Youth Fèis (October)
Book now for our 2025 October Fèis!
Taking place during the October holidays, young people can choose different class options from a huge list, including a wide range of musical instruments, Gaelic song, tune writing, arts and more! We are really excited that we can offer this residential event to both junior and senior age groups, but parallel timetables and classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels mean there are appropriate classes for all ages and abilities. If you have been to Fèis Rois nan Deugairean before, you can expect the same level of sessions, activities and craic with your own age group as always! If you are a parent of a primary school pupil who might be staying away from home for the first time at our event, rest assured that they will be cared for and nurtured 24 hours a day throughout the event.
All of our tutors are experienced, professional musicians, skilled in working with young people. We also have a pool of supervisors (house parents) and volunteers who help our events run smoothly. Young people are supervised at all times and we work in accordance with Child Protection and Health & Safety Guidelines. Our staff are all members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme administered by Disclosure Scotland.
We are committed to making traditional music accessible to all and to eliminate barriers for participation. If you would like to talk in confidence about support for learners with disabilities or specific access requirements for your child, please contact Christian Gamauf.
We also offer hire instruments free of charge for anyone who needs to borrow a musical instrument. We can provide a limited number of whistles and chanters if needed but, given the nature of these instruments, we would encourage you to bring your own. Whistles should be in the key of D.
If the cost of the residential Fèis week is a barrier to your child participating, please contact us in confidence. In the first instance, check to see if you might be eligible for us to £200 of support from the Highland Children’s Trust: For Parents – The Highland Children’s Trust (hctrust.co.uk)
Historically, Fèis Rois offered a residential week-long course for primary school pupils during the Easter holidays and a separate week for secondary school pupils in October. However, the impact of the pandemic on the arts sector, and the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on families, means that it is financially challenging to have two residential courses at present. On a positive note, the change to one residential course in October and a non-residential course in the Easter holidays, with both weeks open to all ages (primary and secondary) means that young people now have two opportunities to attend a Fèis week throughout the year instead of only one!
It was fun and I loved the musical experience.
2017 participant
Residential places: £350
Includes all accommodation, meals, 20 hours of professional tuition and five nights of evening activities.
Second child residential: £300
As above for additional child(ren) from the same family.
Non-residential: £200
Tuition, lunch and access to all evening activities.
For families on low incomes, assistance with the cost of a child/children attending Fèis Rois courses may be available from the Highland Children’s Trust.
If you would like to chat in confidence about seeking financial assistance please contact Fiona Dalgetty.
Paying in instalments
It is possible to pay for places in instalments by setting up a monthly payment plan.
For example, if you are booking one child’s residential place (£350) and would like to pay from September until March, there would be a monthly cost of £50. If you would like to start instalments in October, there would be an initial upfront cost of £100 followed by a £50 cost per month until March. All places must be fully paid for by March 2025.
If you wish to pay in instalments please contact Lorraine.aburrow@feisrois.org to discuss a payment schedule.
We are excited to announce our fantastic tutor team for October 2025. Many of our tutors are also former Fèis Rois participants and attended the October Fèis themselves!
Lauren MacColl
Fiddle
Lauren is a member of the chamber-folk quartet RANT and is one half of Heal & Harrow, with Rachel Newton. She’s also considered one of Scotland’s most expressive fiddle players whose solo work is steeped in the rich culture of the Highlands. One of her most celebrated works was a new commission for Feis Rois in 2017 titled ‘The Seer’ which followed with an album in 2018 featuring 40 minutes of music based on the life and prophecies of the Brahan Seer.
Mike Vass
Fiddle
Mike Vass is one of the most creative forces on the Scottish music scene. As a musician, composer, producer and arranger Vass has amassed a body of work that encompasses early appearances as a livewire young fiddler, collaborations with many of the leading voices among today’s Scots and Gaelic tradition bearers, delivering multi-media performances, overseeing critically acclaimed recordings, and scoring for prestigious ensembles.
Gillian Stevenson
Fiddle
Gillian started playing fiddle when she was 10 years old. She played in various school groups and orchestras and became a founder member of a school Scottish dance band under the brilliant guidance of Ali McGregor, who was the lead accordion player with the Tain Scottish Dance Band. Gillian attended the very first Feis Rois residential week in Ullapool in 1986 as a pupil and later went on to become a supervisor and tutor. She has been a member of various Scottish Dance Bands over the years including The Tain Scottish Dance Band, and has played with several bands including the Colin Dewar Scottish Dance Band and David Oswald Scottish Dance Band who both appear regularly on BBC Scotland’s Take the Floor.
Sharon Hassan
Fiddle
Born in Aberdeen and raised in Insch, Aberdeenshire, Sharon Hassan was immersed in a vibrant community of musicians and entertainers from an early age.
