The Loch Lomond initiative is an unabashed attempt by International Scottish Clan societies to find relevance and pride in heritage and community.

The first step is to host social clan battles.

In 2024 six clans will battle each other, at Highland Games across Scotland, the USA and Australia to find out which clan reins supreme.

If this trial is successful we will invite more Scottish Clan Societies to participate AND extend our friendly iteration to social and educational platforms.

Don’t worry; our Battles won’t involve bloodshed; we choose to feud with far more inclusive, team-oriented, family-friendly quirky events.

The Loch Lomond Initiative is proposing the introduction of structured inter-clan activities.

Clan Battles

But not necessarily with swords nor bloodshed... Sorry.

Clan battles could be like team sports: surround yourself with compatible compatriots with complimentary skills.

We introduce cultural events that are not heavy athletics, but inclusionary.

Each battle could have different events, as long as there are Clans competing.

We’ll report the results, and at the end of the year we will crown an overall winner.

We must try to ensure that our battles accommodate a spread of age, gender and skills. Whereas heavy athletics are typically individualistic, Clan Battles are intended to be team activities with points culminating to overall winners.

Example sports could include:

• 3 foot caber toss

• Tug-o-war

• Welly toss

• Axe throwing

• Golf putt

• Stones boule

• Nerf battle

• Trivia Quiz

But it could be a range of quirky team activities.

We believe that it will be easier to ask a teenager, cousin or colleague to get involved in a mock battle, than to come along and spectate a foreign cultural activity.

Effectively we are creating a new sport category for highland games. Some of these activities already occur at highland games, so we’re suggesting that they be aligned to Clan Battles, of the six nominated “teams” (Clan).

We aim to target several prominent games (in the US, Australia and Scotland) to undertake these battles, that we (clan societies) would promote the respective clans’ involvement.

All we need is each competing clan to coordinate one or more battles per year, at highland gatherings they are already planning to attend.

The reason why we’ve developed this

The Clan system is one of the things that define Scottish culture.

In existence from the time of the Picts, Clans operated as a large, familial state: guarding, protecting, trading, feuding and defining each other.

But. It is safe to say, clans are not a significant entity in Scotland anymore. Maybe because they’re a nepotistic, primogeniture, obsolete system; replaced by districts and democracy.

Each clan Society faces the same dilemma:

• The desire to increase membership

• The need to increase membership in Scotland

• The imperative to increase younger membership

One of the things that makes Scottish clans work is other clans. Competition and conflict. Defending our territories and totems. Collaboration and challenge.

We acknowledge that we need to change what Clan means to be relevant.

The US Highland games model has been good. But not great.

And that’s the Loch Lomond Initiative: Clan challenge and rivalry

And rivalry = Clan Battles!

Participating Clan Societies

Clan Buchanan

Clan Colquhoun 
www.clancolquhoun.com 

Clan Graham 
www.clangrahamsociety.org

Clan Hunter
www.clanhunterscotland.com

Clan MacEwin / MacEwen
www.clanmacewen.com

Clan MacFarlane
www.macfarlane.org

Well-being

So, clearly we have our own agenda: being inclusionary = increased membership = improved revenue. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits for clanspeople too: well-being.

A panacea for loneliness, mental health concerns and inertia.
And Clan Battles do have well-being at its core:

• exercise

• community

• stimulation

Social wellness “can have a significant impact on our day-to-day health and emotional well being. Research has shown that people who have a strong social network tend to live longer, respond better to stress, and experience a range of health benefits too – such as improved immunity”.

Clan battles – and community aspects associated with it – will draw your community and family together and change the your collective perspective.

According to a new study, “half of sports fans find that supporting their favourite team boosts their mental health, with a third saying that supporting a team makes them feel like part of a community”.

The community aspect of watching sports isn’t to be overlooked either; according to the Campaign to end Loneliness, 45% of UK adults feel lonely occasionally or often. Long-term loneliness can increase your risk of death by 26%.

The US government has highlighted (as a public health priority) “ways of supporting well-being in older age to allow people to lead healthy and integrated lifestyles.

Subjective well-being has been identified as an important area of focus, not just for the impact it has on each individual’s quality of life, but also because it has been shown to have a bidirectional relationship with physical health.

Consequently, there has been particular interest in identifying activities that could support the well-being of older adults: focused on the well-being benefits of community group membership.

Sure, we’re only talking about introducing a new (more inclusionary) competition: and one might argue that many of the well-being aspects are addressed by just being a passive Warden; but you can follow your clans’ progress; feel included; and from little things, big things grow.