by Philip Beddows
Seanachaidh to the Chief and Clan Historian
‘Clan MacBean Arrives on the Moon’, a signed print of a self-portrait by artist Alan Bean, our Apollo 12 astronaut, who famously took MacBean tartan to the Moon – the historic first occasion tartan had gone into space.
Above: From left to right: Mr Ian Fletcher, Trustee of The Caledonian Club receiving the print, being presented on behalf of the Clan MacBean by Mr. Philip Beddows. 4th March 2020.
It was a great honour to have been asked by our President, Colonel Peter McIllwain, to present this famous picture to The Caledonian Club on behalf of the Clan MacBean.
The Club was founded in 1891 and occupies an attractive building in London’s Belgravia, conveniently located between Belgrave Square and Hyde Park Corner, and very close to Buckingham Palace. Its website advertises that it offers ‘a little bit of Scotland in the heart of London’ – a very accurate description. The interior is impressive and elegant, with a warm and welcoming ambience. Anyone with Scottish heritage will feel very much at home there; in no other London club can one find so much tartan on display, including the uniforms of all the very welcoming staff there. The walls are decorated with portraits of famous Scotsmen and women, including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in her vestments and regalia as Sovereign of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of The Thistle; beautiful Highland landscapes and Red Deer antler trophies of impressive proportions. The famous bar probably has the largest collection of Scotch whiskies on offer anywhere in Great Britain. Single malt whisky from the Tomatin Distillery founded on an old MacBean estate in Inverness-shire was displayed at the front when I visited to make the presentation.
I was met on arrival by Mr. David Balden, the Club’s Secretary, who ushered me into The Oval Room where the presentation was to be made. There, I was introduced to two eminent members of the Club – my good friend Mr. Ian Fletcher and his friend Mr. Euan Harvie-Watt, a Vice President of the Club, and I believe its longest serving member. These two gentlemen were Trustees of The Caledonian Club’s charity ‘The Common Good Fund’, which is responsible for looking after all of the Club’s pictures and artefacts.
They were absolutely delighted to receive this signed print of a self-portrait of Captain Alan Bean, showing him on the Moon; and they were interested to hear more about him and how he took a piece of MacBean tartan to the Moon when he was the pilot of the Apollo Lunar Module on NASA’s Apollo 12 mission.
Alan Bean landed with Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad on the Moon’s Ocean of Storms on 19th November 1969, became the fourth person to walk on the surface of the Moon, and the first to have done so carrying a piece of tartan with him. An anecdote relates that when he was sourcing the tartan from the weavers, they asked him what he was going to do with it and whether he was going to claim the Moon for Scotland – his immediate reply was ‘no’, he was going to claim it for Clan MacBean! Alan Bean was very proud of his Clan and a committed member of both the Clan MacBean’s association and the Clan Chattan Association. He divided up the piece of MacBean tartan he brought back from the Moon and generously donated bits to a variety of people and organisations in Scotland and the United States.
Once the presentation had been made, Mr. David Balden ushered us all upstairs to their beautiful dining room for lunch. The room has a sprung floor designed for dancing, which is perfect and still used for Scottish Country Dancing. Next door a kiltmaker was busy doing fittings and taking orders for members. It turned out that the Club’s Scientific Society were meeting later in the month and I was told they would be very pleased to hear of the new acquisition. Interestingly, Scotland plays an important part in the Space industry, with Glasgow reported to build more satellites than any other European city.
I would like to record my sincere thanks for their very kind hospitality and the incredibly warm welcome I received whilst representing our Clan, from Ian, Euan and David on behalf of The Caledonian Club.
Readers may be interested to know that The Caledonian Club has reciprocal arrangements with clubs across the world. See: www.caledonianclub.com.
Written for publication in ‘The Clan MacBean Register’: Spring/Summer 2020.
Philip Beddows, Spring/Summer 2020
First published in The Register, Spring–Summer 2020.