Kenny Thomson (from an email sent to the Saskatoon SCD by Kenny’s brother, Stuart 2023-02-27)
The short version is that Kenny and I were both taught piano accordion by the same music teacher.  His name was Robert (Bobby) MacFarlane Adamson.  He composed and arranged tunes for the piano accordion, one of his most famous in the accordion world is “Triumph March”.
There was always music in the family – Dad played accordion and Mum played piano, so it was natural that we inherited a love of music, Scottish Dance Music in particular.
Not so well known is that Kenny was quite an accomplished jazz musician, not only on accordion but he also played both the sax and clarinet.  In fact, he travelled to London in the mid-1960s to audition for the famed “Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club” and passed.  However, he decided against moving to London.
As to the name of the band – Kenny didn’t want it to be simply “Kenny Thomson’s Scottish Dance Band”, he wanted to have a name that would be associated with his hometown of Muirkirk in East Ayrshire.  There are two prominent hills visible to the south of Muirkirk, Cairn Table and Wardlaw – so the name Wardlaw was Kenny’s choice. Incidentally, there is also a “Cairn” on Wardlaw, erected as a tribute to the late Colonel J G A Baird, who was Laird of Wellwood.