An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volumes 44--45, January 1949--December 1950

FIok «*n Kunairo
SECRETARY’S NOTES
National Mod—1951
Members of the Mod
Local Committee in Edin¬
burgh are in full swing with
their preparations for next year’s
National Mod. Mr. Hugh
MacPhee, Convener of the Mod
and Music Committee, and the
General Secretary attended a
meeting of the Local Committee
on 16th October and were highly
pleased with the progress being
made. Arrangements are well
forward for the holding of a Feill
on 22nd and 23rd June, the Joint
Conveners of which are Miss
Mena Whigham, LL.B., Mrs.
Durward, and Miss MacKinnon.
Mr. Donald S. MacDonald. W.S.,
is Convener of the Mod Local
Committee, with Miss Isa Mac¬
Millan and Mr. Donald Cameron
as Joint-Secretaries, and Mr.
Euan MacDiarmid,
Treasurer.
Gaelic Classes
GAELIC Classes
Continuation Cla
being held at
Dundee, Dunoon,
Glasgow (Goyan High, Woodside
and Victoria Park Schools),
Helensburgh, Paisley, Perth,
Pitlochry, Rothesay, and Stirling.
In addition to these, four Gaelic
Classes are being held in Glas¬
gow University under the
auspices of the Adult Education
and Extra-Mural Committees. The
Gaelic League (Dionnasg na
Gaidhlig) have an attendance of
over 100 at their various Gaelic
C.A.
under the
s Code are
Ardrossan,
Edinburgh,
Neil MacKeehnie, M.A., Fort
Ellen, who acted so eificieutly as
Secretary last year, is again in
charge this session. A meeting of
the Perthshire Provin3ial Mod
Committee was held in Aberfeldy
recently and arrangements were
made for the holding of next
year’s Mod at Aberfeldy on 15th
June.
Ladies’ Highland Association
NE ought not to refrain
\ from saluting this Associa¬
tion which has just celeb¬
rated its centenary. Among
ON
fr
ti
the many voluntary bodies which
have tried to help the Highland
people, none has given finer help,
and few longer help, than this
Association. In the course of its
hundred years’ of service it has
successively served in three main
ways: first, through its schools
(established to supplement the
parish and church and other
schools) ; secondly, by developing
nursing services; and thirdly, by
religious and social welfare work,
which is still being carried on.
The lady agents of the Society
teach classes, visit, and generally
help in particular parishes and
centres, their work being mainly
among the young.
Gaelic Informal Education
jp OLLOWING upon negotia-
Branches
THE following Branches in
the Southern Area have re¬
sumed for the current
session:— Ayr, Bunessan,
Campbeltown, Dundee, Dunoon,
Edinburgh. Govan. Largs, Mill-
house, Oban, Port Ellen and
Stirling.
Paisley Highlanders’ Association
THE Secretary presided over
a meeting of the Paisley
Highlanders’ Association on
Saturday, 4th November. There
is a regular attendance of fully
300 people at these weekly
ceilidhs, and patrons are provided
with a first-rate programme.
The President, the Rev. A. C.
MacGillivray, conducts the Gaelic
Classes already referred to.
Provincial Mods
THE Islay Provincial Mod
will be held at Bowmore on
20th April, 1951, and the
syllabus is now in the hands
of prospective competitors. Mr.
tions which have been going
on for some time between
representatives of An Comunn
Gaidhealach, the Scottish Educa¬
tion Department, and the County
Education Committees of Suther¬
land, Ross-shire, Inverness-shire,
and Argyll, a Committee for
Gaelic Informal Education, con¬
sisting of representatives of all
these parties, has now been
constituted.
The objects of the Committee
are to help in maintaining and
developing Gaelic language and
culture m the Gaelic-speaking
areas of Scotland, and to promote
and encourage, especially among
young people, cultural, social,
and recreational activities suited
to a Gaelic environment. Three
full-time organisers are to be
appointed to work under the
Committee in Inverness-shire
(excluding Skye), Argyll,
Sutherland, and Rose-shire (ex¬
cluding Lewis). (It should' be
noted that full-time Further Edu¬
cation Officers have already been
appointed to Lewis and Skje).
The work of these organisers
will be directed towards develop¬
ing social, recreational and
cultural activities, and to foster
Gaelic language and culture,
crafts and handiwork, . local
tradition, folklore, and history,
and generally to foster the sense
of belonging to a community
bound together by a common
language and tradition.
The cost of the scheme is being
shared by the County Education
Committees referred to and An
Comunn Gaidhealach, and the
Scottish Education Department.
At the first meeting of the
Committee the following office-
168
bearers were appointed: Chair¬
man, Dr. J. A. MacLean
(Director of Education for
Inverness-shire) ; Vice-Chairman,
Mr. J. M. Bannerman (President
of An Comunn Gaidhealach) ;
Secretary and Treasurer, Mr.
Donald MacPhail (Northern
Organiser of An Comunn
Gaidhealach), 92 Academy Street,
Inverness.
Regional Sub-Committees are
to be appointed to direct the
Organisers in their work.
This is one of the most impor¬
tant—probably the most im¬
portant—of all the enterprises
on which An Comunn Gaidheal¬
ach, in the course of its long
history, has embarked. Ap¬
preciation should be expressed
of the vision and ready co¬
operation of the Scottish Educa¬
tion Department and the High¬
land County Education Com¬
mittees concerned. If, in the
past, there has been justification
for the charge that “ the powers-
that-be ” in matters of education
were not only unsympathetic, but
hostile, to Gaelic, the attitude
of the Department of Education
and the Education Committees
in recent times, and especially
in this new venture, has gone far
to atone for former neglect of,
and indifference to, the language.
Whoever the new Organisers
may be, their work is one of
great importance and of immense
possibilities, and it is to be hoped
that the Gaelic and Highland
people among whom they are to
work will rally round and help
as much as they can, so that this
splendid new opportunity may b®
fully used.