Scourie, 18 February 2011

YOU KNOW that something is changing when there are more children than adults on the dancefloor and it’s the kids who know what they’re doing.

So it was at the ‘Tutor’s Ceilidh’, marking the end of the first day of Fèis an Iar Thuath, the first Fèis to be held in the tiny community of Scourie, on the west coast of Sutherland.

Dance tutor Frank McConnell in Plan B's A Wee Home From Home

Throughout the day, 40 children had been singing, dancing, making music, talking Gaelic and having fun, and it had clearly left them brimming with energy and alight with their newly-learned skills. At 6.30pm it was the turn of the tutors to entertain, and the doors of the village hall were thrown open to the public.

As always at such events, the start was slow and informal, as tables gradually filled, the tombola ran and a scratch band called The Sporadiks played through a few numbers.

The fun really began when Frank McConnell, the dance tutor for the weekend, set up his portable ceilidh band and called people to the floor. The rapport between him and his young students was evident as they showed the rest of the crowd how old favourites like the Gay Gordons and the Dashing White Sergeant were really done, as well as setting out on ‘a dance that has never been danced before’.

Frank’s dancing was without doubt the highlight of the evening, particularly when he took the stage for a solo accompanied by guitar tutor Ruairaidh Campbell and a local fiddler. His smile as he dances projects sheer bliss, and while his feet carry off a dazzle of complex steps, the rest of his body from the ankle upwards seems to be in a state of perfect relaxation.

Equally enjoyable was Lindsay Cherry’s contribution, especially the mournful slow air Lord Mayo, which began his set with fiddle tutor Anne Wood. He has the rare skill of making a tin whistle sound really sweet.

Lisa MacDonald, Gaelic song tutor, sang a couple of songs, her voice the best of the evening, despite what she described as ‘a day of shouting’. Lisa has been one of the main forces behind the establishment of Fèis an Iar Thuath, along with others in the local Gaelic development organisation Am Parbh, which is working to try to revive the language.

Glenda Cairncross, another of the organisers, said that she sees the Fèis as just the start of plans to encourage interest in Gaelic in west Sutherland. ‘We are planting little acorns’, she said, ‘and we hope to have the Fèis on an annual basis, along with other cultural events that help people to get a chance to learn and use Gaelic.’

Am Parbh is not only the Gaelic name for Cape Wrath, but also literally means turning point. Lisa says: ‘There used to be a local group by this name and this is a kind of reincarnation of it. We hope that it will really be a turning point for the language, and put an end to the decline.’

If the Scourie children’s enthusiasm is anything to go by, not to mention the amazing generosity of local people and businesses shown by the tombola and raffle prizes, their hoped-for revival of the Gaelic tradition is off to a good start.

© Mandy Haggith, 2011