Illustration by Amy Whiten

A Song for Strathpeffer Saves

Strathpeffer provided a wonderful stop over and fun diversion during our Echoes – Minerva Scientifica Tour of Scotland which began in June 2018 at Eyemouth and St Abbs and finished in Perth in November 2019.
Pam Bradley, the Centre Assistant at Strathpeffer Community Centre invited us to run a short workshop to help local people explore ideas vocally for their environmental initiative Strathpeffer Saves. We were on our way from the Isle of Coll to Wick, so we were delighted to spend an evening in this beautiful town, and what fun we had.

We were lucky enough to have Isla van der Heiden join our team for the evening, and a family of very brave workshop participants – Gail, Terry and Paul – who entertained us all and managed to create a lot of material in a very short time.

BSL Interpreter Isla van der Heiden preparing for the workshop with Frances

Writing the Song

We hurriedly recorded the results of all their hard work – which included lots of funny noises – have a listen here – the words are below so you can follow as you listen:

CHORUS – Green Ross, Green

Verse 1 – Food (to the tune of Summertime!)

Unlock the secrets of the Soil (dig) Unlock the secrets of the Soil (wiggle)
Clear the weeds and dig in your garden,
Fertilise with the butterflies
Trees will grow, and your food will flourish
And why don’t you try my apples for size

Food for thought
Think you should think about what you cook
Care for it, you don’t really need so much
Wheat and meat – you can buy food locally
The message spoke from me
Don’t waste it, think of the place it came from

Unlock the secrets of the Soil (plop!)

CHORUS – Green Ross, Green

Verse 2 – Energy

Leave my curtains open, its feeling cold now
I’m losing heat that’s wasting energy
I forgot the light, I wasted kettle heat
Why’s the TV on? That question’s got me beat
Recycle, renewable energy
Paper plastic glass, get it sorted please (x 2)
Don’t leave things on standby
Buy locally
Let bugs beasts and animals live freely
So there’ll be a tomorrow

Saving energy again……..

CHORUS –   Green Ross, Green

Verse 3 – Travel

Think about the world, think of other people,
Plan your journey, save your money, cycle, recycle
Save your energy, go buy local
Use the bus, use the train cycle, recycle

CHORUS –  Green Ross, Green

The electric voice theatre  workshop leaders on this project were:-

  • Frances M Lynch – Composer and Singer
  • Herbie Clarke – Composer and Guitar
  • Isla van der Heiden – British Sign Language Interpreter

Created by electric voice theatre, Echoes is a Minerva Scientifica project that brings together professional performers with community musicians and school children. Together, we raise awareness of the rich heritage and deep connections between music and science, and inspire the next generation of future scientists.

Sign up to our newsletter for updates.