Top Of The Pops for Haiti
Last night I attended an astonishing event in Haddington’s Corn Exchange organised by Mike Cullen and a host of talented and generous friends in aid of the victims of Haiti’s earthquake. I’m sure Mike won’t mind my mentioning here that the amount raised is already over £5,000 and rising. Perhaps Mike could let us know the final figure and the names of all those involved in putting on such an excellent night.
The Corn Exchange was transformed into a TOTP studio:
The quality of the bands was outstanding – including State Freed, featuring some Knox lads:
The audience were invited to dress up and many really pushed the boat out. I was keen to do my bit with this barely noticeable tweak to standard school dress code:
All 500 tickets were sold and the atmosphere was fantastic. I found this quite a moving event – not least because I had the chance to catch up with some old friends – including school friends. The dynamic between music, geography and emotion is a strange one. I lived in Haddington until I moved away to study in 1979 – quite a while ago. Yet last night, I’d never felt more part of, nor proud of, the place.
Well done to everyone involved!
Alan Coady
Wig is fantastic Alan. I wonder what your Head at MGS would say if you turned up in that?
I would love to see his face.
Well done to everyone.
Ann Cruickshank
Comment by ann cruickshank — March 13, 2010 @ 11:30 pm
Echoing your comments Alan, I hadn’t realised until reading your blog, but yes a lot of emotion. As we shouted about over the PA, East Lothian has a wealth of talent and it was a privilege to be a part of it. Not only that but this event really brought out the best in people, the reverberations of this ‘make a difference’ event will echo around the county for years.
It was great to catch up.
Windy
Comment by Andrew Miller — March 14, 2010 @ 9:03 am
Well, of course it was all me!!! As much as I’d like to bask in the glory, it was actually lots of other people that organised this, I just chipped in a bit. Lesley Cullen, Tonia Moncrieff, Carole Foy, Mike Foy, Gordon Horsburgh, Lynsey Cullen, Iain Bruce, Kenny Stein, John Reddington, the list goes on and on, the HMI committee – I’d be here all day writing names, sorry if someone feels forgotten, you all did a magnificent job.
Thanks for the blog, Alan, you were part of an amazing crowd, that really got into the spirit of it all.
Comment by Mike Cullen — March 14, 2010 @ 12:43 pm