Spectator - Fall 08 2

2008 SAS Annual General Meeting

36 members attended the 2008 Annual General Meeting on October 26th at the Windsor Forest Clubhouse. Jack Kane, along with helpers Ev Tucker, Wil Phillips and Wayne Craigmiles did a great job hosting the Scotch tasting. Guest Tom Gillman displayed and talked about his collection of Single Malt Scotch. We enjoyed a delicious Barbeque dinner catered by Cassie and Tom Whitney of Williamsburg Concessions. The business meeting went well, with the amendments to the by laws and the nominations for the new board members being unanimously approved. We adjourned after President Howard Topp’s State of the Society Address (see below).

Article and photos by Jamie Griffin.

Wayne Craigfmiles (L) and Jack Kane explain why Scotch made Scotland
great.

As the members help themselves, Tom Gillman hovers protectively over
his single malts. His button reads: Will work for single malts.

2008 State of the Society Talk - St. Andrew’s Society of Williamsburg Annual General Membership Meeting, by Howard Topp - October 26th, 2008

Wow! It seems like only last year that we met together here in the Windsor Forest Clubhouse for the 2007 St. Andrew’s Society’s Annual General Membership Meeting ….. Come to think of it … it WAS only a year ago! Seriously, I am elated to see so many of you here for our 2008 AGM. A few minutes ago you fulfilled your obligation to the society by participating in two important actions that demanded the involvement of the full membership. You have approved a significant revision to our organization’s bylaws and you have elected five exceptional people to take office as board members in January.

One of the practices I reinstituted when I assumed the presidency nearly two year’s ago was to include a short “State of the Society” talk to inform the membership of what had occurred since the previous AGM and to offer a glimpse into the future endeavors of the society. The State of the Society talk was an integral part of the AGMs conducted in conjunction with the Burns Nicht celebration in the early years of the society; unfortunately, it had slipped into disuse in the following decades.

All that being said, let’s look back at the events of the past year. I believe the hard work and efforts of your board to put into practice changes that will make certain that the society remains an energetic organization dedicated to the promoting of our Scottish heritage and culture have been successful. I feel that this success is directly attributed to significant increase in new members over the last two years. We’ve welcomed 31 new members since January 2007! That is nearly one third of our current membership! This influx has significantly revitalized the society as new members immediately began to be involved in society activities and participating in the planning of events. Consequently, we have endeavored to have activities that not only meet the needs of the membership but also increase our membership and help our Society to grow in a way that raises awareness of our objectives among the general population of the Williamsburg area.

We kicked off 2008 with what many of you have told me was our most spectacular Burns Nicht ever. As always, it was our best attended event of the year and featured a number of unique activities that made the event special. Springtime always means National Tartan Day and we celebrated the event at the Colonial Heritage Club. Our turnout was wonderful and our own Jamie Griffin gave an excellent talk on the origins of Tartan Day. In early May we hosted and joined with other Scottish organizations from central and southeastern Virginia in the Spring Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans at historic Christ Church in Irvington. In doing so we shared our Scottish heritage and culture

with other Scottish organizations. Later in May we held our second annual St. Andrew’s Society Family Picnic and Ceilidh at the Queens Lake Clubhouse. The event also served as our recognition of Founders Day and the founding of our society forty years ago on May 8th, 1968. It was an afternoon of exceptional food, wonderful piping and drumming, fine exhibitions of Scottish Country Dancing, and a rousing Scottish Sing-a-long. Earlier this month, our tent was prominently displayed along clan row at the Williamsburg Scottish Festival in its new home on the banks of the Chickahominy River at Rockahock. The participation of our lads and lassies in this wonderful event gave us the opportunity to join in fellowship and immerse ourselves in “things Scottish” and also recruit new members for our Society. Our “super-sized” 20’ X 20’ tent was packed throughout the day… it was more of the same: Greater numbers of our members attending our events and people wishing to join our society. These are the most gratifying results of the efforts of your board in revitalizing the society. ….

Oh, and we aren’t done yet. Next month, we will conduct our society Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. This will be followed by a Quarterly Luncheon in December and the Burns Nicht committee is well on the way to finalizing the event for 2009, sure to be a most spectacular occasion. Further, we have continued our charitable contributions, most notably a significant continuing sponsorship of the Williamsburg Pipes and Drums. But the year since the last AGM was not without sorrow. We’ve sadly bid farewell to Taylor Fraser, Bruce Goodwin, Tommy Graham, and John Hyman. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

This year marked the fortieth anniversary of our Society. In the past I’ve told you how difficult it is for me to realize that more than forty years have passed since that day in the spring of 1968 that Bob Duncan convened 27 of us in the board room of the old Peninsula Bank and formally founded the society. In the years that have followed many men and women have been affiliated with our Society and contributed greatly to its success in the preservation of our Scottish heritage and in charitable support for our community.

What are our objectives and goals for 2009? Well, we intend on building on our successes and in continuing to increase your involvement in the conduct of the society’s business. In closing I want to restate something that I said last year. It’s something that I truly believe. We … Each of us … must dedicate ourselves to accomplishing something of critical importance. That is, that our Scottish identity and the heritage and culture of the Scots will not be lost, but remain relevant to the generations that will succeed us. Thank you.

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