About the choir
Rev John Roderick Macpherson, MBE was Minister of St Andrew’s UF Church in Kirkintilloch from 1936 to 1953. He founded the Kirkintilloch Junior Choir in 1938 along with his wife Meta.
What I remember about him most was his enthusiasm and energy. His catch cry when conducting a rousing song like the Uist Tramping Song was “Put some beef into it!” accompanied by fervent arm movements.
After Reverend Macpherson’s death in 1953, Meta Macpherson became choir leader. Mrs. Macpherson was lovely, but she was forthright. My abiding memory is her saying “Ebeth, you’re a problem to me. I don’t know whether to put you at the back, because you can’t sing, or at the front because you’re pretty.”
The choir was extremely successful, appearing regularly on the radio and at concerts all over Scotland, as well as touring abroad, in Holland (1947), Denmark (1950) and Canada (1953).
They recorded several LPs for Parlophone. Famous members included Moira Anderson OBE who was educated at Lenzie Academy, Patricia Purcell, Scottish mezzo-soprano with the Scottish Opera Company and Joan Summers who also attended Lenzie Academy.
I only ever went on Scottish gigs and was never on any recording. We loved singing at some wonderful churches and halls all over the place, travelling by bus and enjoying the travel as much as the performance. When we boarded the bus after a concert and were being seen off by our hosts, we would sing our farewell “We’re no’ awa’ tae bide awa’ “and singing often continued on the bus on the homeward journey.
Sometimes we performed at an amazing venue like the Glasgow City Chambers. Once we were onstage with Kenneth McKellar. I remember some charity concert we were in (maybe in St Andrew’s Hall? There was a huge audience) along with some famous Russian dancers and singers, and the thrill of the final bow with the assembled cast. Another memorable occasion was when the choir sang from the top of St Mary’s Church at dusk – the most atmospheric engagement.
I am so lucky to have been able to participate and to have had great friends who could actually sing.
The Choir photo is from 1956 and appeared in the Scottish Herald in 2018 in an article about Kirkintilloch by Russell Leadbetter.