05 November 2011, Starts: 10:30, Ends: 17:00

Scottish Place-Name Society
Comann Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba
Day conference – Saturday 5th November 2011, The Ross Hall, Royal British Legion, High Street, Dingwall

1030–1100 Registration and coffee
1100-1140 Sandra and David MacDonald, Place-names, a window on Dingwall’s past: a look through the Burgh Sasine Register
1140-1220 Iain MacIlleChiar, Ross – What’s the Point?
1220–1300 Charles Simpson, Shetland mead names

1300 – 1400 Lunch

1400 – 1440 Aidan MacDonald, Curitán and Boniface Revisited
1440 – 1510 Liz Cowie and/or Julie Gibson, The THING-Project

Four twenty-minute papers:
Anders Ahlqvist, Din Eidyn ‘Edinburgh’
Carole Hough, Facebook and Falkirk, Twitter and Twynholm: investigating Scottish place-names with social media
Alice Crook, Personal names in 18th-century Scotland: a case study of the parish of Beith (North Ayrshire)
Jacob King, Place-Names Wanted – dead or alive: a toponymic flyting conducted in the pages of the Oban Times c.1900.

1630 tea and skail

Please book as early as possible! If you would like to attend please complete the form below with your name and details and send with a cheque for £20 per person (full-time students £10), which includes coffee and buffet lunch, payable to SPNS, to: SPNS Conference, Peter Drummond, 8 Academy Place, Coatbridge ML5 3AX; preferably by 29 October – although later bookings can usually be accepted, by phoning Pete on 0776968 0293.
Directions: From the railway station, turn right and follow Station Road past the war memorial and the Highland Theological College. At the crossroads by the Post Office, continue straight on to the High Street, through the pedestrianised zone and past the clock tower on your right. The RBL is towards the end of the High Street, set back on the left. If arriving by car, ample parking is available in the Town Centre Car Park, which is situated behind the High Street and the RBL.

(Acknowledgements of bookings will not be sent.) (Retain this part for venue location, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please find enclosed my cheque for £ __ for __ places at the Nov 5th
Dingwall SPNS conference.
Name (please print) _________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Phone number _________________ Email _______________________

After the conference there will an evening meal in Dingwall: a head-count will be taken on the day. PTO
SUNDAY 6th November.
For those still in Dingwall on the Sunday, there will be a morning guided walk around the town led by Sandra and David MacDonald, providing an insight into local history and place-names: further details will be available at the Conference. It will end up at the National Hotel, where there will be a chance to meet Alec Williamson of Edderton. Alec is from a well-known family of travellers, and was on the road in Ross-shire and Skye up till the late 1950s. A native Gaelic speaker, he has an important store of place-name lore and traditional pronunciations, and is a great raconteur.