Dear fellow Caledonians,

Perhaps for many of you, Labor Day marked the end of the summer and the return to school. It’s been celebrated in the US since 1885 when municipal ordinances were passed to recognize the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Was it Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, or was it Matthew Maguire, a machinist and later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists? Toss a coin to determine which of these Irish Americans initiated the holiday.

Interestingly however, it seems they got the idea from their neighbor to the north. In 1869, George Brown, a Scot from  Alloa, Clackmannanshire, who had emigrated to Toronto and eventually became publisher of the Globe newspaper, fought back against the Typesetter’s Union demands for a reduction from twelve to a nine hour work day. A bitter strike ensued, with no movement on either side. It was eventually settled by Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, another Scot who was born in Glasgow.

The fight of the Toronto printers had a second lasting legacy. The parades through the downtown streets in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers’ strike led to an annual celebration. In 1882 American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labour festivals in Toronto. Inspired, he returned to New York and organized the first American ‘labour day’ on September 5 of the same year. 

Best wishes to you and your families for a happy and relaxing Labor Day weekend! Don’t get too relaxed however, as September is a busy month. On Thursday the 10th, its our 2nd Annual Pub Crawl (details on main page), followed by Celtic Heritage Day at Chase Field on Sunday the 13th. The match between the D-backs and the Dodgers will be thrilling and we’re hoping at least 500 Valley Scots/Irish/Welsh and Cornish signed up for the pre-Game parade.

Slainte! DON

As many of you know, April 6th is being celebrated as Tartan Day in many US and Canadian cities as an acknowledgment of the Scottish Declaration of Independence, which was signed n April 6th, 1320.

Your Board has been working with State Representative Kelly Townsend in preparing a Bill that will go before the Arizona State Legislature sometime this Fall. When passed, the Members of the Legislature will encourage all Arizonans to observe and celebrate Tartan Day with appropriate ceremonies and dress.

We are also in the planning stages of holding a major musical performance during the week of April 6th to celebrate Arizona’s first state-wide Tartan Day.

We recently received the following announcement:

“Due to loss of membership, it is time to dissolve Scots of the West Valley as a 501(c)3  organization. We’ve gone beyond the point where we have enough officers to serve or enough people to gather for monthly meetings. Ida Borhauer, current President of Scots of the West Valley has endorsed this action”

Sharon (Sherry) Gearhart
Past President & 1st. Vice- Pres., Scots of the West Valley

The Board of the Caledonian Society of AZ regrets this decision, and invites all current and former members of SOTWV to join us for fellowship, entertainment and the opportunity to serve at our regular events, including the upcoming 52nd Annual Glenmorangie™ Scottish Gathering & Highland Games.

The CSA Board is looking for 2 people who are willing to attend the Tucson event on Saturday November 7 and Sunday November 8, to perform the following duties:

Set-up & tear-down the Society’s pop-up tent

Represent the CSA at the tent during the 2 day event - hand out 2016 Games flyers, Membership info., etc)

You will receive two admission tickets and gas reimbursement.

Please contact Don Finch at: president@arizonascots.com

CSA members & friends are also needed to participate in the Opening Ceremony parade at 12:30 pm on Saturday November 7th. If you’re planning on attending the Tucson Festival & Games and want to march in the parade, but don’t have a Clan to join with - also let Don know. That address is: president@arizonascots.com

September 6, 1715 - The First Jacobite Uprising

The Jacobite rising of 1715 (also referred to as Lord Mar”s Revolt or “the Fifteen”) was the first attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart (also called the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled House of Stuart.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 resulted in the Roman Catholic Stuart king, James II of England and VII of Scotland, fleeing to France.  James’ daughter and her husband - William of Orange - ascended the British throne as William and Mary.

In 1690 Presbyterianism was established as the state religion of Scotland.  Despite receiving no commission from James Francis Edward to start the uprising, the Earl of Mar sailed from London to Scotland and on September 6 at Braemar, the Earl raised the standard of James the 8th and 3rd, accompanied by 600 supporters.

In central Scotland the Jacobites were successful, taking Inverness, Aberdeen and Dundee.  Lord Drummond, with 80 men tried, under cover of night, to take Edinburgh Castle; but the Governor of the castle learned of their plans and successfully defended the castle.  By October Mar’s forces had taken control of all Scotland above the Firth of Forth, apart from Stirling Castle.

