Author Topic: AGM  (Read 29767 times)

Pamela K. Thompson

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #30 on: May 26, 2009, 08:25:53 AM »
Cathy, I want to extend our thoughts and support for you and Bryan in your journey down this rutted road.  :( We, just last week, had a brother-in-law diagnosed with colon/rectal cancer and his battle will be a long and strenuous one. We have hope he will be fit for the fight. I am an RN and I know how taxing the treatment can be. Mayo is clearly one of the best. So I know you'll get good care there. One of my friends had bone cancer about 10 years ago and she sought treatment there and she is cancer free now! Set the hook and hold on tight!   Karma

Donna

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #31 on: May 26, 2009, 10:40:07 PM »
Kathy and Bryan,

You'll be well covered with prayers from me as well and
God is just so good at what He does!

Donna
ANY DAY ABOVE GROUND IS A GOOD DAY !

Thomas Thompson

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #32 on: June 03, 2009, 10:33:26 AM »
                                  2009 Glasgow Games Report
 
    I thought the attendance was down, but the games committee said the gate was close to last year’s.  There were 63 clan tents and 25 vendors and at least 17 Clan Thompson Society members at the games this year.
   We were one of the Harp contest sponsors and got a photo of the winner of our “Most Promising Harpest” trophy – Candace Anderson.  She has only been playing for two years and was very pleased with the silver tray.
   Saturday night we again used John and Barbara’s garden tent for the AGM. I was disappointed in the number of ballots we received by email but our intrepid director from CO, Dan “Booner”, reported that all the reports were accepted and 42 aye votes for Directors Harold Bennett, Barbara Moore and Tom Thompson as president.   The motion by Thomas Thompson (IN) and seconded by Harold Bennett. “It is resolved by the directors and members of Clan Thompson Society that the Society Petition Lyon King of Arms for Corporate Arms after 2011. Further it is resolved that the society Treasurer establish an account for donations and funds to be used for fees and costs associated with obtaining arms for the society. Hereafter, one dollar of each membership dues collected will be allocated to this fund” received 38 aye votes. There were no nay votes cast by any the members on any ballot item.
   Barbara Cash moved that the 2010 AGM be held at Glasgow Ky.  This was tabled until all members were able to vote by email. Alternate locations will be considered if submitted,.
   If you have a suggestion or preference for the 2010 AGM location please email me with your suggestion no later than 20 June 2009.  I will then send all members a ballot for their consideration.
   There being no further clan business, the meeting was adjourned and we got down to  the serious business of christening new kilts and electing our next ‘Grand Poo Bah’.
    The only new kilt was worn by James Hall.  The kilt was anointed in Scotch supplied by Ed Dietz and all the members participated in the ritual accepting of a shot of the elixir of Scotland.
    By voice vote, Fred Cash was elected as our new ‘Grand Poo Bah’ after Hannah Thompson was ruled under age and John Moore was not allowed to withdraw his nomination. 
     We then demolished all the goodies brought by the members and someone managed to empty most of  the bottle of Scotch.
     In one of the pictures on Mary’s post, you’ll notice the small camel tartan banner with a Thompson shield. It was made by Allan Thompson’s mother and was quite beautiful. A nice addition for the weekend!
   
   

Mary

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #33 on: June 03, 2009, 10:34:47 AM »
As always, a great time!  We had quite a few members who had planned on attending who couldn't make it at the last minute, but those of us who were there had a busy weekend and great times around the table.

The weather, for once, was a rather pleasant 85+ degrees. OK, not that pleasant, but compared to the years we've had 100+.................:)  The south's reputation for humidity was sustained in full force and Booner (Colorado boy, don't ya know) declared the south 'unfit for humans.'  We had our tents almost in the same spot as last year - which gives us shade most of the day, a nice breeze, and we could here the music of the entertainers.

The clans were down this year with many of even the larger ones missing. Vendors also were thinned out a bit, but that's an opportunity for others to apply and come in for next year! Talking with games management about the clans being down, she said a lot had canceled or not booked, explaining that this year they were saving their traveling funds for the Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh. Makes sense, I guess but you would think they could have had at least one person at a tent! The gate was almost normal, but that included the pro athletes and there were more of them than last year....fewer people walking around the clan and vendor areas though. Sunday was really off, but it made for a relaxing day at the tent!

