The Buddy Beat:

A Review of our year to June 2015

Going back to May 2014, it was a relatively quiet time for The Buddy

Beat gang, with no events on the horizon throughout the early

summer. It was business as usual every Thursday though where we

continued to help and support one another and have fun together.

It is at times like these that we can work on something new to take

to the world. Jane came up trumps with “Shiko”- which is a

traditional African musical piece. We worked away at it for a good

while- the rhythms we got into our brains fairly smoothly, but the

altogether never before tried armography was an altogether

different matter. We must have looked like a set of drunken octopus

at times and then we realised that sitting in a circle was very

confusing when we are all meant to be moving in unison. Then we had

the bright idea to sit in a line- what you might call “A Lightbulb

moment”- and hey presto! We had it nailed. Now we had to wait to

debut this new wonder piece, but more of that later.

In July we said goodbye to The

Life Church for the 2nd time

(who can forget our infamous

15 minutes at Mile End Mill in

February?). We flitted about

thirty feet down the street to

The Pockets Snooker Club,

which remains our home to this day. We had three years at The Life

Church, but a move was the right thing to do for us.

In early August, we had our 4th annual day out, and we travelled to

Largs for the third year in succession. It seemed that everyone

wanted to go, which is the way it should be. This was something new

for Alistair,

Andrew and Marian

and we headed

straight to the

beach.

The sun was on our side and sat for a good hour, bringing out

everything in our repertoire. If we had brought the kitchen sink

with us then know doubt that would have been chucked into the

arena. A lady passed by and asked if she could join in and it turned

out that she was a member of a Kirkcaldy drumming group called

Beatroot. When we said that we were The Buddy Beat she exclaimed

“I have heard of you guys. I can’t wait until I get back home and tell

my lot that I have been drumming with Buddy Beat!”

Afterwards, we retired to Nardinis and filled our bellies with fish &

chips and ice-cream. It was arguably our best day out ever.

Then we got the

chance to finally show

off “Shiko” when we

were asked to perform

at the official launch

of “The Sunshine

Recovery Café” in St

Matthews Church in

Paisley, on August

13th. This was Andrew’s first gig and it all went off with a bang and

our rhythms and moving arms went down a treat indeed!

August was also the month when the money from Tom’s 2013 DVD

bought us handbells and chime bars, and we have certainly put those

to good use.

In September, group member Carolyn asked if we would join her

choir Rockus at a MacMillan Coffee Morning in the Salvation Army

Hall in Mill Street, Paisley. Jane couldn’t make it sadly, but we went

anyway and we helped raise over £1200.00. The highlight of that

morning for us was surely when we invited the kids on stage to be

part of The Buddy Beat and it was a lovely thing to see.

That same evening some of us went down to

Biggar to drum with Jane’s drumming

community and it was a barnstorming two

hours of scintillating rhythms that fair set

our hearts a flutter.

At the start of October, many of us signed up for Beats Work, a

retreat day at Barnbrock Farm near Lochwinnoch. This was part of

the Renfrewshire Mental Health Arts & Film Festival and we were

joined by Sarah Grant, Arts Co-Ordinator from the NHS NetWork

Service. What a day we had there- we split into two and one group

got to write on a large sheet of paper what Buddy Beat meant to

them and then had the chance to decorate this too. The other group

were out in the woods with Jane and had a grand Ukelele lesson.

Then we all swapped over so that we could all experience everything.

The artwork and words were superb and the Ukeleles went down a

real treat. We also had a lunch time sing-along, the chance to play

Jane’s harps and rounded things off with felting and a strange

instrument from Jane that was a long pole with bells on!

A week later and we took part in Art Trail by Rail. We met at

Gilmour Street Station and we were joined by Rockus Choir. Carolyn

was there with two hats on that day and flitted seamlessly between

drums and vocals.

The weather was of the monsoon variety, but we had a great time

getting on and off trains all the way to Port Glasgow, stopping at

each station to examine the artwork displayed there. We

entertained at Bishopton, inspiring people to dance and rocked the

roof at Port Glasgow.

A super day and it was special for two reasons-

Firstly, it was Buddy Beat’s 200th gig, which is an amazing figure for

our little band.

Secondly, a certain young artist named Stacey saw what we were all

about and told Tom that she wanted to join. Result! What a day that

was!

Towards the end of the

Mental Health Arts & Film

Festival, Buddy Beat took

residence in the Festival Hub

in The Paisley Centre and

entertained many passers-by

and more than a few

youngsters tried their hand

at drumming.

At the end of October some of us joined Jane and her mum Eileen

at Paisley’s Piazza for a Fair

Trade Event and even though

horrendous rain that morning

suggested that we would have

to cancel, the sun suddenly

burst through and we had a

great time playing outside and

singing our little heads off.

