News Archive

Finish off some dates in Ft William and Banchory and off for a wee break in the sun.

This is where it all goes pear shaped. I'm tootling about with some gigs in Scotland when,

in the middle of the month the pains in the front start to get really bad. Off to the doc who

sends me to Perth Royal Infirmary and they decide that I really need the hernias sorted PDQ.

You don't need to know the details but suffice to say I am the victim of the kind of c**k up

for which the NHS is famous and I'm sitting here in Feb still not having had the surgery.

I struggle through the next six weeks with no work having cancelled on their say so but eventually

A month marred by the death of my old friend Ken Thompson. Ken was a fine writer

and a great support to some of us; The MacCalmans, Barbara Dickson, Mike Whellans

Mike and I had the nerve wracking task of playing at the crematorium but it was a

Had a great night in Chamonix, France for their first ever Burns Night. I have no

idea where all these scotsmen in kilts came from but keep up the good work lads.

It's all been a bit too much for a man in my state but I'm still here if in a bit of pain.

I'll try to make it through to the end of March and the idea is that I go in for surgery at the start of April and

If everything goes to plan I should be back at the end of May in fine fettle. Aye, right.

PS. If you go to Youtube and look for "The Cutty Wren Folk Club" you'll find some footage of their Burns

TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE NEW CD SEND A CHEQUE FOR £11.50p MADE OUT TO "TICH FRIER".

(The Inverbeg Inn, Luss, Loch Lomond dates are with Neil Paterson on Pipes and Whistles).

Had a great, if somewhat alcoholic, night at Glenfarg Folk Feast with old pal Dougie McLean.

Well here's an unusual gig. The world's first oatmeal supper at the Grassic Gibbon Centre, Arbuthnott, Angus.

Inspired by Jim "The Chairman" Broon the meal consists of dishes which all contain oatmeal. Very delicious and very filling.

At the start the haggis, the mealie pudding supper and porridge are all addressed at once and washed down with a drop of single malt.

31st CD launch at the Accoustic Music Club, Kirkcaldy. Only thing missing is the CD. Ho Hum.

I join the brotherhood of The Montgolfier Bros and Steve Fossett. My first Balloon trip.

We drift west from Balado and land with a bump in a field near Dollar. Great fun. Recommended.

First gig at Irvine Folk Club for a long time. Loking forward to Marymass Festival now.

Dick, stuart and I like it and all the writers I have spoken to so far are very happy with what I've done with their songs.

Thankyou guys. This has given me the inspiration to get on with the next part of my life.

Back on tour for the first time for years. Southport, Heighington, Chichester, Keighley, Stonehaven Festival.

That's a lot of miles but I'm just so pleased to be on the road again after this long gap.

I'm back. Book me for your folk club. Go on. I don't care where it is, I'll come.

Busy, busy, busy. The Star FC in Glasgow for the first time in years. I enjoyed that.

Burns For A' That at the Edinburgh Fringe. Wendy Weatherby, Sandy Brechin, Fred Freeman and I give the works of

Tom Russell @ St Brides Centre, Edinburgh. I haven't seen Tom live for two or three years and he's in great form.

Then it's Festival, festival, festival. Whitby, Irvine and Fylde go by in a welter of music and bubbles.

Far too much emceeing at all of them for my taste. I've got a CD to sell you know. Did I mention the new CD?

Well, I'm just back from the Iain MacKintosh Memorial Concert @ St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow.

Gavin Livingston, Sara Grey, Gaberlunzie, Stramash and I all contribute songs and reminiscences for

Off on holiday in a couple of weeks then a steady roll down to the end of the year.

So I had a nice October in Forfar and Lanark and even Kilwinning and Banchory several times.

Then it was back into Perth Royal Infirmary in November to get the hernias fixed.

Then all of November and most of December off to recuperate. This keyhole sugery makes less mess but recovery time is the same.

Monstrous storms on Hogmanay, Forth Road Bridge closed and had to go round by Kincardine on Forth, trees down etc.

An hour and a half to travel the 20 miles to the Anchor but got there on time despite thinking the fates didn't mean me to get there.

Had a fun night at Perth SNP Burns Supper with John Swinney MSP, Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Stewart Stevenson MSP, Pete Wishart MP and Annabelle Ewing ex MP. Well somebody had to keep them in order.

