The best laid schemes o' mice and men, gang aft agley.
Thanks to Alex and John for posting their pictures; hopefully Paul and Barrie will be able to add theirs as well.
Because - after all my plans, I only took six (6). And two of those were a duplicate!
A bit of history first and then, a few (a very few photographs).
I went to Harpenden last year. I was the only XMarker as everybody else was heading up to The Gathering a short time later. Had a great time, but noticed that there was very little in the way of Scottish heritage on display or for sale.
An idea was born.
I kept in touch with the Lions Club of Harpenden (the organisers) and when the time came I approached them with the idea of having a free pitch. This coincided with them wanting to have more Scottish presence. They wanted Clan Tents and all the things that are found in North American Games. They agreed to a free information tent.
Having negotiated the 'freeness', I then approched Steve to get his blessing before proceeding. At this point there was nothing that couldn't be undone and we weren't committed to anything.
Steve set out the ground rules; the number 1 of which was 'We were not to call ourselves a Clan'. As far as I remember the other 37 rules were exactly the same.
Shock horror! The Harpenden Lions Club put an announcement here on XMarks and all it says is Clan, clan, Clan, clan, Clan, clan, Clan, clan...
Steve soon sorted then out and it was all systems go in no time.
I printed out the '1 kilt 10 looks', which was very good for sorting out some 'What to wear?' misconceptions. I also printed the "Dress Regulations for the Royal Regiment of Scotland". Stopped a lot of 'the Army says that soldiers have to go regimental, type of statements.
The most used printout was one that I had done myself - Clans and their Septs. I went to all the Clans and enquired as to what their septs were and what surnames were associated with them. Then I put it into one alphabetical excel document. Out side the tent I put a sign - "If your name begins with any of these letters - we know what your clan is." And then a sign with all the letters of the alphabet. Well, I might as well have had a sign saying 'free money' - there was a queue from opening time till we finally shut up shop.
If the purpose of XMarks is to educate and inform then we achieved our aim and then some.
Anyway, that is the background, now for a few pics.
Firstly the car full of 'Stuff' and the Gazebo set up. No sides on or anything inside.
From the front - all ready to be filled up.
Finally everything inside - with 10 minutes to spare before Opening Time.
Note the colour of the Saltire. It is the correct colour Pantone 300, not as is commonly seen Navy Blue (Pantone 323).
Mr, Mrs and Miss English Bloke and Paul.
Group photo in front of the tent - Missing from this picture is Chapmanredbourn and 'Lynn'
All in all a great day.
Hard work, but was it worthwhile - Oh, yes!
Would I do it again - in a heatbeat.
Regards
Chas
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