Pony Roll

a re-print from “The Record”

“Hidden away at the head of Loch Leven the Highland village of Kinlochleven is in a unique location. Set amongst a stunning combination of mountain, loch, river, moor and woodland makes Kinlochleven a special place,” according to the Kinlochleven Community Trust Website.

This Scottish village has a unique connection to the Town of Brome Lake, one that resonates in a similar unconscious fashion to its very own veiled presence.

Scott Edmonston, Radio Communautaire Missisquoi’s first official salaried employee, is from Kinlochleven. “I find the people and surroundings of the Town of Brome lake to be similar to my home village,” says Edmonston. “City people don’t have the presence of nature in their daily lives so much, and are therefore different psychologically from people living in rural areas.”

Thus, he finds it easier to adopt Knowlton as his community, but still longs to be home after living the past eight years of his life in Canada.

“I went to school in Kinlochleven and when I was seventeen I went off to work and travelled,” recounts Edmonston. “Four years later I fell in love.”

Michele from Chicoutimi, Quebec became his wife and they now live in the Townships with their two children. “I was working in a bar in Kinlochleven when I first met Michele,” says Edmonston. ” We stayed in touch for two years after that and when she returned to Scotland to visit again she convinced me that it was time for me to come to Canada.”

Such is the winding road of life that brings us to places and situations we never expect. Even the best laid plans can’t predict with certainty what will happen to us, but all the same, there is something to be said about being who we are and having a dream when it comes to attracting success and abundance into our lives.

The simple process of letting things unfold naturally is the best insurance policy one can have. “My grandfather is the oldest person in Kinlochleven at the age of 93,” says Edmonston. “He was born there and still plays the concertina to this day.”

Coming from a musical family (his mother plays the cornet) Edmonston at the age of thirteen asked his grandfather one day if he could have his uncle Steve’s guitar to experiment with, considering his uncle was no longer around. Two years later, with guitar in hand, he had written and recorded his own album of songs on a home recorder.

In respect of his grandfather`s age Edmonston believes one has to have a project in order to live a long and happy life. “You always have to have something to do,” He explains. “I’m not happy unless I have something to do.”

Well, something to do he has and it’s interesting to note how close his current life activities follow the path of his childhood interests. At the moment, Edmonston has formed a band called Pony Roll with fellow Brome lake musicians Danny Brotto (bass) and Steve Fyfe (drums).

He points out that the name Pony Roll comes from a song he wrote reflecting the feeling of lovely summer days, flowers in bloom and ponies walking as if they were rolling through the mountains.

It’s easy to detect the individuality of Edmonston in his guitar playing and song writing. His arrangements and approach to improvisation act as a personal signature of sorts. He is obviously being who he is. As a techincian/producer for RCM he is responsible for the production and recording of the majority of some twenty shows in CIDI’s program grid.

He has also begun, in his spare time, the creation of RCM’s radio theatre program with the Pirates of Brome lake, a series he produces, records, writes, directs and acts in along with a crew of nine other local actors from the Brome Lake area. To date he has produced three thirty minute episodes.

“I really don’t know anything else that I would rather do,” says Edmonston, “than to express myself creatively. At RCM I have a position to uphold. One of responsibility to others and myself.

I am here to encourage volunteer hosts and to support their creativity and mine at the same time. I feel that I have a place in the organization and that I can help build it.”

Small communities yield great things and RCM is an offshoot of a spirit alive and well in the Loch Leven Area of the Scottish highlands and the Town of Brome Lake. These two communities are in a state of rebuilding, finding ways to counter the effects of today’s economic turmoil, succeeding with the creation of community groups such as the Kinlochleven Community Trust, a charitable organization, and RCM a non profit in Brome Lake.

This is the strength of community, supporting each other to achieve a greater goal, and building a stronger network that benefits everyone.

Being who we are is CIDI, lots of great shows, lots of wonderful hosts and terrific volunteers. Give us a listen, send us your comments and suggestions, we always want to hear from you all and play the stuff you want to hear.

For those of you who can’t pick us up on the radio, go to our website and click on the live-streaming button. If you missed a show you can listen to it on the CIDI player or go to the show/host pages and listen to past programs.

Maurice Singfield is a Radio Communautaire Missisquoi volunteer. Tel: 450-242-9873 / 1-888-539-2098.

Tags: Kinlochleven, Scotland, Scott Edmonston