About Us

TMSA Staff Members

Kay Thomson: National Director
Born and brought up in Ayr, Kay Thomson can’t remember a time when she didn’t sing. In the 70s and 80s she was a regular singer at folk clubs and pubs including Ayr Folk Club, Edinburgh Folk Club (a committee member and occasional compère), the Star Folk Club (occasional sound engineer) and Sandy Bells, the St. Vincent Bar, White Hart and Royal Oak in Edinburgh. A regular at various folk festivals, she is a past winner of the Women’s Singing at Kirriemuir and the Border Ballad Competition at Newcastleton.

Her acclaimed one-woman show ‘Ye Jacobites by Name’, which tells the story of the Jacobite Rebellions in Scotland in song and slide projection, has been presented at (amongst others) the Edinburgh Folk Festival, for two years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and for one OrmskirkDay of Folk in Lancashire.

A graduate in Archaeology and Ancient History, over the last ten years she has worked as Project Co-ordinator at Kirkie Kids Out of School Care and as Centre Manager and Development Officer for Croy Miners' Welfare Charitable Society. In that time she has gained experience in administration and liaison with a wide range of organisations and individuals.

Telephone: +44 (0)131 555 4486 / E-mail: nationaldirector@tmsa.org.uk

Caroline Scott: Office Manager
Caroline has been with the TSMA for five years. She has an MA in English and Celtic History and a postgraduate qualification in Museum Studies and came to the TMSA from a background working within the heritage sector in museums, galleries and archives - including heritage work with school groups and oral history projects.

For three years before joining the TMSA, Caroline administered another voluntary charitable organisation. Caroline will usually be the person you speak with if you get in touch with the national office. She is responsible for the day to day running of the office, the finances and the membership along with helping to administer TMSA projects. Caroline also produces the quarterly newsletter.

A childhood spent in the North East of Scotland and growing up amongst a large extended family who all sang and played, meant that she has been exposed to many different musical traditions. Caroline has played the fiddle since she was six and been involved in several amateur fiddle and singing groups.

Telephone: +44 (0)131 555 2224 / Email: office@tmsa.org.uk

Caroline Hewat: Development Worker (North)
Caroline Hewat was born in Aberdeen and spent her formative years in Canada. She has two daughters who are both involved in the Scottish music industry. Before joining TMSA as Development Worker in 2001, she was the Director and Manager of Balnain House in Inverness, a traditional music resource centre, teaching establishment, music publisher and arts venue. During this time, she established many traditional music classes, the Highland Fiddle Festival, the Highland Harp Festival and created the Gathering.

She has been part of the Fèisean movement in the Highlands and currently, since developing the Celtic Connections Education programme in 1998, is also the Workshop Co-ordinator for the Festival. During the latter part of the nineties she was Chairman of the Promoters Arts Network in the Highlands and has attended many festivals in a professional capacity: WOMEX, Celtic Connections, Shetland Folk Festival, Skye Folk Festival, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton, Folk Alliance in Vancouver, Festival Interceltique in Lorient and various other local events.

She has recently completed her degree in Fine Art with the University of the Highlands and Islands and has since taken part in various exhibitions, both mixed and solo in Scotland and Iceland.

Telephone: +44 (0)1349 877434 / Email: carolinehewat@virgin.net

Sandy Stirton: Development Worker (South)
Born in Perth, Sandy was often surrounded by local folk and traditional music from a young age. Having played guitar since age nine, he has had time to progress through many influential genres, performing with a variety of local bands over the years. Since then Sandy has developed his talent by learning a variety of other instruments, including drum kit, percussion, mandolin and penny whistle.

Sandy is also a keen singer and songwriter, and works continually to develop his unique compositional style. Over the past few years he has won various awards for his singing and song writing, including 1st prize at the Perthshire Rotary Club Singing Competition, and 1st prize at the University of the Highlands and Islands Burns’ Song Competition. Being interested in a variety of styles of music, Sandy also performs in a Scots / Brazilian Samba band, called Rhythm Wave. With them, he has performed at many festivals throughout Britain including three consecutive years at Glastonbury festival.

Recently, Sandy graduated from the Perth UHI Millennium Institute with a first class honours degree in Music. His main focus over this period was the development of folk-rock and the concept of tradition within folk music. This research, and the practical performance that it fed in to, culminated in the creation of a new band called Neonach (n-Yon-ach: a Gaelic word meaning ‘strange’). Sandy performs regularly in the 5-piece band, playing a mixture of Folk, Rock, Progressive, Gaelic, Traditional… You’re best just to have a listen: www.myspace.com/Neonach or www.myspace.com/sandystirton

Telephone +44 (0)131 555 2224 / Email: sandy.stirton@tmsa.org.uk

Gordon Divine: Administrative Assistant
Gordon joined the TMSA staff in January 2010 working directly under Caroline the Office Manager. One of his main roles is to look after the memberships. Gordon comes from a design and advertising background and has won a few awards as an art director with two of Scotland’s top agencies and also works with three dimensional projects.

Gordon plays guitar, sings and writes songs and has attended sessions in Midlothian throughout the years. He started a music session in his home village of Roslin with the intention of getting the latent talent out of the bedroom which met with reasonable success; his favourite singing experience was in front of an audience of 300 in New York. He has a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwon-Do and has been teaching since 2003, he competed for Scotland in the 2007 world championships bringing back a Gold medal.

Telephone +44 (0)131 555 2224