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Anne Farquhar: Former music teacher in Aberdeen and Fraserburgh dies at 91

She took early retirement from Grampian Regional Council in 1983 and began teaching music privately.

Former Fraserburgh and Aberdeen music teacher Anne Farquhar has died.
Former Fraserburgh and Aberdeen music teacher Anne Farquhar has died.

Anne Farquhar, who taught music in schools in Fraserburgh and Aberdeen before setting up in private practice, has died at the age of 91.

Her first teaching post was at Fraserburgh Academy where she spent five-and-half years before becoming head of department at Bridge of Don Junior Secondary. Anne then oversaw tuition at a cluster of primary schools in Aberdeen.

She also undertook further study and musical development at the Orff-Institut in Austria and the Kodaly Institute in Hungary.

The techniques she learnt broadened her outlook and enabled her to make the link between music and children’s academic advancement.

Anne was born at Braehead Farm in Logie Coldstone, the youngest of Alexander and Annie Farquhar’s three children.

Life on the land

In the summer of 1937, when Anne was four, the family moved to Holmhead of Hallhead Farm, Leochel Cushnie, where she grew up and went to the two-teacher-led school.

Anne showed academic promise and her mother had ambitions for her to do something other than farm work.

She intended to let her stay with her friend, the headteacher at Tewel School, near Stonehaven, for extra tuition in preparation for higher education.

However, in 1946 her mother was diagnosed with leukaemia and sadly died within 10 weeks. As a result, Anne had to leave school to work on the family farm.

Prior to her mother’s death, Anne had started to learn to play a piano which belonged to an old gentleman, known as Uncle Sandy, whom her mother looked after.

Encouragement

She was later encouraged to resume music lessons and her teacher, a Miss Smith, persuaded her to pursue a career in music teaching.

Four years later, with the help of the local minister, dominie and a former teacher, Anne completed a correspondence course, gaining qualifications which led to acceptance into teacher training college.

In 1983, after major surgery, music tuition was being cut back in Grampian schools. Anne took early retirement and set up her busy music practice at home.

It was then she was invited by Airyhall Primary School to use the techniques she had learnt in Europe. She also taught music at St Margaret’s School for Girls in Aberdeen.

In retirement, Anne provided music for Sunday services in hospitals, retirement homes and churches and acted as an assistant hospital chaplain, visiting patients each week.

Honoured

Anne was associated with many organisations; Christian, musical and secular, which culminated in her receiving an honorary fellowship from the North East of Scotland Music School in July 2023. She was also a licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, and of Trinity College of Music, London.

Even during Anne’s final year of life in Summerhill Home, she continued to play for the residents at their worship meetings.

Her friends recalled: “Anne used to say that looking back over her life with all its twists and turns and ups and downs, God’s will for her has been carried out in an amazing way.

“Anne inherited her mother’s happy, optimistic nature and her maternal grandmother’s never-ending faith in her heavenly father. She would often quote from a friend’s Doric poem: ‘I tak tae coontin blessings – there’s files mair than I can use’.”

Anne’s funeral took place at Mannofield Church, Aberdeen, on Monday February 26 2024, followed by a service in Leochel Cushnie Church.

You can read the formal announcement here.

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