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Membership
 Each August, members gather for the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
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Become a “SCOT”
I WANT TO JOIN SCOT |
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There has always been a lively group of triangle residents with an interest in Scottish culture. Some were primarily dancers, others pipers, drummers, fiddlers, or simply Scotophiles. A group of these people got together in 2002 and formed SCOT as a way to share these interests with each other and the wider Triangle community. Since then SCOT has sponsored numerous activities and performances, from small ceilidhs (parties) to large performances including international as well as local talent. There is an activity almost every month from whisky tastings to family barbeques, golf tournaments to Afternoon Teas.
Membership is open to anyone with an interest in Scotland or any facet of Scottish culture. Benefits of membership include “Great SCOT”, a quarterly newsletter, with an assortment of upcoming events, recipes, poems, historical information, and various related articles. (See below for links to the previous year's archived newsletters.) Members receive discounts on SCOT activities and emails of up-coming events that may be of interest. SCOT is a 501(c)(3) organization.
If you are interested in joining, use our online registration form to pay with PayPal or check or download the printable membership form and send it in with your check. Otherwise, you may contact Donald Ross at welake87@gmail.com. |
Board of Directors
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The SCOT Board of Directors is elected each year at the AGM, and new board members are welcome. Meet the current Board Members.
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Dr. George S. Birrell was born in Aberdeen. His mother had been born in Cults and her parents were from Fyvie and Oyne at the back of Bennachie. He is a Gordon. Raised in Perth, he worked professionally in Edinburgh before moving to the United States.
Most of his working life was as a university professor in the United States, Canada, England and the Far East, teaching, researching, publishing and developing programs mostly at postgraduate level in Construction Management and Real Estate Development. He also taught professionals around the world and worked as a professional consultant.
Currently, he is retired in Cary, North Carolina, where, among other activities he produces Scottish cultural concerts, provides lectures and presentations on Scottish poetry, history and life topics etc., as well as writing and publishing commentaries on Scottish poetry. |
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Carolyn McDonald Graf became interested in Scottish culture when she discovered that the stories her father had told her about the massacre of Glencoe were facts in her English history book. She has played in a pipe band, is a premier Scottish Highland Dancer, and enjoys Scottish Country Dancing.
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D’Nise Hefner began her Great Scottish Adventure entirely by accident—beginning with a student newspaper advertisement offering bagpipe chanter lessons at NCSU. A short stint as a bagpiper, years of Highland Dance lessons (for her daughters) and ongoing Scottish Country Dance classes with her husband led to a favorite family pastime of exploring Scotland--including one memorable canoe trip down the Spey River. Crawford ancestors from Scotland have called NC home for hundreds of years.
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Pat Johnston, current president of SCOT, has celebrated her Scottish heritage all her life and has been a teacher of both Highland and Scottish Country Dancing for over 25 years. Traveling to Scotland and learning more about Scottish culture is one of her passions. She is also a CPA with more than 30 years of accounting background specializing in small business and individual accounting. She has been on the Board of Directors of FUSTA, the governing body for Scottish Highland Dance in the United States for more than 15 years and is currently the Treasurer of FUSTA, a position she has held since 1999. Pat is one of the founding members of SCOT and has been actively involved with this organization since its inception. Pat was married to the late Steve Johnston, frequent announcer of Highland Dancing and current President of Clan Johnston/e in America. Three of their four children have gone on to be Highland Dancers. Pat enjoys all Scottish activities and loves doing things with all her family, especially her grandchildren. |
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Cheryl Jones grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, but has lived in Massachusetts, Germany, and Tennessee. She has had a career as a professional administrator for the past 20 plus years. Her current interest in Scottish culture started after moving to North Carolina in 1991 and her daughter wanted to take dance. By sheer luck, as they were watching PBS one day, there was a demonstration of Scottish dancing and that is how it all began. Her daughter was hooked and so was she. Turns out her husband’s maternal side of the family is Scottish and we have been traveling to Highland Games for dance competitions ever since. Started taking Highland dancing a couple of years after her daughter started and went on to Scottish Country Dancing, Cape Breton dancing and even line dancing.
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Ginny (Clark) Kent is a 3rd generation Scot with her family immigrating from Aberdeen through Nova Scotia and finally settling in Boston in the late 1890's. The "old Scot" greeted her mother when they first met with a glass of scotch informing her that her first boy would be called in the family way, William, after the Scottish King. Ginny is married to Ray Kent and has two children: Kelly a Scottish Highland Dancer and Matthew who has played the side drum in local pipe and drum bands. Alas, her brother William is the last of the line.
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Judi Lloyd, FSA Scot, President of the Scottish District Families Association, Trustee on the board of the Council of Scottish Clans and Associations, Tartan Day Coordinator for NC, author of column "The Other 70%" in the on-line version of The Family Tree on Electric Scotland. |
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Donald Ross,
Membership Chairman, is a
native Scot and has lived in Raleigh and been an active
board member for several years.
You may contact him at 919-934-1915 or at welake87@gmail.com. |
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John Sprague serves as the piping and drumming representative on the SCOT Board. He has been the Director of the NCSU Pipes and Drums since 1977, a position that involves teaching a beginning bagpipe class each semester, directing both a Grade III and a Grade IV band in performances throughout the year, and preparing the bands for competitions at Highland Games. He is Director of Piping at the Cary Indoor Solo Piping Competition each spring. |
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Previous year's archived newsletters
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