How It All Started...

Danny and I got together nearly 22 years ago, when both of us were already heavily involved in Country Music. We both had started our own clubs (Danny started the White Horse CWC in Saltcoats in 1982, and I had started the Stagecoach CWC in Irvine in 1987!), so it made sense to combine our efforts.

Ever since Danny was a young man, he had been handpainting shirts, t-shirts etc with football emblems and stuff for his friends and family. He soon expanded it into Country & Western designs, and then decided to start a wee business. To extend the range we added Country and Western clothes, accessories, gunbelts & guns and more and so we started our Western Wear Business, travelling round the Clubs and Festivals all over Scotland and the North of England. Danny was hand-painting everything in sight, i.e. the backs of shirts, jackets, T-shirts, stage backdrops etc. etc. Remember that was in the days when computers were unheard of and the things Danny turned out were quite a novelty. (Believe it or not, some are still around today!!) We did this for 5 years, meeting a lot of nice people on our travels.

When we stopped travelling around, Danny did keep on handpainting all shirts and jackets and t-shirts, and opened shop within the Indoor Market in Irvine/Ayrshire. Shortly after that he learned how to do things on the computer and its still going today as 'CMDS T-Shirts', but these days a lot more than t-shirts are personalised...items like clocks, keyrings, coasters, fridge magnets and lots more.

During our time of travelling round the clubs up and down Scotland, we heard which Bands were playing where, and people got themselves into a habit of phoning us if they wanted to know which Band was on at certain clubs. It was our good friend John Selvey (who now is the president of the White Horse CWC in Kilwinning) who suggested to us to type these things onto a sheet of paper and try and sell it! This we did and hey presto - that was the start of the 'little book'.

As time went on we got more and more information which people wanted to broadcast, Bands wanted to advertise and before we knew it, the A5-size book had grown to between 80 and 90 pages. It was nicknamed the 'Bible' because it kept everyone moving around Scotland, and people studied it intensely to find the best event for their taste.

In the early days everything was done in the house: I typed everything on a small typewriter, things were then cut out and glued into the relevant places....photographs were glued into place, then we photocopied everything on our own second-hand photocopier: 99 pages one side and 99 pages the other side!

Then these pages were folded into half and stapled together! Anybody who came visiting was roped into helping, I am sure people were avoiding us at times!!   Ha!

The next step was going to the local printer to get a colour front added, the rest was still done in the same way, but eventually it got too much and the printer did the lot, we just got everything print-ready. Unfortunately the price for the printing went up and up, in due course we discovered that the A5 size was a specialised size and therefore more expensive. We were advised to change size to the A4 size, because it would work out a lot cheaper, so thats what happened! In fact it was John Emptage, the editor/owner of the 'Country Music Round-up' who gave us a lot of good advise, so much so that the Mag was printed along with the 'Round-up for a while. Sadly he is no longer with us, he was such a gentleman.

Then the 'computer days' started. Never in my wildest dreams did I think of ever using one. It was when we were down at the Yorkshire Dales Festival by invitation of Kaz Hassani that a quick remark got me thinking. Kaz said to me that things would be a lot easier and more professional if I used a computer. Me? But the remark stuck....and eventually we hired one from Radio Rentals...remember them?  HaHa!

Of course my children Marc & Sondra already knew all about computers (kids always do, don't they), and helped me with the set-up etc, and then showed me how to use the thing. The basics sunk in fairly quickly, but how to make up adverts and good looking features? That's when Danny's son Cameron stepped in. He was really clued up on all that stuff, and proceeded to make up the adverts etc and also to show me how to do it all.

Cameron also set up our first website, which was a great achievement. Eventually our friend Iain Dobie took over and we owe him a great deal for that. I think its about 8 years Iain faithfully looked after it. His circumstances have changed now, and he is a lot busier these days. Thats when I decided to have a go myself, a thing I have alwasy wanted to do.

Anyway....

In the beginning we published every 3 months, until by popular request we changed to bi-monthly. Thankfully this was very well received.....and now we are getting a lot of requests to change to monthly. Would be nice, but somehow I can't see that happening. We'll see.....

