LARGS GAELIC CHOIR
Championing Gaelic Culture Through Song
Marianne Cain, Secretary
Largs Gaelic Choir was formed by Wilma Scoular in 1980 with a core of members from her former church choir from Uplawmoor in East Renfrewshire which had successfully competed as a rural choir in the Mòd. Wilma was very dedicated in her role as conductor for 27 years and was passionate about Gaelic music.
We then had a couple of other conductors, most notably Elspeth Howie, who was previously a soprano in the choir. Then in 2015 the baton was passed to Norma McDougall, a longtime friend of the choir with a vast knowledge of Gaelic music experience and choir conducting. In 2017, the multi-talented Eilidh Johnson, who had been our Gaelic tutor, took on the additional role of conductor and has been with us ever since. Her hard work and dedication to the choir is to be admired, and always with a smile on her face. Sadly, Eilidh is retiring after the Oban Mòd and we are currently seeking a new conductor.
The Choir’s first Mòd was Perth in 1980 and we have competed almost every year since. Our first success was winning the Magrat Duncan Memorial Trophy in 1982 at Portree. The choir dominated this competition from that time on and then the choir entered the higher level Lovat and Tullibardine competition at Dingwall in 1991 which we won at our first attempt!
Largs Gaelic Choir has members who have been with us from 1980, when we were set up as a mixed choir. We have regularly recruited more choristers over the years, and also lost a few. After struggling to keep our male membership at an appropriate level, we became a ladies only choir in 2016.
We sing mainly Gaelic songs with the aim of competing in the Royal National Mòd and some Provincial Mòds. We also have a repertoire of Scottish songs and have held Burns Suppers in the past.
Due to the Covid pandemic, our activities were interrupted on and off for two years, however, we took part in the National Mòd 2021 in Inverness. This was not in a judged capacity, but the choir performed very well and we were included in the BBC Alba highlights programme much to our delight, with our performance of ‘Brochan Lom’.
We are very much looking forward to competing in the 2024 Mòd in Oban on 18th October this year.
The choir has undertaken many guest appearances over the years in concerts, festivals, churches and care homes. We are also performing at the upcoming Tidelines Book Festival at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine on Friday 27th September 2024 where we will be celebrating Gaelic in poetry and song along with poets Niall O’Gallagher and Catrìona Ross. In this way we are contributing to keeping the Gaelic culture alive within North Ayrshire and are very lucky to be regularly awarded grants from North Ayrshire Council, for which we are most grateful.
The future of the choir very much depends on being able to recruit a suitable replacement conductor. If you are interested, or know of someone else who might be, please get in touch via our website: www.largsgaelic.com
