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The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library Family Tree
Clan MacLennan
Newsletter 4th Quarter 2002


Chief's visit to Stone Mountain, Ga

Chief Ruiriadh George MacLennan of MacLennan returned to Stone Mountain, Georgia On October 18,19 and 20, 2002 as a guest to help them celebrate their 30th year of holding  Scottish Highland Games at Stone Mountain Georgia. The weather was ideal (good highland weather) and a good attendance was experienced at the game. This included a good contingent of MacLennan's and Clan Septs. they came from as far away as Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, & North Carolina.

Everyone at the game had a great time meeting and chating with the Chief. Unfortunately because of unusual circumstances the Chief's two sisters, Lorna and Kirsteen were unable to attend and were sorely missed.

This was the chief's third trip to the games and he stated that he has enjoyed the games every time he has attended. It was also quite obvious by the way he was received by all the Scottish clans in attendance that they really enjoy and look forward to seeing him at these game also. At times it was difficult to keep him in the clan MacLennan tent  because everyone wanted to speak with him.

Clan MacLennan Association, USA, Executive Meeting
Stone Mountain Scottish Highland Games
Stone Mountain, Georgia
(October  19, 2002 )
          
Clan MacLennan has decided to purchase Clan Tartan material  material for resale. this will be handled by Marilyn Baumeister, our treasurer. The  material will be cotton/polyester at $20.00 per yard. We expect it to be available by January of 2003. Marilyn's address is: Willton Bluff, Adams Run, So. Carolina ,USA., 29426

A perfect weight for  a kilt. It will  absolutely be ideal for a woman's long tartan skirt, pillowcases, bedspreads, covering on chairs and foot stools, clan flags, tablecloths, place mats, cloth napkins, dishtowels and many other items too innumerable to mention. It will be sold by the yard at $20.00 Per yd.  we expect the material to be available sometime in the first of the year. When it is available we will let everyone be aware.

Placing Clan MacLennan's E-mail newsletter on the "Electric Scotland" website . Formerly it was on the AOL   "Hometown"  website. This is being done for convenience and cost efficiency.

Along with the availability of the Clan Tartan Material, in 2003 The clan will supply all the Conveners with a complete display of the basics needed to present  a  Clan Tent table at the Scottish Highland Games across the country. The details to this will be mailed to the conveners by your President as soon as   the materials are assembled. It will be in time for most of the Games in 2003.

Other items discussed and decided upon at the meeting was that we have appointed David Jones a new member of our clan from Florida to set up a web page specifically for our clan in addition to the one that we are a party of with Electric Scotland.com. David  is also going to set  up an e-mail system . in addition he is currently looking at other ways that  we can use the electric highway.

We are also working on methods whereby we can put our newsletter on our web site and not send hard copies to those that have e-mail addresses. A letter  about this should be received by all members shortly.

ARE YOU UP TO DATE?

A reminder that dues for the year 2003 are now due. If you have sent in your money thanks. To those who have not your payment would be greatly appreciated. the deadline for payment is January1,2003.

To really make our clan to work we need participants. We are looking for people who would like to get involved in our clan, If you would like to help please contact me at winthescot@aol.com. Clan MacLennan Association USA, Incorporated.

NEWS OF THE CHIEF

Chief Ruaridh graduated in July 2002 with a Master of Surveying Degree. In the next year or so he will pursue his APC (Assessment of Professional Competency) training which will lead to being a chartered Surveyor.

He has been invited to Speak in Zurich, Switzerland at the 25th Anniversary of the Pipes and Drums of Zurich who wear the Clan MacLennan Tartan.
He has also had an invitation to be guest speaker at the Caledonian Society of St Andrews Ball. In addition he is going to Australia around the 9th of November  2003. He will be in Melbourne and New South Wales.

PRESIDENTS REPORT

As I look back on the past 3-5 years of accomplishments in Clan MacLennan Association USA, Inc  on the surface it looks like we have made great strides.

