From Sheena Wellington :
Wednesday 20th March – 1.15pm -1.45pm – Janine Douglas and Mark Spalding
Venue – Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library
Mark [pictured] and Janine will present a programme of settings by Beethoven of Burns, Scott and other folksong settings plus a few short harpsichord solos on our beautiful instrument.
Admission free, donations welcome.
From Sheena Wellington :
Lunchtime Recital, Wednesday 7th February – 1.15pm – 1.45pm – Aandowin Trio at the Wighton Centre, Central Library in the Wellgate Centre
Aandowin are Peter Cooper (fiddle), Margaret Leighton (accordion) and Bill Shackman (cittern).
The group plays a laid-back mix of Shetland and Celtic session tunes.
With their usual good timing they formed just before lockdown meaning that practicing in a gazebo became the only option.
They can occasionally be seen busking outside St Andrews public library until they make enough money for lunch, at which point they stop.
From Sheena Wellington :
Friends of Wighton are delighted to welcome 2024 with the return of our weekly classes in Scots song, fiddle and mixed instruments, whistle and a new Gaelic song class, monthly for the moment, starting on the 13th.
More details :
Scots Song, with Amy Lord – Tuesdays 2pm – 3.30pm, this started last Tuesday and continues on Tuesday 16th January
Fiddle, with Heather Miranda – Saturday 1.30pm – 2.30pm starts Saturday 13th January
Gaelic Song with Wilma Kennedy – 2nd Saturday of month, 9.30am – 10.30am, starts Saturday 13th January
Whistle with Helen Forbes – Saturday, 12.15pm – 1.15pm, starting Saturday 20th January
Mixed instruments (online) – Saturday 11am – noon
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87514360614
Meeting ID: 875 1436 0614
Classes are £5 per session.
Tomorrow – Saturday 9th December – sees The Wighton Singers’ Christmas Concert take place.
It takes place in the Wighton Heritage Centre in the Central Library between 11am and 12 noon.
Admission is £5 and all are welcome!
From Sheena Wellington :
Feis Rois Ceilidh Trail
Wednesday 2nd August at the Wighton Centre in the Central Library
1pm – 2pm
Our annual chance to see and hear the best of the emerging crop of traditional musicians.
These talented and lively young folk are always a delight to meet.
Admission free, donations welcome.
From Sheena Wellington :
Wednesday 26th July – 1.15pm – 1.45pm – lunchtime concert
Mark Spalding with El Search: Harpsichord 40th Birthday Celebration
Wighton’s own harpsichord specialist, Mark Spalding will be playing with Dundee’s long established free improvisation group El Search in a programme specially devised as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations.
Admission free, donations welcome.
From Sheena Wellington of Friends of Wighton :
Tomorrow – Wednesday 21st June – Make Music Day! 10.30am – 4.30pm (free to attend)
Celebrate Make Music Day at the Wighton! A chance to see some of our treasured music books up close and personal and to hear :
11am – 12 noon The Doolichters – Dundee’s oldest boy band. The Doolichters comprise 4 ageing but sophisticated musicians with their own peculiar take on their home city of Dundee. Currently working on the 4th album in their musical trilogy, they have taken time off from their busy recording schedule to add another live performance to their legendary world tour of Dundee (and thereabouts).
1.15pm – 1.45pm Morag Dunbar – fine traditional singer, well-known and loved across Scotland and originally from Kirkcaldy. While at Edinburgh University, she got into the lively scene, learning to play guitar, joining Edinburgh Folk Club and touring with the legendary Maggie and Liz Cruikshank. Now living in Balerno, she is one of the organisers of Balerno Folk Club, regularly performing there and, with friends, at other clubs.
1.55pm – 2.15pm Positive Notes – an Occupational Therapy Singing Group for adults with a learning disability. The group meet on Monday afternoons in the Wighton Centre & they all love to sing and have fun. The group sing everything from pop, rock, folk, jazz, motown & musicals. They also like to perform on stage twice a year with props and percussion for family and friends.
