I was privileged to hear from Alison first hand (via Zoom) about her unique adventure taking a group of choir participants to her ancestral home in Scotland this past summer. Participants described this trip as “a soul-stirring event”.
Prior to the trip, Alison invited her list of 2000+ choir members to join her on this trip. Nearly 60 people accepted the offer. All were expected to arrange their own transportation and accommodations. (They had to do it early, as this week in August was the busiest vacation week in Britain!) The participants came from different choirs: NSUC’s Vox Lumina choir, Alison’s many Summerchor choirs, as well as a few from Scotland and several from the Island of Lismore, and even people from Korea and Japan! Six from our North Shore group were included: Bob Rentz, Joanna and Bob Vaughan, Andy Laird, Kathryn Nicholson and Carol Bishop.
Alison’s travels took the group to her ancestral home on the Island of Lismore off the west coast of Scotland. Her great-grandmother was born on a croft called Ballymackillichan. Her grandparents had struggled to have reasonable access to this Croft as the Laird (who is like the Lord of the Manor, and who owned the estate) didn’t want them cutting across his property. However, they finally acquired access by a court ruling in the 1800’s.
In modern times, Sarah (one of Alison’s three sisters) went through a struggle similar to their grandparents with the current Laird because she and her husband wanted to build a home on that Croft in order to create a bed and breakfast business. It was nearly a 10-year battle for them to regain that right. It was finally achieved after the ancient historical record was unearthed! (Note: This has been a commonly known challenge of landed gentry or aristocracy against the people who were their tenants.) On this trip, several choir members were able to stay in the original Croft, including Brian Welwood.
Alison’s father purchased a different croft called Carnie. It had no electricity, water supply or plumbing, but he set about upgrading it. From the time Alison was 12, the family (Alison, her parents, and her three sisters) has used it for a vacation home. Sisters Ann and Mairi now co-own it — and it has become very precious to them and their families.
The residents of Lismore were very aware of the Canadian visitors, many of whom were coming back to their historical homeland. Following the first rehearsal, one of the residents (Sebastian) reached down to lift up some of the earth and read a lovely poem which spoke about “standing in the dust of our generations”. He talked about the church where they were rehearsing as having provided worship for the community for 1470 years. It was an incredibly special moment for all!
On the second day, Katie, a Gaelic speaker, and another Island resident, sang the 23rd Psalm to the group in Gaelic. On another day, Sebastian wrote and read another poem about the Lismore community welcoming these delighted and joyful Canadians, many of them first-time visitors of this place. His poem also spoke of the delightful naivety of the Canadians, some of whom had cars, but who were trying to navigate on really narrow single car roads. They were instructed to pull into a “lay by” (a small pull-off area) if they met another car (or a tractor pulling a wagon full of sheep) so the Island folk would could work around them. The Islanders (all 120 of them) were incredibly patient with these out-of-town guests!
Afternoon activities varied. Sebastian gave them an historic tour of the Island including the old ruins of Castle Coiffin. Alison’s sister, Ann, took those who were interested to have a sketching outing. They saw sheep dog in action — and some were later invited by a shepherd to help herd sheep down the narrow road.
The Island has a van for community use, and the group were given permission to use it for this tour. Two Lismore choir members, Gilly and Roger, were authorized to drive the van, so they transported guests all over the Island — as did Ann, Jan (Alison’s cousin), and anyone with a car who was part of the trip.
Alison’s sister Ann lives part time on the Island, and was responsible for the coordination of people coming from the mainland, which boat they would come on, who would pick them up. etc. She also prepared lunches for the choir during for their five-day event. She didn’t have a computer on which to do the scheduling; she just had a gigantic hand-written chart! One visitor to the Island was seen walking towards the wrong end of the Island (away from where Alison’s group was rehearsing). A local realized she was lost and took her to Alison’s sister Ann’s house, who then called our group to clarify. She was eventually reunited with her husband.
For Alison, the joy was in seeing and hearing all the diverse voices come together, blending to create the beloved Faure Requiem. In only five days, with 3-hour morning practices followed by lunch and another hour of practice after lunch, they prepared — culminating with a presentation in an ancient church on Saturday, August 30, 2025.
As an outcome from this exciting adventure, not only have participants built wonderful memories, but many have come to know acquaintances more intimately, even though they may have sung in the same choirs for years. One of the participants created a Whats App group for all to use.
Alison is already planning a choir visit to Florence, Italy, next summer. Participants will book their own flights and accommodations, but there are less expensive hostels available. Several of this group are already planning to travel with spouses.
What an incredible adventure! None of this would have happened without the skill and enthusiasm of our amazing Music Director, Alison Nixon!
~ Ruth Sherwood
Here are a few of the many pictures of this incredible trip! Click on any of the images below to see them enlarge on your screen:
