Gaelic choir hits all the right notes at Wrexham care home

A Gaelic choir took time out from performing at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddford to give residents at a Wrexham care home a musical treat.

The Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir came straight from the stage of the five-day folk festival, which runs until Sunday, to perform at Gwern Alyn, part of Pendine Park.

The ensemble, which has more than 40 members, sang a variety of traditional folk songs, including ‘The Sweet Milkmaid’ and ‘Highland Cathedral’ for residents.

Their performance hit all the right notes, with 85-year-old resident Wilf Jones telling them “you’ve made my day”.

He said: “I love this sort of singing, it’s proper music, all in harmony. It is one of the good things about living here, having such high class entertainment. I used to sing with my younger brother David when we were younger, and this has really brought is back to me.”

Jen Roberts, manager at Gwern Alyn, thanked the festival organisers for arranging the visit and said: “Music is very important to our residents, when you have dementia it is a way of unlocking memories. I can tell from everybody’s faces that they’ve all enjoyed the performance.

“It is very good of the choir to come here to perform when they’ve not long come off stage – they have to rehearse for tomorrow as well.

“It is part of the programme of events that Pendine Park puts on for residents, such as the link we have with the Halle Orchestra, as part of our residents enrichment programme.”