Barn Dances / Ceilidhs / Weddings
www.squintymcginty.co.uk
Chris Bousher -
Chris is one of the original Squinty members. He has played in a number of local bands since the 1970’s and was the bass player for the popular Portsmouth Ceilidh band ‘Liquid Engineering’.
The band is very happy to have him as he owns most of the PA equipment.
His mum still thinks he is a Civil Engineer, or an Accountant or something...
Stu Reed -
The founder of Squinty McGinty’s Band has now retired from regular gigging but the band are delighted to welcome him back as a guest for certain events.
An exceptional Bluegrass fiddle player, Stu toured Europe with various bluegrass bands and appeared on the TV talent show ‘Opportunity Knocks’ .
Stu currently plays with the Havant Symphony Orchestra.
Max Lanchbury -
Another Squinty original, Max has worked with local barn dance bands such as ‘Woodbury’ (with the extraordinary fiddle player Bev Wood) and ‘Stubble’.
As well as being a Doctor of Mathematics, Max is also the holder of the MBE (really !) so he has the job of counting how many bars of music we have left to play. He is usually right.
Susan Penny -
Susan hails from Rhode Island in the USA and brings a vibrant repertoire of songs which complement the band’s normal material and which are particularly suited to weddings and similar functions ..
<< Click to hear Susan and the band play ‘When You Say Nothing At All’ >>
Chris Lowe -
Chris has been with Squinty from the start . During the 1960’s and 70’s he toured professionally across Europe and played for acts such as the Ronettes when they visited the UK. Name a song and he knows the chords !
He has recently completed a Jazz Diploma at Chichester College.
It is not true that he auditioned for the role of Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.. It was Gollum.
Angela Clancy-
Angela joined Squinty in 2010, taking over from founder member Stu Reed
Angela studied music at Durham University and went on to take a Masters degree in violin .
As well as being a superb fiddle player Angela also plays piano and organ and teaches violin, viola, double bass and piano.
She also knows the offside rule because she is a qualified football referee !
Mandy Westwood 
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Mandy has a long career in local barn dance bands and is another musician who was formerly with the popular Portsmouth ceilidh band ‘Liquid Engineering’ during the 1990’s.
As well as Accordion, Mandy also plays Saxophone, Recorder and Guitar
Nigel Barrel -
Nigel comes from a family of performers. Based in South Hampshire he is a well respected caller with a wide repertoire of dances including both traditional and ballroom styles.
Nigel also manages to play drums along with his calling -
Pete Atkinson -
Pete is a delight to work with and his long experience in working with numerous bands
means that he has seen it all. His dry wit is employed to good effect -
If you’re really lucky he’ll play some of his jazz guitar too.
Charles Haskell -
We have had a long standing relationship with Charles over the years -
A big county music fan , Charles has his own radio show on local radio.
Check out this link: www.tellthemcountry.com
Gill Tolliday -
Violin teacher by day, jazzer by night Gillian graduated in music at Southampton University and obtained violin diplomas at Trinity College London. As a classical violinist she has led the Grainger String Quartet for the last six years. As a freelance viola player she performs with Quartetto Concertante and The Stromenti String Quartet
Janet Beale-
Janet studied flute at the Purcell (Specialist Music) School, then gained the top music scholarship to continue at Frensham Heights Public School. From there, she went on to study accordion and piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with honours.
Janet performs regularly with Squinty McGinty when her multiple commitments permit.
Chris Mulvey -
Chris is based in Worcester and runs the ‘Jigs’n’reels’ barn dance and ceilidh agency. We generally do a few ‘northern’ (ie London) gigs with Chris each year and love the energy and enthusiasm which he brings to the occasion.
<< Click for link to Jigs’n’reels >>
Ludwig -
To be honest we were not that impressed with Ludwig’s audition. He seemed a little intense and his playing was incredibly loud. Can’t be good for the hearing.
The main reason that we were interested was that because there was some talk that he had his own van.
He reckoned that he was probably better on the piano but we prefer the accordion frankly.
