Selected items fromthe St. Andrew's Society of Ottawa Newsbulletin - Spring 2001 - ISSN1492-4439 (Online)

- updated 10 Nov 2001  Goto Hugh Reekie's Home Page   othernewsbulletins

A presentation on the History of Curling,primarily in Scotland and Canada, will be given by Denny Charlebois, a member of Lord Elgin's Broomhall Curling Club, Fife, Scotland and Don Bondof the Glengarry Curling Club, Maxville,Ontario. The event will be in the Courtside A Room at the RA Centre, 2451 Riverside Drive at 7 pm on Wednesday 21st March. Light refreshments will beserved.

Margaret Littlejohn has accepted our invitation to be a Guardian of the Society.

We also welcome new members Ian Jeffery, Jean McPhee, Donald W.Macdonald and Mrs. M. B.Lumsden.

In recent weeks JimMillar, a Past-President of theSociety, gave to John Shaver, our representative, a number of items, including various badges of office and the Society's banner, originally made in Victorian times for street parades. Stuart Jardine is arranging with Bill Beaton to see what can be done to preserve the banner, which is in a fragile state of repair. Bill arranged for the banner to be photograped many years ago; a copy is on our web site.

Also, John Hodgins, of the Sons of Scotland,gave a badge of office to George Kerr, our Historian. Late last year Jim MacNaule, a long-time member of the Society who served in WWII in the RCAF, presented the President with a copy of the Society's History, which is now held by George Kerr.Our thanks to all these people for these donations.

The Badges of Office will be on display atthe Annual General Meeting.

With similar arrangements to the succesful visit to Williamstown last May, there are plans for a Scottish tourin the Almonte area, Saturday 26th May. The tour will include a visit to the Naismith BaseketballMuseum in Almonte, and a tour of theMississippi Valley Textile Museum, where there are looms made by Scots craftsmen. A visit to theMill of Kintail will show the work ofsculptor Robert TaitMckenzie, whose creations include the Scottish American War Memorial in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, unveiled in 1927.

Quite a lot has happened since the plan fora September 2000 Curling event, run by the Society, was postponed. Avery informal, Scots-oriented Curling event is now planned for 1 - 6pm on Saturday 22nd September at the Royal Canadian Navy CurlingClub, Dow's Lake. Whether an experienced curler or a novice, comealong for an afternoon of curling and "fun and games" wi' your ainfolk.

     Interest isinvited from all types of groups with Scots connections - Soccer andRugby Clubs, Scots Societies; even High School Alumni! The day wouldstart after lunch, depending on the number of teams. The facilities are good at the RCN Curling Club - easy parking, an excellentbar/viewing room, and a side "ingleneuk" to watch videos or playboard games. There will be a catered dinner. Perhaps we could have a"whisky nosing" on the side! Bob Thomson of the RCN Club has kindlyagreed to assist with the planning. Circle the date - 22nd September.Anyone wishing further information should contact Hugh Reekie728-5343. emailh.reekie@ieee.org.

Remarks by John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, during a dinner for a groupof visiting Scottish curlers, Ottawa, January, 1938.

I wonder if any of you have attended thefunction known as the Manufacturers' Dinner in Galashiels? The mealbegins at five or six o'clock and goes on until after midnight, andthere are usually about forty toasts! On one occasion an old farmerfrom far up in the glens of Ettrick arose about half past eleven. He said, The toast with which I have been entrusted is The Clergy of a'Denominations.... My freends, we ken them fine. They're a wheendismal bodies. To-night I feel inclined to adapt that classic formula to the toast which I have to propose. My toast is - The Scottish Curlers. We ken them fine. They're a wheen decent bodies.

I need not tell you how glad I am to see youhere. Curling and golf are Scotland's two chief contributions to therelaxation of humanity. By the way, it is odd how little either ofthem has entered into Scottish literature: Burns could have written agreat curling poem, but he never tried, except in the opening stanzas of Tam Samson's Elegy. You remember how they go &emdash;

   When Winter muffles up his cloak,
          And bindsthe mire up like a rock;
   When to the lochs the curlers flock,
           Wi' gleesome speed,
   Wha will they station at the cock?&emdash;       Tam Samson'sdead!

   He was the king o' a'the core
        To guard, or draw, orwick a bore;
   Or up the rink like Jehu roar   
        In time o' need
   But now he lags on
            Death'shog-score!           Tam Samson's dead!

When I was a boy in Tweed-dale, and hardwinters were more common in Scotland than they are to-day, I remembermany happy hours when the whole countryside gathered to the local mill dam. It was a wonderful example of true democracy, for there youhad the minister, in moments of excitement, weeping on the shoulderof the local ne'er-do-weel, and the sheriff wringing the hand of the local poacher whom in a week or two he was to sentence to sixty days.Curling obliterated all restrictions of class, education and character in a common sporting interest. I do not suppose I shallever again have such an appetite for a meal as I had for what we called curlers' fare &emdash; boiled beef and greens; to-day things are very different. Artificial ice is the rule, and the curlers donot congregate at the mill dam, but go in by the morning train to Edinburgh. No doubt in art and skill much has been gained, but something, too, has been lost.

Scotland may be the birthplace of curling,but I fancy Canada to-day is its chief home. You will see many strange and novel things in Canada. For one thing you will see the proper kind of winter, where there is nothing half-hearted about the frost and snow. You will see other novelties. When my fellow Borderer, Lord Minto, was Governor-General here, he had the pleasureof entertaining a Scottish curling team. In our dry electric air it is possible to light the gas by placing a finger on the jet, and there used to be a jet kept in Rideau Hall for the purpose. This waspointed out to one of the visitors, who duly performed the feat. He observed that - It cowed a'. When I get hame, he said, - I'll hae some queer things to tell the wife, but I'll no tell her that. She would say I had been drinkin'. You will see another novelty. In the Ottawa and St. Lawrence valleys we curl not with the familiar channel-stanes, but with mighty discs of iron, which personally I find hard to manage. I am told that this practice originated with theBritish regiments who in the old days garrisoned certain Canadian cities. Being far from Crawfordjohn they could not get the properchannel-stanes, so they seem to have followed the Scriptural injunction &emdash; not beating their swords into ploughshares, butbeating their antiquated guns into the implements of curling!

I need not tell you how much I hope that you will enjoy your time here and keep up the honour of Scotland. I donot mean that I want you to beat the Canadian rinks, for Canada forthe moment is my adopted country; but I want you to give a goodaccount of yourselves, as I am sure you will.

You will carry back many messages to ournative land. You will tell them that you have met Scotsmen everywhere in Canada. Many parts of the Dominion are more Scottish, I think,than Scotland. Down in Cape Breton you will hear nearly as much Gaelic as in Sutherland or the Isles. And you will tell them at home that our countrymen are not only loyal and vigorous Canadian citizens, but that they do not forget the rock whence they were hewn.You will find that Scotsmen settled here, settled even for many generations, still cherish a warm affection for their land of origin.     from Canadian Occasions- Addresses by LordTweedsmuir, (John Buchan), Musson Books, 1941

The anguish of leaving the only home they had ever known; and the triumph of finding a new home. That's the true story told in the new CD, The Silent Ones, A Legacy of the Highland Clearances, recently released by Angus Macleod of Kincardine, Huron Township,Ontario.

Each CD includes a 20-page booklet, outlining the story of the Highland Clearances. The CD's are available by contacting Torquil Productions at PO Box 303, Kincardine, Ontario, N2Z 2Y8; phone 1-877-489-4693; e-mail at info@torquil.net; or visit thewebsite atwwwhttp://.torquil.net.