Clan MacLennan Association USA, Inc.
 Newsletter December 2003
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Annual General  Meeting

The  Association held its Annual General  Meeting at the Stone Mountain Games in Atlanta , Georgia on October 15,2003. enclosed is the Secretaries report of the meeting

Present and voting

Win MacLennan, National President and Association President
Donald  D. Waugh, II, Vice President
Jan McLendon, Chief’s Advisor and Convener
Marilyn Baumeister, National Secretary and Association Treasurer
Lock McLendon, Chief’s Advisor and Convener
Earl McLendon

The meeting began at 1:10 p.m. It was held at the Stone Mountain highland games  Clan MacLennan tent.

The Treasurer’s report was accepted as presented. There were no other reports given.

Old business:

• David Jones is to be sent Clan E-Mail Addresses.
• Jan is interested is their  being a network of genealogists to  share information by e-mail and otherwise.
• The polyester  tartan cloth from Ronnie Hek was unsatisfactory. We are to try again with cotton tartan cloth from Peter Wilson. This will be 150 yards at $13.95 per yard with a 10%  shrinkage factor on washing.

New business:

• Jan moved and the Secretary seconded  that our meetings be held in a more private place. The motion passed without opposition.
• Earl moved  and Jan seconded that the Clan purchase two copies of Burke’s Peerage. The motion passed without opposition.
• Earl moved and it was seconded  that we reestablish our scholarship fund  The motion Passed without opposition.
• The nominating committee chaired by the current Treasurer, and also past President, is to seek a new slate of officers for election at our 2004 AGM.
• Our president told us that the St Paul City Band is using our MacLennan tartan and crest.
• The newsletter is going to be changed from being done every quarter to June and December beginning with this issue.

The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

Respectfully  submitted,
M. W. Baumeister, Ed. D.
Acting Secretary

New Publishing Schedule for Newsletter
The newsletter is going to be changed from being  every quarter to June and December beginning with this issue.

Please click here to see where there will be a clan rep at a Scottish Highland Game and come see them and  join Clan MacLennan  USA Inc.

To help reduce mailing costs the clan is trying to compose an e-mail list to eliminate some postage. If you are reading this it would be very helpful if you would fill out and forward by e-mail to winthescot@aol.com  the following information:

Name__________________________________________


Address__________________________Zip___________


City___________________________________________

State__________________


I    DO  ____         Have an E-Mail Address


My E-Mail Address is

______________________________________________


Member _______ Not Member_________
Of Clan Maclennan Ass'n. USA Inc.

2004 Annual dues reminder

A reminder that annual dues for 2004 are due If you have not paid them it
 would be appreciated if you would consider paying them before January 1, 2004
After that date they will be considered delinquent.. Just $15.00 will bring you up to date.

M. W. Baumeister, Treasurer
Wilton Bluff, Adams Run, SC 29246-0360

Message from President

This will be the last message from your current President. After serving for  ten years I feel that the time has come for a new leadership team. To use a metaphor, the last ten years have been like going from the model T  to space shuttles, only at a speed much quicker. The basics I feel are in place  It should be very easy to build on these foundations.
 
I want to take this time to thank all those that have given me the opportunity to be President  as well as those that have served with me. I can really say that it has been a pleasure to serve as President of the Clan MacLennan Association, USA, Inc.

A committee has been formed to select new officers and I hope that you as members will give them your full cooperation. This a great Clan to be associated with.

As far as what I would like to see in my final year, my last function will be to give the conveners at the games the materials that are necessary to carry on  with the great work they have been doing at the Scottish Highland Games they attend.

The other item I would like to see is a reality of the Scholarship fund.

Convenor News

Southeast region

It is said all good things come to them that wait. After five years the good things have come This past summer has been the most successful in my area since I began five years ago. I have been changing the games I do each year and this year I have hit the jackpot. Where I have been averaging three or four MacLennan’s a game ,this year that number has been between 15 and 25

The most successful of these games has been  in Memphis, TN. where everyone I met was a McLendon or knew someone who has been looking for  a clan representative.This game is called a jamfry and is done on a family outing atmosphere. Not only do they have activities for the adults, but every adult contest is followed by a youth contest on the main stage. In Addition an entire section of the field is devoted to Youth. In this area children of all ages can play organized games make jewelry paint face ,read about Scottish history. These booths are run by youths from the High Schools. in Memphis. The average attendance is about 100 youth.

Also two new convener’s have been appointed  during this period. One for the Memphis Game and the second still to be determined. Both persons volunteered.

Your convener also was present at the Glasgow Highland Games,  Glasgow Kentucky, The Western Kentucky Highland Games, Paducah, Kentucky, Cumberland Valley Highland Games, Huntsville, .Al, Alabama Highland Games, Montgomery ,Alabama, Middle Tennessee Highland Games, Murfreesboro, TN

Next year in addition to the above I will be in Jackson,  Mississippi and Mobil , Alabama as well as Gatlinburg, TN, Batesville, Arkansas and Carrollton,Kentucky.

