Lots to tell you after tonight’s ceilidh. Going to have to settle for bullet points:

-Arrive at 6.25pm for early set up.
-Meet electrian Mark who is going to give our equipment the once over. Gear passes the PAT. (Note: it’s not PAT Testing as that would be “Portable Appliance Testing Testing”, the same reason it’s not a PIN Number, ATM Machine, HIV Virus etc…).
-Band message to say there’s a serious crash on the motorway. At one stage it looks like it might just be me. I try to recruit Mark, at least for moral support. He, understandably, is for none of it and leaves.
-The rest of the band arrive in the nick of time ready for a most pleasant first half. This crowd (here to raise money for Galston Church Fete) appreciated good music and ceilidh at a leisurely pace so that’s exactly what they got. A couple of up tempo dances followed by a wee breather to enjoy Jenny’s sweet vocals, accompanied by Susan’s virtuoso violin harmonies.
-The break arrives and we’re ushered in first to enjoy some of the best sandwiches we’ve ever had at a ceilidh, followed by some chewy meringues, truffles and good old Ayrshire festive tonic: ginger wine.
-A quick rendition of “Jingle Bells” brings Santa Claus out of the woodwork and he conducts the raffle (issuing the prizewinners with a lot more than just the prize their ticket earned them!).
-Ewan was back on raffle form, scooping an impressive Christmas wreath, put together by ex-servicemen with PTSD

-I win a fetching china rooster mug. And as if that wasn’t excitng enough, it came with matching coaster and tea-towel. The wife’s Christmas sorted, then.
-The second half was great too with the ceilidh stuff, Scottish stuff and covers all big hits (“Dignity” sure got folk up for a boogie)-

Ooops. Almost forgot. The photo attached to the blog shows the artwork in the toilet. It’s a cat/dog smoking. I’ll leave you to figure out the hidden meaning in that one.