Milnathort Crackin' Ceilidh Weekend is a triumph. This is a great weekend where audience and and artistes enjoy sessions, concerts and craic on a mutally enjoyable basis.

Off to Darlington and Guisborough Folk clubs at the end of the month and enjoyed them both.

Looking forward to the release of the new CD: "SHANGHAIED" which will be out in May, fingers crossed.

Oh the train? I've just been to the doctor. I definitely have one and possibly two new hernias in different places.

LATEST NEWS @ MY HEINZ ANNIVERSARY
(That’s 57 years)
24th September 2006.. The Chronicles of Hernia.

APRIL
Start a new occasional residency in Banchory. I say occasional because it’s not always on the same night and it doesn’t happen every week. It does happen often though so it’s still a residency.
Perth Royal Infirmary. How often have you read these words here and thought, "here we go again"? “ Are you aware, Mr Frier, that the stomach pains you have been suffering are caused by a double hernia"? Dear friends my return to the theatre is eagerly awaited but not until November because there is, of course, a six month waiting list.

MAY.
Folk club appearances at Stonehaven and Falkirk, neither of which I have played for a few years. It’s nice to be back.
Back into the studio for more work on the new CD. Still no release date, as I have to finish writing a couple more songs.

“For those of you who have asked how I am here is my latest pic. I’m a teenager now you know” Dark Eyed Molly.

JUNE
Not many people tell you about the bad nights in their career but Warner’s Holiday Village outside Ayr causes me to doubt my sanity. I knew it was going to be duff and I was not disappointed. What I do does not register on the Hi De Hi scale at all. Never again. OK treble the money and I’ll think about it.
Seeing The Eagles at Hamden Park and attending the wedding of our dear friends Doris and Hugh Hoffman cheers up the rest of the month. I am led astray by some bad men from the north but manage not to be ill despite industrial quantities of whisky being ingested.
Play for the first time at The Queens Head in Rothbury. Great night, I’ll let you know when I’m back.

JULY.
Things are unduly quiet for July. Nevertheless I have a grand night at Stirling Folk Club. Having time on my hands means a traipse across the water to Midlands Music Festival in County Meath and renewing old acquaintances in Rostrevor. Lovely.

AUGUST
Now you’re whistlin’ Dixie! South of the border to The Yorkshire Lass in Knaresboro’ and Saltburn Festival. Great fun.
And the next week it’s Whitby. Yahoo. As I’m sure you are aware by now Whitby is my favourite spot on the calendar. Fun and frolics with old friends and new. This year I am invited to open for “The Lunchtime Legends”. Each year this bunch of reprobates
Invade The Elsinore pub for a lunchtime session of 60s and 70s hits. Each year they ask a famous folkie to jeopardize a lifetime of work in folk music by opening the show.
This year I am honoured to be invited. A mere bagatelle to the man who was once P J Proby’s rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist. We have a lorra lorra laughs and play loads of songs I thought I’d forgotten.

A Lunchtime Legend

This is also the last year in charge of Whitby for Malcolm Storey who has been at the helm for more than 20 years. Malcolm gave me my first gig at Folk Union One in Hull when I was a young whippersnapper and has been a staunch supporter for more years than either of us care to remember.
Enjoy your retirement Malc and thanks for everything.
Iain MacKintosh RIP. We saw the sun and the dark side of the moon. I’ll miss you lots.

SEPTEMBER
What a busy month. Over the border to Calcutt, Keighley, Guisborough and Rothbury again. Up north to Banchory and Fort William several times.
57 years old and not looking too bad after all.

OCTOBER

At last finish writing the last song for the CD and all the vocals are recorded. One or two touch ups to be done, we'll mix it in February when Dick gets back and get released in March or April. Fingers crossed.

NOVEMBER

Perth Royal Infirmary. There it is again. In on 4th, hernia op on 5th, all done, no hitches. Rest of month for recovery. Planning now underway for promotional tours in 2007. Book now while I'm still in one piece.

LOOKING AHEAD
I’m putting short English tours together for next year. One ten-day affair in July, which has Southport and Chichester at the moment and others from May on. If you’re interested give me a call. I’ll let you know the dates as we go along.
I’m still doing things, which are not open to the public BUT:

18th Dec. Glenfarg Folk Club.
31st Dec. Anchor Inn. South Queensferry. Hogmanay.
1st Feb. Skelton Folk Club. The Duke William. Burns Night.
2ndFeb. Yorkshire Lass, Knaresborough. Burns Night.
3rd Feb. The Union. Calcutt. Burns Night.

