Spring 2011 - Update
The David Hume 300th Anniversary
This year is an important one for the Clan, as we
celebrate the 300th birthday of our greatest philosopher, David Hume. I think the actual birthday is on May 7th but on April 30th the people in
Chirnside are having a day of fun, some of it located at Ninewells, just
outside the village, where David Hume was born. His brother continued to live in that house
and the family eventually died out in the 19th Century. The present house is the third on the same site and is modern. There will be an evening's celebration at Paxton House, where Dr Peter Millican will
give a talk on David; he is a
leading expert on the Scottish Enlightenment.
I am talking with those arranging these events to ensure that the Clan
Home Association is represented.
Watch this space for a brief summary of the philospher's contribution to that great movement.
Read more...
AGM 2011 - London
This year we are planning to hold our Annual General
Meeting in London; we have arranged to meet at the Caledonian Club, which has
served us very well in the past and the date is Wednesday, September
7th. Please do try and come - the last time we met at the Caledonian we had a
very good turnout of members, both actual and potential.
Clan Gathering 2013
Your Vice Convenor and I met this week and we are already
beginning to consider the plans for our next Clan Gathering; this will be in 2013, which is also, of course, the 500th anniversary of the Battle
of Flodden. We know that many of the Homes were fortunate enough to
survive the slaughter that befell the majority of the Scots army, which
included the death of the king, James IV, many of his nobles and some 10,000
men. The Wedderburn Homes, however, did suffer. We hope to include a detailed account of the Homes and the Battle of Flodden nearer the time of the
anniversary; in the meantime we are liaising with the Duke of Buccleuch with
a view to using the occasion as an opportunity of the Border Clans to get
together as a follow-on from the meeting of the Border chiefs at the
Edinburgh Gathering of the Clans.
Hume Castle Beacon Proposal
The Diamond Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth
II is being celebrated next year and the Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire has
suggested that Hume Castle would be an excellent place to have one of the
Beacons that will cross the Border Hills.
I know that Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull has an excellent wrought iron basket beacon on one of the
parapets and so we hope to install something similar for the event. I expect that there will be considerable cross border liaison on this matter as
well as on the Flodden commemorations (although the English side will
likely regard the latter as celebrations!).
WW11 Humour
Finally on a light-hearted note, a tale of a recent visit
to Hume Castle. Last week I was invited to talk to a small group of
German visitors at the castle; I gave
them an account of the history of the castle and the various sieges and dramatic events, concluding with the
observation that the small level piece of ground in the NW corner was where the
Observer Corps had a post during World War II and that underneath was a small
enclosed space designed to accommodate a few key resistance fighters in
the event of a German invasion reaching Berwickshire. Shortly afterwards a tall and elegant gentleman came up to me and confided that he was
from a Prussian family , had been a colonel in the Federal German Army
and was now delighted to exclaim that the Germans had at last arrived at the
castle!
Ian Maitland Hume
The Opening of Home Lines
On Thursday 8th July 2010 40th Regiment Royal Artillery had a Ceremonial parade to open their new Lines within the hundred year old Thiepval Barracks near Belfast. Costing some £40 Million it is a brilliant example of all that a modern Army base should be. Its occupants are the Lowland Gunners , more formally known as 40th Regiment Royal Artillery who have the special distinction of being affiliated to the Home Clan and this allows them to wear the Home tartan. This dates back to an agreement reached with Lord Home of the Hirsel some 30 years ago.
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2010 AGM - Bath, October 9th 2010
The Clan Home Association held its Annual General Meeting in different places each year. Two have been held at the Hirsel, the beautiful Scottish home of the Earl and Countess of Home in Coldstream, Berwickshire. Others have been held in The Caledonian Club, HM Tower of London, in the Surrey home of Brigadier Dick Hume and now the Pump Room in Bath.
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2009 AGM, Sunday 6th October 2009
The Annual General Meeting of the Clan Home Association took place on Sunday 6th September 2009 at the lovely home of Council Member Brigadier Dick Hume at Blackheath near Guildford, Surrey. He and his wife Jane had produced not only a beautiful lunch but also a perfect Summer’s day for the 36 members who attended. Greeted with champagne before the AGM started and wine before lunch ensured that we had a very relaxed and enjoyable time with old and new members alike. After lunch we all had a chance to study Dick’s family tree and other historical material from his branch of the family. We take this opportunity of expressing our sincere gratitude to Dick and Jane for their wonderfully hospitable welcome.
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The Gathering 2009
The Home Coming or Great Gathering of virtually all the Scottish Clans took place in Edinburgh over the week end of July 25th – 26th 2009. It was a huge success and exceeded all targets set very substantially. The weather on Saturday 25th was quite literally brilliant with every crevice on the Salisbury Crags towering above Holyrood Park visible from the Home Tent. Sunday started with typically Scottish drizzle but quickly improved to almost match the warmth and sunshine of the opening day!
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American Couple Wed at Hume Castle
Tony and Megan Hume from Georgia were married at Hume Castle in March 2009.
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Kelso Laddie Common Riding Ceremony
The annual Kelso Laddie Common Riding Ceremony this year included a rideout rom Kelso to Hume Castle some miles to the north.
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Clan Gathering 2008
The Clan Home Association hosted a Gathering over the past weekend (August 16th/17th) which was attended by Homes and Humes from all over the UK as well as from overseas, with a strong contingent from the USA.
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Kelso Laddie Common Riding Ceremony
The annual Kelso Laddie Common Riding Ceremony this year included a rideout rom Kelso to Hume Castle some miles to the north.
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Valerie Montagu Hume
What is Valerie Montagu Hume doing riding in the 1907 F.A.N.Y uniform
with the King`s Troop at Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich?
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20th June 2008 - Home Tartan Shopping
The new shop page for all your items in the Home tartan is now live on this site. Click on the www.ahume.com site.
22nd June 2008 - Marchmont House
Marchmont House has now been acquired by
the owners of the Marchmont estate from Sue Ryder Care organisation; this
is very encouraging because Marchmont, one the most significant Hume houses
built in the 18th century, is going to be restored to its former
state, having been a care home for severely handicapped patients for the past
twenty years. The proprietors have kindly agreed to open the house,
which at the moment is closed for repair and restoration, so that we can visit
it on our tour of notable places in our history on the Sunday of the
Gathering. We shall have a picnic lunch on the main lawn there.
23rd June 2008 - DNA Project
Very shortly we
shall be initiating the DNA surname group project for all those males with the
surname Home or Hume or Humes. The project traces the Y-chromosome,
which tends to be handed down in the male line and if we can recruit a dozen or
more different families we should begin to get some interesting common links.
I am waiting for the full
details of the test procedure from www.familytreedna.com
, which is the organisation we shall use and which offers discounts for group
projects. However, for general information do have a look at www.dnaheritage.com which gives a very
readable explanation of the whole idea and is rather more informative.
When the final details
are to hand, it will be up to each individual to subscribe directly and enrol
in the project; as administrator, I will then co-ordinate the information
which will be collected for the surname.
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