Sharon channels her passion into educational work and is currently working with SC&T and SC&T Youth (and has done for the last 25 years!), North East Folk Collective and Big Noise Torry in Aberdeen, making traditional music accessible to young people. Sharon’s approach emphasises music’s healing power and ability to spread happiness. She remains committed to sharing Scotland’s musical heritage with people of all ages, embodying the generous, inclusive spirit that characterises traditional music communities.
Deirdre Graham
Gaelic Song & Clarsach
Deirdre is a prominent singer and musician on the Scottish folk music scene. Since the release of her acclaimed debut album, URRANTA, she has performed across Scotland and internationally, undertaken numerous collaborative projects, devised and produced her own podcast series ‘Gaelic Song Stories’, featured as a guest presenter on BBC Radio Scotland’s prestigious show ‘Travelling Folk’, and was Assistant Musical Director for the 2023 BBC Alba ‘Cèilidh na Bliadhn’ Ùire’ (Hogmanay show).
As an established educator she is at the forefront of traditional music tuition across Scotland.
Calum McIlroy
Guitar
Calum McIlroy is a guitarist, mandolinist, and singer from Aberdeenshire, hailed for his lyrical, plectrum-driven arrangements of traditional and original music.
A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he released his debut EP, This Ill Deeds in 2020, earning critical praise and a nomination for the Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year Award at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards the following year. In 2024, he won the coveted title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year.
Rachel Newton
Clarsach
Singer, harpist and composer Rachel Newton draws on poems, ballads and stories that are hundreds of years old, working them into her contemporary compositional style to create a rich sound that is ambitious, original and unique. Rachel has worked and performed with artists from a range of disciplines including theatre, dance, storytelling and visual art. A skilled collaborator, Rachel is a founder member of The Furrow Collective and the Lost Words: Spell Songs, as well as the duo project Heal & Harrow with long time friend and colleague Lauren MacColl.
Rachel was named Musician of the Year at both the Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Mairearad Green
Accordion
Renowned for her deft and lyrical accordion style, as well as her dextrous piping, Mairearad is in great demand not only as a performer, but also as a composer.
Often seen on stage alongside multi-instrumentalist Anna Massie, composer, Mike Vass, piping supergroup, Tryst and singer-songwriter, King Creosote.
Kim Richards
Tin whistle & ukulele
Kim is an artist, freelance designer/illustrator, musician and art teacher from Ullapool. She released her album, Leaves that Fly, in 2018. She runs weekly music sessions with Mairearad Green, and regularly plays gigs and Ceilidhs with a variety of other musicians, including The Highland Ceilidh Band. She is also a regular Fèis Rois YMI tutor.
Catriona Hawksworth
Keyboard
Catriona’s work spans a range of areas with a central focus on inclusive and sustainable creative opportunities. Playing piano and accordion, Catriona’s own work reflects her diverse interests with inspiration from nature and place, as well as disco and feminism in her work with band HEISK.
Catriona is passionate about community-based participatory music making, and has led a number of projects working with young people and adults with additional support needs to provide access to creativity in music.
She earned a First Class Masters in Music from her research on equalities in traditional music at Newcastle University, and developed and worked with the BIT Collective, the equalities organisation for traditional music in Scotland.
Carol-Anne Mackay
Bagpipes
Carol-Anne Mackay, a native of Scotland’s North Coast, is deeply committed to preserving the region’s rich musical and cultural heritage. With a strong background in traditional music, she has contributed to several community-based projects, including Urachach and Drine, both of which celebrate the Gaelic songs and musical traditions of Mackay Country. Carol-Anne believes passionately in the importance of safeguarding local music and song for future generations, ensuring that these traditions continue to thrive.
An experienced music educator and project coordinator, Carol-Anne has taught both adults and children and has led various music initiatives. Her compositions have been featured on CDs and broadcast on television and radio, reflecting her dedication to writing music that remains true to her traditional roots. She holds a degree in Scottish Traditional Music from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, as well as an NC in Gaelic Studies from Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Her primary instruments are the Highland bagpipes and accordion.
Tom Bancroft
Bodhran & Improvisation
Tom Bancroft is a drummer, composer, bandleader and educator who has been working professionally in music for over 30 years.
Tom has a particular interest in the interface between jazz and traditional music – he has played extensively with traditional musicians in Scotland. This has also led him to become an innovator on the traditional Irish/ Scottish drum the bodhran – he has also studied, taught, and performed with traditional musicians from Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Vietnam, and Taiwan including the FAMLAB Seaphony Orchestra project in Vietnam, and working with the TenDrum group from Taiwan.
Richard Bracken
Art
Richard Bracken is an artist and maker living and working in the Great Glen. His creative practice is fed by an ongoing, personal exploration of the land and aims to explore what it means for people to live in it. Richard has a strong interest in place, community and education and since 2009 has worked with young people and communities throughout the Highlands, mainly as Lead Artist with Room 13 in Lochaber. Richard is also a member of Inverness-based collective, Circus Artspace. In 2020 he was commissioned by Community Land Scotland and the Stove Network to work with Abriachan Forest Trust as part of the Artists and Community Landowners project.
