THE PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER
Volume 39, No. 4, September 2018
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
I have just returned from France so the newsletter is a bit late. I found on a tour of Paris that the city was originally founded by the Celts. They had a community on the Ile de la Cite founded in approximately 200 BC. They remained there until they were forced out of the area by the Legion of Julius Caesar in approximately 54 BC. From there of course they moved north populating first Ireland and then eventually representing the Scots that moved to the West Coast of today’s Scotland several hundred years later. It is amazing how far-flung the journey of our ancestors was before settling in what we see as their ancestral lands of Scotland and Ireland.
A lot is going on since my last letter in April. John Thompson passed away on June 5 after a long illness. He was a long-standing member of the Albany Saint Andrew Society and a past president of the Schenectady society. His funeral service was on June 16 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Albany. Our own Rev. McMillan led the service and our members represent of the society as John’s pallbearers. It was a truly lovely service both at the church and at our site at the Albany Rural cemetery.
The piper for the service was our own Callum Younger and I had an opportunity to spend some time with this very talented and very modest young man. Callan would not go into many details about his accomplishments but I spoke to his mother Amy. He began playing bagpipes at age 10 and it became his passion. He originally played with the Perth and District Pipe Band and then the Vale of Atholl pipe band in Scotland before moving to the states. After his move he played with the Scotia Glenville pipe band and then the Grade 1 Pipe Band, the 78th Fraser Highlanders in Ontario, Canada. He has won many awards and medals and in November 2017 attended the US Junior solo Highland bagpipe and solo snare drumming championships. This is the only US national competition for pipers under age 21. He won the MSR championship at that competition. Recently he went to Glascow Scotland competing in the World Bagpipe Championship where his band placed fifth in grade 2 piping. He has also played at the Balmoral Gathering in Scotland in front of the Queen, William and Kate. He is taking the next year off to study in New Zealand and will be competing in Scotland at that time. He will return next year to matriculate at Siena College. I for 1 am proud to know this young man, the child of our member Gavin.
Also, over the summer we had a contingent of the society representing us at the Scots Day at Fort Ticonderoga. This was also on June 16, the day of John’s service. Because of this the turnout at either event was very limited with many people out of town but we did have a tent at the Fort and we were able to fly our flag for both events.
As we lost yet another member over the summer, we also gained a new member at the last meeting. Mr. Robert McCarty was voted in as our newest member on April 12. We look forward to a long productive relationship and I would ask all of you to give a welcoming hand to Robert at our next function and make him welcome.
The president’s tea was held on August 5 and with Barbara catering the food was plentiful. We had a very pleasant time although only six members were in attendance. As with many of our functions the attendance has been less than satisfactory. We have active committees looking at membership and improvement in our meetings but if any member has suggestions that would make these meetings more attractive I look forward to hearing from you. Going forward for some of these meetings we will need to ask for an RSVP.
Rev. Shook has been our web master essentially since the onset of the webpage. He will be stepping down from that position as soon as possible and no later than January 1. It is very important that we find a member willing to take over this role which can certainly be informative and I do not believe requires a huge commitment of time. Page 13 of the management manual has a brief description of the website and basic duties but I would certainly be happy to talk to any member who is at all interested in taking on this role to discuss what might be involved. Joe is willing to be available for training as well.
This morning is the Scottish games in Altamont. We have an active group who are meeting first thing this morning to set up the tents and make sure that all is available. Hopefully we can recruit some new members. I hope many more of the members will be present at the festivities and will stop by the tent for a little comradery.
Going forward there are a number of activities to mention that hopefully will have good turnouts. The first meeting of the fall will be on Thursday 9/13. This is the traditional officer’s barbecue. There will be a limited meeting and then good food and drink to be had by all. We have been working hard on updating the rooms. The back porch has almost been rebuilt at this point and with a little luck a lot of the painting will be done by the 13th. The weeds in the backyard are a zoological wonder but are getting under control and were hoping to be able to use the yard for a number of functions going forward. The Saint Andrews Nicht celebration will of course be on November 30 starting at the rooms with dinner at the Fort Orange Club, so please save the date.
Last year we had a highly successful Christmas party which is a tradition we would like to continue. The dates are not cast in stone but tentatively the gathering for decorating the rooms will be on Sunday 12/9 and the Christmas party will be on Sunday 12/16. We would also like to add a picnic this year with a tentative date of Saturday 10/13. Both of these events will be potluck meals and a little advance notice as to who is coming and what will be supplied would be very helpful.
That is all for now. I hope to see many of you at our upcoming events and with a little help we will have a prosperous year.