Cameron

is most

active

and fea-

tures the

classic

Cameron

Badge

along with the new Clan

Cameron crest. It also

provides a quick link to

our parent organization

for those who are looking

for more information.

Next to be updated were

our aging tents. Although

they served us well, the

tents were beginning to

show their age. Old steel

(Continued on page 4)

You

may not

have

noticed,

but

we’ve

had

some

work done. When I

say we, I mean the

Clan Cameron and

when we talk about getting

work done, we are referring

to all the improvements to

the Clan Cameron booth.

The Board of Directors

would like to let you know

about all the changes both

completed and underway

for our booth and the up-

coming games season.

The image overhaul started

at the beginning of the

2015 games season with

the new Clan Cameron

banner pictured above.

The new banner identifies

the countries where Clan

When you think of the cool

and wet days in Scotland, it

is not hard to believe that

more than 50% of all ener-

gy costs in Scotland are for

heating. This heating is a

key contributor to the na-

tion’s total greenhouse gas

emissions.

But some of Scotland’s

best and brightest are in-

vestigating new ways to

bring power to 700 house-

holds in one of Scotland’s

most disadvantaged areas

and it comes in the form of

geothermal power. Experts

in Scotland at the James

Hutton Institute are explor-

ing the possibility of creat-

Clan Cameron gets a facelift

Scotland testing geothermal power from mines

M a y 2 0 1 1 V o l u m e 2 1 i s s u e 2

What’s Inside:

Clan Cameron

Facelift 1

Scotland's Geo-

Thermal Power 1

President’s

Message 2

Treasurer’s

Report 3

Hanging of the

Hat 5

Coming Events 5

Board

of Directors 6

Climate Facts 6

Clan and Septs 6

May 2016 | Summer Edition

A Publication of the Southern California Branch

Clan Cameron Association North America

Clan Cameron Banner makes its debut for the

2015 Games Season

Find us on Facebook

/ClanCameronSoCal

ing a cutting-edge geo-

thermal district heating

system in North Lanark-

shire by tapping the

warmth of underground

floodwater gathering in

abandoned coal mining

sites. This previously

(Continued on page 2)

Herb Martin,

president of

Clan Cameron

Southern California

Geothermal power (continued from page 1)

President’s Message Recently Dena and I

have been watching the

BBC series "Monarch of

the Glen." It was very

popular and ran on BBC

from 2000 to 2005. It

takes place in modern

Scotland and is about a

young man called home

from London to the High-

lands to become laird

and save the family's

very large estate and

their heritage.

Scottish heritage and

traditions are very im-

portant to this family and

they will do anything to

save them. And so it is

with us. We may not

have a 50,000 acre es-

tate in the Highlands, but

we do have Scottish her-

itage and traditions in our

blood. What better way to

celebrate your heritage

and the Scottish traditions

than to attend the various

Scottish festivals. Experi-

ence the music, dancing,

and athletics. And visit

with your Cameron family

in the Cameron tent. See

you at the ScottishFest in

Costa Mesa on May 28

and 29 and the San Diego

Highland Games in Vista

on June 25 and 26. Also,

"Monarch of the Glen" is a

great show and may be

available at your local li-

brary.

On Saturday, May 28 at

1:00 PM, Clan Cameron

will hold its Annual Gen-

eral Meeting (AGM) for all

members during the Scot-

tish Fest in Costa Mesa.

At this meeting, we will

hold elections for officers

to fill all positions for the

next year. We will also

vote on all other matters

brought up by the mem-

bership. If you are inter-

ested in holding an office

and would like to be a

candidate, please contact

me. Plan to attend the

AGM where the plans for

the year will be discussed

and decided.

Yours Aye,

Herb Martin

world is used to generate

electricity, he envisions

better and more creative

ways to use this valuable

resource. By tapping di-

rectly into the thermal

properties of the under-

ground water, the energy

is more efficiently con-

verted into a usable com-

modity for the surround-

ing areas.

The abandoned and of-

ten condemned mines

have been thought of for

years as simply an eye-

sore and problem. By

rethinking this paradigm,

Scottish scientists are

changing the view of

these areas from a liabil-

ity to a commercially via-

ble national resource.

