The Clan Marjoribanks Society Gatherings

 

There have been several Clan Marjoribanks Society gatherings in Scotland, USA and Canada since the founding meeting in 1989.

The last gathering was held on July 25th, 2009 at the home of Patricia Baillie Strong in Regent Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland. This date was chosen to coincide with The Scottish Gathering celebrations in Edinburgh that weekend. Twenty people attended the Meeting and eighteen marched in the Parade up the Royal Mile from Holyrood Palace to the Castle in the evening.

The Chief Andrew Marjoribanks welcomed all those present and started the Meeting at 11.0 a.m. by ringing the Balbardie bell. He mentioned how Robert Marjoribanks in Canada and his wife Nancy had more or less run the Clan Marjoribanks Society single-handedly for many years until retiring in 2005 due to ill health. Bob’s departure had meant a big loss for the Clan and caused the first major upheaval since the founding of the Society in 1987.

The outgping President Katharine Cousland, said that the original manufacturer of the Marjoribanks tartan (Dalgleish Mills) has now gone out of business but John Marjoribanks said that any Scottish weaver will make up the tartan as it is registered in the official list of Scottish tartans. Zazzle is an American company on the web that will supply Marjoribanks brooches.

The outgoing secretary , Patricia Baillie Strong said she had saved the membership list digitally on the web (Google documents) so that it can be accessed by all the committee wherever they are. 450 people had been invited to the Gathering and the Marjoribanks General Meeting in Edinburgh.

The following were proposed, seconded and elected as Office Bearers of the Clan Marjoribanks Society.
President:                                          Patricia Baillie Strong
Secretary:                                          Caroline Morris
US Treasurer:                                    Carol Leake
Genealogist and UK Treasurer:          Roger Marjoribanks
US Newsletter Editor:                        Amanda Long
UK Newsletter Editor:                       John Marjoribanks
Publisher:                                            Stuart Baillie Strong
The office of Vice-President was left open for the Committee to co-opt. It was felt that the Vice-President should be an American. After the Meeting, the Committee decided to appoint Jonathan Baillie Strong as Webmaster to encourage younger people to join the Society, for example, by using webpages like Twitter and Facebook.

John Marjoribanks proposed several changes to the previous Constitution adopted on 9th June 1990. Several amendments were considered and agreed. The key ones were:

    The Society genealogist Roger Marjoribanks encouraged as many people as possible to join the DNA project to research Marjoribanks ancestry. Bill Jackson is in charge of this.

    The new President, Patricia Baillie Strong thanked the outgoing President, Katharine Cousland for her hard work and dedication.