UPDATE 14/09/24

We had good fun singing our 'Sing to Save Lives' set at the Glen Spean market this morning. We were a bit nervous as only a few of us could make it, and we'd not had a chance to run through beforehand, but really well done singers, everyone sounding great amidst the cattle pens. And thanks to the generosity of the stallholders and the shoppers, we raised £159.04 for the Oban lifeboat. Together with the amount we raised at the Corpach Marina Open Day in June, that brings the total raised for the Oban lifeboat (one of the busiest in the country) to £295.19, all paid direct to Oban RNLI so over and above everything we've raised on this Just Giving page.

UPDATE 12/08/24

Wow, what a brilliant day yesterday!. Freyr, the Norse god of rain and sunshine, was looking down kindly on us - we had a glorious sunny weather window that materialised miraculously amidst days of rain stretching behind and ahead of us. He must have enjoyed our haunting Unst Boat Song, Shetland’s oldest surviving song, written in the old Norn language that died out in the 1850s. Not all our songs were that old... some were bang up to date, like Harbour by Anna Tabbush, a welcome to asylum seekers and refugees who put their lives in danger in small boats in search of sanctuary and safety. And Travel These Ways by Karine Polwart, an anthem of friendship, resilience and support of those in need. Our acapella set of 8 songs in 3 and 4 part harmony ended with the popular favourite the Mingulay Boat Song. In one way or another, every song honoured the commitment and bravery of our volunteer lifeboat crews.

We raised over £800 in buckets on the day. You'll see the amounts getting paid in here over the next few days as we tally everythng up.

We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped with bucket shaking, to the folk from Mallaig RNLI for their support, to Ben for photos and videos, to the Mallaig Harbour Authority, the Arisaig Community Trust and Scottish Canals for permission to busk, and most of all to everyone who stopped to listen and donated so generously to such a worthy cause.

Also a big thank you to singers from Eigg who sang their own set of songs to raise money at the Small Isles Games.

We're hoping to sing more too, to support the Oban lifeboat - watch this space.

ORIGINAL POST

2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the RNLI. Choirs all over Britain are marking it with various Sing to Save Lives events, to raise awareness of the courageous work that the RNLI do, and to raise money for them. Music Shed (Fort William's community choir) has invited other community singers across Lochaber to form a busking acapella street choir, learning 8 songs with a boaty, watery, safe harboury theme, to pop-up and perform around Mallaig, Arisaig and Corpach on Sunday 11th August.

We hope passing folk will donate to our street collection buckets (which will be paid in here afterwards). If you miss us on the streets, or didn’t have cash on you at the time, we welcome your donations here. We also hope to raise extra money from people sponsoring our singers for the scary challenge of learning the songs well enough to sing in public. We might pop up on different days in other spots around Lochaber too, so please keep an ear open for us. The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Mallaig Lifeboat Station is crewed by volunteers, who provide a 24 hour search and rescue service. They rely on the support of local communities to power their lifesaving service. Your support will help the running of Lochaber's only lifeboat station and, ultimately, help to save lives.