Rose’s song of hope

‘Together’ is the work of Rose Byers, 14, from Kettleholm, and is described as ‘a song of hope’.
She has posted a video of it on her YouTube channel, featuring younger brother Seth too.
Mum Sara Valentin said: “She wanted to write this because she has felt very moved by all this situation – not only is she thinking of all the key workers, including my cousin who is a nurse on Covid wards in Leeds, but she desperately misses school, her friends and her family so much.”
It’s Rose’s third song; with the first about her great uncle’s walk from Yorkshire to Italy and the second about the execution of Anne Boleyn.
The Lockerbie Academy student is passionate about Scottish traditional music and sings and plays several instruments, including the fiddle.
She has taken part in the Burns Schools Competition since she was eight years old, and she won two national finals in her section.
And she has performed at many Burns suppers and other events – last summer she headlined the Newton Stewart Traditional Music Festival. In 2018, she was named Performer of the Year at the Dumfries & Galloway Life Awards.
Furthermore, Rose is junior ambassador of Ellisland, Burns’ farm near Auldgirth, where for the past two years she has organised sell-out Christmas concerts headlining stars of the young Trad scene.
And she was due to be performing at several events over the next few months, all now cancelled.
Sara said: “She has been very saddened to miss out on all the exciting concerts she had been asked to sing at, for example the annual concert of Dumfries Male Choir, where she was going to be the special guest – and events such as the National School Burns Competition, which she had been selected for.
“She is also gutted that her week at Tinto Summer school (a music residential for secondary school pupils in Wiston Lodge near Biggar organised by Hands up for Trad) is cancelled.
“So music is an outlet for all these emotions.”
Rose has her own YouTube channel called Trad Tunes in lockdown and she is trying to do a song/fiddle set every three days. To watch, go to<\!p>www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-bwyGkHmNfCVT2ZPGZX-Q