​Six of Sgioba Luaidh made the trip to Kilwinning to perform for the Guild of Mansefield Trinity Church. Nice people - they gave us a cup of tea beforehand as well as after! Christine and Margaret got slightly wandered, but arrived just in time for the start. A very jolly evening. But Kilwinning folk are a bit shy - we could only persuade two of them to join us at the waulking board! All were fulsome in their appreciation, however. Although the voter of thanks said we looked like something out of the Broons!

At the end of October we bade a sad farewell to Auchindrain, as the Township was closing for the winter. We had a quiet day, with no visitors at all till the very end of the afternoon when we were packing up. (It is quite extraordinary how often this happens!) But we enjoyed the chance to go over our songs, and were glad to have time to chat to Scott and Fiona who were busy thatching Bel a' Phuill's cottage (in the rain!). We look forward to being back at Auchindrain when it reopens in the spring.

We'll miss our dear Sheila, who is now retiring from work at the Township. For many years she faithfully lit our peat fire in Martin's house to keep us cosy, and kept us well-fed with her kailyard broth. We wish her a long and happy retirement, and hope she will come back to see us, as she promised. Click here for pics of thatching at Auchindrain.

In November we took the ferry to Dunoon for an interesting event, part of the long-running project to bring the lovely old Burgh Hall back into use. The local community has been involved in workshops to design a new Cowal Tartan, which will be woven by Rebecca Hutton of Northton in Harris. It will then be used for soft furnishings in the newly-renovated Burgh Hall. Rebecca travelled down to Dunoon to give a fascinating talk about Harris Tweed weaving. To open proceedings Sgioba Luaidh gave a brief "taster" demonstration of waulking, which was very well received. Maybe we'll get to waulk some of the new tweed when it is woven! See pics here of Sgioba Luaidh at Rebecca's talk.

Our final meeting of 2015 turned into a bit of a party. Our Myra has just become a proud granny, and kindly provided fizz and cake for us to celebrate the arrival of Isla Grace.

Sgioba Luaidh are now on holiday for the whole of December. Our New Year ceilidh will be on 4 January, a bit earlier than usual, because January promises to be quite busy, with our first engagement being on Monday 11th.