Clan Macpherson Association

United States Branch News

Rare Opportunity Opens to Study with Celebrated Gaels on June 3-8 at Féis Shiàtail 2008 — Sign up now for a rare opportunity to study with leading Scottish Gaelic language instructors, singers, fiddlers, harpers, bagpipers, and dancers, at Féis Shiàtail, to be held June 3 through 8, 2008 at Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington. See www.Slighe.com for easy registration.

The weeklong Féis Shiàtail (pronounced: FAYSH hee-AT-ill) sponsored by Slighe nan Gaidheal (pronounced: SLEE-uh nun GAY-ull), Seattle’s Gaelic language and Cultural society, features eight outstanding Gaelic tradition bearers who will be flown here exclusively for their Pacific Northwest appearances. Among the three new to the Féis this year will be Anne Lorne Gillies, an accomplished musician and writer, Finlay Cunningham and Rachel McPherson, long experienced Gaelic language teachers.

Returning presenters include Cape Breton fiddler Wendy MacIsaac, harper Mary MacMaster, and piper Allan MacDonald. Also coming back by heavy demand to teach will be Muriel Fisher and Catriona Chaimbeul. Both are Gaelic language experts.

The Féis is a festival consisting of prepaid four-day or two-day classes and workshops, traditional evening céilidhs--gatherings at which participants sing, dance, play instruments, tell folk stories--and ends in a lively finale with a public concert on June 6, at Fort Worden’s Wheeler Theater. See www.Slighe.com for ticket information. It brings the tradition bearers together only once every two years, and it gives students of Gaelic and traditional Celtic instruments the chance to study with all eight presenters in a seaside setting, mists, greenery, and distant mountains, at a fraction of the cost of a trip to Scotland or Eastern Canada.

Washington State makes an ideal location for the festival because many descendants of Scottish settlers are included in the area’s diverse population. Scottish Gaelic, once the dominant language of Scotland’s Highlands and Islands is spoken by some 60,000 on its home ground, and Gaelic language societies in Tacoma, Seattle, and British Columbia have been in existence for more than 100 years.

Additional Féis information, including class registration, housing, meals, costs, etc. is available through Slighe nan Gaidheal, Féis Shiàtail 2008 Committee, PO Box 31834, Seattle, WA 98103, 206-903-9452, or email feis@slighe.com. Website: www.Slighe.com.

About Slighe nan Gaidheal: Incorporated in 1997 as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, Slighe nan Gaidheal has worked hard for the past ten years to fulfill its mission to teach and disseminate to the general public the Scottish Gaelic language in its contemporary and historical context though classes, performances, the encouragement of its routine use, and otherwise.

Celebration of Celts Honours Clan Macpherson – Festival run by John Charles and Annie Macpherson — Chatham,NY: "Celebration of Celts in its festival format is on the eve of holding its 5th anniversary event and we though we had been fair to other clans long enough," says Annie Macpherson, Director of one of the largest Pan-Celtic festivals in the northeast. Celebration of Celts salutes all eight Celtic nations and has grown from a small event in 2004 with about 3,000 people to a very large event with 14,000+ attendees in 2007.

"Clan Macpherson was the only choice as far as we were concerned, "says John Charles. It's our festival and it was time." We have added many new features from the Horses of Epona, featuring Dublin Gypsy Horses and Exmore Ponies to a Celtic Horse show. We have also added a GreenLiving Pavilion full of information and companies that are either U.S. Green Building LEED certified or Energy Star rated. This year's festival will kick off the music with its trademark Piping Outside the Box, a most unusual pipe band competiton and tons of great Celtic talent from Enter the Haggis, The Barra MacNeills, Black 47, the McKrells and more."

"We are counting on a strong showing of Macphersons, and there is one other thing that separates our festival from others, clans march up to the reviewing stand their name is announced, their war cry shouted and they are done. We got tired of standing around at games waiting for the speeches to be over. That's one of the cool things about having your own event." Says Annie.

The Celebration of Celts takes place on May 3rd and 4th at the Columbia County Fair Grounds in Chatham, N.Y. for more information and tickets go to www.celebrationofcelts.com or call 518 851 9670.

Online Membership Enrollment. — The US Branch online membership enrollment is now live. A gift to the U.S. Branch on the Webmaster's birthday.

Online Membership Renewal. — The US Branch online membership renewal is now live. Save time and trouble by renewing your annual membership online. You can even use this facility to step up to Life membership. Complete instructions on how to use the facility are online. The online enrollment facility for new members is the next addition to be released.

Games Calendar. — The new format of the US Clan Calendar is now online. Commissioners are reminded to send their regional games schedule or updates to the webmaster as soon as possible.

Games Calendar. — The 2008 CMA Schedule of events has been posted with coverage for the New England. Mid-Atlantic Pacific South regions. We're still waiting to hear from a number of other regions. The present arrangement is only temporary as an updated version will soon appear with a separate page for each month. Ultimately, we'd like to have a "Wiki"-like database where you can locate games by Month, Date, State or Region. In order to do this, the acting U.S. webmaster is going to need some help!

AGM Schedule Posted. — The tentative schedule for the US AGM has been posted under the "2008 AGM" tab in the navigation bar to the immediate left of this page. Please check back often as dates and events are suject to change.

Museum Vision Exercise. — The initial U.S. results of the Museum Vision Exercise (MVX) were released online today. The MVX is an electronic survey conducted amongst the US & Canadian members of the CMA to help determine the future direction and development of the Clan Macpherson Museum in Newtonmore, Scotland. In the United States, 707 survey invitations were sent out via e-mail. The total response to-date, including Canada, is 187. In the realm of voluntary surveys, a 10% response rate is considered to be a good one. The U.S. response rate has been well over 20%.

These results will be combined with survey results from the branches outwith North America to create a clear sampling of members' opinions. The combined results should be published on the International website later this year. There are still a few survey responses trickling in and therefore the survey will most likely remain open for two or three weeks more. The final results of the U.S. Survey will be posted on this website following closure.

The MVX is not the only survey to be conducted amongst the members of the U.S. branch. Forthcoming surveys will include one concerning The Urlar, scheduled for early Feb., and a survey concerning the Annual General Meeting to be conducted in April.

To see the results of the MVX survey, click on the "Museum Vision" link under the "Information" tab in the navigation bar to the immediate left of this page.

Online Membership Renewal is on the way. — The final touches and testing is in process for US Branch Online renewal. Work was slowed due to issues with our SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate but once that has been completely resolved the new feature will quickly go online. Members will then be able to renew their membership using PayPal to handle the credit-card transaction. (A PayPal account is not required.)

The Online Membership Renewal facility will soon be followed by Online Enrollment, Museum Donations, etc.

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