Crossed Swords
Grampian—with it’s magnificent capital city, Aberdeen

Up on the far northeast coast of Scotland sits the huge region of Grampian with it’s magnificent capital city, Aberdeen. This is the area that so captured Queen Victoria’s heart that she spent as much of her time there as possible at her family castle in Balmoral. She wrote, “It seems like a dream to be here in our Highland home again. Every year my heart becomes more fixed in this Highland paradise.” Still, today we find the Royal family in residence each Christmas, without exception.

Balmoral Castle is surrounded by a huge estate and is the private property of the royal family who allow certain areas to be open to the public. The estate was bought by Prince Albert for Victoria in 1852 for less than thirty two hundred pounds or in today’s US dollars, $64,000. Who than sat out to vastly improve the property with much change, additions and modern farming techniques.

Aberdeen is known as ‘the Granite City’ and indeed the buildings seem to sparkle from the mica, quartz, and feldspar embedded in the granite that so many of the city’s important buildings are made from. In the last few years Aberdeen has become very important and prosperous thanks to the proceeds of drilling in the North Sea for oil and finding it.

Further south down the coast lies the fishing port of

Arbroath. The town’s original prosperity was built on the export of barrels of herring to Konigsberg. It also gave its name to the Arbroath Smokie, a particular type of Smoked haddock and a great delicacy enjoyed by many gourmets.

And of course, to all Scots the ‘Declaration of Arbroath’ rings down through the centuries: “For as long as one hundred of us shall remain alive, we shall never in any wise consent to submit to the rule of

English, for it is not for glory we fight, for riches, or for honors, but for freedom alone, which no good man loses but with his life.”

Our root name this week is; Callander. There are several places in Scotland with this name-the Perthshire region one is the best known but is lineaged from a local laird form its homonym near Falkirk; the etymology is questionable. Richard Callendar was constable of Stirling Castle in 1282,

and the name is localized in the central region. They wear the Tartan and are a sept or subclan of Clan MacGregor.

The Appalachian St. Andrew’s Society Pipe & Drum Corps offer free instructions in Regimental drumming and the Great Highland Bag Pipe. Appalachian St. Andrew’s Society Pipe & Drum Corps meet weekly Saturday 9:30 AM till Noon at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church in Blairsville, lower lobby.