School's CD Is A Hit

An enterprising project by pupils in a small Wester Ross school has proved to be a big hit and has helped to capture and preserve an important part of the local community’s culture and heritage.

The eleven P5-P7 pupils from Inverasdale Primary School and their teacher Mrs Alison Marshall with parent/teacher Mrs Trish MacDonald have produced a CD of songs and tunes written by local bards, many of which have never before been recorded. The pupils have performed some songs in English and some in Gaelic and have also shown off their talents by playing their own instruments.

The young entrepreneurs have been involved in every aspect of this project from applying for the licence from MCPS to research on the local bards, checking out copyright, writing letters for sponsorship, learning and recording songs, advertising, organising the launch and giving interviews.

All tracks of the CD, which was launched at a Ceilidh last week, have some connection with the school, either by being composed locally or by being performed by pupils past or present.

Head teacher of the 21 pupil primary school, Mrs Ross said: "The launch of the CD was a tremendous night of entertainment and the pupils greatly enjoyed performing to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. We were overwhelmed with the demand for the CD during the evening and since then requests for copies have been flooding in. As well as preserving and important part of the local culture, the whole project has helped the pupils learn and develop new skills and all their hard work is reflected in a very professional CD that will bring enjoyment to so many people.

Copies of the CD are now on sale in local outlets or by writing to the school.