27th Feb. Chapelton Acoustic Club. The Bully. Hamilton.
11th Mar. Milnathort Folk Fest. Thistle Hotel.
29th Mar. Darlington Arts Centre. FC
30th Mar. The Globe FC. Guisborough.
10th May. Accoustic Music Club. Polish Club. Kirkcaldy. CD launch.

20th June. Golf Hotel FC. Irvine. Ayrshire.
1st July. The Bothy FC. Southport
3rd July. Chichester FC

6th July. The Baccapipes. Keighley

8th July. Stonehaven Folk Festival. Tradition Bearers Concert.

24th/25th Aug. Irvine Marymass Festival.

Yes indeed and of course off to Lanzarote to brown the kneeses for the Haggis Season. Nine Burns Suppers and three One Man's Burns shows in Heighington Folk Club, The Yorkshire Lass, Knaresborough and The Union, Calcutt. Your folk club could have this great show in 2007. You supply the haggis and the people and I do the rest. Interested? Contact me and I'll tell you about it. On the domestic front a wee light comes into our house and eats the furniture

He asks that I sing "Caledonia" at his funeral. What a difficult day. I hope I didn't let him down.

He will be missed by all his friends in the folk scene and several charities will lose the benefit of his tireless fundraising.

After feeling pains in my abdomen after lifting speakers I pop off to the doc to discover I have another hernia. Déjà vu yet again.

And finally on a happier note we celebrate the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Mr & Mrs Ian Green of Greentrax Records. A wonderful night of nostalgia and memories with some very old friends.

Ian MacCalman, John Barrow, Maxine Thompson and a man in a waistcoat at The Greens do.

Milnathort Folk Festival fights it's way through the snow to provide the highlight of the month. Apart from that nuthin happened.

Guess what? Holiday followed by 11 Burns Suppers. January's are becoming v. predictable but so what. The Complete Songs team had a lovely night at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre lined up but it was cancelled due to low ticket sales. Shame.

Starts with my "One Man's Burns" show in Marske, Knaresborough and Calcutt. I'm starting to get good at this and I think I'll try to expand the tour in future years. Hernia operation on 14 th cancelled. More time with no work. I wonder if I can sue the NHS for loss of earnings?

Eventually get the hernia fixed 7 th but I get an infection in the wound and have to stay in hospital all week. Out just in time to MC Milnathort Festival Final Concert. I know I shouldn't have but you can't let people down. Rest of the month off for R & R.

Start my regular Shearings Hotels work in Tarbet, Loch Lomond and Braemar. Feeling OK.

The Complete Songs team play Burns An A' That Festival in Ayr. This time we do "The Merry Muses of Caledonia" songs. It's a sensation!

Most people don't know the bawdy side of Burns but this audience loves it and nobody leaves in disgust.

Davy Vernon and I play the Haly Fair in Mauchline on Saturday and have a great time in the rain.

These two ladies did so much to further the cause of folk music in Scotland. They will be sorely missed.

Fylde Festival starts the month and a wonderful time is had with Matt and Jane and friends old and new. Down to Galloway to record some guitar and vocals for Janet Weatherston's new CD.

Suddenly things get busy. Travelling all over Scotland playing and manage to get some recording done for a new CD which should be out in 2006 with a bit of luck. Sadly we lose Mindy our wee Cocker Spaniel pal for the last thirteen years. Heartbroken. The house seems so empty. Finish up at Melrose in the lovely border country doing a concert for the Scots Language Society. A braw nicht.

A month of contrasts. Starting with Kirkcaldy FC. I'm beginning to enjoy playing folk clubs again. Middle of the month is an environmental health conference in Perth. This is real head to head stuff. The audience is up close and great fun. 19 th brings a stand up speaking gig at the Scottish Wits Dinner in Irvine. It's nice to be versatile. Much snow in the north and two cancelled gigs because of it.

After dinner entertaining @ The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and The Greentrax Xmas Party in Dunbar. Both highly enjoyable.

This is a show entitled "Funny Folk" featuring wits that have laughed at and with folky music over the years. We have loads of fun picking the stuff for this and I reckon it could run to a series given the chance. There's hours of wonderful material in an incredible range of styles.

