President’s message
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Editor’s Note
- Scott McLennan writes from Tonga
- Saturday, July 5 th , 2014.
NEWS FROM OUR CHIEF (continued)
\ After Queenstown and Milford Sound, we ventured north to Mount Cook and then east to Christchurch where we spent a couple of days staying with friends from my home village of Dores who emigrated out to Christchurch a couple of weeks before the first earthquake struck. After exploring the area we started our long journey home with the first leg of the trip back to Melbourne for a farewell BBQ with the Melbourne Committee hosted at Bob & Patsy’s house. After saying our farewells, we departed the next day and headed to Singapore for 3 days of relaxation, sightseeing and shopping. We got back to Edinburgh on 23 rd
Returning to work in early January was a struggle to say the least and it has been very hectic since my return. In the last two weeks, I have been on the Isle of Skye, throughout the west coast, on the very north coast of Scotland and next week I go to the Isle of Rum and the outer Isles of Lewis the following week. Had it been summer time, this would be enjoyable and in fact a treat. Travelling throughout the Highlands and Islands in the winter months is far less appealing! Aside from work, we have been busy with visiting friends and family, visiting cousins from my dad’s side in Aberdeenshire, Jillian’s parents in Harthill, godparents’ in Lochinver, a weekend retreat to Torridon on the west coast and attending a School friend’s wedding in Drapers Hall, London. This weekend, Jillian departs for a 6 week trip to Chile and Patagonia to take advantage of having some free time before she thinks about going back to work later this year. Since returning from our travels at the end of last year, she has largely been a lady of leisure aside from helping to run her family land & forestry company. Whilst she is away, I will be left at home to fend for myself whilst she drinks cocktails on the beach in the sun!
Kirsteen, James and the three boys are happy and settled into their townhouse which is on the same road as Jillian’s house in Inverness. We see a lot of them and are enjoying having them so close by. I have been taking the boys out cycling in the evenings and Jillian has been spending a lot of time reading and playing with them. They are growing up very quickly. James works from home and his new company, Highland Bay Seafood seems to be gathering momentum. Kirsteen has been back to work with British Airways flying long haul and they have a live in au pair who helps James with the boys whilst she is away. She has now gone down to part time work so should not be away as often which will please the boys. Lorna is doing what she does best and has taken 6 months unpaid leave from her nursing job and is travelling though South Africa and now Mexico. She intends being back in Scotland for the Clan Gathering in July and will likely go back to work then.
We have been busy working towards the Clan Gathering in Scotland this summer and the Scottish Committee last met in early February to put the final things in place so that the gathering programme can be published along with the booking form. This is now available at www.clanmaclennan-worldwide.com/ gathering2014
We really hope that as many as possible make it across for both the Bannockburn Live event in Stirling but more importantly, our own Gathering event in Inverness the following weekend of 03 – 06 July. The full programme is available via the above link on the clan web site. The Bannockburn Live event is not our own event and therefore any information on this including booking is available via their own web site. There is a link to this within our own gathering programme. Clan MacLennan will have a tent at the event and we look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible during the weekend. There will not be any separate Clan MacLennan events taking place over the weekend other than hosting people at the clan tent. There will however be a variety of events over the course of the weekend including the Battle of Bannockburn re-enactment.
For those of you unable to make it across to Scotland for these events, it is our hope that we will be able to provide a video conference facility for the Clan Parliament so that people can link in to the event and watch it and possible join in via the web. We will provide more detail on this nearer to the event.
Wishing you all a wonderful 2014. Yours aye
Chief Ruairidh
Jillian at the Welcome BBQ, Melbourne NEWS OF CLANSFOLK NEAR AND FAR Bruce McLennan (webmaster) and wife Prue’s son Andrew was married in April 2013 to Heather Easton in a ceremony held in the beautiful Blue Mountains of NSW. Photo by Don McLennan - in the Mermaid Cave, Megalong Valley. Editor’s Note: We wish Andrew and Heather best wishes for the future. Committee Members Ivan and Liz Mclennan’s son Connor received the top VCE award for Art and Technology at Werribee Secondary College.
outstanding achievement and we wish him well in his future academic endeavours.
of Tonga held a Burns Night Supper at our house in Nuku’alofa. We had a number of guests, some of whom were eating haggis for the first time. Yes we had a haggis (not easy to find in Tonga but sourced from Westmere Butchers in Auckland), cock a’ leekie soup to start and golden syrup dumplings with cream (well some kind of long-life cream) to finish. Tatties were available, but we had to substitute local pumpkins for ‘neeps. Guests were met at the door with a dram of Lagavullin and were greeted with “Ceud mìle fàilte” and “Ciamar a tha sibh” to which most responded with “I’ll have another drop of whatever that was please”
We kept the theme going all night, and although we didn’t follow the exact format for a Burns Night Supper, we did parade the haggis around the dinner table to bagpipe music courtesy of iTunes, I made the address to the haggis (reading a fair bit from a cheat sheet), and we said the Selkirk Grace. I also read a Robbie Burns poem and we toasted him quite a few times.
We think that as Tonga is so close to the international dateline, we might have had a Burns Night Supper as far in time as it is possible to go from Scotland!! At least that is what we were discussing towards the end of the evening and it sounded like a pretty good theory. Everyone had a great night and the haggis went down a treat. One French member of the dinner party was seen to have three helpings. We won’t be in Tonga for Burns Night next year, but it will always remain a fond memory of our time here.” Committee members, Carol and Reg Davis welcomed their first grand-daughter to the Davis family in October, 2013. Milly Rose Davis is the 2nd child of son Brock and Bec, and baby sister to Max. Milly is the first girl to be born into the Davis family line for quite some time. Reg is from a family of three boys, his brothers have two boys and he and Carol have three sons and four grandsons. Carol has been busily shopping for little pink dresses at every opportunity!
the 15
th Aberdeen Highland Games in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW, on Saturday, July 5 th , 2014. Aberdeen is a small town of about 2,000 people, lying between Muswellbrook and Scone on the New England Highway, approximately 2 hours from Newcastle.
Chieftain Greg and his wife Annelle would be delighted to welcome any Clan members who wish to travel to Aberdeen for this event. Accommodation can often be at a premium in the region due to the large number of people involved in the coal mining industry, so if you are intending to visit you are advised to book early. To access the full programme of events go to www.aberdeenhighlandgames.com.au
Continued ... 5 Andrew & Heather McLennan Connor McLennan Milly Rose Davis Scott & Nicola McLennan Yüklə 2,63 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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