Some time back I wrote about how the traditions at Scottish church funerals might have died out where such as the elders would dress up in tails, such as the neighbour who wore his tails and top hat at his wife’s funeral back in the 1940s. I was so surprised, therefore, to see a photo of one of the elders at the Auld Kirk, Ayr, in formal tails greeting some of the 900 mourners at the service for Jack Alexander of the famous Alexander Brothers. This dress style seems like such an anachronism in 2013, yet seemingly the tradition lives on. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/hundreds-turn-out-to-say-farewell-to-legend-of-scots-music.22645501?utm_source=headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email%2Balert The Alexander Brothers continued to cater to the musical tastes for who those who enjoyed traditional Scottish music, but with a modern twist as well. When my brother died his daughter played ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ on the violin, one of the most beautiful love songs composed by Robert Burns. This will go into my ‘narrative’ when I start recording my side of the family tree. I am almost finished with my husband’s Irish connection, which has been comparatively simple as I can’t find anything on the lives of his great-grandparents before they left Ireland in the 1830s to start up new lives in Baltimore, Ireland. The same is to be said for his father’s side who came from Austria in the late 1800s. The genealogy ‘narrative’ on my side will take an eternity as I have gathered so much information: BDMs, censuses, etc., over the years. I would never have gathered up so much material without the help of so many listers on this site and others in Southwest Scotland. None of my forebears was a luminary like this Jack Alexander, however, and I sorta envy the fact that he was such a well-known artiste in Scotland that the media have likely covered his life in-depth over the years. C’est la vie! Maisie