A Skye author and poet was named Gaelic Ambassador of the Year as the Royal National Mod kicked off today.
Hundreds of people have descend on Perth for the annual festival, which celebrates Gaelic and cultural heritage through music, song, dance and literature.
The main competitions will begin tomorrow, following a torch-lit parade through Perth tonight.
But at the official opening, Mod organisers An Comunn Gaidhealach named author and poet John Urquhart as Gaelic Ambassador of the Year for his contribution to the language and culture.
Mr Urquhart, who is a lecturer and presents a Gaelic podcast, is the 14th recipient of the award, which is supported by the Scottish Government.
‘It is a huge surprise’
Originally from Harris, the 56-year-old grew up with Gaelic as his first language.
He competed in the Mod until the age of 17, earning first place on a number of occasions for poetry recital and storytelling.
Mr Urquhart said: “It is such a privilege to receive Gaelic Ambassador of the Year and I am absolutely delighted to represent the Gaelic community.
“Gaelic is my first language and I have been working in education and entertainment for Gaels for more than 30 years, so it makes this honour all the more special.”
Modestly, he claimed he feels he hasn’t “done all that much but over the decades he has shown his commitment to Gaelic time and time again.
Joking he was perhaps instead given the accolade as “compensation” after recently suffering two strokes and undergoing open-heart surgery, he admitted it was a “precious” honour.
Mr Urquhart has presented BBC radio programmes such as Caithris na h-Oidhche and Car mu Chnoc, and TV programmes such as the BBC’s Mòd Programmes, Dòtaman, Brag, Around Scotland, The Ice Cream Van and Beag air Bheag.
In the 1990s he also wrote Gaelic lyrics for rock songs for the bands 101 and Mise Mise.
For 12 years, he served as a Church of Scotland minister and translated many articles, books, and English hymns into Gaelic. He was also part of the team which translated the New Testament from Greek into Gaelic.
He also won the coveted Donald Meek Award for his first poetry collection Turas and was shortlisted for the unpublished manuscript award at the Literature Prizes run by the Gaelic Books Council for his second collection, Ceum.
Mr Urquhart is currently a lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and presents the SpeakGaelic podcasts.
‘I love Gaelic’
Mr Urquhart said he loves Gaelic and feels especially proud to have received the title in Perth, where he has many happy childhood memories.
He said: “Gaelic means everything to me because it is my first language. We were made to learn English when we went to school. The village I belonged to, no-one spoke English as their first language and we used English in those days as the language you had in school and Gaelic was the language of the community. I love Gaelic.”
Many young Gaelic speakers will be hoping to follow in Mr Urquhart’s footsteps as they debut their song-writing skills at this year’s competition.
Seven secondary pupils from Feis Rois in Dingwall have composed new songs connected to Scotland’s nature and landscape.
The efforts form part of a collaboration project between Fèis Rois and NatureScot.
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