OCTOBER 2007
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 13
FIONA LEE: WORTHY OF A HERO'S RECEPTION
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
COQUITLAM-Canadians can be very low key when it comes to giving credit or recognition, especially to our fellow Canadians who bring us honour and prestige through their achievements.
This fact was brought home to me recently when I was invited to Coquitlam for a surprise celebration for 17-year old Fiona Lee.
This past August, Fiona won the World Junior Highland Dancing Championship in Scotland.
Here would have been the ideal opportunity for say the City of Coquitlam to have given Fiona a hero's welcome for the returning champion that she is.
The celebration was held in the St. Laurence Church Hall for family and friends of Fiona and it was a very touching event.
Heather Jolley, who has been teaching Highland dancing for over 40 years, spoke about Fiona's accomplishments and her dedication which have brought her to where she is today. She said that Fiona was looked up to by younger dancers as an inspiration for how far hard work and dedication will take you.
A slide show presentation showed Fiona in her earlier years and at some of the previous competitions where she has participated. Afterwards guests enjoyed coffee and a large cake to help celebrate her win.
It must be said though that Fiona comes by her talent honestly as her family is no stranger to championship wins in Scotland.
Fiona's father is Pipe Major Terry Lee of the world-famous Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, which has earned number one status in the world an astounding four times.
Her uncle, Jack Lee, is Pipe Sergeant with the SFU Pipe Band and won the Silver Star Medal this year in Scotland for his solo piping of the double MSR (March, Stratspey and Reel).
Fiona's brother, Alister, who is with the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band, also won a gold medal for his solo performance in the MSR in Scotland.
FIONA LEE (centre), winner of the World Junior Highland Dancing Championship, at her surprise celebration, along with (L-R) her mother Nancy Lee, her father Terry Lee, and her Highland dance teacher, Heather Jolley.
PROUD GRANDPARENTS Wallace andAnnabelle Lee with Fiona.
All-in-all, Fiona has five cousins in the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band. The SFU Pipe Band and the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band all came in second at the World Championship Piping competitions in Scotland this year.
Terry Lee and Heather Jolley are owners of the popular Tartantown. This shop is a little Scottish oasis in Coquitlam, specializing in bagpipes, pipe band supplies, Highland dance shoes and costumes, along with Scottish imports and Celtic jewellery. They also rent and sell full Scottish kilt sets for all those special occasions.
Come to think of it, the City of Coquitlam could give a hero's welcome to the whole Lee family for their championship wins.
CHERYL RAFTER, President of Scot Dance with Fiona Lee.
Glasgow Police Recover Stolen Da Vinci Masterpiece
GLASGOW - Police who recovered a stolen Sixteenth Century masterpiece in a dramatic raid on a solicitor's office on October 4, said they never gave up hope of finding the artwork.
One of Scotland's top insolvency lawyers with the law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing has appeared in court in connection with what has been described as one of the biggest art heists of modern times - the theft of the Leonardo Da Vinci Madonna of the Yarnwinder from Drumlanrig Castle in August 2003.
Calum Jones, 42, from Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, appeared at Dumfries Sheriff Court along with three other men-Robert Graham, 55, and John Doyle, 58, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, and Marshall Ronald, 51, ofSkelmersdale, Lancashire. ATI four were charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money.
Jones, who studied at Dundee University, qualified as a lawyer in 1988. His wife, Janice, is also a lawyer with the legal firm Harper Macleod. The couple have two young children.
The Da Vinci work, which has an estimated value of £30 million, had been in the Duke of Buccleuch's family for two centuries and was admired by thousands of visitors to Drumlanrig Castle every year.
The current Duke of Buccleuch said that, while it was a joyful moment for the family, it was tinged with sadness.
"My great sadness is my father, who died almost a month ago to the day, was not able to share in this wonderful moment," he said.
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