Baird Memorial pupils give church concert

With the Parish Church in Condorrat recently undergoing major refurbishment, the pupils in the Primary 5/6 composite class have been studying the history of the church and specifically its Kirkland pipe organ which has been restored as part of the church renovations.

Head teacher Moira Langridge said: “Initially the church contacted us to ask if any of our classes would be interested in seeing the organ while it was dismantled for restoration work and being put back together again. The class decided to also research the history of the organ, and church committee members were able to show them minutes of meetings which happened a hundred years ago which explained where the organ had come from and who paid for it. They were also able to get a shot of playing it with the organist Anne Taylor and one of our pupils, Finlay Hawthorn, was even able to get a tune out of it even though he’s only been getting keyboard lessons for a few months.”

To meet the criteria of this being a Heritage Lottery project the children also composed poems, songs, wrote stories and created artwork, which they presented at a concert and display at the church on May 28.

Mrs Langridge added: “The children gave performances for everyone in the church and then held a display of their stories and artwork where they told the visitors where the ideas had come from.”

“It was a great experience for the class as they were able to learn in a real life context. Initially I don’t think they thought it would be particularly exciting but once they started learning about the history they really got into it.”