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Volume 7 Issue 12 December 2005
Fun, Food, Stories at December 15th S.I.S. Meeting
Everyone is invited to bring some Christmas cookies
and stories of their
family
traditions at Christmas time. It will be
a relaxing and enjoyable
way for you to spend an evening! We’ll also be finalizing our plans for
the
Hogmanay on 12/31/05 and the Robert Burns Dinner on January 28.
New Years
Hogmanay celebration!!
Approximately10:30 p.m., Saturday, December 31, 2005,
at the
Bring your DANCING SHOES!!
A Celtic New Years Celebration and Hogmanay Ceilidh
will be held after the Symphony’s Celtic Concert.
Dancers from the Symphony
performance will be demonstrating and teaching dances. We will be joined by other musicians (Kenny
Putnam, a renowned fiddle player) from the symphony performance as well as
String Thaw. As with ANY Ceilidh celebration, all musicians are welcome. Tickets are not necessary. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the
door. The S.I.S. will be providing food
for a fund raiser and welcome any assistance.
Please call Pat Hamilton at 719-8018 if you can help cook or bake prior
to the event or help at the event. This
will be wonderful time for all!
S.I.S. Web Site
Robert Millican has done an AWESOME job on our Society
Website:
www.blackhillscelticevents.org
.
Be sure to check it out! Wonderful photos, great information, fun
& colorful presentation!
KUDOS & many thanks to you Robert!!!!!
Celtic Christmas Service
Join this church service as they celebrate the birth
of Christ
with fiddles, flutes, jigs, and reels.
Refer to the graphic toward the end of the newsletter.
WATCH FOR YOUR S.I.S. MEMBERSHIP
RENEWALS!
We don’t want you to miss out on
any of the exciting activities coming up!
TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS ELECTED:
Jim Byrne and Kerry Smith were elected
to the board at the November membership meeting to serve the balance of two
vacant terms. Thank you so much for
agreeing to serve. See later in the
newsletter for their biographies.
|
December 15 |
7:00 p.m. |
General membership Meeting, TREA* Building, |
|
December
25 |
10:00 a.m. |
Celtic Christmas Service, |
|
December
31 |
Approximately 10:30 p.m. –
12:30 a.m. |
Celtic
New Years Celebration and Hogmanay Ceilidh after the Symphony’s Celtic
Concert at the |
|
January
5 |
|
Board
Meeting, TREA* Building, |
|
January 19 |
7:00 p.m. |
General membership Meeting, TREA* Building, Rapid
City Program:
Importance of Robert Burns in Celtic history |
|
January
28 |
6:00 p.m. |
Robert
Burns Dinner, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, |
|
March
18 |
6:00 p.m. |
St
Patrick’s Day Dinner, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, |
|
To
be announced |
|
Rummage
Sale |
*TREA = The Retired Enlisted Association
building, 1981 East Centre Street,
2005 was
filled with triumph and trepidation but the SIS continued to move ahead and
look forward to the future. This Christmas season promised and promises to
bring us great Celtic fun, food, and music that began with Martinmas, and all
who attended had a great time. The music was excellent and the dancing, though
not skillful, was fun and we are getting better! The program for the general
meeting on December 15 will be a cookie event with the members bringing some
favorite holiday treats along with some past Christmas memories. Hopefully
everyone will be willing to share and if we are really lucky someone may bring
some Celtic Christmas music (cd’s) to lift our Christmas spirit.
December
31 brings the symphony presenting a Celtic concert with the Hogmanay to follow.
SIS has been asked to decorate the stage area and provide food. The lobby area
will be decorated by Charlie Weir of Dakota Celtic Society so between the two
of us the
Never
lacking for a good time brings us to the Burns dinner on January 28. This gala
is always a wonderful, joyous time full of good food, fellowship, friendship
and just plain fun. I passed around a sign-up sheet for the various positions
where help will be needed, but there is always room for more and the dinner
will be discussed in more detail at the December general meeting. Please keep
in mind some menu ideas or suggestions to be presented at the meeting. After
all, this is your event and we would like your input.
Election,
election, election. I cannot stress the importance of the upcoming elections
enough. They are vital to the future of S.I.S. We have a tremendous opportunity
to turn another corner, take another step, and continue on into the future to
live, present, and preserve our Celtic heritage. How we do this is only limited
by our imaginations. There is a wealth of knowledge and ideas out there amongst
our members and we only need to pursue these ideas to continue to have a
successful, educational, and fun society. Please be a part of this process by
participating in the nominating process, running for office and certainly by
voting.
All that
being said, I just want to take the time to say that this past year has been
more than a challenge for SIS and at times looked discouraging in lieu of the
many problems that took place. Sometimes we took one step forward and two steps
back and yet we managed to put on all our events---some more successful than
others— and still had a good time doing so. To me this speaks volumes of the
determination, courage and diversity the members of this society have shown and
I am confident that S.I.S. will continue to prosper and thrive throughout the
years. Not only should we be proud of our celebrated Celtic heritage, but be
proud of ourselves. We are now better, stronger and more confident that ever
before and I look forward to continue to be a part of and to work with this
outstanding group of people. From my family to yours, merry Christmas and happy
New Year!
Bill
Knight
Interim
President
Kerry Smith and Jim Byrne are
serving the remainder of the terms from the two board members who resigned
until the next election. THANKS SO MUCH
FOR SERVING!!!!!
Kerry Smith was born in
and Joan C. Smith who is of
Irish decent. He moved to
1960’s and stayed until 1971
when he moved to
He then moved to
Kerry then moved to
from a local bank to cab driving. In 1998, he moved to Sundance
work for Teen Challenge. Then in 2002 he went to work for
Jim Byrne has been a member of the Scottish Irish Society for two
years. A
resident of
Jim’s Celtic connection is his 100% Irish ancestry. His mother’s maiden name
was Mahoney. The Mahoney’s claim
descent from Mathghamain (Gaelic for
‘bear’) the grandson of Brain Boru.
Due to a
computer glitch, minutes are not available at this time and will be shared
later.
Unfinished
business: Hogmanay will be held at the
New
Business: Several ideas were exchanged for food sales at the Hogmanay. Ideas will be discussed at the next general
meeting. S.I.S. will be decorating the stage area, and the Black Hills Celtic
Shop will be decorating the front lobby. The Dahl Fine Arts center will
advertise the Burns dinner. Aliyah will design the poster. Ticket
sales will be through the Dahl, on line, or through members.
President Vacant
Vice President Bill Knight (Interim President)
Secretary Sally
Knight
Treasurer Carole
Conrad
Board Members Gary Hamilton, Midge Schmidt, Aliyah
Sanders, Kerry Smith, Jim Byrne
Membership Open
Web Site Robert
Millican & Pat Hamilton
Newsletter Pat
Hamilton, path@rushmore.com
If you would
like to contribute an article or story, list an event, submit a photo, etc. to
the newsletter, please email the item to me by the 5th of each month.