Maolcholaim Scott

Cassan is the name of a partnership between the Manx-medium primary School in the Isle of Man and Conradh na Gaeilge in Lower Mourne in south Down. They have now come together to provide a resource with information in Manx, and Scottish and Irish Gaelic: a beautiful series of seven posters with useful vocabulary so that pupils can learn about the links between the Gaelic languages. The posters should be available to a wide range of schools.

‘Cassan’ is the Manx for ‘cosán’ or ‘path’ in Irish. The Isle of Man can be seen clearly from the Mourne Mountains, the home of Gaelscoil na mBeann, which has close links with Conradh na Gaeilge in Lower Mourne. The artists are Vicki Webb from the Ilse of Man, and Andrea McCloskey from County Down. The project has been developed by Josephine Siriu Dunbar, a linguist who is development officer with Conradh na Gaeilge in Lower Mourne, and Aalin Clague, a teacher at the Bunscoill Ghaelgach in the Isle of Man, in consultation with educational publishers Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig in the Scotland, and and the Áisaonad in Ireland. The project is funded and facilitated by the Colmcille project of Foras na Gaeige as part of the Colmcille 1500 programme.

Lower Mourne Conradh na Gaeilge hope to make the posters available through Irish-medium educational organisations and from bookshops such as An Ceathrú Póilí in Belfast. The posters are:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The residents of Arbory parish in the Isle of Man celebrate Laa Columb Killey towards the end of June rather than on the 9th as in Ireland or Scotland. This year, there is a special programme to mark the 1,500th anniversary of the saint’s birth. Jeebin, the Manx Language Network, is working with Arbory School to create resources which help show the parish’s strong history with Manx.

Culture Vannin has developed an artistic response to Colmcille1500. Aalin Clague, a Manx speaker and teacher at Bunscoill Ghaelgagh has composed a choral anthem Y Folliaght (The Secret) A poem attributed to Colmcille inspired Marie Clague who wrote the lyrics.
The anthem – Y Folliaght (The Secret) – talks of Columba’s journey across the seas, marvelling at the new sights and sounds, in the world around him. A recording of the Manx Gaelic choir Caarjyn Cooidjagh has been made by Ballagroove Recording Studio. You can hear the anthem and read the lyrics here. It will be released with a video featuring beautiful imagery of the Isle of Man very soon on www.culturevannin.im
The Manx Language Network’s Gaelg21 is a celebration of all things Manx (9 June-9 July) and is also a contribution to Colmcille1500.

Find out more about Gaelg21 here.

The Turas Colmcille committee in Donegal and Derry is seeking to develop Slí Cholmcille as a network of walking trails linking the main Columban Heritage sites across the two counties. The Camino-style walk across Donegal and Derry will take twelve to fourteen days. There has already been significant community engagement. A ‘proof of concept’ walk to destination in 2020. The committee seeks tenders for a Development Marketing and Business Plan. The deadline for tenders is the 24th May 2021 and the details can be found here.

There is much to learn from Colmcille and the legacy of his communities, and there are also materials to draw on:

Learning materials and competition from Donegal:

Maureen Curran of Loretto Community School, Milford, Donegal, has developed cross-curricular educational materials. It is linked to sites associated with Colmcille or Columba, and provides a model which can be adapted for use in many places. A competition based on the materials is being organised by Maureen with the Diocese of Raphoe, in conjunction with Claire Murray at the Church of Ireland National School in Gartan, birthplace of St Columba. The deadline for submissions has now been extended to the 15th October 2021.

The primary material can be downloaded here. and post-primary here.

Range of resources on padlet

Maureen and Claire have been part of a working group along with Gabrielle Fitzsimons and Gráinne Duggan who teaches at Rathdonnell National School near Gartan. Gráinne has compiled a range of other educational and heritage resources from a range of institutions and organisations which can be accessed online here.

Donegal County Council has developed a range of materials for other commemorative events, including the Flight of the Earls and 1916. The Council is preparing an educational pack and colouring book which will be available in the spring 2021.

In Northern Ireland CCEA has a range of materials in Irish and English:

It includes striking material on the book of Kells available here and here. An overview of the CCEA materials can be seen here and here. : https://stcolumbaheritage.com/index.php/home

Scripture Union NI has produced material entitled “The Way of the Peacemaker” for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in NI which explore “the life of Colmcille and the Biblical principles of peace.” It consists of videoas available here , and worksheets which are available from Rachel Millar.

Áras Cholmcille in Derry has learning materials available here .

Crossways 2021, a major festival of writing from Ireland and Scotland, will take place online over the weekend of the 12th to 14th February 2021. Crossways is organised by the publisher Irish Pages and its editor Chris Agee. This year, in spite of the challenges of COVID, the festival has grown. Seán Ó Coinn, CEO of Foras na Gaeilge said, “We are delighted to provided funding to Crossways 2021 as part of Colmcille 1500, celebrating 1500 years since the birth of St Columba, a saint who unites Ireland and Scotland and is recognised as a poet and patron of poets.” Crossways 2021 is funded by the Foras na Gaeilge Colmcille programme, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.

This year the majority of readings will be in Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Poet Simon Ó Faoláin is the Irish language curator, and poet Prof Meg Bateman is the Scottish Gaelic curator.

The festival normally takes place in Glasgow, but for the 2021 online festival Winnie Brooke Young, a Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, travelled throughout Ireland and Scotland during breaks in lockdown to record high quality videos of poets reading from their work. The videos will go live on the 12th February at www.crosswaysfefestival.org. There will be a pair of writers in each session, for example Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Aonghus Dubh Mac Neacail, or Paula Meehan and Kathleen Jamie.

Irish Pages published Other Tongues, an introduction to writing in Irish and Scots Gaelic and Scots and Crann na Teanga/The Language Tree, a major collection of the poetry of Cathal Ó Searcaigh. Crossways 2021 contributes greatly on the fellowship between Irish language and Scottish Gaelic writers, building on the heritage of Turas na bhFilí and An Leabhar Mòr – The Great Book of Gaelic.