David,
I agree with you to a point. Our son who wears his hair in a pony tail,
is no lover of Kelso. His hair occasionally attracted rude shouted
comments.
It is well documented that the 18-25 age leaves Scottish Borders for
higher education and city life. People come to Borders to have a decent
quality of life, just about affordable housing and good schools for their
kids.
(If your child has special needs - tough! Official as of July 2001. For
more on this subject read the newspapers.)
Folk also come here to retire in large numbers.
I think there are plenty of places in Scotland with similar population
profiles. I am not sure that a HE establishment in a town of 6,000 people
is really viable or an answer.
I think you are hard on teachers - those who are the stalwarts of what
traditional music scene there is. I do not think it is so much unease at
meeting ex pupils - or current pupils drinking under age. I think the
session/club problem is more one of venue. Basically a pub which has a
regular session on a Friday or saturday night is likely to be going
through a bad patch. Pubs want to be either serving meals or have wall to
wall drinkers on these night when they do much of the weeks trade.
You will recall that the session you started in the Wagon Inn was very
lively most Fridays. What happened? The new landlord more or less
requested that we leave and paid an accordianist to take our place! ( Is
he still there?) So back to the Red Lion!
You and others who have tried to keep a session going locally have found
the dreaded truth - Traditional Music is a minority interest. Having the
folkies in is similar to peeling paint. A landlord who wants to fill the
till will get rid of it.
Even a well reknowned venue like the Tron can suffer the same fate!
I think that all the efforts you have made to keep a club/session going in
the area are great.
Sorry I am not able to go tonight. I would like to be there to hear you
sing the new ballad - The Kelsae Shearin. Nigel really got into his stride
at the end with the internal ryhmes. Superb.
Philip
So what's the scene like in your part of Scotland, the World.
--
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