June, 2011

In this Issue:

 President's Message  Coming Events
 Flag Day Goes By  June Celebrations
 A Fathers' Day Poem  Know the Clans
 Scots ABC  Caledonian Society Officers
 A Prince Arrives, A Queen Departs  General Meeting Minutes
 2nd Annual Shepherd's Pie Contest  Important Dates in June
   


President's Message

Is it just me or is this year “flying” past. Here we are almost to the halfway point already. We will not be shutting down this year in July and August as we have the last two years. We are having a lot more fun these days and we don’t want to stop that now. June will a repeat of the Shepherd’s Pie Contest with new contestants and new Judges and great food. This month we will start the Games meetings again and we have submitted our Event Application to the Park personnel with the required $2,000.00 check. We are doing some small fund raising things throughout the summer to help keep us in good condition for opening and/or expanding our Games.

Our Trustees on the Board, Alan Ramsdell and William Wallace have agreed to serve out the 2011/2012 year (half term) so that we can present a full slate in June of 2012. We got out of sync during the partial terms served in the past three years. I am most grateful for their willingness to serve. The Board has great people to work with and that makes our projects go more smoothly. Thanks also to all our Games Area Chairs. Looking forward to gearing up for another great year with these amazing volunteers.

I hope and pray that each of you can see, hear or feel the excitement coming from our new young members. They are bringing new life to the Society.

If you have not been to a meeting in a long time, please think about paying us a visit. You are not required to bring anything, but you might go home with a “Door Prize” and renewed friendships.

Sincerely,
Jean Latimer, President





Flag Day Goes By
(FLAG DAY is June 14)
By H. H. Bennett

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
And loyal hearts are beating high.
Hats off!





HAPPY FATHER’S DAY—June 19

How Lucky to Have Had So Good A Father

How lucky to have had so good a father!
On us his warm, unstinting sun long shone.
We were, of his hardworking life, the center,
Loved for the pure joy of love alone.
Uncanny are the requisites of pleasure,
Coming as they do within the will.
Knowing well where lay his greatest treasure,
Years on years of love he labored still.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!




Scots ABC

Here are some Scots words that have been used over the centuries throughout Scotland, some of which an still be heard in certain areas of the country.

Airt—Direction, point of the compass
Bealach—A mountain pass
Cloaker—A laying hen
Down-ding—A heavy show of rain or snow
Ferfochan—To be a little confused
Gouk—A foolish person
Kenspeckle—Conspicuous, prominent
Mairch dyke—A boundary wall
Nourice—A nurse, a foster mother
Outby—A little way off
Sleekit—Sly, shy or shiny
Trachled—To be worn out
Upmakar—A storyteller, composer
Vogie—Proud, vain
Yoller—To talk loudly but indistinctly





A Prince Arrives —A Queen Departs
By Charlie Mill


The year was 1566 and Mary Queen of Scots was close to giving birth to a child. In her court the Protestant lords were concerned as to their queen’s eagerness to restore Roman Catholicism to the nation and constantly discussed the possible dangers that would arise should the child be a boy and be brought up in his mother’s faith.

It was a boy who was born on June the 19th in Edinburgh and whatever the Protestant lords may have thought, the nation in general certainly gave every evidence of elation. All the artillery of the castle was discharged while the lords, nobles and the gentry gathered in St. Giles’ Kirk to thank God. It wasn’t only a future king of Scotland that had been born, but also an heir to the English Crown.

The birth of her son James was in a sense an omen of the passing of Mary. Scotland rejoiced at the coming of the Prince, not at the recovery of the Queen. James never really knew his mother, they were separated before she could make any impression on him, and during the period of his reign when she was still alive they were completely in disagreement. James felt that his position was more secure, his future more hopeful with Mary in Prison in England, and any maternal affection that he may have had was killed by this consideration. It is to be hoped, however, that when he heard how Mary faced death, he felt rather ashamed of his negligence and even proud that he was her son.

In Mary’s death, as was so often the case on the scaffold, tragedy was overcome by courage. Before leaving Westminster Hall she said to one of her servants: “You ought to rejoice rather than weep, for the end of Mary Stewart’s troubles is now come. Tell my friends that I die a true woman of my religion. Commend me to my son, and tell him that I have not done anything that might prejudice his kingdom of Scotland.” And that is the spirit in which she mounted the scaffold with proud features rather than a mournful demeanor.

