The Thistledown Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc. FALL 2010 VOLUME 27, ISSUE NUMBER 4 Williamsburg Scottish Festival 2010 by Marcey Hunter the Highland Clearances to Scot- A nother year, another suc- tish dog herding. So impressive cessful Williamsburg Scottish Festi- was their handiwork that the SST val. It was a blessing to have such was awarded the Lord Dunmore beautiful weather on the heels of Award, the first time EVER that a the eight inches of rain we had a Scottish society received this pres- couple of days before. The field tigious recognition! Awesome! The was a little muddy, but not enough committee members were Tricia to deter hardy Scots intent of hav- Young, Terry Woodward, Linda Lu- ing a good time. cas, Lucy Withington, Connie The organizers have really hit Smith, Cheryl Brown and Joyce their stride at the Rockahock Cowan. Many SST members Campground as the venue. The helped to staff the booth all day, layout was wonderfully compact including all of the committee mem- and user friendly. bers, as well as Jackie & Rosemary The Honored Clan this year was Wareham, Manny & Robin Willis, Clan Hamilton, which was proudly Marcey Hunter, and Tina Gutshall, represented by our own Capt. to name but a few. We had six new Clan Hamilton was the Honored Clan at this Oliver “Ham” Hamilton and his fam- year’s WSF. From left, Catherine Taylor with members sign up on the spot, plus ily. The Hamilton tent buzzed with her parents Ham & Rita Hamilton. Ham & Rita over a dozen new “students” inter- activity all day, filled with clansmen are long-time members of the SST. ested in the upcoming Scottish from all over the U.S. What a won- Gaelic lessons. An EXCELLENT derful day for Ham & Rita, and their elry to woolen ware. There were job by all. SST rocks! sons and daughter! several high-quality food vendors to Historical re-enactors set up camp Festival goers sampled from a enjoy. As usual, I wish there had on the festival grounds, including wide variety of vendors, from jew- been more food vendors, but I did- the Revolutionary War re-enactors n’t have to wait too long for my the 76th McDonald Highland Regi- Lorne sausage w/ HP sauce. Tasty! ment of Foot, which includes SST Beer was quite good, too, as they member Skip Hunter. served beer locally brewed by President of the WSF this year is O’Conner’s in Norfolk. Ice cold, af- SST member Randy Dedrickson, fordable beer and awesome Celtic who gave glowing accounts of at- music – what more can one ask? tendance at the gate. Well done The SST just did a wonderful job Randy and crew! with our display tent. The organiz- A new addition this year was the ing committee is to be commended fiddling competition, in fact the for your hard work, dedication and WSF was the host of the 2010 U.S. creativity. The tent was filled with National Scottish Fiddling Champi- Rosemary Wareham helps a visitor to the SST educational displays ranging from onships! One of the judges was tent track his genealogy. Continued on page 8 PAGE 2 THISTLEDOWN SEPTEMBER—OCTOBER 2010 About the Scottish Society of A Few Words from the President Tidewater, Inc. Another hot summer has zipped past. A lot was going on for SST this summer and I’d like to give you a recap. he Scottish Society of Tidewater exists to T We celebrated Wallace Day by having pot-luck promote the preservation and study of Scottish cul- dinner and were fortunate to have our friend ture, including music, language, art, history, folk- John Wallace, to give a presentation on the life lore, dance, literature, athletics, and all other things of William Wallace. Thank you John. distinctively Scottish among interested persons in Early September, Murphy’s in Virginia Beach the Hampton Roads, Virginia area and to cooperate had their 2nd annual SE Virginia Celtic Music with like-minded persons, groups and organizations Festival. SST had a display table there with all here and abroad. things Scottish. We gained two new members A meeting is held on the first Wednesday of each from this event. A special thanks to Bob and month at the Church of Ascension Community Cen- Jeannie Rider, who were there with Pixie Treas- ter, 4853 Princess Anne Rd., Virginia Beach, VA ures, for supplying a tent covering. 