Selected items from the St. Andrew's Society of Ottawa Newsbulletin -
Summer 2006 - Vol 160 #3 - ISSN 1492-4439 (Online)
- updated 26 Nov 2006   other News bulletins  go to St Andrew's Society of Ottawa Page 

Planning is in hand for our Annual Spectacular, to be held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Lyon St., Ottawa, with similar arrangements as before. We are in the Richlieu/Frontenac & Joliet rooms, which are two floors above the Ballroom level. A visit by the Gala Committee in May confirmed that all our requirements can be accommodated at this new location. Cocktail hour from 6 pm; dinner 7 pm, after a piper's call. A Pipe Band and Highland Dancers will perform during dinner. Dancing in two adjacent rooms from 9 pm (Ballroom and Scottish Country/Ceilidh). Tickets will be available from 1st September from the usual members of the Management Committee; tickets remain at $85.

Attendance in the last few months has varied considerably; some new members were at The Highlander, Rideau St in May; there were over a dozen at The Glen, Kanata in April, when an error in table booking caused some minor concerns. Only a few managed the trek to the Cheshire Cat in June, however, when photos from the Glengarry tour were reviewed. There will be no pub nights in July & August. Plans for the next get-together: Monday 11 Sept - The Tartan Pub, Wellington (opposite the Herb & Spice shop). All pub nights are 6.30 for a 7pm supper; reservations are appreciated - Hugh Reekie

Your Committee has decided to change the format of the early-Fall New Member's Reception, that has been held regularly until recent years. Lynn Paul has kindly arranged for the use of her Party Suite, on Saturday 16th

September, from 3.30pm - 8.30pm. There will be three separate concurrent activities. Wilma Jardine is arranging for table top games to be played. Also, tucked away in a corner, videos from Bob Bhan's collection will be shown. For the afternoon, a Highland Trilogy has been selected: Perthshire Panorama will cover Wartime Aberfeldy, The Crieff Quinie, The Grand Curling March - Lake of Mentieth and A Pitlochry Welcome - 70 minutes. Then follows a short item The Sea Kingdom - The Lordship of the Isles - The life and times of Clan Donald over the Centuries. The afternoon concludes with Three Castles - Stirling, Fyvie and Castle Fraser. If neither videos nor board games suit your fancy, there is an area with easy chairs; Bob Bhan has a Scots Quiz game - We're the Scots - that may come in useful.

A light supper will be served at 6 pm. Choose from: Scotch meat pie, with peas and potato chips or a lighter choice - a portion of Melton Mowbray pork pie with a side salad. Dessert is raspberry pie or a fruit cocktail; tea/coffee. After supper, some Border videos will be shown. Drumlanrig - A Year in the Life of a Great Estate - a conducted tour of house, farm, woodland & moorland, 40 minutes, starts at 7pm; then Edwin's Kingdom - The Border Rievers: Steel Bonnets, Pele Towers & Bastles, from the 14th to 17th Centuries - 50 minutes. Alternate activities will continue for those not keen on movies. Finish time 8.30 pm. Please reserve your meal (stating choices) by calling Hugh or Frances Reekie at 613-728-5343 by 14th Sept, $15. You can arrive late, leave early or skip the supper (so no charge) - your choice.

If the weather last year was rather too hot for some on the annual tour of Scottish Heritage sites to Glengarry and Dalhousie on 3rd June - well, this year, it was rather too wet. Perhaps next year, like the 3 bears' porridge, it will be just right! But puddles, dripping brollies and leaden skies could not dampen the spirits of those who joined this year's tour of Northern Glengarry County, Dunvegan, Dalhousie Mills, Côte St Georges and Alexandria. Once again, Hugh and Frances had prepared a conspicuous cornucopia of culture - gosh, that sounds like Leonard Sachs of 'The Good Old Days' at the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds! From churches to schools, from tiny to titanic, we were feted and honoured by the willingness, dedication and unstoppable enthusiasm of the many volunteers who stepped up to the plate to host and entertain us throughout a day that taxed the brain with a barrage of information and anecdotes.

