Postal address
Membership applications
Welcome
Editorial
G.W.S. Barrow, University of Edinburgh, and W.F.H. Nicolaisen, University of Aberdeen.
Convener: Simon Taylor, Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow
Vice-convener: Morag Redford
Secretary: Alison Grant
Treasurer: Peter Drummond
Newsletter editor: Bill Patterson
Conferences:
Kilmarnock: 44 people attended, a lowish turnout but nevertheless a good day.
Inverness: 80 people attended, including many locals, and a dozen new members.
31 new members joined in the course of year: membership now standing at 350, even after a purge of non-payers!
Simon Taylor is preparing a 4-volume book on the place-names of Fife, the first volume of which should appear later this year. Bill Nicolaisen is working on the definitive dictionary of Scottish place-names. Ian Fraser and Peadar Morgan are appearing in a TV programme Tir is Teanga on landscape and place-names. The Society is to be involved with publication of a volume of papers from the Shetland conference, to be edited by Doreen Waugh.
Newsletter: numbers 17 and 18 were edited by Bill Paterson, who has very successfully introduced colour photos – often his own spectacular work – into the pages. We had a hiccup by dropping to 8 pages most recently, but it will be going back up to 12 pages in the autumn, and possibility of 16 pages in the near future.
A bookshop was launched at the May conference, thanks to the work of Leslie Fraser.
The Society is financially sound-footed (a report from the Treasurer was presented to the members).
May 2006 will be our 10th anniversary, and hopefully the committee (whose hard work I would like to pay tribute to, turning up to Perth 4 times a year, and doing other work for the society unpaid!) will arrange a special day.
Michael Ansell
Ian Fraser: Scottish Place-Name Survey, University of Edinburgh
Jake King
Maggie Scott: Senior Editor, Scottish Language Dictionaries
Doreen Waugh: Scottish Place-Name Survey, University of Edinburgh
Margaret A. Mackay: Director of the School of Scottish Studies, University
of Edinburgh (Carnegie Place-Name Database Project Liaison)
Note: The Committee decided to revive the guid Scots word preses (plural presides) for 'president'.
The postal address of the Scottish Place-Name Society is:
c/o School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9LD.
Annual membership of the society costs £5. To join simply send the fee with your name, address and list of interests to the Treasurer, Peter Drummond, Apt.8 Gartsherrie Academy, Academy Place, Coatbridge ML5 3AX.
The membership is made up of a wide variety of people. Some are full-time academics, working in various aspects of history, language, archaeology and geography. But the bulk of the membership is composed of people who find place-names an enduring fascination, giving a special insight into many facets of our history and culture. Both professionals and amateurs alike are frequently constrained by the lack of easy access to place-name material. The establishing of a Database, along with the publication of a series of volumes on Scottish place-names area by area, as proposed by the Society, will go a long way in meeting those needs.
Crucial to the development of Scottish onomastics is the whole question of funding. Over the past years we have made several attempts to attract funds, particularly for the Database [see Database News]. The formation of the Society will, we hope, give an added boost to our efforts to secure funding that is sorely needed to put Scottish place-name studies on a firm financial and academic footing.