2.25pm – 3pm Wighton Singers – Wighton’s own, the group meets every Tuesday afternoon in the Wighton Heritage Centre under the musical direction of renowned singer and teacher, Amy Lord. Great voices, a wide-ranging repertoire and stunning harmonies!
In between times there will be impromptu tunes and songs from Wighton Friends and visiting musicians – bring your voice and/or instrument along and Make Music!
From Sheena Wellington :
This Saturday – 1st April at 11am – Choras, a harmony trio, will sing at the Wighton Heritage Centre in the Central Library.
Aileen Carr, Barbara Dymock and Janice Reavell are all much loved and respected traditional singers.
All three of them, as harmony trio Choras, will sing this Saturday.
A concert with this cappella trio with their superb harmonies, eclectic selection of songs and sense of fun is not to be missed!
All welcome – admission is £5 at the door.
From Sheena Wellington :
Saturday 18th March – 11am – Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library
The Friends of Wighton are delighted to welcome Carole and Alan Prior, one of the best loved and most respected singing duos in the British Isles.
Carole is a well known and powerful singer who, together with her husband Alan, has been invited to many folk festivals and singing weekends throughout the UK and Ireland. Whilst traditional songs and ballads are her first love, she also enjoys newer compositions in a traditional style, particularly when they convey emotional themes or a good story. She also likes humorous songs as well as dabbling in a bit of song writing and composing tunes for poems. Most notably, her tune for Violet Jacob’s Baltic Street has become a favourite with many other singers.
With a big voice, Alan has drawn his repertoire from diverse areas of song and is well known and respected in many places, appearing together with his wife Carole at quite a few of the festivals and clubs throughout the UK and Ireland and in Ian McCalman’s production of Far Far from Ypres. Alan enjoys traditional style singing, a sprinkling of Burns songs and chooses songs that he enjoys and identifies with from more recent writers.
While each has their own repertoire, they also enjoy singing together in unison and sometimes with a sprinkle of harmony – and a fair bit of humour!
All welcome – tickets £5 at the door.
With thanks to Sheena Wellington, here’s the latest update from Friends of Wighton :
Lunchtime Recital: Wednesday 1st March, 1.15pm – 1.45pm
Ted Poletyllo, singer
Wighton Heritage Centre at the Central Library
We are, at last, able to go back to our pre-pandemic time and are celebrating by bringing you another fine traditional singer, Ted Poletyllo.
Ted, who hails from Fife, is a consummate ballad singer who has won numerous TMSA singing competitions over the years, the latest, in November 2022 being Glenfarg Folk Club’s prestigious Sandy Watt Quaich.
Admission is free and donations welcome!
From Sheena Wellington :
At the Wighton Centre, Central Library this Saturday – 26th November – at 11am.
Chloe Matharu, singer, songwriter, harpist, sailor
Chloe Matharu is a singer songwriter and harpist from the West Coast of Scotland. A Navigational Officer in the Merchant Navy, she offers an authentic voice for the female seafarer in the folk scene. Her ethereal and innovative music gives a glimpse into the modern mariner’s life, and is truly unique.
Small Voyages is an eight track album of original songs inspired by Chloe’s time at sea as a deck cadet, sailing around the world on oil tankers. The songs are set to an evocative backdrop of Celtic harp music and field recordings of the natural world.
“Her music is truly haunting” – BBC Radio Scotland.
All welcome – Tickets £5 at the door.
Latest Friends of Wighton update from Sheena Wellington about a recital taking place this Saturday in the Wighton Heritage Centre at the Central Library :
On Saturday 29th October at 11am we have a very special and rare treat – a harpsichord recital by Mark Spalding.
The Wighton Harpsichord is a French double-manual instrument after the C18 maker Nicholas Blanchet, built by Mark Stevenson, Cambridge 1983.
Mark Spalding is a first class player who has been tending the instrument with loving care.
All welcome!
From Sheena Wellington :
On Saturday 27th August at 11am at the Wighton Centre, Central Library, we have :
Just 3Folk, comprising of Anne Hamilton, Liz Crawford and Maggie Douglas share a common love of folk music and have been singing together since 2015.
