I took a large number of digital photographs of the various venues and events, and the disks have been sent to the editor of An Dul in the hope that he will find room to publish a few of them in the Canadian Clan Grant Society’s paper and will also retain the disks as a Grant archive. Anyone consulting this archive will be able to witness the Canadian contribution to Grant Week 2005, from the Canadian corner in the Duthil Clan Centre, the march past of the Clan, James Grant sporting the Canadian Maple Leaf flag during the march, the Chaplain’s ceremony at the dinner, Canadian participation in the ceilidh, to Brenda Grant’s playing her pipes in Grantown to everyone’s delight. Canadian Grants present for the Grant Week were Raymond and Pauline Grant, from Edmonton; James Grant and his three sons, from Eden; Jonathan Grant, from Salt Spring Island; and Brenda Grant, from Ottawa. David Grant, from Calgary but now resident in Edinburgh, could also be counted in the Canadian contingent.

            The Lord Strathspey and Lady Judy presided graciously over the entire proceedings of the week, while the finances were in the expert hands of Professor Arthur Jones of Kinellar. The weight of the food and travel arrangements fell on the broad shoulders of Norman Grant of Grantown, who did an excellent job. The organization had, until almost the last moment, been in the hands of the Secretary of the UK Society, Robert Grant of Dulnain Bridge, but he had, alas, to step down because of the tragic terminal illness of his charming wife, Maryrose; Robert closed up the house in Strathspey and took Maryrose home to her family in England, where she passed away shortly after Grant Week. I know that all members of the Canadian Society will join me in mourning the loss of dear Maryrose and in extending heart-felt sympathy to Robert. Norman Grant stepped into the breach in gallant and most effective fashion, and deserves the plaudits of all concerned with Grant Week.

            Saturday, August 13^th, 2005 marked not only the Second International Grant Gathering but also the 125^th anniversary of the holding in 1880 of the first Nethybridge Highland Games, one of the oldest traditional games in Scotland. This added a certain frisson of excitement to the air, as did the mist which occasionally buckled down to it and turned into a downpour and equally occasionally disappeared entirely to allow the sun to shine on the games. The special private marquee provided by the UK Society provided shelter, delegates’ packs, and an open-house welcome to visitors. The notice from outside the gates of the Duthil Clan Centre was proudly on display. The chieftain of the games was David Grant of Atlanta, President of the Clan Grant Society USA.

            The kilted Grant warriors formed up outside the Nethybridge Hotel to receive their marching orders from Paul Grant and to be trained by Charles Grant in the handling of the impressive, 18^th-century pikes which all but the flag-bearers were to carry on parade. The Grant ladies followed behind the warriors as the massed pipes and drums struck up and led the Clan Grant around the games arena. Silent prayers from Paul and the Chaplain kept the monsoon at bay during the march, and a splendid sight we made! The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald devoted a full page to pictures and descriptions of the march to demonstrate that our pride was shared with all the audience.

            The inaugural dinner-dance was held on the same Saturday evening, in the grand Peregrine Suite of the Highland Hotel Conference Centre in Aviemore. At least 150 Grants sat down in convivial company to an excellent meal complemented with fine wines and followed by Highland entertainment, music, and dancing to Jack Sutherland and the Blue Notes Dance Band. Lord Strathspey said a few words of warm welcome, I said grace, and the meal was followed by the toast to “The Clan Grant Societies of the United States of America, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.” David Grant responded on behalf of the US Society, and I did the honours for the Canadian Society. Norman Grant welcomed everyone on behalf of the UK Clan Grant Society Council, organizers of the week’s international event.

            The occasion was then marked by a special ceremony arranged well in advance by Robert Grant and myself, a 50^th-anniversary renewal of the marriage vows of Richard and Rosemarie Grant, of Wasilla, Alaska. The happy couple had eloped on the occasion of their first marriage, so now they wished to make their vows publicly, before the Chief and the Clan Grant. They were accompanied by their son Vernon, of Hawaii, who had not been present at the first ceremony! As Chaplain of the UK Society as well as the Canadian one, I was useful for once, and presided over a short but very meaningful service. What a splendid sight it was, to see Richard, Rosemarie and Vernon piped in by Duncan Grant (son of Sir Patrick Grant of Dalvey) to stand before the Chief and myself, renewing their vows, and to have their son, the Chief, and all the Clan affirm the vows. And how wonderful to hear the Clan Grant join in the singing of the hymns Amazing Grace and The Highland Cathedral to the skirl of the pipes! Later, during the music programme, Daniel Grant of Seattle sang Josh Grobin’s “You Raise Me Up” very movingly in honour of the happy couple—an international Grant occasion, indeed.

