Afo News Blog

Tour DVD Released

World Premiere of the much awaited South Africa Tour DVD was last Sunday at  Prestwick Academy. It was a wonderful opportunity to relive our adventures in South Africa and to share our experiences with family and friends!   Hannah

AFO in 2016

  Happy New Year everyone! 2016 looks to be a great year for the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra as plans for the 2017 North America start to unfold. We have lots of concerts and fundraisers lined up for this year and I personally am looking forward to each and every one of them. At our first rehearsal of 2016 we had a few new member and if they are even half as good as the new players that joined in August then the orchestra is set to be even better than before. Looking forward to what the year brings! –...

Bagpacking

Every time at this time of year the orchestra packs its bags and head to the local supermarket to pack some other bags for other people doing their Christmas dinner shopping and New Years shopping.

It is always the busiest shopping day for the supermarkets and we are there to lend a hand.

Concerts at Christmas

This Christmas time two small groups spent two afternoons visiting the Ayrshire Hospice and the Creggan Bahn Nursing Home in Ayr bring music to the residents and staff at theses establishment.

Christmas Concert 2015

The biggest night of the year for the orchestra in undoubtably the AFO Christmas Concert. This is the first chance that the new players will play on stage with all the other members of the orchestra.

Christmas Medley Lyrics

Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
and two eyes made out of coal
Frosty the snowman is a fairytale they say

AFO Christmas Fayre 2015

It’s almost Christmas which means that we had our annual Christmas Fayre in the Ayr Town Hall.

Lots of AFO parents turned up to decorate the hall into a winter wonderland filled with stalls, tables and of course Santa’s grotto.

Two’s Company Concert 2015

One of the orchestra’s largest and favourite concerts of the year is the Two’s Company concert in the Ayr Town Hall. It is around the same weekend every year and the place is always very busy as we manage to pack the stage with 4 different groups.

Running for the Hout Bay Music Project

The next event to raise money for the Hout Bay Music Project was the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow. Ciaran McHugh gathered together a large group of AFO players and parents to run and raise some money. I went along on the day to show some support and of course take a few pictures to document their efforts. It was a very cold day and as we stood by the side lines wrapped up in gloves and scarfs the AFO runner embraced the cold and ran there best to raise as much money as they could for the Hout Bay Music Project. They were the Hout Bay t-shirts while running to showcase the great cause they were participating on behalf of. It also helped us spot them in a crowd as there were thousands of people joining this 10k for many different charities. The AFO runner managed to raise a fantastic total of over £2000!!! A massive well done to everyone that ran to raise more money for the Hout Bay Music Project.  ...

Zumba for Hout Bay

After returning from Tour in July the Hout Bay Music Project was very much on the minds on everyone would was there and met the wonderful smiling faces of those young people. After seeing their part of the world and how they live we knew we could do more to help them. So some members of the orchestra arranged a few fundraising events throughout the next few months. The first of these events for a Zumba class organised by myself, held in the Kingcase Church hall were we hold all of our Orchestra rehearsals. I was a lovely Sunday afternoon for a Zumba class. One of Ayrshire’s top Zumba instructors Fiona Young took the class, and with her usual energy and enthusiasm she put us through our paces. It was a mix of some great Zumba tracks and some traditional Scottish ones too, like the very energetic Dashing White Sergeant. We raised £300 in just few hours. Thanks to all that came along and danced with me to raise money for the Hout Bay Music Project! –...

First Rehearsal of the new season

The first rehearsal back after summer is always busy, people are catching up after a few weeks apart, forms have to be filled out and handed in and we have many new scared faces joining us for the first time. It can be quite daunting on your first day, as all of the older and former players can tell you. You might not know anyone there, or know where to go or what to do. But luckily for these new people there will be someone right next to them going through the same thing. And standing next to them is a member of the orchestra who has been around for a while, with a big smile on their face waiting to help them out. As the orchestra start to play the first piece (Fiddlers to the Fore) I looked around the room at all of the new players and they were just managing to follow along with the music. Which is where everybody starts off when they join, nobody gets it right away. The moved through to the other room to take the music a bit slower and have some extra direction, and just a few weeks later I heard them playing and I was blown away at how amazing they were and how much they had learned in just a small amount of time. Our newest member – of which there are a lot – are all very talented and I can’t wait to share a stage with them all at the Christmas Concert in December. Oh yeah, and the rest of the orchestra did a great job...

Prestwick Promenade Celebrations

After being rescheduled due to bad weather earlier in the year the Prestwick Promenade Celebration went ahead, even if it was a bit windy. The orchestra perform at this event every year, it was actually the first ever event I played at after my first year with the orchestra.   This year was a bit different as their performance was broadcast live online, and as I was not playing this year and couldn’t make it along to hear them play I was able to watch online. Although the connection wasn’t great, I still manged to see their smiling (well smiling-ish, they are still working on it) faces from my computer screen. It was a great idea especially as we have so many fans around the world who are unable to see us perform as often as they would like. Can’t wait to be back next year and hopefully spread our music even further around the world....

Ayr Flower Show Appearances

An annual performance on the orchestra’s calendar is the Ayr Flower show. We always seem to be lucky with weather and this year was no exception the sun was shining on both days the orchestra performed. The crowd was out to see AFO perform on the glorious day and they thoroughly enjoyed the music from the orchestra who were on top form since arriving back from tour. For some seniors this was the last event they would play with the orchestra as our new session starts later this month. I would like to wish them all the best, it has been a pleasure playing along side them all these years.  ...

League of Astonishing Strings Concert

What a night! It is always great to meet other musicians and spend some time getting to know them, while sharing some music on stage, in front of a fantastic audience. The League of Astonishing Strings made for great companions on the stage for this night of amazing music. The group were on their last leg of their European tour and they had saved the best for last by visiting Scotland. load testing website The group is made up of three groups from across the Atlantic Ocean. The Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra kicked off the show with three numbers, Kenny Gillies, Inisheer and Dashing White Sargent before we headed off the join the audience and handed the stage over to the League of Astonishing Strings. But this wasn’t the last time AFO would be on the stage for this concert. First up was the Calgary Fiddlers form Alberta, Canada. Their smiles lit up the stage as they danced and played so many great tunes that had everyone’s feet tapping. Up next was Music City Stings all the way form Franklin, Tennessee. They are the largest of the three groups with the biggest age range. Their music was performed with great energy and talent. Last to grace the stage was Revolution Strings from Abilene, Texas. The music produced by these players was remarkable and a joy to watch. The solos performed showcased some very talented musicians. The night ended with a joint performance from the League of Astonishing Strings and AFO, we played the beautiful Karen’s Air conducted by the ever amazing Dean Marshall. The sound created by all groups was moving and...

Reflecting back on Tour

We may have only been back for a week but I am already thinking back to tour and to the amazing things we did. We will be thinking back to this and all the other tours we go on throughout our lives as they are significant memories to us. It is when we get to see the wonders of the world and meet people who could be our friends for forever. It opens us up to new experiences and adventures that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to come by. When we think back we will have fond memories of giving concerts to sold out audiences, playing with musicians from other amazing orchestras, spending time with our friends – old and new – and visiting, learning and seeing the sites of South Africa. When I think back to American 2011 and Europe 2013 these are the types of things I remember with a smile on my face. But each tour is different, memorable and incredible so its own reason, with their own unique stories and memories but in the end they all come down to one thing – the AFO family we create while on tour.  ...
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