Bothy ballad singer Gordon Easton told about fiddlers and the Fetterangus Strathspey & Reel Society. From NEFA Archives.
The grocers used to come round in vans. The Eastons had a little pony. George Fowlie was a fiddler and cello player. His daughter played the fiddle. He would come around to the house and play. The gut strings on the fiddle went out of tune quickly. George played all sorts of Scottish dance music and often visited and played for many hours. Gordon's mother played the fiddle a little. George Fowlie taught Gordon as well. Gordon found an old fiddle in the house and had it fixed up down at the shop. He began playing when he was eight and soon had so much music in his head that the teacher said he could no longer help.
When Gordon left the school, he joined the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society, which met in the village hall. There were about thirty five fiddlers, lead by Jimmy Youngson. GE and a neighbour biked down to Fetterangus every week for practices and the occasional competition. Gordon and a friend used to bike down to the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society, whatever the weather.
They used to have guests like Jimmie Dickie, Charlie Sutherland, Duncan Strachan, Hector MacAndrew. They met weekly and went out for concerts in the wintertime (by bus). They had local concerts as well. In the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society there were about thirty-five fiddlers, lead by the head forester at Aden. Ned Stewart took over, Jean Stewart was the pianist and had her own dance band as well. The Society played concerts all over, followed by Jean leading the dances. They had guests like Violet Davidson, Myra Fowlie (Thow), comedians and jugglers too. Charlie Sutherland, Hector MacAndrew, Bill Hardie would come and fiddle as special guest. John Strachan used to come and sing sometimes
Gordon has names of people in the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society photograph. He has them written down somewhere [He was thinking of another photo actually. See Broken Fiddle 3 for correct line-up of names.] Jean Stewart is there. She had the accordion class as well and Gordon has a picture of that too. Thinks the picture is about 1946 [probably more like 1950]. They weren't married at the time of his first competition in Mintlaw.Andrew Burnett was the best player, though he was very shy. Ned Stewart was a good player too, but with a very individual style, like Dickie. There were just two competitions held at Mintlaw. Fetterangus was very successful. Set up after Aberdeen, but before Banchory[?]. Most enjoyable, especially when they had guests once a fortnight

Elizabeth Stewart says 'Together Jean and Ned Stewart established one of Scotland's earliest Strathspey & Reel Societies, in Fetterangus. 'Ned wis a regular member o [Jean Stewart's] band for many years an of course the two o them played in the Strathspey an Reel Society thegither. He wis the lead fiddler, but he improvised in his fiddle playin an often he harmonised tae the other fiddlers as well. When the whole Society wis playin melody, he wis harmony. Then he wid play melody along wi mum an then he wid go back on the harmony line. Ned hid a style o his ain an his slow airs were incomparable at the time. He didn't get the recognition that he should hiv got, although he certainly wis weel-kent, an a beautiful player, passionate and tender.'
HOWEVER
See down below Gordon Easton's account. He said Jean and Ned took over when the person who started the Society left.

TRANSCRIPT OF GORDON EASTON INTERVIEWS
I fiddled awa at hame, and seen aboot the time I left the school, I jined the, well it's a van man again, he wis the conductor o the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society. Ye ken is, there wis aboot thirty five fiddlers gaithered there every wik at Fetterangus in the public hall.
[TM] And who was that, the, the leader of that?
[GE] Jimmy Youngson ye ca'd him. He wisnae the leader, he wis the conductor. And he come roon here and kent that I played. He aye come in and got his tea is Jimmy Youngson, in fact he wis brocht up on a place up the brae here a wee bit, and he wis affa well acquaint. And he come in every, when he come roon wi his van he got a cup o tea. And he aye hid me yokit wi the fiddle if I wis aboot ye see. So there wis a competition, eh, the first competition that they held at Mintla, I canna tell ye, I think I wis aboot fourteen ere at, ah but I wis at the Strathspey and Reel Society at that time. He, got us tae come doon, and there wis a neighbour up the road here at wis a fiddler, we biket tae Fetterangus every wik tae the practices.
