Tune in to the Linlithgow String Orchestra

The group at rehearsal in St Peters Church

The Linlithgow String Orchestra aims to fill a gap that has been empty in the Royal Burgh for some time.

President of the group, Helen Greig (35), said: “There is nothing solely for string players in Linlithgow.

“We have fantastic choirs and bands so hopefully the string orchestra will add to the beautiful music made by the people in the town.”

Helen was the viola player in a quartet group that sadly disbanded and left her at a bit of a loss so she decided to gauge if there was any interest in Linlithgow for a string orchestra.

She said: “I put a message on the Linlithgow Facebook page which was well received. I was then in contact with Lucy Creanor, head of music at the Academy, and soon we had a committee in place, Lucy as conductor and people willing to turn up and play.”

The first rehearsal took place in May and the group has met once a month since then in St Peter’s Church and now has around 25 musicians in the orchestra.

Helen said: “A big thank you to the church for allowing us to use the rehearsal space for free and to Lucy, our fantastic conductress who is giving up her free time to lead the orchestra through the music at no charge.

“It is a difficult task getting something like this off the ground, so all the help has been greatly appreciated.”

People are still welcome to join the orchestra and the next open rehearsal is on August 8 from 7.30pm to 9.30pm in the church.

Helen added: “We would like people who have a bit of musical experience to join, around grade five would be the perfect amount of skill as soon we want to move on to the more difficult pieces.”

After August the orchestra have only a few weeks until their first concert so rehearsals will be moving to once a week, every Monday in the church.

The first major event for the orchestra will be on November 19, however, Helen has big plans for the ensemble.

She said: “I hope to hold an open door event in St Peter’s in October and link up with other musical groups in the town so maybe one day in the future we can have a yearly event celebrating all the fantastic music on offer in Linlithgow.”

The band will also be on BBC Radio Scotland today (Friday) as part of their Get Playing programme.

Anyone interested in joining the band email linlithgow stringorchestra@gmail.com.