This page is intended to support and publicise our charity event on 29 January in aid of Kirkcaldy Hospice. Our event will feature six bands throughout the day, with great prizes to be raffled off. What follows now is a brief explanation of its origin and inspiration:
A friend, whom I did not have the pleasure of knowing long, died on 20th October. His was a well-kent face around Kirkcaldy and his sad passing was sudden. In September he was feeling unwell, and within days was faced with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Within a few weeks of that diagnosis he was gone, and, despite a couple of visits when we got on well and shared a few laughs, the undertone, the unsaid, was ever-present: he would not be here long. His name was McLean Dorward and since the early nineties he owned the tobacconist shop, GT Coventry, at the east end of Kirkcaldy High Street. Latterly, McLean had joined the small Kirkcaldy Walking Football fraternity at the leisure centre, presumably in an effort to gain better fitness levels and probably for a bit of company. Mac (or sometimes Big Mac) was always good fun and there was always a hint that he would be an interesting man to get to know better. Well, he did regale me with a tale about the Great Fire of Dunfermline of 1634- I knew nothing about that! While visiting him in October, I had the idea of trying to raise some money for the hospice which was looking after him. Like many medical facilities of its kind, it runs largely with the help of volunteers and is always grateful for donations. As a musician playing mainly in local venues, I thought that maybe this was the way to raise some funds- an event featuring local musicians all working in a concerted effort to make some money for a fantastic local medical centre specialising in palliative care. In fact, I had a couple of discussions about the event and what could be done. Modestly, McLean did not want to give his name directly to it, though he most certainly did approve of it wholeheartedly and even threatened to haunt me if it didn’t go ahead! While preparing for the task of organising the event, and somehow pulling the whole thing together, I reflected that we have all, to some extent, had dealings with cancer. We have all had that dreaded visit to a dying loved one with a short time to live, or know someone who has. Sadly, the shadow of cancer is a long one. If our event will help even a few people near the end of their lives, then our small gesture will be worthwhile. Rock the Hospice was inspired by the tragic plight of a man I liked but did not know well- but maybe that’s the point, somehow.