On October 22 Mar received his commission from James appointing him commander o the Jacobite army.  The English Hanoverian forces were under the command of the Duke of Argll.  In spite of Mar’s 4,000 men and Argyll’s 1,000, Mar was defeated in his next battles and the uprising failed. 

Many Jacobites who were taken prisoner were tried for treason and sentenced to death.  However, in 1717 the Indemnity Act was passed and had the effect of pardoning all those who had taken part in the Rising, apart from the whole of the Clan Gregor, which was specifically excluded from the benefits of the Act.  One of those who was not pardoned was Rob Roy MacGregor.

Save the Dates - Celtic Heritage Day - 2016 Games & Gathering

The people of Manchester have spoken and it’s official... we’re joining Scotland.
A whopping 72 per cent of those who responded to our online poll reckon we should secede from the UK and join an independent Scotland.

‘New Scotland’ might seem a little pie-in-the-sky but M.E.N. readers voted overwhelmingly to jump on board with our tartan friends north of the border and go it alone.

The extraordinary call for Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and every other northern community to be ruled from Edinburgh instead of London has now been backed by thousands.

A staggering 12,000 have now signed the change.org petition with the #TakeUsWithYouScotland hashtag taking Twitter by storm.

And the vast majority of the nearly 1,500 readers who voted in the M.E.N. poll said they would like to up-sticks and join the Scots in going it alone.

The left-field constitutional suggestion is growing in popularity, with scores of Mancunians of the opinion we’d be better off as ‘McMancs’.

Despite some giddy at the idea of supping Irn-Bru and strutting around in kilts, not everyone is convinced by the idea. Adam Dean raised a good point about Manchester’s football teams, pointing out that the move could mean United and City playing in the Scottish Premier League.

Colin Parry offered perhaps the most philosophical view on the issue.
He posted: “Does it matter who you are? English, Scottish... we are all one in the end.”

Suggested Reading - Off the Beaten Path - by Frank Demain

Peter Sinclair is a reasonably intelligent, fairly sociable, retired business executive, a family man attempting to lead a full life, travelling and seeking safe adventures as befits his  years. 

Family holidays should be pleasant, fun-filled times. Unfortunately, although he does not seek it, trouble seems to be attracted to Peter – not the what-a-pity sort of trouble you might expect of someone of his age and experience but serious trouble which might lead to his ultimate downfall. 

Crisis in Croatia sees him falling foul of a paramilitary group determined to achieve independence within Croatia; in Jewels of the Canaries he gets drawn into an attempt to smuggle stolen diamonds into Spain; in The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Sea Salt he gets lost in a maze of smugglers’ caves on the North Yorkshire coast; and, in Old Man of Hoy, he stumbles across an illicit Orkney whisky distillery with consequences far beyond his, and perhaps the reader’s, expectations.

Off the Beaten Track is now available from Amazon on your Kindle, iPad or other e-reader for less than the price of a latté!

Airplane Food

Approximately thirty minutes into an outbound evening flight from Glasgow, the lead flight attendant for the cabin crew nervously made the following painful announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, I'm so very sorry but it appears that there has been a terrible mix-up just prior to takeoff, by our airport catering service... I don’t know how this has happened but we have 103 passengers on board and, unfortunately, only 40 dinner meals... I truly apologize for this mistake and inconvenience."                                         

When the passengers’ muttering had died down, she continued: "Anyone who is kind enough to give up their meal so that someone else can eat will receive free, unlimited drinks for the duration of our 5 hour flight."

Her next announcement came 90 minutes later: "If anyone would like to change their minds, we still have 40 dinners available."

Vicki (Munro) Phegley moved to Arizona in 1984 from Illinois.  Vicki embraces her Scottish heritage, having fond memories of bagpipe music, and stories of WWII and Scotland told to her by her Mother. She's shown below with grandson Tanner.

Vicki is the member who fell on the ice curling event and also at the 2015 Highland Games. Although she trips from time to time she always comes back to work! 

This year Vicki is the Vendor chair for the 2016 Highland Games, and the Chairperson for the Robert Burns dinner.