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8 August
2008
Dear
Friends,
SPORTING
AWARDS – REFUNDS/PAYMENTS DUE – COMMUNICATIONS – THANKSGIVING – SOUVENIRS
Sporting Competition
Winners
It is appropriate to announce
the winners of the First World Invitational MacIntyre Golf, Fly Casting, and
Dart Tournaments (Deemed the MacIntyre Skill Triathlon) at the start of the
Olympics. The winner of all three events on the women’s side was Fiona
McIntyre, Queensland, Australia. She was the only competitor, male or
female to catch a fish and she caught two! She was also the only female to
compete and complete all three events, making her our female Triathlete.
On the men’s side, the winner
of the golf tournament was Ben MacIntyre, Montana USA who tied for low score
with our only professional golfer, Gordon McIntyre, Zimbabwe/St. Andrews.
Ben’s brother, Shane MacIntyre had the longest fairway drive and Aaron Reed,
South Carolina USA, came closest to the hole. Daryl McIntire, Indiana USA,
came in second with a score of 40 closely followed Judson McIntire, Virginia
USA (41), Aaron Reed, South Carolina USA (42), and David Parks, California
USA (45).
Since there were no male
winners in the fly casting tournament (tied for second?), the male
triathlete was decided at the Dart Tournament. Martin Chrisney was the
winner with Mark McIntire taking second in the championship game. Aaron
Reed and Shane MacIntyre were tied for third. The male triathlete was Aaron
Reed closely followed by Martin Chrisney.
Winning the First World
MacIntyre Invitational Tournament is its own reward. However, the two
triathletes will receive a Mac An T’Saoir tee shirt.
Refunds and Payments
Due
There were individuals who
make last minute decisions to attend an event but didn’t get the opportunity
to pay. I have some records but would appreciate it if they would let me
know what they owe and make the necessary payment via PayPal or Check.
Along with all the wonderful
experiences there were some miscommunications and missed buses that resulted
in attendees missing pre-paid scheduled events. For those miscues, I can
only apologize.
Refunds will be provided for
if the event was cancelled or you missed it through no fault of your own.
Please send the name(s) and event(s) with the amount for each person.
Requests must be made by 25
Aug because:
a.
The financial accounts must be
closed,
b.
Memories fade, and
c.
I have Jury Duty on September 2nd.
There are three choices you
can make for part, or all, of a refund.
1.
Have the funds sent directly to
you by the method you sent them i.e. check or PayPal.
2.
Designate the refunds to defray
the additional costs of the Gathering.
3.
Designate the refunds as a
donation to the newly-formed The Clan MacIntyre Trust (a Scottish Charity).
We cannot have a final
accounting until all expenses (including refunds) have been paid. You can
be assured that no one will profit from the Gathering. Rosemary and I have
gladly made two trips to Scotland to arrange this adventure. The sense of
joy and fulfillment that the Gathering provided has been our reward.
Donations to the Clan
MacIntyre Trust will go to maintaining our heritage e.g., plaques at the
Glen Noe cairn and the Stone of the Fatted Calf, a covering of Duncan (I)’s
grave site at Ardchattan Priory, restoration of the water-stained wooden
surface of the MacIntyre Coat of Arms at the St. Conan’s kirk choir stall,
and completion of the Trust website where clan pipe tunes, poetry and
tartan’s can be displayed. You will be informed when the Trust is duly
incorporated and has a Scottish Charities number.
There were some who made
deposits but weren’t able to come and asked that their deposits be used to
defray the costs of the Gathering. They will receive a copy of the souvenir
program.
Galley Aileach Ride
One of the more exciting
events would have been a ride on the Galley Aileach, a reconstruction of the
type of galley the founder of our Clan built and was an important part of
our origin stories. Unfortunately, bad weather (rain and high winds) kept
the Aileach in port most of the time so only a few attendees were able to
have a ride.
The Aileach Galley Trust is a
Scottish Charity and would have been the recipient of the $30 that I
collected for each Galley Ride. The Trust isn’t allowed to charge for rides
but asks riders to obtain an annual membership for 15 pounds ($30). All
payments that I collected for Galley Rides that didn’t take place are
refundable upon request. Money that isn’t refunded will be sent to the
Aileach Galley Trust as a donation, unless you state you want it to be used
to offset the Gathering losses. Regardless, there will have to be a minimum
donation to the Aileach Trust for their good faith effort and commitment to
maintaining an important part of the Scottish and MacIntyre heritage.
FYI: The grand plan was to
have the Aileach come to Glen Noe on Sunday. This would be preceded by our
piper (Mark McIntire) coming over the hill behind the crowd at the beach who
would turn around to hear the MacIntyre March as see the banners carried by
our stalwart men, Colin McIntyre, Bennie MacEntyre and Ian Simpson. Then
the Galley was supposed to arrive with our master piper at the bow and
members of the organizing committee to be welcomed ashore by their cheering
clansmen and women. It would have been quite a sight, but it was not to be.
Although the winds were very high, the Aileach captain cast off anyway,
only to be blown ashore and entangled on a buoy line. The Aileach crew made
a dangerous attempt to untangle the line by jumping into the frigid waters
of Loch Etive. The crew and additional rowers (including my son-in-law,
grandson, and his two Italian classmates) plus the passengers (including
Archie, our master piper) had to be rescued by Ronnie Campbell on our lead
motor boat. These things are unanticipated risks of having a large outdoor
event like our Gathering.
Post-Gathering
Communication
Post-Gathering reports are
now at
www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/macintyre/2008post.htm.
If you want to communicate
with other MacIntyres please register at
www.scotchat.org/vbull. AOIS, is
the
www.electricscotland.com community forum, and more specifically there is
a Clan MacIntyre forum.
While there are already two
other web forums related to the recent Clan MacIntyre Gathering (Yahoo.com
and Facebook.com) there are good reasons for me to recommend AOIS. First,
the parent site is
www.electricscotland.com, the premier Scottish web site, owned and
operated by one of our own, Alastair McIntyre. Second, Alastair has been
instrumental in posting all MacIntyre items at no cost to us, most recently
those for the Gathering. Without his help the Gathering would not have been
possible. To use his community forum site not only makes sense, but is the
right thing to do given his unending efforts on our behalf. Most web sites
exist on income from advertisers, based on the number of times the site is
accessed. To the extent we use AOIS, www.electricscotland.com will be
compensated by the advertisers. The third reason, and most practical reason
is to have only one site to visit for all things MacIntyre - photos, stories
and contacting other MacIntyres. This site can do what I can no longer do,
be our communication hub.
[Note from Alastair
McIntyre: When you join the Aois system you will be able to add your own
picture albums to the community and these can be made public or private.
When others join that you would like to be able to view your private
pictures you can add them as "friends" enabling them to view them.]
There have been a number of
requests for names, addresses and e-mail addresses of the attendees. I will
provide a list of those attendees who give their permission. This will take
some time but should be completed in time for the holidays. In the mean
time, for communicating please register at AOIS
Thanksgiving
We can be thankful that:
a.
We were able to attend the
Gathering since many who wanted to could not.
b.
No one was seriously ill or
injured.
c.
The midges gave us a reprieve.
d.
The weather was good when it
counted most: Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Souvenirs
A number of people saw
MacIntyre T-shirts that people were wearing and asked if they could obtain
one. Others asked for additional copies of the souvenir programme or wanted
a photo album/DVD. These requests will be considered in October after the
Gathering accounting and my jury duty have been completed.
Sincerely, Martin
MacIntyre, Gathering Convenor |
