Press release -
Fort William has all the Mòd cons
An evening of live trad music and Gaelic culture will form part of a celebration marking the arrival of the Royal National Mòd to Lochaber.
People are invited along to the VisitScotland iCentre in Fort William from 4pm on Monday 16 October, as it hosts an evening of free live musical performances, with support from the Outdoor Capital of the UK (OCUK) in Lochaber.
The Royal National Mòd is organised by An Comunn Gàidhealach (The Highland Association). Famous for celebrating our Gaelic linguistic and cultural heritage, Scotland’s premier Gaelic festival provides opportunities for people of all ages to perform across a range of competitive disciplines, including Gaelic music and song, Highland dancing, instrumental, drama, sport and literature.
This year, it takes place between 13 and 21 October in Lochaber and staff in the Fort William VisitScotland iCentre will be helping answer any queries in relation to the events taking place during the week, as well as providing Gaelic-speaking advisors for the event in the centre itself on 16 October.
The entertainment kicks off in the iCentre at 4pm on 16 October, when 11-year-old accordion player Cameron MacIsaac, who is competing in the Mòd, will open proceedings. iCentre visitors can then whet their appetites with music from local performers, including Gaelic Mòd gold medal singers Ruaridh Cormack, Eilidh Cormack and Emma Macleod.
At 5pm, the talented Marianne Fraser and A'Hooligan, who describe themselves as “a mad-trad ceilidh band from the west coast, producing and performing our unique style throughout the highlands and islands,” will perform.
Hot on their heels from 6.30pm to 8pm are Gary Innes, Ewen Henderson and Craig Irving, of Mànran, one of the best-known and loved Scottish bands on the scene today. The 2011 launch of their debut single, Latha Math, heralded a meteoric rise to the top of the Scottish music world that quickly saw them playing many of the most prestigious festivals in Europe, despite having only been in existence for a few months.
From then, a multi-award-winning debut album followed as the band set about living up to the hype surrounding their early release while establishing their characteristic sound and distinctive approach to musical arrangement.
A member of VisitScotland’s Coo Van fleet – either Hamish, Morag or Archie – will also be parked outside the iCentre on Monday evening. These vans have toured the country throughout the summer, providing inspiration and information at events, visitor attractions and tourism hotspots – and have become a real talking point amongst visitors, who are encouraged to stop by, have a chat with our Coo-visors and learn about some of the traditional Scottish activities in which they can get involved.
Chris Taylor, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director, said: “This event is the perfect opportunity for VisitScotland to help showcase some great traditional music and we are delighted to be supporting this as well as the continual development and promotion of Gaelic, particularly during Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.
“At VisitScotland we recognise that the Gaelic language is an integral part of Scotland’s heritage, identity and culture, which makes it vital when we are marketing Scotland to our visitors.
“The VisitScotland team here in the Fort William iCentre is pivotal in providing information and inspiration to visitors from all over the world who want to learn about the Highlands and the Gaelic culture. Tourism is the heartbeat of the Scottish economy – supporting communities and creating jobs throughout the year in every corner of the country.”
Chris O'Brien, Destination Manager, Outdoor Capital of the UK said: "We are delighted to support this fantastic night of traditional entertainment with VisitScotland, and we're just as excited to live stream the event on Facebook so that we can share our brand of Highland entertainment with the rest of the world!"
As well as the fantastic musicians, visitors will also be able to Lochaber’s delicious local produce, including shortbread and whisky.
For those who can’t attend, there is an opportunity to view a live streaming of events, along with exclusive interviews with the musicians, live on Facebook on the OCUK Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Outdoorcapitaluk
For more information on VisitScotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
For more information, visit www.outdoorcapital.co.uk
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- year of history heritage and archaeology
- gaelic
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh) 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