Winton MacLennan
South Central Convener

The  Clan Needs Your Help

Fellow  members and Officers  of Clan MacLennan USA Inc

I need your help. I am sure that we are all aware that one of the biggest challenges we have as a Clan is encouraging youth to show an interest in and participate in  Clan MacLennan

My own personal experience is that we do not present programs and ideas to encourage them in a specific way. We do not show them that we are interested in what they think, do and in their opinions. It is human nature that as we mature we have the misconception to think our ideas are more in tune because of experience. We do not give youth a means of a forum to expose their ideas so that they can be developed. We do not let them fit into the mainstream.

I think Clan MacLennan USA Inc can be in the forefront of correcting these misconceptions . To my knowledge I do not know of any Clan leadership that has let youth have their own Clan newsletter produced, or edited, by them directly for youth. A newsletter that would be devoted to the 10 to 18 year age group consisting of information only of interest to them. A newsletter letting the youth members of clan MacLennan know what their peers are doing, thinking and learning pertaining to their Scottish heritage and Clan MacLennan heritage.

What I would like your help with is starting such a newsletter for Clan MacLennan USA youth . The first step in doing this is to elect 2 co-editors. The reason for two is that there can be a balance of ideas and less chance of it becoming a biased forum. This newsletter would be published in the International web site in January and August of each year under the USA web site

These co-editors will be under the observation of the adult USA newsletter editor,  the USA International web site manager, the USA Assn President, USA Lt, a member of the Executive Board, and the Chief to eliminate or change any materials in the youth newsletter. There would have to be a majority plus one to make a change. The exception would be if the material is biased or detrimental to the Scottish heritage or to Clan MacLennan. Only one objection would be needed.

The suggestion has been made that the co-editors be persons that like to write, are mature in their thoughts, organized, comfortable in communicating, knowledgeable of computers and hopefully are considering entering secondary school for some form of journalism. The latter is not a prerequisite to be co-editor. The others are.

The process of acquiring these co-editors is where I am asking for your help. I would like to ask each Association member and officer to please nominate one person to be editor. All the observers and the Executive Committee will  select the 2-co editors based  on only the above criteria. Each Association member and officer may use more additional criteria from above to make their choice.

After the co-editors are selected the means by which the newsletter will be administrated will be decided.

At any time I hope that the co-editors are allowed to contact the adult  observers for assistance and discussion of ideas. However they are going to be directed that the Adult editors can not have information in the youth newsletter. This is going to be strictly for the Youth of the Clan.

I would like to set a deadline for name submission no later than March 30, 2004. The selection I hope can be made by no later than May 30, 2004. I would like to see the first newsletter published in January of 2005.

If you have any questions or suggestions I can be contacted at winthescot@aol.com . My snail address is

Winton D. MacLennan, 1032 Lockridge Lane, Ashland City, TN, USA, 37015

International News

Australia celebrates its Silver Jubilee.

On April 9,2003 The Melbourne Association was 25 years old In addition New South Wales is also celebrating it 25 years. Congratulations to both Organizations.

New Family History Association in Scotland

The Scottish Association of Family History Societies  is a new organization in Scotland. They have available a book listing all family history Societies for the Heraldry Societies of Scotland.

Their e-mail address is c.napier@napier.abel.co.uk, or look up their site at http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk

Tribute to Robert Burns

As a tribute to Robert Burns, the following is an epistle to Davie, a Brother Poet

" All hail! ye tender feelings dear!
The smile of love, the friendly tear,
The sympathetic glow!
Long since, this world’s thorny  ways
Had number’d out my weary days,
Had it not been for you!
Fate has still blest me with a friend,
In ev’ry care and ill:
And of a more endearing band,
A tye more tender still..."

What’s True Scottish Blue?

Purists and some flag manufactures have complained  for years that  because there is no "official" shade, the colors of Scotland’s national flag has varied wildly from deep navy to a light shade verging on turquoise.

The Scottish Parliament’s  education, culture and sport committee has changed that, specifying the blue in the flag should be Pantone 300 ( sky blue).

A Little Gaelic  Dictionary

Do you know what these words mean?

Do You Know about Wren  Day?

In Dingle in County Kerry, Ireland each year on December 26 the Wren Celebration is held. This festival  has survived from the celtic times. How or why it came to be associated with the bird is uncertain. However it is celebrated close to the winter solstice and could originally have been part of that ritual, but it also has a Samain  or Halloween feel to it.  Dressed and disguised in garish costume and masks, local people parade through the main street of the town, dancing to the sound of music. Predictably, everyone ends up in the local pub where the fun continues into the night.  

Better Medicine Than Pills - Humor for the soul

HOW TO KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLD

Everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work
The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals
You feel like the night before, and you haven’t been anywhere
You decide to procrastinate, but never get around to it.
Your knees buckle, but your belt won’t
You burn the midnight oil at 9:00 P M
You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there
Your back goes out more than you do
You look forward to a dull evening
Your little black book contains on names ending in M.D.
You get winded playing chess.
You just can’t stand people who are intolerant
Your son picks up the check for dinner.

Author Unknown

Thought  To Take  With You

TREE OF BEING  thanks to T.N. Thompson

Tree of being                                              We weave the present
Roots of been                                             From ancestors past
Branches of to be                                       Toward our children‘s future free

Scotland now                                               Tree of being 
As Scotland then                                          Roots of been
Scotland shall be free                                   Branches of to be

Winton D MacLennan

(comments are welcome)