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♦CARLY BLAIN♦ Carly Blain is from Kelso in the Scottish Borders. She graduated with Honours Degree in Folk and Traditional Music at Newcastle University. Carly started playing the piano when she was 7 years old and the fiddle when she was 8. She joined the Small Hall Ceilidh Band where she learnt folk music and performed in different places including France and the Millennium Dome. Carly now teaches at the Small Hall Band, Highline a group in Kelso and a group in Stocksfield. Harris Playfair was the Music teahcer at Kelso High School and lead the Celtic Group where Carly recorded two CDs and performed on the STV Hogmany Show and recieved a standing ovation at the Folk Awards in 2003. Carly plays with the 'Monster Ceilidh Band' (Dave De La Haye, Kieran Szifris and Amy Thatcher). 'Border Fiddles' (Lori Watson, Shona Mooney, Innes Watson, Rachel Cross, Carly Blain and Sandy Watson.) 'The House Sisters' (Kira Slater, Rachel Cross and Carly Blain). A great trio created from 3rd year ensomble at Newcastle University. Junction Pool - Led by Harris Playfair

♣RACHEL CROSS♣ lived in Northumberland before moving to the Scottish Borders when she was seven. She was brought up surrounded by traditional music and began to play penny whistle at the age of six and the fiddle at ten. Rachel was shown the ropes by her Dad but was largely self-taught, although in later years she had lessons and workshops with many great fiddlers including Iain Fraser and Catriona MacDonald. She has had years of experience in playing for ceilidh dancing with the Small Hall Band and the Clarty Cloot Ceilidh Band. She also gained much from having a fantastic music department at Kelso High School and being a part of the Celtic Group, Aged 16, Rachel joined the Borders Young Fiddles (now Border Fiddles – they’re not so young any more!), a group of young fiddlers from the Scottish Borders originally gathered by Jimmy Nagle but now performing in their own right. After leaving school, Rachel went on to university in Newcastle, and she has also just graduated with a degree in Folk and Traditional Music. She spent five months in Denmark as part of an Erasmus exchange and has become interested in traditional music from all over the world.

Coming from the Scottish Borders, Carly and Rachel have known each other and played music together for years, and when they both went to Newcastle University to study for a degree in Folk and Traditional Music, they met Kira Slater. ♥KIRA SLATER♥ lived in the North East of England until the age of seven when she moved to Perth, Scotland. At the age of six she began classical piano lessons and at nine joined the renowned Perth Fair City Singers choir. During her membership with the choir she appeared in numerous concerts in the UK and travelled as far a field as Germany, Austria, Canada and the USA. The choir was also invited to sing at the Millennium Dome with musicians such as Jules Holland, The Corrs and Simply Red. Kira gets her musical talent from her late father, Seaman’s leader Jim Slater, however her mother has always been very encouraging too. At the age if sixteen, Kira was accepted by The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, in Plockton and whilst studying there she performed in many local gigs plus appeared at the 2005 Celtic Colours festival in Nova Scotia, Canada and on television and radio in the folk series ‘Beolach’. Although Kira’s main instruments are voice and piano also plays whistle and bodhran and clog dances too. After school, Kira went to Newcastle University to study Folk and Traditional Music, and it was here she met Carly and Rachel. In second year, they all moved into a house together, along with three boys, and when it came to choosing ensembles to work with in third year, the three girls got together to form The House Sisters.