Glasgow to be Royal National Mòd city for 2019

THE organisers of the Royal National Mòd, An Comunn Gaidhealach, have announced the event for 2019 will be held in Glasgow.

Katy Graham and Norman MacLeod, both from Lewis, with their medals

It will be the first time the Mod has been held in the city since 1990.

Next year’s Mod will be held in Stornoway. In 2017 it will move to Lochaber and 2018 will see the event taking place in Dunoon.

Meanwhile, at yesterday’s round of competitions two young Gaelic students scored a double success for the isle of Lewis when they struck gold in the top ­traditional singing competitions.

An old family song helped Norman MacLeod to win the 2015 Men’s Traditional Gold Medal.

Mr MacLeod, 22, said that one of his winning song choices was about his home village of Carloway, on the isle of Lewis, and revealed: “It was given to me after the last Mòd by my father’s cousin, Calum Iain MacLeod, who has sadly now passed on.

“He said he had the words and that another cousin of my father, Iain MacLeod, had written it.”

The standard in the men’s and women’s traditional singing competitions was high and Mr MacLeod said: “I won by two marks.”

The Gaelic and Media Studies student, who attends Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, on the isle of Skye, fought off competition from six other qualifying singers to win.

He said there is currently a lot of interest among youngsters in traditional Gaelic singing and added: “It feels, from year to year, there are a lot of young people coming in to competitions. A lot more young people are getting in to it.

“In the traditional it’s a bit more natural because you choose your own songs, whereas in the [other] gold medal the songs are chosen for you.”

Sharing the winning glory was Katy Graham, from Back, Lewis who took the Ladies Traditional Gold Medal at 19 years old.

Miss Graham, who hopes to work in Gaelic media when she completes her home studies with the University of the Highlands and Islands, had been sitting in third place after the Gold Medal qualifier competition. She said: “I did feel, to get any further you had to give it as much as you could.

“It was a bit overwhelming, it was a very strong final, everyone did really well.”

Miss Graham was helped on the path to success by a past winner of the Ladies Traditional Gold Medal, Annie MacLeod, who lives near her on Lewis.