We would like to inform members and friends that the Gaelic Society talk which was scheduled for Friday 24th October (Calum Fearghusdan, MA, Eilean Leòdhais — “A Ghàidhlig a b’ aithne dhomh”) has been cancelled for the time being, with a view to holding the talk next year. This is because there is a concert [...]
Metro has a mini-interview with the new Gaelic Ambassador of the Year, Julie Fowlis.
While the interview is neither long nor particularly deep, it is still worth a read, if only as an opportunity to get to know the language’s new ambassador slightly better.
A leading Scottish historian has spoken out against the BBC’s landmark, ten-part series A History of Scotland, the Scotsman reports.
Describing the series as “Anglo-centric”, broadcaster and historian Alastair Moffat went on to say:
The BBC seems to have ignored 3,000 years. It’s a pity to let the Romans tell the story of Scotland; couldn’t the Scots have [...]
At the opening of the Mod yesterday, Alex Salmond unveiled a £2.7m package to fund a range of Gaelic education initiatives, the Press & Journal reports.
Outlining the thinking behind the move, Mr. Salmond said:
The Gaelic language is a vital way of seeing and understanding Scotland. It contains the symbols and metaphors, stories and landscapes, that [...]
In a letter to the Inverness Courier Donald Morris, chair of Foram Gàidhlig Inbhir Nis, has stated that his organisation fully supports bilingual signage and that local councillors should accept them; he notes that “Highland Council has voted on numerous occasions to use bilingual signage throughout the authority area”.
The letter ends with a stinging rebuke of those councillors [...]
Gaelic development body Comunn na Gàidhlig has joined calls for BBC Alba to be broadcasted on Freeview, the Stornoway Gazette reports.
Many hope that the channel will become available on Freeview, otherwise it will very difficult for the channel to meet the ambitious target of gaining 250,000 non-Gaelic-viewers on a weekly basis set by the BBC [...]
Caithness Councillor John Rosie has gone on record with the controversial view that the Highland Council’s bilingual signage policy “should not apply in his area because the heritage of Caithness is more Viking than Gaelic.”
His statement was quickly condemned by the Chairman of the Council’s Gaelic Committee, Cllr. Hamish Fraser.
The full article can be read [...]
The launch of the new Gaelic Freeview channel BBC Alba — launched at 9pm on Friday 19th September 2008 — has created quite a bit of media coverage. The Sunday Herald’s Tom Shields has some very good things to say about the new channel, praising it for covering world events as well as revisiting [...]
Delighted to report that the ‘Imprentit’ exhibition at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh covers a significant amount of Gaelic material — including the first Gaelic book published in 1567, Knox’s Liturgy, and a copy of the Gaelic Catechism is also on display.
2008 is the five-hundredth anniversary of printing in Scotland and in celebration, there [...]