Midsummer Music For Women's Aid

16th June 2015

A nostalgic selection of popular songs
presented by Martin Treacher (Skibo Castle's
resident musical entertainer)
and
Scottish folk music performed by the acclaimed Sutherland Duo,
Mhairi Mackinnon (fiddle) & Heather Shelley (keyboard)

Carnegie Hall, Clashmore, Dornoch
Sunday 21st June - 7pm till 9pm
Refreshments included at interval

Admission Free
Donations to Caithness and Sutherland Women's Aid at door

CherryGrove
Three leading Sutherland-based musicians are set to provide a sparkling evening of entertainment for a good cause when a local charity celebrates its 10th birthday.

Caithness and Sutherland Women's Aid will mark its first decade by staging ‘Musical Entertainment for Mid-Summer Evening' on Sunday 21 June at The Carnegie Hall in Clashmore.

The concert will feature the nationally-acclaimed Golspie-based musicians Mhairi Mackinnon (fiddle) and Heather Shelley (keyboard), as well as Martin Treacher who is the resident musical entertainer for the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle.
Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid (CASWA) is a Scottish Registered Charity which offers confidential, non-judgmental information and support for women, children and young people who have experienced, or are experiencing, Domestic Abuse throughout Caithness and Sutherland.

Martin Treacher will be master of ceremonies for CASWA’s special birthday event. He said: "It is a great pleasure to support such a worthy local cause, and it’s also a treat for me to perform alongside Mhairi and Heather who are wonderful musicians."

By coincidence, just as CASWA is celebrating its tenth birthday, Martin has also been at Skibo Castle for exactly ten years, joining the exclusive private members club in June 2005. Before moving to Sutherland, Martin and his family lived in Glasgow where Martin was entertainment manager for the two Scottish-registered luxury cruise ships, Hebridean Princess and Hebridean Spirit.

During the 1990s Martin was entertainment director for ‘Connoisseurs Scotland’, an alliance of the country’s finest hotels including Gleneagles, Turnberry and Old Course St Andrews.

And in 2003 Martin composed ‘The Haggis Song’ - a pop music setting of the famous address by Robert Burns - and the song can sometimes be heard on the radio when Burns Night comes around each January.
In ‘Musical Entertainment for Midsummer Evening’ Martin will be presenting a selection of popular songs down the years. "I plan to start in the year 1907," he explained, “which is when Andrew Carnegie gifted the hall to Clashmore. The most famous song from that year was probably ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’! Everyone knows the chorus, but has anyone ever heard the verse?”

Martin will lead a musical journey through to the present day, including songs from the two world wars. He added: “There will be plenty of opportunities for people to join in the singing if they would like to!”

Mhairi Mackinnon (fiddle) and Heather Shelley (keyboard) will be providing Scottish folk interludes during the concert. Mhairi is originally from Perthshire and is acknowledged as one of Scotland’s finest young fiddlers and over the past few years she has formed a dynamic and innovative musical relationship with Heather, who hails from Golspie.

The two ladies met while they were both students at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton, and then they both went on to study Scottish music at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow.

Mhairi and Heather are founder-members of the dynamic Scottish folk ensemble CherryGrove and the band received wide acclaim in August 2012 when they were invited to perform at the Olympic Park in London to crowds visiting the Olympic Games.

More recently Mhairi chose to base herself in Golspie and she and Heather have been providing some welcome musical tuition to pupils in local Sutherland primary schools.

However, the girls are also busy with their own music, often playing in the Central Belt or further afield. Indeed, the girls have only just returned from a week of musical performances in Australia!

“June is certainly turning out to be a busy month!” said Heather, “but Mhairi and I are pleased to be supporting the local Women’s Aid and I am sure it will be a great night at Clashmore.”

‘Musical Entertainment for Mid-Summer Evening’ will start at 7pm and finish at 9pm. Admission is free on the door and teas, coffees and birthday cake will be served in the interval. Those attending are invited to make a donation to CASWA.
For further info please contact CASWA on 01408 633966 / info[AT]caswa.org.uk