August 2008

• 27/08/2008 Salmond volunteers to examine Skye Bridge tolls document
  David Ross, The Herald
• 26/08/2008 Mary Jane Lamond at King's August 30
  Lawrence Powell, Nova News
• 26/08/2008 Cabinet Ministers meeting in Skye
  BBC News
  *25/08/2008 Arts news in Scotland - An Leabhar Mor
  Rory Weller, Metrolife
• 24/08/2008 Ashley Jensen leads stars' Scots dance plea
  Kathleen Nut, Sunday Times
  Ashley Jensen, the star of Ugly Betty and Extras, is leading a campaign of celebrities to safeguard the future of Scottish country dancing.
  *22/08/2008 Blas offers fine festival fare in Caithness
  John O Groats Journal
  THE fastest-growing Gaelic and traditional music festival in the UK is set to launch a number of music shows in Caithness as part of a Highland-wide programme.
• 22/08/2008 Danger in bureaucratic approach that ignores grassroots Scottish culture
  The Scotsman
• 21/08/2008 Blas Festival brings top artists to Sutherland
  Northern Times
• 21/08/2008 The strength of our culture is a great Scottish asset
  The Herald
  Our nation received further recognition of its cultural wealth this week with Glasgow now designated a Unesco City of Music. It joins Edinburgh (a City of Literature) on the organisation's creative network, making Scotland the only country in the world with more than one listing. That in itself tells a story of the richness of our cultural heritage.
  *21/08/2008 Things to do Places to go
• 20/08/2008 [Filmmakers association a "reel" success story)(http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=164150&sc=147)
  Laura Jean Grant, Cape Breton Post
  Michael Melski leading workshop this weekend at the Gaelic College in St. Ann’s
• 20/08/2008 Music Review: Julie Fowlis - Cuilidh
  Blogcritics Magazine
  "While the Scots have escaped the ravages of New Wave relatively unscathed, at least compared to their cousins in Ireland, a singer like Julie Fowlis, from the island of North Ulst in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, who sings the songs that make up the oral history of the islands in their original Gaelic, is still a rarity."
• 20/08/2008 Road improvements must come before Gaelic signs
  John O' Groat Journal
  A CAITHNESS councillor this week described plans to put Gaelic signs on the A9 road as "a waste of money"
• 20/08/2008 Depth of row over new head of Gaelic TV Service
  Tim Pauling, The Press and Journal
  THE extent of the acrimony between Edinburgh and London over the appointment of a former Labour minister to head the body responsible for setting up the new Gaelic television service is revealed in official documents.
• 20/08/2008 Bagpipes become a family affair
  Frederick News, County Maryland, Kate Leckie
  This summer, Bill Douwes sent his 12-year-old son, Alexander, to bagpipe camp.
• 20/08/2008 A festival Reinvents itself
  Essentially a festival within a festival, the concert is a Celtapoolooza with fiddle master Bruce Molsky, Gaelic singer Mary Ann Kennedy, 21-year-old step-dance expert Nic Gareiss, and the superlative duo of Irish fiddler Martin Hayes and Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill.
  Andrew Gilbert, East Bay Express, California
• 19/08/2008 BBC Alba looking to train Gaelic speaking talent for new soap
  The Stage, Matthew Hemley
  BBC Alba, the new Gaelic television channel launching next month, is on the hunt for a long-running soap as part of its commitment to broadcasting original drama.
• 19/08/2008 The Hector Festival puts all things Highland at the front and centre
  Jennifer Vardy Little, The News, Nova Scotia, Canada
  PICTOU – Pictou will be filled with music, stories and highland dancing this week in a celebration of the Ship Hector.
• 18/08/2008Highland Games Feature fun for 5,000 people
  Laura Almasi, Times Record, Maine BRUNSWICK — Celebrating its 30th year, the Maine Highland Games and Scottish Festival at Thomas Point Beach offered around 5,000 Scots and non-Scots alike a bonny day of music, fun and athletics.
• 17/08/2008 Spend £20m on Gaelic TV? It's Greek to me
  Gillian Bowditch, The Sunday Times
  There is a pleasing synergy to the news that Scotland’s first dedicated Gaelic television channel is to launch with a drama about Elvis. Raising the dead to resuscitate the dying neatly sums up the Gaelic conundrum.
• 15/08/2008 Gaelic TV Channel Splits Tories
  All Media Scotland
• 13/08/2008 Féis Arainn a resounding success
  The Arran Banner
  Youngsters on Arran showed real promise as budding musical stars after they took part in the annual Féis Arainn.
• 13/08/2008 Launch date for Gaelic TV channel
  BBC News
  The new Gaelic television channel - BBC ALBA - will be launched on 19 September, it has been confirmed.
• 13/08/2008 Champion of Scottish Traditional Music Hails from Alaska
  Nicola Rutherford, Press and Journal
  An Alaska-born piper has been appointed the new head of Scottish traditional music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
• 12/08/2008 Seattle student wins top award at Gaelic language college
  Nicola Rutherford, Aberdeen Press and Journal
  POST-GRADUATE student Timothy Armstrong has been named Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI’s student of the year.
• 12/08/2008 National Gaelic Conference in Lewis
  Stornoway Gazette
  PREPARATIONS are under way for a National Gaelic Conference to take place in Lewis on September 12.
• 12/08/2008 Celtic TV... but there will hardly be a Hoop in sight
  Graeme Macpherson, The Herald
  It is a damning, but hardly surprising, statistic that more people in Scotland now speak Polish than Gaelic, but a new television channel, due to be launched next month, hopes to reawaken interest in the ancient Celtic tongue.
• 12/08/2008 Watchdog urged to examine post for ex-minister
  Robbie Dinwoodie, Cheif Executive Political Correpsondent, The Herald
  Scottish Culture Minister Linda Fabiani has asked the UK standards watchdog to investigate the appointment of a former Labour minister at Holyrood to the new Gaelic television service.
• 11/08/2008 Call to change ‘boring’ Mod competition format
  Press and Journal
  A Highland councillor who advocated the abolition of the Royal National Mod in its present form has courted controversy again by proposing the competition format should be more like that of BBC TV’s Last Choir Standing.
  *08/08/2008 Gaelic Debate sought in Parliament
  Stornoway Gazette
  WESTERN Isles MSP Alasdair Allan has submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament on the Gaelic language with the aim of seeking to have a members debate on the topic after recess.
• 07/08/2008 New blow for group formed to revitalise Gaelic
  Press and Journal
  The organisation created to maintain and promote the Gaelic language has lost its second senior official in the space of two months.
• 07/08/2008 Gaelic development chief resigns after months in job
  David Ross, Highland Correspondent, The Herald
  The chief executive of the Gaelic development agency Bord na Gaidhlig resigned yesterday less than a year after taking up the job, amid reports of serious staff shortages.
• 05/08/2008 Salmond predicts the Homecoming will bring tourist boom
  David Ross, The Herald
  The First Minister yesterday visited Culloden battlefield where he predicted the Scottish Homecoming next
• 01/08/2008 Feis children receive top tuition
  The Arran Banner Children from Arran have been making the most of Fèis Arainn at the high school this week to learn more about the island’s Gaelic culture.
• 01/08/2008 Going back to her roots - Julie Fowlis
  Robin Denselow, The Guardian She sings in a language spoken by only 60,000, but BBC folk singer of the year Julie Fowlis tells Robin Denselow why the world is ready for her
  year would be a triumph which would herald a significant tourist boom.