James

It's only taken me a week to post this. Here goes!
So James ( pictured) is a good friend, colleague, teacher, mentor who I have known since I was about 8, and who I have been fortunate enough to play alongside for 20 years in the moray string quartet.
Last weekend, he played two gigs, entitled James Alexander And Friends to which I was invited to play a couple of tunes with him and Peter, one of the other q'tet members.
Thing is, James has terminal prostate cancer, undiagnosed for roughly a year despite numerous visits to the doctor.
His future seemed to be bleak and doctors thought 6 months to a year. Throughout the last two years, however, he has been an active member of a peer support group in my home town of Forres and audience donations (£2,800) from these sell out gigs went towards this. There, he has learned about alternative therapies and has been able to discuss life, the ups and downs of his and other conditions and to try things, including cannabis oil. This is very much in our news right now - its benefits are quite clearly enormous and James is adamant that it has extended his life and given him quality.
He has now come to the end of his treatment - he calls it his 'sell by date', and has been told he may have a chance of a trial drug as he's never had chemo.
So. The gigs last weekend were bitter sweet. Alongside him were quite frankly, the very best of Scots musicians. They came not as a gimmick or as a way to demonstrate their extraordinary abilities as musicians, but as friends. Paul Anderson, Gregor Borland, Douglas Lawrence, Trevor Hunter, Charlie McKerron. You see James is someone everyone wants a piece of. Calm, funny, incredibly talented and incredibly humble, loyal, extraordinary teacher, visionary, and perhaps most importantly, father and grandfather.

https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/james-alexander-mbe/

http://www.speyfest.com/

http://www.gregorborland.com

http://www.paulandersonscottishfiddler.com[/url

Charlie McKerron https://g.co/kgs/Y3WKz7

http://www.douglaslawrence.co.uk/