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History of the House of Scotland
The late 1980's into the early 1990's saw many changes to the House of Scotland. Under President Louisa Lawson, an English war bride whose father was Scottish-born, many improvements were made. She held office for nine years from 1986 through 1994. A refrigerator was added to the cottage, as well as new carpeting and curtains. A microwave oven was donated, repaired and put into operation. Iron bars were installed on all the windows and doors to keep the cottage safe since it had been burglarized a couple of times in the past. The House of Scotland was the second cottage to install a TV/VCR for the public. Many Scottish travelogues and other Scottish video tapes were copied by Greg and Ramona Weir for showing to our many visitors on Sundays. The main display case was repaired and filled with Scottish items and a display on the distilling of Scotch was added in another case. All the pictures were replaced with new frames, and new ones added. The serving counter was made more attractive, and there was much painting and repairing going on. With other improvements, the House of Scotland took on a very upscale look, thanks to support by the membership and painstaking work by trustee Gary McMaster. The bathroom was completely remodeled by John McColly and Ian Sinclair.
President Lawson allowed "Bydand Forever," a reenactment group which portrays Victorian Era Scottish soldiers of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment, to set up a display during the House of Scotland lawn program. In successive years, they would be allowed to take on the added role of Color Guard for the lawn program.
In 1991, after 27 years as the "guiding light" of the House of Scotland Pipe Band, Campbell Naismith felt it was time to step down, and Dr. Bill Graham assumed the role of Pipe Major. Campbell chose to join the illustrious "L.A. Scots" Pipe Band to continue playing in competition.
Mayor Maureen O'Connor awarded the House of Scotland a "Special Commendation" in April of 1992 for hosting visitors to San Diego's "America's Cup" celebrations.
In 1993, the House of Scotland was host to Mr. Charles Kennedy, President of the World Federation of Burns Clubs. He was visiting San Diego from his home in Cardenden, Fife, Scotland. The Burns Club World headquarters is in Kilmarnock, Scotland. In August of 1995, under the Presidency of Oban, Scotland, born Ian Sinclair, Vice-President John McGruer arranged a history-making tour of Scotland for members of the House of Scotland. It began in Edinburgh with a personal audience with Sir Norman Irons, Lord Provost (Mayor) of Edinburgh. Members got to sign the Official City Guest Book alongside signatures of American Presidents and other high-ranking dignitaries from around the world. President Sinclair presented the Lord Provost and his wife with a color copy of Gary McMaster's pen and ink of the House of Scotland, framed with a group photograph of House of Scotland members posed in front of the Cottage. He also presented an official proclamation from Susan Golding, Mayor of San Diego. Sir Norman, in return, presented President Sinclair with a beautiful silver whiskey flask embossed with the gold seal of the City of Edinburgh, now on display in the cottage.
The coach tour lasted two weeks, and took members all over Scotland on an unforgettable experience. A few days after members returned to San Diego, the Lord Provost and his lovely wife returned the visit by dropping by the House of Scotland during his official San Diego tour. They were hosted by President Sinclair and his wife Jessie. As president, and as vice-president before that, Ian Sinclair offered many opportunities for House of Scotland members to get together and have fun, by arranging bus tours to Laughlin, Nevada, and Knott's Berry Farm, an evening at the San Diego Symphony, and other fun events.
Over the years, members of the House of Scotland have often represented the organization by marching with their Irish cousins in the annual San Diego St. Patrick's Day Parade and other city parades. Often, they were called upon to provide displays or just members in ethnic dress for various civic events sponsored by colleges, grade schools, Convention and Tourist Bureau, or by various business and civic groups.
When Gary McMaster was elected President in 1996, he set as a priority the consolidating of the comprehensive history of the House of Scotland from many sources. All the existing items in the archives of the San Diego Historical Society had to be examined. The older members of the House had to be interviewed. Many photograph albums had to be gone through so that photographs could be copied. The writing, re-writing, and editing had to be done, with constant additions and changes being made. The photos and records were brought into the house to be used in the written history and saved in House of Scotland files to be created in the Historical Society archives. This will allow records and information on the House of Scotland, to be separate from the existing House of Pacific Relations records, and to be better controlled and maintained.