Finish the year in my favourite Hogmanay space; The Anchor Inn, South Queensferry. The place has been sold so it's unlikely I'll play it again. Thanks Frank.

MAY 2004
Straight down to Upton Upon Severn for the folk festival on 1st & 2nd.
A wonderful time is had by all, nice to see Pete MacNab who has some new songs. Hopefully one will turn up on the new album.
Night off on 15th so nip over to see Dick Gaughan and Allan Taylor's "Both Sides the Tweed" show in Glenrothes. The guys are in great form and looking mucho healthy for their age.

Finish the month with a night in The Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre in Arbuthnott (NE Scotland). Fred Freeman does his Burns' Songs lecture and I entertain afterwards. Fine audience and great hospitality as always.

JUNE
What a busy month. Highlights are "The Jolly Beggars" at the Burns An' A' That festival in Ayr with six singers and a wonderful band of artists from the Complete Robert Burns CDs in the Spiegeltent. Man that place is hot.
Leith Festival @ The Village Folk Club in Edinburgh(OK Leith really).
A packed night and great fun. Would you believe they were giving away free whisky and I was driving. This happens too often for my liking.
Went to see two of my greatest heroes (separately) John Prine and Chuck Berry. Please let me enjoy my work as much as them if I live that long.

JULY
Two Weddings and No Funerals. Well that hasn't happened for a long time. James Taylor @ Edinburgh Castle - another man who appears to enjoy his work more as he gets older.

AUGUST
West Highland Yacht Week and Lauder Common Riding all within five days. Can my body stand it? Fortunately yes.
Followed by South Queensferry Fair. I haven't done a night like this for ages, they shout out the songs, I sing them. No PA just head to head with the audience. What fun.

Followed by WHITBY! Ah Whitby land of fish, music and 70% proof-fulness. I enjoy it more each year.
End of Fringe shows crammed into last couple of days of the month. I don't normally do reviews but go and see Dara O' Briain. If he doesn't make you piss yourself you're dead or there's something seriously wrong with your prostate.
Bad news on the health front. I can't get my hernia fixed ‚til February so any thoughts of tours are put back yet again.

First of all here's a little snippet from KINROSS-SHIRE NEWSLETTER about a gig I did for our local Aeromodelling Club last month:

"Two of the most enjoyable weekends for a long time with great flying, great weather, great companionship and some of the best entertainment from Tich Frier that has ever been seen. The club would like to thank Tich for his continued support over the years; he continually makes a good event into a great one." Not The Times but it's still nice to be appreciated.

A quiet start followed by 12 gigs in the last two weeks and a weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate hersels birthday. Fairly putting in the miles from Portpatrick to Banff and points in between.

Such a wonderful time is had that Mr Les Barker, a moderately acclaimed poet writes a song about it. I'll sing it to you sometime.

Stirling Folk Club on the 15 th for a tribute night to my old pal Iain MacKintosh, "The Quiet Man of Scottish Folk". If only they knew.

This is an unusual tribute due to the fact that Iain is actually there to accept the accolades and is not deid as is usual at these events.

Archie Fisher, Brian McNeill, Adam MacNaughton and a large cast are there to remind him of fine times they've had. Other darker elements remind him of some of the toilets we've played in the cause of folk music.

I've never got on with Yuletide, all that panic for one day when you have a whole year to spread goodwill. The month ends in Pitlochry, South Queensferry and Banchory.

COMING UP
Wed 15th Sept - Aberdeen Folk Club, Carlton Lounge, Castlegate. 8.30pm.
There's a whole load of private stuff until the end of the year but I'll see some of you at Strawhead's 30th Anniversary Bash in Southport on 6th NOV.
I didn't plan ahead again as I expected to be in hospital and recuperating Oct/Nov but I'm still at Portpatrick Hotel every Tuesday and for those of you who like to plan ahead I'm doing Burns Suppers you can buy tickets for @ The Cutty Wren FC, New Marske, 3rd Feb 2005.
The Yorkshire Lass, Knaresborough, 4th Feb and
The Union, Calcutt, Knaresborough, 5th Feb.
Hope to see you there.
Stay healthy my friends.

LATEST NEWS @ 23RD APRIL 2004
ST GEORGE'S DAY, SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHDAY(ALLEGEDLY) AND THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH.
ALL ENGLISHMEN SHOULD REJOICE.

