November 2018         Title    Past Issues

In this Issue:

  November Gathering & Events   September Athlete Story Update
  President's Letter   McBee's Son on National Team
  Pilgrimages to Scotland   Scots-toberfest
  Games Planning & a Request   Pipe Band Calendar
  Scotland's Hidden Gems   Coming Events - Valley & Nearby
  Research Your Scottish Ancestry   A Word from our Advertisers  



November Gathering
Border Crossing Our November Gathering and the Annual General Meeting will be held on November 8, 2018 at the Irish Cultiral Center, 1106 N. Central in Phoenix.

Join us for reports on the condition, finances and future plans of your Society.

6:30 - Mix & Mingle (no host bar)
7:00 - Annual General Meeting
7:30 - Entertainment
8:15 - 50/50 Raffle & Door Prizes

No charge for Members
$5 donation suggested for Guests

Crossbow Bluegrass BandOur entertainment for the evening will be provided by The Crossbow Bluegrass Band.

Enjoy the sounds of music which originated in Ireland and Scotland.


Annual RAF Memorial

On Sunday, November 11, CSA President David McBee will present a wreath honoring the 23 Royal Air Force cadets who died while training at Falcon Field in the early 1940's.

- Mesa Caledonian Pipe Band will play
- Many other British organizations participate
- Arrive by 10:30 AM, Mesa City Cemetery, 1212 N. Center St.
- There will be a Fly-Over at 11:00 AM
- Tribute by the Scottish-American Military Society and the Pipe Band
- Lunch afterward at The Harp, Dan Park Mall, Val Vista & 60


Letter from the President
David McBee

David McBeeHello from the road.

I am sorry to have missed most of the October events but the remnants of two hurricanes and a few snowstorms have not stopped me from my rounds. From a triumph at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado to the Stone Mountain Highland Games and my Clan MacBean’s annual gathering in Georgia, I will have spent too many days in the driver’s seat. I hear the Arizona weather has been interesting as well. I hope this finds you all well and safe and a little cooler.

Our November meeting will be our annual members’ meeting this year. We are running a bit behind with all of the activities underway.

Please come out to the RAF Memorial on the 11th at the Mesa City Cemetery, 1212 N Center St, starting at 10:30am and including flyovers from Falcon Field. This memorial service is definitely something to experience as a Scot, Arizonan, and benefactor of this historic community.

As with all volunteer organizations, people’s involvement is always changing. Please speak to one of the Board members about getting involved. The talents and experience that you can bring to the table are truly valuable and needed by this community. Oh, and get your twinkle on! Join in our entry in the Light Parade on December 1. Let’s spread the Scottish spirit. Or should that be spirits? Come join the parade.

Slainte. DAVID


Pilgrimages to Scotland

A few Society members made the pilgrimage back to the homeland this year. Of course, if they hadn’t been enchanted by Scotland before, they fell in love with it this time round. So, if you don’t have your trip planned for 2019, here are a few photographs taken by those who managed to cross the Atlantic this year – just to whet your appetite.

  • Packhorse Bridge
  • Edinburgh Castle
  • Burns Cottage
  • Culzean Castle
  • Auld Kirk, Selkirk
  • Dryburgh Abbey
  • Huntly Castle
  • Watternish, Skye
Carrbridge
Edinburgh Castle
Burns Hoestead
Culzean Castle
Wallace Memorial
Dryburgh Abbey
Huntly Castle
Skye

Carol McKeever was struck by the old Packhorse Bridge in the village of Carrbridge, near Aviemore in the Highlands. She also snapped a classic shot of Edinburgh Castle from the bustling streets of the Capital.

Don and Pearl Finch, and Pearl’s mother Hazel Kerbes took in the delights of Ayrshire during their trip. They paid a visit to Burns Cottage in Alloway, where Scotland’s National Bard Robert Burns was brought up. Pearl and Hazel are also pictured outside nearby Culzean Castle, ancient seat of the chiefs of the Clan Kennedy, Pearl’s clan. The castle also contains the Dwight D Eisenhower suite, an apartment gifted to the former President in recognition of his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WW2.

Meanwhile Bob and Lois Wallace made sure they ran the rule over some family heritage by visiting the Auld Kirk in Selkirk, where William Wallace – Braveheart himself – was named Guardian of Scotland. The church is also the burial ground of the maternal ancestors of Franklin D Roosevelt. Bob and Lois were also enchanted by the brooding ruins of nearby Dryburgh Abbey.

