The Buddy Beat @ TH. CARS2 February 21 st 2017 Paisley Museum
It has been a while since we were last on the road, so when an invite to perform came up we jumped at the chance. Alan Clark is the manager of Create Paisley. (www.createpaisley.org.uk) and is a long-term friend and partner of The Buddy Beat. Alan contacted us for an event being staged by Create at Paisley Museum The event itself was the launch of the 2 nd phase of Paisley Townscape Heritage & Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme. Now, that s a bit of a mouthful and is perhaps easier known as TH. CARS2. This is a venture by Renfrewshire Council and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to regenerate Paisley town centre. Phase one saw our Causeyside Street revamped with brand new and wider pavements and the shops all had new frontages. One shop owner, we later learned, described the work As giving our street another 100 years. Todays was the launch of the 2 nd phase that would transform historic properties and the streetscapes in High Street, New Street, Shuttle Street and George Place.
As we mentioned earlier, Alan Clark and Buddy Beat have a bit of history. In 2011 Alan, a then university student approached us, asking if we could create a musical piece for his project centered around Paisley s industrial heritage. We took the challenge on and taking Paisley s famous mills as our inspiration, we created Paisley Pattern which takes us through a shift in a mill. Alan filmed this and the short film on Youtube has more than three hundred views. In 2014, Alan and Tom combined to create a short film based around Art Trail by Rail which took place on World Mental Health Day. Local art groups had their work exhibited on five train stations between Paisley and Port Glasgow. Getting on and off trains, Buddy Beat and Rock Us Choir entertained on each platform and were joined by many of the artists and members of the public. The short film Platform for Change is also on Youtube and has achieved more than 900 views. The Buddy Beat mill workers were- Dr Jane Bentley Tom Chalmers Anne Dowie Kenny Lamont Gilbert Muir Jamie McGlinchey Eileen McGrory Christine Robertson Marian Trainor
Left- Gilbert, Tom & Kenny Right- Tom & Jane And here we have Eileen, Anne, Marian & Jamie all eager to get on stage The event began at 1.00pm with people arriving and two talented musicians took to the stage. Ryan Young & Pablo Lafuente treated us to an amazing 30 minutes of toe tapping music.
After a short introduction by Susan Jones, Regeneration Manager of Renfrewshire Council Regeneration & Economic Development Service, it was time for a speech by the Deputy Leader of Renfrewshire Council Michael Holmes. He spoke for five minutes about the town centre regeneration before asking Buddy Beat to take to the stage. Jane introduced us and spoke briefly about how our Paisley Pattern had come to be, and how almost everyone in the group had memories of the mills or had family who worked the looms. Jane described it as a musical picture and it goes something like this- The sound of feet trudging reluctantly to the mill start the tune off. The mill
hooter is sounded and the feet scurry to clock on to the shift. The whistle blows and the looms and machinery start up, recreated with a few drums, some wooden percussion and some metal percussion too. We swing along in full production but the machinery suddenly breaks down. Everyone downs tools while the repair man fixes the looms. The whistle goes and the production line restarts until finally the whistle blows to signify the end of a hard shift. A cheer fills the air and everyone clocks out, and we sing a little mill ditty three times, getting quieter each time as though walking off to our homes. (check out Paisley Pattern on Youtube at https://youtu.be/oo5y9wutxj4). We received a really hearty applause and we retook our seats. A young local 17-year-old singer song-writer, from Create, Lisa Kowalski, sang one of her own songs Hearts of Gold a beautiful song which she wrote about Paisley. Lisa is shortly due to release her first album. You can see Lisa singing her song on Create Paisley s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/create.paisley/videos)
The hall was full with perhaps 80/100 people in attendance, including half a dozen or so young school children who had created artwork for the project. Buddy Beat s Tom spied them during the Paisley Pattern performance. They looked so pleased and animated and they were following the story no problem. Alasdair Morrison, Head of Regeneration spoke for a few moments and in closing Susan Jones informed the room that a few events were being planned during the work on Paisley s streets and that today s musical acts could well feature in these. We would be delighted to part of this great venture which will make Paisley people proud of their town centre for decades to come. Mr Morrison said to Jane Bentley in passing That was brilliant. I have never seen anything like it. Buddy Beat had a great time at TH. Cars2 and every one of us enjoyed the experience. It was really good to be back on the road and we look forward to the next opportunity. We took the chance to take a photo in the museum to show our backing for Paisley 2021- Paisley s bid to be the UK City of Culture for that year. It s an exciting time in Paisley as the town works towards trying to achieve this award. Words and pictures by Tom Chalmers A Buddy Beat Publication 22 nd February 2017