Homecoming Scotland 2009 - Post Mortem from a Scottish Perspective

[cessna152towser]

Our games season is over and my winter SCD class started again last night. I have just one final Homecoming Scotland 2009 event left to look forward to and that is the Dumfries Fling over St. Andrews weekend to mark the end of the ten months of celebration of the Scottish diaspora, so perhaps now is the time to pen a few thoughts on this year's events.

The first international gathering which I attended was the Burns 250 Weekend in Dumfries in late January when Homecoming Scotland was formally launched in several towns in Scotland, our Prime Minister Alex Salmond had a busy weekend making opening speeches in several towns including Dumfries. The events included a funfair, pipe bands, torchlight procession, various Burns themed events including a formal Burns Supper and on an xmarks scale we had our own little group for the Ferintosh Burns Supper. Old friendships were re-kindled and new ones made and a good time was had by all.

Early in the year I became aware through my participation in Xmarksthescot, Clan Cunningham and Ancestry.com that I would meet many visitors from Canada and USA, and some from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa during 2009. First to arrive were Madelyn from California and her sister Joyce from Oregon, whose great grandfather's cousin's widow had adopted my maternal grandmother. Prior to their visit I had carried out some research for them and I took them on a tour of addresses in the Glasgow and Paisley areas where their ancestors would have lived.

to be continued.