National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs (NAAFC) came on board right at the start of the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2003. They do a fantastic job of supporting all the Accordion and Fiddle clubs across Scotland. Read more about them below. (Have you voted in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards yet? Do so here!
2011 saw the 40th Anniversary of the NAAFC as the inaugural meeting was held on 4 July 1971 in the Station Hotel in Ayr. From an extract of the minutes of that inaugural meeting it can be seen that those present clearly had a vision of what they wanted to see develop from the emerging accordion and fiddle club scene.
There were nine clubs represented at that first meeting: Perth, Gretna, Straiton, Langholm, Dundee, Newcastleton, Dumfries, Galston and Milngavie.
An exploratory meeting had been held in June 1971 in Perth where seven of the nine clubs listed above had agreed to form a National Association of clubs with like-minded ideas across Scotland.
The issues discussed at that inaugural meeting were as follows:
Any member of a club which was a member of the National Association would be permitted entry to another Association member club at the same admission fee as local members of the club being visited.
Where clubs were run by hotels/pubs for profitable gain, they would not be permitted to join the Association.
The initial membership fee payable by local clubs to join the new National Association was set at £2 – after forty years it is still only £15.
The annual meeting of the National Association would be held in a different venue each year and be hosted by the local club. Nowadays the constitution states that the Annual General Meeting should be held in a central location.
A monthly circular would be issued to the secretaries of member clubs outlining what activities were taking place at other member clubs over the coming month – surely this was the beginning of what we now know as the Box and Fiddle Magazine.
It was agreed that the club season would run from September through to May each year, but the clubs could hold informal meetings outside these months. This is still pretty much the position for most clubs today.
Member clubs of the National Association agreed to encourage their local members to visit and support other member clubs of the Association. This ethos still applies today with many individuals supporting a number of clubs in their locality.
It was agreed that for an annual Association meeting to be quorate, a minimum of five clubs should be represented.
A discussion took place on how the guest artists list could develop. Club representatives were asked to submit nominations of appropriate potential guest artists for inclusion on the list – this sounds almost like being auditioned to get your name on the list which is a far cry from the current process.
Inter-club exchange visits were to be encouraged as a way of reducing the running costs of having a paid guest artist every month. Such exchange visits were a regular feature of the club scene in the 1970/1980s.
The Association’s Growth and Activities over the Years
From humble beginnings with the nine member clubs in 1971, the NAAFC now has more than seventy clubs stretching from Shetland in the north to Rothbury and Wooler in the south and across the breadth of the Scottish mainland and Western Islands. Each of the member clubs meets on a monthly basis with most still following the same format that was so successful when they were established. A number of clubs are due to celebrate their own 40th Anniversary in the next year or two.
In addition, the NAAFC is now responsible for producing the monthly magazine “Box and Fiddle” which has an annual circulation of more than 16,000 copies (with many more readers) from previous highs of more that 19,000 copies a year being sold. “The “Box and Fiddle” is now in its 35th year of circulation – a level of success surely well beyond the wildest imaginations of the committee members who agreed to tackle such a project back in the mid 1970s. The “Box and Fiddle” has progressed from a Newspaper introduced in October 1977 to a 40 page magazine today.
The NAAFC is also responsible for organising the annual NAAFC Festival (formerly held in the Brunton Halls in Musselburgh) but now well established at Inchyra Grange Hotel in Polmont. March 2011 saw the 37th Annual Festival which again started from humble beginnings of only 5/6 sections to the major event that it is today in the Scottish music calendar, drawing competitors from all over the country.
Other innovations from the NAAFC Executive Committee over the years include:
NAAFC Honours Award
For many years now the NAAFC has honoured most of the great and good of our music scene at the Annual Celebrity Lunch. The list of the former recipients can be found here on the NAAFC website and reads like a Who’s Who of the best of Scottish musicians over the last 100 years or so. This tradition is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
Jimmy Shand Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded annually to a student studying for the BA in Scottish Traditional Music at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and can be used by the recipient to pay for tuition, music, course materials or any other expenses associated with their studies.
Sheet Music Books
The NAAFC have published three volumes of music by the late Angus Fitchet and “The Border City Collection” – a book of Felix Burns compositions, thus ensuring that the music of these long gone maestros could be preserved for enthusiasts across the globe for years to come.
Scottish Dance Band of the Year Sponsor
More recently, the NAAFC has been the proud sponsor of the “Scottish Dance Band of the Year” Award at the annual MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards since the inception of the awards in 2003.
