Real lives: Fred Frayling-Kelly - Fred hits the high notes with citizenship award

Published on Monday 14 June 2010 11:20

The founder of the Leith Community Concert Band, Fred Frayling-Kelly, has received the Leith Festival's Elizabeth Wardlaw Citizenship Award.

Mr Frayling-Kelly, 74, received the award from Margo MacDonald MSP at Saturday's Gala Day in honour of his contribution to the community, and particularly to the band, which is now in its 25th year.

Originally from Glasgow, Mr Frayling-Kelly first started working in Edinburgh in 1968 as associate musical director of the Lyceum Theatre. In 1973 he moved to the Capital when he joined the staff at Edinburgh College of Commerce as a music lecturer and teacher in composition. He remained with the college when it merged with Napier the following year, and continued there until retirement in 1999.

In 1974 he founded Napier College Concert Band, which later became Symphonic Winds.

In 1978, he moved to Leith, which has been his home ever since. He married his wife Christine at the old Leith Registry Office in 1979. He has two children from his previous marriage, Rosamond and Nigel, and he and Christine had a son, Bruno.

He became an organist at St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Easter Road in 1986, a post he still holds. The same year, he founded the Leith Community Concert Band. Having led bands at other gala days, he took a weekend off to visit the Leith Gala Day and was surprised to find there was no local concert band.

He recalls: "We started with five players in the first week, ten the next week, 15 the week after that, and at the end of that week we gave our first concert in Portobello with 20 players."

The band now has more than 50 members. In addition to the Gala Day, they will give three further performances at this year's Leith Festival. They will present a big band concert tomorrow and a gala concert on Thursday, both at St Margaret's.

The band will also play at the mini tattoo that closes the festival on 20 June, running from 7:30-9pm at the Malmaison Plaza on the Shore. Mr Frayling-Kelly has been musical director of the tattoo since he established it.

Mr Frayling-Kelly said he was honoured to receive the citizenship award, which was created in memory of the late Rev Elizabeth Wardlaw, a prominent Leither and local councillor.

He said: "I didn't quite believe it, but I was thrilled and quite gobsmacked. I think it says a lot for Leith that they give an award to an incomer - it's nice to be accepted and a lot of towns don't achieve that until you're about third generation!"