In circumstances that would defeat many, Peter Logue continues not only to be positive, but to devote his energy to playing music, in aid of others.
Fighting cancer and nearly completely blind, he busks, playing his accordion to fundraise for charities such as the Glasgow City Mission Foodbank, the Salvation Army, Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre and Oxfam, raising over £2000 over the last two years.
His interest in playing Scottish music came later in life. Arriving back in Scotland in 2004 after a number of years in Canada with his wife Suzanne – a Montreal native – Peter suffered a heart attack. Recovering at the Vale of Leven hospital, he recalls lying listening to Jimmy Shand and thinking, ‘that’s magic’. Listening to Shand made a big impression: When he was allowed home, the first port of call was Glasgow, to purchase an accordion.
Teaching himself in the beginning, and then continuing under the tutelage of Gary Blair, he was soon busking in Dumbarton and Helensburgh, raising funds for Oxfam and the Salvation Army. However, this was curtailed for a time when he was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer.
He went to the Beatson Cancer centre for chemotherapy, where he learned that the cancer had spread to his liver. This devastating news would be enough to send most in to a tailspin, but not Peter. After his treatment ended he was back out busking, this time for the Beatson. He said: “I wanted to give something back to the Beatson centre for all that they’d done for me. The nurses there are fantastic, they’re top gun”.
After surgery and two rounds of chemotherapy, Peter was given the all clear from his cancer. In December he and Suzanne flew out to Lanzarote for a celebratory holiday. On this time, he remarked “I did a lot of busking!”
Heartbreak though when he returned home. On the 6th of January 2016, he received an out of the blue phone call with the worst news. The cancer was back. Just four weeks after his first all-clear CT scan Peter had multiple tumours in the liver and both lungs.
In his own words, the news was “devastating”. It seems though for Peter there is no time like the present. Within weeks of receiving the news, he was back to jumping on the bus and heading up to his usual busking haunts. Over the past 6 months he’s raised nearly £700 for the Glasgow City Mission Foodbank. As he puts it: “That’s quite a lot of chicken!”
Written by Joseph Peach