Fiddle player takes on carol-playing marathon

A West Mainland fiddle player is set to take on an epic music-making endurance challenge, this December, ahead of celebrating his 80th birthday.

Robin Barr, of the Birsay St Magnus Trust, will be undertaking a carol-playing marathon — or “Carolathon” — in the old St Magnus Kirk on Wednesday, December 23.

The “Carolathlon” will consist of a non-stop sequence of 80 “weel-kent” Christmas carols played on fiddle or organ, chosen by churchgoers from Orkney and beyond. Robin came up with the idea after the Trust learned that they were unable to have their usual Christmas carol singing concert this year.

Robin said: “I will be trundling along this musical marathon — alone in the ancient church by the shore, where St Magnus was first laid to rest; it will be a COVID-observant celebration of Christmas 2020, for no choir and no congregation will be there.”

Whilst sadly not open to the public, advanced booking and spaced-out seats — as allowed currently by the COVID-19 guidelines — may allow for a small audience to come and hear their favourite tune played.

He also explained the reasoning behind the chosen number of carols being 80.

He said: “Christmas Eve will be my 80th birthday. I was born just 15 minutes before Christmas Day 1940, when enemy bombers flew low and spirits were even lower.

“In hope of better times ahead, my parents gave me as my middle name, Noel” (named after the French word for Christmas)

“Eighty years on, we are again living in a troubled world, fighting an enemy which does not know it’s Christmas.

“With the example of St Magnus, a prayer for patience and a thought for the lonely, we can see the pandemic through.”