Celtic Link - Your weekly roundup
The pick of must-read news stories from around the Celtic World
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In this week’s newsletter:
🇮🇪 Riverdance announce their 2024 tour programme
🌎 Villages in Patagonia where Welsh is the everyday language
⚒️ The Welsh Indiana Jones exploring the country’s mining heritage
🌲 Scotland to get a new National Park
🎶 The UK’s most remote night club
⛏️ Cornwall set to see a revival of tin mining
🚂 The return of a piece of Cornwall’s Industrial Revolution heritage?
🏍️ The Isle of Man and one of the worlds major motorsports events
Brittany seeks greater independence from France
🎶 The Dublin Choral Scholars sing Mo Ghille Mear
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The Celtic World This Week
📣 Featured News Item
🇮🇪 Riverdance announces 2024 dates
The Irish cultural juggernaut that has been rolling around the world since 1994, will visit four countries in 2024. Here’s the schedule:
Ireland: Dublin, 5th June to 8th September 2024
Australia: 2nd-14th April (Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney)
Germany: 22 cities, 10th November to 13 December 2024
Switzerland: Zurich, 3rd December
Riverdance is a fusion of traditional Irish dancing and music with a modern twist that has not only wowed audiences but has inspired students all over the world to study and participate in the artform. There has been an explosion of Irish dance schools in the Irish diaspora (the UK, north America, Australia) but also in South America, China, Russia and the Middle East. No wonder it has been described as ‘a vehicle for carrying Irish dance, music and folklore abroad’.
Here are a few quick facts about the stage show that has arguably done more to bring Ireland and its culture to the world than any other single event.
Riverdance was born as an interval act in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2003, Riverdance became the first show from the West to perform at The Great Hall of the People, Beijing. Over 100,000 people attended the first tour of China.
In 2010 Riverdance played 95 shows at Radio City Music Hall, New York - a record run at the legendary theatre.
In 2013, 1,693 dancers from 44 countries set the world record for the longest Riverdance line on the banks of Dublin’s River Liffey.
In 2018 The Riverdance troupe of 63 dancers join with 500 Irish dancers to perform for the historic visit of Pope Francis to Ireland.
Riverdance celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 with a new show that is still touring today. By that time it had been seen live by 25 million people in 40 countries, and on television by 500 million people.
In 2023, Riverdance came to Jordan, performing three outdoor shows at the Roman Theatre, Amman.
29 years on and Riverdance is still going strong!
Here’s a taster of the current show:
📰 In other news…
Wales
🌎 7,000 miles from Wales, across the South Atlantic Ocean in Argentina, is an enclave of Welsh-speaking villages. Celts really do get everywhere!
With Welsh nationalists keen to promote uptake of the Welsh language, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was confined to within the country’s borders - but the dwindling tongue of Cymru is still going strong in a number of towns near Antarctica.
View full story: The Welsh language speakers 7,000 miles from home
View full story: Divided loyalties: Welsh speakers in Argentina during the Rugby World Cup
⚒️ The ‘Welsh Indiana Jones exploring the country’s historic mines
loan Lord is on a mission to bring a key part of Wales' heritage the attention it deserves.
The intrepid explorer squeezes through tight spaces and wades through ice-cold water, tracking down mines that have been abandoned, forgotten and unvisited for decades or even centuries. Ioan reckons he’s explored 300-400 mines.
Lean, eager and articulate, with a mop of unruly hair, he doesn’t immediately come across as a Welsh Indiana Jones. Loan Lord is also aged just 25. But in that time he’s visited more mines and recovered more historical artefacts than the fictional explorer could ever hope for.
View full story: The Welsh Indiana Jones
Scotland
🌲 A new national park for Scotland
The beautiful, varied, spectacular landscape is one of the main draws for visitors to Scotland. Many will have spent time in the two existing national parks - Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, established in 2002, and the Cairngorms National Park, established in 2003.
