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News

It can be a challenge for teenagers to come together and use Gaelic, but an  odyssey by bus and boat is helping a group in County Derry to meet that challenge.

 

For a number of years, a 50 seater bus from the Donegal Gaeltacht has been travelling to County Derry and onwards to the Isle of Lewis. The bus is full of teenagers and those helping them, and their face is set on Fèis Eilean an Fhraoich, the youth festival in Lewis, and on young people of their own age who speak Scottish Gaelic.

The journey is organised by a youth group, Club Óige Luraigh, a one of a network of Irish language organisations which has developed in a rural area of County Derry. The club works in partnership with the Fèis in Lewis, and with Muintearas, a Gaeltacht youth organisation in Ireland:  there are teenagers from the Donegal and Conamara Gaeltachts on the bus as well as from Derry.

 

The young people from Ireland take part in music activities and iomáin (hurling/shinty) in Lewis as well as language classes, and drama workshops help them to use Scottish Gaelic.

 

Joe Ó Dochartaigh, a youth worker at Club Óige Luraigh, says that the annual odyssey transforms the work of the youth club. Even though they have had Irish-medium primary education, those teenagers who do not speak Irish at home can succumb to pressure to speak English among themselves. But the annual odyssey to Lewis has its own effect: as the young people put effort into  the feis and the long journey there and back, they  choose to speak Irish among themselves, a choice they maintain on their return home to County Derry.

 

New friendships are another result of the odyssey; friendships between people in Lewis and County Derry, between teenagers in County Derry and in the Gaeltacht in Ireland. Young musicians from Ireland have been invited to play at the big Lewis musical festival, the Hebcelt.; families from Lewis have come to visit families in County Derry . One young man who has been on the journey, Dubhaltach Mac Conmidhe is studying for a degree in Scottish Gaelic in Glasgow.

Imagine there were no poets …

Maolcholaim Scott · May 20, 2022 ·

Colmcille and the poets

In the year 575 the High King of Ireland Aodh Mac Ainmire invited dignitaries to attend an important gathering in Droim Ceat, county Derry. Among the topics up for discission was the question of what should be done with Ireland’s poets, who had become, in his view, rather impudent. One of the measures proposed was the banishing of poets from Ireland.

Colm Cille was in attendance, and took a stand on behalf of the poets. But what would have happened had he not intervened and what would we have lost as a nation?

These are the questions that prompted poet Daire Ní Chanáin as she began working on a specially-commissioned poem as part of Colmcille 1500. The resulting poetry video received its premiere on Poetry Day Ireland on April 28th 2022.

Daire Ní Chanáin says: “Before I began working on this piece I had little knowledge of Colm Cille and it was exciting to discover so much about him. I feel I have a stronger connection with him having undertaken this work and I now notice more and more of his legacy all around me, especially given that I live in Derry.

In the poem I wanted to pay homage to the poets who have gone before me, and also to those who continue to write in Irish. I am greatly indebted to them. And we are all greatly indebted to Colm Cille.”

Tristan Rosenstock, co-ordinator of Colmcille 1500, adds:

“Daire belongs to a new generation of poets who present their work in new and exciting ways. Her poetry itself is highly artistic, as is the way she presents it. When you view the video and hear her words it is immediately apparent that she is a poet who has a deep understanding of the tradition, but that she is following her own path and has a unique voice of her own. We were thrilled to have a young Derry poet involved in Colmcille 1500”

You can watch the video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z-IhodljN8

#Colmcille1500

£88k awarded to Colmcille Projects

Brian Ó hEadhra · April 4, 2022 ·

Bòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG) are pleased to announce that they are awarding £88,880 to 10 projects in Scotland and 3 Irish Gaelic learners through their Colmcille funding scheme. 

Colmcille is a partnership between Foras na Gaeilge in Ireland and Bòrd na Gàidhlig in Scotland. It fosters communication and collaboration between the language communities of Scottish and Irish Gaelic.

In 2022 we will continue to celebrate the legacy of Colmcille 1500, with special events and projects.

Funding is available to help support projects which will bring Gaelic and Irish speakers together, and also for Gaelic speakers looking to undertake an Irish course. 

This year, we are supporting three people who will be undertaking Irish Gaelic language courses as well as 10 various projects aimed at strengthening the links between Scotland and Ireland.  Among those projects is Bragar and Arnol Community Trust (BACT) in Lewis with their Ceangal2022 project.  As part of their project, they intend to engage with community groups,  social enterprises and voluntary organisations and others in and around the Dingle Peninsula to learn and to share knowledge, customs and experiences.

Murdo Morrison, Community Officer at BACT said: “We are delighted and grateful for this support in building international links between our own community on the West Side of Lewis and the people of County Kerry. Through this initiative, we will be looking to establish community, language, cultural, educational, arts and other links.”

Funding will be given to 10 projects throughout the country and in a host of different environments including a Celtic Eco-Museum in the Isle of Skye, an Edinburgh based poetry project, and shinty for youth in both Scotland and Ireland as well as a project regarding tourism in the Highlands. 

Brian Ó hEadhra, Partnerships and Funding Manager, Bòrd na Gàidhlig said: “It gives us great joy to support these groups whilst they continue to build connections with our friends in Ireland. The Colmcille funding scheme has been running for many years and this demonstrates the importance of these connections.  It’s also encouraging to see applications each year from Gaelic speakers who are not only keen to learn Irish Gaelic but also to strengthen the linguistic connections.”

The scheme was open for 13 weeks between 11 November 2021 and 10 February 2022.  Foras na Gaeilge have their scheme open until 20 April and further information can be found here.   

A full list of successful projects can be found here. 

Colmcille Grant Schemes Open

Aodh Mac Ruairí · March 15, 2022 ·

Colmcille Bursary Scheme

Colmcille Small Grants Scheme

Colmcille Grants Scheme

Colmcille 1500 @ Éigse Uladh 2022

Maolcholaim Scott · February 23, 2022 ·

Colmcille 1500, the commemoration of 1500 years since the birth of Colmcille continues until June 2022. Among the events is Éigse Uladh, from the 25th to the 27th February.

Colmcille is the subject of the play Ar thóir m’Anama which will run on the three nights of the festival. This is an Irish language version of Brian Friel’s play The Enemy Within. The Irish language play is a classic from a period in the 1970s when the company Aisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair were at the height of their fame. It is being revived in the refurbished Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair.

The Éigse’s lectures are in partnership with the Royal Irish Acadamy, and will take place on Saturday afternoon. The lecturers are Ailbhe Nic Giolla Chomhaill, on Colmcille in the oral tradition, and Colm Ó Cuaig on Mánus Dónaill and his great work of 1532, Beatha Cholm Cille.

The other events include a bus tour of historic sites in the northwest on the Saturday with Dr Seosamh Ó Ceallaigh as guide, and a visit to Tory Island and guided tour there. Mass will be broadcast from the Éigse on Raidió na Gaeltachta, and the Éigse will conclude at 5pm on the Sunday in Machaire Rabhartaigh Community Centre with an ecumenical service. The full programme is available here .

Tickets for Ar thóir m’Anama can be bought at Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair.

‘Colm’ – an island journey with St Columba

Brian Ó hEadhra · February 15, 2022 ·

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/colm-an-island-journey-with-st-columba

In the 1500th anniversary year of St Columba’s birth, Canna House Archivist Fiona used the Canna archive to explore the Columban connections between Canna, the Isle of Lewis and islands of the Irish Gaeltacht. Supported by Bòrd na Gàidhlig (Colmcille) and NTS.

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