Clydesdale Mod would be a real family affair

The Gazette’s recent coverage of the bid to have the annual National Mod come to Clydesdale has been of deep personal interest to one local family who can proudly boast an ancestor who helped create the annual celebration of Gaelic culture.

In fact, he PAID for it!

They are the three descendants of one of the Mod’s founders, John Campbell, aka The Bard of Ledaig, who now live in the Clydesdale area.

One of them, Colin Angus, of Lanark’s Honeyman Crescent, said this week on behalf of his brother Bill Angus, of Ravenstruther, and sister Mairi Campbell McQuid, of Symington: “It was with great delight that we read in your newspaper that one of the local MSPs, Aileen Campbell, is developing a bid for the Royal National Mod to come to Clydesdale.

“Our great grandfather, John Campbell, the famous Bard of Ledaig, was a co-founder of the Mod which first met in 1894.

“The proceeds of the sale of his book of Gaelic verse helped to fund the event and to this day his poems are recited at the Mod.”

The three are enthusiastically backing the Mod bid which could be a major money-spinner for Clydesdale with 13,000 expected visitors and paricipants spending an estimated £3 million here.

For more on this, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.