With Moray being an area somewhat devoid of a local music wealth, the prospect of a live gig at a decent venue was too good to miss.  It was two young local bands, Peruvia and support act Casey Inlet, who were taking to the stage at Lossiemouth Town Hall.

Casey Inlet are a three piece band consisting of David Dickinson on guitar and vocals, Chris Brebner on bass and Joel Robinson on drums.  They performed a mixture of well-known indie songs including Chelsea Dagger before concluding their set with a very good cover of Seven Nation Army.

Peruvia then took to the stage, they split their set in two with a break in the middle. Their band line-up is both Lewis Anderson on vocals and keyboard; Jack Rushton and Frankie Ralph on guitar/vocals, Elliot Knight on bass and Chris Brash on drums.  Because of the three vocalists they are able to perform a wide variety of covers aswell as their own songs.  A risky cover of Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall' really payed off as it really sounded excellent, not an easy song to cover!

Both bands are not short of talent, making it a great evening of music, something that will hopefully be repeated in the coming months.

Read more: Peruvia at Lossiemouth Town Hall

With an excellent forecast and a free Saturday I decided to make the trip to Aberdeen and spend the day with a fellow photographer friend and take some photos in the sun.  On arrival I had a couple of aims, to capture the Lufthansa and ex-RAF Jaguar in good light and from preferred angles.

Unfortunately when I arrived at the mound the light was swinging over to the far side and the Lufthansa had departed much earlier.  I decided to grab a quick lunch before meeting my friend who was with a car which would make transport much easier - unsurprisingly!

We caught the Easyjet arriving and departing with a quick trip to the Jaguar inbetween before going on another little adventure to kill time before the mass arrival in the evening.  The KLM Boeing 737 made its way in as we were travelling back but we managed to catch a visiting Hawker-Siddeley 125 and then the British Airways A320, Air France ERJ190 and Lufthansa ERJ190 all arrived in lovely light.  We then went back to the Jaguar spot to catch the departures, lovely light which unfortunately died away just as the Lufthansa was leaving.  Still, a very enjoyable day!

Read more: A trip to Aberdeen-Dyce!

A few months ago, one of my friends from school set-up a charity project in aid of Cancer Research UK after losing her Nan to oesophageal cancer back in April 2012.  Jackie Wilson, renown for her long pleats and hat that everyone can remember since forever decided she would shave her hair off for the cause.  She named the project, 'Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow'.  Her initial target of £750 was reached with plenty of time before the date of the hair shaving, 24th February 2012, and up until now she has raised in excess of £2000 (the total on the Cancer Research page is that reached on there.)

On the 24th, family, friends and pupils came to Elgin Academy's assembly hall to witness the hair shaving which was to be carried out by students at Moray College.  Firstly those iconic pleats were chopped off, and then the rest was shaved off from that point.  The crowd was filled with phones filming the event, friends expressing their emotion and a lovely banner.  Jackie then took the pleats and held them up to the crowd as a huge cheer returned.  Afterwards, her hair was sent off to the Little Princess Trust, where a wig could be made and worn by children who are suffering from loss of hair due to cancer.

Me and many others filled that hall, inspired by Jackie and her bravery.  She had been very nervous but I don't think she will ever forget such a successful time.  You can find her project page here:  Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow project page

 

 

Read more: Hair today, gone tomorrow

After a strong 6-1 performance against Peterhead the previous Tuesday, Elgin City were keen too advance further in the league table points in this home fixture.  They faced a strong Alloa Athletic side who were sitting a fair few points clear at the top.  In previous encounters Elgin City had come out 5-0 winners back in an identical fixture a few months back when Alloa had two players sent off during the match, the reverse fixture saw Alloa put 3-0 past Elgin City so it was very had to tell what the outcome of the match would be.

Elgin City started strong dominating the play and were quickly rewards when a lofted ball from the middle of the park found its way to Paul Millar clear through on goal who made no mistake in netting it.  Alloa had few chances and Elgin continued to dominate whilst the weather deteriorated with heavy snow showers becoming increasingly frequent as the first half progressed.  Soon before half time, Elgin's impressive passages of play down the right wing lead to a perfect ball across the box turned in by Craig Gunn to see Elgin into a 2-0 lead.  Alloa almost pulled one back soon before half time with a free kick hitting the crossbar but it remained 2-0.

After the re-start, Alloa started to threaten and it seemed like their half-time team talk was changing the game but before long their play deteriorated and the flow in their passing was lost leading to Elgin City pushing up the field.  They were rewarded when Stuart Leslie furthered the score to 3-0 after some more excellent wing play from Elgin.  The pace of the game slowed down as Elgin defended their lead but they could not be broken by Alloa and earned a precious three points.

Read more: Elgin City vs. Alloa Athletic

After a 3-0 defeat away to Peterhead in January, Elgin City were seeking revenge in the reverse fixture on Valentine's Day.  This game was originally scheduled for last December however a frozen pitch had seen it postponed till now.  Elgin City were under pressure immediately from kick-off but soon began to dominate creating plenty of chances, none of which were finding their way into the Peterhead goal..  The deadlock was broken 25 minutes in when a Peterhead passback was almost picked up for a free-kick by their goalkeeper, instead he left the ball to trickle through his legs and into the net leaving both the defender and goalkeeper embarrassed.  After hitting the woodwork a couple of times it just did not seem to be Elgin's night and they went into the dressing room only 1-0 up at half time.

It wasn't long before the lead was double when a corner wasn't properly cleared by the Peterhead defence and landed to Paul Millar who nailed it into the bottom corner giving the goalkeeper no chance.  Minutes later another corner from Elgin City was headed into the Peterhead net by their own defender leaving them with a mountain to climb and giving Elgin City one hand on the three points.  Elgin continued to create chances and a long hopeful effort from outside the area was deflected into the Peterhead goal confusing the keeper on its way boosting the Elgin lead to 4-0.  With ten minutes remaining Peterhead heading in a consolation goal but it was nothing more than that after Brian Cameron's weaving run in the box and finish followed by a Craig Gunn rifled shot both struck the Peterhead increasing the tally to 6.  It finished that way, Elgin City's rout was complete with a hat-trick of Peterhead own goals - a true Valentine's gift.

Read more: Elgin City vs. Peterhead