From the start, the grey skies vanished from consciousness as we entered the little log Old Congregational Church in St Elmo and were welcomed by the local ladies with a well-laden refreshment table. That our breakfasts probably still hadn't been digested didn't enter the equation - as we fortified ourselves in preparation for the day's travels.

With the doughnuts gone and the first photographs safely 'in the can' (or 'on the chip', for those digitally-equipped) we had an immediate surprise item. A new village hall had just been completed next to the old church. The driving force behind the project to build this new hall had been the Rev. Dr. Angus MacKinnon who had striven all his life to promote Scottish history and culture in he area - and the Gaelic language in particular. Sadly, he had recently died before seeing his dream become a reality. However, as a special tribute to his dedication, one of Angus' former 'pupils', Sine McKenna, and a group of village children were determined to perform some of his favourite Gaelic songs and poems for us - in 'his' hall. It was a special moment and a memorable start to the day.

A short walk down the road took us to the Gordon Free Kirk, opened in 1864 by the fiery Rev Daniel Gordon. His son, born in the accompanying manse less than four years earlier, was Charles W Gordon who, although later also ordained as a minister, achieved greatest fame as an author of two dozen or so popular novels under the pseudonym of Ralph Connor. The stories of pioneering life, centred around trappers, mounted police and hero missionaries, sold more than 5 million copies. The family tradition lives on with the current generation of Gordons, since our host for this part of the tour was grandson Charles Gordon - journalist with the Ottawa Citizen.

In nearby Dunvegan, we parked outside St Andrew's Church, then crossed to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum where we had a personal tour as the first visitors of the season. Our guides were Jennifer Black, the museum's new curator and administrator, assisted by Brendan Joyce, a biology student volunteering his services for the summer: he took great delight in relating the goriest, most gruesome details of the prehistoric-looking medical instruments in the display cases in the old village store! Having grown from its original single building - the Star Inn, the oldest public house in Ontario - the museum now boasts 7 buildings and many artefacts; definitely worth another visit in better weather.

By now it was lunchtime and, as in St Elmo, the 'ladies of the village' came to the fore with superb home made sandwiches, cakes and pies (are you certain this wasn't a food rather than a heritage tour, Hugh?). Having lingered over lunch, we only just had time for a short history of the church by Mary MacDonald and Annabel Hartrick (née MacCrimmon and MacLellan respectively - local names that would crop up repeatedly throughout the tour).

Then it was off again, this time to Kirkhill where we visited the imposing St Columba's Presbyterian Church and then the United Church where we experienced one of life's great coincidences. The history of the church was related in a most fascinating manner by Madeleine MacCrimmon (I told you the name would crop up again) who pointed out that the longest serving minister had been the Rev Allan Morrison and he had performed the marriage service for her parents. Apparently, the Rev Morrison's young 6 year old daughter and a friend attended the wedding - and the young scallywags entertained the guests with their games and antics. Well, at this point it is necessary to explain that, beforehand, a family from Guelph had asked to join the tour. 'Of course', was the reply, but little did we realise why. Imagine our surprise when one of the family from Guelph rose slowly from her pew to greet Madeleine with the announcement that she was the Rev Morrison's daughter, now a stately 95 - who had so entranced the wedding party with her rascally behaviour! Much hand-shaking and hugging was met with a tumultuous round of applause.

Departing to the East we made a short stop at a Memorial Cairn to the Macleod families, who had originally colonised the area (hence Dunvegan, that we had visited earlier - Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye being the Clan Seat of the Macleods). The cairn is still maintained and lovingly cared for by the present generation of MacLeods.