So, how did it go? Well, we sponsored a trophy for the harping competition and the "Most Promising Harper" was Candace Anderson of Lake St. Louis, MO. We have a nice picture of her (with trophy) and with Tom in front of our tent.



Barbara Moore donated a beautiful Mizpah kilt pin as a drawing award....all you had to do was buy a button or bumper stick or make a donation and you got an entry put in for the pin. The winner was drawn at closing on Sunday and the pin was won by Sharon Hall.  (Our members were eligible for the drawing since it wasn't a raffle, but a thank-you for support). We had lots of books, handouts of various kinds, our Teddy Bears dressed in their finest Thompson Dress blue and a herd of various sheep (one wearing a kilt, tam AND a blue ribbon!).  We had two tents FULL of members and on Sunday, expanded into the (then) empty tent next to us so we would have more room for chairs. THAT's a success. We had one of the largest contingents in the Parade of Tartans again!

AND......we won the BEST CLAN TENT AWARD!!!  WOO HOO!  And THAT (snapping my fingers) to those who claim we aren't a clan! And there were 63 clan tents, so this is no small honor!  I think Tom is going to post the criteria they judged on --- if not, I'll post it later!  The award was presented by Lord Ailsa, Chief of Clan Kennedy and Chief of the Games. (we were in the stands....off stage, left, clapping!)



Our AGM was held Saturday night at the campgrounds. We had a good turnout and munched our way through the agenda. Thanks to Pam and Ted Herring for bringing the pop, Heidi and Allan Thompson for the chips, Ed Dietz for a wonderful chocolate brownie cake, Paula and Jim Womack for a pastry-chef made carmel cheesecake (I didn't get a piece!!!), Sharon Hall for donating energy bars and homemade brownies for the tent and AGM and special thanks to Barbara and John Moore for putting up their 10x20 screen tent for us to use for the weekend and Harold and Patsy Bennett for once again providing the cooler and all the cold drinks for the clan members at the clan tent. Without all of you, our clan events would be impossible.

We missed having Our Warrior Princess Cathy (McTavish) and Bryan Hulstedt with us for the weekend as planned but trust they will be with us next year! The only other sad note was the absence of Albannach - especially hard hit by this were Pam, Barbara and Babs.  ;D
« Last Edit: June 03, 2009, 07:12:54 PM by Mary »

Thomas Thompson

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #34 on: June 03, 2009, 11:14:27 AM »
  I thought some of you might be interested in an article in the 2009 Glasgow program.
                                              THE SEARCH FOR CLAN CHIEFS
                                               What is an officially recognized clan?

      In Scotland, a clan or family is a legally recognized group having a corporate identity  similar to that of an American company. In fact, it is thought of as a “noble incorporation” because it has an officially recognized chief or head who, being a nobleman of Scotland, confers his noble status on his particular family or clan. In an Act of Parliament of 1597, we have the description of the “Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannish…duelland in the hielands or bordouris” thus using the word ‘clan’ to describe both Highland and Lowland families. Both of these groups consist of aggregates of families, comprising presumed cadet branches of the central stem. Additionally, both name groups are distinguished by their members bearing the surname of the chief or family head. A name group which does not have a chief, has no official position in Scottish law and this is causing numerous problems in modern Scotland.
    Today, a large number of clans who had chiefs in the 16th or 17th centuries now find the genealogical blood link to the last known chief has died out or been lost. Consider that  99 of the 202 clans in the ‘lists of clans’ on ‘Electric Scotland.com’ are without a chief. Three additional clans are in the process of applying for official recognition. An example: Thomson, the 4th most numerous surname in Scotland and with the distinction of being included as a West Marche clan in the Scottish Parliamentary Acts of 1587 and 1594 (Roll of Clans), had no official position because the clan chief’s name was not known.
    It should be noted that the various Sept lists, published in the various Clans and Tartan books, have no official authority. They merely represent some person’s view of which name groups were in a particular clan’s territory, which is why we find a particular surname listed as a Sept of several different clans.
    The revival of all things Scottish led the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, to address the problem of having a recognized clan without a noble chief by implementing two different procedures:
·   The most common method was to expand the concept of the corporate identity of a clan to include clan societies or associations. For example, in 1984 Lord Lyon issued a warrant of matriculation for the name of Armstrong Clan Society, Inc. acting world-wide to further the interests of the Armstrong family.
·   The second method involves armorial bearings. This procedure is a modern invention
dressed up as an old Highland tradition. To understand this concept, the following is from Learney’s Legacy, a lecture delivered to the Heraldry Society of Scotland by John Hamilton Gaylor on 29 September 2007.