J3F have a varied repertoire of traditional and contemporary folk music, arranging the songs in three part harmony, and performing them accompanied by guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, percussion and occasionally ukulele.
Just 3Folk are delighted to have recently produced their second CD entitled “Back on Track” and are thrilled to have been in the position to donate £1000 to Maggie’s Dundee.
For our concert on 27th August, J3F will be joined by Dave Hamilton on 12 string guitar and vocals, and Morag Sutherland on violin.
Admission £5. at the door.
Today is Make Music Day!
To celebrate, the most interesting and rarest books of the world renowned Wighton Collection will be on display at its home in Central Library’s Wighton Heritage Centre.
As well as the chance to see and hear about these gems, there will be be live music from the Wighton Singers, Rosa Michaelson, Sheena Wellington,The Doolichters and, maybe, a surprise guest or two!
The room is open from 2pm until 5pm, admission is free so please do drop in and let us show you some of Dundee’s treasures!
From Sheena Wellington :
Friends of Wighton are delighted to announce their first live Cappuccino Concert since February 2020 will take place this Saturday – 23rd April – 11am to noon. Doors open 10.30am.
As we are expecting a good audience, please email sheenawellington78@gmail.com to book.
We are not serving coffees/teas yet bur please feel free to bring your tea/coffee to go!
Our guests are great local band The Doolichters – see below!
Live at the Wighton – today -Wednesday 6th April, 2.15pm
From Sheena Wellington :
We have had to change the time of our Lunchtime Recital to fit the Library’s hours but we are back live!
Today – Wednesday 6th April at 2.15pm – Friends of Wighton present a live Lunchtime Recital by Eric Gudmunsen.
Eric Gudmunsen who shares his time between his native Dundee and Killarney, is a singer-songwriter and stand-up comedian. He can often be found at Boots Corner delighting passers-by with his warm, mellow voice, his winning personality, his quick wit and his wide range of songs, traditional modern and self-penned.
Eric is a well-travelled man with a fund of stories about his adventures. He has recorded several CDs, his latest “Meh Dundee Sangs” telling of his affection for his own city.
You may have heard Eric as he busked in town and thought, “That lad can really sing!” Now is your chance to sit in comfort and enjoy the talent of Eric Gudmunsen.
From Sheena Wellington :
No Trees to Whisper – a song cycle for soprano and clarinet
Performed by Turning the Elements
Frances Cooper (soprano) Joanna Nicholson (clarinet)
Saturday 26th March 2022 – at 2pm – on Zoom
Join us for the video premiere of this beautiful collaborative new work commissioned by soprano and clarinet duo Turning the Elements, with the support of Creative Scotland.
The inspiration for the project came from Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell’s famous diaries of their Journey to the Highlands and Islands in 1773 –
“ I sat down on a bank, such as a writer of Romance might have delighted to feign. I had indeed no trees to whisper over my head, but a clear rivulet streamed at my feet…. Whether I spent the hour well, I know not: for here I first conceived the thought of this narration”
Poetry was commissioned from Iain Morrison, Dawn Wood and Haworth Hodgkinson, and music from Linda Buckley, Aidan O’Rourke and Gemma McGregor. Three very individual pieces from the poet/composer partnerships are woven together by interludes composed by Joanna, and nature photography by Frances to create a 40-minute film of evocative words, music and images.
Frances and Joanna have performed as Turning the Elements for nearly 10 years, taking this intimate combination of instruments to audiences around the country, and they performed as part of the prestigious Made in Scotland Showcase, curated by Creative Scotland, in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2019. This is the second major work they have commissioned.
We are also thrilled to be Zooming to you from The Weaver’s Room in Verdant Works. Thanks to Dundee Heritage Trust’s Deirdre Robertson, for making it possible, and Wendy Gammie, for making it work!