The Fun Boy 3-Tom,

Jamie & Andrew

Into November and we

were invited to attend

Caledonia University in

Glasgow. This was a

conference for 200

student occupational therapists & was entitled Students of

Occupational Therapy Links Scotland or SOTLS for short. Two

workshops were held in the morning and the students asked many

questions, which is always a good sign. In the afternoon we closed

the event with a super performance topped off with a Boomwhacker

Bonanza. Also, Stacey made her debut there, just two short weeks

after joining.

At the end of November we had a special celebration night at our

monthly Open Night at The Charleston Centre. It marked the fifth

anniversary of the first one and this group has turned into a terrific

little collection of characters and we always have a good time

together.

At the start of December, we went to The Glynhill Hotel

in Renfrew for our 6th annual Christmas Party Night. It

was great fun and the good company and music was the

perfect combination for a great night. We always scrub

up well at these things! Around this time Jane came up

with the idea of writing our own song- well we all know

how that turned out. We all chipped in suggestions for

lyrics and quite quickly “The Buddy Beat Blues” was born,

but more of that later. We rounded off 2014 with our

Christmas Party and Tom delivered The Buddy Beat Awards and sent

everyone home with a tube of sweeties.

Into the New Year and towards the end of January a

new group member arrived in the shape of Gordon,

who has eased seamlessly into the group. Gordon has

made us more musical, with his Ukelele and Banjo

playing.

Jane came up with the idea of having a Member of the Month award,

and with the help of someone whose identity is a closely guarded

secret; the 1st recipient was Andrew and was then followed by

Eileen, Carolyn, Gordon, Christine. It has turned out to be something

rather splendid, and it is heart-warming to hear what each person

has to say about the particular person being awarded. Perhaps Eileen

summed it up best when she exclaimed ‘It’s just like “This is Your

Life!”’ Was it a great idea Jane? - No, it was a beautiful one, that is

altogether special. Fear not if you have not been awarded yet dear

fellow drummers- Jane will get to everyone in time!

In February, ROAR wanted us back for some more musical fun and

we had an 8 date tour which took in clubs at Erskine twice,

Johnstone, Paisley West End & Paisley Sherwood, Lochwinnoch,

Linwood and more. We entertained the best part of 200 people

during this, and we also slipped in a little workshop for a group of

Flexi-care teenagers. Special mention must go to Alistair for braving

the first one with just Jane for support. The ladies loved him though

and even laughed at his jokes. Gordon also braved the gig at

Sherwood ROAR with just Jane for company and we should salute

Gordon for attending 7 of the 8 ROAR gigs. Now that is what we call

commitment! One of the best comments was made to Marion B at

Erskine ROAR when a little lady told her as we were packing up

“That was one of the best days we have ever had here.”

Around this time a shy (?) young chap called Derek also came

to the fold. Derek is a Support Worker at Dykebar Hospital

and the idea was for Derek to attend Buddy Beat for a

couple of weeks so that he could pass on the benefit to

patients. Lucky for us, Derek fell in love with us all and he

doesn’t want to leave.

We have always had lots of visitors over the years, whether they

are student nurses or student occupational therapists. One such was

the lovely Helen, who had seen Buddy Beat at the SECC in 2013 and

also at SOTLS on November. Helen wanted to come along for a while

to sample what we do and it’s fair to say that Helen is smitten, and

has been nothing short of a sweetheart to us all and we hope that

she continues to visit as often as she likes.

Moving into May and we

kicked the month off

with an event at Paisley

Lagoon Centre. It was

called SOOPIR-

Strengthening

Opportunities for Older

People in Renfrewshire.

In a ginormous hall, we closed the event and entertained 150 people,

with a performance and Boomwhackers/Percussion session. It was a

great day and the group loved it.

At the end of May two things happened- Graham returned

to us and we were all very pleased to see him.

And we took delivery of our newest Baby and have called her Adele

and we hope that she will flourish and stay with us.

So what of “The Buddy Beat Blues”? Well, as we all know, on Tuesday

16th June at Paisley Arts Centre we debuted this after many months

of rehearsal. The genie was finally out of the bottle and we all

looked great in our colours. The audience loved what they heard and

I am sure that we will sing this for years to come!

So that is the last year and what another great year it has been for

The Buddy Beat. We have had plenty of great events and workshops

to remember fondly. Lots of thrills and fun along the way and we

somehow managed to survive Alistair’s jokes, although Derek is

challenging him for his crown.

Also, we need to send a huge thank you to Jane for keeping us all

going and in line when needed- “Is it about drumming?” Jane is

fabulous at keeping things fresh and interesting and is the twinkling

star in The Buddy Beat universe.

We have grown in number and been enriched by this and become

stronger. We can look forward to another year of great rhythm and

exciting adventures. Bring it on!

Tom Chalmers/The Buddy Beat/June 18 2015