"In 1972 the City of
Toronto feted many of the clan associations which gave impetus to idea of a
Clan Sinclair Association.... 1973: The inauguration of the Scottish World
Festival at the Canadian National Exhibition and the prompting of John
Macdonald to set up a Sinclair Clan Ass. gave rise to the first clan meeting
of the immediate family."
--Roselma Sinclair
CLAN SINCLAIR SOCIETY
Minutes
The Clan Sinclair Society congregated at 2200 hrs. on
the 20th of April, 1973, at RAIRH¹,
Deep River Ont.
The President, by appointment, Chevalier Edward
Gladstone Sinclair KCLJ. DDS. LDS. called the meeting to order and asked for
an election of Clan Society officers; namely,
- President
- Vice President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
Chevalier Sinclair assumed the Chair--since it was
impossible for him to get up out of the chair (because of one too many
Brandies). He was a unanimous choice.
A great furore arose over the choice of Vice
President--, the women present felt this was a great opportunity for Women's
Lib to have a senior office; unfortunately, there was a delicate family
relationship² which
made it very ticklish to vote down the male chauvinist (pig)--so Major
Edward James Alexander Sinclair KLJ. BA. CD. took over the Vice Presidency.
There was an interim of at least 30 minutes while the
President and the Vice President argued over the placing of achievements
"behind" one's name.
The bylaws of the Grand Priory of Canada of the
Military and Hospitaler Order of Saint Lazarus 1972 was thoroughly
scrutinized by the Vice President who was determined that he was right. The
President, being in a slightly "euphoric" condition finally gave up
and the proceedings continued.--Except the President told the Secretary to
"Shut up!". She immediately left the room to relieve herself.
Proceedings continued after another 30 minutes. The
President and the Vice President, believing in the age old saying, "A
woman's work is never done.", quickly made the appointment of Ms. Janet
Le Barr-Sinclair as Treasurer since she has had vast experience of credit
management in the business world. She showed reluctance at first but was
cajoled and flattered into accepting the office and is eagerly anticipating
setting fees and bringing down a budget.
The Vice President again had some difficulty with the
President since Chevalier Sinclair kept wandering in ever increasing circles.
However, the office of Secretary was still in abeyance and since there
was no person left in the group who was literate, Ms. Roselma Sinclair
DLJ. was made Secretary in absentia.
In spite of the continuing hub-bub of conversation, he
correspondence was read;
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ITEM l. Canadian National Exhibition Scottish World Festival Committee
John H. Macdonald, Vice Chairman and Director of PR
informing the Clan Society of the dates, 16th to the 19th of August, 1973 of
this year's Tattoo including Wednesday, the 15th - the Festival Ball, Four
Seasons Sheraton.
Meeting was adjourned temporarily to refresh Brandy
glasses where upon, involvement took place--and so, to bed.
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The meeting re-convened at 1400 hrs., April 23, 1973.
The President requested that the members' memories be
refreshed and so ordered--(the Secretary demurred at this lordly word
so the word was amended to "requested" that
the minutes were altered accordingly, read and approved in lusty fashion.
The Treasurer who was slow to speak suddenly demanded
that "male chauvinist (pig)" be changed to "swine".
The President and the Vice President wisely chose to be absorbed in the
one piece of correspondence while the Secretary and Treasurer searched
the dictionary to ascertain whether "swine" was plural. It was! Therefore, "pig” remained but became bilingual, ie.
"Couchon".
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ll ITEM On the
Vice President's suggestions, Tattoos were discussed. After some lengthy
arguments, it was resolved that attendance at the Tattoos should be
accomplished by a "stand by" flight on Tuesday evening, the 14th or
Wednesday morning, the 15th by "No Wings At All" Pem-Air. It was
also determined that a Hospitality SUITE should be booked under the auspices
of the Society at the Four Seasons Motel.
(The "Sex-retary" rose to complain at this
point that there were too many members telling her how to spell. The members
ignored this justifiable complaint.)
The Vice-Pres. and Treasurer were named to act as
"live-in" hosts in the SUITE for the Festival's duration.