The concert is free but donations can be made at www.friendsofwighton.com
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Saturday 26th March, 2pm-3pm (waiting room open at 1.50pm)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85037688867?pwd=SWFXek1uc1ArdjhFeVBLTFIrVms4Zz09
Meeting ID: 850 3768 8867
Passcode: 255139
From Sheena Wellington :
We are still in the Land of Zoom for February though a small band of hardy souls who are ready to brave the open window ventilated Wighton Centre will be back at the singing from Tuesday 1st!
The Lunchtime Recital tomorrow – Wednesday 2nd February, – 1.15pm -1.45pm – will be given by mother and daughter duo MoragAnne Elder and Elisabeth Flett (Elisabeth pictured), playing fiddles and singing a selection of tunes to do with winter and the North.
Both, of course, are long time friends of the Wighton, MoragAnne currently running the mixed instruments class and Essa who has grown up coming to Wighton classes and whose musical career we follow with great interest and pride.
Essa is taking part in the Danny Kyle Open Stage online at the end of the month – her slot is on January 31st at 5pm on Celtic Radio so you can .
The concert is free – donations can be made at http://friendsofwighton.com/
and the link is
Topic: Wednesday Wighton Lunchtime concert
Time: Feb 2, 2022 01:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
From Sheena Wellington :
For our last concert of 2021 Friends of Wighton can’t provide the usual mince pies and chocolates but we are offering a very special pre-Christmas Zoom treat.
Our guests are the award-winning traditional singer Shona Donaldson and the far-famed Tarland fiddler Paul Anderson MBE (pictured).
Shona Donaldson grew up in Huntly in a musical family, learning the fiddle and attending traditional music festivals including Strichen and Keith. As well as picking up the usual song repertoire, Shona also learned from bothy ballad singers like Jock Duncan and Geordie Murison. Soon, to the delight of her mentors she was winning prizes in the normally male–dominated bothy ballad world.
In 2015, Shona became the first woman to win the coveted Bothy Ballad Champion of Champions title to add to her 2009 Scots Singer of the Year award. She is also an accomplished songwriter.
Paul Anderson MBE is widely regarded as the finest fiddle player of his generation. Having found, at age five, an old French violin under the spare bed in his grandparents’ house, he has gone on from there to win all the major fiddle prizes including the Glenfiddich Scottish Fiddle Championship.
Paul has toured extensively here and abroad and is also well-known as a composer with over 300 works including many for film, television and theatre. His 8 solo albums and over 40 album with other musicians have received international acclaim.
Since lockdown began the couple, who recently celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary, have produced 86 “Live from the Lounge” shows from the Tarland home they share with sons Hector and Roderick. These can be checked out on Paul’s Facebook page.
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Lunchtime Recital with Shona Donaldson, traditional singer, and Paul Anderson MBE, fiddle
Wednesday 1st December 1.15pm – 1.45pm (Zoom available from 1pm)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81867139033?pwd=M3dmd3ErcnZwdVU0KzJyeWVDck5FUT09
Meeting ID: 818 6713 9033Passcode: 057619
From Sheena Wellington :
Lunchtime Recital with Alan Brown, singer – online at 1pm today!
Alan Brown is a singer and songwriter with a wide experience of folk clubs, festivals, concerts, ceilidhs and competitions (winning the Scottish Folk Directory ‘Songwriter’ award on two occasions.)
His parallel careers have included teaching, journalism (Scots Magazine, Irish Music, Living Tradition), compering, radio presenting and ceilidh band calling. He is also a published novelist.
Born and brought up in ‘The Old Dundee’ he lives near the historic village of Dull (yes, the one paired with Boring, Oregon) in Highland Perthshire.
A free event and all welcome!
Topic: Lunchtime Recital with Alan Brown, singer
Time: Nov 3, 2021 01:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84067174263
Meeting ID: 840 6717 4263
From Sheena Wellington :
Today – Wednesday 6th October at 1.15pm – Friends of Wighton will be delighted to present on Zoom the wonderful Robyn Stapleton, one of the finest singers of her generation.
