St John’s, Ballachulish
You will recall that we sang Evensong here in March of this year. They have been holding a Homecoming, to welcome back those who have a historical background in the area. Julie has produced a wonderful colour booklet on the importance of the Church in the life of the Jacobite events, as well as being the main Episcopal Church of the region.
Should you wish to obtain a copy, by making a donation, please let me know and I can obtain a number.
R.I.P. Tom McCulla
We mourn the passing of Tom McCulla, one of our Choir members, in his early fifties. He fought bravely, and with great humour, against a brain tumour, which latterly had affected his sight, and made him very tired. He passed away on Thursday 4th June at the Hospice in Airdrie.
He was an exceptional person….a quick mind with a penchant for corny puns, skilled and adventurous in his musical writing, a great keyboard player, (he was the senior person at the piano department of Biggars, in Glasgow),accompanying the Kedron Singers, and at his own Church, and with a desire to serve any church, of whatever denomination.
The photo above was one of his favourites, and shows him at one of our visits to St. Aidan’s, Clarkston, in September 2008. By that time he knew how serious the tumour was, but still managed to show us that cheeky, child-like grin which was one of his great features.
His last event with us was at Ballachulish (see him second from the right, in the back row), when we joined the congregation at St John’s Episcopal Church and many others, on a miserable, snowy, cold 8th March, for a wonderful Service of Sung Evensong.
We had all been worried about the wisdom of his journey and participation, considering his state of health at the time, but he had been so looking forward to being with us that there was no way he could be left out.
So, due to the good and kind offices of two of our members, he was able to spend a weekend in the beautiful Argyll countryside, and join us in the singing as lustily as he was able.
A service of remembrance will be held on Thursday 11th at 11am, at St Matthew’s Church, Paisley.
He will be remembered by Angelus Singers, as much for his personality, as for his musical ability.
May he be happy, playing for the heavenly choir!
Keep ‘pressing’ on!
We had quite a good entry in our local paper, about our recent involvement in Evensong at St John’s, Ballachulish. Unfortunately it was not on the front page, and the photo they reproduced was black and white, whilst the original was in bright colour. We have different colours of robes for our own choir, (as they were obtained from different churches), and then the local choir memebers who joined us had their own robes so it was really colourful.
The content was absolutely correct, including spelling of names! So let’s hope it let’s other singers and churches know that we are available.
Ballachulish Colourful Choristers
We were very lucky to have Frank Conn with us when we went to join with some local choristers at St John’ for Evensong…as he is a very good photographer! The following two were taken on a miserable wet day, but still have a sparkle about them….. or maybe it is the rainbow colours of choir robes!!
On the Communion Table behind the choir were the Communion vessels allegedly used before the battle of Culloden.
A number of real compliments!
Following the Ballachulish Evensong, we were so pleased to have the following letters directly on our other blogsite ( http://irishpisky.wordpress.com ) or forwarded to us from Julie, the organiser:-
Thank you for organising such a great treat for us all with Choral Evensong – a long time since I enjoyed a service so much as did everyone else – and seeing so many people C of S & RC there too shows ecumenism is working – so roll on your next one in July.
Everyone played their part well, readers, choir was superb, & Donald. Glad to hear St John’s restoration was benefiting so well …..
kind regards Cathie Mac Coll (who is in her 80s & from Glencoe)
You and the Vestry deserve great plaudits for organising such an excellent and spiritula Evensong. Nice to see Cxxxxxxx Macxxx at the back and to enjoy the superb tea afterwards where everyone mingled ! A long time since I enjoyed such a fine evensong
love …….John
Evensong at Ballachulish was something to be remembered for a long time. Thanks to all who arranged this beautiful service and Haste Ye Back….from Alisdair Campbell
I am sorry that I couldn’t be there on the day, but some of the folk from my congregations went and found it different to anything they had been to before and enjoyable! I thought I should pass that on to you as it’s always good to get positive feedback and some people are usually quicker to criticise than praise.
