Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine Winter 2023

delighted to do this here! Morag Strang won the prize for her short story Windows, and Luci
Donachie designed the wonderful cover of the booklet, copies of which will be delivered to
Blairgowrie High School. BHS - make a fuss of them!
BOOKMARK’s excellent committee and volunteers at the weekend could not have been more
disappointed. As you’ll appreciate, planning for BOOKMARK takes a great deal of time and
thought over many months. To see all those careful plans being literally washed away was a very
hard thing to accept!
Although Liam McIlvanney will be back in New Zealand next October, our other ‘missing’ authors
(Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzmann aka Ambrose Parry, S G MacLean, Douglas Skelton, the
William Soutar celebrants) will be with us 5-6 October 2024.
The committee has decided on three ways to recompense our ticket holders as quickly and
efficiently as possible. We’re offering either a Rain Check, become a Friend of BOOKMARK, or ask
for a refund. ALL options are described in full on our website www.bookmarkblair.com or by
phoning 01250 875613
Gail Wylie
Chair BOOKMARK Book Festival
BLAIRGOWRIE
LYRIC CHOIR
Autumn is now well under way, which begs the
question - are we in BLAIRGOWRIE LYRIC CHOIR
equally well under way with our rehearsals for
the...
BLAIRGOWRIE LYRIC CHOIR 2023
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
The answer should become apparent on
FRIDAY 15th DECEMBER, when the choir
returns to St Catharine’s Church, George
Street, Blairgowrie for the latest iteration
of its popular Christmas extravaganza. The
concert starts at 7.00pm and will be followed
by the usual tea, coffee, nibbles, and general
social chitchat in the adjoining church hall; we
warmly invite you to come along and decide for
yourselves the answer to our question.
One possible problem - a fine problem! - that
we will have to address this year is how to
fit our ever expanding choir into the church.
We have been delighted to welcome several
new members to choir this session, and are
enjoying the resulting fullness of sound that
comes with increased numbers. But please,
good Hub reader, do feel free to compound our
“problem” by further swelling our numbers.
We meet weekly in the Rattray Hall Community
Hub in Balmoral Road on a Tuesday evening,
we start at 7.00pm, and we sing for around two
hours.
Although the Christmas concert is firmly in
the forefront of our minds, rehearsals for it
briefly took a back seat in September while
we prepared to sing in the Kirkton of Glenisla
Church at the start of October. The church was
unknown to most of us prior to the event, but
what a pleasure it was to sing in, and to be
part of the service. Our choir pieces were The
Lord is My Shepherd, sung to Howard Goodall’s
theme tune to The Vicar of Dibley, The Rhythm
of Life from Sweet Charity popularised by
Sammy Davis Jnr, the serene Flying Free,
Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, and a quiet and
peaceful version of The Lord’s Prayer, all of
which seemed to be appreciated by a sizeable
congregation.
Looking ahead again to December, our concert
will largely follow its tried and tested format,
with several Christmas-related pieces by the
choir interspersed with a selection of the best
loved carols from the hymn book for choir and
audience to belt out together. (Musical subtlety
may be temporarily suspended!) Entry at the
door on the night should be possible but, to
avoid disappointment, advance purchase of
tickets is recommended. These, costing a mere
£8.00, will in due course be available from choir
members, or may be obtained by contacting
Janet, our secretary, on 01250 872682. As ever,
most of the profits from the concert will be
channeled toward local charities, which are yet
to be identified at the time of writing.
We may be in the middle of our preparations
for our Christmas concert, but please don’t let
that inhibit you from coming along and having
a bash at singing in a choir. We’re a
very friendly and welcoming bunch! The
aforementioned Janet (01250 872682) is again
the person to contact.
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