Source: Scotland.gov,

bbc.com. Scptsman.com

untapped resource is

being repurposed to

provide warmth on the

days when power is at

a premium and many

underprivileged dis-

tricts are considered

energy starved. Geo-

thermal Geologist and

astrobiologist Dr Jelte

Harnmeijer, head of

renewable energy at

the James Hutton Insti-

tute, is leading studies

into this new use. He in-

dicated that while most

geothermal energy in the

Page 2 of 6

Painting of men leaving a UK

coal mine at the close of shift.

Courtesy of Gerald Palmer via

Wikicommons

Page 3 of 6

Treasurer’s Report: 1st Quarter 2016

The Southern California Branch of Clan Cameron,

1st Quarterly Report - January 1, 2016 through March 31, 2016

Balance as of January 1, 2016 $ 2163.11 Income:

Dues 100.00

Donation 20.00

Scottish Meat Pies 56.00

Sub Total $176.00 Total $2339.11 Expenses:

Piper Award to Steve Bush 500.00

Clans of The Highlands Dues 35.00

Bank Fees 20.30

Bank Fee, returned check 26.00

Sub Total ( 581.31) Balance as of March 31, 2016 $ 1757.81 Submitted by K Scott Luekens-Taylor, Treasurer Dated 8 May 2016

GOT NEWS? If you have an idea for an article, we would love to hear from you. Your ideas could be part of the next Piper of the South. Contact Austin Cameron at Austin.cameron @hotmail.com for more information. The deadline for the next issue is July 28.

Ruins of Kindrochit Castle,

in Braemar—one of the

coldest places in Scotland.

Courtesy of Joe Dorward via

Wikicommons

Cameron facelift (continued from page 1) and stained canvas that

took hours to set up were

replaced with two mod-

ern, aluminum 10’ x 10’

canopies. They are

bright, clean and reflect a

reenergized Clan Camer-

on.

Debuting at the Costa

Mesa Games will be our

new retractable banner at

the front of the booth.

This banner features

graphics of the Clan

Cameron tartans, a Scot-

tish map identifying the

Clan Cameron territory, a

listing of all of our septs

and a breathtaking pic-

ture of Achnacarry Cas-

tle, the ancestral home of

our clan.

We are working on a sec-

ond banner that will fea-

ture pictures and history

of the Clan Cameron and

will replace the aging

framed photos that have

graced the walls of our

booth for many years.

In addition to out booth,

the clan updated our shirt

offerings in the 2015

games season with an

exclusive surfer logo

SoCal shirt designed for

our clan. The look is new,

clean and blends well

with all the other im-

provements to our image.

We encourage all our

members to drop by and

visit us at the Costa Me-

sa games to be one of

the first to see our new

roll up, beautiful tents,

bright banner and maybe

get one of those Clan

surfer shirts to take home

with you.

We will also be holding

our yearly General Elec-

tions for the board of di-

rectors so your participa-

tion at 1 pm on Saturday,

21 May is greatly encour-

Page 4 of 6

aged. The position of

Vice President is open

for candidates as Reed

Dickinson will be retiring

after many years of faith-

ful service. All other posi-

tions accept candidates if

identified during the

meeting.

The board of directors

have arranged for re-

freshments and our new

canopies offer some

much needed relief from

the sun during your visit.

We look forward to see-

ing you all and enjoying

our updated look.

Austin Cameron is the

Director of communica-

tions for the Southern

California Branch of the

Clan Cameron

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Have a favorite Scottish recipe, band or memory about a visit to Scotland? We’d love to share it in a future is-

sue of Piper of the South. To make a submission, please contact newsletter editor Austin Cameron at aus-

t182@yahoo.com.

Clan Cameron roll up banner

will debut at the 2016 Costa

Mesa Scottish Games

Hanging of the Hat - Reed Dickinson

retires as Vice President of Clan Cameron As Director of public relations I

am formally announcing that

Reed Dickinson will retire from

the position of Vice President at

the Costa Mesa Games this

year. The board and all the

members of the Southern Cali-

fornia Clan Cameron would like

to thank Reed for 35 years of

service. Reed helped shape

what is now one of the strong-

est clan groups in the country.

