Spring 2008
President’s Message
Lads and Lassies,
I'm delighted to be writing you once again about the wonderful activities of our society and to alert you to coming events. I thoroughly enjoy my contact with each of you at our events and am anxious to find activities that help our Society to grow in a way that raises awareness of our objectives among the general population of the Williamsburg area, increases our membership, and that leads to the incorporation of activities and projects that are meaningful in promoting Scottish heritage …. and are also enjoyable!
Springtime always means National Tartan Day and our members celebrated the event on April 4th at the Colonial Heritage Club. Our turnout was wonderful and particular thanks must go to Jim White for his planning and organizational effort and Jamie Griffin for her excellent talk on the origins of Tartan Day. We hosted the Spring Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans at historic Christ Church in Irvington on May 4th with Bob Davis and Wil Phillips coordinating the event. In joining with other Scottish organizations from central and southeastern Virginia at this Kirkin’ we promoted our goal of sharing our rich Scottish heritage and culture with others.
On May 18th we held our second annual St. Andrew’s Society Family Picnic and Ceilidh at the Queens Lake Clubhouse, planned and orchestrated by Jamie Griffin. 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 by the Williamsburg Pipes and Drums, fine exhibitions of Scottish Country Dancing, and a rousing Scottish Sing-a-long
The Williamsburg Scottish Festival will be held on the 4th of October and we will once again have our large gathering tent on the festival’s “Clan Row.” I encourage you all to make plans to support and attend this fine Highland gathering. It was established by members of the St. Andrew’s Society more than thirty years ago and remains an exceptional opportunity to promote Scottish heritage. … oh, and don’t forget …also an opportunity to recruit new members for our Society!
Well, this has been a very quick note to bring you up to date on the SAS-W’s spring activities and events. I hope that you all will have an enjoyable and relaxed summer. Please take the opportunity to visit one of the many Highland games and festivals that will be held during the next few months.
Yours Aye,
Howard S. Topp
Clan Sutherland