You can view our 2025 classes below!
We will offer classes at the following levels:
- A – Advanced
- UI – Upper Intermediate
- I+ – Intermediate and above
- LI – Lower Intermediate
- IB – Improving beginner
- CB – Complete or recent beginner
Daily timetable
The daily timetable is as follows:
9.30am – 10am Warm-up and whole Fèis song for everyone
10am – 11am First choice class
11am – 11.15am break for all participants
11.15 – 11.45am P4 -7 pupils take part in Gaelic language and games workshop
11.15 – 11.45am S1-6 pupils have a chance to session
11.45am – 12.45pm Back to first choice class
12.45 – 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 2.30pm Second choice class (or S1-6 groupwork which counts as second AND third choice)
2.30pm – 3.00pm Break
3.00pm – 4.00pm Third choice (or continue groupwork for S1-6)
4.00pm Pick up for non-residents. Residents have free time with supervisors.
5.00pm Dinner for P4-7
6.00pm Dinner for S1-6
6.30pm (primary) and 7.00pm (secondary) Evening activities begin
Read on for some important information for registered participants.
CODE OF CONDUCT
You have given parental consent for your child/ward to take part in this event when you booked online. However, we will email you a separate Code of Conduct form for the participant to sign. We want to ensure that everyone has a fun and safe time when they are with us and we ask participants to sign an age-appropriate code of conduct form where they agree to treat everyone respectfully and adhere to the rules of the event, which are in place for their safety. Fèis participants must adhere to our strict no alcohol, no drugs and no smoking policy. We will call the parents/carers of any young person found to be breaching the Code of Conduct agreement and ask them to collect their child from the event. You should return the Code of Conduct form to us as ASAP but no later than Monday 13th Oct. Return your forms by email (we accept scanned signatures but not typed) or by post: Feis Rois, Robertson House, Greenhill Street, Dingwall, IV15 9QR.
PHONING HOME & WIFI
There are payphones and some card phones in Ullapool. Mobile phones are permitted but participants are asked to make all calls home before bedtime and will be asked to switch off all phones and give them to their supervisors at bed time. We want everyone to be well rested so that everyone has plenty of energy for the week! In line with our Safeguarding Policy, we are unable to provide WIFI at our events.
SUPERVISORS (House Parents)
In addition to our amazing tutor team, we have a team of experienced supervisors who look after the young people when they are not in a workshop or a class. They provide 24/7 care and are supported / managed by senior staff from Fèis Rois. Every participant, whether residential or non-residential, is introduced to their supervisor for the week at registration on Monday morning. We have ratios of one supervisor for every eight young people (P4-7) and one supervisor for every ten young people (S1-6). Our freelance supervisors escort young people to classes, meals and evening activities, and support participants with any difficulties that may arise during their time with us.
Participants – please let your supervisor or another member of the Fèis team know if you are feeling unwell or homesick, or if there is anything at all bothering you during the week. We take very seriously the duty of care we have to all of the young people attending the Fèis and we want to ensure that everyone is happy and healthy throughout the week. All issues are dealt with sensitively by the Fèis team.
REGISTRATION
The Fèis Team will be ready to welcome participants for registration at Ullapool High School, between 10.30am and 11.30am on Monday 20th October. If you are travelling independently (i.e. not on the Fèis Rois bus), please DO NOT arrive earlier than 10.30am. During registration you will drop off your musical instruments (please remember to label them!), your luggage if you are a residential participant (see below for a handy list of what you might like to bring), and choose your evening activity for Wednesday night when we have a big programme to choose from.
Non-residential participants should register for the event between 10.30am and 11.30am on Monday and then they sign out at 4pm each day and sign in at 9.30am from Tuesday morning onwards. Secondary school pupils can sign in and out themselves. Primary school pupils need to be dropped off and collected by a parent/carer.
TRANSPORT TO & FROM THE FEIS
Fèis Rois has booked a coach to depart from Dingwall Leisure Centre at 09.15 on Monday 20th October. If you have booked a place on the bus, please arrive by 09.00 at the latest. If you did not book a place on the bus with your online application, but would like to travel on the bus, please email Christian at Christian.gamauf@feisrois.org. The cost is £8.
Fèis Rois does not provide transport home from the Fèis. Your parents are encouraged to attend the final concert in the Macphail Theatre in Ullapool High School at 7pm on Friday 24th October to hear all that you have achieved throughout the week and then take you home afterwards.
