CASTLE TOWARD Some 53 years ago the Corporation of Glasgow bought Castle Toward, set in an estate of some 226 acres, from the Coats family, the Paisley thread makers. The building was used initially as a residential school for children recovering from illness or living in deprived home conditions. It then became available for residential education for children from all Glasgow Primary Schools, with a leaning towards environmental and outdoor activities. Taken over in the mid-seventies by Strathclyde Region, access to the facility became more widely available to schools throughout throughout Strathclyde. On the dis-aggregation of the region ownership reverted to Argyll & Bute Council, on whose land the building was located. Argyle & Bute now wish to sell the building and lands for commercial development. In 1951 Glasgow Corporation created their Schools\' Orchestra which continues to visit Castle Toward annually in July. From that root has developed a comprehensive range of self-programming musical activities at the Castle, attracting groups from a wide geographical area to avail themselves of the excellent resources available in this well appointed venue. Castle Toward is the residential \"home\" to a number of music groups - varying in extreme from small vocal ensembles to Symphony Orchestras. Vocal groups, from small ensembles to choruses of some 120 singers, enjoy the luxury of four large rehearsal rooms - each equipped with a piano - and further accommodation to facilitate breaking comfortably into smaller groups as required. The large hall within the Castle is more than adequate to accommodate full chorus rehearsals. Bands and orchestras have access to numerous rooms for sectional rehearsals, and the two halls allow full wind and string rehearsals to run concurrently when required. The larger hall provides a working area for an orchestra of up to 80 players. Add to this the option of using Toward Memorial Hall, conveniently situated at the end of the Castle drive, and an orchestra of 100 or so players can comfortably come together. Castle Toward has a composer in residence in the person of John Maxwell Geddes, resulting in it

Sponsor