Linlithgow Ladies Choir all set to return

Shelagh Bell from the choir revealed that they can’t wait to get back in front of an audience.

She said: “During the summer months we managed to meet at the Linlithgow Rose football ground. We stood in the stand (all socially distanced of course) and sang in the empty stadium. Playing back our recordings we can hear the additional accompaniment from the resident seagulls and oyster catchers.

“We were so excited to get the green light to resume our rehearsals in St. Michael’s Parish Church early in September.

“We are still in a time when long term planning is complicated but our hopes are to rehearse, fine tune and become concert ready. We look forward to singing for our audiences again very soon.”

Shelagh reflected on how the choir battled through the pandemic.

She said: "The wellbeing benefits of singing in a choir are well known, but in a time when they were needed more than ever, choirs were unable to meet in person.

“Diversification was an answer and gave us back some sense of community that we’d enjoyed previously.

“Taking choral singing online poses it’s own challenges. It’s odd watching a screen and singing on your own at home with the mute button on. It’s a very different experience to the support and warmth of being amongst your friends singing together.

"There were other challenges too. Individual video clips were made by choir members, but filming yourself and getting all the notes and lyrics correct without your music did not come easily to many of us.

"Our musical director Kirsty Ball and some of her techie friends and family miraculously produced some pretty impressive videos to put onto YouTube.”

Like many, the choir suffered loss during this difficult past 18 months.

Shelagh added: “Sadly one of the choir stalwarts is no longer with us. Our original choir conductor Joe Lavery passed away peacefully in July this year.

"As a choir we'll miss him, but we are by no means the only ones, and we'll be reminded of him when we sing his favorite pieces.”