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I t V N [ l L l L I . * By JAN LAVALLEY Rappahannock News SUIT Writer l For the second year in a row Dale Forrester and Rachel Lucas took top honors in the Rappahannock Lions Club’s annual Bland Contest. Mr. Forrester, a violinist, gave an impressive rendition of Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor, First Movement. In a very polished and poised performance. Miss Lucas sang Oh Lord Most Holy. ■. ■ Bob Scott of the Lions Club was the master of ceremonies for the occasion and -gave a brief history of the contest and the ' ■Lions involvement with it. ■ ’ The contest has been sponsored by the Lions Clubs since 1948. It is a living memorial to black composer James A. Bland. Mr. Bland, a very creative and unusual composer at a time when it was difficult to be such, ■wrote such notable tunes as “Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny.” He is considered one of the, if not the, greatest black writer of American folk songs and wrote over 700 of them. He was bom in 1854 in New York but his family was from Charleston, S.C. He grew up singing and playing the banjo to earn spending money and by the age of 15 was writing his own songs. He composed “Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny while sitting on the banks of the • James River. He went on to play for the