Blogs

Four baby hares have been rescued by Scottish SPCA (Scotland's Animal Welfare Charity) from a garden in Kelso (Scottish Gaelic: Cealsaidh) a market town in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A hare that is less than one year old is called a leveret and the ones found were about a week-old. Hares bear their young in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form.

Orkney Folk Festival takes place on 25 - 28 May 2017. There can be few more wonderful locations for a Festival than Orkney. Orkney (Scottish Gaelic: Arcaibh. Norse: Orkneyjar) is an archipelago situated off the north coast of Scotland. Orkney is made up of approximately 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited and the largest island is Mainland. The largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall. Orkney is a place of great beauty that has been inhabited since Mesolithic times.

Elections are being held that will have a major impact on all of the Celtic nations. Voters in Brittany will be casting their votes in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election on 23 April 2017. Should no candidate win a majority, a run-off election between the top two candidates will be held on 7 May 2017. A victory for candidate Marine Le Pen would signal attempts to suppress the Regions which could destroy the limited regional power that Brittany currently has. Now a British General Election is to be held on June 8th, 2017.

Redruth

18 April 2017

In a clever move, Mrs May has called a General Election. Although following Cornwall's own elections on 4th May, 2017, the electorate in the Duchy are likely to be 'electioned out', in one swoop, Mrs May will look to increase her majority in the Westminster Parliament and in so doing, give her greater ability and mandate to deal with those 'rebellious Scots' and to effect whatever deal she chooses over Brexit taking advantage of the lack of any determined opposition.

However, there may be a little silver lining to the large blue cloud!

The Stornoway Gazette is reporting that the Bòrd na Gàidhlig has announced funding for the Cnoc Soilleir project in Uist.  The Cnoc Soilleir project is a partnership between both Ceòlas Uibhist and Lews Castle College (UHI) to establish a centre for Scots Gaelic Gàidhlig music, dance and cultural heritage.

Nuart Aberdeen is taking place this Easter weekend. Inspired by Nuart that has taken place in Stavangar, Norway since 2001, this major street art festival in Aberdeen is on from Friday 14 – Sunday 16 April. Developed in collaboration with Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council, Nuart Aberdeen aims to provide a platform for local, national and international artists to showcase their work through a series of site-specific murals, installations, interventions, and temporary exhibitions. Large and small images have been appearing on city buildings in recent days.

News from Irish Branch of the Celtic League:

Members of the radical Irish language group MISNEACH occupied the Department of the Gaeltacht on Kildare Street, Dublin on 12th April. After figures published in the census last week revealed a dramatic fall in the number of daily speakers of Irish in the Gaeltacht between 2011-2016 the group is demanding a fundamental shift in the approach of the State to our national language.

Referring to the fall in numbers, a spokesperson for MISNEACH said:

News from the Celtic League:

‘Low flying military aircraft…does not just cause death or injury to the animals but also can lead to the deaths of horse riders’.

A number of horses had to be put down following an incident involving low flying United States Air Force jets in Cornwall (see link):

http://www.cornwalllive.com/…/story-30270897-det…/story.html

No matter what the temperature might be on the Isle of Man, things are hotting up for Manx music this month, with many singers and musicians heading for pastures old and new - together with a special weekend for harp players.

The first new set of Isle of Man (Mannin) coins for 13 years has been launched by the Manx Treasury. The Treasury (Manx: Yn Tashtey) of the Isle of Man is the finance department of the Isle of Man Government (Manx: Reiltys Ellan Vannin). The set of seven includes a new version of the five-pound coin, which was first introduced on the island in 1981.