The Brothers Gillespie

This is the third day in a row when I have not managed to go out as planned!

The morning sped by. After lunch, I donned my coat and was ready to go to Hexham, when the phone rang. It was our friends, Myroon and Mark in Sunderland to say that they would like to come and visit, now! Coat off, hoover out for the bits in the hall etc and I was ready when they arrived.

I told Mark 1hour for travelling and he complained because it took them 1hr and 1 minute!! Just joking of course.

We had a lovely catch up.

This evening I went to Twice Brewed for a concert in their new brewhouse. They can pack about 50 people into the reception area (and a few standing. Ian Brown (who is going to lead our singing walk in the festival) is the organised. 



My friend Maggie Feeney opened the concert. Her singing and songwriting brilliant. She gets better and better. 

The Brothers Gillespie, who hail from Wall Village, were the main act. They are wonderful. 


"North Tyne troubadours The Brothers Gillespie combine the glorious tones of sibling harmony with brilliant multi-instrumentalism and inspired song-writing. Described by Folk Radio UK as ‘weaving an especially compelling magic’"


The lighting was awful and made the gig photography challenging to say the least. Part way through the evening an extra light must have been added and I had black stripes across the images unless I lowered the shutter speed to 1/50 or slower. Gasp.

Anyway, I love this photo of James on fiddle. Sam is standing to his left, but I saw a reflection of him in the window behind James and hoped this would make a good image.

Hear a sample of their singing and playing

The concert finished at 2315 so I had a special late pass out!!

We also had great news today. Three of the young in the family gave birth and Mum has three new great great nieces. Sarah was the first to put in an appearance in Manila, then Emily and Charlotte in Sunderland. Just amazing.