Council Election AGM 9th August 2008 at Castle Menzies

Standing as ordinary Council member

Alastair Menzies

Alastair grew up in Oban, Argyll, and now lives near Banchory. After graduating in Computing at Glasgow University, his first job was with Ferranti as a computer programmer in their Numerical Control division. He then worked on the staff of Heriot Watt University as a research assistant, obtaining an MSc degree for a computer simulation project, and following a spell as a self employed IT contractor in Holland, he rejoined the University as a Computer Manager.

Alastair joined Shell International in 1985 and worked in various Shell roles for 19 years, based in Aberdeen, but with frequent travel. Job titles included Head of Infrastructure Planning and Head of IT for Northern Field Unit. Considerable experience was gained of managing major IT infrastructure projects, IT contracts and liaising with computer vendors regarding introduction of new equipment.

Alastair took early retirement from Shell in 2003, and is now involved in property renovation and management (mainly in Edinburgh), IT consultancy, and genealogy. With his wife Janice he has set up a genealogy research service called Blue Thistle Genealogy, which now has clients in USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Hobbies include hill walking, cycling, woodwork, photography, history and genealogy.

Janice and Alastair have two children, who are both in their early thirties -Neil, a Petroleum Engineer based in Thailand and Lyndsay, Managing Director of an Internet Marketing Company, based in Edinburgh,

Alastair looks forward to the work of the Council and contributing to the development of the Clan Society website and genealogy facilities.

Rory Menzies

Rory was born in 1942 and raised in Edinburgh. Married to Lisa for 42 years and with 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren.

Rory started his working life as an engineer in the manufacture of power generation equipment in Edinburgh and for the past 30 years has been a manager in the manufacture of oil and gas well equipment for an American company in Aberdeen and for 4 years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This work allowed extensive travel in North America, Russia, India, Continental Europe and Asia Pac.
Now retired, Rory and Lisa split the year living between Aberdeen and St. Augustine, Florida.

Rory is the son of Bente and Willie Menzies who were involved with the restoration of the castle for a decade after its acquisition. In part of the 1960's and 1970's, Rory's father was the Clan Society Treasurer.

Rory looks forward to carrying on the work his parents began.

James Menzies Clow

James was born in Glasgow in 1973 and with brief periods in Dundee and the United States has lived and worked mostly in the Glasgow area. After completing a degree in History he did a MSc conversion to Computer Science. He currently works for local government department in Glasgow and deals mainly with the support of Unix servers and associated applications.

James has a long association with the Clan Society having attended his first Clan Gathering at the age of 7 and has attended all subsequent ones apart from two since then. He is the son (Iain Menzies Clow) and brother (Simon Menzies Clow) of former Council members and in the past participated in the clearing out of the rubble from the Victorian Wing before the real renovation began amongst other Castle restoration projects.

More recently James has been responsible for the website overhaul and the continuing development of it. Currently he is trying to implement a completely online joining facility and the ability to pay for membership and Gathering events online