{"id":23868,"date":"2025-05-19T11:27:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/?p=23868"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:28:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:28:44","slug":"final-call-for-entries-for-the-2025-royal-national-mod-in-lochaber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/final-call-for-entries-for-the-2025-royal-national-mod-in-lochaber\/","title":{"rendered":"Final call for entries for the 2025 Royal National M\u00f2d in Lochaber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Solo<\/a>
Tuesday at The Royal National M\u00f2d in Oban saw a plethora of singing prizes awarded to worthy youngsters. St. John\u2019s Cathedral hosted the Traditional competitions for girls and boys aged 13-15. Finlay MacLeay Moireasdan from Glasgow Gaelic Secondary School won the Traditional Silver Kilt Pin and local girl Millie Bonniwell from Oban High School won the Silver Pendant and picked up the Aggregate Prize for highest marks, The Ann Kelly MacDonald Memorial Trophy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Organisers of the Royal National M\u00f2d <\/strong>are urging individuals and groups to submit their entries to compete in this year\u2019s prestigious Gaelic language and cultural celebration before the approaching deadline on Saturday 31 May 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking place from 10 – 18 October 2025<\/strong> in Fort William and surrounding areas, this marks the ninth time the 133-year-old event will be hosted in the Lochaber region. Known as Scotland’s premier Gaelic festival, the M\u00f2d celebrates the rich heritage and future of the Gaelic language, arts and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitors of all ages and abilities are invited to participate in over 200 categories, including choral singing, accordion, fiddle, drama, poetry, and the crowd-favourite Battle of the Bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full list of competitions<\/strong> can be found at ancomunn.co.uk\/nationalmod\/syllabus<\/a> and entries submitted at https:\/\/enter.ancomunn.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisers An Comunn G\u00e0idhealach <\/strong>hope to match entry levels reached at last year\u2019s event in Oban, which recorded 2,700 participants across the event\u2019s nine days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of children in the Lochaber area are being encouraged to participate in the Royal National M\u00f2d thanks to the M\u00f2d Academy. Six tutors are visiting around 40 classes across 18 schools in the area to give them a taste of Gaelic song, traditional music and poetry, get them in the M\u00f2d spirit and encourage them to take part in the prestigious event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The M\u00f2d Academy is delivered by F\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal, in partnership with An Comunn G\u00e0idhealach and funded by B\u00f2rd na G\u00e0idhlig with support from Highland Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Graham, Chief Executive Officer of An Comunn G\u00e0idhealach,<\/strong> said: <\/strong>\u201cThe Lochaber M\u00f2d is shaping up to be another milestone celebration of Gaelic \u2013 an indigenous language that is thriving. We are looking to maintain the fantastic number of participants and visitors that we saw in Oban last year and would warmly encourage Gaelic enthusiasts, musicians, singers, and performers to submit their applications before the upcoming deadline. The next generation is a central focus of the M\u00f2d and it\u2019s fantastic to see the work being done in local schools to get Lochaber children involved in this historic event on their doorstep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eilidh Mackenzie Barker, F\u00e8isgoil Manager, F\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal said: <\/strong>\u201cConnecting children learning Gaelic with their cultural heritage is at the heart of what F\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal offers. We are delighted to be given the opportunity to make these connections through partnership working once again with An Comunn G\u00e0idhealach, The Highland Council, B\u00f2rd na G\u00e0idhlig and Lochaber schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur local F\u00e8isgoil tutor team working on the Mod Academy project this year bring a wealth of first-hand experience as M\u00f2d competitors and as professional musicians and they include student teacher, Laura Robertson, Glencoe musician Lucy Doogan (ex H\u00f2-r\u00f2), M\u00f2d Gold medalists Mary Ann Kennedy and Riona Whyte and sisters Ingrid (Glenfinnan C\u00e8ilidh Band) and Megan (Breabach) Henderson. We really hope this rounded experience encourages youngsters to participate in local and national M\u00f2ds and find joy in singing in Gaelic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highland Council leader Raymond Bremner said:<\/strong> \u201cGaelic brings enormous social, cultural and economic benefits, all of which will be showcased at the Royal National M\u00f2d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe National M\u00f2d will help once again demonstrate Highland Council\u2019s enduring support for Gaelic in schools, in events and in our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re delighted the National M\u00f2d is returning to the Highlands for what promises to be a superb eight-day celebration in Lochaber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal National M\u00f2d<\/strong>, hosted in a different Scottish town each year, extends beyond the competitions themselves, with a lively fringe programme including concerts, workshops, talks, and community sessions taking over venues across its host location. The 2024 edition in Oban welcomed over 9,000 attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal National M\u00f2d <\/strong>returns to Lochaber in 2025, from 10 – 18 October<\/strong>. Competition entries close midnight, Saturday 31 May<\/strong>. Visit https:\/\/enter.ancomunn.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Organisers of the Royal National M\u00f2d are urging individuals and groups to submit their entries to compete in this year\u2019s prestigious Gaelic language and cultural celebration before the approaching deadline on Saturday 31 May 2025. Taking place from 10 – 18 October 2025 in Fort William and surrounding areas, this marks the ninth time the 133-year-old event will be hosted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-newsletter","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-6cY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23870,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23868\/revisions\/23870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}