Vicky, originally from northern England, pursued her passion for piano and violin performance as an ABRSM scholar at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She performed with her piano trio in Glasgow, London, and Barcelona under the direction of Trio Fontenay, and at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada with Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio.

Vicky contributed to Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now project as an accompanist and chamber musician, touring Wales and performing across Scotland at concerts and events for local communities. She also served as an accompanist for the British Federation of Music Festivals and Scotland’s Council for Music in Hospitals, frequently performing in festivals, recitals, and concerts throughout the UK.

After relocating to Belgium in 2008, Vicky continued her long teaching career in music and primary education. She currently teaches in schools and as a private teacher of piano and violin while returning to her performing roots, playing in local orchestras and accompanying choirs and instrumentalists. In 2023, she joined The Hoggies as a violinist and is thrilled to be part of the band.

John plays a 96-bass Hohner accordion, having taught himself the instrument a couple of years ago. He learned piano, recorder, crumhorn (a medieval instrument shaped like a walking stick), clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion while at school in England and has played and sung in many bands, orchestras and choirs since then. He is the director of the International Chorale of Brussels and plays percussion with the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra. By day he is a senior IT manager in an international chemical company.

Chris is a founding member of The Hoggies and plays a custom-made Christian Hedwitschak bodhran, having learned percussion and drums previously.  He also plays bass guitar.  Chris provides technical support for the band during each Hoggies performance.  He is also involved with the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra from a technical support perspective and assisted with the China tour 2010/11 and each year with the BSO Children's Concerts.  Chris works as a professional photographer and an independent IT contractor.

Jim is a founding member of The Hoggies and plays an electro-acoustic guitar and has a special interest in celtic music.  Jim has played cello, mandolin, piano, bagpipes and the tin whistle.  Jim is currently a private training consultant in financial use of statistics, and holds degrees in maths and an MBA.  He was formerly a maths teacher.

Phil plays guitar. Born in north London, he lived in the West Country from the age of 1.

He moved to Belgium in 2005 with his Belgian wife, Dominique (after 4 years in Munich). He's capable of telling unfunny jokes in French and German as well as English.

An enthusiastic self-taught guitar player since the age of 13, Phil grew up with heavy rock and incorporated many styles in his playing over the years. A 12 year break from playing ended in 2015, when Dominique told him to go and buy a new guitar and "stop wasting your talent"!

Phil loves playing with and for people, and is likely to jump around a bit, which can be worrying for the other Hoggies and their expensive instruments.

Martin plays acoustic guitar. He's a self-taught guitarist and has interest in jazz, folk, gypsy and most of all improvized music. He's currently working as a clinical psychologist.  

He is also a Lindy-Hop enthusiast and loves to Ceilidh dance too.

Gavin calls the dances in different languages and makes sure all of our dancers are well trained to dance along with the ceilidh music! Gavin runs a successful marketing company in Brussels and so is also our main man for marketing! Hailing from Scotland, Gavin is also the famous Scottish voice from the William Lawsons 'No rules Great Scotch' whisky adverts!

Alastair is also a caller for The Hoggies. He is fluent in English and French, and makes sure all of our dancers have a great time and master all the right moves on the ceilidh dance floor! Alastair is originally from Glasgow in Scotland but has lived and worked in Brussels for over 20 years. His interests apart from ceilidhs include rugby, golf, squash, restaurants and dancing!

B plays an acoustic violin with a pickup and was initially trained as a classical violin and viola player and holds several music degrees from the Brussels Conservatoire Royal de Musique. She played with a number of orchestral and chamber music ensembles, both professional and amateurs in i.a. Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Germany and China. She was a founding member of the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra and has played with them for many years.
Bénédicte (that's her real name, she just finds it a bit long) is a lawyer specialized in international affairs / competition law and works for the European Commission.