Stonehaven & NE Scotland Twinning Group

    Over the Summer the Twinning Group has been organizing a response to the gifts & cards sent from the townspeople of Athens Alabama & Clan Baird to Stonehaven Care Homes. Some of the children of Stonehaven & residents of local Care Homes have now completed postcard messages & thank you booklets (see photo attached) which are now in the process of being sent to Mayor Ronnie Marks along with cultivated Scottish Thistle seeds (photo attached) to be planted at Athens Care Homes & Civic Garden to flourish in Alabamian soil & be a visual, lasting sign of our joint friendship.

Mill of Nethermill Cairn

In 2019, a plaque was placed the Mill of Nethermill that celebrated the bridge being in existence for over 300 years. This bridge was built by the Bairds and the Gardens in 1719, and it was the first bridge that joined Aberdeenshire and Banffshire on the north coast. 

On July 6th, 2020, the plaque commemorating the bridge was finally united with its cairn. Many thanks to Bill and Lynn Pitt for so much hard work to get this last stage of setting the plaque in place.

The cairn is absolutely beautiful and so appropriate for our plaque, made of rock, like the cairns of the highlands of old (as you can see below). We can't wait to see it next summer for the Baird Gathering!

Grandfather Mountain Highland Games 2020

For 64 years, North Carolina has held its annual Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain. Unfortunately, this year was much different. As we all know, COVID-19 affected the world in a major way. It caused businesses to shut down, flights to be canceled, and people to stay home. This included the Grandfather Highland Games. For the safety of workers, societies, and clans attending the games, it was decided to be canceled. But, this did not stop us from showing our clan pride!

Every year at the games each clan announces their presence in front of all the clans gathered. It was an old Scottish tradition done by the Chiefs of the clans at gatherings for war. This year, the Clan Baird could take part with Commander Richard Holman-Baird to represent us. For the first time in over 300 years, we had a leader to represent us. Yet, as we all know, this was unable to happen. But the Clan Baird is strong, and our unity is like no other. Despite this global pandemic, Clan Baird decided to go through with this ancient tradition. Commander Richard Holman-Baird and Branton Baird, Liaison to the Commander, created a video portraying this unique part of our heritage. Enjoy this short clip!

    Not only were we able to go through with the announcing of our clan, one of our members was able to represent us at Grandfather Mountain in person! Ryan Ferguson, Clan Baird Society's Photographer, took a trip to North Carolina on June 29th, 2020 and stopped to visit the place of the games. She took photographs of the area and the views so those who never taken part this amazing place could experience it through her. Here are some photographs she has provided for us:

Grandfather Mountain ValleyThis is the valley that hosts our well known Highland Games

View Atop Grandfather Mountain 
Here we see the scenery of
the Blue Ridge Mountains

Ryan Ferguson Atop Grandfather
Mountain's Peak

Clan Baird Gathering in Scotland

Clan Baird is gathering in Scotland every two years now. We were there in 2019 and will be back in 2021. We hope you will join us Agust 6-8 in Aboyne, for the Scottish Festival there and our meetings at Potarch Lodge, Balogie Estate. 

Photo: Branton Baird, holding the Standard, with Commander Richard Holman-Baird, during a ceremony commemorating the ridge at the old Auchmedden Mill, Pennan, (now named the Mill of Nethermill) which was built by Bairds and Gardens in 1719. A plaque was placed during the general meeting in 2019, celebrating the bridge being in existence for 300 years. It was the first road bridge joining Aberdeenshire and Banffshire on the north coast. 

Clan Baird, through more twists and turns than most clans endure, has revived itself in the modern

era, and we have a Commander appointed by the Lord Lyon; a leader for the first time since Culloden. Our history is one of strife and challenges due to one branch (the Auchmeddens) being Jacobites, another branch (the Saughtonhalls) being British soldiers far, far back into history, including at Culloden, another branch (the Newbyths) dying out and then being regenerated through a different line, Sir David Baird in the 19 the century, and another line rising from farming in Lanarkshire (the Gartsherries), from the original Cambusnethans of whom the Auchmeddens originated in the 1400’s.

Most of Clan Baird’s Scottish world has been played out in Lanarkshire and Aberdeenshire. Our new

Commander, Richard Holman-Baird of Rickarton, Ury, and Lochwood, owns the last Baird estate in

Scotland, Rickarton, which lies just north of Stonehaven.

Photo: Bairds and Twinning partners, meeting at Rickarton House for signing of Sister City documents with Athens, Alabama and Stonehaven, Scotland, 2019.

As all can imagine, the family fractures that have come about from being on differing sides of the Risings in Scotland, from difficulties with philosophical and political ideologies, and the loss of estates and fortunes over time, have caused a scattering of Bairds around the globe. In fact, more Bairds live in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States than still reside in Scotland. All that strife of diaspora almost caused us to dissolve as a family.

But, in the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, two groups came into being. The Bairds of Atlantic Canada and Clan Baird Society in the United States, which later became Clan Baird Worldwide, Inc. With hard work and determination, these two groups began the long journey back; visiting Scotland, seeking out family leaders still there, and trying to give us all a home once again, as part of a larger organized group than our local immediate families.

Our new Commander, Richard Holman-Baird’s grandfather and grandmother helped with these fledgling efforts, inviting all to their home and into their lives. His father and mother continued this effort, and gave Bairds a place to feel welcomed in Scotland. These efforts helped bring the varied groups of Bairds back to the table and back into the fold. Richard and his wife Polly continue this tradition and are always happy to see Bairds as part of their work.