The Thistle & The Lilac

Transcription

1 The Thistle & The Lilac Summer/Fall 2015 Masonic Building 1505 Elm St. Manchester, NH Don t miss the 2016 Burns Supper Celebration! Table of Contents Board of Conveners 2 Contact Editor/Membership 2 Calendar of Coming Events 3 Founders & Past Chief Conveners 3 Gatherings: Images from Recent Events 4-7 Scholarship Winners & Spotlight 8-10 From the Chief Convener 11 Across the Pond 12 The Thistle & The Lilac 1

2 Board of Conveners Chief Convener/Secretary/Historian David L. Bruce 5 Hawk Drive, Salem NH j-dbruce@comcast.net Term expires 2015 Vice-Chief Convener Northern District Ryan Bartlet firefighterrb212@hotmail.com Term expires 2017 Vice-Chief Convener Southern District Membership Coordinator/Website Administrator Douglas Pabst douglaspabst@yahoo.com Term expires 2015 Quartermaster/Website Administrator Don Taylor dont106@gmail.com Term expires 2016 Treasurer Sherry Thompson sherrythompson731@gmail.com Term expires 2016 Social Media/Facebook/Convener at Large Campbell Webster cwebsterpiper@gmail.com Term expires 2017 Convener at Large Nancy Lonergan nlglenderry@gmail.com Term expires 2017 Convener at Large/Newsletter Editor Jana Mackay jmaceye@icloud.com Term expires 2015 Convener at Large Mark Turnbull markaturnbull52@gmail.com Term expires 2015 Convener at Large Marsha Stewart marshanhdar@aol.com Term expires 2016 Convener at Large Jim Chase jlc8085@gmail.com Term expires 2017 The Thistle & The Lilac Needs a new Editor to Continue Production. While, in theory, we should be able to keep everyone abreast of the local Scottish Events that members might be interested in and share stories and annoucnecments on the website and Facebook, it would be an additional pleasaure for members if a Newsletter continued to be available. However, someone has to have the time and energy to write most of it, put it together and publish it electronically. Please contact Jana Mackay if you have an interest in becoming the Editor for the Newsletter. Otherwise, this will be the final issue. Dues Information Single: $25/yr. Family: $35/yr. Patron: $50/yr. Sponsor: $100/yr. College Student (18-25): $15/yr. Senior (65 or over): $15/yr. Life memberships available at 10 times the yearly rate, excluding the College rate. Note: All renewals are due by Jan 1st of the current year. Send applications, payment & address changes to: Doug Pabst 1 Hawk Drive Salem, NH Make checks payable to: SASNH To join on line, click on link below: The Thistle & The Lilac 2

3 Calendar of Coming Events 24 October 2015 Learn Ceilidh Dancing The Celtic Beats will be playing for you and instruction will be given for Dashing White Sargent, Gay Gordons, Military Two Step, St Bernards Waltz and more.. All you need for St Andrews Ball or Burns Nights! West Street Ward House, 41 West Street, Concord, NH 7-9PM For more information, contact: 14 November 2015 Annual Meeting Luncheon Order off the menu Common Man Restaurant, Concord, NH 1-5PM 28 Novemeber 2015 Ceilidh with the Celtic Beats Dinner and Dance with Scottish Fare featuring the Celtic Beats 6-9PM For more information, contact: 13 December SASNH Board Meeting Open to all members, Public Library, Concord, NH 10-12PM 23 January 2016 Robert Burns Dinner One Liberty Lane, Hampton, NH For more information as it is available, visit 9 April 2016 (tentatiive) New Hampshire Indoor Scottish Festival More details as they become available: 20 August 2016 Maine Highland Games More details as they become available at: 27 August 2016 Quechee Scottish Festival More details as they become available: Notice: Lezlie Webster is looking to start Highland Dance, fiddle and piping lessons on the Seacoast (? Hampton) in the next few weeks. Dancers age 4 - adult, pipers 6 - adult and fiddlers 6 - adult. Contact Lezlie at scottisharts2015@gmail.com Founders, Incorporators & Charter Members Alexander & Barbara McKenzie Charles Douglas, III Col. D. Dunbar Chaplin, III, FSA Scot Joseph Andy & Margery Melville Ernestine and Oley Firth Tom & Betty Brown Evelyn Murray, FSA Scot Thomas Lenthal Beryl & Ralph Grave ` Chief Conveners Col. D. Dunbar Chaplin, III, FSA Scot ( ) Douglas Roberts ( ) Rev. Harold L. Jones, Jr. ( ) A. D. Copestakes ( ) David Gooch ( ) Robert Forsing ( ) Arthur W. Johnston, FSA Scot ( ) Kenneth A. McCormack (1997) Steven A. Ross (1997) Arthur W. Johnston, FSA Scot ( ) Alice M. Hall Hattenbrun, FSA Scot ( ) Hon. Stephen G. Brodie Avery, FSA Scot ( ) Janet Copestakes ( ) David L. Bruce ( ) David Gordon ( ) David L. Bruce (2012- ) The Thistle & The Lilac 3

