An Ubhal as Àirde - back to school for a Gaelic Higher

My Mum always used to say to me that God loves a trier! 

Tonight I will be heading back to school for the next few months - or technically to an 'e-sgoil' - to study for the SQA's Higher Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) exam, as well as to follow their 10 week 'Gaelic Awareness' course. Taught via Comhairle nan Eilean's eSgoil initiative (https://www.e-sgoil.com and https://www.facebook.com/eSgoil/), it will involve study on Monday and Thursday evenings, and at some stage next year, I am going to have to sit down in a school hall somewhere and do an exam!

I've been dabbling with Gaelic on and off for the last 25 years, ever since I first started to learn it down in Bristol as part of the Cardiff Gaelic Circle, just over the Severn Bridge. I have many fond memories of attending ceilidhs at the Highlands and Islands Society in London, and at events in Cardiff and Bristol. After moving to Scotland in 1997 I worked in television, and occasionally in Gaelic television, as a researcher on Eòrpa, and an AP on the STV production 'Celtic America' (Na Stàitean Ceilteach). On one occasion, I even had the great pleasure of taking one of my former Gaelic tutors in Cardiff, John Angus McLeod (Iain Aonghais MacLeòid), back over to Harris to film a sequence for the BBC series 'Coast', having discovered by sheer coincidence that he had moved back to Scotland and was living in the same Ayrshire town as myself! 

Having left telly tubby land in 2006 I have of course been working flat out in genealogy, but during this time finding the time to keep up the study of the language was difficult. Thanks to the Covid lockdowns, I decided on a new five year plan, to try to gain a degree of fluency within 5 years, and I have spent the last two years on Duolingo (www.duolingo.com), and with other courses, to refreshen the basics and to start pushing beyond what I am already comfortable with. Having initially applied to do a National 5, I've been advised that I might be better to try push myself harder by going for the Higher - so this is sink or swim time! If successful, the next stop will then be Gaelic immersion courses in Skye, and a few other thoughts I have.

Invariably, this will take a bit of time up, but I will try to keep the blog going as frequently as I can. I'm very much looking forward to the courses, and to quote a great song, "thig an la is thig an t-àm,
airson an ubhal as àirde, air a' chraobh a bhuain" - it's time now to make that final effort to reach the highest apple on the tree!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.