‘Songs of the People’ launch in Dornoch kickstarts commemoration of 75th year of European Convention on Human Rights
“Songs of the People” - a commemoration of the drafting of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) - was launched in Dornoch on Wednesday, with a performance from the great grandchildren of distinguished lawyer and politician, David Maxwell Fyfe.
Maxwell Fyfe, whose mother came from Dornoch, was one of the prosecuting counsels at the Nuremberg Trials and subsequently played a role in drafting the ECHR.
He was later made a Freeman of Dornoch in 1962 and is remembered as part of an exhibition at the town’s Historylinks museum.
Now his descendants, Robert Blackmore and Lily Casson, are preparing to travel the length of the UK, to sing in celebration about the protections given to people in the Convention’s 75th anniversary year.
Wednesday’s launch foreshadows larger scale performances of the group’s song cycle, “Dreams of Peace & Freedom” in seven centres of the story of Maxwell Fyfe - including a performance in Dornoch, which will take place in Summer 2025 including members of Dornoch Academy School.
The series follows an informal ‘song cycle’ on the green outside Dornoch Cathedral in January 2023, in which Mr Blackmore and Ms Casson protested through song about the UK’s potential withdrawal from the Convention.
Mr Blackmore and Ms Casson said: “You may wonder why we are doing this, particularly at a time of year when people's minds may wander onto twinkling lights, shopping and festivities.
“But at the start of the 75th anniversary year of the signing of the Convention, we feel that our story is too important to keep quiet about. So we are singing.”
They added: “The overnight snow wasn't going to stop us getting to the source of our stream of natural law, Dornoch, to launch Songs of the People for ECHR 75.
“This is where our great grandfather David Maxwell Fyfe holidayed as a young boy and heard stories of family injustice.
“During our visit, we had a meeting with Lynne Mahoney at the Historylinks museum to plan our performance of our song cycle, Dreams of Peace & Freedom at Dornoch Cathedral next year to mark 75 years since the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights which will involve local school children.
“We also sang inside the Museum beside the WWII permanent exhibition which features David's work on the Convention.”