Alison Burnside (Rev Mrs)
St Munda’s l/w Duror Parish Churches
Makes it worthwhile doesn’t it!
A great sound in Argyll!
On Sunday we joined St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ballachulish, in Argyll, and all the Episcopal Churches in the West Highland Mission,to hold the service of Sung Evensong. You can’t miss the Church, in its glorious setting halfway between Glencoe and the Ballachulish Bridge.It has an ancient history and we were proud to be asked along. The graveyard is of great historical interest, and they have the Communion Cup and Plate reputedly used by the Jacobites just before Culloden. The building is in much need of restoration, but the beauty conceived by the architect still evident. You can find general information about them on the Diocesan website http://www.argyllandtheisles.org.uk/ballachulish.html .
They would welcome any contributions to their fabric fund, so if you would like to make a donation, you can contact them via the Diocesan website as their current Restoration Appeal website is not operating just now.
Music Details:-
We were pleased to be supplemented by local choir members, and a total of 18 singers filled the choir stalls. This allowed us to have a rousing service of well-known hymns, the traditional sung responses, collects, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and Psalm 119 (only a small part!). In addition we had an Introit and Anthem.
Introit:- ‘Collect 21′
Hymns:-
- Angel Voices, ever singing
- Saviour Again to Thy Dear Name we Raise
- The Day Thou Gavest
Psalm: 119 vv 33-40 Double Chant ‘St John’s’
Anthem:- ‘I saw a new heaven’….a first performance. Some of the words of the Revelation of St John were the inspiration of this piece, and if you want some more information on it, you will find it under ‘To compose or not to compose’.
It was wonderful to see a goodly number in the pews who had come from as far as Fort William and Oban. It was evident that many knew the Office and the hymns off by heart and they had little need of the Order of Service.
We would like to thank all those involved in the arrangements, especially the Friends of St John’s, the Rev Donald Davidson, of Kinlochleven, who led the service, Elsa the Organist who had a lot of new, and difficult, music to practise and play on what proved a slightly-temperamental organ. Last but not least, the choristers who helped us raise the roof in this lovely old building!
To compose or not to compose?
With our up-coming visit to Ballachulish, we felt it would be nice to make something special out of our Service of Sung Evensong at St John’s. The building, the beautiful rural setting, the local history (gory as it is) …they all tell of a long-standing place of worship in this somewhat isolated (and perhaps a bit sad), community, close to the Vale of Weeping, Glencoe.
The choice of music for such a location and occasion must be determined by the wish of people to join in music they know, and the fact that evening hymns must be there. The Chants may or may not be known, the Responses should be known by a least some.
But to make it somewhat special, perhaps an anthem would be in order. So what should we do ?….pick an old favourite, do something extrovert with modern harmonies etc, or write and learn something original.
Scottish music has some rather unique features….the drone of the bagpipes, the scotch ’snap’, the almost-plainchant simplicity of the melodic line of local music, and the obvious ’sadness’ in much of the music, stemming from the nation’s history.
The name, St John’s, led me to thinking of some verses from Revelation about the ‘new heaven and earth’ replacing the ‘old heaven and earth’.
I used a mysterious organ introduction (with simulated bagpipe-drone) leading to a simple tune by the men, and a response from the ladies. A harmony of thirds gives the plainchant ‘feel’, small triplet figures simulate waves on the adjacent loch, and the climb to the high notes and descent indicate the soaring peaks of the area. Two part harmony only appears two thirds of the way through. A reprise of the early mysterious notes sweeps to the final phrases…’He shall wipe away each tear’, by the ladies, and then two- and four-part harmony take us to the final words of …’the former things have now passed away’. Instead of a gloriously-loud ending, the organ gives us a simple rendition of the original melody line……..
So there we have the dissection of this new piece. When it sees the light of day, I hope that it achieves the effects I wanted from it, but that has to be left to the listeners to decide. Let’s hope the Good Lord is forgiving of the paucity of the content, and the presence of all my errors!
