After the formal business of the Annual General Meeting on Saturday 3rd November, Sandra Caley gave an illustrated talk about the 2018 International Celtic Congress which was held 16th-21st July in Kemper, Breizh (Quimper, Brittany). The theme this year was The Development of Celtic Languages through Social Media. The Manx presentation had been given by Phil Kelly, RBV, drawing on his pioneering work of providing a range of Manx language resources online. A taste of the Island’s music had been beautifully performed by Ruth Keggin and Karl Kramer.
Sandra had also taken advantage of the opportunity to see something of Kemper itself, with its striking cathedral, as well as joining other delegates on visits to a museum of ceramic art in the Locmaria area of Kemper, the working mill of Penn ar Stank and the former monastery of Landevennec, now a museum. She had given a reading in Manx at the oecumenical service in the beautiful setting of the Chapelle Sainte-Marie du Menez Hom. She had particularly enjoyed the invigorating start to each day in Kemper, learning to sing in Breton with Brigitte Kloareg – eventually to accompany their own Breton dancing. An interesting experiment was a round-table discussion in Breton with simultaneous translation into French and English through headsets.
In addition to giving her talk, Sandra had also brought along a selection of Celtic Congress memorabilia which were well-worth seeing. These included a report from 1955 by the then Secretary, Joe Woods. She closed with a quotation from that report, as being apposite to the current situation – urging members to take an active role in supporting and promoting the Celtic Congress.