GLOBE-trotting drummer Jim McDermott who has worked with the likes of Kylie Minogue and Red Hot Chili Peppers, says he has been humbled after volunteering for the past year in a Skipton care home.

Glasgow-born Jim said his experience over that time has been life-changing, adding that his father would have said it was the first time he had a ‘real’ job.

Jim was taking part in a weekly Zoom meeting with the North Yorkshire Resilience Forum.

He spoke about his work at Ashfield Care Home, a county council-managed home, in Carleton Road.

He spoke about the journey he found himself on as Covid-19 took its grip on the world.

He said: “What happened last year with me was I finished a recording with some of the guys from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and basically round about this time, in March, I was thinking, okay, my calendar’s going to be starting filling up.

“It’s going to be amazing, going to be back on tour because my career up to then has been with the likes of Simple Minds, Kylie Minogue, Deacon Blue, Del Amitri.....

“I’ve lived quite, I guess, a privileged life in my musical career.”

Jim said everything changed last year with the onset of Covid-19 and he thought he should ‘get out and do something’.

He added: “I moved to Haworth at the end of 2019, just for a change of lifestyle really. So into last year, 2020, it was a shock to the system because usually my touring calendar is quite busy. Recordings are quite busy too.

“So I thought, you know what, I am going to do something, try to help the community out and see what I can do.

“I am privileged and lucky to be accepted at Ashfield Care Home, in Skipton, by lovely manager Diane Procter and the fantastic staff.

“I walked through that door on that day last year not having any experience at all of working in a care home, never mind in the middle of a global pandemic and what it would bring.

“It’s just humbling to see the way everyone mucked in and got on with things and to interact with the residents.

“This whole process has just been a learning curve for me because I guess I played all over the world - Wembley Stadium, Broadway - but walking in here and helping out with the staff and residents has just been one of the best moments. actually, of my life, because I knew I could give something.”

The idiosyncrasies of Yorkshire were not lost on Jim who said it took a while to work out what a tea cake was.

He said a tea cake in Glasgow was covered in chocolate so was horrified to hear people asking for a sausage tea cake.

He said: “When I got put in the kitchen I learned quickly what a Yorkshire tea cake was.

I started from working in the kitchen to cleaning the home to helping out with daily tasks and what I’ve seen in this past year, on a human scale, is just unbelievable. It is amazing for North Yorkshire County Council to have a home like this that operates on that level. That is something I’ve never seen on tour or on any stage or with any super stars I’ve worked with. These people are super stars in here.

These are the guys that will get us out of this.

“I am very humbled every day I walk in. I see somebody doing something for somebody else. Residents need something done, it’s never a hassle, never a bother.”

Jim said he had nothing but praise and admiration for the care home, from the staff all the way to the residents.

He added: “The food’s always excellent and the care is excellent. Now that’s just quite special really and even if my tenure in Ashfield comes to an end at some point I will remember this for the rest of my life.

“Someone said to me once it’s a bit like wartime when everyone gathers together, but this is not like wartime at all.

“When this is all over there will be a healing process I’m sure and that might take months, maybe a year, psychologically, to get everyone back to where they were again mentally.

“For me its just been a pleasurable experience and actually an education since I’ve never had a real job in my life - as my father once said.

“It just put all my escapades on tour into perspective.”

Care home manager Diane Procter said it was a pleasure to have ‘chatty’ Jim helping out over the past year. and was full of admiration for his worth ethic and they way he interacted with everyone.

She said: “He took to it like a duck to water. He is able to do anything asked of him and gets on great with the residents and never stops talking.”