Welcome to the first "GG Newsletter" of 2008 and a belated happy new year to you all. This year of course is very special for the GG as it marks Kenneth’s 25^th Anniversary as conductor and his 40^th anniversary as a member of the choir. Arguably, our successes at the National Mod in Fort William and our victories at the Pan Celtic Festival in Letterkenny made 2007 Kenneth’s most successful year in charge of the "GG" and it’s a fitting platform from which to launch his anniversary.

published at that time. The publication of the book of arrangements is being supported by the Gaelic Books Council and we hope that its publication will benefit Gaelic choirs for many years to come. Kenneth has been a prolific arranger of Gaelic music and of one the main difficulties in producing this book has been deciding which arrangements should be included and which should be omitted.

The line up for the concert has now been finalised and it includes seven soloists who have been associated with the choir during Kenneth’s time as conductor. The soloists (all National Mod Gold Medallists) are Norman Mackinnon, Deirdre Mactaggart, Jenna Cumming, Alasdair Whyte, Kirsteen Macdonald, and both of the 2007 medallists Jean Mackay, who left the choir in 1999 when she moved to Inverness, and James Graham who has just newly joined the choir.

Tickets for the concert priced £7 are now available. The concert is likely to be a sell-out so please don’t assume that there will be tickets available at the door on the night. To be sure of a ticket you can either contact a member of the choir, or better still, book your seat by contacting the RSAMD box office on 0141-332-4101 (www.rsamd.ac.uk)

Prior to the concert on the 29^th there will be a drinks reception for invited guests in the Guinness Room at the RSAMD and a souvenir programme will also be available. The concert will be recorded by the BBC and parts of it will be broadcast on a range of BBC programmes.

An Anniversary Dinner for current and past members and friends who wish to honour Kenneth’s contribution to the choir will be held on Saturday the 22^nd of November in the Hilton Grosvenor Hotel.

Can we also remind you that the Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir will be holding its Annual Concert on Friday the 29^th of February in Kessington Halls in Bearsden. You may remember that Kirsteen Grant and the choir were very obliging and cooperative last year as we struggled to find a venue and date for Kenneth’s Anniversary Concert and it would be nice if a number of us could get along to support them.

At the risk of being seen to gloat can we just once again reflect on what a successful Mod we had. Just for the record here’s a full run down of how the choir fared in each competition.

Once again can we thank Kenneth and Mina for all their hard work, and can we also thank Donald Macleod for all his efforts in booking and organising the Mod accommodation. This is always a difficult and thankless task and we may have been remiss in recognising his hard work – many thanks Donald.

Following our success at the Mod, Kenneth was invited to take part in Robbie Shepherd’s programme on BBC Radio Scotland. The programme, broadcast on the 30^th of December, looked back at Scottish musical achievements during the year. Kenneth was interviewed on-air and the programme also featured the choir’s winning performance of "Airigh a Chulchinn". Kenneth hopes that he may be invited back on to the show to do an other short interview in the lead up to the concert.

The choir took part in a couple of events towards the end of the year. On Friday the 15^th of December the GG joined with choristers from the Glasgow Islay, Govan and Cumbernauld Gaelic choirs to take part in a recording of Christmas carols and songs at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Unfortunately, because of the timing of the event and the short notice we were given we were only able to muster a small group to take part in this concert which was recorded and broadcast on TV over the festive season.

The choir also took part in an open-air concert in George Street in Edinburgh on the 30^th of December. The gig was part of Edinburgh’s Annual Hogmanay celebrations and a large crowd of revellers saw the choir perform two songs. The event also gave the choir an early opportunity to hear what the new CD will sound like. Because of the sound problems associated with outdoor events, it was agreed that the choir would mime along to the tracks from the CD – we’re not absolutely certain, but we think this might be the first time the choir has ever paid NOT to sing.

Despite the success at the Mod the choir felt it hadn’t really had a fitting opportunity to celebrate the victory, so a celebratory party was held back in Glasgow on Saturday the 24^th of November. This was the day of the second CD recording, and immediately after the recording the choir and friends headed back to Angus and Carolyn Ferguson’s house for a re-enactment of the Friday afternoon of the Mod.

Guests were greeted by a powerpoint presentation of photographs from Catriona Fisher’s not inconsiderable archives, before the Lovat and Tullibardine results were read out. The gasps and cheers which accompanied the reading of the marks implied that everyone had got into the spirit of the evening.

The meal – provided by Valerie Thomson and her helpers – was more relaxed and more enjoyable than the usual Mod-Friday night dinner, and thereafter everyone headed off to the prize-winners’ concert. Alan Mclintock piped on the winning male voice choir who, in keeping with tradition, kicked off the concert with "Suas leis a Ghaidhlig". The concert then featured (virtually) all the main Mod prize winners including both the male and female gold medallists and of course the winning Lovat and Tullibardine choir.

