Welcome to the Online Clann Tartan Newsletter for February 2011

In Memoriam: Ellis O'Rourke

Ellis, born Jen McDermott, passed away unexpectedly in her home in St. Paul in the arms of her loving husband, Bob. She is survived by her husband, Bob; parents, Jan and Dan McDermott of North Oaks; brother, Brian; Bob’s mother, Mary and brother, Ben (Samantha); and numerous loving aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends. Jen graduated from Santa Fe Christian HS in San Diego and attended Northwestern College and the U of MN. She was very active in theatre in the Twin Cities and an enthusiastic participant of the Clann Tartan. She was a scholar, a musician, a swordswoman, a gardener, a needlewoman, a poodle fancier, and an enthusiastic cook. She was, in fact, enthusiastic about all she did. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her. A Celebration Service will be held at 7PM Wednesday, February 2 with visitation beginning at 3PM at HOLCOMB-HENRY-BOOM-PURCELL, 515 Hwy 96 W at Mackubin, Shoreview. Memorials preferred.

Annual Meeting and Board elections

We will have our quarterly Members' Meeting and Board elections on Saturday, February 26th. It will be at 1:00 PM at the Lake Hiawatha Community Center; this is the same location as Wednesday Dance; it's in the newsletter. PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE FROM NOVEMBER MEETING.

Up for election will be Vice President, Secretary, Quartermaster, and Company Rep.

THE 2011 EVENT SEASON OPENS IN ST. PAUL AND ALBERT LEA

Come to the Big Island Historical Fair in Albert Lea! Saturday, February 12, and Sunday, February 13, 2011!

Come to the Big Island Historical Fair in Albert Lea! Saturday, February 12, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, February 13, noon to 4 p.m. The 17th annual trade fair at the Northbridge Mall in Albert Lea is an opportunity to recruit for Clann Tartan and to strengthen ties with the biggest event of our annual cycle, the Big Island Rendezvous in October. We set our own schedule, so this is a great time to demonstrate your specialty. Clann will provide lunch—there are also eateries nearby—and it’s possible to make a day trip from the Twin Cities or to arrange a motel room. The Web sites are Big Island Festival (that’s Perry in the photo), and Northbridge Mall Calendar (where we’re listed; you can find a map on the parent site).

Come and enjoy a Scottish Ramble! Saturday, February 19, 10 to 5, and Sunday, February 20, noon to 5

Held at the Landmark Center in St. Paul, Ramble is another great recruitment opportunity for Clann, as we put on a variety of demonstrations and these folks have an interest in all things Scottish. We will march and dance—though not both at once. Bring your muskets and swords, musical instruments and handwork, and extra plaids to decorate the tables. Lunch both days is on Clann, so you’ll want your own eating and drinking utensils as well. The north lobby will be our main location, but we’ll also have courtroom space to use throughout the weekend. Your help with setup on Saturday and take-down on Sunday will be especially appreciated. The Web site is A Scottish Ramble - http://www.scottishramble.org/.

ONE MORE WINTER EVENT: FARGO CELTIC FAIR

Clann Tartan has been invited once again to fill a table at the Celtic Festival sponsored annually by the Fargo Park District at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead. The 2011 date is Saturday, March 12. As noted last year, it's an easy event: no tents, no pikes, and the show even provides us with hot lunches. But it is about 230 miles from the Twin Cities, so people often get a hotel room or stay with friends on Friday night. The Web site for the festival is Fargo Parks Celtic Fair,; you can view the physical location—which is worth a visit by itself—at Hjemkomstcenter. We’ll have more information in the March newsletter.

ON THE OTHER HAND

While Gaffneyis Trek, Johndezvous, and activities at Dun Gowan are on the menu for the summer months, what we don’t yet have on the calendar are events we can count on to replenish Clann’s coffers. Old and new festivals are going under, and lack of work, or work and school schedules, prevent members from traveling far.

What can we do? We’ll talk about this more at the February members’ meeting. Do you know of any new-to-us festivals? Is there an imaginative history teacher at your children’s school or your own? Have you heard rumors of a small Renaissance Fair somewhere in Wisconsin? Could we venture to put on a day of living history ourselves or in collaboration with other re-enactors? Bring your ideas to the meeting, or contact the staff and we’ll investigate them with you. The practical distance is about 250 miles, although a spectacular opportunity farther away (such as Fort William, Ontario last summer) will not be dismissed.

