Bonds of MacLeod clan

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33064, 3 November 1972, Page 15

Bonds of MacLeod clan

The fellowship of the clans had a special importance in an age when nothing in life appeared to be stable, said the secretary of the Associated Clan McLeod Societies (Mr K. W. MacLeod) in church yesterday.

He said that in Scotland, even today, the main things that a man valued were his family and the land on which he lived, or owned. “We say we are MacLeods and proud of the fact, but just to say that may seem to some to be pretty senseless. You have to know what you are proud of,” he said.

"There is a sense of rootJessness these days especially among the young. They do not seem to care about anything very much. Yet I believe that children and young people need to be given something to hold on to and in my view it is the family—especially the pride in one which in our case goes back to the sixteenth century.”

There are reputed to be 66 clans in Scotland yet the MacLeods have both a chief and a castle and a world-wide association of 40 clan aocieties. Dunvegan Castle is where the clan parliaments are held every three years. “Since April my wife and I have been visiting the clan

societies in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. So good has been the hospitality that since we left home in April we have barely spent a month in hotels.” This was not just because

of his position as secretary of the associated societies. “The clan is asked to offer hospitality of one kind or another to visting McLeods —be it a ride in a car, the offer of a meal, or accommodation in a private home. You’ll be surprised at the MacLeods who have travelled about the world without having to stay in hotels. “Mind you it isn’t all free but a MacLeod would prefer to pay a MacLeod for hospitality than a hotel,” he said. Mr MacLeod admitted that not all MacLeods were members of the clan societies. Yet in the Highlands MacLeod women on marriage are entitled to keep their surname out of pride of ancestry. “The basis of the clan is a world-wide bond of a famly fellowship which you could say is really a basis for peace as it all begins with individuals.” Tomorrow night Mr McLeod will speak at the annual dinner of the Christchurch Clan MacLeod Society.