OWS Scotland/Ireland Tour, June, 2025
In June, 2025, a group from One World Singers (plus a few more!) traveled to Scotland and Ireland for a tour which included singing four concerts. A wonderful time was had by all! Below is a brief description of the trip, plus a few pictures. You can see a slideshow of more pictures taken by various members of our group here. (Tour participants: If you want copies of any of these pictures please contact Sara!)
Enjoy!
Day 1: Overnight flight!
Day 2, June 12: We flew from Denver to Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday, June 11, arriving on Friday, June 12 after a short layover in London. Unfortunately, our checked baggage stayed in London! We arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon and, after a quick shopping trip to nearby stores to pick up essentials to get us by for the night, we enjoyed a reception with wonderful, traditional Scottish musicians. We met our terrific tour manager, Paul Daley, on whom we were were going to rely for the next couple of weeks! Little did we know just how much…
We enjoyed a welcome dinner at the hotel and tried to get some jet-lagged sleep!
Day 3, June 13: After breakfast, w
e boarded our bus, headed for the “bonnie, bonnie bank of Loch Lomond”. Being Scotland, of course it was chilly, but we didn’t let that bother us as we joined together on the top deck and sang “Loch Lomond” ON Loch Lomond! The video is pretty poor quality and mostly you hear the sound of t
he wind, but I think you’ll get a sense of what it was like!
We were met at Tarbet by a piper playing, of course, Loch Lomond, plus a number of more modern works including the Beatles!
After a truly lovely lunch, we stopped at the tiny, picturesque town of Luss where we did some sightseeing.
Then on to Hellensburg and the Lomond Parish Church for our first performance.
Our concert with the Helensburgh Oratorio Choir was just delightful! After a light snack, provided by them, we rehearsed, then enjoyed their performance, followed by ours. The last piece was when both choirs joined together to sing – you guessed it – Loch Lomond!
Day 4, June 14: After checking out of our Glasgow hotel, we had a sightseeing tour of the oldest Cathedral in Scotland, St.
Mungo’s. It was striking and a real history lesson.
After our visit, we traveled across the scenic Scottish countryside to Oban, where we checked into our hotel and had a wonderful dinner on the bay.
Day 5, June 15: The plan was to take a ferry ride to the Isle of Mull, but due to miscommu
nication, the trip was delayed an hour! Of course, one must always be prepared for glitches when traveling, so the group was ready to go when the big bus finally made it onto the ferry!
From the Isle of Mull, another ferry took the group to the beautiful and historic island of Iona, where St. Columba brought Christianity to Scotland from Ireland in the 6th century. The abbey and church are still there and the group was able to visit.
After returning to Oban, local Scottish musicians entertained in the hotel bar.
Day 6, June 16: Starting a day of highl
and sightseeing, we traveled along the shores of Loch Linnhe, stopping in St. Augustine 
for lunch and spent some time viewing the locks (as opposed to lochs!).
We continued through the Highlands to Urquhart Castle, and Loch Ness…
and on to our very special whiskey tasting with host Bruce. In addition to tasting yummy Scotch whiskey, Bruce g
ave us a wonderful concert of Scottish fiddling (he’s one
of the country’s finest!) and quite the lesson in the Scottish independence movement!
While we were there, we sang “Happy birthday” to tour manager’s mom via video!
We went on to our hotel for a much-needed night of sleep after a very busy day.
Day 7, June 17: We left Inverness and headed toward Edinburgh through the gorgeous Cair
ngorms National Park. Despite the cloudy weather, it was really spectacular, especially when our guide told us of its history.
We also stopped at Stirling Castle, built in the 15th an 16th centuries by Scottish kings. It is truly a great example of the way castles were built over the years, being modified to meet the needs of each monarch.
After our visit, it was on to our last Scotland stop, Edinburgh.
Day 8, June 18: Today began with a tour of the beautiful and stirring Roslyn Chapel, made famous in modern times through “The DaVinci Code”. Although the places described in the book do not exist in the chapel, it is truly a wonder of 15th century architecture, full of interesting carvings. We were able to do an impromptu sing of “Locus Iste” in the chapel (though filming was not allowed), and also sang outside the chapel:
Then it was on to the Murrayside Care Home to perform for the residents. This was one of the most rewarding concerts of the trip – the residents were so appreciative! They hosted a 
reception after the concert, where we were able to talk with a few of them.
When we returned to the city we enjoyed a bus tour of the city, a tour of Edinburgh Castle and then had dinner on our own.
Day 9, June 19: After a morning free, we prepared for a concert at St. Giles Cathedral, situated right on the Royal Mile. St. Giles is a must-see location for every tourist so there were quite a few people listening in!
L
ink to video of Zion’s Walls at St. Giles
Link to Video of Shenandoah at St. Giles
One note – our beloved accompanist, Oliver, had hurt his arm and was unable to play fully, so we had to hire an accompanist. Here is where our wonderful tour manager worked with Nick to make our remaining concerts successful.
After some free afternoon time, we joined together for a wonderful dinner as we got ready to
bid Scotland goodbye!
Day 10, June 20: The next morning we flew to Dublin, where a local guide took us on a bus tour of the city. After we checked into our hotel, we had the rest of the day free to explore on our own. So much to see, so little time!
Day 11, June 21: After a free morning, it was time for our
final performance at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin. The Cathedral was begun in 1038, and has such a long and varied history throughout the centuries. Once again, we had a substitute accompanist as Oliver had not recovered.
After our performance we enjoyed a terrific tour of the cathedral, including the crypt which is now a large gift shop!
In the evening, a bus took us out of town to the Merry Ploughboy where we were treated to a farewell dinner and show featuring Irish musician and dancers.
Day 12, June 22: Some of us flew home, some of us stayed one in Europe! Your webmaster traveled to western Ireland where we had booked a Rabbie tour; we were delighted to find that three of our fellow chorus tour members had booked the same tour!
In all, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we had a wonderful time! We were very pleased with the accomodations provided by Encore, and our tour manager was terrific! We’re already thinking about where we might want to go next…traveling and singing seem to go together!