|
Join Our List
|
|
|
Be A COSCA Representative
|
If you would like to represent COSCA at your local highland game, we can provide the necessary research materials to help you help others searching for their Scottish clan connection.
Just email us and we'll contact you with the details.
|
|
COSCA's C�ilidh Corner
| 
Part of COSCA'S mission is to promote the heritage and culture of the Scottish people. In many ways, music is an ideal reflection of that culture. Our C�ilidh Corner hopes to help connect you to the wide variety of Scottish music; both live and recorded, that's available today. When someone mentions Scottish music, automatically people think of bagpipes. However, you shouldn't overlook the rich heritage Scotland has with the harp, fiddle, and singers from the land of heather. In this installment of the C�ilidh Corner, we'd like to help you get started building a "class A" Scottish music collection. WHERE TO SHOP ONLINE 1. iTunes has really expanded its Scottish and trad (traditional) music library. It's a good first step if you know the artist or CD title. 2. Amazon also has an expanded selection of celtic music; most of which is now available for immediate download. 3. Artist's Website Most current artists now sell CD's from their own websites. Look up your favorite performers on Google and see what's available. 4. Music Scotland located in Oban, Scotland, this vendor has a great selection of hard-to-find CD's and DVD's and will ship directly to you. 5. Footstompin' Celtic Music carries a broad variety of trad music from Scotland including bagpipes, whistle, harp, fiddle and vocals -including some of the great Gaelic singers from the Isle of Skye. Footstompin' also has a regular e-newsletter and a free bi-monthly podcast. There's no better way to be introduced to Scottish trad music than to listen to their podcast. Be on the lookout for suggestions to grow your Scottish music library in future installments of the C�ilidh Corner. Until then, happy listening! |
|
COSCA Store
|
Available Now!
Very Limited Quantities Remain
 The official DVD documentary of the historic Gathering in Edinburgh - July 2009. Click Here to purchase!
|
|
COSCA Dues 411
|
COSCA has moved to a calendar year billing cycle (Jan - Dec). Dues are still only $25 per year and should be paid by January 1st annually.
You can always find out if your membership is current by visiting the " Members" page of our website.
Want To Join or Renew? You can pay for your membership one of three ways:
1. Pay online using PayPal. PayPal accepts credit cards or checks.
2. Call us. We can take your credit card payment over the phone.
3. Mail a check. Send checks to: Scott Medlin, COSCA Treasurer, P.O. Box 847, Catawba NC 28609. If you're paying for a clan or organization, make sure the name is on your check.
Regardless of the payment method used, please make sure that you complete an online membership form and submit it with your payment.
If you prefer, you can fax the form to us at 980-229-4699 or email it to coscainfo@gmail.com
|
|
|
|
COSCA Holds AGM at Grandfather Mountain
| | |
New COSCA Officers Elected
 | Newly Elected COSCA Officers (l to r)
David Pickens - Newsletter Editor; Sue McIntosh - Vice President; Beverly Lueke - President; Scotty Gallamore - Membership Chairman; Russ Harper - Database Manager; Chrissy Harrison - President Emeritus; Marjorie Warren - Scottish Coalition Liaison; Phil Smith - Author: "Tartan for Me". Not Pictured: Bob McWilliam - President Emeritus; Scott Medlin - Treasurer; Judi Lloyd - Liaison to the Scottish District Families Assoc. |
On Friday, July 8th the Trustees and officers of COSCA met in the conference room at the Grandfather Mountain Games offices in Linville, NC. Highlights of the business meeting were as follows:
- After five years as President of COSCA, Chrissy Harrison resigned as President but will continue to serve as COSCA'S liaison to the Scottish-American community. Beverly Lueke, COSCA's Vice President assumed the position of President. Sue McIntosh was elected to serve as as Vice President.
- In an effort to expand its mission representing "Clans and Associations", the Board decided to begin contacting St. Andrews, Robert Burns, Scottish, and Caledonia societies and encouraging them to become actively involved with COSCA. It is hoped that participation by these various organizations will better represent our diverse mission.
- COSCA voted to expand its educational initiatives in 2011. The Board will review several new proposals at upcoming meetings and will develop them further in the coming year.
- The Board also voted to expand COSCA's work with those clans who serve as COSCA representatives at smaller games throughout the country. An easily mailed package of updated research materials, banners, and reference books are being developed. The Board also reviewed reports from several clan representatives who have been able to use this initiative to improve their tent location at the games.
- A report from the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs was given. New officers of the council were noted and a letter to COSCA from new Convenor Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor was read (see next section for a copy of the letter). It was noted that Lord Jamie Sempill will now be serving as the Council's liaison to the Scottish Diaspora and as such, will be working directly with Scottish Clan organizations and societies worldwide.