4 Gatherings Maine Highland Games SASNH, Chief Convener, Dave Bruce, contemplating the weather, perhaps? Taken as the Clans gathered for the parade for the opening ceremonies of the Maine Highland Games held 15 August 2015 at the Topsham Fairgrounds. Clan Young was the Honored Clan this year at the Maine Highland Games and our own SASNH members Donald Young and Jo-Ann St. Pierre were there proudly representing them. The Thistle & The Lilac 4

5 Gatherings Quechee Scottish Festival Jan Bruce, Life Member of the SASNH, helps visitors to the Society Tent find their tartans. Taken at the Quechee Scottish Festival, Quechee, VT 22 August 2015 Boscawen Old Home Days 22 August 2015 SASNH Honor Guard Members marched in the Boscawen Old Home Days Parade and then got to visit the Highland Cows (who also took part in the parade!). Peter Bartlett, Ryan Bartlett, Clifton "Skip" Bartlett, Roryk Brewer, Rodney Brewer and Earl Southerland are pictured here, with the lovely coos! Photo courtesy of Ryan Bartlett The Thistle & The Lilac 5

6 Gatherings SASNH Members at the NHHG&F 2015 Photo courtesy of Joanne Ward Clan MacTavish tent, John E. Gunny Smith, left, and David Ward, right. David holds a trophy donated by Gunny and originally named The Campbell Cup because he was, at the time, a member and Commissioner for Clan Campbell. The winning team (dog and handler) gets cash and their name engraved on the perpetual trophy. It is in memory of his maternal grandfather John Watson Wemyss Thomson, born in Dundee in 1890, who emigrated to Canada in 1915 and, to America in 1920, and became a US citizen in In 2012 Gunny finally joined his rightful clan, Clan MacTavish. This year he renamed The Campbell Cup to The John W. W. Thomson Cup. It now resides in the Clan MacTavish tent when it is not holding court in the Governor s Pub. Olga Guza (left) and Doug Pabst (right facing camera), SASNH members - and Doug is a Board Member - battled the traffic to get to the NHHG&F to volunteer at the tent. Thanks to you both!! The Thistle & The Lilac 6

7 Gatherings SASNH Chief Convener, David Bruce and wife, Jan Bruce, are proud supporters of the New Hampshire Highland Games through generous monetary donations, as well as untold hours of time. This is also reflected in their purchase of a paver at the Scottish Standing Stone.Their paver happens to be front and center, as shown below. Well done, Dave and Janet! Except as otherwise noted, all photos in Gatherings of this edition courtesy of Jana Mackay The poem, left, was subimtted to Dave Bruce after he met Bessie Cuming at a Tartan Day event in Peterborough in The Thistle & The Lilac 7

8 Scholarship Winners The Thistle & The Lilac 8

9 Spotlight on Scholarship Marielle Webster A lthough many of our scholarship winners have been performing for many years, Marielle is a special case. Marielle s parents (both renowned and accomplished pipers themselves) got her start in the Highland Arts at a wee age. The photo on the left was taken at the 2002 SASNH Annual Dinner where she and her, also very talented, brother Campbell Webster, performed as they have many times for Annual Dinners and Burns Suppers for the SASNH. The photo below was taken at the 2003 Burns Supper in Jaffrey, NH. Last year, at the 2014 Burns Supper, Marielle was again a featured performer (bottom left). Nowadays, Marielle continues to perform, playing the fiddle in the Celtic Beats (along with her piper brother Campbell and others) as well as teaching fiddle, with Barbara McOwen, at the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts. AND she placed FIRST in the HIghland Fling Premier Class 12-22yr at Loon this past weekend. Yea!!! The SASNH is proud to have contributed scholarship funds to help in her success! The Thistle & The Lilac 9

