Celtic Recipes

In December of last year Transceltic’s Douglas MacQueen reported that the  Scottish government's support for the Gaelic language has seen a big rise in speakers in Glasgow, Scotland's largest city. This reflects a growing trend in other parts of Scotland. Glasgow Gaelic School currently has 505 primary pupils, 237 secondary pupils and almost 60 nursery children – and the numbers are increasing every year. Plans for a second Gaelic school in the South Side to cater for 200 children have been announced with work due to start in 2015.

In a significant advance for the Welsh language the government has signaled a change in the direction of Welsh Medium education.  Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones along with Huw Lewis, Minister for Education and Skills, declared that a change is needed in the use of the Welsh tongue in the nations’ educational system.  Jones stated that the Celtic tongue needs to be made “…a part of pupil’s everyday lives rather than confined to specific lessons.”

The Royal Chapel at St John's was the venue for the official launch of this year's Christmas stamps, which feature the creative artwork of Julia Ashby Smyth.

Each of the five stamps focus on a specific Manx word and a religious emblem closely associated with the spiritual aspect of Christmas and the winter festival. The words and images in turn draw upon the history of the Manx Gaelic version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, translated by the Bishop of Sodor and Man, John Phillips, in 1610.

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

Just weeks after we revealed the damage being wrought on fish stocks by so called monster trawlers off the West of Ireland a new EU deal has been reached, affecting the Irish Sea, which will cause even greater damage to fish stocks.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has expressed concern at the long term damage to the marine eco-system echoing comments we made about a month ago.

There’s an excellent report by Irish Times Marine correspondence Lorna Siggins at this link: