2018 - 165th Reunion - Gore
On Friday the 19th October 2018, at the Heartland Croydon Hotel, the Clan was welcomed by organising Chairman, Sub-Chief Bevin Watt. It was pleasing to have 79 people registered and many had travelled from Australia to meet their cousins. Three memorabilia tables were soon covered with family photos and histories and the noise level rose considerably as the evening progressed.
The General Meeting on Saturday morning was well attended and business was attended to before morning tea. Everyone then travelled out to Croydon Aviation Museum at Mandeville to view the vintage restored aircraft and to take a flight in a Tiger Moth or Dragonfly. Chief Hugh Francis gave an interesting talk about his airforce career which spanned duties in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. The newly restored steam train was admired by all and some took a nostalgic ride to complete the visit.
The Saturday night dinner commenced with the traditional Piping and Address to the Haggis, the Royal Toast, theToast To Absent Friends and the cutting of the celebration cake by Mary Ayson, (wife of our late Chief Peter,) and Margaret Allan (National Secretary while Peter was Chief.)
Speaker for the evening was great great grandchild of Peter and Douglas Ayson, Lindy Daniell, who spoke about the success of the new website, the information held on the Ayson Family Tree and highlighted the importance of adding our history, our stories to the website. Assisting with her presenation was 14 year old Evan Proud from Australia who was able to project the website on screen to demonstrate the ease of accessing information and how to become a contributer to the Tree. Evan's father Nicholas completed the after dinner entertainment with an overview of his visit to Corrydon Scotland the previous week.
For her role as National Secretary Lindy was presented with the latest publication from Neville Peat ( also great great grandchild of Peter and Douglas Ayson) entitled "The Invading Sea," an in depth study on the coastal hazards and climate change for New Zealand.
An excerpt from her concluding statement:
I am sure Peter and Douglas, Alexander and Joan and their two other siblings would be amazed at how we communicate these days, that they started such a huge family in New Zealand who come together every five years to celebrate them.
Tomorrow we will honour their Faith in God, the hardships they faced, and give thanks to them that they took the risk to come here.
There is a huge difference between their lives then and our lives today, but I am sure they would be very proud that they instilled in us the importance of maintaining family traditions and standards as we are showing today with such a large contingent coming together this weekend.
Ayson Reunion Graveside Service. Sunday at Wyndham Cemetery.
Liturgy Creator: Claire Hills, Celebrant.
Good morning and welcome everybody. Before we begin let us call to mind why we are here. We are gathered together to remember before God the gift of our Scottish ancestors. Without them there would be no reunion. Without them we would not be here today. We also give a warm welcome to Jesus Christ our Lord in whose name and in whose presence we gather here today.
My name is Claire Hills. I am a descendant of Peter and Douglas Ayson through his thirteenth child, Lake Falconer Ayson. It has been my privilege to create a service where we can gather together as a clan before our God to remember with thanks those who have gone before us, those on whose shoulders we stand, as we move forward into the future of our lives.
In this year of 2018 when New Zealand is celebrating 125 years since women were granted the right to vote, it is also a privilege to be chosen as the first woman to lead an Ayson Clan prayer service. I am very proud to know that on four sides of my family there were women who signed that Great Petition that led to political equality in this country on 19 September 1893. Just as we remember and respect Peter and Alexander and all that they achieved, we remember that they had two remarkable wives, Douglas and Joan, without whose loving and loyal and hardworking support, their achievements would not have been possible. And let’s not forget that James Robertson’s wife, Margaret Ayson, had a huge part in her husband’s achievement. We need to remember the contribution of the wives because in the telling of our history the contribution of the women so often gets underestimated and overlooked.
We will begin our service today with a poem called ‘Exiled’ by an anonymous Poet. It tells of the Scotland the Aysons left behind, the land they often dreamed about, and Glenshee, the small settlement in the Highlands and the home called Corrydon they never forgot.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to visit Corrydon and the Spittal Church and the hotel in Glenshee in the Grampian Mountains in the Highlands of Perthshire can picture in our minds the landscape the poem describes.
Exiled
Over here are mighty mountains
Waving words and fairy fountains;
But to me,
There is nothing like the heather
and the hills we roamed together
in Glenshee
All around are flowers in splendour,
But nor blossoms bring
such tender thoughts to me,
as the bluebells and the gowans
and the red, red of the rowans
in Glenshee
Here are many waters gushing
But no roaring river rushing
calls to me
like the one, when shades are falling
that across the sea is calling
from Glenshee.
“Oh come home!” I hear it saying
While I keep on hoping praying,
That might be –
For such memories are awaking
That my heart is almost breaking
for Glenshee!
Glenshee was where our Ayson ancestors grew up. It was growing up in the Highlands in Glenshee that developed in them the skills they would need after they left Scotland. It was indeed their skills, their work ethic, their resilience and their strong Christian faith and passion for education which made them respected and valued citizens wherever they settled.
Peter and Douglas, together with Peter’s half- brother James, left Scotland on the Royal Albert in 1852, arriving in New Zealand in 1853.
Alexander and Joan Ayson and Alexander’s sister Margaret Ayson, her husband James Robertson and family left Scotland on the Southern Cross in 1855 and arrived at Port Chalmers on 26 February 1856.
This makes our Ayson clan reunion unusual. For when we meet in reunion, we truly are a clan. Every time we meet in reunion we are remembering the story not of just one couple and their descendants, but four members of the Ayson family and their descendants.
