Musicians have launched an online petition to save a music school in Plockton. The National Centre for Excellence in Traditional Music is threatened with closure due to funding cuts planned by Highland Council.
The centre has won international acclaim, with students performing at events around the world. Pupils have also gone on to win BBC Radio Scotland Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year, Ewan Robertson and Daniel Thorpe, and Bodega, a Scottish Folk Band of the Year, also came from the the Plockton school.

Ex-Battlefield Band member Dougie Pincock is head of the centre, based at Plockton High School, and his friend and fellow musician Ken Campbell of The Ideal Band is behind the petition.

Supporters as diverse as Alastair Campbell (Tony Blair’s former spin doctor and a keen piper) and Edwyn Collins, who tweeted “I’m a fan”, have lent their support to the campaign.

The council meet on the 10th February to discuss the funding proposalls. The petition can be signed here.