Reed led the clan, drove mem-

bership, built our Clan trailer by

hand, attended hundreds of

events over the years proudly

representing out members and

even served with the first presi-

dent of our Clan. Reed provided

the following words to announce

his resignation.

It is with some relief and some

trepidation that I am hanging up

my Vice President’s hat on any

convenient heather bush I can

find. I have been a member of

Clan Cameron for 35 years and

for about 30 of those years I

have been on the board. I assist-

ed the late Lou Clark, the first

president of Clan Cameron, with

operational problems and com-

puter assistance. After Lou abdi-

cated his Presidency to the late

Lou Bedard Cameron I assumed

the duties of Newsletter editor for

about 10 years. Then under the

late Ken All I assumed the role of

secretary, continued in the role of

Newsletter editor and wrote and

managed, the Clan database

pro-

grams. The by-laws of Clan

Cameron in the early 1990's did

not define officers responsibili-

ties, election procedures nor

property management. I re-wrote

the by-laws using 4 or 5 models

of other Clan bylaws to cover

these ignored aspects of Clan

management.

Austin Cameron is a Clan Cam-

eron member and member of the

Board of Directors

Page 5 of 6

COMING EVENTS:

May 28-29: United Scottish Society Scottish Fest, Orange County Fair-grounds, Costa Mesa, CA www.scottishfest.com June 25-26: San Diego Scottish High-land Games, Brengle Ter-race Park, Vista, CA www.sdhighlandgames.org October 07-08: Seaside Highland Games, Seaside Park, Ventura, CA www.seaside-games.com December: Clan Cameron Christmas Ceilidh

Reed Dickinson (back row second from right) at the Seaside Scottish

games supporting the tent with his wife, Phyllis (front row center), and

other members of the Clan Cameron

Clark / Clarke / Clarkson / Clerk

Cleary

Dowie

Gibbon / Gibson / Gilbertson

Kennedy

Leary

Lonie

MacAldowie / MacAlonie

MacClery / MacClear / MacCleary

MacGillery / MacGillonie

MacIldowie

MacKail / MacKell

MacLerie

MacMartin

MacOnie

Piper of the South is pub-

lished by the Southern Cali-

fornia Branch of the Clan

Cameron Association of

Western USA Inc. for its

members and friends.

Membership is open to all

persons of Scottish descent

who bear the name Camer-

on, or one of the Septs of

Clan Cameron (listed), or

whose mother or grand-

mother bore one of these

names:

Chalmers / Chambers

MacOstrich

MacPhail

MacSorley

MacUlrig

MacVail

MacWalrick

Martin

Paul

Sorley/Sorlie

Taylor

Page 6 of 6

We’re on the Web!

Visit us at:

www.clan-cameron.org

Remarkable climate facts

About Clan Cameron Southern California

fame in the climate cate-

gory. On 20 March 2009,

it was recorded as the

warmest place in the UK,

at 65 degrees F and re-

markably recorded the

second coldest overnight

temperature in the UK at

26 degrees F. From

warm fall weather to be-

low freezing in the

course of a day makes

for interesting wardrobe

choices.

Cheers to living in South-

ern California. I’ll take t-

shirts and board shorts

any day!

Did you know the coldest

temperature ever record-

ed in the UK was in

Braemar, Scotland. On

10 January 1982, the

temperature of –17 de-

grees F was recorded at

Braemar in the Grampi-

an mountains.

This record was tied by

Altnaharra, Highland, on

30 December 1995. In-

terestingly, Altnaharra

has another claim to

President

Herb Martin

herbmartin@cox.net

Vice President

Reed Dickinson

reed714@sbcglobal.net

Treasurer

Scott Luekens-Taylor

scootters-bond@verizon.net

Secretary

James Clark

jamesclark@cox.net

Communications Di-rector and Newsletter Editor

Austin Cameron

aust182@yahoo.com

Membership Director

Bud Gawthrop