Iain and Be Lundy snapped more ruins in the shape of Huntly Castle in Aberdeenshire, an ancient stronghold of the Gordon family. They also loved the view looking out to sea from the Waternish Peninsula on the north-west coast of Skye. Have you booked your flight yet?


November Games Planning Meeting, and a Request

The November Phoenix Scottish Games meeting will be held on Wednesday November 14th in the back room at Rosie McCaffrey’s 906 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix. The meeting time as usual will be 6:30, and food and drink will be on your own.

Topics of discussion will be: gates/ticket sales, vendor placement, generator placement, advertising in the program

Paul would also like to talk about schedules for Athletics, Dance, Pipes and Entertainment. Those schedules are needed as soon as they can be done in order to get them into the program.

There will also be discussion on prepping Nessie for the APS Electric Light Parade on December 1st. Paul Bell


Games stall holder Sandra Macintyre, who runs Highland Boutique with her husband Donald, has appealed for donations of new or gently-used items that can be sold at the event – and the sooner the donations start coming in the better.

All proceeds from the sales at Highland Boutiques go towards the Caledonian Society’s Scholarship Fund. All donations will be tax-deductible according to the current value of the item.

Sandra is looking for items such as kilts, (for males and females), jackets, shirts, ties, sporrans, regalia, Scottish records or CDs, flags, Scottish jewelry, t-shirts, and other themed items.

She is also on the lookout for volunteers to help at the stand during the two days of the Games. Anyone wishing to donate or volunteer should contact her on 602-795-3361 or macintyre@cox.net


Scotland's Hidden Gems - The Real-Life Robinson Crusoe
Iain Lundy


It is one of the world’s most popular and thrilling children’s adventure stories. Daniel Defoe’s story of Robinson Crusoe tells the tale of a hardy, resourceful sea captain who survived for 28 years after being shipwrecked on a remote, uninhabited island in the Caribbean.

The inspiration for Defoe’s book was, unsurprisingly, a Scotsman, Captain Alexander Selkirk, who hailed from the village of Lower Largo in Fife. To this day, villagers celebrate the literary connection. They drink in the Crusoe Hotel, and a signpost at the harbor points towards the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile, where Selkirk was cast away.

Alexander Selkirk A small stone cottage in the village’s Main Street marks the spot where Selkirk was born in 1676. A life-size statue above the door depicts him dressed in goatskins and gazing out to sea; A plaque below the statue reads:

"In memory of Alexander Selkirk, mariner, the original of Robinson Crusoe who lived on the island of Juan Fernández in complete solitude for four years and four months. He died 1723 (sic), lieutenant of HMS Weymouth, aged 47 years [sic]. This statue is erected by David Gillies, net manufacturer, on the site of the cottage in which Selkirk was born."

Nowadays the Crusoe link puts Lower Largo on the map and is undoubtedly good for passing trade. However, had it not been for Daniel Defoe and his sympathetic portrayal of the shipwrecked sea captain, the people of the village would have most likely been ashamed rather than proud of the legacy of Alexander Selkirk.

As a boy Selkirk was described as “quarrelsome and unruly” and he was summoned before the local Kirk Session (or church governing board) of the local Presbyterian congregation to explain his “indecent conduct in church. Selkirk didn’t bother to show up. Instead, at the age of 17, he ran away from home, went to sea, and became a pirate.

The Scotsman was a tough, physically strong, and argumentative character – ideally suited for the so-called swashbuckling buccaneers who sailed the high seas in the early 1700s. In truth, they were merciless thieves and brutal killers.

Selkirk was cast ashore on the Juan Fernandez Islands after complaining to his ship’s captain that the vessel was leaky and unfit for sailing. He said he would rather stay ashore and, by all accounts, the captain was happy to be rid of him. He survived for four years on the islands, living off the meat of feral goats, as well as fish and lobsters. When he was rescued by a passing privateer, he was said to be ”incoherent with joy”.

His experience was told in many books and diaries, and there is no doubt that Defoe modelled Crusoe on the Scotsman. The poet William Cowper also wrote ‘The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk’ which contains the famous line ‘I am monarch of all I survey’.

‘I am monarch of all I survey, My right here is none to dispute, From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute.’

