 |
|||
 
 |
NewsPAST PRESIDENT OF CLAN DONALD AUCKLAND PRESENTED WITH THE
Bruce McGechan, Past President of Clan Donald Auckland, with Prime Minister John Key.
During a special ceremony at the South Kaipara Memorial RSA in Helensville, twenty seven ex servicemen were presented with The New Zealand Defence Service Medal by the Right Honourable John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.
The New Zealand Defence Service Medal
FACING EACH OTHER Bruce McGechan chatting with the Prime Minister John Key during the presentation.
Bruce McGechan, the Past President of Clan Donald Auckland, was one of the recipients of the New Zealand Defence Service medal. He was trained in the Armoured Corps at Waiouru during the 20th CMT intake in 1956. The training covered driving and maintenance of a range of military vehicles including armoured cars and tanks. During the training period he was also a piper in the Armoured Corps Pipe Band. Following the 3 month training programme Bruce completed his service with the New Zealand Scottish Regiment in Wellington. One of the highlights of his service was being a member of the Honour Guard for the opening of Parliament in 1957.
Since retiring to Helensville, Bruce has become well known for his piping activities. As well as playing at weddings and funerals etc, he is especially interested in helping pipers in the local area, to improve their piping and restoring their pipes to a modern competition standard. Bruce is able to obtain the necessary modern bagpipe components, for this task, from his extensive contacts in New Zealand and overseas. Bruce first learnt to play the pipes when he was 10 years old. He has a wealth of piping experience, especially in pipe bands. First the Hutt Valley Pipe Band in the 50’s and 60’s when they were successful in gaining promotion from Grade 3 to Grade 1 in twelve months. A very rare occurrence these days. Then there came a break when he was very busy in the advertising and marketing industry in both the UK and New Zealand. On his return to pipe bands he played for the Pipes & Drums of the Signals Association. He then joined the City of Auckland Pipe Band and traveled with them to Scotland in 2003 for the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow. He was then enticed, by old Hutt Valley Pipe Band friends, to join the Pipes & Drums of Horowhenua where he enjoyed competing in many local pipe band competitions in Palmerston North, Turakina, Christchurch and Upper Hutt, and Nationals in Invercargill, Dunedin and Papakura. These days his piping activities are a lot less hectic. He is an official piper for the Scottish Masonic Lodge and also for the Helensville RSA, where his main duties are during the ANZAC celebrations. Bruce is also teaching the pipes and has a small group of pipers, in Helensville, that meets weekly.
LETTER FROM LARA HORNBY, HIGHLAND DANCER - HAWKE'S BAY Life at Kilgraston College – Scotland I arrived in Scotland on the 6th of January to very cold temperatures, generally minus four or worse, with the sun arriving around 9am each morning and departing again at 4pm! My life in Scotland is now very busy, working at Kilgraston Private Boarding School for girls at Bridge on Earn, Perthshire, around 30 minutes north of Edinburgh. I work each day in a variety of tasks, from 7am-10pm five days a week with girls aged from five years in the nursery school through to senior sixth form students. I am also a housemistress for the Butterstone Boarding Hostel with twenty-four 8-12 year old girls to supervise. While Scottish Country dancing is compulsory for every pupil, Highland Dancing is one of the sporting options and taught at the school twice a week. I have been attending and helping with these classes, and feel so lucky to come from New Zealand, where in comparison, the standard of Highland Dancing is extremely high. This is a real credit to the New Zealand Academy, and all our teachers. I’m sure many New Zealand dancers like myself, have no idea how strong our dancing quality really is and the knowledge our teachers share. I was surprised at the standard of dance, perhaps it was term one, and the teacher here was surprised I have a diploma and some teaching experience at my age. The lessons are very similar to a typical NZ lesson, however I feel it would be true to say we work a lot harder in our lessons. Though the school has mainly Scottish pupils attending, many are from other countries, and classes include girls from Russia and France learning Highland dance. I look forward to working with my new pupils and watching them develop over the next 11 months. One of the older girls (16) dances competitively and is a great help with information about local competitions. I would like to dance competitively in the summer season in August when I am on leave from work. As I mentioned Edinburgh is only 30 minutes away and a great place to visit. I have visited Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile several times. It seems strange to be walking around some of my dance medal test exam projects! I am currently around a two and a half hour drive from where my maternal family history starts. In the Argyll area we can trace family back to my great, great, great, grandparents family. During the summer school break, with visiting family, we will visit the area and stay in Dunoon, where the three day Cowal Highland Games are held. After the Cowal Games we will travel back to Edinburgh to attend the Tattoo. Much of the dancing is Scottish Official Board of course, but still a great chance to watch World standard dancers. The school holiday breaks mean I am off duty and I can travel, or be a tourist. The first term break gave me a chance to visit London. The NZ Highland Dance family obviously reaches a long way out into the world. In London I was able to catch up with Sarah Chapman and Kylie Dumelow. It was pretty special to see some familiar faces! Right now I realize the Hastings Highland Games are coming up and I will miss the competition for the first time since I was five. I wish you all good dancing, sunny weather and a great weekend of dancing.
The AGM for Clan Donald Auckland was held on Saturday the 24th of March 2012 at the Conference Room of the McIsaac Caregiving Agency, William Pickering Drive North Harbour. Over twenty Clan Donald members enjoyed a pot luck lunch before the AGM which started at 1.00pm. The President presented his report which covered Clan activities for the twelve months. Many items were covered which included how Auckland had supported Canterbury after the February earthquake. The death of the world renowned piper Lewis A. Turrell MBE. He had been a great friend of Clan Donald Auckland, and with his wife Kaye had attended many functions with their group of Highland Dancers “The Balmoral Dancers”. There had also been outstanding events during the year, with the highlights being the Laird’s Dinner and the Ghillies Luncheon. The Genealogist Heather MacDonald had supplied a superb service with her items on genealogy published in the Clan Donald Newsletters. Before the election of officers the President Andrew Wilkie reminded the meeting that Allan MacDonald has been only the second Patron of Clan Donald Auckland, the first one being Murdo MacDonald the founder of Clan Donald Auckland. A letter from Allan MacDonald was read to the meeting advising of his resignation and nominating Harold McIsaac as Patron. Other positions were filled as follows:- President Andrew Wilkie; Vice President Doug McIsaac; Secretary Tom McDonald; Treasurer Alison Williams; Committee, Murdock McDonald, Eileen Clark, Karl Bradley, Pat McIsaac, Mary McIsaac, Lynnette McDonald, Cindy Bradley, Diane Winder. Chaplain Barrie MacCuish; Clan Pipers Anton & Blair Hodson; Genealogists Heather MacDonald & Lynnette McDonald; Historian Karl Bradley.
Clan Donald Canterbury’s Garden Day Robyn and Doc kindly opened their home so we could not only view their wonderful garden but also make use of their outdoor living area for a BBQ later in the afternoon. After a gentle stroll around the gardens, Clan members decided it was time for some action with games of mini golf and petanque taking place with a fair degree of competitive spirit showing. Cathie McMillan was declared the winner of the golf. She is still hoping to be presented with a silver cup.
|
||