Yet on a closer look we see that we have really wasted time and accomplished very little. It has taken 4 years to supply proper displays at or games tables. 2 years to get an accurate membership list. 2 years to purchase clan tartan material to sell to our members. 3 years to get an accurate e-mail list started. I am sure that everyone is of the realization that  these items have been all worked on by the same few people. Therefore they can not be done overnight. Also  they are large undertakings. However, I also do not believe that they are impossible to reach.

However I do not feel that those that are willing to sit on the sidelines should be throwing the first stones. Every year I hear "Didn't we bring that up at the last AGM." Yes we did. However if it does not get done or  started by the end of that year it must be brought up and voted to do at the next AGM by our by-laws as well as Roberts Rules  for Charitable Organizations.

If we feel that it should not have to be brought up again then we need volunteers to assist in accomplishing these things. One thing we all as humans must be cautious of is criticism without solution. Criticism in itself is an excellent way to correct and/or adjust mistakes or things that are not working. However criticism is a negative if after we criticize we do not have solutions. I have always felt criticism is necessary to advance the Clan Assn.  But without then presenting solutions to this criticism we are going to stay at status quo.

If we want to  stay Status Quo. Fine. Then we can stay in the 20th century while the rest of the clans move into the 21st century and prepare for the 22nd century. This is not to say that staying in the 20th century is necessarily bad or that everything in the 20th century was bad . However we have to decide . If we are moving ahead then let us look at the good and bad and decide what is relevant and what is not. We have to look back to see where we are and then move forward and realize that the past is the past and the present is the present. We have to be willing to forget our old slow moving ideas and realize that we are living in a world that changes day by day and change with it. We have to decide where we will be in the next 5 to 10 years. What we must accomplish and when we will accomplish it.

To do this we must be willing to take 3 steps.

We must be willing to  participate. That does not necessarily mean we have to physically do games. However we all have a unique capability that could be used in activities behind the scenes. For example painting Clan signs, Making table decorations etc. We need computer programmers, who have campaign experience, who have worked on membership and membership drives. Who love to socialize for our tents. none of these requirements should be considered having to be done alone. They should be done as a group. However  we have to have people to have a group.

We have to be willing to let go of the old ideas. Let us look at the ways other Clans are operating . Analyze  their procedures and then adapt these to our specific situations. We are new at the game. let us not be afraid to ask the experts, who have already made the mistakes. Then adjust to the degree that we decide what we want to keep of the old and what we want to accept of the new.

We have to make sure that our own prejudices are not a force that dictates the decisions  of the Association. Nothing can cause disarray or failure greater than prejudices of any kind.

Politicians have a favorite quote on this subject. " if your not going to participate then don’t complain." That is true I think in life also. no organization will survive long if there is no interest, participation and cooperation.

We have got vital committees in our by-laws that have never been filled due to lack of participation.

As stated earlier I would like to make a five- year plan. In order to do this I need your input. What do you think the Clan should be undertaking for the next five years. I implore you for your ideas.
  
my e-mail address is: winthescot@aol.com
my mailing address is:  Win MacLennan, 1032 Lockridge Lane, Ashland City, TN 37015

I urge you to participate. This Assn is for you. If no you then no association. a few people can not do it without any direction , cooperation and participation.

As we are going now the feeling is that this Assn is in a downward spiral. To  be operational in the next five years we must think positive and to the future. Our failure to do this in the past five years has been a struggle.  We must throw off some of the Old and add some of the new.

                                     
CONVENER NEWS

STONE MOUNTAIN GAMES

The Stone Mountain Games In Atlanta, Ga. were held on October 15 and 16 and 17,2002. The attendance of Clan MacLennan members was not as strong as usual. However those that did attend had an enjoyable time. Pepper and Jane McLendon provided an excellent food table during the  entire days. The Association sincerely thanks both of them for their efforts. It was greatly appreciated. As a  charitable Foundation the Association must bring up subjects each year even though they may have been approved in prior years If they are not started or finished.  However this year definitive steps have been taken and the items are presently being put together even as this is being written. The Association is  extremely pleased to announce that Pepper and Jane have tentatively agreed to be  conveners for the 2003 Stone Mountain Games. We look forward to their great work next year.

