Carluke Jam Festival 2013 Slideshow

Under inspection...the Jampionships are judged by Jam Festival committee members on Saturday (Pic Lindsay Addison)

Carluke Lifestyles Centre was jam-packed on Saturday night for the music finale of the weekend with Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble ably supported by local groups Teen Canteen, Carbon Copy, Dukes of Uke and Bottle of Steven.

But that was only one of several events over two days for everyone in the town to enjoy.

On Friday, a capacity crowd gathered in the Lifestyles Centre for the School Jamboree Showcase.

Organised by St Athanasius head teacher Frank Farrell, all eight local primary schools took part, 230 children in total. Earlier in the day local nursery children also staged a concert.

Carluke Day Centre was the venue for a special gig with local favourites The Jolly Beggars and in the evening five pubs in the town, as well as Carluke Street Level, hosted live music with every taste – from rock and blues to indie and dance – catered for.

Saturday morning saw the highly anticipated Jampionships.

And, as you would expect,, the contest was hotly contested.

Judges Patricia McCornick and Janet Doran, from R&W Scott, had a tough choice picking the winners – see page 60 of this week’s Gazette for all the results.

Patricia and Janet were joined by Paul Malone as they hosted a jam masterclass in the afternoon. A number of buskers also played in the High Street, and there were two mini-concerts by Carluke Primrose Orchestral Flutes.

With Jam Festival Live! bringing the curtain down on a superb weekend, organisers are hoping that the event will now become a permanent fixture in Carluke’s calendar.

David Chadwick said: “We have had a lot of positive feedback from local people.

“All the events were well supported and, considering this was our first time ,I thought we did very well.”

Jam Festival music director Fraser Grieve added: “From my point of view I thought everything went like clockwork; I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“On Friday night we had a really varied line-up of bands for people to enjoy and we sold almost all of the tickets for the Saturday night event.”

With the Jam Festival being such a big hit, the question for Fraser, David and the other organisers is: how do you top the 2013 event?

I suggest a phonecall to Paul Weller and the other members of The Jamfor a reunion gig!