1950s Nimmo’s Band, Blantyre
Pictured here in the 1950s, at the Bowling Club is Nimmo’s Band. Margaret Nimmo Lehmann from Canada told me, “The band leader was William (Willie) Nimmo, a cousin of James Nimmo of Auchentibber. Willie was from Auchentibber and his family ran a small sweet shop there. His daughter now lives in Canada.”
Willie was an accomplished accordionist and is seen here taking the lead, beside fellow band members George Preston on the piano and on the left Donald Wilkie.
My aunt told me recently, “Nimmo’s band was very popular in the 1950’s and early 1960s. They had an uncanny knack of getting everybody up to dance and could certainly motivate anybody sitting down. They were quite skilled and I think would play at various church halls around Blantyre and nearby local towns. Occasionally, they would form the entertainment at Blantyre Miner’s Welfare and other local clubs. I think they only disappeared when the family moved.”
The name Nimmo has come up many times in my research. At Glasgow Road, Stonefield in the 1880’s , the owner of a damaged car in High Blantyre 1958 whilst the pit washouse was being demolished, The Auchentibber connections, subsequent families moving to East Kilbride etc. If you’re interested, the grave records for many Nimmo’s from Blantyre can be found here http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/findfamily.php?name=Nimmo&scrwidth=1600
Margaret Nimmo Lehmann told me on social media, ” My brother Jim also mentioned that my Grampa’s brother Willie Nimmo of the Nimmo Band, only had to hear somebody sing or hum a little bit of a song he had never heard before, then he would go ahead and play it. My brother Jim, who was Scout Master at H.B. in the late 50’s early 60s said they would use Willie’s Band for dances at the Church Hall, Youth Fellowship and Scouts. I remember being told that my Grampa Jim was a self taught musician”