Tribute to city soldiers has a lot of Hearts

Published on Tuesday 5 October 2010 12:25

A TRAGIC tale about young men cut down in their prime on a foreign battlefield is not the most obvious subject for a hit musical.

But that is exactly what is going to happen to the story of one of Edinburgh's most famous battalions.

A local investment manager has penned the musical tribute to the McCrae's Battalion, famously made up mostly of Scottish footballers including the entire Hearts first team, and it is set to be performed at next year's Fringe.

Steve Potter, 58, who was inspired after a moving trip to the battlefields of the Somme, is preparing to put on a preview of some of the show, Farewell My Son, in a bid to find backers for a full-scale Fringe version.

The show follows the story through the eyes of two fictional supporters who decide to sign up alongside their heroes.

Local students from the MGA Academy of Performing Arts in Edinburgh have been learning seven songs from the show, which will be performed at an exclusive event at the Prestonfield House Hotel next month.

Mr Potter, from Duddingston, said: "It has taken me about three years to write this, and it all started with a family visit to the Somme.

"Our family had quite a few members who had died there, and so we went to try and find their graves, and I was inspired by the stillness of the place and the absolute beauty of it. It is so peaceful it is almost impossible to imagine such horrors ever happened there.

"Initially I just started writing a song as a tribute to the soldiers who went off to fight the First World War and died at the Somme. Then I wrote another song, and it just sort of evolved from there.

"It doesn't tell the whole story of the battalion, but what I hoped to do is capture that spirit of young footballers signing up for war, and the eagerness and bravery they had when they went out there."

Mr Potter admitted it was "a little nerve-wracking" preparing to see his music performed by others for the first time.

Helping him are some experienced professionals, including veteran producer David Beer, who has been musical director for West End shows such as Cats and Guys and Dolls and Me and My Girl, and who was asked personally by Brian May to oversee the touring production of the hit musical We Will Rock You.

Liam Rudden, the arts and entertainments editor at the Evening News, has written the script for the show and said: "I just had to be involved. It's such an important, but almost forgotten episode in the Capital's history about which everyone should know."

The preview event is being held next month, and anyone who wants to attend should e-mail [e-mail] for more details.

RALLYING THE TROOPS

SIR George McCrae was a volunteer soldier who raised the 16th Battalion the Royal Scots in Edinburgh in 1914, before conscription, after stories in the press criticising footballers for not signing up to fight in the First World War.

Among the first recruits were the entire Heart of Midlothian first team, as well as footballers and supporters from Hibernian, Falkirk, Raith Rovers and Dunfermline.

Sir George commanded the batallion on the Western Front. Despite huge losses, the 16th Battalion - known as McCrae's Own - was credited with achieving the deepest penetration of the enemy line anywhere on the battlefront at the Somme.

Sir George died in December 1928, aged 68.