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Clan MacAlpine Gathers at the Society’s 4th AGM in Fergus, Ontario, Canada! Well, our 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on August 8th, 9th, and 10th, 2003, was a fantastic success! We had over 50 MacAlpines visit our Clan tent, hosted by Bruce MacAlpine (Canada) and Kenneth J. McAlpine (USA), over the weekend. The setting for the games was majestic and the Tattoo held on Friday night, which included numerous pipe bands, athletic demonstrations, and Celtic music performers, was great. The festival organizers treated us with great care, including Donald M. McAlpine, one of the festival's Directors, and John Campbell, Director of the Clan area. We were well situated in the Clan tent area and made many friends with our surrounding Clan neighbors, including another branch of the Siol Alpin, the Clan MacAulay, who we were lucky enough to have situated next to us.  Our Saturday afternoon meeting was very well attended by 25 of our clanspersons, pictured above, as we discussed the Society’s progress and our Clan’s future. About half of those attending were Society members with the remainder being Clan members at-large. Key issues included progress toward recognition of the Clan, a possible Patron for the Society, and our interest in gaining formal recognition of King Kenneth MacAlpin’s feats in the form of a suitable marker for “The Birthplace of Scotland.” Highlights of the weekend also included Anne Caylor MacAlpin’s entry in the solo piping competition, clanspersons sharing our common heritage our Clan tent, the sign-up of several new members, and the formation of kinship bonds that will last a lifetime. Below, Anne pipes "Scotland The Brave" for two admiring youngsters, Douglas and Alexander McAlpine.  On Saturday evening, a dinner for Clan members was held at a local restaurant complete with a “Clan MacAlpine” menu. Our party of 23 occupied one third of the restaurant as we enjoyed good food, warm conversation, and getting to know each other better. The conclusion of the games on Sunday brought fond farewells and promises to see each other at our 2004 AGM, which is to be held August 26 at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban, Argyll, Scotland. We would like to say thank you to everyone who attended especially to those who traveled great distances from within Canada and the US to be with us. A special thank you goes to the co-host of this event, Bruce MacAlpine, and his wife, Donna, for their efforts in helping to coordinate this two-day event. | ||||
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