Want to quit smoking? Lose weight? Sleep better? Deal with other issues? Your good Auntie/Cousin Mairi is opening her hypnotism clinic! For more information or to schedule a session, contact me at Mairi2 at juno dot com, or via cell at 651-307-2977.

Mary McKinley

Discover the Manual

A lot of valuable information is in the current Clann Tartan Manual.

Wanted!

Deadline for articles to go in March's newsletter will be the 15th of February.

Clann Tartan Board Meeting

Present from the Board were Bruce and Julie Yoder, David Vavreck, Karen Bastien, and Mia McDavid. Sarah Shaftman was present for Staff.

The Minutes from the quarterly meeting in November were approved as corrected.

Vice President had no report.

Treasurer reported that in November we spent $23.

The President thanked Glenn McDavid, who has been assisting the Secretary.

Quartermaster reports that the cannon barrel is done. He will be helping to build the carriage. The steel for the cannon cost more than we expected but we are getting a good deal on the wheels. The musket under repair will be done soon.

Camp and company reps were absent.

Dance has had low attendance and Fiber Guild very low attendance. Sarah asked if there is any way the Fiber Guild can support the larger group besides fostering the fiber arts.

Sword Drill: Glenn is going to put hilts on the Bokken.

The history site and the gardens are sleep for the winter.

There will be no Drill on Christmas Day; the November topic is to be presented in January; Mia is to call Anthea about this.

Rich wants to drill with muskets; Karen is investigating if the police will have a problem with this. We are going to look at the Library at Sarah's house in February and sew in March.

Mia is to double check with Glenn about coordinating RSVPs for First Footing.

Julie is to book a May date for Members' Meeting.

The Secretary is to put something about Big Island Trade Fair and Ramble in the newsletter.

The contracts rep is to accept a contract for Moorhead.

We need the garage dug out. We need a permanent pike hauler for the winter because Rich is at the mercy of the snow.

Old business:

Will we accept ads on the website? We will continue our policy of examining them on a case-by-case basis.

New Business

We will look into the Great River Shakespeare Fest.

Recruiting: We could take calls, in full kit, for fund drives at Public

Television; we would be conspicuous and they would be obliged to

interview us.

Board elections:

Board positions up for election in February 2011 are VP held by Karen Bastien, Secretary held by Mia McDavid, Quartermaster held by David Vavreck and Company Rep held by Anthea Cross Potter. David is running, also Karen. Mia is reluctant. We do not know about Anthea. (Editor's note: Mia is NOT running. Mia HATES HTML)

The Budget will be prepared for the members' meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Mia McDavid
Secretary, Clann Tartan

Clann Tartan Staff Meeting, January 6, 2010

1. Contracts and Upcoming Shows

   • Big Island Trade Fair, Albert Lea (Feb. 12–13)

   Time: 10-6 Both days.

   Demos: Depends on which members attend.

   Pikes or Muskets for Show & Tell? Depends on how many soldiers attend.

   • Ramble (Feb. 19–20):

     Transport of pikes and muskets: Rich might not be available. We will put out a call to the members

     Producer-scheduled demos, including presentation on "history of Scottish mercenaries as portrayed by CT". Glenn will do this, with Clann equipment and the assistance of other members as one-to-one scale models.

     Clann-scheduled demos, including marching drill with pikes

   • Fargo-Moorhead Celtic Festival (March 12):

     This appears to be on. The Board has approved.

   • Minnesota Scottish Fair & Highland Games (Saturday, May 14)

2. Reports

   • Captain: The Captain noted that attendance at the Airing of the Tartans (Jan.1) was poorly attended, with fewer members attending than in 2010, which in turn had a lower attendance than in 2009. More people showed up for First Footing later in the day.