 “ Lyon Office issued guidance on resuscitation of dormant and extinct chiefships that is essentially the composition of an electoral college for choosing a chief. The group of electors is called a ‘derbhfine’ or ad hoc derbhfine. Learney (Sir Thomas) reasoned that the clan structure required the heads of five ‘houses’ of common descent to comprise a gilfine, the lowest level of organized clan government, considered to be the descendants of a grandfather. The next level of clan government is the derbhfine, the heads of nine houses descended from a common great grandfather. In the case of chiefly intestacy, they would act to determine who should be the next chief.  Reduced to its simplest form, the derbhfine could be considered as a conclave of the clan lairds. A modern derbhfine would consist of 8-9 armigers of a name or proven landholders. Meeting under the guidance of Lord Lyon and electing a commander or captain, subject to Lyons approval. The elected leader would then serve for a period of time sufficient to allow a person directly descended from the last known chief to have made a claim.   Usually considered to be 10
to 20 years. If no claimant was found, the elected leader would become the clan chief.”
     A synopsis of the Clan MacAulay petition to the Lord Lyon Court is provided as an example of such a meeting. An ad hoc derbhfine was convened by Ross herald in August 2001. In all, 6 armigers and 10 landowners were contacted. The 5 landowners proved title by submitting title deeds and 2 of the armigers provided statements. The decision of the derbhfine to propose to Lyon that Iain McMillan MacAulay be appointed as chief was unanimous.
   Lyon refused the Petition and supplied the following rational: In other meetings of derbhfines for chiefs, there was a candidate with an imperfect blood-link. Here there was no blood-link, merely the derbhfine as authority. The derbhfine is the last resort where there is no real hope that a genealogically related descendant can be found. This was the first instance of a petition for a chief having no genealogical link to the last known chief. An additional factor is that a 10 year period must elapse between the appointment as Commander and as “chief” with no such genealogical link. This case was further frustrated by the age of the petitioner (80) and his elder son, as heir, having to be considered  becoming the chief within a relatively short span of time.

Tom Thompson
President
Clan Thompson Society
   

Barbara

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #35 on: June 06, 2009, 12:35:30 PM »
I know I'm late in reporting on Glasgow and I can't add to what Tom and Mary said, but once again it was a wonderful gathering with family and very dear friends.  I was so proud seeing our Thompsons marching in the Parade of Tartans, and having the most members except Clan Raknar (and they are not a real Clan) just people like us who love to get together to honor our ancestors and have fun.  Our AGM went great and the visiting and laughter afterwards was wonderful as always.  As Mary said "WOO HOO" on the Best Clan Tent Award.   :D   It was great to finally meet my cousin Paula after emailing back and forth for years.  Booner and I compared ancestors and found out we are closer than we thought we were.  :D  He's big and hairy but not as scary as he likes to make us think he is.  ;D

Cathy, I'm so sorry about your husband's health problem and please know you all will be in my thoughts and prayers.  I was really looking forward to meeting you, our Warrior Princess.  Sometime in the near future we will meet.  :D 

If John will give me enough time I will post some of the pictures I took.  Since he retired he keeps me so busy that I hardly know what day it is most of the time.   :-\

Barbara
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Mary

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Re: AGM - Mark your calendars!
« Reply #36 on: June 19, 2009, 06:44:18 PM »
Barbara's pictures are posted in the Gallery section of the society's website.......go to GALLERY, and Glasgow 2009.  There's a slide show of all the pics sent in so far...........