Nearly 130 revellers took to the floor on Saturday night for a ‘twixmas’ fundraiser.
The Christmas Jumper Ceilidh at Forres Town Hall with Dance Band Of the Year nominee Tweed – featuring traditional and contemporary music, a raffle, games and plenty of Christmas cheer – raised a total of £500 for the venue and £70 for the Bahamas Accordion project, providing young people in the Caribbean with the chance to make music.
Tweed on stage at Forres Town Hall at the end of the Christmas Jumper Ceilidh.
Tweed – former accordion world champion Graeme Mackay and his son, drummer Craig – confirmed a total of 94 adults and 30 children enjoyed themselves.
Graeme said: “I’d like to thank everyone for attending. We were very pleased with the turnout and the enthusiasm!
“It was a fantastic event, one of the most successful I’ve helped organise so far. This was done to the wonderful people at the hall as well as the community.”
Traditional dances included the ‘Gay Gordons’, ‘Canadian Barn Dance’, ‘Strip the Willow’, ‘Dashing White Sergeant’, ‘Military Two Step’, ‘Eightsome Reel’ and ‘Virginia Reel’.
In between, there was a raffle, a slide £1 for a bottle game, and a prize for the best Christmas jumper.
“We also did an array of tunes and covers between the dances,” added Graeme. “There’s always a few upbeat surprises … and we didn’t even get to play them all either!”
Tweed were thrilled to play in one of Forres’ most important and historic buildings, community asset transferred from Moray Council to Forres Area Community Trust (FACT) in 2019.
FACT development officer Lorna Creswell was pleased with the feedback from the event.
She said: “It’s important to have local events like the ceilidh here as not everyone go elsewhere for them. It was well received by attendees including many who had never done Scottish dances before who had great fun!”
Tweed will return for a ‘Spring Fling’ planned for 8pm on Saturday, February 22.
“Don’t miss out on another fantastic social event in epic surroundings,” said Graeme. “We’ll have more musicians on stage and more collaborations with other organisations to ensure another great night.
“The fling will welcome in the new season. The plan is to provide my Scottish Dance Band for the event, which is more traditional and formal than Tweed.
“We’ve featured several times on BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Take the Floor’, were invited to guest at the prestigious Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Festival, and nominated as Scottish Dance Band of the Year at the BBC ALBA traditional music awards.
“I’m also inviting local dance organisations to demonstrate some of the dances, to blend them in with more popular ceilidh dances and hopefully broaden the repertoire.”
The Spring Fling will again be in aid of town hall renovations and the Bahamas Accordion project.
“Forres Town hall is a fantastic facility and deserves the best upgrades,” finished Graeme. “Every person coming through the doors for any event will help towards this.”
For more information visit https://forresarea.org/ and https://www.tweedceilidhband.com/.