When he returned to Britain, he resumed his lawless ways. He was jailed for assaulting a shipwright in Bristol, then returned to Lower Largo and ran off with a 16-year old dairymaid. He went back to sea and made a considerable fortune but died of yellow fever off the coast of Ghana in 1721.


Research Your Scottish Ancestry

Robert WilbanksVolunteers Needed for the Phoenix Scottish Games

by Robert M. Wilbanks IV, B.A.
Chief Genealogist & Historian, C.S.A.
genealogy@arizonascots.com

As the Caledonian Society of Arizona is now in full swing preparing for the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games, I would like to take this opportunity to remind our members of the need for Volunteers. This includes the need for genealogy volunteers for the genealogy tent.

The Chief Genealogist for the Caledonian Society of Arizona is seeking experienced practicing genealogists to assist attendees of the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games who visit the society’s official genealogy tent.

The Caledonian Society of Arizona, a Scottish cultural organization, has incorporated a more significant genealogical element within its organization. The 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games will seek to follow up on the last two years’ success with the tent, with the Chief Genealogist on site and a wealth of resources, potentially including brief personalized consultations and access to online resources. Volunteers can provide a great assist in expanding interest in genealogy to the general public.

The Phoenix Scottish Games will be on Saturday and Sunday, 2 and 3 March, 2019 at Steele Indian School Park (Indian School Road & Central Avenue) in Phoenix. Volunteers will receive free all-day admission to the event for the entire day or days the volunteer indicates availability. Volunteers will be requested to work, at minimum, two x two-hour shifts, per day, with a minimum one-hour break in between. Shifts will begin as early as 8am both days, and will end at 5pm on both days.

Naturally, volunteers will be expected to have basic genealogy knowledge overall, and specifically in US research. Knowledge of research in Scottish, English, Irish and/or Canadian genealogy would be extremely beneficial. Volunteers should be outgoing with good inter-personal skills and service-oriented characteristics, expect to stand for long periods, and be prepared for any kind of weather conditions.

Local area genealogy societies are invited to send along hundreds of copies of society informational and membership brochures for distribution, and should encourage members to participate in helping to expand interest in genealogy and local genealogy activities to the general public.

For more information about The Caledonian Society of Arizona, and the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games, please visit http://arizonascots.com/05games.shtml To volunteer, or for more information about the genealogy tent, please contact Robert M. Wilbanks IV, C.S.A. Chief Genealogist, at genealogy@arizonascots.com

As the Caledonian Society of Arizona is now in full swing preparing for the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games, I would like to take this opportunity to remind our members of the need for Volunteers. This includes the need for genealogy volunteers for the genealogy tent.

The Chief Genealogist for the Caledonian Society of Arizona is seeking experienced practicing genealogists to assist attendees of the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games who visit the society’s official genealogy tent. The Caledonian Society of Arizona, a Scottish cultural organization, has incorporated a more significant genealogical element within its organization. The 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games will seek to follow up on the last two years’ success with the tent, with the Chief Genealogist on site and a wealth of resources, potentially including brief personalized consultations and access to online resources. Volunteers can provide a great assist in expanding interest in genealogy to the general public.

The Phoenix Scottish Games will be on Saturday and Sunday, 2 and 3 March, 2019 at Steele Indian School Park (Indian School Road & Central Avenue) in Phoenix. Volunteers will receive free all-day admission to the event for the entire day or days the volunteer indicates availability. Volunteers will be requested to work, at minimum, two x two-hour shifts, per day, with a minimum one-hour break in between. Shifts will begin as early as 8am both days, and will end at 5pm on both days.

Naturally, volunteers will be expected to have basic genealogy knowledge overall, and specifically in US research. Knowledge of research in Scottish, English, Irish and/or Canadian genealogy would be extremely beneficial. Volunteers should be outgoing with good inter-personal skills and service-oriented characteristics, expect to stand for long periods, and be prepared for any kind of weather conditions.

Local area genealogy societies are invited to send along hundreds of copies of society informational and membership brochures for distribution, and should encourage members to participate in helping to expand interest in genealogy and local genealogy activities to the general public.

For more information about The Caledonian Society of Arizona, and the 2019 Phoenix Scottish Games, please visit the Society website.

To volunteer, or for more information about the genealogy tent, please contact Robert M. Wilbanks IV, C.S.A. Chief Genealogist: genealogy@arizonascots.com

This is another of a series of articles in which I show you the basics of searching for your family history, discussing the use of family records, public records, and online resources nationally and internationally, etc. The previous articles are now available on the Genealogy Section of this website.   See “Genealogy” in the menu options at the top of the web page.