CHARLESTON S. CAROLINA  GAMES

On September 21,2002 Clan MacLennan participated in the 31st Charleston (South Carolina) Scottish Games and Highland Gathering. The convenors for the games were Jim and Jolie Logan. While a record crowd attended the event, which was held at the beautiful Boone Hill Plantation, only a few MacLennan members were in attendance. Joining the Logan's were Chief's Lieutenant Lock McLendon and Heard and Marilyn Baumeister. Additionally Harvey McLendon participated in both the band competition and as solo piper. Harvey took a first place for his grade in the piping competition.

The Charleston games are the second  longest running games in the Southeast (following only Grandfather Mountain ). The event organizer is the Scottish Society of Charleston of which Jim Logan is a member of the board of directors and Jolie is the newsletter editor.

The 32nd Charleston games will be held on September 20,2003. Jim and Jolie will host a tent once again and hope that more clan members will join them. For information on the Charleston Games please visit www.Charlestonscots.com   or  e-mail Jim at jim.logan@us.bosch.com

SOUTH CENTRAL  WIN MACLENNAN

KENTUCKY

The game in Glasgow Kentucky on May 30 and 31,2002 was as usual very pleasant. Every year the games have three parachutists drop in on the grounds wearing a kilt and each carrying a flag of Scotland, England and Canada. This has become a tradition at the games and as usual they landed exactly on their ground marks.              

TENNESSEE

The game at Middle Tennessee  State University  in Murfreesboro was held on October 12, 2002. There was in the Vicinity 4000 to 5000  people in attendance. The weather was ideal for the game: good Scottish weather.

JEAN  SMITH
    no report available

NORTHEAST
    no report available

WEST
    no report available.

FLORIDA
    no report available.

LET'S TAKE A CRUISE

The Scottish Banner has announced their  third Annual "Celidih Cruise". It is going to cruise to San Juan, St Thomas, The Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas on February 23rd to March 2ns 2003. it will sail from Ft Lauderdale, Fla on the Holland Line.

The exciting news about this cruise is that our Chief, Ruaridh MacLennan will be the only Guest of honour for the cruise. Activities will include music by the Glengarry Bhoys, A celidih under the stars, talks, seminars, informal get together and plenty of time for yourself. In addition you will get to talk with our chief. It will be a great  time.

If you are interested in joining the Chief call the Scottish Banner at 1-800729-8951 for more information and reservations.

SCOTTISH HISTORY

A spectacular refuge

More a fortified promontory than a castle. Dunnottar is the most spectacular refuge on the east coast. Just south of Stonehaven, a strange rock formation protrudes into the North Sea. The ruined castle on top is Dunnottar, ancient capital of the Mearns. Enclosing cliffs 160 ft high, against which the North Sea pounds relentlessly, raise to the sky a grassy plateau scattered with walls, gables an a lofty tower, all of reddish sandstone. in the days before artillery, it must have been virtually impregnable. On three sides the rock falls to the sea and on the fourth it's protected by a deep ravine. this is St. Ninians Den, after the Saint who founded a church here. Surely the most impressive castle in the country, From around the 14th Century, Dunnottar was the stronghold of  The Earls Marischal of Scotland. But it's history is much longer than that, in the year  681 Bruidhe king of Picts laid siege to what he called  Dunfoithir.

If stones could only talk, what tales these could tell! If you're South of the border, you certainly wouldn't have wanted to be here in 1296 when Wlliam Wallace came to call. He cornered a garrison of around 4000 Englishmen in the church and set fire to it.....  Smoke was to fill the air again during the Civil War. In 1645, the Earl of Marischal couldn't be persuaded to cede the castle to the King's forces. In retribution the Marquis of Montrose burned Stonehaven  and laid waste to the surrounding countryside. Vulnerable to artillery, Dunnottar was relegated to a prison  when in 1685 a large body of Covenanters were held in appalling conditions (some died and are commemorated in the Covenanter's Stone in the Dunnottar  Churchyard.) and where in 1689 several Aberdeen Jacobites were held for a year.

