A celebration of music, song and language

THE Scottish Fleadh took place on the last weekend of April to record numbers of competitors in a celebration of Irish music, song and language.

With participation coming from across the six branches of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Scotland, the largest number of competitors came from this year’s host branch—Irish Minstrels CCÉ.

The fleadh took place once again the familiar surrounds of Woodfarm High School, and the venue proved that it is the perfect location for such an event with only limited areas within the school not being utilised in the running of the event.

Under the stewardship of fleadh and branch chair, Peter Docherty, the Irish Minstrels amassed an army of volunteers on a scale never seen before to ensure the event was a success and a success it was!

One of the highlight results from the Scottish Fleadh came from newly-formed Edinburgh CCÉ who blew away the rest of the competition in the Senior Grúpaí Cheoil category. This is a monumental result for a branch who should only be starting to find their feet, but no, not Edinburgh, they’ve already shown they mean business, which is a great achievement.

As in all years, the Scottish Fleadh is the first step on the road to All-Ireland glory with competitors having to place first, second or third in Scotland to qualify to the All-Britain Fleadh, which this year will be in Brentwood County High School across the last weekend in June. Those lucky few who place first or second there will go through to this year's All-Ireland, taking place across the city of Belfast in August.

With 212 qualifying performances making their way down south for the All-Britain, we’re hopeful that a sizeable contingent will make it one stage further and get the opportunity to compete in Belfast at what is sure to be the biggest All-Ireland Fleadh ever held—a fitting 75th anniversary of the very first fleadh in Mullingar, County Westmeath, back in 1951.