Hutton, Joe

Born in Halton Lea Gate [SW of Haltwhistle]; A shepherd, who started on the fiddle, taking up the Northumbrian smallpipes after hearing P.J. Liddell and George Grey Armstrong playing at a concert in 1936; Making rapid progress, he won, as a novice, a competition already in 1937; Though living very isolated out on the border with Cumberland, he made several trips to play together with Tommy Breckons, recalling that "it meant walking 8 miles to Gilsland, bus to Hexham, another bus to Bellingham… Man, it was a day’s work getting there"; In 1978 he retired from farming, and settled in Rothbury, being able to concentrate much more on piping; He had met his wife Hannah through her brother (John Robson), who was a piper, too (Their family had a strong piping tradition; Mary [Armstrong] Anderson was their great-aunt).