   • HCF: On vacation. No report

3. Staff Budget for 2011–12

   (Second draft due to board 1/18/2011)

   • There are several new items on the Company side, chiefly for the new cannon (The cannon itself was purchased from the 2010-2011 budget.
   • We do not need to put gunpowder in the new budget. David suggested that in negotiating for future contracts we might, where applicable, ask the hosting event to provide powder or to include a powder allowance in the contract.
   • Attendance by non-members at Johndevous. This is a possible source of revenue, but may pose an insurance issue. Sarah will check with Bruce
   .
   • We are estimating $80 for the outhouse rental at Johndevous.
   • We will not budget for replacing the cook's tent. If such a replacement is necessary, we can use one of the larger Trooper tents. David said we have too many troopers anyway.
   • Ewer and basin for handwashing. David will contact Tracy and Jay about stoneware. An alternative is wooden ware, which is lighter and less fragile. David will contact Don Newsome about this possibility.
   • There was some discussion about how to make the Cook's Tent look more period, but it did not result in a budget request. Staff will observe the use of the tent in the upcoming season to see how the layout could be improved. One suggestion was a set of "A" shaped shelves at the back of the tent.

4. Old Business:

   • Equipment repairs

     Rich will check with Mike McCarty on the state of the repairs.

5. Monthly Drill Planning

   • Feasibility of carrying muskets in city park

     Karen is having some difficulty working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. David suggest that she approach the Minneapolis Police Department. Another possibility would be to use wooden mock weapons.

   • Low attendance at drill

     Considerable time was spent rehashing the discussion at last month's meeting. A new idea was to send out an e-mail to members asking everybody what it would take to get more attendance. Eric will do this. The issue will come up again on next month's agenda.

   • January 22 (carryover from November 27)

     Oil woodware; presentation by Glenn on Scottish Mercenaries

   • February 26

     Drill has been replaced by the annual membership meeting

   • March 26

     Library (if Margaret is available on this date)

   • March 26

     Clothing: Bodices or cut hose

   • April 23

   • May

     Serving ropes.

6. Membership Meeting Planning (in conjunction with Board)

   • Recruitment

     Karen will convene a meeting about this prior to the February annual members' meeting.

   • Event development

     Sarah posted a notice titled "On the other hand" in the January Newsletter.

     We might approach the Winona Shakespeare Festival.

   • Trailer and potential alternatives

     Glenn reminded Staff of the discussion of this issue at the January 2007 Board Meeting. The changes in our situation since then are:

     • The trailer now has a much stronger axle, so it can safely carry a heavier load.
     • We are now unpacking and repacking the trailer between events, so that we only take what we need on the road.

     However, the discussion of hauling the trailer and possible alternatives still apply. In particular:

     1. We cannot afford to own a truck, or any other vehicle. Even if we got one for free, we could not not afford the upkeep. The insurance is much higher for a corporation than for an individual and would bankrupt us in two years.

     2. Renting trucks (like we did for Mankato and Winona last year[2006]) is likely to be prohibitively expensive if we try to do it all the time.

   So we are back to the use of members' vehicles. There is a possibility that one member might purchase a van that could be used to haul Clann gear. Another member can get an old mini-bus and might be able to repair it so it could be used for Clann. These are both speculative. We could also reduce the amount of Corporate gear at a show to what can be hauled in the private vehicles of attending members.

7. New Business

   (None)

8. Next Staff Meeting

   7 PM. February 3, 2011. Location: Either Sarah's house or Margaret's, TBA.

Board & Staff

If you need to contact someone associated with Clann Tartan, here is where you find out how. If you are unsure who to contact, you can always email us at: info at clanntartan dot org

Guilds

Contact:
David Vavreck
baethan1630 at yahoo.com
612-378-1973

Music

The Yoders have graciously offered to host music once a month. We will meet at their house at 4736 12th Ave S, Minneapolis, from 7 - 9pm the 4th Monday of each month.

To contact the Yoders, call 612-825-4519 or email to Julieyoder at juno dot com.

To contact your Music Chair, call David at 612-378-1973 or email to baethan1630 at yahoo dot com

Thanks, and I look forward to making some noise with y'all!

David

We have a yahoo groups email list for the guild that we use for reminders about the meetings and topical discussions. If you want to be on the email list, request an invitation to join from Bruce at bruceyoder at juno dot com.

Gaffneyis Recorder Consort

We hereby announce that Gaffneyis recorder consort has started meeting again, the FIRST AND THIRD MONDAY of each month at 7:00 PM.

The first Monday meeting is at Margaret Kirkpatrick's home, 2636 17th Ave S, Minneapolis and the third Monday meeting is also at Margaret Kirkpatrick's home.

We have seven members already, and are working on a bit more refined style of music than we do in our regular music meetings.

Contact your music chair (David) if you are interested in joining up.

