Young accordion player, 10, overcomes adversity to win at his first Mod

A 10-year-old accordion player struck gold as he made his first appearance at the Royal National Mod.

Alistair Adamson from Lanark took first place in the under 13s accordion competition at AK Bell Library in Perth.

He beat off stiff competition from five fellow players at Soutar Theatre to take home the Gold badge as well as the Smith Mearns Trophy and Daniel G R Burt Memorial Trophy.

The awards were presented by Anna Day, cultural public programme manager for Perth and Kinross Council.

Speaking after the presentation, he said it felt “great” to have won.

He said: “I really enjoyed it. I was nervous but I got through it. It was just really fun.”

Emily Gold Carnwarth Primary School in Lanark took second place as Finlay Montgomery from Nicolson Institute came in third.

Fighting off illness to compete

Young Alistair began playing the accordion in 2018.

It’s the first time the Forth Primary student has competed at the Royal National Mod.

His mum, Mary Adamson, spoke of how he almost missed out on glory after contracting a sickness bug.

She said Alistair was left in tears this morning as she proposed that he may miss the competition due to illness.

Mrs Adamson says she is glad she listened to him.

She said: “We are just really proud of him. He was really poorly through the week as he had a sickness bug.

“He has worked incredibly hard; I’m so glad I listened to him.”