Not hostile, but limits to Gaelic

Sir, – I refer to the letter from Mr Lindsay accusing me of being hostile to Gaelic (Letters, January 15) which is most certainly not the case.

I am all for Gaelic Choirs and teaching Gaelic to those who wish to learn its poetic and gentle sounds.

What I am against is spending public money on road signs, railway station signs and, heaven forbid, on police cars in areas of Caledonia where Gaelic has probably never been spoken – or if it was, it would have been hundreds of years ago.

The Gaelic culture will not die as long as we can hear traditional singers like Julie Fowlis, Karen Matheson, Donnie Munro and Kathleen MacInnes to name but a few.

I have listened to them and many more with much enjoyment over the years, just as I have to many forms of British (and Irish) traditional folk music.

It’s a sad reflection on society today that people are so quick to take offence when none is intended.

It happens too often because folk do not fully read, or listen to what is being said.

I thought I had made my views clear when I referred to my sadness at the demise of Gaelic at the end of my letter of January 11.

Road signs and the like will not revive or perpetuate an ancient and noble language of the Western Isles and the Highlands.

John D. Ridley. Spoutwells Drive, Scone.