When some of the lords present asked if they could pray with her she replied, “I am settled in the ancient Roman Catholic religion and mind to spend my blood in defence of it. If you will pray for me, my lords, I will thank you, but to join in prayer with you I will not, for you and I are not of one religion.” There were two swift strokes of the axe and the turbulent life of Mary Stewart was at an end.

So Mary died. James had made no real attempt to save her, though one of his courtiers swears he wrote “a threatening letter” to Queen Elizabeth I. Doubtless he did, but the English Queen knew as well as he himself did how meaningless his threats were, he would rather let his mother die than do anything that might prejudice his chances of succeeding to the English throne.

The greatest trouble he took was to ask the ministers of the Kirk to pray for Mary’s safety; he even wrote the prayer himself and a very lukewarm and noncommittal affair it was. Many of the Protestant ministers however, refused to use it, saying though it was the King’s will they would pray only as the spirit moved them. When Sunday came, the King appointed the Archbishop of St. Andrews to occupy the pulpit of St. Giles and read the prayer, but long before the service was due to start, John Coupar, a Protestant minister, took possession of the pulpit and so kept the archbishop out. He had just started to pray when King James, in a towering rage, shouted, “Stop!” At that Coupar banged his fist down on the pulpit and pointing to the King said: “This day shall bear witness against you in the day of the Lord!” Then he left the pulpit and along with the vast majority of the congregation walked out of the church, leaving an embarrassed Archbishop to resume the service.

On February 13th word came to the King that his mother Mary had been executed the previous week. He didn’t appear to have been upset much, but when the 23rd confirmation of the fact was received, this put His Majesty into “a very great displeasure and grief so that he went to bed that night without any supper.”

It all seems rather inadequate but still it is a true indication of James’ attitude. As far as he was concerned, Mary had been dead for years and by his passiveness and silent consent he may even be said to have brought about her execution. It is surprising, indeed, that he even went to bed without supper, for he accepted without demur Elizabeth’s statement that Mary’s death had taken place “by accident!”





The 2nd Annual Shepherd's Pie Contest
Saturday, June 4, 3-6pm
IRISH CULTURAL CENTER
$5 cover plus $5 to enter your pie

Bring a side dish to share
and a baked item for the Bake Sale

To compete in the contest, contact
Jacquelyn Sinclair at 602-336-1952

No Host Bar & Entertainment
Join us for fun, food & fellowship

A CALEDONIAN SOCIETY FUNDRAISER

More Information




Coming Events

Jun 3-5 Highland Games
Arlington, TX
Jun 4 2nd Annual Shepherd’s Pie Contest
Jun 4 Highland Games
Modesto, CA
Jun 9 Membership Meeting
Jun 10-11 Highland Games
Lehi, UT
Jun 14 Flag Day
Jun 18-19 Highland Games
Watsonville, CA
Jun 19 Fathers' Day
Jun 25-26 Highland Games
San Diego, CA
July 16-17 Highland Games
Flagstaff,AZ




June Celebrations

Jun 1 Matthew & Mandy Beatty-MacDonald—Anniversary
Jun 2 Tim Wallace—Birthday
Jun 3 . David Hawkins—Birthday
Jun 5 Gordon & Dee McClimans—Anniversary
Jun 5 Wolf-Dieter Klose—Birthday
Jun 5 William Wallace—Birthday
Jun 5 Cherise Beatty—Birthday
Jun 6 Genie Smith—Birthday
Jun 6 William & Norma Wallace—Anniversary
Jun 7 Douglas & Linda Hilton—Anniversary
Jun 10 Sandie Stephenson—Birthday
Jun 10 Jeannette Laurie—Birthday
Jun 10 Alan & Jo Ramsdell—Anniversary
Jun 10 Jackie Rice—Birthday
Jun 12 Don & Bobby Hoeck—Anniversary
Jun 12 Glenn & Ruth Anderson—Anniversary
Jun 12 Robert & Patricia Goyer—Anniversary
Jun 13 Ben & Kathy Howard—Anniversary
Jun 13 David Mathieson—Birthday
Jun 14 William McKillop—Birthday
Jun 14 Dorothy Thayer—Birthday
Jun 18 Foster & Peggy Burton—Anniversary
Jun 18 Matthew Beatty—Birthday
Jun 18 Bob Anderson—Birthday
Jun 19 Ellie Robb—Birthday
Jun 20 Donald Lynd—Birthday
Jun 22 George Kirk—Birthday
Jun 23 Glenn Anderson—Birthday
Jun 23 Jerry & Pat Minnis—Anniversary
Jun 26 Donald & Suzanne Lynd--Anniversary
Jun 27 Robert & Muriel Kremb—Anniversary
Jun 29 William & Linda Johnston—Anniversary
Jun 30 Vanne Cowie—Birthday



