The Fraser Shaw Trust would like to say a big warm thank you to everybody who supported us in 2018, particularly those who attended our fundraiser Shawfest, Hamish Napier who raised £670 doing 3x10k runs in 3 Irish cities in January, and Duncan Lyall who raised £650 running the Edinburgh marathon in May. Well done! Sales of Mac Ìle – tune book and CD also continue and we hope people are enjoying the music as much as we have!
Donations
The Trust are extremely pleased to be donating £2000 to the Multiple Sclerosis Centre Mid-Argyll in Lochilphead, which will go towards a very large electricity bill this winter, due to all the changes that went on there during the year. Fraser had intended on donating the proceeds of his tune book here, his local MS Centre, a place he received a great deal of support from during his illness, so it means a lot to the Trust to be able to make this donation on his behalf. A donation of £1000 will also be made to MS Society Scotland, a charity which funds research on treatment of the illness as well as working with MS sufferers, helping them manage their symptoms.
Grants
As well as supporting these charities, the Trust aims to promote the arts and culture of Scotland, encouraging and enabling participation in, and the study of all forms of traditional music. We are therefore delighted to launch a new funding initiative for Scottish musicians – several grant awards for a max of £500 each. The fund will support a variety of applicants, such as the purchase of instruments, music studies, enabling participation in concerts/competitions or the composition of new music. Whilst the funding is open to all, the trust is particularly keen to support Ileachs or people with a connection to the island of Islay. Applications are now open to all traditional musicians. Both individuals and groups are welcome to apply, and the trust looks forward to supporting many musicians and projects in the future. To obtain an application form, or for further information about the funding scheme, please email info@frasershawtrust.com
Whisky
In other extremely exciting news, we are absolutely delighted to announce the release of a limited edition hand bottled Valinch from Bruichladdich Distillery! This bottling comes from a refill bourbon cask selected by the world-renowned master distiller Jim McEwan. The cask was distilled on 27/2/08 and hand bottled at cask strength of 58.2% vol on 12/12/18.
There are only 6 individually numbered bottles, emblazoned with Fraser’s crest, which was designed by the amazing Somhairle MacDonald. The bottles will be up for auction next year – details on this coming soon!
Jim has been a massive support to the Trust since Fraser’s passing in 2015 and we would like to express sincere thanks to him and also to Ailsa, Karolyn and everyone at Bruichladdich Distillery.
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From everyone at The Fraser Shaw Trust, Nollaig chridheil agus bliadhna mhath ùr!