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Clan Donald Magazine No 6 (1975) Online
Messages From the Chiefs.
The Rt. Hon. Godfrey James Macdonald of Macdonald, 8th Lord Macdonald and High Chief of Clan Donald.
 It gives me great pleasure once again to have this opportunity of sending my Greetings to my clansmen around the world. The past few years have indeed been both busy and rewarding not only for the Clan but also for myself and my family. We have seen the successful formation of the Clan Donald Lands Trust and resurgence of interest and enthusiasm in the various Clan Societies round the world.
We still have a long way to go, however, before all our plans and indeed dreams for worldwide unity are accomplished, but I am certain we shall succeed. During our visits overseas my wife and I have met many clansmen and made many friends, and I send my sincere thanks to all those who extended hospitality and kindness to us, wherever we went, and also for all the encouragement and support we received in the early days of our great project. We cannot fail, providing we stand together in a common aim to retain a small portion of the lands of our forefathers and all the heritage and traditions of our great clan, not only for ourselves but our children and their children. Therefore, I beseech you all to continue to give the Clan Donald Lands Trust, wherever possible, your financial as well as moral support to enable us to press ahead with our plans, which are costly.
As a lot of you know, I am now living in Skye permanently with my wife and our daughter Alexandra, who is now eighteen months old and continuing to grow at great speed. Our small group of Hotels in Sleat are now under the personal supervision of my family and we were all delighted to meet many Clansmen from overseas who chanced to stay at Kinloch Lodge last year. So, I am in the unique position of earning my living as a Hotelier in Sleat, and at the same time able to take a keen interest in all the progress and activities of the Clan Donald Lands Trust.
I extend my very best wishes to you all, and I know you will join with me in my prayers for more peace and goodwill all over the world.
Ranald A. Macdonald, 24th Captain of Clan Ranald.
 I am pleased to send warm greetings to all members of Clan Ranald. Our Clan is part of the Macdonald Dynasty and can now be proud to be part once more of a people identified with our ancient lands. Obviously it is not possible for our whole tribe to be re-established in Scotland; but the great Macdonald Family is again united on substantial lands in Skye through the Clan Donald Lands Trust. The Trust was inaugurated by myself and the other Macdonald Chiefs when we met in 1971 for our first (and so far only) Meeting of the High Council of the Chiefs of Clan Donald. It is on this Council that the Clan Donald Chiefs unite to make joint decisions.
The Lands Trust is in need of substantial financial support although the initial objective of securing the lands for all Macdonalds has been achieved; so, if you can give your support, I should be very grateful.
On a personal note I am in London most of my time running the business which I founded some l2 years ago. I do, however, spend time in Scotland and the Isles several times a year, and keep contact with the Clan in Edinburgh and Glasgow. If any overseas clansman should be in London I would be pleased to hear from him on my daytime phone [Deleted from the online edition - R.K.W.M.] So let's hear from you, as that is what clansmanship is all about.
Air Cdre Aeneas Ranald Donald MacDonell DFC RAF, 22nd Chief of Glengarry.
 I have been asked by Donald J. to send you all a personal message in this new Clan Donald magazine which Donald J, in particular, has worked on so assiduously for so long. In sending you my greetings, I am conscious of the great distances which separate so many of us who belong to Clan Donald, and conscious also that because of our geographic separation I may never meet the great majority of you to whom this message is addressed.
But it rejoices me to recall how very much closer our Clan has come together during the past three years in particular and, though progress in the Clan Donald Lands Trust may be slow, there is no doubt in my mind that the very nature of the difficulties themselves has brought our clansmen and clanswomen a great deal closer in common purpose and understanding than ever before.
My wife and I were privileged to visit Toronto last year as guests of the Scottish World Festival and from There we travelled to the United States for a week. Quite apart from the friendship and hospitality we received at the hands of many of you in Canada and the United States, we returned to the United Kingdom much wiser and with a far deeper understanding of the North American outlook towards the Trust and Clan Donald in general. But not all of us can travel as my wife and I did, and our clansfolk in Australia and New Zealand are just that much further away than all those in North America. The importance of a magazine like this is to maintain the links both at home and overseas cannot be overstressed.
Fortune has taken several turns in my family during the past few years. I married again last year and in June of this year our son James Donald was born to Lois and me. My eldest son Ranald with his wife Anne and two small daughters live in South London and joined us here for Christmas. My second son, Patrick, who worked as a forestry engineer with MacMillan Bloedell in Powell River, British Columbia, is now in Djakarta with his family on a two year contract. My daughter Lindsay got her Ph.D. in pharmacology and married Brian Cuthbertson, a Canadian, in August. They now live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Lindsay is lecturing in pharmacology at Dalhousie University.
To each and every one of you we send our warm greetings and best wishes for 1975 and our hope that we may have a chance of meeting some of you with whom we have not yet made contact.
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