The reviewers have said :
‘Rich, characterfully lilting, warm and clear’ The List
Robyn is an award-winning singer and song leader who shares her talent and passion for traditional music with audiences and communities throughout Scotland and internationally.
‘Her warm sweet voice has a depth and colour that belies her youthfulness’ fROOTS
Don’t miss it – link below :
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Lunchtime Recital with Robyn Stapleton
Time: Oct 6, 2021 01:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86555688317?pwd=dnJPM3lOTDVUU1FFY1ptQWJmY1ErUT09
Meeting ID: 865 5568 8317
Passcode: 653876
From Sheena Wellington :
Wednesday 7th July
1.15pm – 1.45pm
Lunchtime Recital with Rosa Michaelson, fiddle
For the Friends of Wighton July Lunchtime Recital, we are delighted to welcome well known musician and researcher Rosa Michaelson.
Rosa will give us an illustrated talk about James S. Kerr, who published the popular fiddle collections of Merry Melodies. In the past 12 months she has been doing research on musical life in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century, focusing on Kerr and dance music. She presented this at the online North-Atlantic Fiddle Convention at the end of June.
Rosa Michaelson was taught the violin at primary school in Edinburgh in the 1960s using the Eta Cohen method, with its repertoire of folk tunes. In secondary school, her violin teacher gave her a copy of Kerr’s Merry Melodies to study, and she played for ceilidhs and in several orchestras.
Rosa joined the Edinburgh Shetland Fiddlers in the 1970s and was a founder member of the first all-female Scottish traditional music group, Sprangeen. She has been in several ceilidh/dance bands, including the Loose Moose Ceilidh Band.
She regularly contributes to sessions in Edinburgh and Fife. Rosa is an Honorary SL at the University of Dundee; she works part time in the School of Computer Science, St Andrews University.
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81102543294?pwd=empTQ094bDlvd1h0SWloVmVQdUMyZz09
Meeting ID: 811 0254 3294
The next Friends of Wighton Lunchtime Recital is on Wednesday 2nd June – 1.15pm – 1.45pm.
Friends of Wighton stalwart Sheena Wellington will be the guest in the Lunchtime Recital.
The well-known local singer needs little introduction but promises to bring along some ballads, some stories and perhaps, some fun!
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Lunchtime Recital
Time: Jun 2, 2021 01:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83719821692?pwd=TENDTzV0QXJXelliUnQ0M0NVY1g3UT09
Meeting ID: 837 1982 1692
Passcode: 548311
From Sheena Wellington :
We have a very special online Lunchtime Recital starting at 1.15pm on Wednesday 3rd March.
Medieval Harp virtuoso Simon Chadwick needs no introduction to the Wighton audience! As Musician in Residence, harp tutor and hard working secretary he was a mainstay of Friends of Wighton for many years.
Since he moved to Armagh in 2018 though we have kept in touch he has been sorely missed so it is a particular delight to welcome him on the 3rd.
A Chadwick recital is always a treat and an adventure. During the last year’s lockdowns, Simon has been working on old Irish harp tunes from the Bunting collection, finding unusual tunes, and unusual versions of better known tunes. He will play some of them for you on Wednesday including some with interesting connections to versions in the Wighton collection.
The Zoom link is below, the Recital is free but donations can be made on our webpage http://www.friendsofwighton.com
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Wighton Lunchtime
Recital Time: Mar 3, 2021 01:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87171364577?pwd=cnRvQW5jaytPMC9HekxRWlZOcHBmZz09
Meeting ID: 871 7136 4577Passcode: 513416
From Sheena Wellington about today’s Lunchtime Recital online by Ensemble Hesperi :
We are very pleased to welcome back as our online Lunchtime Recital guests this month, Mary-Jannet Leith (Recorders) & Thomas Allery (Harpsichord) of Ensemble Hesperi. The pair are no strangers to the Wighton both as performers and researchers. The Zoom link to join in is below!
