Tributes have been paid to music teacher and composer Harry McFarlane who passed away on April 17.

Mr McFarlane contracted coronavirus not long after celebrating his 91st birthday on Easter Sunday.

A family man from Ayr, Harry was musical from a young age.

He taught at Queen Margaret Academy and even wrote the Academy’s song. The piece will be performed at his service.

His granddaughter Leslie said: “If anyone could’ve beaten it [coronavirus] it would’ve been wee Harry but his body just couldn’t fight it.

“The school choirs that he ran were so legendary.

“He won the annual Ayrshire Festival every year and the local music shop Patterson’s would take bets to see who would be second to Harry!”

Harry was musical director for the Choir of Ayrshire Voices as well as Ayr Amateur Opera, Ayrshire Philharmonic Opera Society and Kilmarnock Amateur Operatic Society.

Ayrshire Voices paid tribute to him on Facebook.

They hope to have a musical memorial event to celebrate and remember Harry when social distancing measures are lifted.

Harry’s musical achievements were recognised on the international stage, too.

Last year, aged 90, Harry wrote a Lament for the Children of Hiroshima.

The Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra travelled to Hiroshima and played a violin solo of the composition in the Peace Garden there, where music has never been allowed.

Harry also wrote a mass that was used in one of the basilicas at St Paul’s in

Rome for the canonisation of St John Ogilvie, a Scottish Catholic martyr, in 1976.

The mass was led by Pope Paul VI and was attended by Harry and his wife, Margaret.

Leslie said: “It was one of the biggest achievements of his life.”

Harry spent his last years in South Lodge in Ayr, a different nursing home from his wife of 66 years.

“Harry took the bus every day to visit her.

Leslie said: “I got him a sign to hang up on the wall, ‘bringing music to life since 1929’. Music and his family were his whole life.

“He achieved more and enjoyed life more at 90 than other people do their whole lives

“He was always on the go and was a very kind and positive person.”

Harry is survived by his wife, Margaret, and his children Anne, Gerard and Pauline.

His daughter, Clare, sadly passed away in 2009.

His grandchildren Leslie, Stephen, John, Alan, Sarah, Cameron and Katie remember their Papa fondly.

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