President’s Message – Summer 2014

June 2014 – President’s Message

80x80 John_Gunn_YngrI can’t believe how fast the year has passed so far and summer is now upon us. Yes, even in Edinburgh. Apart from the very slight increase in temperature, the way that we tell it’s summer in Edinburgh is by the increase in the number of people on the streets (mainly tourists).  In fact, the population more than doubles over the summer period 500,000 to a little over a million and while this makes it a little harder to get around it is great for our economy.As I walked to work the other day I noticed the superstructure going up on the castle esplanade for the Edinburgh Tattoo, one of the early signs that the preparations for the Edinburgh Fringe and Festival are well under way. Also, unbelievably the trams are now finished, admittedly two years late and 300% over budget but you can now travel very comfortably from the airport to the city centre even if it does take 8 minutes longer than the airport bus – call me a cynic.The summer looks like being a busy one for the Clan and after a very successful St Donan’s day weekend in London in April we will be following this up with a mini gathering in Caithness at the end of July and a trip to Hatfield buy ambien from us House and Gardens in September. Further details of both of these events can be found further on in the latest edition of the Herald and on this website.

In addition, we are also putting the finishing touches to next year’s international gathering and the final programme together with costs and a booking form will be available in the autumn edition of the Herald and on this website. The international gathering will once again be a two centred affair, starting in Orkney and finishing in Caithness and it will run from Saturday July 18th to Sunday 26th July 2015. I very much hope that as many of you as possible will be able to journey to the homelands to enjoy the kinship that this event always produces and to see where it all began.

Next time I write to you we will know whether the people of Scotland have decided if they want independence or not. As the September 18th deadline approaches, the debate is heating up and in some cases is becoming particularly visceral. We can only hope that democracy is allowed to prevail and that both sides are permitted to fairly present their case so that voters have all the facts before making what will perhaps be one of the most important decisions of their lives.
John Gunn