They were able to keep the clan spirit alive because family was very important to them and they lived reasonably close together when they arrived.
How wonderful it is that although we are now scattered throughout New Zealand and overseas we have travelled to this place on this day because of our ancestors and the legacy they left us all and we are determined to do so again.
This is the gift that keeps on giving. The gift of family and the importance of family. This is the gift of our ancestors. This is indeed a precious taonga.
Our ancestors were people of deep faith who valued hard work, education and giving back to the communities in which they lived. When times were tough they did not turn away from the challenge. They did not quit. Time and time again they were role models of resilience. They had the courage to go back to the place of the challenge and to look for and find a pathway through. They looked after each other in good times and bad. They were a faithful people. That is why I chose this reading for our memorial service today.
Reading James, Chapter 2, Verses 14-18
Take the case my brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act, but claims he has faith. Will that faith save him? If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them, Ï wish you well. Keep yourself warm, and eat plenty, without giving him these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.
This is the way to talk to people of that kind: “You say you have faith, and I have good deeds; I will prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good deeds – now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to show.
The hard work of our Ayson ancestors in incredibly challenging circumstances, their loyalty to their God, each other and their families is evidence of their faith. The churches and schools they built are evidence of their good deeds. Their hard work and drive to succeed against the odds are evidence of their values.
These are just some of the many reasons why we can now proceed to the Prayers of the Faithful with pride and gratitude for the example they set us to follow.
Prayers of the Faithfull.
1 Representative from the Reunion Committee: Clan Sub Chief, Bevin Watt.
Lord, We remember before You, all our family members who have died. In particular, we remember all our Ayson Clan Chiefs and the leadership that has been their gift to us down through the years. May they rest in Peace.
May we follow the example of our ancestors by being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and be willing to enter the place of the challenge, be willing to listen and be willing to spread the Gospel to others wherever we go, through what we say and what we do so that people can see we have a living faith. Lord Hear Us.
REPONSE Lord hear our prayer
2 Descendant of Alexander and Joan : Heather Robinson.
Lord we are standing beside the graves of Alexander and Joan Ayson. We remember before You the tremendous contribution they made together to the development of education in South Otago and Southland at the schools they established and their faithful service in spreading the Gospel in Tokomairiri (Milton) and the communities of faith in which they worshipped. We remember them as role models of strong faith, leadership and courage, willing to step out of their comfort zones to spread the Good News. We ask your blessing on all their descendants.
REPONSE Lord hear our prayer
3 Descendant of Peter and Douglas Ayson: Caroline English.
Lord we remember before You the contribution made by Peter and Douglas Ayson and their children to the development of agriculture, education and spreading the Gospel in Otago. They were role models of strong faith, leadership, and courage and being willing to step out of their comfort zone to spread the Good News.
REPONSE Lord hear our prayer
4 Descendant of Margaret Robertson (nee Ayson): Katheryn Thorne on behalf.
Lord we remember before You the contribution made by Margaret Ayson and her husband James Robertson and their seven children to the development of agriculture, education and spreading the Gospel in Otago. They were role model of strong faith, courage and being willing to step out of their comfort zones in Kaihiku, Totara Island and the Clutha River to spread the Good News.
REPONSE Lord hear our prayer
5 James and Margaret Ayson (no issue): Lynley Capon on behalf.
Lord we remember before you James and Margaret Ayson and their two daughters. James and Margaret farmed in Tokomairiro and Warepa. James had a trading business at Gabriel’s Gully and was a lay preacher in the Presbyterian Church. We give thanks for their lives.
RESPONSE Lord Hear our Prayer
Celebrant.
Lord we remember before you and thank you for lives and examples our Ayson ancestors who lie buried here at Wyndham Cemetery:
Alexander Ayson
Joan Ayson
Thomas Rattray Ayson
Jane Scott Ayson
Fergus Hall Ayson
Peter Melville Ayson
James Grant Ayson
Helen Melville Ayson
Elizabeth Grant Ayson also known as Bessie
Magdalen Smith Ayson also known as Annie
Henry Robinson
Christopher Robinson
Mary Robinson
May they and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
RESPONSE Lord Hear Our Prayer
Celebrant
Thank you for the legacy of our Ayson ancestors. When we read the story of their lives we find that they were motivated by a vibrant and strong Christian faith. They were builders of faith in the communities where they lived. As parents they made sure that their children were given the opportunity to learn about their Christian faith. They did not leave the spiritual formation of their children to chance.
And with that in mind we say together the Lord’s Prayer that they and their children and descendants have prayed so often over the years. So together we pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done;
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen
Final Prayer
We pray that all the members of our clan who have gathered to celebrate our 2018 family reunion have a safe journey home to their loved ones and ask for your blessing on us all.
Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on us.
Spirit of the living God,
move among us all
Make us one in heart and mind,
make us one in love.
Humble, caring, selfless, sharing
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us
Spirit of the Living God, fill our hearts with love.
May we be open to your Holy Spirit and responsive to where you are leading us.
May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with the joy and enthusiasm of the Gospel, giving witness to our Christian faith in our homes and families, in our parish and local communities wherever we live in New Zealand.
Congregation Hymn: Amazing Grace
Recessional Music Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes.
Words: Daniel Iverson, vs. 1. 1926 Michael Baughen, vs.2 1978 (Adapted)
St2. Copyright 1982 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream IL 60188. All rights reserved
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