            On Sunday 14^th the AGM of the UK Society was held in the Clan Centre at Duthil. Officers reported, minutes were approved, budgets were scrutinized. The Maple Leaf flag stood proudly in the Canadian corner of the Clan Centre all the while, and the Chaplain reported on behalf of Jim Grant and the Canadian Society. I also contributed to the Clan Centre materials about the Grants’ building of the CPR, including a disk of pictures of Craigellachie, BC, a copy of Pierre Berton’s book, The Last Spike, and a replica of the spike itself.

            Monday 15^th started with a visit to Rothiemurchus Estate, where John Grant welcomed us warmly to The Doune. The mist having got a little above itself again, half the assembly went indoors for a tour while the group Pauline and I were with toured the outside in the rain. When the rain stopped, we went inside for a tour of a house which has one wing very comfortably renovated and another in a sad state of disrepair which will require time, labour and money to amend; the work began in 1979. The Doune (“fort”) was built by the Shaws in the 16^th century and came into the hands of Grants after 1580. It was extended in 1780 and 1803 to reach the state described by Elizabeth Grant in Memoirs of a Highland Lady, then there was a vast Victorian addition in 1876. Derelict and neglected after derequisition by the army in 1945, the house languished until John Grant of Rothiemurchus succeeded to the estate in 1975. He and his wife Philippa decided to demolish the Victorian additions and restore the Doune to its appearance when Elizabeth Grant was a child c. 1810, and the house is included in the List of Buildings of Historic and Architectural Importance while the plans are supported and approved by the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland. James Grant of Banchory played a lament on the pipes as we got on board the coaches for a tour of the estate and an explanation of the ecology of its management from the ranger. Afternoon found the Grants deeper into the Cairngorms National Park riding the new funicular railway to the summit of Cairngorm, where the ecology is very fragile and the wind constantly of considerable and chilling force. Splendid views of Loch Morlich and the Cairngorms were complemented by the exhibition and video presentation, a somewhat over-priced sandwich lunch at £ 12.00 per person in the Ptarmigan Restaurant (the highest restaurant in the UK), and the inevitable gift shop.

            Tuesday 16^th was a fascinating, two-part visit to the Highland Life Theme Park, which involves two locations. First, there was the Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie, with a wide range of artefacts and agricultural implements inside and outside the building. Older Scots like myself were chastened to see everyday items we took for granted in our childhood homes now on display in a museum! A wonderful lunch, complete with special Clan Grant menus and a wide choice of dishes, was enjoyed at the Duke of Gordon Hotel before the buses left Kingussie for Newtonmore. There in the Highland Folk Museum there is a reconstruction of an 18^th-century Highland Village, showing how our ancestors lived in Strathspey in times past, and a Victorian area with a village schoolhouse called Knockbain, operating period shuttle bus, garage, Aultlarie railway station, and exhibitions of agricultural methods, Ardverikie Sawmill, knapper’s yard, joiners’ workshop, and dry-stane dykes. A fascinating visit, again touched with nostalgia for the older Scottish-born visitors. The whole Strathspey and Badenoch area around Kingussie and Newtonmore was used, along with the area around Laggan, as sets for the television series, Monarch of the Glen, with Newtonmore often providing the “village” of Glenbogle.

            Wednesday 17^th took the Grants further afield, to Loch Ness. Nary a kelpie appeared, but there were artificial monsters aplenty inside and outside the Loch Ness Centre at Drumnadrochit. A well-prepared audio-visual underground exhibition gives facts and food for thought about Nessie, while the inevitable gift shop has stuffed green Nessies available in all shapes and sizes. After lunch the buses took us further down A 82 through the Great Glen to the new visitors’ centre, exhibition and inevitable gift shop which now overlooks what remains of that impressive, former Grant stronghold, Urquhart Castle. A mediaeval fortress for 500 years, the fortress had a particularly bloody history from the 13^th through the 17^th centuries, and was held latterly by the families of Durward, Macdonald, and Grant. The sun shone on the Grants as we climbed all over the ruins and enjoyed the wonderful views of Loch Ness from the ramparts. Then everyone climbed aboard one of the boats belonging to Jacobite Cruises to sail up Loch Ness in the direction of Inverness. Lowering clouds behind us were contrasted with sunlit vistas ahead, and we all enjoyed the cruise up Loch Ness and then the Caledonian Canal to disembark at Muirtown Locks for the bus trip back from Inverness to Grantown-on-Spey and Nethybridge.

