It could be seen as slightly incongruous that a London-born couple who met at a church hayride in Sydney and who now live in Kihikihi are organising this year’s Clan Ross Association of New Zealand national gathering.
Julia and Eric Wilcox in the dining room of their 145-year-old Kihikihi villa, readying their kilts for the national Clan Ross reunion. Photo: supplied
Yet to Julia and Eric Wilcox the task has fallen. That’s because when asked at the end of the last clan gathering who would organise the next, Julia put up her hand. Eric hadn’t a hope of protesting… he was seated at the other end of a long line of diners, so sensibly deferred to his wife’s wishes.
This year’s Scottish bunfight, which has been held around the country for decades and comes complete with Julia’s home-cooked haggis and a ceilidh, will take place at the Jet Park Hotel near Hamilton Airport this weekend. The big dinner and ceilidh is on Saturday.
The Wilcox pair, who organised the event in 2013, must find as many folk with Clan Ross affiliations as possible and get them to come along. They’re tag-teaming to get the job done; Julia’s a bit hard of hearing, which positions Eric as her secretary.
She was born a Ross, which in the correct way of things makes her a clan sept. “My father was a Ross,” she said. “His grandfather came to London from Scotland in 1850.”
In the context of Scottish clans, septs are families linked through marriage or who belong to the clan but have a different surname. There are 32 septs of Clan Ross listed with the Clan Ross Association of New Zealand.
Both Julia and Eric were born in London, not too far apart in geographical terms.
Both sailed to Australia on the ‘Fair Sky’ – Eric and his family sailed to Sydney 1959, while Julia and her family sailed two years later, in 1961. They met at a church hayride, married and had four children before coming to New Zealand in 1976, where they joined Julia’s parents who were already here, and went on to have two more children.
Once their family flew the coop and Eric retired – he is a sprightly 84 – the couple decided their five-bedroomed home was far too big, so moved to Kihikihi in late 2003.
They’ve been involved with Clan Ross gatherings here for over 15 years and have twice travelled to Scotland to visit the Clan Ross seat in Tain. One of those visits was for their annual clan gathering.
Not everyone wanting to go to the Clan Ross reunion must have Ross links, they said.
