Biography

Some of the women who sang with the Leurbost Women's Waulking Group knew the traditional work of waulking the cloth very well. Kate MacLeod recalled washing five pieces of cloth in a single day to prepare it for waulking.

However, in the 1950s, waulking songs became more of a past-time in Leurbost. A group would usually meet in the schoolhouse, and occasionally in Angus MacLeod's (Frics) house at 20 Leurbost. This was the home of Kate and Nan MacLeod, who often led the singing.

There was a Concert Party in the area, and to be a part of it, the women came together and formed the waulking group. The Concert Party, led by Cailleach an Deucoin, would tour venues throughout Lewis. They even performed in the 1950s in St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow.

Some of the songs that can be found in the BBC archives were recorded at the Leurbost schoolhouse in 1956, and others were recorded the following year.

In 1956 the Leurbost Women's Waulking Group was invited to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to sing at the concert Pleasures of Scotland in the Assembly Rooms. Also performing there was Joan MacKenzie [3468] from Point in Lewis, Annie Arnott [473] from the Isle of Skye, Kate Nicolson [2277] from South Uist, Jeannie Robertson [525], Farquhar MacRae's Band [1501] from Lochailort, the piper John Burgess [6139], and harper Mary O'Hara from Ireland.

Such was the crowd that gathered to hear them that they had to perform a second time at the festival.

A group from New Zealand made a film about the waulking group, but it is unclear whether the film was ever shown in this country.

Kate MacLeod, who was heavily involved with the group, later moved to Strathpeffer at the end of the 1950s and was a member of the Dingwall Gaelic Choir for many years. By that time, others had begun to leave the area, and as such the group dispersed, although the Concert Party continued for a time.

Among the members of the group were:

Kate and Nan MacLeod, who lived at 20 Leurbost.

Catriona MacIver, sister of Kate and Nan, and her daughters Catriona and Joanne, from Creagan Dubh, Leurbost.

Anna Morrison from 5 Leurbost and Christina Martin from 15 Leurbost.

Màiri Bhàn and Isabel MacKenzie from the Post Office, Crossbost.