Andrew and Margaret Watchorn - Lecchemede

(March 2006) Coupar Angus March * Svenska Anna * Flett From Flotta * Dunstan Hall * Blackhall Rocks * Hexham Chase * The Weary Cutters * Cupid's Waltz * Woodlands * Bielbie's Hornpipe * Sae Lang Returnin * Jim's Waltz * Alistair J Sim * Coquetdale Waltz * The Steamboat * The Skaith * Kirkconnel Lea * Moorbridge Hornpipe

A brilliant album of Northumbrian smallpipes & fiddle music. Andy and Margaret have both won competitions at traditional music festivals for solo playing and composition. Playing together, they have won numerous duet competitions.

Andrew Watchorn first became interested in traditional music over 25 years ago when in his early 20's. Up to then, he had been involved in classical music and jazz. It was after hearing recordings of Joe Hutton, George Atkinson and Billy Pigg, and also Anthony Robb playing at Newcastleton Festival in the mid 1970s, that he decided to begin to learn the smallpipes. Having retired from Art and Design teaching, he spends much of his time gardening and continuing his work as a painter, as well as making music. He plays a 14-keyed set of pipes in concert F by Colin Ross.

Margaret Watchorn learned her first tunes by sneaking out of bed at night to sit at the top of the stairs, listening to her father play the banjo. She took up the smallpipes in the early 1970s, and is a founder member of the Alnwick Pipers' Society where she was lucky to play alongside Joe Hutton. After taking a degree in music at the University of York, where she studied piano and singing, Margaret returned to Northumberland and began playing the fiddle as a new challenge. After a successful career as headteacher /teacher in a rural school, she is now a freelance teacher, learning consultant and musician. She plays a fiddle made by William Jamieson of Edinburgh in 1851, tuned down a tone. Individually, Andy and Margaret have both won competitions at traditional music festivals for solo playing and composition. Playing together, they have won numerous duet competitions