Update on Andrew McCreery's Competition

Andrew McCreey Phoenix-based heavyweight athlete Andrew McCreery, who was featured in our September edition before he headed to Stuttgart, Germany, to take part in the World Championships, didn’t win the event but said it was one of the highlights of his life so far. Andrew, who runs the d’Vine Gourmet food and beverage store in Chandler with his wife Denise, had only been competing in strongman events at Highland Games for two years before qualifying for a spot at the Worlds.

He said, “Team McCreery had a great trip and it was a wonderful event. Being on the field and competing with World Class Masters athletes was something I will always treasure.”

The competition in Germany was a little tougher than the Games Andrew has experienced in the US. He added, “The caber was heavier than hell, and a beast to manage, let alone throw.”


McBee's Son Makes National Team


The son of Society President David McBee is in pole position to capture a spot on the US ski shooting team for the 2020 Winter Olympics to be held in Tokyo.

David’s son Zach won the bronze medal at the US National Championships in Colorado Springs last month, a feat that cements a spot on the national shooting team.

Zach McBee Zach, who currently studies Engineering at Texas A&M, is now on the elite team to compete at World Cup events.

His goal now is to win one of the coveted two spots for Tokyo. They will be decided at several selection matches and a minimum qualifying competition in Guadalajara, Mexico.

At the Colorado Springs event, Zach defeated a two-time Olympian. The championships were held in a severe winter storm, which made competing at such high levels extremely difficult.

Go Zach!

Your friends at the Caledonian Society are rooting for you.


Scots-toberfest 2018


Around 30 Society members gathered in Haus Murphy’s German restaurant in Glendale for a lively and enjoyable Scots-toberFest in October – good food, good company, and some very good German beer.

The evening, organized by Mark Pelletier, included an update on the planning for the Scottish Games in March from Paul Bell, as well as a reminder to members of the various events that lie ahead in the coming weeks and months, from November’s Annual General Meeting to the Burns Supper in February.

Lois Wallace, who organized the Society’s summer trip to Scotland, presented Paul with a handsome marketing support check. And Past President Don Finch was presented with a copy of the book A History of Scotland, by his seemingly favorite Scotsman Neil Oliver.

Games sponsorship check     Don Finch gift

Toast to Jean LatimerMembers also joined in a toast to the memory of Past President Jean Latimer, who passed away this summer.


Mesa Caledonian Pipe Band Calendar Sale

It’s not every day one of our Society officers becomes a pin-up boy. But trustee Kevin Conquest is now ‘Mister June’ in the 2019 North American Pipe Band Calendar.

MCPB Calendar Kevin, who is Drum Major with the Mesa Caledonian Pipe Band, said be was delighted and proud that the band are represented in the calendar, which is produced by @whiskyandtartan. If you want a Scottish-themed stocking stuffer this Christmas, calendars can be bought from Mesa Pipe Band members or at the Band web site for $20.

Every purchase will go towards helping get the band to the European Pipe Band Championships in Scotland next summer.


COMING EVENTS and Highland Games in Arizona and Nearby


November 2-4 Tucson Highland Games
Rillito Park, Tucson AZ
November 2-4 Moab Celtic Festival
Moab, UT
November 8 Society Gathering
ICC
November 11 RAF Memorial
Mesa City Cemetery
November 14 Games Planning Meeting
Rosie McCaffrey’s Pub
December 1 Nessie in the Electric Light Parade
Central Avenue
December 8 CSA Christmas Party
Will be celebrated at:
December 8 Christmas at the Castle
ICC
January 26 Burns Supper
Chandler Amrican Legion Hall


Membership Reminder

Membership dues for 2018 are:
- - $25.00 single and $40.00 Family (at the same address)

It's easy - just jump to the Membership Page for the form.
And you can pay by Credit Card at our On-Line Store descibed at the left.


Society Gatherings
Regular membership gatherings are usually held the second Thursday of each month, many at the Irish Cultural Center, 1106 N. Central Ave., Phoenix - others around the Valley - usually beginning at 6:30 pm. Please check our website for further details.

A Word from our Advertisers


Kilt Rental USA

Len Wood
Bagpiper USB

Lois Wallace

Wilbanks

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