The Magazine is being sold through most clubs in Scotland and N/Ireland, we also have an extensive Mailing List, which includes Canada, the USA, Germany and even Australia. Over the years a lot of our customers have become friends, a fact we are very proud of. We are always pleased when people phone just for a chat.The Magazine will be 21 years old in 2010 - who would have thought it when it started with just a couple of A4 sheets!

A lot of years times have been very hard financially, mostly due to the fact that people are not paying their bills when they are due, pushing us further and further back! We were forced to take out various loans to meet payments to the printer and other things just to keep going ...... a lot of times we struggled badly to meet the payments.

We were at our wits end and really thought we'd have to give up...but then a magical thing happened: Some bands got together and played for nothing at some dances to raise money to make sure we could keep going ..... and we had a few great dances to raise money to help get the Mag back onto its feet. Our most sincere 'Thanks' go to: "The Steve James Band; Boots 'n Saddles; Rambling Fever, the Dez Walters Band; Montana Moon; Stateline and Willie Evans and his magic Country Fever, Tennessee River, Southern Boulevard." (I hope I have remembered everyone...if not accept my sincere apologies!!)

A big 'Thank you' also goes to the Grand Ole Opry, Carol Cooney, Willie McPhie, Andy Fagan and Paddy. Then of course the biggest 'Thanks' must go to all the people who turned up, it was a joy to see everyone, some of who had come quite a distance! Without any of those people mentioned none of these events would have been possible, and they were such a big help to keep the Mag going and I am sure without it we wouldn't be here today.

The next thing was a phone-call from May from the BCMC. She informed me that herself and Roy of DERI-Promotions were going to give us a holiday to raffle at the Ayr Festival in October, which these days is held in November. Roy and May have supported and used the Mag since it started all those years ago, and May explained that they simply could not be without it! I was speechless - which doesn't happen very often! :-)))

A most sincere 'Thank you' to them both! Their generous gesture has now happened over many years, and people look forward to the raffle, giving them the chance to come for free the following year...or taking away one of the other prizes.

During one of our really dark days, when we really thought we couldn't hold on to the Mag any longer, a cheque arrived with a letter from the Texas Rangers CWC in Bilston. A Raffle had been held at their club-night and the money raised was given to the Mag. Well, I was left speechless - again!
As word got about that the Mag was struggling as bad, people even sent a few donations to try and help to keep it going.

It certainly is a FACT that without ANY of that help, there would be NO mag today, and we will be forever grateful for that help. To this day there are very considerate and thoughtful people out there, who have the knowledge just how much money a Mag like ours costs to produce from start to finish, and still send a few pounds here and there. Apart from the huge help that is, we also take that as a very big compliment.

The biggest problem has always been that people are not paying their bills when they are due. That is bad enough when its a big company, but we have a very small business, and cashflow is so important to keep going. These days, thankfully, people are getting a bit better sending in their money when its due, helping to make things look a bit more secure. We will  fight on and keep going as long as we possibly can! We owe it to the people who have supported us over the years!

We have always said that the Mag is 'For Punters...made by Punters'. It was started to let everyone know whats going on in Scotland and in N/Ireland, to try and bring everyone together, and to give people a chance to voice their opinions.

Over the years we have had a lot of lovely people helping us with writing features, reviewing CDs and passing on news and views. A very big 'Thank you' goes to Gerry Ford, Stewart Fenwick, Pat Smith, Jackie Blair, Elma Robertson and from N/Ireland to Jim Faulkner. Then there is Danny Forbes in Nashville, always spot-on. We also must thank a few people who used to write for us, namely Jackie McCartney from N/Ireland and Butch & Jean Starkey from Nashville.

Of course others have contributed as well....a BIG 'thank you' to everyone.

It was in December 07 when we once again changed the size of the Mag....and it went down to B5, which is in between A4 and A5. We also now use better quality gloss paper, and we have 16 pages in colour. Would love to have the whole Mag in colour, but thats too expensive at the moment. The new size and lay-out has been very well received, the nice letters and e-mails we received about it were quite overwhelming.

Sooooo...we carry on, once again thank you for all support.

We'll see you around. Keep it Country,