University of Glasgow Alumni Meeting in Toronto
The University of Glasgow Alumni Association hosted a get-together for alumni in Canada on Tuesday, 29 April. The event was primarily to celebrate the advent of the Commonwealth Games – Glasgow 2014 – with our alumni living in Canada, but it also enabled us to catch up other friends and business contacts of the university.
Charities Marketing Workshop
Management Advisory Service, a pro bono group of former GTA business executives held a workshop on Thursday, 17 April from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This informative workshop offered tips on creating successful marketing approaches for non-profit organizations. Presenters covered marketing planning, branding your organization, social media strategies and best practices and more.
Royal Commonwealth Society luncheon
The Toronto Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society held a luncheon on Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 12 p.m. at Hart House at the University of Toronto. The guest speaker was Royal historian Carolyn Harris, who spoke on the topic, “Royalty at Rideau Hall: The Marquess of Lorne, Princess Louise and the Emergence of the Canadian Crown.” Our president, Anne Moir, was a guest at the head table.
Burns Night Dinner 2014
President Anne Moir welcomed everyone, including our guest Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who presented the Society with a scroll from the City Council (see below). Master of Ceremonies Graham Desson then presided over a wonderful evening of merriment, poetry and music at the University Club last Friday, January 24th.
After the Rev. Derek Macleod delivered the Selkirk grace, the haggis was piped in by Cpl. Michael Brown. Graham then delivered with panache the Address to the Haggis, that was followed by an excellent dinner prepared by the University Club staff.
Malcolm Sinclair Toasted the Lassies with a number of poetic parodies, which even included a modern Gangsta Rap. Glenda Vergos responded with a spirited Toast to the Laddies in rhyming verse. A thoughtful Immortal Memory was given by Douglas Gibson, who hypothesized that if Burns had been alive today, he would have been awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.
Stephanie Hutka’s string quartet, Strings in Motion, rounded off the evening with a program of Scottish music that also included a group sing-a-long of four Burns’ songs, led by Anne Moir and Graham Desson.
Thanks are due to everyone who helped organize this wonderful evening. Photos available in the Gallery.
Annual CASSOC Tartan Day Ceilidh
The Clans and Scottish Societies of Canada held their annual dinner and dance on 5 April.
Fall Meeting
Anne Moir gave a presentation on the new Society Logo that was developed by our website designer David Kopulos.
Julie McDonnell thanked the Society for its kind donation towards the cost of their trip last summer to the Cowal World Highland Dancing Championships. She also introduced three of her dancing students who partcipated in a number of Highland Dance events in Scotland. After her talk we were treated to a wonderful dance exhibition.
President Anne Moir presented a donation cheque to Anna Pileggi, the Executive Director of About Face, one of the deserving charities we support.
Check the gallery for a few photos of the event.
Scottish Studies Fall Colloquium
The Fall Colloqium was held at the University of Guelph on Saturday, October 5th 2013. An interesting program of speakers on subjects ranging from the 1840s Debate over Sunday trains, to Visitor’s Experiences in Victorian Scotland, to Marshall McLuhan, and to the Voices of the Scottish Diaspora in Canada in the 20th century. Click here to see the full program. An excellent selection of old and new Scottish books was available for sale at very reasonable prices. Photos of a few of the speakers is included in the Gallery.