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‘The music means I have a better life’ stroke is not holding back Perth keyboard player

Alwyn James will perform in a concert in May.
Alwyn James will perform in a concert in May.

A Perth musician has released a fifth album to help raise funds for fellow stroke victims.

Alwyn James, who suffered a debilitating stroke 19 years ago, is also planning a concert to raise further cash. He has already raised more than £9,000.

Despite mobility problems, the 74-year-old still plays an active part in the band he formed more than two years before his stroke, Roll Wyn James.

Mr James, who is a former classics teacher at Glenalmond College, played keyboard but has increasingly been playing harmonica with the group, and even wrote one of the tracks on the new album, named Unfinished Business.

He said: “It feels really, really good that I am still making music despite the stroke.

“I have problems with my right hand but I can still use my left to play harmonica. I play the harmonica more than the keyboard now.

“The music means I have a better life. I can express myself better with the harmonica than I can with words.”

He said he hoped the upcoming concert, which will take place in Perth Concert Hall on May 5, will be as successful as the last.

“The one in October sold out,” he said.

“It was one of the smaller venues, seating 110, or whatever, but this year we are in a bigger venue of 250 people.

“They are taking out some of the seats for wheelchair access. We will play for two hours and hope to sell out again.”

Mr James hopes to use the concert to make people more aware of a side-effect of stroke: aphasia. The condition means he has difficulty in speaking and relies on key words and writing to communicate.

His daughter Rhiannon said strangers could have difficulty understanding him as a result.

“They may think dad’s drunk or they may shout at him because they think he’s thick,” she said.

“People don’t realise how debilitating aphasia can be. He wants to make people aware that life goes on even if you have aphasia.”