Jiggered on Dundee's HMS Frigate Unicorn

This was a memorable ceilidh for a number of reasons! Jeremy had booked Jiggered Ceilidh Band for his 50th birthday party and the venue was unique: aboard the HMS Frigate Unicorn, Dundee. Having arrived (pretty much) on time we walked up the gangway onto the ship. There were lots of signs warning “mind your head”…at my height I didn’t have to worry too much although the toilet door required a duck even for me!

Getting the sound equipment and drums up to the main deck involved climbing some stairs that were as steep as a set of ladders and busy with guests so when we were leaving at the end of the night we used an insanely steep gangway directly from the top deck to the street (almost lost a bass drum into the Victoria Dock!).

There were loads of really interesting features around the Unicorn that made it a fascinating visit [the health and safety announcement was another highlight…but that’s a blog for another day!]

…we played in a section that had hooks at four corners which were used to transform it into a boxing ring (very appropriate when Jenny and Chris almost had a scrap!).

…there were cannons all over the place and the original Helm which faced the words “Fear God, honour the king” was cool.

…the deck was bevelled and warped but had loads of character (and almost had a guitar smashed on it when Jenny was attacked by a massive fly during a song, much to Ewan’s amusement).

…the ship’s bell was right behind us. Susan noticed that it was tuned to “A” and so in the middle of the Virginia Reel I would run from piano to bell at the most dramatic points to sound the bell.

The birthday boy and his wife seemed really pleased with the job we did, the dance floor was filled all night and we had a brilliant time as you can probably tell from this longer-than-usual blog!