Caledonian Canal Ceilidh trail wins traditional music award

The Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail 2009 has won first place in the Community Project of the Year category of the coveted Scottish Traditional Music Award which were held on Saturday 28 November.

An audience of 900 people attended the Scottish Traditional Music Awards ceremony in “DG One” venue, Dumfries including Mike Russell MSP and Ian Smith, Head of Music, Scottish Arts Council.  This is only the second time in the seven years of the Scottish Traditional Music Awards that the Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail and the Inverness Traditional Music Project have been nominated for an award. BBC Alba filmed the event and will broadcast on 30 November at 10pm and repeated on Friday 4 December.

The Highland Council has run the Caledonian Canal Ceilidh trail with British Waterways Scotland during the summer tourist seasons  for the past eight years.  The Ceilidh Trail attracts talented young musicians to come together with the aim of developing their musical and performance skills.  The musicians work in a variety of venues up and down the Caledonian Canal. During a summer season the Ceilidh Trail Band would typically play in 10 venues per week for 4 weeks attracting a total audience of over 12 thousand people.

The team worked together in a successful partnership which included Ailsa Andrews and Amy Gentles, British Waterways Scotland (Highland Canals Section), Ian Taylor, Chair of TMC Folk and The Highland Council’s Traditional Music Project Co-ordinator, Margo Maclennan.