Dear Fellow Members
What a joy it has been this year to be able to have the annual clan celebrations again and I for one, was delighted with the new look we had in the tent. I take no credit for this, but am very grateful to the many people who made this possible:
On the clan side: Jill Standing, Tim Atkinson, Andy Grant, Sir Archie Grant, Dirk Dreschel and his lovely girlfriend Lara (who was the one who really knew about how to put up a tent!)
On the Grantown Museum side we had the help of Dan Cottam, Duncan Grant, and his amazing van, Seonaid McLaren and Heather Goodall.
Despite the truly blazing heat, they made the day go with a swing. It was an excellent combination with lots for visitors to see and we heard later that the Games Committee were very pleased with the results too. Adrian Moar, our web designer, was there to take plenty of photographs and film. The plan was to make sure that we had lots of material to make the new website much more interesting for everyone.
It was good to be back in the Grant Arms again – thank you to the Monadh Ruadh Band who entertained us so beautifully and especial thanks to one of their number, Finlay, who took time from his waitering duties to pipe the Chief in to dinner as well and did us proud.
We had a good AGM on the Friday, instead of the Sunday, to give us all time to take the tent down and as you can see from the Minutes of the Society and the Clan Grant Centre Trust (Duthil) we were able to put ourselves back on a much more solid footing. I am very grateful for the increased input from Michael Grant and Chris Grant, not to mention the Grantown Museum.
I look forward to 2023 and with fingers crossed to the International in 2025. It was a privilege to be able to thank Olga Grant, Bob Grant and Don Grant by making them Vice Patrons of the Society. Olga and her late husband Patrick used to do sterling duty at Duthil and maintained a presence for the clan at the Glen Urquhart Games. She also helped The Chief and me by helping to man the Grant table at the Inverness Highland Games for some years, as well as being Stand Organiser for the Nethy Bridge Games and keeping the display boards up to date.
Bob Grant, one of the founding members of the revitalised Society in 1979, worked tirelessly over many years contacting various Grants both in the UK and overseas. He and his late wife, Mary Rose, made the arrangements for many of the Games and other clan events, not just in Scotland, as well as doing much to promote and support the Society in so many ways.
Don Grant, who sadly was not able to be with us this year, also contributed such a lot, most notably with his long role as Editor and chief compositor of Standfast which was only taken over by Kim in 2012. Don’s skills in IT have also meant that he was able to create a lasting record of the Society and its activities which Kim has found very useful. Don, his late wife Shirley, and his family have taken an active part in the Society and we are grateful to them all.
In September we ‘showed the flag’ at the re-opening of Castle Roy – despite it being a very windy day – it was a great occasion which you will see from the article that Kim has put together from the local papers.
In our latest magazine we received the very exciting news that Hank Grant is proposing a generous donation of the fruits of all his hard work and research over many years to the Grantown Museum. This will be a perfect place because it will be easy to make it available for anyone wanting to study or do further research on his work. It will also preserve it for future generations.
Thank you for sending in your articles for the magazine. You always respond so well to our requests for content, and we like to have as much as possible. It does not only have to be about Clan Grant but anything else that you think might be interesting to our readers.
It just remains for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year wherever you happen to be.
Fiona
