Ishbel MacLean singing ‘Ma shiubbhlais sibh tuath’
Sound clip of Ishbel MacLean of Kenovay singing ‘Ma shiubbhlais sibh tuath’.
Courtesy of Mrs Ishbel MacLean
Ishbel MacLean née MacDonald of Kenovay was Tiree’s District Nurse from 1955 to 1962. She did her general nurse training at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and midwifery at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and Lennox Castle in Glasgow.
She married a Lewis man, Angus MacLean, and lived for twenty years in Canada where her husband worked as a teacher. While in Toronto she was given tuition by a professional opera singer. She was recorded by Co-Chomunn Dualchas Thiriodh singing the Tiree song ‘Ma shiubhlais sibh tuath’ (If you travel north).
After their return from Canada, Ishbel and her husband lived in Glasgow and Helensburgh but now reside permanently in her family home in Kenovay.