23462-4446. Social time begins at 7:00pm, and the The next day, we had our annual SST picnic meeting starts at 7:30pm. Anyone interested in held at Ascension. We had a really good turnout Scottish culture and history is invited to attend. and I was especially glad to see some of our founding members there. P.O. Box 3733, Norfolk, VA 23514-3733 Yours truly did much of the burger and hot dog flipping over the hot coals www.tidewaterscots.org but thankfully most of the attendees survived, partly due to skills of John Maxwell and Al Cowan who mercifully took over the cooking. SST Executive Board On October 13 the US Navy hosted its annual Diversity Day, which rec- President: ognizes the national and ethnic diversity of the US Navy. It was Scotsman John McGlynn [email protected] John Paul Jones who was the father of the US Navy, so of course I had to Vice President: say yes to a request for Scotland to be represented. Manny and Robin Tricia Young [email protected] Willis and Donna Looney stepped into the breach and manned our display Secretary: table. I think we also had a new member sign up there. Lucy Withington [email protected] October 2nd and 3rd saw many of us at the Williamsburg Scottish Festi- Treasurer: val (WSF). It was one of the best festivals I’ve ever had the pleasure of Jeanne Rider [email protected] attending. It was a true Scottish Festival. Connie Smith spearheaded the Board of Directors: SST display table, which was so successful that we won the Lord Dun- more award for BEST DISPLAY. Of course a number of people were in- Donna Looney [email protected] volved in preparing and manning our display area and deserve individual Linda Lucas [email protected] credit, but a special thanks goes to Terri Woodward who artfully designed the cool display boards. John Maxwell [email protected] I was thrilled to see that my friend John Turner was asked to help bring, George Phillips [email protected] organize and judge the regional and national Scottish Fiddling competition at WSF. John has, arguably, done more than anyone in the US to promote Bob Rider [email protected] the wonderful and unique music that is Scottish fiddling. This really does Terri Woodward [email protected] move the festival to a special level from the standpoint of Scottish culture. Then, on top of that our own Charles Murla won 1st place in the Regional SST Committees Open Competition. Congratulations Charles! Webmaster: Also new this year was the Scottish Country Dance competitions. It’s a Scott MacGregor [email protected] pity we don’t have a local SCD group. If anyone is interested in SCD con- Membership: tact Donna Looney who ride-shares up to Williamsburg, Thursday eve- Marcey Hunter [email protected] nings, where there is a SCD class. In looking at where we are relative to our key goals for this year, I feel Program: The SST Board of Directors we’ve definitely been making good progress. (1) We have a good pro- gram schedule for the year, (2) we’ve recruited new members, and (3) Sunshine: financially we are on a somewhat more solid footing. Membership must June Lockwood [email protected] remain a key focus, so please encourage your friends and family. Newsletter Editor: Also, if you have any ideas on how we can improve our services to you Marcey Hunter [email protected] and to the Scottish American community, please feel free to let me know. Yours aye, John SEPTEMBER—OCTOBER 2010 THISTLEDOWN PAGE 3 Flowers of the Forest William Lacy Barkley W illiam Lacy Barkley, better known as "Bo," passed away at age 61 July 14, 2010 at Augusta Health in Fishersville, Va. He was born July 14, 1949 in Virginia Beach, the son of the late William Lacy and Vera Elizabeth (Rowell) Barkley of Virginia Beach, and the grandson of the late William Charlton and Sally Re- becca (Stephenson) Barkley of North Carolina and the late David Oscar and Vera Mae (Wynne) Rowell of South Carolina. Bo was a veteran of the U.S. Army with two tours of duty in Vietnam. Prior to retirement, Bo was employed as a federal firefighter and lead fire inspector for the Norfolk Naval Base Fire Depart- ment. He was commissioner to the chief of Clan Barclay for North America, past president of Clan Barclay International, past president of the St. Andrew's Society of Tidewater and a Fellow of the Society of Anti- quaries, Scotland. In addition to his loving wife of 23 years, Carolyn L. Barkley, he leaves his son and daughter-in-law, Kelley and Kimberly Powell and grandchildren Megan Murray, Samantha Powell and Mackenzie Powell, all of Roanoke; sister and brother-in-law, Linda Jo and Richard Thomas of Gaines, Mich., nephews, Richard and Scott Thomas of Gaines and niece, Jennifer Dodds and her husband Lee of Livonia, Mich.; sister and brother-in-law, Brenda Ann and Wayne Boyd of Maple, N.C.; and niece, Suz- anne Sibert and her sons Leon and Jesse, also of North Carolina. He was predeceased by a brother, Richard C.