Ray's report Clan Gathering Katoomba

The second of the Clan MacRae gatherings was held at Katoomba on Saturday 12th March, 2011, in honour of our overseas guests and was a great success.  We were very fortunate that Elma McRae had chosen a wonderful old style hotel in Katoomba for the function. This added to the atmosphere and made it a great experience as well as a great meeting of friends - old and new.

Some of us arrived at 11am and over the next hour and a half people arrived, warm greetings of old friends, until we were all gathered at 12.30pm for the lunch.

Our lunch was delicious, consisting of a pumpkin soup followed by a selection of fish, chicken, lamb with assorted sides and dressings to compliment your chosen fare.  The breads were a little different but very interesting and tasty.

The low voices during lunch conveyed interesting stories amongst the diners with occasional bursts of laughter. Convivial exchanges on all manner of topics. New friendships, and old ones renewed, and quite a few “You remember when”. 

It was good to see the Clan MacRae tartans in all its variety of colours and forms.

After lunch we retired to a magnificent lounge room in a 1930s style and settled for what were several delightful speeches. Our President Alan McRae welcomed us all, resplendent in his tartan waistcoat, recorded a list of apologies and introduced our special guests from Scotland.

Our guests, Mrs Marigold MacRae, Life President of the Clan MacRae Society in the United Kingdom and her daughter Miranda, Baroness Van Lynden who is the Constable of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland. Both spoke warmly of their experiences in attending MacRae Clan gatherings in many countries including Canada, America and New Zealand. We all felt the warmth of belonging to a great family and its traditions and they made our home Eilean Donan Castle feel so real.

The gathering then broke into several groups, photos were taken and time had caught up to us all and the good byes began.

Little by little people left with a promise to contact each other in future until we all had left for home.

The journey home I’m sure was filled with exciting thoughts of the next gathering when and where?