A SHOCKED community has bid farewell to one of its most well-kent faces.

Andy Brown, who passed away last Monday after a short and sudden illness, was well known throughout North Berwick both as a talented music teacher who brought melodious joy to people’s lives and as “the man with the bells”. He was 58.

Instantly recognisable on the streets of the town, a bearded Andy wore shorts no matter the season or weather, always had a string of bells round his neck, and would often be seen toting a guitar on his back.

Born in Haddington on August 14, 1962, Andy moved to North Berwick with his dad William, mum Mary and sister Patricia when he was six.

As a young boy, he would pick up random items to create music and rhythms, including lengths of lead piping to blow through, and Mary ended up buying him his first guitar – “made from an orange box”, she said – when he was about 13.

A pupil at Law Primary and North Berwick High Schools, Andy studied performing arts at Nonington College, Kent, before becoming a music teacher and musical entertainer.

Mary said: “He was a multi-instrumentalist.

“There was nothing he couldn’t play.”

He taught guitar, saxophone, ukulele, bagpipes, flute, penny whistle and keyboard, and also played the harp, though he did not teach it.

Andy travelled to Lapland five years in a row to play concert piano in the hotels there for four weeks during the Christmas and New Year period. He often entertained residents of North Berwick Day Centre and was a regular performer at the town’s Fringe by the Sea festival.

His sister Patricia, who now lives in Devon, reminisced about their time together in a band.

She said: “My husband and I had a band, and Andy joined us to go to Turkey in 1999.

“We spent six months in Turkey; my husband played bass, I sang and my brother did all the fancy stuff on the keyboard. He sounded like four musicians!”

In spring the following year, the musicians worked on cruise ships, played in Scarborough’s Grand Hotel in the summer, and Andy returned to play on the cruise ships after Patricia had her daughter Amber, now 20.

Also a singer and actor, Andy completed some filming recently, working for three days in Stirling for a production requiring his lyre-playing skills.

Patricia said: “The director was calling him Merlin because of his long hair and beard. Star Wars is due to be filmed in the summer and there was talk of him doing that.”

Ian Anderson went to primary school with Andy and reconnected with him 10 years ago. The pair worked in Ian’s North Berwick studio making library music for TV shows including Antiques Roadshow and Strictly Come Dancing.

Ian said: “I needed an accordion player and a mutual friend recommended Andy. I knew Andy as a guitarist but he came in and was absolutely amazing. But, more importantly, he was fantastic fun.”

For the next 10 years, Ian worked with Andy every Sunday, and the pair wrote hundreds of songs and instrumental music for adverts, TV shows and corporate conferences.

Ian added: “We did everything from medieval to rock to bluegrass. Andy was incredible. He could pick up any instrument and get a tune out of anything. And he could score music. He didn’t even need an instrument – he could just pick up a piece of sheet music and write the notes down. He found it annoyingly easy! But he was very modest.”

Andy remained in his Old Abbey Road home with his mum Mary, 84, and the two were extremely close. Mary, who was for some years a greeter at the WhyNot? shop on North Berwick High Street, described her son as “just fantastic”.

She said: “He was a brilliant musician and so intelligent it wasn’t true. He had so much knowledge, he knew about everything. He did courses all his life, and knew everything about everything. I know that sounds daft, but he did.”

In a touching tribute to the musician, a necklace of bells was placed on the Ben Sayers statue at North Berwick’s Elcho Green.

Andy will be remembered not only for his musical talent but also for inspiring it in others; for his cheerful attitude, his ready smile and his kind conversation.

Mary thanked the community for all their support and kind words. A fundraiser to support Mary has been set up at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/andybrownthemusicman