MEMBERSHIP
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MEMBERSHIP NEWS
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
From your Membership Director Sioux Faragher-Hurley
On April 11th, Phyllis and Al McIlraith hosted a New Member
Tea, at which 13 new members were present, along with Shona
Burtner, myself and Jim Hurley. Scones with clotted cream,
Scottish salmon, egg and cucumber sandwiches, Walda’s
delicious shortbread and many other rich delicacies were there
to savour, along with continuous pots of tea.
The group was jolly and lively and the rooms hummed with
camaraderie as strangers became friends. We learned that Bob
Johnston’s high school band performed for FDR on the White
House lawn and an unexpected meeting during a flight layover
led to marriage between Tom O’Neill from Dublin and Toronto
born Eileen Corrigan. In addition to Irish ancestry, Eileen has
close family ties to the first Scottish Parliament.
Ron and Dee Slorach have been married for 52 years and spent a
sort time in Africa where Ron worked in the drug industry. He
made us dizzy telling of their moves from Scotland to London to
Scotland and back, finally settling in Newcastle. Their friends,
Grant and Gillian Phimister now live near Inverness, after years
of living in the shadow of Sterling Castle. Grant told us of the
cold and rainy day he first donned a kilt but found warmth over
the fire of a stranger making hooch! (I don’t think it was the fire
that kept him warm). The four of them visit here in season and
we feel lucky to have such a lively foursome join our club.
Bert was born in Canada in a farming community and is a 5th
generation Mitchell and a scientist by training. There was a loud
cheer from the women when he told us that the mitochondria, a
membrane inside the nucleus of our cells, originates exclusively
from the female and is what gives us our chemical energy.
Kathy Scott’s Father was a Lowdun whose ancestors lived in
Loudoun Castle and we learned that Frank MacIntire is a wood
carver of song birds (look for pictures soon).
Janice Iversen explained that her only link to Scotland is her
son-in-law but we told her she wasn’t the only impersonator in
the club.
Look for upcoming information and videos on the website and get to know the faces in
this photograph taken at the New Members Tea.
From left to right, they are: Tom and Eileen O’Neill, Gillian and Grant Phimister,
Norma and Bob Johnston, Kathy Scott, Frank MacIntire and MaryEllen McMahon,
Bert Mitchell, Janice Iversen, Dee and Ron Slorach.