Heritage should never come to an end. But who makes sure?
Heritage, language, places, relics, culture, values, ancestry. They can all pass away in a surprised and exasperated heartbeat. Unfortunately, there is no governmental ‘Department of Scottish American Heritage’ that will keep our very special culture and history alive and relevant in this forward-looking age. How can we know that Scottish heritage will be strong and active for our children’s children? For the next thousand years? Forever? Read more …
2020 COSCA Clan & Family Caucus
Save the dates of April 1st and 2nd, 2020, for the 2020 COSCA Clan & Family Caucus, held in conjunction with the National Tartan Day festivities in Washington, D.C. The planned speakers include:
- Rt. Hon. Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture & External Affairs, The Scottish Gov’t
- Joni Smith, Scottish Government Counsellor for North America
- Rt. Hon. Henry McLeish, Former First Minister of Scotland
- Andrew Morrison, Viscount Dunrossil
- Kirstin Bidier, Executive Director, National Trust for Scotland, USA
- Professor Donna Heddle, University of the Highlands & Islands
- Bruce Durie, Noted Scottish Genealogist, Schennachie to COSCA & to The Name of Durie
- Graeme MacKenzie, Noted Scottish Genealogist & Chairman, Ass’n of Northern Clans
- Keith MacGregor, Board Member for North America, Clan Gregor Society
- Prof. Robert Spencer, Noted Genetic Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Janine Cloud, Director of Marketing, Family Tree DNA, Inc.
The event will be held at the historic DACOR Bacon House, 1801 “F” Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006. The registration fee is U.S. $35.00 per person. You can pay by check made payable to “COSCA” at the door or by mail in care of Scott Swann, Membership Chairman, 316 Regal Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30046. You can arrive a day early and attend the annual Tartan Day Reception at the U.S. Capitol! Please call COSCA President John King Bellassai for details at (202) 258-4876.
Download a PDF version of the the 2020 COSCA Clan & Family Caucus flyer here. Please share!
700th Anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath
This year, 2020, will be a big year for us in the Scottish-American Community, as we join our cousins in Scotland to celebrate the 700th Anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath — the Scottish declaration of independence from the English king, signed and sealed by King Robert and the Scottish barons in 1320. FYI, this is the lead article in the January/February 2020 edition of The Highlander magazine, which I recommend to
you. Celebratory events are scheduled all year in Scotland, but a procession and a formal (in modern English) reading of the Declaration will take place in the town of Arbroath on April 5th. Learn more here.
COSCA Strategic Planning Committee
Our strategic planning initiative is now up and running, co-chaired by Board member John Cochran. This is a long-range planning exercise that will be ongoing for the next year or more and will focus primarily on membership recruitment and retention, communications, and finances. Any and all members in good standing of COSCA, whether you are an Individual Member or belong to an Organizational Member of COSCA, are eligible to participate in this effort and encouraged to do so. We need your energy and ideas. So if you are interested, now is the time to get involved! Serious work will be commencing over the next few months — to be conducted mainly by conference calls and email. An interim progress report will be delivered at our Annual General Meeting (AGM), which again will be held in early July at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in NC. It is not too late to get involved. If you did not attend the kickoff meeting held in conjunction with last year’s AGM, at which a sign-up sheet was circulated, but want to help, contact John at (614) 325-8178 (his cell), or by email at COSCAStrategicplanning@gmail.com.
Grandfather Mountain Highland Games
