THE THISTLEDOWN VOLUME 30, ISSUE NUMBER 4 FALL 2013 Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc. Kirking this Sunday J oin us for the Kirking O’ The Tartan on Sunday, No- vember 10, 2013. The event will take place at Knox Presby- terian Church, 427 West 37th Street (Corner of 37th Street & Colonial Avenue) in Norfolk. 10:30 A.M. (Line-up); 11:00 A.M. (Worship Service); 12:15 P.M. (Reception). This is a wonderful event, and we encourage all SST members and friends to at- tend. For more information, contact Nancy McKay at [email protected] or 623-6743. Central Virginia Celtic Festival & Highland Games Connie Smith, left, and Cheryl Brown. Jim McCarson, left, and Edward Brash Sandy MacGregor, left, and Scott MacGregor Bob & Jeanne Rider More festival photos on page 11
Transcript
THE THISTLEDOWN
VOLUME 30, ISSUE NUMBER 4 FALL 2013
Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc.
Kirking this Sunday
J oin us for the Kirking O’
The Tartan on Sunday, No-vember 10, 2013. The event will take place at Knox Presby-terian Church, 427 West 37th Street (Corner of 37th Street & Colonial Avenue) in Norfolk. 10:30 A.M. (Line-up); 11:00 A.M. (Worship Service); 12:15 P.M. (Reception).
This is a wonderful event, and we encourage all SST members and friends to at-tend. For more information, contact Nancy McKay at [email protected] or 623-6743.
Central Virginia Celtic Festival & Highland Games
Connie Smith, left, and Cheryl Brown.
Jim McCarson, left, and Edward Brash
Sandy MacGregor, left, and Scott MacGregor
Bob & Jeanne Rider
More festival photos on page 11
T he Scottish Society of Tidewater exists to promote the preservation and study of Scottish cul-ture, including music, language, art, history, folk-lore, dance, literature, athletics, and all other things distinctively Scottish among interested persons in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area and to cooperate with like-minded persons, groups and organizations here and abroad.
A meeting is held on the first Wednesday of each month at the Church of Ascension Community Cen-ter, 4853 Princess Anne Rd., Virginia Beach, VA 23462-4446. Social time begins at 7:00pm, and the meeting starts at 7:30pm. Anyone interested in Scottish culture and history is invited to attend.
About the Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc.
301 E. Randall Ave., Norfolk, VA 23503 www.tidewaterscots.org
The SST Board of Directors Newsletter Editor: Marcey Hunter [email protected]
PAGE 2 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
A Few Words from the President
Fellow Scots, Summer is over for the most part, some
yards are already beginning to be covered with leaves, Sweaters are starting to re-place tee shirts and halter tops, Kilts are finally starting to feel comfortably warm, …. and the SST is heading into its busy fall and winter season.
Wallace night supper was well attended, and the film on William Wallace was infor-mative. It displayed Scotland’s hero as a simple man drawn into a necessary situation, not a Hollywood superman defeating all foes by sheer might.
The Joint Societies Picnic was well attended, and the weather was perfect. All there enjoyed Edward Brash’s won-derful BBQ and special slaw, along with burgers, hot dogs, and andoui. The food brought by the guests was great, and unbelievably nearly everything on the board was eaten. A few cool draughts and wee drams were also enjoyed. I never heard who won in Spuds vs Oats, but I am sure both sides enjoyed the game. The Hurling folks came out and we all had fun watching or trying the game out.
Judy and I attended the Stone Mountain Games in Georgia a few weeks ago. This year our clan, Clan Elliot, was the Hon-ored Clan, and Lady Margaret Eliott came over from Scotland as the Guest of honor for the games. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was a honor to meet Lady Margaret.
Over the next months we will becelebrating Thanksgiving, holding our Christmas Céilidh, maybe taking a group trip to Alexandria for the Scottish Walk, feasting and enjoying some great music at Burn’s Nicht, and before long, Tartan day will be upon us.
Yours Aye, Stacy Elliott Apelt FSA Scot – President, Scottish Society of Tidewater
Stacy Apelt SST President
CALL FOR NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS
Want to contribute to the newsletter? I am looking for a few good ideas.
Some suggestions: History/Re-enactments...Book and/or music reviews...Photos...
Gathering & Games information...Poetry/Fiction...Recipes
Thank you for the donation to the Nature Foundation of Winter-green, which we received in memory of Carolyn Barkley. Thank you for supporting us. We have notified the family of your gift.
