taught him some fishing technique and he gave me some piping tips!!]
I was looking for the elusive Boyd at S-i-M, everyone had seen him ‘just a minute ago’. Met ErikT and his family, (and his whistles) staying at the same guesthouse.
Great Festival! Flook, Bert Janch and good workshops. My personal favourite was watching Aaron Jones’ sensitive Bouzouki with Claire Mann’s Fiddle & Flute.
By all means check out Erik’s whistles if you have not done so. Having a solid silver whistle is SOOO cool. Very beautifully made and presented-- looks like a little piccolo. The sound is very sweet and not overly loud ( he offers them in 3 different voicings, for different styles of playing). Very classy whistles at a very reasonable price. Years ago, I yearned for a silver whistle by another famous maker, but didn’t buy it because of the cost. Erik’s cost less than HALF of what I recall as the price of the other. Check them out-- I think there is a link on the “expensive whistles” section of C&F
Boyd can probably tell you more, but the Spey (the river for which Grantown-on-Spey is named) is a great flycasting river. The B&B in which I stayed had a chart on the wall which tracked the height of the river and as us festival folks were leaving the fishermen were coming in.
Boyd, were folks fishing for salmon? Can you flyfish for salmon?
The Spey is a salmon river.
It gives its name to the “Spey Cast”, a technique in which a long [15 to 18 feet] rod casts a flyline without a backcast…its a graceful and highly skilled method by which the angler casts up to 45 feet of line, at the same time time changing the placement of the line from downstream to across the stream of the river.
I’ve been doing it since I was a schoolboy…learnt by watching all the old men on my local river in the Foyle system [Co Derry]…a bit like some people learn their pipes or whistle by watching older and better exponents.
Small world indeed! Erik, my partner Lucy Dolan and I attended the same workshop as you at Strathspey in May! Are you still suffering from the awe factor of having been taught by Sarah Allen and Brian Finnegan on successive days? And Brian had a go on my new Burke E flat - sounds a bit different than when I play it!!
And Boyd you and John Jackson (famous bodhran maker to those who don’t know him) and the rest of the organisers at the festival are doing a fantastic job - this year was even better than last year. We’ll definitely be back next year. Make sure you book Flook again eh!
Man, I’m in heaven. I imagine myself playing the pennywhistle between spey casts for salmon in Scotland. Life doesn’t get any better than this (and Boyd’s a doctor which could come in handy for a newbie flycaster who gets fly in his lip or ear or elsewhere in his person).
But looks like everyone had a great time…