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David West Sings Gospel Songs

14 years today since my very good friend David West was taken into the presence of his God and Saviour.  I miss him very much but I am certain not as much as his close family do.  This post is a tribute to his memory.

Mizpah David.

These tracks are digitised version of the recording originally made on analogue tape and then converted into a cassette tape which was sold to raise funds for Bridge of Don Baptist Church.  The recordings were made over two sessions at Galashiels Baptist Church and FootDee Mission near Aberdeen – the exact dates escape me but it was in the 1980’s.

David West – died 4th March 2003

I cannot really believe that so many years had past since my life long friend David West passed away. I was just sitting here reflecting on our good times together and was drawn to listen to some of the tracks from the CD that he recorded a few years before his death. We experimented with multi-tracking and in this track you will hear him playing guitar and also singing at one point singing the melody and two harmony parts. In those days we were using a analog multitrack Yamaha tape deck to achieve this.

Great memories.

Memories of David West – died 4th March 2003


Today its the anniversary of the death of my great friend David West who passed away on the 4th March 2003 ( David is the one with the big smile on the left of the picture). Seems amazing that six years have past since that day when after a short illness David was taken from his family and friends to be with his Lord and Saviour. I have so many great memories of the times we had together starting whilst still at primary school when we sang together in a group called the Immanuel Trio, right up to just before his death when we would regularly get together for a “jam session”. The picture above captures one of these occasions when we were together with our other good friend Gudmund Johannesson and spent the evening playing together and singing in harmony! As you can see the microphones are set-up and on that occasion we did actually record the proceedings which were peppered with harmony, conversation and of course loads of laughter.

I recently published a podcast of some sentimental audio recordings – originally captured on reel to reel tape – this is one of the MP3s which features the “Immanuel Trio” during a practice session I think in about 1968, click on the play button below to listen.

It is pretty rough but never the less sincere. David is playing the guitar – I think that this was the only song he could play on the guitar at that time. You can hear the young David’s voice in verse three – “If you will not bear a cross you can’t wear a crown……”

Also I have an extract from the jam session featured in the above photo which you can hear by clicking on the play button below.

The three of us enjoy playing guitar, as you might guess and for anyone who is interested, the instruments being played on that occasion were are follows ( the first voice heard is Davids – he developed a very nice tenor voice during his teenage years and had a natural ability to harmonise)

David West – Martin D28 – 12 string
James Buchan – Fender – 12 string
Gudmund Johannesson – Hagstrom – 12 string

So many happy memories to recall and now I am really happy that those audio recordings were made capturing some sentimental and precious moments. Of course these have no real significance as performances – in fact they are quite “rough and ready” but its the relationships that underpin them which are the basis for very vivid and valued memories.

Reunion November 2007

Its 3rd November and Mary and I attended, what has now become an annual reunion event. We travelled to the Banff Springs Hotel which is, as you might expect, in Banff on the Moray Firth coast of Aberdeeshire, to have a meal with friends whom we have known for many years. We first became acquainted when we were all teenagers and living in Peterhead/Fraserburgh and the surrounding area. We all went to various churches in the two towns at that time and it was this common interest that first brought us all together. This was about 35 years ago so it is great that we can still get together and enjoy each others company.

Here are some members of the group on arrival at the hotel.

If we are honest there are a few more grey hairs than there were in previous years 😉

Click here to see some more photos taken as we sat around the dinner table enjoying a lovely meal and each others company.

Of course since we first met, there have been some changes, couples were formed, marriages took place and we have had families of our own. Different career paths necessitated that we moved around the country country a bit – but we have still manged to keep in touch with each other.

We were unable to attend last year so it was especially good be back this year again. This year another two of our party were unable to be there, but we look forward to next year when the group might be complete again.

Of course its great to be together and enjoy each others company and to reminisce about the past. But its also important to spare a thought for friends who are no longer with us. I am thinking particularly about our good friend David who sadly passed away over 4 years ago. I did mention him recently in a post about his sons wedding but felt moved to search through my old photos to find a few memories, click here to view what I found.

So roll on the first Saturday in November 2008 when we will do it all again – God willing!