A suggestion from the floor that an identification sign
be procured for the Clan gathering was heard. It was timidly suggested by the
Vice Pres. that the talented secretary might "paint one up" for the
occasion:--the Secretary declined to answer so the suggestion was duly
tabled.
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lll ITEM A letter
was received and appropriately replied to by the President, from the
Lyon-Clerk & KEEPER of the RECORDS of the Court of the Lord Lyon dated
29th of March, pertaining to the Matriculation of the Cadet Line and
appropriate Differences to the Armorial Bearings in regard to his
off-springs.
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lV ITEM Letter
was received for Scots' Federation of Ontario dated April 17th, 1973
concerning affiliation of Clan Society and proposals for the enlargement of
the Scottish Information Centre. The names of the 1973 executive are to be
forwarded to John H. Macdonald, ... DON MILLS, Ont. Correspondence completed.
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V ITEM The Treasurer
requested that the President look into a Federal grant, Canada Council Grant
or "Lost Horizons" grant.
The President asked for the members' approval to make
the Treasurer responsible for further investigation on the matter.
It was decided that until a proper constitution and
bylaws are set up, the Treasurer will have to delay the budget; therefore,
the president and Vice President were "railroaded" into the Constitutional
Committee.
The meeting recessed while the Secretary modelled the
Treasurer's latest crochet creation, a Jerkin. it was such a success that the
Secretary changed all her clothes in order to be suitably adorned to fit the
exquisite handicraft of the Treasurer.
The meeting reassembled after 30 minutes.
The Vice Pres., who all through the session, found
himself sticking to the chair (no doubt because of drops of Brandy having
been carelessly spilled) was requested by the members to please not rise
up when talking as this was disturbing the meeting. The Secretary was heard
to mutter something to the effect that this phenomenon was due to his
"hot ass").
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Vl ITEM The
worthy Treasurer came up with fund raising suggestions namely:
a) External
1. Clan Sinclair Cook Book
2. Fleece the "Sassenachs" for the benefit of the Clan
b) Internal
1. Encourage people to buy tickets to the World
Festival in August
2. A raffle
3. A Ceilidh
The Secretary recessed to read the death notices.
Reassembled at 1530 hrs.
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OLD BUSINESS (Antediluvian)
Some many years ago, the President made a suggestion
that the Vice Pres. write a thesis for additional degrees in history. The
basic research was conducted by the Chevalier on his trips to Scotland; the
list of the source material unfortunately has been lost. The Vice Pres.
therefore made a motion that the President contact the Public Library in
Thurso to secure that information again. --CARRIED
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NEW BUSINESS
It was moved and seconded that a copy of these minutes
be sent to the Cleveland
Branch³
of the Clan.
It was resolved that the next meeting be called at the
discretion of the executive and when suitable liquid refreshments will have
been procured by the President to quench the thirst of the executive.
The meeting adjourned at 1545 hrs.--The bar opened 30
seconds later!
(signed) E.G. Sinclair
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¹ The 1973 general meeting was held at
16 LeCaron in Deep River, Ontario, which was the home of Dr. E.G. "Eddie"
Sinclair and Roselma Lake Sinclair, respectively president and secretary of the association.
To see Roselma's photo album, click here.
These minutes are typed on legal-size paper headed by their family crest - a Sinclair cock
standing between stag horns, below the motto "Semper Credens" (always
trusting).
² The "delicate family
relationship" here is that the vice president, Maj. E.J.A. "Sandy" Sinclair
of the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish, is
Eddie and Roselma's eldest son; Janet Le Barr-Sinclair, the treasurer, is Sandy's wife.
³ For Roselma and Eddie, the beginning of
the Clan Sinclair Association was a 1960 family reunion in Cleveland - the first family
reunion of the descendants of Alexander Sinclair (1827-1890), Eddie's great-grandfather
who had emigrated to Canada in the late 1840s from Kincardine-on-Forth, Scotland.
Prior to the founding of Clan Sinclair USA,
American Sinclairs joined the Canada-based association.
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