(A brief overview of the tour from the Music Director of SRSNH)
There were 22 members on the trip. We landed in Glasgow and played a session with the Glasgow Fiddle Workshop. Next we drove to Oban with a boat ride on Loch Lomond and a tea stop in Inverary. Oban is on the coast and some took a ferry ride, some took a boat ride to see seals. In the evening we had dinner at McTavish's. We played a concert in the Taynuilt Village Hall and exchanged tunes with the Oban and Lorne Strathspey & Reel.
We drove to Stirling and stayed in the University dorms. We played a concert with the Stirling Fiddlers. Their conductor is Bill Cook. The next day some of us went to Falkirk to see the Wheel, an engineering marvel on the canal system. Some went into Stirling town and visited the Castle. In the evening several of the Stirling Fiddlers joined us for a session in Airthrey Castle.
On to Edinburgh. We had dinner at Guiliano's and met Yla Steven the conductor of the Lothian Schools Strathspey & Reel Society. The next day everyone toured Edinburgh and in the evening we played with the Lothian group.
Our last destination was Ayr. On the way we stopped in Tarbolton to see the Bachelors' Club, founded by Robert Burns. We visited Culzean Castle and got slightly lost trying to find the right car park for our bus. We played our final concert with the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra in St Margaret's Church. The audience clapped, cheered and we played an encore!
And then we had to go home.
Sylvia Miskoe