!!! New Dates for the Clan Gathering Announced !!!

Well its been an interesting last 24 hours to ay the least

Yesterday afternoon we launched this site and began letting everyone know via our Facebook pages and other networks. All seemed to be going along swimmingly when we get a message from the Chief of Clan MacLennan telling us that he had been informed that the whole Clans event had been cancelled and he was ,quite rightly, very disappointed! Suddenly Stirling councils 2014 web page goes offline. It was clear from the manner in which it had gone offline that someone had gone in to the server and simply deleted the web pages, quite dramatic! What was going on?

We get on the phone to Stirling Council who are being very cautious and telling us that there were never any plans for a 2014 gathering! WHAT? We then began calling round some contacts we had who in turn began to dig for info, People at Event Scotland claimed to know nothing. Then a breakthrough, late last night. A press release comes out from the Standing Council - here is the release in full.....

NEW DATES FOR Clans at BANNOCKBURN 2014

Press Release – October 11th 2012
CLANS TO JOIN BANNOCKBURN WEEKEND 2014
Scotland’s clan chiefs and clans are to come together in 2014 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn with a re-enactment weekend near Stirling organised by the National Trust for Scotland. A clan village will be set up and the town will be bright with tartan as Scotland marks the anniversary of the battle and remembers the fallen.
The Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor said: ‘We are delighted to be included in what will be a momentous event for Scotland. Bannockburn is a key event for us because it happened at the dawn of the Scottish clan system. We hope that thousands of Scots, both here and overseas, will now get behind the weekend and return to their roots to help us remember what was a pivotal period of our history.’
The event has been planned for the last weekend in June to allow the clans to be part of this major re-enactment which will also be open for the public to come along and experience this momentous event in Scottish history. There are more than 150 clan chiefs and hundreds of clan societies across the world. Interest is expected to be highest in North America, where there are some thirty million people with Scots’ ancestry.
Sir Malcolm MacGregor continued - ‘I – and nine other chiefs – will be at a clan conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on 19th October telling people about the 2014 re-enactment at Bannockburn and other regional events. The battle is a key part of Scottish history and the American clan leaders are keen to support us. We have been in discussions with the National Trust about the event. Their record on producing historical re-enactments is second to none. We are honoured to have the chance to work with them.’
Tom Chambers, Director of Homecoming 2014 said.... ‘It makes sense to have the Clans closely involved with the Re-enactment and this is promising to be a great event. As part of the Homecoming 2014 programme, we are also looking at other ways we might be able to support clan events outside of Stirling, so that we reach clan homelands in every part of Scotland.’

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So I'll just let that settle in for a bit.....

OK whats clear then is that the 11-13 July dates are out. The highland games that happen every year at this time will still go ahead but not part of any 'Clans2014' official event schedule. Also it would appear that Stirling Council no longer have any involvement in running a clan event (hence the furious back pedalling and deleting of web pages etc). This clans event will now be part of the Historic Scotland / Event Scotland schedule and as part of the Bannockburn 700 weekend will fall under their jurisdiction.

This is good for a few reasons; firstly that awkward two week gap between signature events has gone so visitors have ONE event to get to not two. Also this is not going to be managed by Stirling Council who have shown no real commitment to a clans event and at times seemed to act like it had been forced onto them. Also separating it out from the Sekonda highland games will seal the lid on a can of worms regarding making the venue suitable for a much larger event (not to mention a clan parade that had to cross the m9 motorway!)

Finally the issue of a clash with Grandfather Mountain games has been avoided.

However.

I think we are looking at a DRAMATICALLY scaled down event. The town of Bannockburn is not up for hosting something the size of 2009 so it will be a very different event. It should be possible to squeeze a clan village on to the space available but that will be about it, its still going to be a great event and ScotClans and this site will be right behind it but its not going to have the draw or impact of 2009. I also called round some hotels last night and several confirmed that they had bookings already for 11th-13th July 2014.

Lets not be too negative though, we are having a clan event and thats important, its still going to be amazing so lets just get behind it!