DO NOT FORGET UKRAINE FEATURE: DISCOVER THE WEST HIGHLAND WAY – PAGE 18 FINAL NOTES SOUND IN BID TO BRING BACK MID ARGYLL MUSIC FESTIVAL
Once a prestigious week-long event on the musical competition calendar for the West Highlands, Mid Argyll Music Festival is under threat of disappearing altogether.
In 2020 the pandemic enveloped Great Britain into lockdown and for the first time in 40 years the festival was abruptly cancelled.
Despite efforts to re-start the week-long series of events, this has not proved successful.
It had been hoped to start up again as a one-day event in June last year but this had to be cancelled.
And now the current position is that the music festival is in crisis with the committee desperately looking to recruit new members to re-group.
If this cannot be achieved then Mid Argyll Music Festival will cease to be held.
If anyone can help or would like more information on how they can help they should go along to the coffee morning on Saturday May 11 in the Lochgilphead Parish Church Hall, starting at 10am.
“Please come and offer your services to the committee to ensure that the festival can once again become part of the annual calendar of events for Argyll,” said Martin Gorringe, chairperson of MAMF.
‘My daughters both took part and now I don’t see my grandchildren being able to do it.’
Lena Ferguson is a local businesswoman, music festival committee member, parent and grandparent.
She said: “Our problem right now is that we can’t produce a festival without having enough people to do it.
“My daughters both took part and now I don’t see my grandchildren being able to do it. I would very much like to think that the festival could live.
“It was a big event over several days in Ardrishaig and the Saturday would be held at Lochgilphead Joint Campus, which brought interest and revenue into the place.
“People came from Campbeltown, Oban, Helensburgh, Inveraray and all the other schools in the area.
“We are hopeful that we can get a body of committee members.”
Katy Cameron, nee Welch, from Ardrishaig, is a music tutor for Mid Argyll and Kintyre.
As a child, the 39-year-old was a regular trophy winner at the festival playing flute and piano.
Katy said: “It was a huge event, there was a lot of buildup to it and it was great to have a platform and the opportunity to perform, which you don’t often get in Mid Argyll. You would get to perform in front of your parents, grandparents and tutors.
“It was always really good fun and it went on for about five or six days.
“I think it is invaluable for young people to have that kind of opportunity to perform.”
The music festival, started as a one-day showcase in 1980 of the area’s musical talent, was pioneered by Sheila McCallum and Clem Stewart, amongst others, and subsequently grew year-on-year attracting up to 600 entrants.
It was principally aimed at encouraging school children to develop their musical skills and showcase them in front of their family and peers.
By 1981 the one-day festival drew 300 entries over a wide range of classes including vocal classes and a much wider group of competitors from communities as far away as Islay.
The festival continued to expand over the years to include piano, woodwind, brass, piping, spoken word and string instruments.
Classes diversified to include dancing, poetry, action songs, news reading and the non-competitive “anything goes” class. In 2018, the first clarsach and harp classes were included.
The performers came not just from Mid Argyll but Inveraray, Oban, Dunoon, Campbeltown, Islay and Glasgow.
The festival was affiliated to The British and International Federation of Festivals for Music Dance and Speech, which gave the organisers access to adjudicators of all disciplines to attend the festival to give encouragement to the performers.