Bruce Fairbairn Memorial Bursary

Published January 30, 2013

By David Western

In 1999, Hornby Island musicians lost a good friend with the passing of Whaling Station Bay long-timer, Bruce Fairbairn. At the time of his passing, Bruce was at the very top of his game, producing mega-million selling albums by some of the biggest acts in the Rock business. But Bruce was equally at home enjoying jazz at the Thatch or mixing it up at a Stinkbug bash in the Hall. Bruce always had time for Hornby musicians and was very supportive and friendly to all he met.

To honour the memory of our friend, the Rockin’ Stinkbugs created the Bruce Fairbairn Memorial Bursary. Each year a 500 dollar bursary is awarded to a Hornby student pursuing further education at an accredited BC institution of higher learning. Although the bursary is weighted to those attending a music or arts program, the bursary is open to all and in the 14 years of its existence, awards have been granted to students studying a wide range of disciplines beyond the borders of music.

The Fairbairn bursary was funded by donations from Hornby businesses and residents as well as from the entire gate proceeds from a number of successful Rockin’ Stinkbug Dances (generously hosted by the kind folks at Joe King Park). When the Fairbairn family announced a remarkable dollar-for-dollar matching of our fundraising efforts, we were able to award the first Bruce Fairbairn Memorial Bursary to bass player Orith Fogel at our very first fund-raising dance!!

Many people asked why the Stinkbugs didn’t seek financial support from some of Bruce’s bands for the bursary, but our goal has always been for this bursary to be a Hornby effort through-and-through. Seeing Hornby’s community spirit come to life in such a great way was easily THE highlight of my time with the Stinkbugs and I know my fellow Stinkbugs feel the same way.

While the Stinkbugs are long retired, we still try to think of ways we can keep donations coming in to support the bursary. To that end, Doug Nixon and Dave Western of the Stinkbugs have joined forces with Victoria bass player Carl Cavanagh and a number of guest musicians (including former Blue Angel, Bethany McKenzie) to form a new band, The Stomp Rockits. We have released a 16 song cd chock full of original material and we’ll be donating a substantial portion of cd sales to the Fairbairn Memorial Bursary. We hope that we can encourage Hornby Islanders to support us and the bursary by buying a copy of our cd “To the Moon”. Available at the Co-Op, the cd is excellent value for money and even if you hate it, you can take heart knowing you are helping to support the next generation of Hornby musicians, artists or scientists!!

The Rockin’ Stinkbugs enjoyed a long career on Hornby and we are very proud of our record of community fundraising, so while the band has changed, the Bruce Fairbairn Memorial Bursary continues to do its good work and we very much hope Hornby Islanders will feel it is worth their support!

If you would like to support our cd fundraiser but can’t get to the Co-Op, please contact Dave at lovespoons@shaw.ca and I will do my best to deliver a copy to you!

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