Scottish music runs in my family. My dad and his siblings formed a ceilidh band when they were teenagers and it was through this that my parents met. We held open air dances in Paternoster Square throughout the 1980’s and they put on highland broadsword dancing for the interval performance. It was here that I was first exposed to bagpipe music.
I had piano lessons from the age of 6 and passed all of my exams first time, but was no good at sight-reading and I knew I was never going to go far with it.
Some years later, I was in Dorking with my family when we stumbled across a highland gathering taking place! It was very rare to find such an event so close to home. It was here that I first got the idea to give the bagpipes a try instead and have never looked back since. Sight reading was easier, it would be consistent with my Scottish roots, and the bagpipes are a lot more portable than a piano!
While studying at university I found a local tutor who got me started on the practice chanter. After graduating I enrolled at a local evening class and very quickly moved onto the bagpipes. As our class progressed we formed our own band. Our first job was for the new chief superintendent in Hayes village, whose name was Jim Taggart!
The Ruskin Folk Festival was next on our calendar and through this I got an invitation by the Labour Party to perform for the annual TUC rally. By means of a thank you they allowed us to use Ruskin House for a fundraising event for the band.
It was during my time with this band that I got my first television job, doubling for actor Brian Cox who played the role of speaker Michael Martin in the BBC drama On Expenses; a tongue-in-cheek drama about the MP expenses scandal.
The band also played in France for the 65th D-Day anniversary live on the BBC in the presence of Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Francois Ffion.
I have since played with several other bands including the Blackwatch. I now compete with the British Airways Pipe Band.