You are no doubt enjoying the summer and heavily involved with vacation plans and outdoor activities. I hope you have had the opportunity to attend a Scottish game or two. I hear of trips made to Grandfather Mountain and Alexandria, Virginia, and of trips planned to Fergus, Ontario, and New Hampshire, for those well known events.

Our Saint Andrew’s Society activity will resume on Saturday, September 13th at Al Ablowich’s home. Al and Merrilu will be hosting the Society picnic at their place at 5:30pm. It is always a wonderful event. Unfortunately Rita and I will be in Scotland over that weekend, but we shall be there is spirit.

Each year our Society honors an individual nominated by a member and chosen by a selection committee as “Scot of the Year”. Remember your nominee does not have to be a member of the Saint Andrew’s Society. Look for guidance and the nomination form in this issue of the Tidalaire.

We have several new members to present to the Society at our next regular meeting on October 6th at the Inlet Restaurant. Hope you can be there!

Yours aye

Ham

The St. Andrew’s Society of Tidewater is planning a signature event to honor Saint Andrew’s Day in November. The Saint Andrew’s Day Symposium is scheduled for Saturday, 22 November 2003 at the Virginia Beach Central Library.

Preliminary plans include a series of informative lectures and presentations about Scotland and the Scottish influence on Virginia. Our featured speaker will be Ms. Susan Stewart, First Secretary for Scottish Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. Ms. Stewart will be introduced by Virginia Beach Mayor, Meyera Oberndorf.

A token charge of $10.00 per person will be assessed upon reservation for an event ticket, which will include hospitality and a box lunch in the library. Space is limited and reservations will be on a first-come-first-served basis.

The symposium events will conclude in late afternoon. In the evening there will be a social gathering and dinner at the Princess Anne Country Club. Dinner reservations are limited to 50 individuals. The cost will be approximately $30.00 per person.

Planning continues and full details and invitations will be made available in September. Please mark your calendars now and don’t miss attend this exciting and informative addition to the local Scottish community calendar.

The Board is pleased to welcome Janice and Steve Long, and Robert Titcomb as new members.

The Board is processing the membership application of 3 more members: Wilmont H. and Scottie Philips of Williamsburg and Oscar F. Baxter IV of Virginia Beach. The final vote will occur at the September board meeting.

All 6 will receive their certificates at the October dinner meeting.

Congratulations to John Wallace on becoming a new grandfather. Aidan Connor McGlade was born 25 July to John’s daughter Kristine and her husband Pat, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Definitely picture time at the next get-together.

The Scholarship Committee and the Board are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2003 St. Andrew’s scholarship awards: Ellen Carlson, Tara Muñoz, and Lauren McMillan.

Ellen is a 9th grader (at the time she applied) at Catholic High School and her parents are members of St. Andrew’s Society and the Scottish Society of Tidewater. She plans to use her award to further her education in Scottish dancing, as well as learning Gaelic and sharing it with others. She is a member of the Scottish Dance Theater of Virginia.

Tara is a 7th grader (at the time she applied) at Churchland Middle School in Portsmouth. She has been studying highland dance with Eleanor Unger for 5 years. On her mother’s side, she is first generation American with other members of the family born in Scotland. She has visited Scotland several times and competed in the Loch Lomond Highland Games where she won a 1st and 4th place. Her award will go to additional dance classes.

Lauren is sixteen and a rising senior at Hickory High School in Chesapeake. She has studied dancing with Eleanor since she was five and piping under the direction of Rick Perkins since she was nine. She is currently Pipe Sergeant in Trad Na Trad and will become Pipe Major during the next competition season. As a soloist, she is a member of E.U.S.P.B. A., and is in Grade 3. Her award will help fund her attendance at the North American Piping Academy this summer.

One wonders if the 6th of April 1320 was cold and blustery when the various barons of Scotland came together to sign their letter to Pope John XXII, better known today as the Declaration of Arbroath. One wonders as well if these individuals had any idea what far ranging historical significance the document they were signing would have.

Today, slightly shy of 700 years later, visitors to Arbroath can attend the Arbroath Abbey Pageant and relive, with an uncanny sense of realism, the momentous events of that day when the Scottish Parliament, overseen by Robert Bruce, King of Scots, sent that document to the pope.

Each year, the Pageant Society commemorates the signing on it’s anniversary in the exact location where the event took place. A new website provides great information on this annual event: www.arbroathabbeypageant.com. It’s well worth a visit to the page and I’m hoping that some of the information from the page, reprinted below will whet your appetite to visit Scotland during April and attend the pageant in honor of all of the Barons who signed, and Sir David in particular.

‘As the audience waits, the Abbey is filled with the voices of a monastic choir. From high above the transept the ecclesiastic assembly emerge, led by the cross and followed by the Archbishops of Scotland, their acolytes and banner bearers.

Then enters Abbot Bernard de Linton, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, architect of the Declaration and close friend of King Robert Bruce. He is followed by the choir and monks of the abbey as he makes his way to the dedication at the high altar.

From outside the Abbey comes the sound of an approaching cavalcade. As the great doors swing open the mists clear to reveal, on horseback, King Robert the Bruce. He is accompanied by Lord Douglas and Lord Randolph and many of the Earls and Barons of Scotland. The King is greeted by Abbot Bernard and led to his elevated throne to supervise the assembled nobility as they put their seals to the sacred document.

As the nobles are each called forward to put their mark, the words of the Declaration echo around the abbey. The resounding words mark out Scotland’s right to choose it’s own King, to defend itself from English tyranny, and to live in freedom.

When the King leaves with his entourage, the Abbot processes with his followers back through the Abbey, again to the sound of the monk’s choir. One lone monk is left carrying a torch. He climbs to the window of the south transept (known locally as the ‘round O’) where he lights the flame of freedom to b urn over Scotland.’

The Arbroath Abbey Pageant Society was established in 1947 and with a cast of over 150, famously recreates the event for the world to see… ‘From a grandstand view, amid the walls of rich, red sandstone, in a setting of heraldic colour and the splendour of court and nobility, the mists of 680 years disappear to bring an exciting and moving experience to all who come to share in it.’

For so long as there shall but one hundred of us remain alive we will never give consent to subject ourselves to the dominion of the English. For it is not glory, it is not riches, neither is it honours, but it is liberty alone that we fight and contend for, which no honest man will lose but with his life.