In the small graveyard there is one stone for a child of seven years...1685.
That was a fateful year in Dunnottar's history. If you've been in Edinburgh Castle you'll no doubt have admired the Honours of Scotland, or our Crown Jewels. You'd never think, looking at them in their special room against all that red velvet, that for more than eight years the crown, sword and sceptre mouldered under the floorboards of Kinneff Kirk, south of Dunnottar. It was this way, Oliver Cromwell longed to find and destroy the regalia with  which Charles  II had been crowned at Scone. The honours had been  hidden at Dunnottar  ever since, and Cromwell's army had siege in 1651. With a garrison of 100 men, Sir George Ogilvie kept them at bay for months. Only once starvation set in , did he agree an honourable surrender.  The roundheads excitement at being so close to their goal  soon evaporated. They tore the place apart , but could not find neither the honours  nor the young Kings private papers. How could this be possible? Well, the papers had walked past them sewn  into the lining  of Anne Lindsay's dress . The story goes  this way about the honours- A young servant girl was out collecting seaweed  on the beach. When she returned home to Kinneff Manse, the honours, lowered down the cliff to her in a basket ,were nestling under the seaweed she'd gathered... neither Sir George nor gallant Lady Ogilvie revealed their secret, even after months of torture. Only after the Kings Restoration was it safe enough for the boards beneath the pulpit to be lifted, and the honours of Scotland brought back into the light of day.

So, once a year, during the Queen's visit to Holyrood, the Sword of State precedes her up the Royal Mile to the Thistle ceremony at St Giles. Thanks to a serving maid with a cool head and an iron nerve.
              (reprinted by permission of Clan Mac Lennan newsletter-Melbourne Aus,)


WHY DOES THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH HAVE  A SCOTTISH CROSS ON ITS FLAG

Because it came from Scotland! Following the Revolutionary War, the United States had no American Bishops. They were all English, and had to swear an oath to the King of England.

                                 
WHAT IS HOGMANY

Have you ever wondered where the Scots got the word Hogmany? It is the word used in Scotland for the last day of the year, December 31st. It is also a period of gift giving or any other form of hospitality ,including a dram given to a visitor. In olden days it was also a phrase for any monies given to a tradesman or employee on that last day for their services rendered throughout the previous year However, it was not originally called hogmany. One explanation states that long ago at the final service of the year in gratitude, the congregation was asked to embrace each other for the fruitful year and a successful new year. The leaders of each church allowed and encouraged their worshipers to break with tradition of no speech and hug each other in appreciation and one and all they said" hug me now'. This expression descended in time to become rendered Hogmany.

IN CELEBRATION OF ROBERT BURNS January 25, 1759 - July 21, 1796

In January Scots the world over will celebrate the birth of Robert Burns. During his lifetime , he reached the heights of social success. After his death, he became Scotland's best loved poet. The following poem was written by him in the winter of 1785-86,shortly after he arrived in Edinburgh. It was the first of his poems to be published in any periodical (The Caledonian Mercury). Fair fa'your honest, soncie face, great chieftain o the puddin-race! Aboon them a'ye tak your place, Painch, tripe,or thairm weel are ye wordy o'agrace as lang's my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, your hurdles liek a distant hill, your pin wad help to mend a mill in time o'need, while thro your pores the dews distil, like amber bread His knife see rustic labour dight; an cut you up wi ready slight, trenching your gusing entrails bright, like ony ditch; and then, O what a glorious sught, warm-reekin,rich! Then,horn for horn, they stretch an strive: Deil take hindmost, on they drive, till a'their weel-swall'd kytes belyve are bent like drums; They auld guidman, maist like rive, bethankit'hums.

