Caithness civic leader exceeds 100,000 views for New Year spoon-playing session
Caithness civic leader Willie Mackay has broken through the 100,000 barrier with online views of his first spoon-playing session of 2021.
Willie's "Tunes on the Spoons" have become an online hit since he started sharing his cheery musical accompaniments on social media last May.
On Saturday he gave a New Year selection of Scottish melodies in front of a roaring log fire in his cottage at Oldhall, Watten.
It attracted 30,000 overnight views on Facebook. By lunchtime today he had hit the 100,000 mark, with comments coming in from all over the UK and Ireland, other parts of Europe, Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Argentina.
He has taken up an invitation from a group of Scots based in Argentina to join a British Embassy Burns Night on January 25 via Zoom.
“I have agreed to take part playing spoons to a selection of Burns songs, or to Address the Haggis or recite in nightgown with candle the 101 lines of the famous Burns satire Holly Willie's Prayer. I’ll see what they would like me to do," he said.
“Furthermore, umpteen Facebook followers have asked me for tips on holding the spoons and playing them, especially for their children, so I’ve done that.”
Willie will be taking part in Caithness Macular Society Support Group's teleconference Burns Supper on January 21.
Willie, who hails from Embo, began posting his spoon-playing in May last year in appreciation of NHS staff and frontline workers, including his two daughters – Samantha Law, working at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin, and Kirstin Mackay, at Caithness General Hospital in Wick.
He pointed out that his wife Glynis had been acting as "producer, director, sound and lighting engineer, staging and wardrobe adviser" for his spoon-playing performances.