Our hearts were full in DUO today as we bade a final farewell to orchestra member and dear friend Alice Newlands at her funeral in Alloway.
Alice joined the orchestra in 2016 not long after she and husband, Derek, had returned home to Ayrshire on their retirement after many years living and working in other parts of Scotland. Alice worked for many years for RSABI, a Scottish charity providing emotional, practical and financial support to people from the farming and agricultural community, including during the sector’s most challenging period of recent times – the foot and mouth disease outbreak of 2001.
With her beautiful singing voice and keen musical ear, Alice was at the vanguard of developing DUO’s now-signature vocal sound and she was a regular both at rehearsals and at performances throughout her time with us up until illness made it impossible for her to continue.
It was both an honour and a privilege to be asked to play at Alice’s funeral. In her honour, we played two of Alice’s own favourite songs from our repertoire – “That’s the Glory of Love” and “Wild Mountain Thyme”. We hope that it provided some comfort to Alice’s family and friends to hear us. It was certainly moving and uplifting for us to play.
We send our love to everyone who knew and loved Alice. She’ll always be a part of Dalrymple Ukulele Orchestra.
