Carnegie, the Glen and his love of bagpipes!
IN THIS week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane, we look at the legacy of one of the world’s greatest-ever philanthropists, Andrew Carnegie, who was born in Dunfermline on November 25, 1835.
There will be a musical event in the Carnegie Birthplace on the life of Carnegie over the weekend of October 7 and 8 featuring the great-great-greatgrandson of Carnegie himself, Joe Whiteman, playing the lead role.
Ian Hammond Brown (Ian Hammond Brown, music and lyrics, ‘Whisky Galore a Musical’) created the event and outlines how it developed: “The full musical was staged in the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016 and in the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline in 2019. The story is narrated by Sharron McColl and is set in the last two hours of Andrew Carnegie’s life. John, a steelworker killed in the infamous Carnegie Steel’s Homestead plant dispute of 1892, is brought back from the afterlife by Peterson, the embodiment of St Peter. John is charged with reviewing Andrew Carnegie’s life and must decide on Carnegie’s eternal fate.”
‘The Star Spangled Scotchman – songs from the Carnegie musical’ also features Donna Hazelton (who performed in ‘Musicality’ and ‘Chicago’ in the West End) as Mrs Carnegie, and a cast of other talented performers, accompanied by live musicians, that will bring this performance back to the place where it all began for the first time.
Andrew Carnegie bought and gifted Pittencrieff Park to the people of Dunfermline and our next postcard image from around 1927 shows the Tea House situated in the park.
The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust featured a huge variety of musical events over the past century celebrating how important a role music played in the life of Andrew Carnegie. Many of these musical performances took place in Pittencrieff Park.
Our next image shows a band playing on the stage in ‘The Kiosk’ in the Glen. This building has long since been demolished and has been replaced by the Glen Pavilion which has a rear open stage situated more or less where the Kiosk once stood.
When Andrew Carnegie bought
Skibo Castle, he had a piper play for his guests every day at 7.45am sharp and the first resident piper,
Angus Macpherson, recalled in his autobiography: “Andrew was a lover of good music with which I am proud to say he associated the music of the Highland bagpipe. He looked upon the bagpipe as a great Scottish heritage.”
The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust sponsored the trophies, cups and medals for the Royal Scottish Pipe
Band Championship that took place in Pittencrieff Park on Saturday, May
24, 2014, the first such championship to have taken place in Dunfermline for more than 20 years. A total of 23 pipe bands from all over Scotland took part in the event. Our next photograph shows the finale to the event when the massed bands marched in unison.
Tickets for ‘The Star Spangled Scotchman – songs from the Carnegie musical’ are available online at Bit.ly/ ACBMEvent as well as in person from the Birthplace Museum between 11am and 3pm each day.
More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook. com/olddunfermline