The establishment of Argyll and Bute Council’s Furan centre in Oban encourages existing Gaelic speakers to meet up to maintain their language skills, provides workshops for new learners and hopefully sparks interest in children and their parents.

As part of this promotion of the use of the Gaelic language, Gaelic Bookbug sessions for very young children and their parents have been established in Oban and Lochgilphead, with strong interest being expressed in Dunoon where a pilot session has been organised.

The Furan Bookbug sessions are held on Saturday mornings at 10.30am and the Lochgilphead Library sessions on Wednesdays at 10.30am. Both sessions are going from strength to strength with new families coming along almost every week.

Further Gaelic/bilingual Bookbug sessions are held in Strath of Appin, Dalmally, Islay,  and Oban’s Glencruitten Centre.

The council has taken this step in response to many requests from parents to have more Gaelic events for children, following the establishment of English language Bookbug sessions all over Argyll and Bute.

Bookbug sessions are free and aim to introduce story, song and rhyme to babies, toddlers, pre-school children and their families in a relaxed environment.

The establishment of Argyll and Bute Council’s Furan, our Gaelic Language Centre, which is based in Oban, has provided the council with the resources to take interactive workshops involving Gaelic language into our communities.