Mid Argyll to the fore at music and dance festival

MID ARGYLL was well represented at last week’s 35th Highlands and Islands Music and Dance Festival.

Oban welcomed more than 1,100 pipers, fiddlers, pianists, accordion and clarsach players, as well as singers and Highland dancers to the town, to take part in 125 competitions.

Inveraray Primary School pupil Feorlin Renton won the Gillies Cup for gaining 95 points and the highest overall mark in singing for Castle on a Cloud, her favourite song in the Songs From The Shows competition.

Not to be outdone, Feorlin’s older siblings, Holly and Kyle, also took home silverware.

Holly won the Scots Song, Classical Song and Songs from the Shows classes in her age group, while Kyle also won his Songs from the Shows category, just ahead of Lochgair’s Shona Keith.

But Shona took home plenty of prizes, including Folk Singing, Scottish Song and Classical Song. Also among the prizes was Alison McGinty from Ardrishaig.

The woodwind and brass competitions were peppered with many different Mid Argyll winners, including woodwind winner Hazel Selfridge, in a major achievement for players and tutors.

Though the Mid Argyll contingent was thinner on the ground in the piping competitions, Campbeltown player Ross Conner won the overall Allan MacInnes Memorial Trophy, just ahead of Dunoon’s Thomas Young. Selected results Junior solo piping, chanter and drumming:

Piobaireachd – 15 years and under 18 years: 1 Angus MacAlister Memorial Quaich: Eosaph Caimbeul, An Caol, 2 Ross Conner, Campbeltown, 3 Thomas Young, Dunoon;

March – 15 years and under 18 years: 1 Ryan MacPhail Memorial Trophy: 1

Thomas Young, Dunoon, 2 Ross Connor, Campbeltown, 3 Luke Kennedy, Strathaven;

Strathspey and Reel – 15 years and under 18 years: 1 Chris Crowe: Luke Kennedy, Strathaven, 2 Thom- as Young, Dunoon, 3 Eosaph Caimbeul, An Caol;

Hornpipe and Jig – 15 years and under 18 years: 1 Bill Crowe: Ross Connor, Campbeltown, 2 Luke Kennedy, Strathaven, 3 Eosaph Campbell, An Caol;

The Allan MacInnes Memorial Trophy (awarded to the player with the most aggregate points in class es 25, 26, 26A, and 26B): Ross Connor, Campbeltown. Woodwind and brass: The HIMDF Lorne Trophies: Woodwind Winner: Hazel Selfridge, Lochgilphead, Brass Winner: Amy Paterson, Campbeltown,

Elementary (less than 1 year’s experience): Woodwind - Secondary 1st year: 1 Anya Bannaghan, Lochgilphead, 2 Rowan MacDonald, Lochgilphead, 3 Mirren Bowden, Lochgilphead;

Open: 1 Aileen Barr, Lochgilphead, 2 Sophie Balkeen, Lochgair, 3 Aisling Duncan, Taynuilt;

Intermediate (Secondary 2nd and 3rd year): 1 Hazel Selfridge, Lochgilphead, 2 Sarah Garvin, Oban, 3 Hannah Johnson, Ardrishaig; Woodwind –

Brass, Primary: Elementary (less than one year’s experience): 1 Eilidh Flanagan, Lochgilphead, 2 James Barr, Campbeltown, 3 Jorja MacDonald, Lochgilphead; Open: 1 Camron Macphail, Lochgilphead, 2 Mae Barr, Campbeltown, 3 Finlay Love, Ardrishaig; Ensemble: Campbeltown Junior Ensemble;

Duet: 1 Betsy Jeffrey and Nikitta Todd, Ardrishaig; BRASS Secondary School Age: Junior (Secondary 1st year): 1 Rona Campbell, Campbeltown, 2 Charli-Ann Bird, Kilmichael; Intermediate (Secondary 2 nd and 3 rd year): 1 Kyle Paterson, Campbeltown, 2 Myrtle Turnbull, Lochgilphead, 3 Drew Cunningham, Campbeltown; Senior (Secondary 4th , 5th and 6th year): 1 Amy Paterson, Campbeltown; Ensemble: 1 Campbeltown Brass Senior Ensemble.

Singing: Primary : The Gillies Cup

Feorlin Renton, Inveraray; Scots Song – Primary: 1 HIMDF: Feorlin Renton, Inveraray, 2 Niamh Stainthorpe, Dumfries, 3 Rose MacInnes, Oban;

Songs from the Shows – Primary: 1 Berni McMillan: Feorlin Renton,

Inveraray, 2 Niamh Stainthorpe, Dumfries, 3 Aiobhann Clark, Oban.

Secondary and Open: Scots Song – Secondary 3+: 1 HIMDF: Holly Renton, Inveraray, 2 Anna Tait Westwell, Oban; Classical Song Secondary 3+ : 1 Holly Renton, Inveraray, 2 Maria Clark, Oban;

Songs from the Shows – Secondary 3 +: 1 MacKinnon Family trophy: Holly Renton, Inveraray, 2 Maria Clark, Oban; Folk Singing Solo: 1 Oban Gaelic Choir Trophy: Shona Keith, Lochgair; The Anne MacDougall Memorial Trophy: Shona Keith, Lochgair; Scottish Song (English or Gaelic): 1 Argyll Oils trophy: Shona Keith, Lochgair, 2 Alison McGinty, Ardrishaig; Songs from the Shows : 1 The Highlands Restaurant trophy: Kyle Renton, Inveraray, 2 Shona Keith, Lochgair, 3 Alison McGinty, Ardrishaig ; Classical Song: 1 HIMDF: Shona Keith, Lochgair, 2 Alison McGinty, Ardrishaig.

In a rare picture, all three Renton prize-winners are photographed together – from the left are Holly, Feorlin and Kyle.

Young woodwind and brass competitors wait to compete.

Feorlin with a trophy almost as big as herself.