Know the Clans
District Tartan: Galloway
From District Tartans by Gordon Teall & Phillip Smith Jr.
District Tartan: Galloway

Galloway is an ancient division of southwest Scotland broadly co-extensive with the former counties of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright. These counties, together with Dumfriesshire and parts of southern Ayrshire were absorbed into the Dumfries and Galloway Region in 1975. Galloway was to the early Gaelic speaker the land of the “Gall” or “foreigner”, where the old Welsh-like British language was spoken. The name Galloway persisted as the Gaelic people came across from Ireland and replaced the earlier inhabitants. The Rinns of Galloway and the coast of Ulster are only 18 miles apart. The two areas shared a mutual language and culture for centuries and today are directly linked by a ferry service. Galloway is a pastoral land, still lonely and uncultivated in many areas.

The Galloway district tartan was designed in 1950 by John Hannary. In contemporary correspondence, Mr. Hannay stated that the Galloway “every day” tartan was in four shades of green with yellow and red stripes. As woven on his behalf, however, by Cree Mills Ltd. Of Newton-Stewart, Wigtownshire, only two shades of green were used.

Galloway is also a surname borne by a number of families, who sometimes choose to wear the Galloway District tartan.






Caledonian Society Officers

President: Jean Latimer—602-867-6507
1st Vice Pres:
Tim Wallace—480-821-6163
Treasurer: Joanne Gilreath
Games Chair: Jason Temple—602-920-5445
Recording Sec: Jean Whyman—602-956-6424
Corresp. Sec: Kay Morneau—480-503-0341
Trustee: Alan Ramsdell—480-969-8400
Trustee: William Wallace—480-838-7055
Past President: Elizabeth Grant—602-509-1146
Newsletter Editor: Jo Ramsdell—480-969-8400


Society Meetings

Regular membership meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at the Irish Cultural Center located at 1106 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix. Come join us, or log on to www.arizonascots.com or call 602-431-0095



The Caledonian Society of Arizona
General Meeting Minutes

May 12, 2011


The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm, without a quorum present. We pledged allegiance to the flag and gave a moment of silence for the Flowers of the Forest. President Jean Latimer remarked on the number of “missing” members and then gave an overview of the items from last week’s Board Meeting.

MINUTES: There were no Minutes from the April meeting as we had a Tartan Day/Thank You Volunteers celebration.

TREASURERS REPORT: As of April 30, 2011, we had $17,545.40 in the bank account with a few outstanding bills yet to be paid.

OLD BUSINESS: Last week’s Board Meeting included a visit with Mary Moriarty of the ICC and she suggested that we think about getting into the St. Pat’s Day Parade and Fair. Since we have changed our date for the games to the end of March instead of the end of February, we could gain some really good exposure right before our Games. We will have a booth at the Faire to hand out brochures and talk to folks about our up-coming Games the following weekend.

We have received Jackie Carro’s new contract and she has changed her status by taking off $2,000 and turning that money around as “Sponsor” money, to be used on advertising/PR. Thank you, Jackie.

The Board discussed at some length the problem that has been created by officers not completing their terms. We now have our Trustees ready to roll off the end of June, but the other officers are in the middle of their term. So we decided to hold on to the two Trustees over an extra year (with their permission) thus, next year we will present a total new slate.

We have had a member volunteer to be our Treasurer and we are getting her trained to take over the books and laptop. Thank you Joanne for volunteering to finish this term and hopefully continue for the next term. However, we still need another brave soul to step up and take over the Recording Secretary position. This is not a hard job, but you will need a computer. Jacquelyn Sinclair has volunteered to chair two committees; the monthly Refreshments and the Shepherd’s Pie Contest on June 4. Be sure to get in touch with her at 602-336-1952.

NEW BUSINESS: Jean had a call from Goodwill asking us to join them in their fund raising program “Donate Your Car”. They are to send her some information on this and she will take it up with the Board.

Lots of Door Prizes were donated and almost everyone won!

The meeting was adjourned for Bill Ferris to share his recent trip to Scotland—he was there during the Royal Wedding and brought back many papers and mementos as well as some great pictures. Since so many were absent, we have asked him to show them again at a later date. We will let you know ahead of time.

Respectfully submitted by
Jean Whyman, Acting Recording Secretary




Important Dates in June
Jun 14 Flag Day
Jun 19 Fathers' Day
June 21 Summer Solstice