- Discussion was held on the upcoming Homecoming Scotland preparations for 2014. While another year-long event will most likely occur, it is unclear at this time if another Gathering will be held. COSCA will notify its membership as soon as definitive information is available.
- Phil Smith presented his newly published 9th edition of "TARTAN FOR ME". Phil, a COSCA Trustee, states that this will be the final revision of his popular book.
On Saturday, COSCA continued activities with its annual general meeting at the games site. The meeting was well attended. Several of the games distinguished guests were introduced and spoke briefly to the gathered representatives; among them: Sir George MacMillan of MacMillan and Knapp - chief of Clan MacMillan. The letter to the clans from Sir Malcolm MacGregor, new Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, was read to those present at the meeting. Angus Crabbie of Trees 4 Scotland was also introduced and spoke briefly of his organization's efforts in Scotland.
Chrissy Harrison gave a report on COSCA's evolution over the past few years under her terms as president and on the business meeting from the previous day. She then announced her resignation and introduced Beverly Lueke as president to fulfill her unexpired term. Beverly Lueke then introduced herself and talked about how COSCA plans to improve its presence at games and communication with its members. She also reviewed the organization's dues process which changed last year after a vote of the membership and encouraged COSCA members to contact her personally if they had any problems or questions.
After a brief Q&A period, the meeting was adjourned.
|
|
Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs
Select New Officers
| | |
Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor New Convenor
On Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 - The Standing Council met in Edinburgh and elected a new slate of officers as follows:
- Convenor: Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor (Chief of Clan Gregor)
- Vice Convenor: Margaret Eliott of Redheugh (Chief of Clan Eliott)
- Treasurer: David Irvine of Drum (Chief of Clan Irwin)
In addition to electing the above slate of officers, the Council made two important appointments. Lord Jamie Sempill was appointed to be the liaison between the Council and the Scottish diaspora, and Jamie Macnab younger of Macnab is charged to be the liaison with the heirs of the Council members.
Sir Malcolm MacGregor sent COSCA a personal note to be read at our Grandfather Mountain AGM. The letter is as follows:
The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs sends greetings and all good wishes to COSCA for a successful and good hearted AGM at Grandfather Mountain on Saturday 9th July 2011.
Here in Scotland, we admire the tireless work of organisations like COSCA to promote clans and clan societies, bringing to many people that unique feeling of belonging to clan or family, which are of ancient origin. The clans and families of Scotland are spread right across the world in ways that our ancestors would never have believed possible. But it is to America that so many clansfolk have gone over the centuries and it is for that reason that the links between the chiefs and their kin in the USA is so strong today.
Scotland and indeed the world is changing fast. The chiefs are looking hard at new ways of conducting clan business in order to keep up with these changes - perhaps even to stay ahead. We want organisations like COSCA to be part of our thinking, our deliberations and what we do as chiefs. To that end it is my fervent hope that our strong links through personal relationships and many friendships will continue to be of enormous benefit in today's clan system.
With best wishes,
Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor
Convenor,
Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs
Additional information on the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs can be found on the Council's website.
|
|
Alex Beaton Update
| |  As many of you may know, Alex Beaton, a beloved performer at highland games across the country and friend to many, has recently experienced some serious health problems. You can follow Alex's progress by visiting his website. Alex, our thoughts and prayers are with you for a speedy and complete recovery. |
|
Clan Checkup: Improving Your Operations
| |  Using Dropbox for Shared Document Storage
One of the biggest operational problems facing Scottish clans is the issue of centralized document sharing. Leadership changes hands regularly and important clan papers can easily be lost or accidentally erased on an officer's computer. The results can range from mildly annoying to full-scale panic.
Fortunately, there is a free, simple and effective solution. It's called Dropbox. Dropbox essentially provides a cloud-based file storage system that's secure* and easy to operate. There's also an isolated Public folder within your account that can be used to provide links to files you wish to share.
Dropbox files are automatically synced across multiple platforms. That's techno-speak meaning it will simultaneously update files on your computer, iPhone, iPad or other smart device - provided you install the free app. This way, you always have the most current version regardless of the hardware you use to access the information.
COSCA has been using Dropbox for over a year and we've found it to be very helpful. Only a few key officers have access but it has allowed us to store our business and legal papers, photo archive, meeting minutes, and historical documents in one convenient place. We're not exactly sure how we managed without it before but the accessiblity we have now is invaluable.
Give it a try. We think you'll find it as helpful as we did.
* We realize that no Internet-based service is 100% secure; however, Dropbox has an excellent track record and is used by millions of people and business worldwide. We are very comfortable using it; however, COSCA makes no guarantee of data security by third-party vendors.
|
|
|
