Harpa 2017 is a wrap!

We are now all back from our Harpa trip to Scotland!  We had a great time – over and over again.   

We went to St. Andrews, seeing the Castle, Cathedral and the town and then through Glen Coe and on to Fort William. 

While in Fort William we rehearsed and raised over £70 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for children! 

We spent two amazing nights on Skye at the Sconser Lodge continuing our preparations and seeing beautiful, breathtaking Skye. And jamming...

From there we went down to Ayrshire and spent a lovely time at the Lodge at Dumfries House where we also played our first concert with special guest and resident harpist - Meredith McCrindle.  Proceeds went to the Prince’s Trust. 

We visited Glasgow, the Kelpies, Rosslyn Chapel, and more of the Ayrshire area. After getting a delightful tour of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum from the Curator, Sean McGlashan, we played a concert there as well! 

We spent two nights in Moniaive, arranged by Wendy Stewart. We played with our guests Dumfries and Galloway Branch of the Clarsach Society and Wendy, raising money both for the Branch and for the venue – the Mill on Fleet.

Harpa in performance - all twelve of us getting ready to enjoy playing for an audience while Robert Burns looks on thoughtfully - he enjoyed it, I'm sure!

We returned to Ayrshire and our final concert at Culzean Castle – a lovely all day “progressive concert” with some subset of us performing throughout the day, raising money for Ayr Hospice.

Throughout our trip we were collecting fun times and continued documentation of the lands of tiny sinks as well as a relatively thorough exploration of available hot chocolates across Scotland!

As a group and as individuals we enjoyed our vacation, had a blast performing to raise money for charities, and getting to meet and know people.  We can hardly wait for next time!

If you’d like to see more of our photos, and keep up to date with us as we plan the next one, visit, Like, and Follow us on facebook.

Harpa wraps up for 2017

Tomorrow is the final day of the Harpa's trip for 2017.  We have had a great time, played in some incredible places, made new friends, laughed and just enjoyed ourselves immensely.  We are so fortunate to have had the experience of playing for great causes in out four concerts...and a pop-up rehearsal in which we raised money for an additional charity.

We captured a lot of the fun on a facebook page  @Harpaniks. We have loads of pictures to share.

We'll start planning our next trip soon.  Can't wait for it?  We'll be posting more information soon on the next Harp the Highlands and Islands trip soon.

Harpa's Third Concert

All the Harpaniks are having a great time!  We've been to St. Andrews and Glen Coe and Skye.  Loads of photos on our facebook page so give them a look!

We are also excited that our first concert at Dumfries House was super!  We had a great time meeting and playing with Meredith McCrindle, the Harpist in Residence.  There was a full house and the event raised money for The Prince's Trust.

We are preparing for our second concert as I write this and we are so looking forward to playing!  But quickly after that we will play our third concert at Gatehouse on Fleet - 21st May at The Mill on the Fleet in Gatehouse on Fleet. It promises to be a total revelry! We will be sharing the stage with the Dumfries and Galloway Branch of the Clarsach Society and we are so looking forward to meeting them and playing with our harp brethren in such an amazing facility. The Mill is a very interesting venue, a cotton spinning mill built in 1788. It had a water wheel used to drive the machinery. The mill changed over time as industry changed around it and in the 1980s the mill was restored by Dumfries and Galloway Council and later opened to the public. It has an exhibit, a bookshop (yea!) and we also hear they have a lovely café on site! Hope you can join us there – it’s in the middle of everything!

Harpa's Second Concert

Our second concert Harpa concert will be at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway.  This museum is part of the National Trust for Scotland and consists of six sites within the city including the Burns Cottage, the Monument and Gardens, the Poet’s Path, the Museum, as well as the Alloway Auld Kirk and the Brig o’Doon (should we look for Meg’s tail?). 

It will be exciting to perform in the place that so inspired one of the world’s best known poets! There is also an interactive website so you can prepare for our visit right alongside us.  The website highlights an excellent collection of items and writings - we are so looking forward to visiting and sharing our music there! 

We'll be there Friday, 19th May - hope if you're in the area you'll come out and meet us (and learn more about Robert Burns!).

We will start our trip tomorrow so our next few posts will be from there including what we're up to and we'll let you in on the fun! You can also watch our progress and travels on our facebook page.

Harpa News

We are all pretty excited, preparing to go on our vaca to Scotland – with a great group and our harps! 

In Harpa tradition, we’re going to be playing concerts along the way.  Each one will be somewhere interesting AND all the money will go to a charity of choice of each venue.

Our first concert will be at Dumfries House - one of Britain’s most beautiful stately homes. It has an interesting history, not least because of its recent restoration.  There is also a collection of Chippendale pieces that is notably large. We are scheduled to play 16th May. 

The property is incredible – 2000 acres and an immense house as well as an arboretum, gardens and walks, all in Ayrshire – a beautiful place. 

We know you can’t all be with us, but check out the Dumfries House website and facebook page – maybe you’ll see us there!