I am delighted to share something that is close to my heart: we will soon be offering beginners Gaelic classes — one for adults and another specially designed for parents and children to learn together. This is an intrinsic part of what we hope will be a deep journey of cultural reconnection, shared learning, and a shared commitment to Scotland’s living heritage.
Me spinning yarn. Done for centuries in this area. I’ll be offering classes in the Autumn/Winter once we are a bit more organised 🙂
As a practitioners of heritage textile crafts, we know that it is through language that culture breathes, and in our part of the world, that language was once Gaelic. Just over a hundred years ago, Gaelic was the predominant language spoken in Callander and across much of the Trossachs. In the main streeet, at the kirk, by firesides and on the hills, people spoke the language of their ancestors, passing down not only words, but a worldview rich in poetry, nature, and community. Over the last century, that voice has grown quieter, and with the passing of our last native speaker in the 1990s, many believed it had faded from our area entirely. But Gaelic is not lost. It is not dead. It waits, like seed beneath the soil, ready to grow again when nurtured. We want to be part of that nurturing.
Mhairi nic Aoidh
Our beginner and children’s Gaelic classes will be taught by local Gaelic Medium Education primary school teacher, Mhairi nic Aoidh. Mhairi has been sharing her love of Gaelic and Gaelic song with children and young people in the local area for many years, and is passionate about teaching the culture alongside the language. Her first class sold out in less than 24 hours, so she has kindly agreed to teach more classes for us.
She will be supported by our founder, Jo, a proud lifelong learner who brings a deep personal and academic passion to this work. Jo holds two master’s degrees — one in Contemporary Crafts (Textiles) and the other in Highlands and Islands Culture — and it is the learning from these degrees, alongside her self-directed exploration of Gaelic, landscape, and traditional practice, that forms the heart of what Làmhan offers as a charity. Her teaching experience, formerly in French, and her own ongoing Gaelic journey mean she understands both the challenges and the joys of learning a new language later in life.
We are going to be adding a post beginners class and possibly an intermediate Gaelic class later in the year.
Our classes will draw on the excellent free resources from LearnGaelic.scot, offering learners access to a wide range of audio, video, and written materials to support and enrich their time with us.
Every week (on Mondays) I am sharing Gaelic textile-related words and phrases on our Instagram channel. I hope you find them interesting!
Why combine Gaelic with crafts? Because they are deeply connected. Language carries the knowledge of how to make, how to mend, how to understand the land and the seasons. In learning Gaelic, we connect not just to words but to ways of seeing — and we hope that as people discover or rediscover this beautiful, rich language, they will also feel more deeply connected to the history, creativity, and resilience of those who came before us.
I believe that in order for our country to understand where it is going, we must first understand where we have been. By reconnecting with the language, the songs, the stories, and skills of those who came before us, we do not just preserve the past — we carry it forward into the future, shaping a Scotland that honours its roots while growing something new.
Le deagh dhùrachd,
Jo