            Thursday 18^th found the Grants on another dreich day en route to Ballindalloch Castle, where the gracious Mrs. Russell-Macpherson Grant bade everyone welcome before organising us into groups to tour her lovely home. Ballindalloch is in excellent condition compared to The Doune or Castle Grant, and a visit to the castle is a walk through history; it has been the family home of the Macpherson-Grants since 1546. In addition to the by now obligatory gift shop, there is a video presentation and a cozy tea room in which an excellent lunch was served. Despite the teeming mist, several brave souls ventured into the beautiful gardens and particularly liked the herbaceous border, the rock garden, and the 18^th-century walled garden (its rose garden having been laid out in 1996 to mark the castle’s 450^th anniversary). The doocot, built in 1696, houses 844 stone nesting boxes, while the coo haugh, established in 1860, is home to the oldest herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle. In the afternoon, some of the Grants preferred to be at a loose end in Grantown-on-Spey while others who had not previously visited the Museum or seen its Clan Grant Exhibition enjoyed a relaxed tour of the premises under the kindly gaze of Molly Duckett. Grantown Museum opened in 1999 on completion of a Heritage Lottery Funded project, and goes back in its memories to 1765 and the beginning of the story of “Sir James Grant’s Town.” Brenda Grant and Seán Cummings of Loch Tahoe, California treated the Museum visitors and Grantown passers-by to a stirring programme of piping outdoors.

            Friday 19^th was dry, golden and pleasing, just like the fine product of the Glenfarclas Malt Whisky Distillery to which we were royally treated. A comprehensive and educational tour of the distillery was concluded with a delicious buffet lunch served in the Ships Room at the Glenfarclas Visitor Centre. The Distillery is owned by John and George Grant, members of the UK Society, and Mr. John Grant extended his visitors a warm welcome. He also gladdened their hearts by serving fine wines with the lunch, and everyone also received a dram of ten-year-old malt whisky and a £ 1.00 voucher to be set against any purchases from the discreet and tasteful gift shop. A class act, without a doubt! On the way back to our Grantown base, a side trip was made to Walker’s to buy shortbread, though chastened diabetics among our number had, regretfully, to steel themselves against the blandishments of the mouth-watering product.

            The evening programme had to be altered virtually at the last moment, but Norman Grant saved the situation in sterling fashion. After group photographs on the lawn outside the Nethybridge Hotel, we went into the Revack Suite for a grand Clan Grant Ceilidh! Friends of Norman’s, the Northern Lights entertaiment group,  sang, recited, piped and acted for our entertainment, and impromptu turns came from members of our own party, too, including Canadian acts and the Josh Grobin song from Daniel Grant of the USA. Norman was an excellent host, and the impromptu get-together proved a great success.

            All too soon, it was Saturday 20^th, and time for a last farewell. The scheduled visit to Castle Grant near Grantown-on-Spey had, regretfully, to be cancelled since the castle is currently on the market for £ 1 million; no-one knows from one month to the next who is the owner of the castle which Queen Victoria once likened to a factory and into which several fortunes have already been sunk of late. The uncertainty about Castle Grant was unfortunate, but instead the group went early to the Craiglynne Hotel in Woodlands Terrace, Grantown for a talk about Clan Grant armorial bearings from Adrian Grant of Freuchie and another about Grantown’s 18^th-century Anagach Woods from the project manager, Piers Voysey. Good-byes were said after a good lunch (with special Clan Grant Farewell Lunch menu) at the Craiglynne Hotel, it being generally agreed that the 2^nd International Clan Grant Gathering was a proven success. Now we must contain our souls in patience another five years to learn what the organizers can do to top their 2005 triumph!

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