Our hearts go out to Carolyn’s family during this time. Carolyn was everything to the Foundation. She was in and out of our build-ing almost every day, working on the Exhibits Committee, proofing something for staff, volunteering for yet another event or working an afternoon in the Nature Center. She was more than a volunteer, member, Board Chair; she was one of us. To say she will be missed by the Foundation is an understatement.
Thank you again for making this donation in memory of Carolyn.
Sincerely, Lis Fravel Membership and Special Events The Nature Foundation at Wintergreen Roseland, Virginia
Former SST President Carolyn Barkley.
Authors & SST Members Carolyn & Randy Bruce Raise Funds for
“Lion of Alba.”
Carolyn & Randy Bruce, longtime SST members, plan to film the story of King Robert the Bruce as a Cable Television Series entitled "Lion of Alba."
To that end, they are raising funds on Kick-starter, which is a way for supporters to pitch in small amounts of money (from $10) and get re-wards from the making of the pilot episode.
The Bruces are the authors of the widely ac-claimed Robert the Bruce trilogy. Bringing this se-ries to screen has been a labor of love for them. If you are interested in supporting this effort, go to Kickstarter... http://kck.st/GUur5y
Please pledge and pass the word along to your friends.
THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013 PAGE 4
T hanks to everyone who came out for the Celtic Cousins Picnic in September. Hosted jointly by the Scot-tish Society of Tidewater, the St. Andrews Society of Tidewater, and the Irish Society of Tidewater, it was glorious! The weather was perfect, the food was amazing, the music was lively and the fellowship was sec-ond to none. The Irish came out ahead - barely! - in the Celtic Cornhole Challenge, with only a minimum of cheating. Thanks again, everyone, and we’ll see you next year!
“Celtic Cousins Picnic” a Rollicking Good Time
From left, Donna Looney, John McGlynn, and Charles Murla. Nancy McKay, left, and Judith Apelt.
Ham & Rita Hamilton Kathleen Hoffman & Edward Brash
THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013 PAGE 5
Judith & Stacy Apelt
Our very talented session musicians.
From left, Lynnette Fitch Brash, Rebecca Norman & Cheryl Brown.
The Scots, with their bags of oats, versus the Irish, with their bags of potatoes in the 2nd Annual Celtic Cornhole Challenge. We’ll get you next year, Irish!
PAGE 6 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
Wallace Day 2013
From left, Don Forsyth, Sandy Dyer and Manny Willis From right, Nancy McKay, Nancy Weller, and Nancy Weller’s grandson
Jim Dyer, left, and Stacy Apelt From left, Tom Chenoweth, Colleen Chenoweth, and JJ Johnson
Kathryn Peterson-Lambert, left, and Barbara Powell From left, Gerry McDowell, Eleanor Unger, and Robin Willis.
Please continue to keep Don and Ruth Fra-ser in your thoughts and prayers. Don is at the VA Palliative Care facility. He welcomes visi-tors, so let Ruth know if you would like to pay
a visit. Stacy and Judith Apelt traveled to the Stone
Mountain Highland Games in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Clan Elliot was the Honored Clan, so this was an extra special trip for them. Hope you guys enjoyed your well-deserved vaca-
tion! Soon Holly Quaglia Wells and her family will
be leaving us for Boston. We’ll miss you guys! Good luck!
Also leaving us is John “JJ” Johnson, for Wis-consin. Thanks, JJ, for all you do for the SST.
You will be missed!
At Your Service MUSIC
Newport News Police Pipe & Drum Corps
Tom Crouch [email protected] http://newportnewspolicepipe.homestead.com
John McGlynn and Donna Looney, left, with Lynnette & Edward Brash at the Richmond Oktoberfest Celebration.
Ein Prosit! Slainte!
Carol Amorosi enjoying the sunny seaside in Pisa, Italy. Beautiful! And the scenery is nice, too!
Connie Smith, left, our own Gaelic Songbird, with her idol, Gaelic Singer extraordinaire Julie Fowlis at
a recent concert in Culpeper, Va.
At a recent gathering of the Clan MacGregor in Virginia Beach, SST Webmaster Scott MacGregor was honored
by their Chieftain Lois Ann Garlitz for organizing their 104th Annual Gathering! Well done, Scott!
CG & Nancy Miller attended Yorktown Day in October, marking the anniversary of the Surren-der at Yorktown. They are both very active in the
DAR and the SAR.
THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013 PAGE 9
Manny & Robin Willis traveled to Merry Old England to attend the Gathering of the Jane Austen Society of Europe in Wells & Bath.
You look smashing!
Members of the 76th McDonald Highlanders marched in the Neptune Parade in Virginia
Beach. Impressive!
Congratulations to Donna Looney for winning 1st Place in an Irish dance
competition in Portsmouth. Yay, Donna!
Linda Lucas recently attended a retreat at the Healing Waters
Lodge of Virginia, in Monterey. She’s rested and rejuvenated, and ready to continue her work
with healing animals.
Wee Colin McGlynn, son of Andrea and grandson of John McGlynn, busking on Buca-
naan St. in Glasgow while vis-iting family this summer. We
hear he made quite a fortune!
Skip Hunter is serving in Kabul, Afghanistan as part of the US Navy.
We miss you, Chief! And we are proud of you!
THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013 PAGE 10
Hurley Happenings by Lynnette Fitch Brash
T he Hampton Roads Hurling Club was happy to share tent space on Clan Row with our friends in the Irish American Society of Tidewater and the Scottish Society of Tidewater at the recent Central Virginia Celtic Festival & Highland Games. Many of the HRHC players, families, friends, and fans made the trip up to the Richmond Raceway for a very fun weekend. There was good traffic by the HRHC tent/table of peo-ple interested in learning more about the sport, and many visited the HRHC hitting cage interested in giving it a try! We were delighted to be included on the festival web page this year and hurling was mentioned in two places on the festival diagram: the hurling demo area and the Newcastle Hurling & Rugby Field!
For the second year in a row, the Hampton Roads Hurling Club hosted an exhibition match at the Central Virginia Celtic Festival & Highland Games. This year, players from the HRHC, the Raleigh Cu Chulainn Hurling Club, and the fledgling Richmond Hurling Club took part. The participants played a fun match on a short pitch then adjourned for pints at the Guinness truck afterward. Many thanks to Rebecca Norman for officiating and to Erin Kerrick for keeping score and time.
Four lads from the Raleigh Cu Chulainn Hurling Club plus one from the Richmond Hurling Club pose after the hurling exhibition match with the HRHC. Shane, second from left, played for Co. Tipperary and John, center, played for Co. Antrim. All are su-
per nice guys, and we were delighted they made the effort to be there! We look forward to seeing them around at other tourna-ments in the Southeastern Region.
http://www.hrhurling.com/
THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013 PAGE 11
Central Virginia Celtic Festival & Highland Games, continued from page 1
Lynnette Fitch Brash and JJ Johnson
Our friends with the Newport News Police Pipe & Drum Corps.
Randy Dedrickson with the Society of William Wallace.
Dave & Nancy Montgomery
PAGE 12 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
T he Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and invited guests gathered at St. Giles Ca-thedral in Edinburgh on September 9th to remember and pay respect to the Scottish sol-dier – particularly those thousands of Scottish men who fought and died at Flodden in 1513. The event was important to mark this important date in Scottish history but it was also part of a larger effort to collect funds to support Scottish charities that look after to-day’s Scottish veterans. The Convenor of the SCSC, Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor reports that the ser-
vice at St. Giles was “incredible”. Further describing the day, Sir Malcolm added: ”Clanship is alive in Scotland – no doubt.” The event garnered wide Scottish me-dia attention with photographers and camera crews from Newcastle to Glasgow to BBC London.
http://www.cosca.net/
Scottish Clan & Family Chiefs Commemorate the Battle of Flodden
PAGE 13 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
C avers Castle, near Hawick, which was the seat of Clan Doug-las, the oldest and most well known of the Border clans, has been put up for sale for only £300,000
Once a grand 64 room castle with 100,000 acres of land, the building is now a ruin.
The property - set now in only 11 acres - is thought to be attracting interest in the USA, where a strong Douglas clan association exists.
The majority of the 100,000 acres has been sold over the years by the Palmer-Douglas fam-ily.
The castle was constructed around 1200 AD and first inhab-ited by the Balliols.
Clan Douglas, instrumental in banishing the Balliols from Scot-land, was granted the lands by King David II of Scotland in 1352.
Sir Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas was responsible for the construction of Cavers Tower, a traditional fortified Scottish tower, on the site of the original castle after he succeeded to the earldom when James Douglas fell at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.
Cavers House was inhabited by a branch of the Douglas family until the twentieth descendent, James Douglas died in 1878 leav-ing no male heir. The property passed to his niece Mary Malcolm who married Captain Edward Palmer in 1879 and the property was substantially re-modelled as Cavers House between 1881 and 1887.