So it’s great to hear that a third park is to be designated by 2026, with local communities and organisations are being invited to submit their proposals.
Another reason - as if one were needed - to make the trip to Scotland that you’ve always promised yourself!
The Cairngorms National Park (Photo: Visit Scotland)
National Park status can bring enormous benefits to a region. It offers a heightened focus on the protection and enhancement of the area’s natural and cultural heritage. It can attract vital support to hard-pressed communities, and bring people together to achieve inspirational change.
View full story: Scotland's new national park
🎶 Northern Scotland to host the remote club night in the UK
While we all enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, sometimes we also crave some more raucous entertainment.
That can be a problem if you live in somewhere like the north of Scotland. Not any more - club nights are coming to Ullapool!
After a disco visited Scotland’s Inner Hebrides last month, the even-more-northern village of Ullapool will soon be host to the UK’s most remote club night, named Baile/Baile.
View full story: The UK's most remote night club
Cornwall
⛏️ Tin mining poised for a revival in Cornwall
Tin and copper mining was a key part of Cornwall’s identity for thousands of years.
The Duchy even had its own Stannary (Tinners) Parliament and was recognised as being subject to its own laws thanks to its mining industry.
The last working mine - South Crofty, near Camborne - closed in 1998. But now, with surging demand for tin and a range of other valuable minerals, work is underway to bring it back into operation.
South Crofty mine shortly after its closure (Photo: Colin Bradbury)
The re-opening of Cornwall’s last tin mine has taken a step forward with the launch of a new water treatment plant. South Crofty was mined continuously for 400 years, but ceased operating in 1998. Its current owner…wants to resume mining…the company says the project will create up to 300 local jobs.
View full story: South Crofty mine edges closer to re-opening
🚂 Cornwall bids for the return of a piece of Industrial Revolution history
Richard Trevithick was one of the key figures in the Industrial Revolution.
The Cornishman was a pioneer of steam powered road and rail transport and made several breakthroughs that quite literally changed the world.
The Trevithick Engine, constructed in 1811 at the Hayle Foundry in west Cornwall, has been in the London Science Museum's collection for many years. The family, which owns the Trewithen Estate, where the engine worked for many years, is asking for its return on a long-term loan.
Trevithick is remembered for his Camborne road carriage, nick-named the "Puffin Devil", first tested in 1801. He was also the first to successfully run a steam-powered engine pulling carriages on rails at Pennydarren, South Wales, in 1804.
View full story: Trevithick Engine could be set for a return to Cornwall
Isle of Man
🏍️ The Isle of Man hosts one of the Celtic world’s biggest sporting events
A wonderful piece from CBS news on one of the world’s biggest motorsport events – the TT - which is held annually in the smallest Celtic nation, Ellan Vannin (the Isle of Man).
As well as the insane motorcycle racing, there’s also a nice feature on Manx culture and language. Hold on tight!
With emerald fields and rugged coastlines dotted with ruins of medieval castles, the pace of life on the Isle of Man is slow, even sleepy… for 50 weeks of the year. But for two weeks starting at the end of May, it becomes one of the loudest… fastest… most dangerous places in sport.
View full story: 60 Minutes - The world's most dangerous motorcyle race
Brittany
Brittany seeks increased autonomy from France
The president of Brittany’s regional council, wants the region to move towards more autonomy from France, prompted by the French President’s announcement of the same for Corsica.
There is a strong sense of regional identity within Brittany and the Breton Language has been enjoying a resurgence since the end of the 1960s.
Some in Brittany are also very proud of its separate culture and history, which has long-time links with Cornwall in the UK, and other Celtic regions. Its regional language, Breton, is still spoken in the area, and calls Brittany ‘Breizh’.
View full story: Brittany autonomy
And finally…
🎶 Some music to round things off
Mo Ghille Mear (My Gallant Hero) - Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
A traditional Irish song written by 18th-century poet Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill, to honor Prince Charles Stewart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”). Enjoy, we did!
Thank you for reading…
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