After an informal ceilidh compered by Alasdair Macmillan, the diehards eventually headed off to a bass-bedroom ceilidh, where in addition to the usual suspects there was a flawless rendition of "Bella Macrae" from a rogue tenor.

Our thanks, on behalf of all the guests, to Valerie and all her helpers for the food and to Kenneth and Mina for supplying the drinks. Carolyn adds, "Sincere thanks to everyone who brought gifts and to the many people who sent us thank-you letters and cards – these were very much appreciated. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and let’s hope we’ve got an excuse to do something similar again next year!"

The Annual General Meeting was held on Monday the 17^th of December. Catriona Fisher’s Secretary’s Report summarised the main highlights of the year and the Choir Treasurer, Donald Macleod presented a fully audited set of accounts which showed the choir made a small surplus during the year.

It was suggested that subscriptions should be increased and it was agreed that annual subscriptions should go up to £65 per annum for ordinary members, £20 for students and £10 for associate members.

Following discussions about perennial issues such as attendance, recruitment, the website and Mod accommodation, the following committee was elected for the forthcoming year:

Honorary President Norman McConochie

President Angus Ferguson

Vice Presidents Gordon Mckeeve and Donald A Smith

Treasurer Donald Macleod

Secretary Catriona Fisher

Committee Members: Fiona Lyon, Laura Macritchie, Sandy Brodie, Willie Mckee, Duncan Macdonald and Anne Macdonald (Bearsden)

We send our heartfelt sympathy to Rhona Macleod whose fiancé Scott Forsyth, died suddenly in Aberdeen earlier this month. As well as being one of the Martin Mckay clan, Rhona herself was also a member of the GG for several years while she worked in Glasgow and she has maintained links with many people in the choir.

We send our sympathy to Mary and all of the family, but of course, our thoughts are particularly with Rhona at this tragic time.

To say the least, Fiona MacKintosh has had a very mixed start to 2008. Sadly, her mother Annie McCallum died suddenly on the 10^th of January and just a week later Fiona gave birth to a wee boy.

Fiona’s mother was a great supporter of the choir – a regular at local and National Mods, choir concerts and indeed any GG event. As well as coming along to our events, she also regularly gave raffle prizes and other donations, and there was often a suspicion that some of the wonderful culinary delights that Fiona brought along to choir functions actually originated in Pollokshields and not Edinburgh! Mrs McCallum was a true and loyal supporter of the GG and we send Fiona and the wider family our sincerest sympathy.

At the same time we also send Fiona and James, and Robbie and Rosaidh congratulations on the arrival of Niall John who was born in Edinburgh just the day after Mrs McCallum’s funeral service in Glasgow and the day before the family were due to travel to Islay for the internment.

Congratulations to Beverley Darroch of the sopranos who had a wee girl – Amy Grace - in November. Despite her condition, Beverley was help to sing with us at the Mod and we hope she’ll be back singing with us again soon, but in the meantime we send her and Stuart and of course Amy Grace all the best.

We send our congratulations to Annemarie Nicholson who has taken up a new post back at home in Barra. Sadly for us of course, it means that she won’t be singing with us regularly but we wish her all the best in her new job.

Also leaving us for a short time is Anne Macdonald (Bearsden) who is celebrating her recent retirement by going on a round the world trip. Anne and her friend headed off for Hong Kong at the end of January and amongst other places, they will take-in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia before returning in the middle of March just in time for the concert. Anne has promised that the variety of exotic locations she plans to visit won’t distract her from learning her music! We wish Anne every good wish for her retirement and we hope she has a wonderful time when she’s away.

Mina is also going to be missing for few weeks as she’s off on maternity leave! Before the rumour-mill bursts into over drive we should point out that it’s actually grand-maternity leave as she’s going off to Lewis to be with her daughter Christina who is expecting her third baby anytime soon. Mina hopes to be back with us before the concert and in the meantime she’s left us plenty of CDs to help us with our Gaelic.

It’s good to see the return of Claire Galbraith who is back working in the Glasgow area after a few years in Tiree, and after a short sabbatical Tina MacLellan has returned to the sopranos. Lorna Young who missed last year’s Mod because of work commitments is also back with us.

We’ve also got a brand new bass - Aonghus Rowe from Plockton - who is currently doing Nautical Studies at Strathclyde University and we welcome him on board. Also recently joined up is Garry Oman’s daughter Lucy, and although she and her friend haven’t been to many practices recently they hope to be able to help us out with at least a few songs at the concert. We also look forward to the imminent arrival of last year’s medallist James Graham who has recently moved to the Central Belt to take up a job in connection with the Falkirk Mod.