Colin Scotland and his daughter Rachael often provide guitar and vocals at services. Grapevine asked Colin to tell us more about himself and his musical life…      

I was born in Liverpool in 1974 and moved to Warrington as a young boy with my family in the early 80s. I attended Oakwood Primary, then later Woolston CP and Woolston Community High School. I have lived in and around Padgate and Woolston ever since and currently live on Green Lane with my wife Linda and two children Rachael and Lewis.

Having spent a lot of my childhood in both Liverpool and Warrington I would always be called a “woollyback” when I was in Liverpool and then a “scouser” when I came back to Warrington so I never quite knew who I was. Thankfully, my accent has settled into a generic northern drawl now that blends in with the Warrington twang a little better than it did when I was younger.

Some readers may have seen me wielding an acoustic guitar in church, where I am involved as one of the team of worship leaders. I first picked up a guitar when I was about 18. Being completely   self-taught and having never had any lessons, I would sit with Bert Weedon’s ‘Play In A Day’ book, spending many an hour destroying the eardrums of those around me with awful stunted renditions of Bobby Shaftoe et al. My performances would sound a bit like this: Bob…  Bobb… Bobby Shaftoe’s… gone to… gone… gone to sea… hang on let me start again… Bobby… it’s even annoying to read - Some might argue things haven’t improved much over the years! That was before the days of the Internet and Youtube where there are so many learning resources widely available. Back then people actually learnt from books and spoke face to face with one another instead of conducting virtual conversations in a strange texting language (lol m8 wuu2 2nite – which roughly translates to laugh out loud mate, what are you up to tonight?).

I also play a bit of piano, banjo, ukelele and harmonica - but above all I love the sound of the acoustic guitar, and enjoy nothing more than strumming away and singing a wide range of music from Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello to the Beatles and U2; and of course contemporary and traditional Christian music, Chris Tomlin being one of my particular favourites.

Music is spiritually very powerful; it can be joyous and uplifting and then sombre and expressive and takes you on an emotional journey. It is a great way of bringing us closer to God, as singing God’s praises touches the soul in a way words cannot describe. Recently I have been working on compiling an Additional Song Book which is to be launched shortly for use in our services. I enjoy the opportunity to serve the Lord through music.

Aside from strumming and singing I have been studying the Japanese martial art of Jujitsu since 1997. Jujitsu is great for exercise, fitness, confidence and self-defence, so much so that Judo (a derivative of Jujitsu) is taught in all schools in Japan.

Well that’s enough about me; I’m off to have a cup of tea and see if I can remember the chords to Bobby Shaftoe! Bye for now.

Many thanks Colin for this article and for all your help with the music at services in church.