THE PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER
Volume 39, No. 2, March 2018
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Greetings Gentlemen of the Society:
King Malcolm II fought with the Irish to route the Vikings in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf. Four years later in 1018 he routed the Northumbrians and became the master of Lothian. Scotland’s southeast frontier was now the River Tweed. It was at about this time that the Gaelic name Alba was supplanted by the hybrid word Scotland. David Ross; Scotland History of a Nation.
I begin this month’s presidential letter with unfortunate news. You have likely already seen the email announcing the passing of one of our long-term members, Mr. James Makenzie Fraser. Jim passed on on 2/1/18 at the age of 90. He had been a member of Society for more than 60 years and was a long-term capital district resident until he moved to the Lake George area in retirement. We send condolences to his family. I have also been communicating on several occasions with Valerie Thompson. John is another long-term member who unfortunately has not been able to attend any of our recent functions because of an ongoing illness. He has had extensive therapy and is limited in his ability to go outside of the home. He apparently has shown some improvement recently and I am hopeful that they will be able to be joining us at the past president’s dinner. I’m sure that he would like to hear from members of the Society since these illnesses can certainly leave one with a sense of isolation. Lastly Spencer J Ryan and his lovely wife Eve have moved to Beverwyke. His new address will be listed on the website. Hopefully we will now be able to see more of them as well.
With many of our members away we had a board of managers meeting last month as a phone conference. Overall it would appear that we are doing well. 2 issues were brought out that I think are of interest to the entire society. The first is that with the success of the stock market and the growth of our assets it is all the more important that we make appropriate donations of a charitable nature. Anyone who has an interest in passing their monetary donations through the society, and therefore being able to make a larger donation, are encouraged to pass these requests to our Treas. Mr. Charles Brown for approval by the board of managers. The other issue relates to the payment of dues. About 80% of the annual dues have been obtained at this point but there is still approximately 20% that is outstanding and each year these late payments are received at the last minute as stated in the constitution. Obviously, this is not in the best interest of the fiscal health of the society and I would encourage all to pay their dues promptly.
The Rooms and the society have been busy since my last note. At the January meeting we had a presentation by a prospective member Mr. Dow Smith. He is an accomplished photographer and gave us a photographic tour of the West Coast of Scotland. This was not only informative but quite a beautiful presentation and I hope that we can impose upon him again in the future. We had a very successful Burns Night at the Normanside Country Club. It was a rather small turnout but thanks to a successful auction I do believe we made a profit. The general program was well-organized by our second vice president, Mr. Andrew Patterson. Actually, we were all convinced most of the planning was performed by his wife Sarah and we thank her for her efforts including some very nice table decorations. Andrew not only regaled us with his rendition of the ode to the haggis but did an exemplary job with his Memories to Robbie Burns. We had many lovely donations to the auction and I would like to specifically thanks two companies who donated items. The first is Walker Metalsmith Celtic jewelry at Walker’s Celtic jewelry.com. This is a local company in the Southern tier of New York and I have purchased many very lovely items from them over more than years. I would strongly recommend that we all take a look at their very extensive website. The second gift was a lovely blanket from a new Scottish store near Manchester Vermont. Apparently, they’re in the process of moving now but will stay in that area. I have visited the store and they have quality Scottish items including food products and all your clothing needs. They go by the name of Rablogan Castle and can be found at the website Rablogan.com. I sent thank you emails to each of these firmness in the name of the society. We had a successful single malt tasting at the beginning of this month with several new prospective members in attendance. On Saturday, January 20, 20 people from the Presbyterian New England Congregational Church of Saratoga met at the rooms for refreshments and got organized to attend the March for Women at the West Capital Park. Following the March, the group returned to the rooms for refreshments and a discussion of the speeches made at the rally. This group was sponsored, entertained, and fed by the Society Steward Mr. Graves. The group expressed their gratitude for the Society’s generosity and also commented on the ironic and humorous nature of this group being wined and dined at a private men’s club. Last but not least I would again mention the very successful Christmas party that was held at the room with a wonderful turnout of caroling members.
As for upcoming events the lady’s night meeting will be held next Thursday on 2/8/18 at the room. Unfortunately, I will not be in attendance and the meeting will be brought to order by the first vice president Mr. William Burke. Our entertainment for the night will be a master gardener from Hewitt’s, Mr. Peter Bowden. He was recommended by members who have heard him speak before and he will be discussing preparation of the Spring Garden and of course be available for any questions one might have about their own gardens. There will be a single MALT tasting at the rooms in April with an announcement of the date to be made in the near future. The Tartan Day parade will be held in New York City on Saturday, April 7 with a parade beginning at 2 PM. The Society has already been registered. The parade route will be along sixth Avenue from 44thto 55th St. Please contact Frank Alguire if you are interested in attending or need additional information. Lastly as a save the date, of note the Past Present Dinner will again be held at the Albany Country Club on Friday, May 18.
I have spoken to Mr. Hixon and there is no news from the house committee other than the fact that Pat Foy has obtained a new working refrigerator for the wee kitchen. As I noted in the last newsletter there have been a number of suggestions put forward as to how we might increase our membership. It has been made clear over the last several years that the membership is not only decreasing in size but aging. We certainly have a number of potential members showing an interest of the Society but there are some restrictions to this. A number of suggestions have been made to make the membership process easier and even extending the types of membership. I have formed ad hoc committee including Mr. Goodfellow, Mr. Thornton, and myself. We will plan on bringing recommendations forward to the Society to expand membership. I would ask anyone with suggestions or recommendations about this issue to forward those to me. This is going to be a long slow process and may require changing of the constitution.
I hope this letter finds you all well. We look forward to a good turnout for lady’s night. I am optimistic that the entertainment committee will make sure that we have interesting meeting going forward.
Aye yours,
Richard MacDowell