Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Play it again Sandy, called the Duke as fiddle blazed in Forfar
RETIRED Procurator Fiscal Sandy Ingram recalls the last visit of the Queen and Prince Philip to Angus almost two decades ago.
The Royal couple carried out a day-long whistlestop tour of the area in July sunshine, touching down at the Condor home of 45 Commando Royal Marines.
After leaving the base in the striking royal Bentley built for the Queen’s golden jubilee two years’ earlier, the next port of call for Her Majesty was the official opening of a new community access and learning centre at the then Angus College, now D&A College, on Keptie Road in Arbroath.
The Duke of Edinburgh carried out an informal factory visit to the premises of John M Henderson, touring the shop floor of the engineering business.
Following lunch in Forfar and other engagements there, the Royal guests again parted company and Prince Philip received a tour of the Angus Digital Media Centre in Brechin.
At Forfar’s Reid Hall, Her Majesty was presented with a fiddle tune composed by Sandy Ingram – who is a well-known local musician, and whose manuscripts now grace the walls of several Royal households.
At the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Angus, Mrs Georgiana Osborne, Sandy wrote Queen Elizabeth the Second’s Welcome to Angus.
Sandy recalled: “We were at the Reid Hall in
Forfar and played God Save the Queen as the Royal couple entered the hall.
“We then played the new tune as they were walking round being introduced to various people by the Lord Lieutenant and the then Provost, Bill Middleton.
“The Provost introduced me to Her Majesty and I then handed over the framed music to the Queen.
“At that point I think Prince Philip became aware that we had played the tune as they were going round.”
Sandy, from Glamis, added: “He asked if they could hear it again, but unfortunately one of the Royal aides said that the timetable wouldn’t allow, so we weren’t able to play it for them.”
Sandy, 90, has also written compositions for the Duke of Rothesay and the Duchess of Gloucester.
His most recent Royal piece was An Angus Welcome To The Earl and Countess of Forfar, performed for the first time in the spectacular Canmore Room of the town’s Municipal Buildings in July 2019.
It was created to honour the first Earl of Forfar for 300 years after the ancient title was conferred by The Queen on Prince Edward to mark his 55th birthday.
A decade prior to his meeting with the Queen and Prince Philip, Sandy met Her Majesty when he was presented with the OBE at Holyrood Palace in June 1994.