| Tasgadh Grant Awarded | £790 |
| Total Project Cost | £1331 |
| Tasgadh contribution as % of total | 59% |
| No. of beneficiaries | 156 |
Project:
Sangstream choir wished to hold a concert celebrating the mining heritage of Midlothian in collaboration with the Midlothian Mining Museum and a retired mining engineer and folk musician, George Duff.
Brief:
For Sangstream it will be an opportunity to sing together songs we have practised to performance standard. We would hope further collaborative projects may emerge or that the concert may be repeated if successful.
This will be the first time the Mining guides have acted as formal storytellers. They are relaxed and enjoy their engagement with the public and their involvement with the museum. Acting as a storyteller, per se, will further endorse their place as tradition bearers. Working with George Duff a musician, singer and retired mining engineer will further validate the importance of the work they do.
However the most significant outcome is to celebrate the industrial heritage of mining in the Mining Museum with others whose heritage is it. It is important that our past is remembered and celebrated.
Outcome:
The concert was a huge success. Everyone appreciated the venue, the subject, but mostly the diversity and authenticity of the people and the material presented.
Sangstream sang Mining related songs and read poems written by Miners. The Mining guides read testimonies from Sangstream members. The guides, dressed in orange boiler suits, hard hats and lamps, were the stars of the evening. Interviewed by Bob Laird, Chair of the Museum Supporters, they told their stories. They were engaging, sincere, their stories poignant. They brought the evening together, they are natural storytellers!
George Duff accompanying himself on guitar sang Mining songs which were more appropriate for a single voice, pitthy, hardhitting from a man who was there when the mines closed.
The band opened the concert, bringing the audience together, played during the concert and with Sangstream in the finale Lothian Land, written by a Midlothian man in 1917. A Mining concert needed a Brass Band and we were fortunate that a local band was willing to join us.
