Blogs

News from the Celtic League:

‘Shocked and dismayed’ - General Secretary Writes to Spanish Ambassador

An item in yesterday's Scottish newspaper, the Scotsman, reports that a site where Norse leaders gathered for parliamentary meetings may have been discovered in Caithness (Scottish Gaelic: Gallaibh) in the northeast of Scotland. Features identified as resembling such a site have resulted in archeological work being undertaken at Thing’s Va Broch near Thurso.

Wales has over 70,000 hectares of peatland and most of these are blanket bogs in the uplands. Now it has been announced that important peatlands across the whole of Wales are to receive £1m in funding to help restoration and protection. The Mawndiroedd Cymru scheme is a joint venture between the Snowdonia National Park Authority, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust, along with other strategic organisations. 

John Callow is of Manx descent and is a writer, screenwriter, and historian, specialising in Seventeenth Century politics and popular culture. He is the author of a number of books and has appeared in numerous television programmes. On November 4th he will be launching his new book : Embracing the Darkness - A Cultural History of Witchcraft (IB Tauris). The event will take place at the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic in the Cornish fishing port of Boscastle (Cornish: Kastel Boterel). 

The mystery of the final resting place of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Chief of Clan Fraser, known as "the Old Fox" could be moving closer to being solved. He lived from about 1667 to 9 April 1747. Beheaded in London as a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie, his headless body is said to lie in a lead casket at Wardlaw Mausoleum at Kirkhill, near Inverness. A body, minus the head is in the casket but is it that of Simon Fraser?

Since the beginning of Catalonia's bid for a referendum on independence, the Spanish Government has made every effort to prevent it. As the date for the referendum approached the Spanish state mounted a disgraceful degree of repression. During the period leading to the vote on 1st October 2017 the Spanish police force arrested 15 Catalan Government officials. The Spanish Civil Guard then searched a number of newspaper offices without warrants and large amounts of referendum material was seized.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon will visit Dublin this week where she will meet political and business leaders, including Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar. This is Nicola Sturgeon's second trip to Dublin in less than a year. On that occasion she addressed the upper house of the Irish Parliament. The First Minister has said that she views Ireland as an important friend to Scotland and looked forward to strengthening links between the countries.

Plans by developers to build 250 homes on the Bannockburn battle site have been refused by Sterling Councillors. The Battle of Bannockburn on 24 June 1314 was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence against the English forces of King Edward II. In a unanimous decision at a Sterling Council meeting on Wednesday the refusal took into account the need to protect the historic importance of the Bannockburn site and also because of the environmental harm of the proposed development in a Green Belt area.

Kernow

3rd October, 2017

Kernow Matters represented on Japanese TV 

Following an approach made by a Japanese TV company, a senior KMTU member, Craig, spent time in the company of popular Japanese media star and musician Narumi Yasuda and her production company. Following initial discussions with us, our Japanese guests came to Cornwall in order to find out more about Cornwall and the Cornish people, our beliefs, culture, ancient sites, mythology, legends and identity.

Media Release from Culture Vannin:

The Cooish is back!

The Cooish, Manx Language Festival, returns this October after a few years’ absence and in a very different format to previous years.

Re-launching, thanks to the work of the Yn Chruinnaght committee and with support from the Manx Language Development Office for Culture Vannin, this year will see a two-day series of events on the 20th and 21st of October.