86 days to go! Isle of Tiree Gathering Update - Friday, July 23, Saturday, July 24, Sunday, July 25, 2004 - Guelph, Ontario, Canada Greetings everyone....60 families, for a total of 100+ people, have registered as per 4.21.04 www.tireegathering.com . No doubt many more will arrive to register who are local to the area the weekend of for a forecasted total of 100+ to 200, maybe more. No doubt many citizens local to Guelph will be joining us for our festivities at the Gazebo in Royal City Park and at the ceilidhs on the Friday and Saturday night. However, we do not condone registering the weekend of or days before as this as this will only make extra unneeded work for the Guelph contingent of volunteers . . . Leanne Piper, Archie Mackinnon, Ross McLean and myself. If you have registered thank you, if you have not please do so today at www.tireegathering.com . In less than 90 days the Gathering will have come and gone! Don't miss out, you will be very disappointed. We are down to the final weeks where last minute important details must be finalized. Keep in mind that your volunteers are not availab! le for the entire 90 days to follow. We have other commitments re: family, work, extracurricular activities, vacations, etc. Please, to those of you who know you are coming, but have yet to register please do so today. Start packing now your Isle of Tiree mementoes, CDs, videos, photographs, family trees, books, etc., etc.. . . you will be provided with a table to showcase your display. Regardless as to how large or small it is very important. Get your act together too for the "Tiree Star Search" ceilidhs...music, story, poem, dance, etc. Check out www.tireegathering.com as to how your family tree can be an important part of the Gathering. TIREE INTERCONNECTIONS is a comprehensive database of Tiree family genealogies being compiled for the Gathering. The database is being built by Louise MacDougall and Russ McGillivray and is an ongoing worldwide linkage of Tiree families. If you would like to contribute your Tiree family genealogy to the database, contact Russ, as per the website link. . . . likewise for the bus as per below. As of writing we have 25 seats sold x $ 25.00 = $ 625.00 in revenue. This is not enough to cover the expense of the bus. If need be I will book a smaller 47 passenger bus, but based upon 25 passengers this will put the ticket price to $ 40.00 CDN vs. $ 25.00. The more we book the less expensive per person it will be. Furthermore the 56 passenger bus, so I understand, is more luxurious, not to take away from the high quality of the 47 passenger bus. Regardless, if we end up with only 25 passengers, $ 40.00 CDN is an excellent value. However, I know there are many out there that have yet to commit to a seat on the bus. Now is the time to speak up. Please let me know today. You can pay me the day of as I do not need to pay the bus company until the morning of. Based upon a 47 seat bus, we have 22 seats available. Based upon a 56 seat bus we have 32 seats available. Please . . .do not wait until the weekend of the Gathering t! o book a spot on the bus. Let me know today. Thank you. Whew, don't know about you, but I am exhausted . . . thank you everyone for your interest, contributions, kind words, etc., etc. . . .time to get on with the day . . .work, baseball practice starts tonight (David's baseball team I coach), my team starts in a few weeks, Cub camp this weekend, have to squeeze in Game 4 Leafs / Flyers this Friday night with a client ( I know, I know...it is a dirty job, but someone has to do it), runs, etc., etc. Cheers everyone. Keep in touch! Scott -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tiree Reunion Bus Seats are filling up FAST ! . . . . only 31 seats left. . . .let me know today. Cheers, Scott Don't delay....if the Gathering Bus is going to fly on the Sunday, July 25, 2004 to the "Bruce" I need to hear from you ASAP please. The bus holds 56. We have 25 signed up so far. I need 31 more to fill bus # 1. There are more buses available if need be. $ 25.00 CDN per person. Thank you, Scott www.tireegathering.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several Gatherers have written to me pertaining to the possibility of chartering a bus for the day. Originally the plan was to carpool / convoy those attending the Gathering to the "Bruce". However, today I investigated the cost of chartering a motorcoach bus complete with air conditioning, washroom, PA system, entertainment facilities, driver, "Scotty the Tour Guide", etc.. Denny's Bus Lines http://www.dennysbuslines.ca/Denny1/Welcome_to_Dex.html can accommodate our Gathering with three sizes of buses 47, 55, 56 passenger. Denny's has three 56 passenger buses which are the most modern and state of the art in their fleet. Regardless of the size of bus(es) we charter, for $ 25.00 CDN per person everyone can travel for up! to 15 hours on the Sunday to and from the "Bruce" in comfort! I have yet to book the bus. I will only do this when I have enough passengers who will commit to traveling on the bus in order to cover the costs. If this is something that you are interes! ted in please confirm NOW with the total number of people traveling in your party. The day will include leaving Guelph in the morning and returning in the evening. Our time is for us to maximize so long as accomplished within 15 hours. The trip to the "Bruce" is about 2 hours, likewise for the return to Guelph. While traveling we can enjoy a trip through backroads of where our ancestors settled in the Bruce, visits to cemeteries, tour of the Bruce County Museum and Archives http://www.brucecounty.on.ca/museum/ in Southampton, Ontario http://www.sunsets.com/southampton/ , all along the beautiful sandy shores of Lake Huron which is rated as one to the top three sunset locations in the world. Time can be had for breaks, lunch and dinner, etc.. No doubt it will be a busy day, but most fun, relaxing and memorable. Please confirm today. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------