Working in partnership, An Lòchran and Comunn na Gà idhlig took part in this year's West End Festival to celebrate the community spirit and cultural diversity of Glasgow's West End.
Our language workshops, 'A Wee Blas of Scottish Gaelic' were aimed at beginners, and provided participants with a taste of Gaelic and a chance to find out where words like 'smashing, twig, grotty and banshee' come from. There were also singing workshops led by award winning Gaelic singer Maeve MacKinnon who gave an introduction to the rich tradition of Gaelic music and culture. Held at Partick Library and Learning Centre, the workshops were a great success and we hope to hold more events at next year's festival.
A tour around the Kelvingrove Art Gallery with retired art teacher Archie Fraser proved popular, and those who took part gained fresh insight into some of our best art treasures, from masterpieces by Rembrandt and Titian to rubbing shoulders with the Glasgow Boys and Viking treasures, and all through he medium of Gaelic!Â
A special Drama evening, 'Drama 's Craic', was held at The Piping College in Otago Street, and featured new Gaelic Drama group Tog-I, led by Arthur Donald. Performing in front of a packed audience, there were comedy sketches in Gaelic and English from Daibhidh Walker, Carina MacLeod, Melissa Deans and Ruairidh MacIver. Arthur Donald performed sketches from the late Hector MacDonald's brilliant weekly column in the West Highland Free Press 'Aimsir Eachainn', and there was a special performance from comedienne 'Viv Gee' and Gaelic music from Maeve MacKinnon and guitarist Barry Reid.
On Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th March 2009, An Lòchran, in partnership with Cearcaill na Gà idhlig, took part in the Aye Write Book Festival at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
Cearcaill na GÃ idhlig or The Gaelic Rings, began as an innovative tourism-marketing initiative in 2007, and is based on Caledonian MacBrayne's island Hopscotch route taking in Oban, Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, and Skye and Mallaig.
The initiative, is aimed at both Gaelic and non-Gaelic speaking visitors, and seeks to celebrate the richness of Gaelic language and culture, not only by highlighting the important role Gaelic has played in Scotland's past, but, more importantly, its relevance in today's modern world.
The Aye Write sessions were presented by Gaelic broadcaster Patsi Mackenzie who heard the personal journeys of heritage consultant, writer and storyteller Mairi Macarthur, founding editor of the West Highland Free Press and former minister Brian Wilson, boat-builder, seaman, writer and academic Donald Meek and award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and film actor, Angus Peter Campbell.
The evenings started with a short film introducing the journeys which were set to music by Runrig, followed by plenty of lively chat with stories to tell and personal anecdotes which contributed to the relaxed and informal atmosphere of the evenings.
A very enjoyable 2 evenings were had by all!
An Lòchran in collaboration with Drama workers, Arthur Donald and David Walker, delivered a specially devised and crafted workshop aimed at upper primary and secondary pupils in Gaelic medium units in the Central Belt. The theme of the Drama Workshop was 'World War 1' and explored social, personal, political and economic situations, for example rent rises, food rations and family members going to war.
Each school received workshops over 8 weeks and 234 pupils took part. The response from teachers and pupils has been very positive, and we hope to continue the project next year.
On Saturday 27th October 2007, a galaxy of Gaelic artistes took to the stage to salute Kenna Campbell's outstanding contribution to Gaelic Arts and Culture in 'A Cèilidh for Kenna'.
The sell out event, a collaboration between the Glasgow Gaelic Arts organisation, An Lòchran, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), was a wonderful evening of music and song, backed up by many old friends and compèred by the popular BBC presenter John Carmichael.
Many of those performing had benefited from Kenna's tuition at the RSAMD and at fèisean. They included James Graham and Catriona Watt, both winners of the Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition, Rachel Walker, the first Gaelic song graduate of RSAMD and the band Skipinnish from Tiree.
Mod Gold Medalists paying their own tribute included daughters Mary Ann and Wilma Kennedy, niece Maggie MacDonald, Arthur Cormack and fellow RSAMD tutors Mairi MacInnes and Calum Ross. The waulking group Bannal, formed by Kenna, also participated.Â
There was much on stage banter, a short film recounting Kenna's many achievements, stories to tell and personal messages from friends which contributed to the relaxed and informal atmosphere of the Cèilidh.  Â
All the artistes waived their fees and the profits went to 3 charities of Kenna's choosing; An Lòchran, The Musicians Benevolent Fund and the work of Father Colin MacInnes in Ecuador.
On Saturday 16th September 2006 at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow, An Lòchran hosted a very special evening to celebrate the career of button accordion maestro and cèilidh band leader Fergie MacDonald.
Fergie MacDonald's 50-year career has seen him record over 23 albums and produce a series of videos and books as well as hitting the top spot in the Scottish charts in 1966 with 'The Loch Maree Islands'. We were inundated with artists who wanted to pay tribute to one of the all time greats of Scottish traditional music, many of whom re-arranged their schedules to be at the concert. He has inspired numerous other musicians through his live performances, radio and television broadcasts and albums and has been an excellent ambassador for Gaelic culture at events throughout the UK and abroad.
The Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow proved to be an ideal venue for what was to be a very special evening, backed up by many old friends, among them Gaelic super group Cliar, and in particular by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham. The thousand strong audience were enthralled as Bean-an-tighe, Morag MacDonald, prompted Fergie to tell many a tale of his past exploits, from how he started as a button key box player to his famous red socks.
The music was first class as was the on-stage banter, and there was dancing in the aisles as Fergie was joined by another six accordionists in a spectacular finale.
It was fitting that An Lòchran hosted the event, and we achieved not only a sell out concert, but national media coverage which highlighted our aim of establishing a Gaelic centre in Glasgow.
"Let's all get behind An Lòchran to ensure that our tradition and culture goes from strength to strength in the City of Glasgow. If securing a venue means more nights like this one then the sooner it happens the better" (Glasgow Letter)
The very first Fèis Ghlaschu took place in October 2004 at Bunsgoil Gà idhlig Ghlaschu and was successful with 25 children taking part.
Since then the Fèis has gone from strength to strength and this year's Fèis, run by Culture and Sport Glasgow with involvement from An Lòchran took place in the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Over 100 children took part and there were classes in Gaelic Song, Fiddle, Clà rsach, Art, Shinty, Dance, Whistle, Chanter and Accordion.
To mark Bunsgoil Ghà idhlig Ghlaschu's transfer to the new Woodside Campus, the school undertook a project to produce a CD in conjunction with Stow College. Donalda McComb, the Head Teacher approached An Lòchran with a proposal to organise a competition inviting musicians to compose a piece of music, either instrumental or a song, under the title 'Gà idhlig ann an Glaschu'.
Eight new pieces of music were submitted and the 1st prize of £500 went to Suzanne Houston from Plockton High School.
After a lot of hard work, we launched our Strategy for Gaelic Arts in November 2005 in the Centre for Contemporary Arts. An Lòchran would like to thank the continuing support of our partners in delivering the Strategy, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Arts Council, Bòrd na Gà idhlig and the National Gaelic Arts Agency.
In our strategy An Lòchran has made a commitment to delivering our annual Gaelic Arts programme, which we have successfully done for three years now.
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