Another priority of President McMaster was to compile, for the benefit of the public, a directory of Scottish-type business and services available in San Diego County. When all of those Sunday visitors to the cottage come in asking "Where can I buy a kilt?", or "Who do I talk to about hiring a piper or Scottish dancer for my wedding?", or "Is there anywhere in San Diego where I can get haggis?", or "Is there a British pub where we can have lunch while we are in town?", the host or hostess has all of that information readily available right there in the cottage all of the time. All of this is being done to serve the members and the public, and to maintain the House of Scotland at the level where it should be, as the center for Scottish culture and information in Southern California-- and keeping it there for many more decades to come!
Bill Graham, after a successful reign as Pipe Major of the House of Scotland Pipe Band passed the role to Merri Miles at the end of 1966, but remained as a piper in the band and continued to perform solo at many civic events as well.
August of 1996 saw the first annual House of Scotland Picnic, held on the lawn in front of the cottage on a Saturday afternoon. It proved a great success, with grilled bangers and lots of other good food brought by members. A raffle was held. Everyone had a great time and President McMaster planned another one for the following year.
Nineteen ninety-seven saw the introduction of a series of potluck suppers at the cottage when members gathered to screen movies with a Scottish theme. The first movie screened was Whisky Galore, a movie about a Scottish town gone dry because of wartime rationing, that had the good fortune to have a ship load of whisky run aground on a nearby shoal. Other movies were screened every two months. Nineteen ninety-seven also saw Gary McMaster serve his second term as president, with Theodore "Ted" Wilson as Vice-President, Joni Brainard as Secretary, Deborah Hill as Treasurer, and Joan McColly as Editor of the Newsletter. Gwenda Measel performed duties as Hosting Chairperson. Officers and members manned displays at local school multi-cultural events, and a large impressive display at the San Diego Highland Games in June as they had the year before. The Braemar Challenge Caber was entered into competition again but was not successfully turned. A large food tent was set up for the annual House of Pacific Relations Ethnic Food Fair, and although the date conflicted with the Costa Mesa Highland Games, we had a fine turn out of volunteers and the event turned out to be a very prosperous one, with 200 of our Scottish Meat pie dinners selling out by 1 pm.
In July, the Scottish sister group of the San Diego- Edinburgh Sister City Society came to San Diego for the annual Sister Cities Convention, which was held at the Town & Country Hotel in Mission Valley. They brought with them an exact replica of the Greyfriar's Bobby, made famous in the Disney movie of the same name in the 1950's, and presented it to Mayor Susan Golding in her office. The statue is to be set up in a local San Diego park. A plan was discussed to have a statue made of the famous San Diego dog "Bum" and to have a copy of that statute sent to Edinburgh. At the presentation in the Mayor's office, House of Scotland president Gary McMaster also presented the Mayor with a copy of the book Greyfriar's Bobby: The True Story, which he had just brought back from Edinburgh. He also donated a copy of the book to our cottage as a reference book. During the opening ceremonies of the Sister Cities Conference at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, and at some of the other associated events, four young girls from Edinburgh, who were all premier Scottish dancers, preformed Highland dances. After the opening ceremonies, Chrissy Ambler, President of the San Diego-Edinburgh Sister City Society, brought the girls to the House of Scotland for a visit and photo session, and President McMaster invited the adult representatives from Edinburgh down as well. Bob and Carol Yaremko hosted the party that evening and a good time was had by all.
The City indicated that the cottages would be refurbished in the fall and President McMaster and Vice-President Wilson scraped and spot-painted the outside of the cottage to ensure it would appear immaculate until the repairs could be completed. President McMaster also landscaped around the cottage with bedding plants.
On a sad note, John McGruer, former House of Scotland Vice-President, passed away, and Joan McColly, an accomplished harpist, penned a lovely song in his honor. Harold Stuart, former President of the House of Scotland also passed away in 1997. His funeral was held at Fort Rosecrans with full honors, with President McMaster representing the House of Scotland, and former president Bob Maxton, who had worked with Mr. Stuart, played the bagpipes.
When President McMaster received military orders to move north to Paso Robles in September 1997, Vice-President Wilson took over the reigns of the organization for the remainder of the year. The annual lawn program was a success as a record crowd showed up on a warm October afternoon to sample Scottish Meat Pies and to be entertained by the House of Scotland Pipe Band, Bydand Forever, Margo Campbell's highland dancers, Bob Burns, Ted Banks and Patric Petree. The annual election of officers in November saw Ted Wilson elected president, Joni Brainard, Vice-President, Carole Yaremko, Secretary and James Scrimgeour, Treasurer. Merri Miles, the pipe band's pipe major, was elected member of the year, reflecting the success of the pipe band, which, under her leadership, won every competition it entered for the year, including the Western Regional Championship.