Blogs

The Welsh Government sponsored orgnisation Natural Resources Wales (Welsh: Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) has revealed that it has received another application from  EDF Energy to dump up to 780,000 tonnes of potentially contaminated sediment off Cardiff Bay.  EDF Energy wants to deposit sediment dredged as part of building work for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant.

There are many wildlife organisations working throughout the Celtic lands and waters that do a tremendous job in trying to protect endangered species. They bring together volunteers from across the communities in which they live who are interested in the conservation of wildlife. One such group is the Yn possan Manninagh son craitnaghyn (Manx Bat Group) and they have a very distinctive logo (see below) of a bat in Celtic design flying over a map of the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin). Craitnag is the Manx Gaelic name for a bat.

The 2020 Irish general election will be held on Saturday 8 February 2020. It will be held at a time when Ireland's electorate have become increasingly dissatisfied with the present Fine Gael administrations inability or even unwillingness to deal with a number of important issues including health care, housing and crime. The election was called following the dissolution of the of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland.

Local author, Derek Winterbottom, has written several books concerning different aspects of the Isle of Man, but he has now focused his attention towards two remarkable women who devoted their lives to an all consuming passion.

Both Sophia Morrison and Mona Douglas undoubtedly played a crucial role in the survival and continuity of the Island's language, folklore and other traditional elements of Manx life; but here we have a book which brings them together in printed form and explores their lives on an intimate basis.

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; Scottish Gaelic: Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA) have today backed a Government motion calling for the Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) to have the power to hold another independence referendum. MSPs voted by 64 to 54 in favour of the Government's motion, with no abstentions that argued "a referendum should be held so that the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country".

Tonight, Tuesday 28th January the 2020 festival of Up Helly Aa will see the skies of Lerwick in Shetland lit up with burning torches. The event including a procession of about 1000 guizers celebrates Shetland's Norse heritage. There is a Guizer Jarl (Chief Guizer) who leads a Jarl Squad, which is one of the many Guizer squads participating in the event. Dressed in Viking clothing and marching through the town with battle axes and torches, they drag with them a ceremonial Viking longboat. Thousands of spectators will line the route.

Local group Clash Vooar will soon be heading to Denmark to represent the Isle of Man in the thirteenth edition of Liet International Festival, amongst a line-up of twenty participants representing regional and minority languages.

Most members of the group, described as having a gypsy/jazz groove, reside in the west of the Island, with regular gigs at both the Centenary Centre and The Whitehouse in Peel, and were selected by an international jury from an extensive list of forty five potential entries - reflecting a growing interest in the Liet International Festival.

News from the Celtic League:

One hundred and twenty years ago in 1900 the Irish radical nationalist womens organisation Inghinidhe na hÉireann was founded by Maud Gonne

The Inghinidhe's objects were defined as follows:

The re-establishment of the complete independence of Ireland

To encourage the study of Gaelic of Irish literature, history, music and art, especially among the young, by the organising and teaching of classes for the above subjects.

To support and popularise Irish manufactures.

News from the Celtic League:

The late Dr Brian Stowell was a long time member of the Celtic League and a contributor to Carn it's journal almost from its inception in the early 1970s. Brian and his commitment to the Celtic movement is often seen as synonymous with the Celtic languages he taught both Irish and Manx and was pivotal to the formal inclusion of Manx language education in the teaching curriculum in Mann.

News from the Celtic League:

I wrote a recent item at the end of last year ‘The Turn of the Year and Memories’ posted on our CL Mannin Facebook ages and on the main Celtic League website

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2607790599269685&id=80...

https://www.celticleague.net/…/the-turn-of-the-year-and-me…/