Turning South, we ventured across the border into Quebec where we were able to view (from the outside, anyway) a magnificent railway water tower, formerly of the CPR at Dalhousie Station. Built in the 1870s, it is being expertly restored by volunteer labour. The stonework had been re-pointed by a young local who was perpetuating an ancient art by learning his skills from a retired master mason. The original cedar planking was in perfect order and had been repainted with several hundred gallons of signal red paint, thankfully donated by local businesses. The windows and door had suffered from years of neglect; replacement was unavoidable but matching the originals was thought to be out of the question when professional restorers quoted a price for the windows alone of $35,000! Fortunately, another retired craftsman, this time a master joiner in his 80s, offered to break out his tools and custom hand-build new windows for $1200. The offer was eagerly and gratefully accepted. Despite the difference in price, the master joiner still thought he was charging too much so made a new door for free!

It was then a case of navigating some huge potholes in the village high street on our way to the small school house at Côte St Georges. A delightful little building, our host, school master Wayne Morrison (there's that name again) related how the school had struggled since its inception in 1820 to keep going. The original structure burnt down after 5 years, and was replaced with the present building 'to teach Scots Gaelic'. There have been threats of closure due to too few pupils to be viable, followed ironically by threats of closure for having too many! The most recent increases in numbers have been met by parents of the pupils putting up their own money, in 1997, and doing the building work themselves to expand the school from one school room to two.

Wayne then accompanied us to the nearby St Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Dating back to 1862, the church suffered much vandalism and theft during long periods of disuse; even the original chandelier and many pews had been stolen, although, thankfully, 2 still survive. Despite these setbacks, much enthusiasm from the local population has been poured into restoration work.

It was heartbreaking to leave Wayne, who was in full flow as master historian, but by now our engrossment with the seemingly unending fund of stories and historical facts was putting us behind schedule; besides, the next part of the tour was back on the food trail! We showed our appreciation again of our hosts and took to the road once more to return to Dalhousie Mills, this time for the St Andrew's United Church, fondly known as "The Round Church". This is clearly due to its plan form, although, strictly speaking, it's octagonal! For the third time that day, the ladies of the village' had come out in force and prepared a sumptuous table. The programme forecast "a light tea" but, if this was light, I would hesitate to imagine what they might have put on - if they had planned something more substantial! A veritable barrage of cakes, scones and pancakes with home made preserves and bottomless teapots formed a classic Scottish Tea. What a treat! If it hadn't been for the thought of dinner later on I'm sure we would have polished off the lot, but decorum restrained our unconscious (or even conscious!) desires and we bade yet another sad farewell.

The last leg of the tour took us West to the Bishop's House and the nearby ruins of St Raphael's Church, one of the earliest Roman Catholic churches in English speaking Canada. The house (later Iona Abbey) was in use until the 1960s as a school and then for various projects but, latterly, has been slowly deteriorating through lack of maintenance - and money. The building is quite stately with notable architectural features, but unless a viable new lease of life can be found for it, it's future must surely be in doubt. St Raphael's church has had more success, despite the serious setback of a devastating fire in 1970. Once again, the stoicism of local volunteers and fundraisers saved the day after 15 years of dogged determination. The walls were eventually stabilised by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. Even without a roof, many concerts have voiced testament to the superb acoustics of the thick ashlar limestone walls. Work continues to raise funds to stabilise the ruins further.That completed the formal part of the tour - and the party retired for a well-anticipated dinner and discussion of the day's cultural treasures at the Priest's Mill in Alexandria.

- Contributed by Alan James

All members who attended the dinner and AGM at Amberwood Golf Club on 9th April seemed to have had a good time; about 24 were present. On arrival there was a "free Scottish book table". After the excellent dinner, in our own room, Murray Watson gave a good after dinner talk; Murray is a lecturer at Stirling University, Scotland and was visiting Carleton University for a term, to take some students through an oral history course. For the AGM there was a brief financial report and annual review. The Management Committee slate proposed by the Nominations Committee (Bob Bhan, Chair) was accepted:

President : Hugh Reekie
First VP : Dr. D. Ross McLellan
Second VP : John Shaver
Treasurer : Frances Reekie
Secretary : Colin Cantlie
Financial Secretary (membership): Robert Bhan

The officers above, plus members at large, below, were elected. Those below are in alphabetical order:

Liz Cantlie Volunteer Archivist
Anna Foster Catering Co-ordinator, Events
Stuart Jardine Burns Society Rep
Wilma Jardine Assistant, Display table, Events
Lynn Paul Meeting Co-ordinator, Decorations
Avril Price Gala Committee
Greville Price Auditor

Since the last newsletter, three members have passed away. David Quarterman died in May; we pass on condolences to his wife Marilyn. Don Forrest helped the society by passing on a box of correspondence from the 1930s; he attended ceilidhs and AGMs with his wife Merle; we pass on condolences to his family. In early May, Jean McPhee passed away while visiting with her sister Sylvia in Toronto; a memorial service is planned for her in the Anglican Cathedral, Ottawa on the Saturday after Labour day, 11am.

- via the Ottawa Citizen, Mairi Egan & Keldine Fitzgerald

Over two dozen members and friends attended the Sugar Bush at Ange-Guardien on Saturday 25th March. Thanks to Ian Campbell for arranging the trip. Soon after, on 1st April over a dozen members and friends were entertained and educated by three excellent cooks at the Scots Cooking Session, held this year in the Knox Presbyterian Church kitchen, Lisgar St. Jean Hamilton, Anna Foster and Christine James managed to produce an excellent lunch, which was served to all in the kitchen with many thoughtful details - carefully selected napkins for example. The men on hand assisted with the clean up and we all went away, full, happy, wiser and contented. Thanks to Jean Hamilton for making the arrangements.

     - reported by Hugh Reekie

Jimmy Millar, who runs the store House of Scotland, has finally moved into a permanent location at the Westgate Shopping Centre; in addition to an increased range of Scots merchandise, Scots food is now available; the well fitted-out store is located to the east of his temporary premises. The Scottish and Irish Store, Bell's Corners, now has an increased range of frozen foods on hand; it has a tea-room with excellent food.

The Waverley line, from Edinburgh to Carlisle, closed in 1969. MSPs recently approved a Bill to bring back this Borders rail route, from Edinburgh to a few miles south of Melrose. The £155m project should start this summer; the line will be complete in 2011, if all goes to plan. MSPs approved the Waverley Railway (Scotland)

Bill by 114 votes to one. The line will run from just south of Newcraighall in Edinburgh to Tweedbank. Some MSPs hope that the restoration of the Waverley route will eventually continue to Carlisle.

- summarized from BBC Scotland news, 14 June 2006 - thanks to Bob Bhan

Children of the Black House - Isle of Lewis. By Calum Ferguson. This is an account of a culture in transition; it records and preserves traditions and ways of life which have now disappeared. Mull, The Island & Its People. By Jo Currie. This book explores the history of the island in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Witches of Fife: Witch-hunting in a Scottish Shire, 1560-1710. By Stuart Macdonald. In villages like Culross and Pittenweem, Fife, records show that women were executed as witches. -- All available via: http://globalgenealogy.com/

The finest Celtic art for a generation has recently been unearthed at South Cave, Yorkshire. A hoard of Iron Age swords, in their finely decorated scabbards, has revealed the superb artistry of the Iron Age craftsmen. Most of such metalwork - and Britain is well endowed with it - has come from chance finds in rivers or as buried objects. But at South Cave, near Hull, metal-detector hobbyists actually saw the ends of scabbards - exposed by ploughing: they called in the Humber Archaeology field unit. David Evans provided a first-hand account of the discoveries.

    -   summarized from Current Archaeology Magazine - UK - April 2006

The Society had a booth at the Spencerville Veteran's Memorial Highland Games on 18th June; there was an increased number of enquiries over previous years, and Bob Bhan's Clan map proved popular. The Society plans to have a booth at the Glengarry Highland Games, Maxville on Saturday 5th August, and at the North Lanark Highland Games, Almonte, 26th August. Details - http://www.glengarryhighlandgames.com/ The North Lanark Higland Games will be held at the N.L.A.S. Fairgrounds, Almonte, Ontario . Tractor and straw trailer shuttle from parking lots. http://www.almontehighlandgames.com/ - The Society will have booths at both Maxville and Almonte.