News > 2010

15 June 2010

NEW TALENT ON-SCREEN FOR BBC ALBA

BBC ALBA will be featuring a new on-screen presenter over the summer months with Kerry Anne MacLeod from Coll on the Isle of Lewis taking up the role starting on the 10th of July.

Kerry Anne MacLeod
Kerry Anne MacLeod, new BBC ALBA on-screen presenter over the summer months

Kerry Anne (18), who attended the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway will be supporting regular BBC ALBA Presenter Fiona Mackenzie prior to taking up her studies in Scottish Ethnology and Celtic at Edinburgh University in September. Kerry Anne hopes in the long-term to work in the media and sees her time with BBC ALBA as providing valuable experience with that objective in mind.

Kerry Anne MacLeod and Fiona Mackenzie
Kerry Anne MacLeod and regular BBC ALBA Presenter Fiona Mackenzie

Kerry said: “I am really pleased to have been given this opportunity to work with BBC ALBA over the summer. Media work is something I have always been interested in and this will give me great experience of how things are done behind the scenes and in front of the camera. I’m really looking forward to working with Fiona and everyone at BBC ALBA.”

Kerry Anne is a native Gaelic speaker and was in the winning team from the Nicolson Institute in the BT National Gaelic Schools Debate 2008 where she also won a one-off prize from MG ALBA for the ‘Most Entertaining Speaker’. Kerry Anne has also competed with the school in FilmG, the Gaelic Short Films competition, where she was one of the competitors nominated in the ‘Best Performance’ category in 2009.

Welcoming Kerry to BBC ALBA, Alan Esslemont Head of Content said “There were several excellent candidates for the position which is very encouraging for the long-term future of the channel. We are delighted to have Kerry with us over the summer months and I am sure that she will learn a great deal from working closely with Fiona Mackenzie, the channel’s permanent presenter and also from the rest of the BBC ALBA team”

Following a period of training, Kerry will appear on-screen for the first time on Saturday 10 July. Programme highlights during Kerry’s first week of presenting include Cathy MacDonald spending time with Scottish musician Nicola Benedetti on Cuide ri Cathy; Trusadh which looks at the voluntary sector in Scotland which is worth over £2 billion pounds to the economy and Bainnsean which looks at the wedding preparations of a couple in Southampton who intend to marry in South Uist.