Is there that owre his french ragout, or olio that wad staw a sow, or fricassee wad mak her spew wi perfect sconner, looks down wi sneering,scornful view on sic a dinner? Poor devil see him owre his trash, as feckless as a wither'd rash, his spindle shank a guid whip-lash, his nieve a nit; Thro bloody flood or field to dash, O how unfit! But mark the Rustic,haggis-fed, the trembling earth resounds his tread, Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll make it whissle; an legs an arms,an heads will sned, likes taps o thrissle. Ye pow'rs,wha mak mankind your care, and dishthem out their bill o fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware that jaups in luggies; But if ye wish her grateful prayer, gie her a Haggis.

ADDRESS TO A HAGGIS > > > > >

Far fa' your honest,soncie face, Is there that owre his > French ragout, > Great chieftain o the puddin'-race! Or olio that wad staw a > sow, > Aboon them a' ye tak your place, Or fricassee wad mak her > spew > Painch,tripe, or thairm wi pefect > sconner, > Weel are ye wordy o'a grace Looks down wi > sneering,scornful view > as lang's my arm. On sic a > dinner? > > The groaning trencher there ye fill, Poor devil see him owre > his trash, > Your hurdles liek a distant hill, As feckless as a > wither'd rash, > Your pin wad help to mend a mill His spindle shank a guid > whip-lash, > In time o'need, His nieve > a nit: > While thro your pores the dews distil Thro bloody flood or field > to dash, > Like amber bread. O how unfit! > > His knife see rustic labour dight; But mark the > Rustic,haggis-fed, > An cut you up wi ready slight, The trembling earth > resounds his tread, > Trenching your gusing entrails bright, Clap in his walie nieve a > blade, > Like ony ditch: He'll make > it whissle; > And then,O what a glorious sight; An legs an arms, an heads > will sned, > warm-reekin, rich! like taps o > thrissle. > > Then,horn for horn, they stretch an strive: Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind > your care, > Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive, And dish them out their bill > o fare, > Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve Auld Scotland wants nae > skinking ware > Are bent like drums; > that jaups in luggies; > They auld Guidman, maist > like to rive, But if ye wish her grateful prayer, > 'Bethankit 'hums. Gie her a > Haggis! > > > > GAELIC AWARENESS Months November--------an t-samhain December--------an Dubhlachd January---------an Faoliteach February--------an Gearran March-----------an Mart April-----------an Giblean May-------------an Ceitean June------------ant-Og-mhios July------------an t-Luchar August----------an lunasdal September-------an t-Sultain October---------an-Damhair                           

JOKE OF THE QUARTER

The wise old mother superior in a Scottish convent was dying. All the nuns gathered around her bed, trying to make her comfortable. They gave  her some warm milk to drink, but she refused it. then one nun remembered a bottle of Scotch she received as a gift so she opened it and poured a generous amount into the warm milk. Back at Mother Superior's bed. she held the glass to her lips.  Mother drank 
a little, then a little more, then before they knew it, she had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop. "Mother  Mother!" the sisters cried, "give us some wisdom before you go". She raised herself up in bed and with a pious look on her face said,"Don't ever sell that cow".
(by permission of Melbourne Clan MacLennan newsletter)

As of the issue of this newsletter Clan MacLennan Assn USA Inc. is going the way of the electronic highway. The newsletters will only be mailed to those members that do not have an e-mail address. To facilitate this change all members will be receiving a letter notifying them of the change. They will be asked to return a questionaire telling the assn if they have one. Anyone who does not return this form telling us their E-mail address will not receive our newsletter. Those who specifically notify us that they do not have an e-mail will continue to receive one in the mail.

E-MAIL AVAILABILITY FORM NAME________________________________________
ADDRESS____________________________________________________________  ADDRESS____________________________________________
I DO_____ DO NOT_____ HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS E-MAIL

send to: e-mail:  WINTHESCOT@AOL.COM mail: WIN MACLENNAN, 1032 LOCKRIDGE LANE, ASHLAND CITY


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