2009 AGM

We are gathering at council member Brigadier Dick Hume's house near Guildford on Sunday September 6th, 2009. We shall start with the CHA AGM and then enjoy a buffet lunch and there will be plenty of time to relax and chat. I hope that as many as possible will be able to make this get-together and we are most grateful to Dick and Jane for hosting this occasion; more details will be circulated nearer the time, but if you intend coming please let the secretary know.

Clan Home Association

The Gathering 2009

The great Clan Gathering taking place during the Homecoming Scotland 2009 events will take place July 25th and 26th in Edinburgh. There promises to be a very large attendance, with over 120 clans taking tents. The Clan Home tent will be there and I hope that as many Homes and Humes and others of the CHA will try and visit us there. A very large Highland Gamers is scheduled and other events will take place over the two days, culminating in a march of the clans up the Royal Mile to the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle for the great ceremony to take place there. The more Homes we have marching the better!

Ian Maitland Hume

All the details can be found on the Gathering 2009 Website at http://www.clangathering.org/ and there are various types of tickets available.

Clan Home Association

Homes And Humes Gather From All Over The World

FLAG RAISING (Photo at right): The Earl of Home, Clan Chief, and association convenor Dr Ian Matiland Hume, at Hume Castle for the flag raising

CLAN GATHERING AT THE HIRSEL

THE Clan Home Association hosted a Gathering over the past weekend attended by Homes and Humes from all over the UK as well as from overseas, with a strong contingent from the USA.

The convenor of the association, Dr Ian Maitland Hume, said: "We were particularly fortunate to enjoy two days of dry weather, which allowed those events out-of-doors to proceed as planned."Our AGM once again took place at the Hirsel, presided over by our chief the Earl of Home. The association took its present form following our last Gathering there five years ago."

Members enjoyed lunch and the hospitality of the Earl and Countess of Home before proceeding to Hume Castle."The main event of the afternoon was the raising of the Home Banner on the castle's new flagpole, so that once again the Lion Rampant argent on a green field flew from the battlements, possibly for the first time since Cromwell's Colonel Fenwick destroyed it in 1651. "We were glad to welcome Jim Hume, one of the MSP's for the South of Scotland, to the ceremony and the tea that followed within the castle walls."

A total of 45 members attended the formal dinner at Paxton House, which took place in the elegant setting of the Picture Gallery and the occasion was enhanced by nearly all present wearing the Home tartan as some part of their dress.

Sunday's events included an extensive coach tour of Berwickshire during which members visited properties and places historically linked with the name, with commentary given by the convenor.The site of Blackadder House recalled the more violent days of Blackadder Castle and its acquisition by the Homes of Wedderburn. The de la Bastie monument at Broomhouse reminded those present of the revenge sought by the Homes for the execution of Lord Home in 1517, through the killing of the imposed warden of the East March.The well-known trials and tribulations which Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth endured whilst he hid in the crypt of Polwarth Kirk were recalled during a visit to the kirk which he substantially restored once he had become the Earl of Marchmont.The more peaceful times of the 18th century were celebrated with a visit to Marchmont House, where a picnic lunch was enjoyed, through the courtesy of the new proprietors.The skies where wonderfully clear when the group stopped at Scott's View, before making their way to Cowdenknowes to admire the very attractive exterior, the principal part of which was built by Sir James Home of Cowdenknowes in 1574, and from which line the present earl descends.The afternoon ended with tea in the Mellerstain House tea room, where the Earl of Haddington gave a much appreciated description of the part played by his forebear, Lady Grizell Baillie – the daughter of Sir Patrick Hume, in commissioning William Kent to design the first stage of the building of Mellerstain House.

The Gathering ended with an informal supper at Wedderburn Castle, which included members of the Home-Robertson family.The proceedings were rounded off by a superb hour of music from Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis, the duo now celebrated for singing their version of Auld Lang Syne in the recent film hit 'Sex and the City'. Mairi is currently also the Scots Singer of the Year.The relaxed family atmosphere of the whole Gathering weekend concluded with a rousing reel and a determination to meet again soon.


CLAN GATHERING (Photo above): Members of the Clan Home Association gather at The Hirsel for lunch.

Additional pictures of the events and sights from the Clan Home gathering can be seen at the following links:
Clan Gathering 2008
and
James R. Hume's Flickr Page

Clan Home Association

The Clan Home Association

The Association was inaugurated following the very successful and enjoyable Gathering attended by fifty-five people in the summer of 2003. During the course of this Gathering a formal meeting was held at the Hirsel, the home of our chief, the earl of Home, in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. This meeting voted unanimously in favour of the formation of an Association of those bearing the name of Home or Hume, those related thereto, or those wishing to join by affinity or affection to the Clan Home. A working party was formed from volunteers and the following year, 2004, the Constitution of the Association was adopted at the first Annual General meeting presided over by Lord Home.

The Council of the Association then devoted its main efforts to examining the best way of taking up an offer by the Berwickshire Civic Society for us to purchase Hume Castle, of which they were the proprietors for the time being. Consequently, the Association resolved to form the Hume Castle Preservation Trust, which is a company limited by guarantee and which is registered as a Scottish charity and the castle was conveyed to the Trust on August 31^st 2005 at a ceremony of ‘Turf and Stane’ the ancient way of taking Sasine of a property.

In addition to the castle, the Association intends to devote its efforts to promulgating in different ways as full and as accurate a history as possible of the Name, its origins, its leading and interesting personalities through the ages and its influence on the history of the East March of the Scottish Border, Berwickshire, Scotland, the United Kingdom and beyond.

Clan Home Association