Nancy Nicolson Author

Nancy Nicolson - singer, songwriter, melodeon player, speaker, teacher, trainer or, if you wish, 'Cultural Crofter' - was brought up on a croft in Caithness. From behind the curtain in the box bed when she should have been sleeping, she used to hear her "Granda and his cronies yarning about poaching and illicit stills." She remembers there was water from the well, peats for fuel, and a pair of Clydesdales as the only horse-power on the croft, but that did not stop her being an Elvis fan and a rock-n-roller when she went to the dances in Wick.Nancy studied at Edinburgh University and at Moray House Teacher Training College, and became a primary school teacher. She was a scriptwriter for BBC Scotland Schools Radio, worked with the New Makars Trust, writing songs with bairns in Fife, and was Education Officer with Celtic Connections.Nancy came late to singing, believing, like so many others, that she could not sing. Aged 33, she began to sing at Edinburgh Folk Club, and soon after started to write songs and to play melodeon. While resident musician at the Royal Oak Folk Bar in Edinburgh, she was described by one regular as 'an instant ceilidh'. As writer, singer, storyteller, and animateur, Nancy Nicolson communicates the life and culture of Scotland with rare warmth and energy, and her own brand of wit and wisdom.