Biography

Ann Draper (née MacLean) was born in 1920 in Salen, Mull. She went to school in Ulva Ferry, then Tobermory, and finally to Oban High School.

She was the eldest in her family and had three sisters and three brothers. Her mother was Anna Gillies from Tobermory, and her father was Allan Ruadh MacLean. Allan was a lobster fisherman and skipper of the Annie Jane, a boat owned by Major Edward Compton from Torloisk.

Ann was in the WRENS during the war, initially stationed in Oban, where she met her husband, Marshall, at a concert where she was singing and he was playing the fiddle. They married in 1942 and had two sons, Fulton and Allan. Marshall was from Kilmarnock and worked for the Post Office. After the war they lived in Kyle of Lochalsh and Plockton. When Marshall was promoted, the family moved to Aberdeen.

Ann went to the National Mòd for the first time in 1935 and won the Silver Medal for girls, the highest prize for fluent speakers. When she was in school in Oban, Donald Thompson, who spent his life promoting Gaelic and the Mòd, was her teacher. She won the Gold Medal at the National Mòd in 1949 and, as was customary at the time, she toured the Highlands singing in many communities. She also sang in Copenhagen, Ireland and Brittany.

Ann loved singing in St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow because of the excellent acoustics. She was a member of An Comunn Gàidhealach for half a century. As vice chair for the Mòd Music Committee, she and Marshall did a lot of work preparing songs for competitions. From 1995 to 1999, which were difficult years for the Comunn, she was chair of the organisation.

Ann received an MBE in 2000 for her work for Gaelic and the Royal National Mòd. She also taught Gaelic at Aberdeen University. Sadly, Ann passed away in 2004.