It is at the corner of 27th Av S and E 44th Street. Both streets are one way. That block of 44th between 28th and 27th Avenues is one way westbound and that block of 27th Av between 44th and 43rd Streets is one way northbound. You must enter turning west onto 44th St from 28th Av and exit from 27th Av onto 43rd St.

2nd & 4th Tuesdays
Saint Christopher's Episcopal Church, 2300 N Hamline Ave. in St. Paul.

It is at the northeast corner of Highway 36 and Hamline Avenue (Hamline is between Snelling and Lexington). The church is actually encircled by the highway entrance ramp.
The Dance Guild gathers weekly from 7PM-9PM to learn and practice historic Scottish country dances.
For more information call:

Mary at 651-699-6853 or Julie at 612-825-4519

It's a great place to meet people!

We have a yahoo groups email list for the guild that we use for reminders about the meetings and topical discussions. If you want to be on the email list, request an invitation to join from Bruce at bruceyoder at juno dot com.

Fiber Guild

Historic Site

Drill is the fourth Saturday of every month, provided there is no conflict with another Clann event.

12 NOON Military drill, for soldiers and campfollowers alike, Minnehaha Parkway green, 12th Av S at Minnehaha Parkway.

1 PM Camp Drill, work on projects and discussions of relevant topics. Upcoming items are oiling and preserving the kitchen wooden ware, a presentation from Anthea on. At Yoder's 4736 12th Av, just up the hill from military drill.

Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY 2011

SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
		1	2 Rest in Peace, Ellis O'Rourke	3	4	5
6	7 Recorder consort 7:00 at Margaret's	8 Dance Saint Christopher's	9	10	11	12 Big Island Trade Fair, Albert Lea, MN >
13 Big Island Trade Fair Fiber Guild @ McDavids' 2:00PM	14	15 Deadline for articles for March newsletter/ BOARD MEETING 7PM @ Yoder's Home	16 Dance Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Center	17	18 Night at the Pub 7 PM at Merlin's Rest 3601 E. Lake St. Minneapolis	<19>A Scottish Ramble - http://www.scottishramble.org/
<19>A Scottish Ramble -	21 Recorder consort 7:00 at Mairi's	22 Dance Saint Christopher's	23	24	25	26 Drill 12:00  Members' Meeting 1:00 Lake Hiawatha Center
27	28 Music@7PM Yoder's Home

MARCH 2011

SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
		1	2 Dance Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Center	3	4	5
6	7 Recorder consort 7:00 at Margaret's	8 Dance Saint Christopher's	9	10	11
13 Fiber Guild @ McDavids' 2:00PM	14	15 Deadline for articles for April newsletter/ BOARD MEETING 7PM @ Yoder's Home	16 Dance Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Center	17	18 Night at the Pub 7 PM at Merlin's Rest 3601 E. Lake St. Minneapolis	<19><
<20>	21 Recorder consort 7:00 at Mairi's	22 Dance Saint Christopher's	23	24	25	26 Drill 12:00
27	28 Music@7PM Yoder's Home	29	30	31

Event Schedule:

The following is a list of the dates of the events that are currently on the schedule for this year. The staff has met and decided to keep this running list of events in the newsletter to give you a chance to get an idea of what is going on this season as well as keep you updated to changes in the schedule.

The column titled status will include the following information.

Tentative- this means that an event organizer or Clann has expressed a strong enough interest in doing this event that it warrants reserving space on the calendar for the event.

Pending- this is the next stage of an event. This means that the Contracts Administrator has entered serious discussion about Clann doing an event but we are still not committed to the event. You should however if possible think about whether or not you may be able to attend this event.

Scheduled- this level means that the board and staff have approve the event and we are committed to providing manpower to making the event happen. When an event is assigned this level please let the HCF know as soon as possible if you can or can not attend this event.

Canceled- This means that for various reasons an scheduled event has been removed from the current season. We will try and give as much notice as we can prior to canceling an event.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact staff regarding this matter

Thanks,
Your Staff

Maps

1st and 3rd Wednesday Dance Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Center 2701 E 44th St., Minneapolis	Map to St. Paul location St. Christopher's- Dance
Map to Bruce and Julie Yoder's Home Music and Board Meetings 4736 12th Ave S, Minneapolis 55407	Map to Margaret's Home Host for staff meetings 2636 17th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN
Map to Glenn & Mia's home Host for Fiber Guild 340 Brooks Ave Roseville, MN

Event Maps and Notification