Highland Cathedral Setting for Fundraising Concert
Some 200 concertgoers enjoyed a spectacular
evening’s entertainment in Dunkeld Cathedral on Thursday 14th June
when Aberfeldy & District Gaelic Choir joined forces with The Cancer
Challenge Singers from Neath Port Talbot in Wales, and the Pitlochry &
Blair Atholl Pipe Band. The concert raised more than £2,300 for
the local Macmillan Cancer Support, and will go towards the £3 million
pounds the charity is hoping to raise for a ten bed palliative care unit,
the first of its kind in Perthshire, within the grounds of Perth Royal
Infirmary.
Macmillan Fundraising Manager for Perth, Kinross &
Angus, Sylvia Jeffrey, was thrilled by the event: “It was absolutely
superb, quite inspirational, listening to all these people who have the
same purpose – to sing, to make beautiful music, and to help people
affected by cancer” she said.
The joint concert was the brainchild of Welshman Alan
Maggs, who lives in Spain from where he runs his “Summerhome”
property company, but who enjoys a long connection with the choir from
his homeland. He loves to organise concerts for them at various venues,
and decided to put them in touch with another choir under his wing, the
Aberfeldy & District Gaelic Choir. “The Cancer Challenge Singers
have been raising money for cancer charities since 1999 – so far,
they’ve raised about £60,000” said Alan. “They’re
an amazing bunch of people, and I thought it was time to introduce them
to a Scottish Choir – and who better than my friends in Aberfeldy,
who also raised money for a cancer charity in Spain when I organised their
fundraising trip to Torrevieja a couple of years ago.”
The Pitlochry & Blair Atholl Pipe Band delighted
the audience with several tunes, then marched down the aisle and out into
the evening air, to loud applause.
The climax of the evening was a joint rendition by
both choirs of “Highland Cathedral”, so appropriate in Dunkeld
Cathedral, and joined in the last verse by two pipers from the band. A
lone piper playing the last bars from the church gallery was all but ‘drowned
out’ by a standing ovation from the audience. The choristers closed
the evening with the Welsh Choir’s special arrangement of “You’ll
Never Walk Alone”, followed by a moving rendition from the visitors
of their Welsh anthem “Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”.
This was the second concert of their Scottish tour
for The Cancer Challenge Singers. Two nights earlier they had travelled
to Stirling for a concert with Stirling Gaelic Choir. It was a resounding
success too, and the highlight of that evening was a superb performance
by Anne Lorne Gillies, Scotland’s best loved and highly talented
Gaelic singer.
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Singers and pipers at the concert in Dunkeld Cathedral
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