The Homecoming concept may not be new, but our attitude is

Published on Friday 16 January 2009 20:04

We are still worrying about stereotypes, but this time around we know how to make the best of it, says DAVID TORRANCE

I RECENTLY acquired a second-hand filing cabinet, one of those grey, steel affairs in which the affairs of government, small businesses and individuals used to be arranged. Purely by chance, this particular cabinet appeared to have belonged to Sir Alastair Dunnett, editor of The Scotsman from 1956-72, political aide and a proud Scot.

Dunnett appears to have had his finger in a number of pies. One drawer contained scripts destined for STV's drama department, another included material relating to his journalism, and the remaining two had been (most files were missing) devoted to something called the "Year of the Scot" and the "International Gathering of the Clans" in 1981.

Administered by the Scottish International Gathering Trust Ltd, under the auspices of the old Scottish Development Agency, the International Gathering of the Clans in Edinburgh in May 1981, was, I suppose, the Homecoming of its day, albeit much more modest in scale. The Year of the Scot was an overarching exercise dedicated to bringing home Scots from all over the world. Programmes were duly dispatched to clan societies all over North America.

Scotland in May 1981 was not so different from this devolved nation 28 years later. In the midst of recession, The Scotsman carried almost daily news of sliding share prices and industrial closures, while the future of the Royal Bank of Scotland was uncertain as it faced takeover bids from two foreign institutions. On the bright side, Scotland had just beaten England 1-0 at Wembley.

So perhaps the clan gathering that month was supposed to inject some confidence, not to mention cash, into Scotland and its economy during an unhappy period of industrial transition, not unlike the rationale currently being used by the First Minister regarding the 2009 Homecoming.

"We are generating a Caledonian atmosphere," boasted the 1981 event's organiser, James Adam, "to people coming from all over the world to meet their cousins."

James Seymour Adam was, like Dunnett, a former Scotsman man. Indeed, in his memoirs, Dunnett called Adam, a lifelong friend, "the mainspring and inspiration of the International Gathering of Scots". Adam's enthusiasm for Scotland's expatriate community had been acquired during his editorship of the Weekly Scotsman, a newspaper with a loyal migr readership all over the world.

Adam was later promoted to the post of general manager of Scotsman Publications and, on his retirement, was asked to organise the first International Gathering of the Clans, which took place in 1977. It was not an unqualified success – zealous attempts to keep visiting Americans in Edinburgh for as many hotel-bed nights as possible led to cries of "rip-off".

Indeed, one Highland chief, John MacLeod of MacLeod, even used his clan magazine to condemn the "barrage" of tourist promotion during the gathering. "I believe that those people who come to Scotland this year will suffer from commercial exploitation," he wrote. "I feel that the clans' name is being taken in vain."

Four years later, and perhaps as a result of that row, the Scottish International Gathering Trust kept a lower profile. There was also a lower budget – a modest 120,000 – half of which came from the old Scottish Tourist Board. Tellingly, and according to a contemporary Scotsman report, James Adam "would not be drawn about the numbers attending but said they were influential people in Scottish circles overseas". In other words, fewer than anticipated, although not for want of the American-Scottish Foundation offering tours of Scotland for a mere $3,250.

Nevertheless, when the gathering took place in Princes Street Gardens on 23 May, 1981, tartan blossomed vigorously in kilt, bonnet, trousers, dress and scarf. There was hyperbolic talk of heritage and tradition, a message from the Queen and even a blessing from the Church of Scotland.

"The local inhabitants might raise a cynical eyebrow but that wasn't going to worry any Nova Scotian worth his salt," Donald MacLeod wrote in his wry account for the following Monday's Scotsman.

"What dour critics of this 'tartan circus' forget is that tartan, and lots of it, is the reason they come from Wellington and Wisconsin, Melbourne and Michigan. What they wanted was pipes and drums, Highland flings, songs about hames in glens where someone dwelt lang syne. They were delighted – and why not?"

They were also delighted by a spontaneous announcement from some of the off-stage cast informing the gathered clans of the result from Wembley shortly before 5pm, which sparked a "decorous" display of reels. Nevertheless, some visitors were surprised by the lack of interest on the part of "Scottish" Scots. "You wouldn't believe the interest in America," remarked one, while another appeared pleased to have discovered that "Highland hospitality is really true".

"Were they getting a tartan stereotype of Scotland?" wondered MacLeod. Munro Macpherson, who attended the gathering to make a film for nostalgic Scottish-Americans, said: "You have got to start somewhere, so you start from the stereotype and then go on from there." Besides footage of the gathering, noted MacLeod, he was going to film castles, Highland Games and "that sort of thing".

So there is nothing new under the sun. This year's Homecoming has been dogged by remarkably similar controversies, not least concerns about levels of overseas interest and the invocation of tartan stereotypes. There will, however, be at least one difference. While the International Gathering of the Clans in 1981 garnered just a few column inches and a small photograph in The Scotsman, this July's event will presumably attract at least a page or two.

&#149 David Torrance is a freelance journalist and former aide to the shadow Scottish secretary, David Mundell.