Mary-Jannet is a Scottish instrumentalist, musicologist, historian, and teacher. She is fascinated by the potential which her instrument has for bridging artificial boundaries between musical ‘genres’. It is her strong belief that truly excellent music often eludes definition, and that it is the communication of emotion and feeling to an audience which should be the aim of a professional musician.
Thomas is an organist, choral conductor and harpsichordist based in London and Oxford. He enjoys a varied career spanning work as an organist and choral director in church music, continuo playing, research and teaching. Thomas is the Director of Chapel Music at Worcester College, Oxford, where he is responsible for the musical development of the Chapel choirs and organ scholars.
To see the concert:
Friends of Wighton invite you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Lunchtime Recital with Ensemble Hesperi
Time: Feb 3, 2021 1PM Greenwich Mean Time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81870378916?pwd=TEZpVlg5NDlDV3BCSzRBK294b1F2QT09
Meeting ID: 818 7037 8916
Passcode: 968552
From Sheena Wellington :
Saturday morning playing is back!
We’ve all been missing our Saturday morning fix of tunes and, with no sign of classes being able to start in-person again any time soon, classes are moving online.
Obviously, the format will be slightly different, but hopefully still enjoyable.
A mixed instrument class will run 11am – 12 noon on Saturday mornings using Zoom, starting this Saturday. Here is the Zoom link:
MoragAnne is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Saturday morning class
Time: Jan 9, 2021 11:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83717837909
Meeting ID: 837 1783 7909
To begin with I’ll be taking the classes, with the hope of introducing guest leaders on a regular basis. I’ll be teaching a couple of slow tunes (for those who like time to think as they play, or for those who want to try out learning by ear) and then a faster tune. Music will be shared to the screen (she says confidently!) on the day.
If participants want to contribute financially they can donate to my paypal account here.
From Sheena Wellington :
“The Friends of Wighton invite you to an online illustrated talk on the Montgomerie Collection to be given by Dr Margaret Bennett this Wednesday – 6th January.
After organising a successful event online for Scottish Book Week we have decided that it is worth trying to put some concerts online too. We plan to hold the concerts on the first Wednesday of the month at 1.15pm.
The first will be on Wednesday 6th January when the guest will be Dr Margaret Bennet with an illustrated talk on the renowned Montgomerie collection, the children’s songs recorded in Dundee’s Hilltown in 1952.
The talk starts at 1.15pm but you can log-in at any time from 1.05pm.”
Join Zoom Meeting here.
Meeting ID: 816 9660 4953
Passcode: 157803
You can read more about the Montgomerie Collection in this interesting Evening Telegraph article here.
From Sheena Wellington of Friends of Wighton :
We are back! Online but with a very special event to celebrate Book Week Scotland
Saturday November 21st from 2pm – 3.30pm
No Trees to Whisper – the Music of Poetry
No Trees to Whisper is a song cycle commissioned by soprano and clarinet duo, Turning the Elements who are soprano Frances Cooper and clarinettist Joanna Nicholson.
Poetry workshop led by Dawn Wood.
Be the first audience to hear extracts from this new commission and have the opportunity to work with one of the poets involved, and the musicians, to create a new piece – all from the comfort of your own home, via Zoom!
Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell’s famous diaries of their Journey to the Highlands and Islands in 1779 were the inspiration for this project, supported by Creative Scotland, with poetry commissioned from Haworth Hodgkinson, Iain Morrison and Dawn Wood, and music by Gemma McGregor, Linda Buckley and Aidan O’Rourke.
Dawn Wood will lead the workshop, delving into some of the ways she finds inspiration for her writing, and sharing some of the poetry she produced for the project. She will use guided meditation techniques to allow participants to access their sensory imagination as they explore aspects of the Scottish landscape and its future. Participants will have the opportunity to produce writing during the workshop, resulting in a collaborative text which will be explored using improvised music by Frances Cooper and Joanna Nicholson.
The workshop is free but places are limited so if you would like to take part in this exciting event, or be part of the audience, please register your interest by email to secretary@friendsofwighton.com
Cllrs Fraser Macpherson and Michael Crichton 