First of all my apologies for leaving it so long to update.
My own lack of inspiration and the arrival of a daughter to Garry -my sitebuilder- and his wife Michelle, Congratulations, have let things slip.
Hopefully Mr & Mrs Widley have got into a routine where they can sleep for more than two hours at a time and the dark is going from under their collective eyes.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2003
I'm easing myself back into things gently. Didn't have much time to plan ahead because of the way things were so a couple of gigs a week keep the wolf from the door. I'm keeping the hatches battened down in case he sneaks in through the window.

DECEMBER
A good start to the month. I see the oncologist and he pronounces me fit and well and the latest scan is all clear. Hoorah!
Return to folk clubs in Northwich, Glenfarg and the Wee Club in Edinburgh.
I've got some new songs and it's nice to see old friends again.
Highlight of the month is the Vindscreen Vipers Anniversary Dinner in the Ship Inn in Irvine, Ayrshire where all the madness started thirty years ago.
In attendance are Brothers Nolan, McCormick, Miller, Whellans, Mulholland the faithful sound man and myself. Apologies from Br. Hill (previous commitment) and Br. Kyle (deid, although his manifestation attended in his stead).
A night of tall tales, true stories and over indulgence. What the hell?
Before any nostalgia freaks get any daft ideas, the Vipers will not play in public again. Nae Dan, Nae Ban'.

JANUARY 2004. A GUID NEW YEAR TAE ANE AN A'.
Open the year in the usual manner, holiday in the sun to recover from the celebrations then it's flat out to the end of the month with twelve Burns Suppers from Banchory to London and Yorkshire in between. For the first time in a while I've been reciting "Holy Willie's Prayer" and it goes down a treat.

FEBRUARY
Just when you think it's all going too well, it is. A visit to the consultant in Perth shows up an incisional hernia. Not life threatening, not painful, just a pest.
We'll get it sorted ASAP but it's more time off work and I can't plan any tours in advance. Jeez if I was a horse………

MARCH
Milnathort Folk Festival brings the first appearance in Scotland of The Tich Frier Band. I'm nervewracked as I have to MC the concert as well as finishing the night with the guys - see Sept 2002, old news pages - but the set goes great and we're well content.
Another highlight. I am invited to perform at The Irvine Burns Club Heckling Shed Dinner with the great Irish poet Seamus Heaney. Very prestigious.

APRIL
Working away nice and steady.
Off to Lauder in the Scottish Borders on the 10th to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of fellow Viper and faithful mucker Mike Whellans. It's a wonderful night of music and mirth enhanced by old pals Archie Fisher, Ian MacCalman and Aly Bain among others. Nice to see them somewhere other than a crematorium for a change.

COMING UP
Look forward to:
Upton upon Severn Folk Festival 1/2 May
Songs of Robert Burns perform "The Jolly Beggars" @ Burns An A' That Festival,
Sun 6th June in Ayr.
James Taylor @ Edinburgh Castle 25th July. No I'm not on it I'm just a great fan.
Tennents West Highland Yacht Week- the wet bit of Argyllshire - 1st week in August.
Lauder Common Riding - 6th, 7th August.
Whitby Folk Week - 21st to 27th August.
Recording a new CD some time this year. A Mr Gaughan has threatened to produce.

Latest News @ 1st October 2003
(A date so bland it appears to be nobody's day)

July.
Spent most of the month in recuperation, ie : inert.
I did manage to get up to Glenfarg Folk Club to see one of my all time heroes, Enoch Kent. He's probably seventy years old and just as commited and cantankerous as he was when I first heard him almost forty years ago.
The man's an inspiration and I promise never to lose my marching voice or my sense of humour in the unlikely event of me getting to his age.

August.
Still following my consultants orders to rest but I sneak off to Lauder for the annual Common Riding festivities. Plumbing duly tested and it passes with flying colours.
Whitby Folk Week is a joy. It's so good to be back on a stage again and meet old friends like Strawhead, The Wilsons and Toms McConville and Napper.
Whitby is just such a cracking place to be for a week and the sun shone too.
I feel reinvigourated and ready for…..Fylde Folk Festival.
The sun mostly shines on Fleetwood and Matt Armour and I guide each other through the forest of self-destruct without any harm.
Thanks again to Malcolm Storey and Alan Bell for the gig.