10 Spotlight on Scholarship One of our former scholarship recipients, Catherine Monroe, is another success story. She is now teaching Highland Dance. Above left, she is with one of her students, Evelyn (No 116), at the NHHG&F This was Evelyn s first competition and she PLACED as a Beginner. Great job Catherine and Evelyn! On the right is Catherine at the NHHG&F Tartan Ball 2003! The Thistle & The Lilac 10

11 From the Chief Convener It is sometime hard for me to believe that it has been almost three years since I returned to the Board and, in turn, to serve as the Chief Convener. I wish I could report that I had exceeded or even accomplished every goal that I had set back then to revitalize the Society. Three years ago we had almost no funds and an excess of inventory that, still to this day, we cannot sell for anything close to its cost. We made it through that first year largely thanks to grants from two of our members: one that provided for specific General Fund requirements and the second covered an order for tartan. Since then we have formally put in place specified reserves (Scholarship, Tartan Replacement and Tartan Conversion to cite three) to ensure that we can carry out those actions once sufficient funds were available. Where we are particularly at risk was, and remains, with growing our membership. Over eighty percent of our members joined as Life Members well over ten years ago. This means that there is no contribution from their membership dues to our General Fund from these members. The remaining twenty percent are annual members and most do not renew. Here we have a Catch 22 situation as most members expect something in return for the dues that are paid. I truly wish we could deliver more value, but the reality is that, without a safe level of funds in the General Fund, we cannot risk the losses if our plans fail to materialize (i.e., sufficient folks attend the events we hold) which all too often has occurred.the one exception to this has been our Burns Supper where we truly have put on a very high quality event. In the last few months of my tenure, I have two primary tasks to prepare for: our Annual Meeting in November and the Burns Supper in January. As for the Annual Meeting, it is set for 14 Nov 2015 (1:00-5:00 PM) at the Common Man Restaurant in Concord. Because of limited finances, it will again be a luncheon where we can order from the menu as opposed to a preselected meal. We have found this to be necessary as we do not have the funds to cover the contracts for more formal dinner meals where we may or may not recoup our costs depending on who shows up. As will all Annual Meetings, we will provide a status of the Society including our finances, inventory and membership. We will endeavor to have the proposed Agenda and all presentations available on our website at least ten days prior to the meeting. Although the finances of the Society are still extremely limited, I am happy to report that we were able to award almost a thousand dollars in scholarships this Summer and will have the means to make more awards next year as sales at the Loon Mountain games this year were better than the last few years. I am hopeful that we can improve the location of our tent and will approach the NHSCOT Board with a proposal in the next few months. The location of our tent is paramount both for sales and new members. My current term runs through this December and it is my desire not to run for a second term. I have served as a Board member for nine years overall and seven as the Chief Convener and I find that I do not have sufficient passion to do the job that is needed. Please know that I will certainly remain an active supporter of the Society and will assist the new Board as best as I can. I will be able to devote more time to my duties as an officer in my masonic lodge, as a member of my town s Zoning Board, and as a candidate (again) as a State Representativew (this time I will be elected!) As always, please let me or one of the other Board members know if you are willing to help the Society in any capacity you desire. We truly need your involvement, suggestions and passion! Yours aye, Dave Bruce The Thistle & The Lilac 11

12 Editor Phone: Editor Fax: Editor The Thistle & The Lilac Across the Pond The National Museum of Scotland is presenting a fascinating collection of Victorian photography now through 22 November 2015 at Exhibition Gallery 1 level 3. But if you cannot make it to Scotland to take a look, many of the displays and photographs can be seen on their website at collections-stories/science-and-technology/victorian-photography/ We are on the Web! Check us out at: Not only does the website show many of the truly remarkable images that are on display in the Gallery, it also explains in detail some of the techniques that were invented to capture images when photography was first discovered. The making of photographs became quite the rage in this era and the thing to do (or have done to you`). Today, we take photography for granted with the push of a button...photo taken, processed and displayed in the blink of an eye. About St. Andrew s Societies St. Andrew s Societies were originally organized during the period of Scottish immigration in the 19th century in order to assist needy Scots settling in their new country. The oldest of these Societies, established on November 19, 1756, is in New York City. Though the Society is named after the Patron Saint of Scotland, St. Andrew s Societies are not religious organizations, nor are they affiliated with any religion. The St. Andrew s Society of New Hampshire was formed on May 9, 1983 as a result of an interest generated by the New Hampshire Highland Games, and is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit, Charitable Organization. The Thistle & The Lilac Jana Mackay 250 Tuttle Hill Road Orange, NH Change Service Requested The Thistle & The Lilac 12