ACCOMMODATION & MEALS
As far as possible, we accommodate requests to share accommodation with friends. We make sure that you will be staying with people the same age and gender as you but, until we know the percentage of boys and girls attending, we are unable to make up the accommodation lists until very near to the event.
Primary school pupils are in separate accommodation to secondary school pupils. Please let us know if you have siblings who would prefer to share but perhaps one is in P7 and one is in S2, and we can try to accommodate this.
Lunches and a morning snack are provided at the school for all participants, including non-residential participants – you do not need to bring pack lunches unless you want to!
Evening meals will be provided for residential participants only at The Ceilidh Place.
Please bring a labelled water bottle to use throughout the week.
FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT
2 tickets for parents/carers are included in the fee you have paid to attend the Fèis. Please email Christian.gamauf@feisrois.org if you would like to book additional tickets at the cost of £10 adults and £5 children for grandparents, siblings, friends, etc.
MERCHANDISE AND POCKET MONEY
You can buy Fèis Rois merchandise at registration (music books, hoodies, t-shirts, pens, badges, stickers, water bottles, beanies, etc), as well as throughout the week and at the concert on Friday 24th October. There is also an opportunity to explore Ullapool with your supervisor to buy postcards, souvenirs, etc. We know that participants will want to bring some pocket money, but they will not need a lot. We encourage parents/carers not to send their child with lots of cash that can be lost!
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Please bring your own instrument if you have one. We can provide some instruments and you should have requested one when you registered online if you need to borrow one. If you have chosen keyboard as a workshop choice, we provide school keyboards. If you are an advanced player and have a more professional weighted key electric piano, then please bring it with you.
WHAT TO BRING!
Essential items are as follows:
• Any medication you need – this may be handed over to your supervisor for safekeeping. (Please notify your supervisor on arrival at your accommodation of any medication you are required to take)
• Waterproof jacket
• Enough changes of clothing for the week, pyjamas, slippers and a dressing gown or onesie
• Washing kit
• 1 Towel (1 towel is usually available from your accommodation)
• Sports kit if you would like to take part in leisure activities on Monday/Wednesday evening
• Your instrument(s) – labelled
• A folder for keeping music sheets tidy and a pen or pencil.
• Please bring a music stand if you prefer to read music rather than learn by ear.
• If you are bringing a tin-whistle it should be in the key of D. If you are signed up to a beginner tin whistle class, you will be given a tin whistle that you can keep!
• If you have spare strings for your guitar/fiddle etc., please take them with you
• If you plan to play football at lunchtime, bring a pair of sports shoes to change into as the residue from the astro turf causes additional work for the cleaner if it comes into the building on your footwear.
Please make sure all of your personal belongings are clearly labelled with your name!
COLLECTING LUGGAGE ON FRIDAY
For our residents, you will check out of your accommodation in Ullapool on Friday morning, and we will take your luggage to the school in our Fèis van.
We ask parents / guardians to collect luggage at Ullapool High School at 4pm or at 6.30pm so that the venue is clear of all luggage in advance of the concert beginning at 7pm.
TIMETABLE
The daily timetable is as follows:
9.30am – 10am Warm-up and whole Fèis song for everyone
10am – 11am First choice class
11am – 11.15am break for all participants
11.15 – 11.45am P4 -7 pupils take part in Gaelic language and games workshop
11.15 – 11.45am S1-6 pupils have a chance to session
11.45am – 12.45pm Back to first choice class
12.45 – 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 2.30pm Second choice class (or S1-6 groupwork which counts as second AND third choice)
2.30pm – 3.00pm Break
3.00pm – 4.00pm Third choice (or continue groupwork for S1-6)
4.00pm Pick up for non-residents. Residents have free time with supervisors.
5.00pm Dinner for P4-7
6.00pm Dinner for S1-6
6.30pm (primary) and 7.00pm (secondary) Evening activities begin
The timetable is slightly different on the Monday morning. You will have half an hour from 12.00pm – 12.30pm to meet your first choice tutor after the Feis welcome and then the timetable will continue as above.
The timetable is also different on the Friday. The classes are as normal until lunchtime and then, after lunch, we will rehearse for the participants’ concert.
EVENING ACTIVITES
All participants (residents and non-residents) can participate in the following activities. A full timetable will be sent out to everyone via email
Monday: Sessions and Games
Tuesday: Tutors’ Concert at the Macphail Theatre.
Wednesday: Pick from a range of evening activities.
Thursday: Ceilidh Dance in the Village Hall
Friday: Participants’ Concert
CONTACT
During the Fèis week, the senior members of staff on site will be Fiona Dalgetty and Christian Gamauf. You will receive Christian’s number ahead of the Fèis week. Messages can also be left for Christian at The Ceilidh Place on 01854 612 103.
We look forward to seeing you for a fantastic week of music and fun in Ullapool! In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact the office 01349 862000 if you have any queries, or email Christian.gamauf@feisrois.org