September.
Back to very gentle regular work, a couple of gigs a week and all is going well. The post operation pains are almost gone and I feel as good as I have done for a year. I record my track for Milnathort Folk Festival Limited Edition CD 2004. Stephen Fosters' "Hard Times". Pete Clark does a wonderful string quartet arrangement and we clone four Tiches into glorious harmony. The Rolling Stones in Glasgow prove why they are the "greatest rock'n roll band in the world" bar none and I get to be 54 years old when it looked as if I might not.
There are so many people I have to thank for getting me here. Surgeons, doctors, oncologists and nursing staff at PRI and Ninewells Hospital.
Family and friends for keeping my faith in the goodness of most of the human race and slowing me down when I try to run too fast too early.

The Science.
How to avoid dying of cancer.
If you feel pains in any parts of your body and they show no signs of easing, do not be big macho caledonian man/woman. Go to the doctor and get checked out the earlier the better.
Ladies remember to keep checking your breasts for strange lumps. If you feel self concious about it come and see me and I'll be glad to help.
Gentlemen keep checking the testes for strange lumps.
If you feel self concious about it you're on your own.

January: A mad round of a dozen Burns Suppers from Banchory to London and lots
in between crammed into fifteen days. It's a good job I love Burns, haggis and
whisky.
Beginning of the year marred by the death of my friend George Duffus from
cancer.
March: After much kick and rush we managed to get "You Are Here" the compilation
CD out in time for Milnathort Folk Festival. None of the tracks had previously
appeared on CD and I just felt it would be good to put the best of the previous
recorded stuff in one place. Lots of other people like it too, which is lovely.
May: Highlight of the month is the Ross 2000 Ceilidh in Kinross.
The Lomond Ceilidh Band in great form and I can actually walk home at the end of
the gig. (I mean it's only down the road, not I can walk… oh never mind.) All in
a good cause.
June & July: Start recording "The Complete Songs of Robert Burns" for Fred
Freeman and Linn Records. This is Freds' great project to record all the songs
the bard wrote in their original tunes. It features the finest singers and
musicians in Scotland and me.
End the month with two gigs at West Highland Yacht Week in Oban. Meet up with
old Viper chums and I'm first to retire to bed. Must be getting old or sick.
August: More hospitals and doctors than gigs. Something definitely not right.
September: What a start to the month. The Tich Frier Band- Me, Davy Vernon,
Stuart Duncan and Neil Paterson - slay 2000 people at the 7th Swiss Pipe Band
Meeting in Basel. We manage to get off stage, go to the bar, get a pint, go to
the back of the tent and join in our own ovation. That really makes you feel
good.

End of the month. Return from holiday to meeting with consultant at Perth Royal
Infirmary. I've got cancer of the bowel but it's OK, it's very isolated and he
will operate on 4th Nov and I'll be fine.
October 18th: Chronological miscalculation. Bowel shuts down completely. I'm in
agony. Off to Perth R.I., with sirens blaring, operate next day but bowel has
burst and I get peritonitis as well.
The rest of the gory details you don't need to know but I start a course of
preventative chemotherapy on 2nd December which will run until mid Feb. After
that I will have another operation to put what bits are left into the right
place again and after a reasonable time I'll be back on the road full time by
June. Don't worry about me. I have no reason to believe I won't get better. I'll
see you at Whitby and Fylde in August if not before and thanks to Malcolm and
Alan for having the faith to book me. I feel fine.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.

31st December, Hogmanay: Back on a stage for the first time since October.
Thank you South Queensferry, it felt great but a little nerve wracking.

A trusty piper, the great chieftain o' the puddin race and the haggis stabber in
chief at Banchory in January 2003

January. After a week in the sun to regain a bit of lost colour I managed to
survive several Burns Suppers. Not so physically demanding as normal work but
mentally you have to be right in the zone. Met old friends and new before going
back to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for more chemotherapy.
I go for my last course of chemo on Mon 17th Feb. After that scans and tests and
if all is clear, final surgery in March.

March. No word.

April. No word.

May. Still no word.

June. At last. Going into Perth R. I. 15th of this month for final surgery to
put the insides back in the inside. In hospital for around ten days then
recuperation for two months and start work at Whitby Folk Week in mid August.
Hoorah.
Thanks for all your good wishes.
More news as it happens.
Slainte.

"Thou think'st tis much that this contentious storm invades us to the skin......Pour on; I will endure".