Clan Cunningham

2010-12-05T08:28:00.001-07:00

New Forum Topics

Three new forum categories History, Origins, and Newsletter Articles have just been added to our Members Only FORUM for discussion amongst our international membership accessible at http://www.clancunningham.us/members/login.jsp.

Current topics under discussion include:

CLAN CUNNINGHAM HISTORY FORUM ~ Glengarnock

CLAN CUNNINGHAM ORIGINS FORUM ~ Origins article by Dr. Cunningham in Oct 15, 2010 international Communiqué newsletter.

CLAN CUNNINGHAM NEWSLETTER FORUM ~ Origins of Clan Cunningham : Volume 1 - Issue 37.

So log in and post your comments, or create your own new topic of discussion!

2010-11-27T13:44:00.001-07:00

New Clan Cunningham Research Uncovers ORIGINS

Another Clan Cunningham exclusive publication, was distributed to our current members in our October 15, 2010 international quarterly newsletter, and posted in the Resource Library of our Members Only web environment accessible to current members at our Members Only portal.

This ground-breaking research is made public for the first time by Dr. Derek Cunningham which unlocks the mystery of the origins of Clan Cunningham previously relegated to myth and legend!

This first installment is just the tip of the Unicorn horn as the author reveals over the next year or two - exclusively through newsletter and web site publications of The Clan Cunningham Society - the missing links in the history and legacy of the Cunningham name! These publications are protected from plagarism and pirating infringement by copyright © 2010 Clan Cunningham Society of America, Inc., All Rights Reserved. (No part of these publications may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any Personal, Public, Nonprofit, or Commercial use without the expressed written permission of Larry A. Augsbury, High Commissioner & Chairman of the Clan Cunningham Society of America, Inc., or likewise from its author and CCSA member, Dr. Derek Cunningham.)

For more information contact us at Clan Cunningham, or join us in supporting Clan Cunningham with a membership to our society.

Tartan Day Celebration 2010 in France

2010-04-25T10:21:00.045-06:00

Tartan Day France

by Dr. Doris Tucker, Director

Never one to be stimulated by routine, our High Commissioner took the Clan Cunningham Tartan Day celebration of 2010 to France. Filling the latest seat on the CCSA governing Board of Directors, I am delighted to continue my contributing role to the Clan Cunningham newsletter, and begin sharing our society news on this blog as well.

Larry spent three weeks in March visiting friends in Chambéry, la Côte Bleue, and la Vallée de Belleville in the French Alps where he wore his Clan Cunningham kilt on the slopes of Les Menuires and Val Thorens ski resorts. As you might expect, this sartorial attire drew many a curious gaze like the one from the gent in front of the "Danger Avalanches" sign (below). The kilt also prompted many a query like, "...so what part of Scotland are you from?" to which our Chairman replied, "the ancient District of Cvninghamia via Colorado!" By the end of the day after conversations and photos with the French, and skiers from all over Europe and Asia, Simone said in French, "Your kilt was a grand success today, Larry."

But, Larry wanted to hang-glide on skis like he did in France in 1990, only this time in kilt! After several inquiries, however, which led to the highest point at Val Thorens (left), he never found a pilot offering those services on that day! Nor was there any para-sailing to be found along the Côte Bleue of the Mediterranean. Ahh, but there was one last stop on this French Tartan Day celebration 2010. Of course, where else but the "City of Light - Paris!"

The world's most renown, and prestigious cabaret, the Moulin Rouge, has been operating now, spanning three centuries. They have a strict dress code of "elegant attire" required to dine and attend the show. Larry was pleased to learn that the kilt is welcomed as befitting their sartorial decorum. Our Chairman was so impressed with the cuisine, the ambiance, and the spectacle, that he considers it among his favorites alongside the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, Super Bowl XXX, and Riverdance. Although the Moulin Rouge also has a strict policy against photos in its establishment, there was nothing to deter the crowd outside where Larry was a subject in the foreground of many a photograph that evening following the performance, from where he composed this image to commemorate the event.

I was delighted to be part of the kilted Tartan Day celebration in Colorado 2010 at the Loveland ski area on April 10. Especially since Larry brought the lunch items which included many goodies from his French trip like P'tit Basque Pur Brebis cheese, French wine, baguettes, homemade sausage from Larry's own hands as apprentice sausagemaker!, (below) and raspberries in genuine homemade Savoyard eau de vie with all the French accessories, of course!

If you have an image of your Tartan Day 2010 celebration, please feel free to submit it for posting here, or send it to webmaster@clancunningham.us for publication consideration in our quarterly international newsletter, "The Communiqué," or on our web site.

2009-06-06T17:22:00.007-06:00

Clan Cunningham Poetry Contest

During a telephone conversation between my father, Jim, and I while making our plans to ski together in kilts on Tartan Day, we found the topic to have somehow wound its way to the poetry of Robert Burns. Probably from my quoting of the immortal line “The best laid schemes o’ mice and men” from his poem To a Mouse. In any case, that then reminded us of a book of children’s poems my Grandmother once had published. So, then I queried whether Jim had any interest in poetry himself. Or more to the point, whether he had any interest or talent in writing poems. I tried to entice him to give it a try by offering to publish it, if it had a Scottish or Cunningham theme. He called back later that evening and read to me, not one, but two poems he had composed that day. And true to my word, follows the works of James Augsbury:

Ode to a Vole

In days gone by
when mowing fields,
my eyes enjoyed
what nature yields.

A scavenging rodent
runs in fear,
its life to save
for one more year.

This desperate run
by simple reason,
to survive another
mowing season.

Vole to the man:
“My life you’d end?
I’ll offer this,
just be my friend.”

So to the vole
from this ole bard:
“Relax, enjoy
my unmown yard.”

Hold Your Breath

Tartan Day Kilted Ski Runs

Its Tartan Day
and time for fun,
to carve some
kilted ski runs.

The idea came
from the High Commish,
to make some turns
with Scottish swish.

Invites go out
for all to try.
It dawns on me…
and why not I!

Surprised, Lorc says,
“your kilt I have,
saltire boxers,
and lots of salve.”

The plans are made,
the flights are booked.
So now we’ll see,
whose goose gets cooked.

With hills and spills
and kilts a flyin’,
we’ll make it down
or die a tryin’.

But as for now
we’ll wait and see,
who’ll fair, and how,
my son and me!

Poems with a Celtic or Cunningham theme submitted by current CCSA members to query@clancunningham.us by August 31, 2009 will have a chance to win a free membership for 2010. The winner will be chosen by a volunteer Acquisitions Editor at an academic book publishing firm, and will be announced – with the winning poem published – in the October 2009 issue of the international Clan Cunningham Communiqué quarterly newsletter. Theme and originality will be important criteria used by the judge. Join at http://www.clancunningham.us/memberform.jsp?nav_id=3.

2009-06-02T06:28:00.001-06:00

Tha na Coiningeanaich an seo

The Cunninghams are here

Well, the Clan Cunningham Society of America (CCSA) has finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon; and we want to hear from you! There is always a great deal going on within our international Cunningham society, and even though our focus is on our Celtic roots (thus the Gaelic Cunningham battle cry above), we are very much involved in weaving the past within the present, and planning activities for the future in celebration of our distinguished heritage.

As an example, on April 4, 2009, in honor of Tartan Day, our High Commish, Larry Augsbury, and his father, Jim, sported their Scottish ski attire and hit the slopes at Loveland ski resort in the Colorado Rockies. Our society also attended the 2009 US National Curling Championships/2010 US Olympic Curling Trials in Broomfield, Colorado last February.

Are you of Cunningham lineage and would like to connect with your roots? Would you like to learn more about Clan Cunningham history, or about your genealogy? Do you have a Scottish-Irish-Celtic story you'd like to share with us? If so, we regularly post information on our web sites at http://www.clancunningham.us/ and www.geocities.com/clancunninghamusa (since Yahoo Geocities closed in October 2009, please visit), Clan Cunningham Global, as well as in our quarterly full-color newsletter, the Clan Cunningham Communiqué, which is distributed to our current members around the world every three months.

Or, if you wish to share your opinion on some Clan Cunningham matter, or have an idea to propose--- this is the place.

Ever Yours in Clan Cunningham service,

Larry Augsbury, High Commissioner

Clan Cunningham Society of America, Inc.