Caithness.org News Index

Front Page Archives

Primary 4 to 7 children in the Highland Council area are being invited by Highland Libraries to take part in the Am Baile Children's Competition.

The competition consists of 10 questions and has been designed to encourage children to find out more about the Scottish Highlands and Islands and what has gone on in its past. All the answers can be found in the Am Baile website which can be accessed at www.ambaile.org.uk, and up to 18 lucky winners will receive a �10 book token each.

The website contains many wonderful photographs which give a very visual and real feeling of the past.  There are also illustrations, interesting books and documents as well as short films, sounds, interactive games and comics based on stories drawn from Highland myths and legends.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 13 February 2004. Entry forms can be collected at local libraries then entrants should log on to www.ambaile.org.uk and get started.  Anyone without internet access at home can get it free at their local library.

Am Baile is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in Highland history and culture, and can be used in English and Gaelic.  The website currently has over 6500 live records with another 10,000 waiting in the wings.  New material is continually being added, such as some fascinating court records dating back to 1750 and of course lots more photographs.

The Am Baile project is led by The Highland Council in partnership with West Highland Animation, based in Highland Perthshire and Taigh Chearsabhagh Trust, a contemporary arts and heritage group in North Uist.  The project has been supported by a grant from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF).

Am Baile is the second largest of nine projects participating in the EnrichScotland project, a �6 million lifelong learning project, which aims to support Scottish lifelong learning, citizenship and cultural awareness.  EnrichScotland is the largest single on-line learning project backed by the NOF in the UK and will provide direct world-wide access to Scotland's historic archives and records.  It brings to together a large range of partnerships representing the Scottish community including voluntary groups, local authorities, libraries, museums, further and higher education and the private sector, all of which support lifelong learning under the three themes: cultural enrichment, citizenship and re-skilling.

The �50 million UK-wide digitisation programme is designed by NOF to bring the learning material and resources currently contained in galleries, libraries, museums and universities directly into homes and communities. The Fund, a National Lottery good cause distributor, has awarded grants to 150 organisations across the UK, large and small, who are converting a huge variety of material into digital format. The range of material being digitised includes archaeology, maritime, architecture, fine art, social and oral history.