© Haltwhistle Walking Festival

Anyone signing up for the “Singing Walk” in the Haltwhistle Walking Festival who was looking forward to marching along singing (or yodeling) “I – love – to – go – a-wandering”, would have been sorely disappointed.  Those who joined the walk, (expertly led by Marj Baillie, no mean musician herself), experienced a real treat. Standing Stones, an all-female singing group, (5 of them on that day), from Tyneside and Northumberland were fabulous singers, both individually and as a group.  They were also very patient teachers.

The walk itself – up the Haltwhistle Burn to Cawfields quarry, where we had our picnic lunch was enjoyed by those familiar with the area and by visitors seeing it for the first time.  But at regular intervals we would stop and either listen to the Standing Stones singing some of their varied repertoire or we would learn (by listening and repetition) some of their songs, many of which were in unfamiliar languages such as “Unguwah”.  The one song with which some people were familiar was “I like the flowers” which brought with it reminiscences of days in the Girl Guides.

Many of the songs lent themselves to being sung as a four part round.  Once confident with this mode of singing we were taken on to songs in four part harmony – a Standing Stone with each group to ensure we didn’t lose our place.  But they needn’t have worried – fierce concentration and sheer pleasure kept us going.

On the return route to Haltwhistle, after an unexpected swerve to the right, we crowded into the kitchen of a lady who lived up near the Wall, and gave her a short concert of some of our newly learnt songs.

The return to Haltwhistle did not signal the end of our experience.  At Holy Cross church an excellent tea had been prepared by a band of volunteers and we were then treated to a performance by the Standing Stones, their crystal-clear voices this time enhanced by the wonderful acoustic of Holy Cross.  Then we, the walkers, were asked to give a rendition of some of the songs we had learned.  The audience appeared to enjoy it!

A measure of the success of this venture was not just the number of people who booked for the walk.  At the start many of the walkers were heard to say “I can’t sing” or “I’m tone deaf”.  The performances in Holy Cross proved this to be untrue.  These same “non-singers” also showed considerable enthusiasm for the idea of starting a community choir in Haltwhistle.  Enquiries are now underway to see if this can be achieved – watch this space!

Jean Fuller (back-up on the walk)

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the walk

Singing Walk

Sunday April 25th, 2010