Hopes of turning point in fortunes of Caithness and Sutherland Provincial Mod

Organisers of Caithness and Sutherland Provincial Mod, which takes place in Bettyhill on Saturday, June 7, hope that it will mark a turning point for the event.

This will be only the second time in six years that the Mod has taken place, due to the impact of the pandemic and other factors.

Fèis Air an Oir, a charity that promotes traditional music education on the north coast, is hosting the Mod at Farr High School and has organised additional events to make it a weekend-long celebration that includes more communities.

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Carol-Anne Farquhar, of Fèis Air an Oir, said: “The provincial Mod was supposed to take place in Caithness last year, but they could not get a committee together. We did it the year before, and then it did not take place for the three years before that because of lockdown.”

She added: “Many of the stalwarts who were part of the local Mod committees have now passed on or are less able to help with the Mod so responsibility has fallen to people like my sisters and me, who grew up with it.”

A provincial Mod is a regional or local version of the larger Royal National Mod, featuring competitions in various disciplines such as accordion, piping, fiddling, Highland dancing, and group and solo events.

Carol-Anne, a peripatetic piping tutor in schools, said that Fèis Air an Oir is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and was keen to mark this milestone year by taking on responsibility for the mod.

“We are trying our best to keep it going,” she said. “We are giving it one last shot this year and we will see what happens. We are lucky to have a strong local fèis committee and a dedicated team of volunteers who will ensure the event’s success this year.”

However, she said that the number of entries for this year is nowhere near what would have been expected in previous years.

“We have received a few entries, but it is not what it would have been 20 or even 10 years ago,” she said.

Nevertheless, all the primary schools in the North Coast Campus - Farr, Melvich and Tongue primary schools - are supporting the Mod, with a maximum of 20 children from each school taking part. There are also around 20 individual entries.

In the afternoon, the senior choirs competition will be replaced by a mini ceilidh, at which some of the choirs and prizewinners of the day will perform.

Fèis Air an Oir has partnered with other local organisations to organise additional events.

Carol-Anne said: “A few community groups have got involved to make it a big weekend.”

On Friday (June 6), from 2pm-6pm, a singing workshop led by the renowned musical duo Rachel Walker and Aaron Jones will take place at the Kyle Centre in Tongue. Rachel is a singer-songwriter, while Aaron is a multi-instrumentalist.

The event is hosted by the Big Sing and funded by the North West Sutherland Trust. The Kyle Centre is run by North Coast Connection.

No previous singing or Gaelic experience is required, and refreshments will be provided.

After the workshop there will be a family ceilidh at Tongue Village Hall and to finish off the weekend Rachel and Aaron will perform at an Evening of Gaelic and English Song at Armadale Hall on Saturday from 7.30pm.

Carol Anne said: “We are very grateful to the Dounreay Communities Fund as well as the North West Sutherland Trust and the community councils of Tongue, Skerray and Melness, Melvich, and Bettyhill and Altnaharra for the financial support they have given us to host the event.”

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