But what an enjoyment I got oot o at, and whit an experience watchin and listenin tae a that better players ye see. And through the winter there wis guests invited in aboot, well Jimmy Dickie fae New Deer, ye've heard aboot him, Charlie Sutherland fae Fraserburgh and Hector McAndrew fae Aberdeen, and Duncan Strachan fae Potarch at Banchory, jist a first class players, they were a invited, mebbe twa o them were invited, three o them invited mebbe in the course o a winter jist as a guest, and they played the most of the evening themselves and we listened tae them. It wis jist a, eh, somebody, a better player tae listen till. Seen we hid a tune the gither. It wis jist a highlight, welcome aye.
[TM] How often would you meet, once a month or?
[GE] No, no, once a wik. Mm, hmm, mm hmm. See in the winter time we gaed oot tae concerts, specially the time o the war, well the welcome home fund and so on, and concerts were a ower the place. And there wis a bus arranged, and well we'd locals fae roon here, aye wir ane local concerts at Mintla, and mebbe hiv een at Strichen. We used tae fill a bus oot o the district here, eh, audience, spectators, aye. And they collected them up, well some oot o Strichen tae, but there wis a lot oot o the surroundin, because they a enjoyed is type o music. There wis wireless at at time, but there wis no television ye see. And, and fae one thing jist progressed tae the ither. And eh, in that competition, I was under 14, it ran fae 14 at at time, there wis four o us competin, and I wis second. There wis three places, first, second and third, and they wis a pupils at wis gettin tuition. There wis a pair fae Kemnay, Jock Morgan fae Kemnay, ye've mebbe heard o him tae, na, he wis a he wis a great fiddler and a great composer and singer and a, jist a richt roon musician. Is wis twa o his pupils. They won, they were first, een o the lassies played the piana, and anither lassie the fiddle, and there wis a twin, I dinna ken if there were twins or no, two lassie Gormans fae Fraserburgh they got tuition and a, well they were third and I wis second at is competition. And at's jist when we were youngsters. And seen, efter we grew up wi gaed tae Banchory at the competitions ere, and Elgin and various places. And ach, often it wis mebbe a third or something, I nivver hid a first wi the fiddle, nae many, nae wi the adults. But it wis jist playin mair than competin that I enjoyed, I wis affa bashful when I wis younger, I wouldna hae sung in the front o folk jist, well jist up to lately [laughs].There wis thirty-five o us onywey, and the leader wis a Bill, oh god fit wis his name, he wis heid forester at Aden, whit wis Bill's name. No, I shouldnae forget, he gaed fae here doon tae Cortechie, doon tae Princess Alexandra's man fit de ca them, early, early's estate doon at Cortechie. Angus Ogilvie, he progressed fae Aden estate doon tae be heid gardener doon at Cortechie. So we missed him, he joined the Brechin Strathspey and Reel Society. But we still gaed on, there wis a new leader, there wis a Ned Stewart fae Fetterangus, he took over. And Jean Stewart, at wis Ned's sister, they come wi the travellin folk, ye ken the same Stewarts as the Stewarts o Blairgowrie, Jean wis the pianist to the Fetterangus Strathspey and Reel Society, and she also hid her dance band ye see, so we gaed oot and did is concerts tae the, well tae Auchnagatt and Ellon and jist Peterheid, the Rescue Hall and New Deer, ach jist ower a the place. And Jean got the dance efter the concert, we did is concert and Jean hid the, got the dance thing efter her and her band played for the dance at followed the concert. And this concerts that we went to, well we got folk oot fae Aiberdeen as special guests. There wis Violet Davidson, she wis famous in her day, eh, aye she wis a celebrated singer. And we got her oot, and we hid tae pay a fee for her but there wis big audiences, we could afford to dae it, and it drew the company. And there wis comedians come oot and jugglers come oot, and usually a good fiddler, Charlie Sutherland or Hector McAndrew, or Bill Hardie fae Aberdeen, or some o them, usually wis invited oot, well jist as an outstanding player, and there we gaed on ye see. And, oh I thoroughly enjoyed it.