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Clan Home Association

The Weekend of an Epoch ...

500th Anniversary of Flodden Field

Come to the 2013 Clan Home Gathering!

6 - 9th September 2013 at

Wedderburn Castle, Duns, Berwickshire

Invitation Letter from Convenor, Dr Ian Maitland Hume

Dear Clan Home Member

The third Gathering of Clan Home coincides with the 500^th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden Field!

The 9^th of September 2013 is the 500^th anniversary of The Battle of Flodden, in which many of our ancestors fought and died, or unusually survived.

Every five years The Clan Home Association, whose President is our Clan Chief, The Earl of Home, organises a Clan Gathering. This year there will be a series of events from the 6^th – 9^th September for members of our Clan, their families and prospective members to enjoy.

The Gathering which starts on the afternoon of the 6^th September is centred on the magnificent Wedderburn Castle near Duns which will act as the main base for our exclusive use.

Current planning envisages:

Family history opportunities and a chance to share family trees of the many branches represented.
Guided coach tour with lunch to see some of the places of interest to Clan members in Berwickshire including great houses associated with the extended family of Homes or Humes.
Lunch, as the guests of the Earl and Countess of Home, in their ancestral home The Hirsel at Coldstream, preceded by the AGM of the Association and a Report from the Trustees of Hume Castle.
Dinners at Wedderburn Castle on the Saturday and Sunday with music and dancing to a band on Saturday evening.
An event in the grounds of the ruined 12th century Hume Castle with the raising of the Home banner (refreshments will be available)
Talks on the Clan’s history by experts
Drama performances and Scottish Pipe music
Activities for children

plus a chance to meet local people from the surrounding villages and specially invited guests from other Border Clans including some Chiefs.

An ecumenical Church Service commemorating Flodden is planned for the Sunday evening with a specially invited preacher.

On Monday the 9th the Gathering will conclude after a fascinating visit to the site of the battlefield of Flodden, just over the border with England. There will be a talk on the battle.

Events and meals have been organised so that you can attend one, more or all of them. Costs vary and some are free so that the Gathering is as affordable as possible. Costs are posted on the booking form. Those who have already expressed an interest will have tickets for all events held for them subject to receipt of a deposit within a specified timeframe.

If events are oversubscribed, the Council of the Association will decide which applications are accepted. Given the level of interest already expressed, the Association is exploring the possibility of a parallel dinner at a comparable venue on the Saturday evening, should demand warrant it.

The Association is inviting anyone with a blood line or link to the Homes and Humes to come along. We welcome all ages and your surname does not have to be Home or Hume. Membership fees have been reduced as we want to encourage membership from families and the younger generation in particular. If you have a link, however vague, we hope you will consider joining.

Prices have been reduced for those under 25. Donations from older attendees to assist with the cost to the Association would be very much welcomed.

Information on local accommodation will shortly be linked on the website.

Nearly a hundred strong expressions of interest have already been made so please do not wait long before you respond to

clangathering@clan-home.org

Please also pass the word about this exciting and historical event round your family, grandparents, cousins, and children.

The Clan Gathering and the annual AGM have in recent years been notable for fostering new friendships and developing old ones across the world. Amazingly, DNA tests have also helped tell us more about to whom we are genetically connected.

Don’t miss the fun – book now using the form!

Ian Maitland Hume
Convenor, Clan Home Association

9 March 2013

Read the program of events

A message from our Chief and President of the Clan Home Association

There are not many families who can pinpoint with more accuracy the part of the world from which their ancestors came than the Homes, let alone have an eponymous castle so conveniently spelt that it neatly embraces the alternate and more popular spelling of the name with an U. Nor indeed can many families still visit the ancestral homes of the main branches of their forbears.

We have just held a very enjoyable AGM in October 2012 in which we announced that the 3rd Clan Gathering of Clan Home will, subject to final confirmation, be held in the Scottish Borders in September 2013 coinciding with the 500th Aniversary of the Battle of Flodden Field.

The Clan Home Association acquired Hume Castle in 2005 from the Berwickshire Civic Society and thus into Clan ownership, a very democratic initiative which gives every member a real stake in our worldwide family. It is 356 years since Oliver Cromwell’s Colonels came into conflict with my ancestor, the 3^rd Earl, and battered the Castle with their artillery. It was a key defensive point against the English invaders, so there is certain appropriateness that after a somewhat chequered history over those years, we should be able to share it amongst us all.

We aim to make belonging to the Clan Home Association a truly rewarding experience which is why your Council and other members are working internationally as a team to produce a website that will enable us all to have access to a whole range of information and links for family and historical research purposes. But that is only the start because we have already harnessed the help of family members in the U.K. the U.S.A and New Zealand whose existing painstaking work will also be available on line. We are confidently expecting others to come forward as we develop the functions of the site and establish links with other invaluable genealogical sites that assist in the task of tracing our ancestors.

But most importantly the concept of bonding with kith and kin in a more personal way through the Clan Gatherings and through meetings large and small in countries all over the world, through forming friendships that could never happen realistically if we had not taken the plunge to establish this central structure. This does seem to be the right time.

My late father Lord Home of the Hirsel was very relaxed about the role of Clan chief and he could not have known how much easier the world wide web would make it for me to take up the task, knowing that the CHA could at relatively low cost reach out to Homes and Humes in every corner of the globe.

Now we have this amazing communication tool at our fingertips let us use it to bind our family together more closely, to explore our roots and enjoy belonging to a family whose motto "True to the End" is such a fine one by which to set our standards.