The house eventually became disused and was made available to the British Army for use in a demolition by explosives exercise
in 1953. The army were partially suc-
cessfully in destroying Victorian section but made little impact on the 11-feet thick walls of the older medieval section.
A spokesman for Melrose-based estate agents Retties said: “It is a
once magnificent Scottish Castle in 11 acres in need of complete restoration.
“All that remains of the Castle are the bricks and mortar of the five storey, south-easterly wing. Some of the walls are up to eleven feet in thickness and detail around fireplaces and cornicing still remain.
“Existing plans are available pro-posing the restoration of the Cas-tle to a single dwelling family home.
“The plans are to create a family home to a very high specification,
with space, design and amenities to meet today’s living require-ments.
“Incorporating a swimming pool, gymnasium, library and cinema, the design will contrast modern architecture with the existing his-toric fabric, resulting in a rejuve-nated structure that can once again take its place amongst the noteworthy buildings of the Scot-tish Borders.
“No formal application has been submitted, but the local planning department have indicated they would look favourably on the res-toration of the castle and would consider the existing or new de-sign plan.”
Cavers Castle, seat of Clan Douglas, up for sale from The Scotsman, October 15, 2013
“The property - set now in only 11 acres - is
thought to be attracting interest in the USA,
where a strong Douglas clan association exists.”
PAGE 14 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
Calendar of Upcoming Events Wednesday, November 6
SST Monthly Meeting Church of the Ascension, 7 pm social time,
7:30 pm program. Program will feature Donna Looney and a presentation on her pilgrimage to
one of the Seven Celtic Nations. Please bring a snack to share and/or an item
for the Church food pantry.
Saturday, November 9 Going Away Party for JJ Johnson
O’Connor’s Brewery, Norfolk 4-7 pm
Sunday, November 10 Kirking of the Tartan
Knox Presbyterian Church 427 West 37th Street (Corner of 37th Street &
For tickets, contact Stacy Apelt at [email protected] or phone 583-5872
Farewell to our Good Friend JJ!
We are having a Farewell Party for our good friend JJ Johnson, who is leaving us for Wis-consin! We'll be getting together on Satur-day, Nov. 9th at O'Connor's Brewery in Nor-folk. 4-7 pm. Please plan to join us!
PAGE 15 THISTLEDOWN FALL 2013
Gaelic Corner
The Gaelic Corner
Writes Connie: “Me and Anna MacKinnon. She is one of the 14 remaining Native Gaelic speakers in Mabou, Cape Breton. She is a star in her community and a hoot! I was honored to sit next to her at The (original) Red Shoe Pub and got a few Gaelic lessons from her. I also taped her
telling a story and singing a song. What a fantastic time we had!”
Scholarship Recipients Hit the Road! Three of our Richard & Olive Baird Memorial Scholarship recipients traveled to Cape Breton this summer to immerse themselves in Gaelic Studies. Connie Smith, Brendan Sweeney and Jason Wilson, who are all studying Scots Gaelic through the Scots Gaelic Society of Tidewater, spent
two weeks in Cape Breton, having daily immersion classes. No English was allowed! They learned a tremendous amount of Gaelic, and gave us a very interesting presentation at the
October meeting. We are very proud of them! And what an honor to support such worthy and talented students of Gaelic.
At the Highland Village in Iona
Friends of SST, I would like to thank the SST because of the scholarship given to me to go to Cape Breton to study Gaelic. I think I understand and speak better now. We had an excellent time and I hope to share the knowledge I have with everyone about our trip, the Gaelic language and the Gaelic culture in Cape Breton. Many thanks!
Connie Smith
Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc. c/o Marcey Hunter 301 E. Randall Ave. Norfolk, VA 23503 www.tidewaterscots.org
Traditional Celtic Music Ensemble, Glasgow Kiss, weaves the melodies of guitar, fiddle and small
pipes into a musical tapestry rich with the history of Scotia and Hibernia. From haunting tunes of
vanquished heroes to the toe-tapping of an Irish jig or Scottish reel, Glasgow Kiss will make your
event special and memorable. For Schedule, http://www.glasgowkiss.org/
Or check them out on Facebook.
Pixie Treasures Celtic Shoppe, located in Lynn-haven Mall in Virginia Beach, is Hampton Roads' shop for all things Celtic. Check them out on the web or on Facebook!
