Convener's Kit

We have developed a standardised range of materials for our conveners to use on our stands at various Highland- and Scotland-themed events. Many people visit more than one event, and when they do we want them to be able to recognise the Watson stand immediately, and to get a warm, familiar feeling when they drop by. Having a standard "brand identity" across the events that we attend will go a long way to helping us to achieve this.

If you are interested in representing The Clan Watson Society at an event, please drop us a line using the Contact Us page in the first instance. We will check whether we already have a representative for that event, in which case you'll be more than welcome to support them. If we don't have anyone lined up and you are up for it, we will look to set you up for the event.

Typically, we ask our conveners to book space for a stall at an event and to supply a pop-up canopy, table and chairs if the event does not supply them. Fees for a space generally include a free parking space and two free entry tickets for the weekend, so it is not usually any more expensive to book a space than to pay for entry as a regular attendee.

We will supply the basic items in our standard convener's kit. We can only supply these as funds allow and we welcome donations of any size towards their purchase. If you want to get your kit or specific items from it quickly, you are welcome to cover the cost and we will give you priority.

Where we supply the convener's kit at our expense, we do expect to see them used at least once a year and to be made available to other members if required.

In the sections below, we provide details on the standard items in our convener's kit and give some ideas of optional extras that you may wish to look out for. We are continually adding more items to our standard kit and will update this page as we do so; if you have ideas for items that you'd like to see form a part of the standard kit, please do let us know!

Standard Kit Items

In this section, we list the items that form our standard convener's kit together with an indication of pricing. Note that we tend to wait for our suppliers to have sales, so stated prices are indicative only; actual price will be confirmed prior to order for those who wish to purchase their own kit items.

Vinyl Banner

Price: ~$62 plus postage

We have developed two variants of our standard vinyl banner - one with the words "Clan Watson" and one that simply says "Watson". The choice of which to use is entirely down to the preference of individual conveners. Mock ups of the two are shown here, and a picture of one fitted to a clan tent is shown above. The banners are 8' x 2.5' in size.

Note that we can only supply the banner itself. It is up to the convener to procure materials required to display it. Most use a combination of PVC piping, cable ties and nylon rope, although the exact means of fixing the banner is may vary between events. We are happy to provide guidance on mounting banners, so please contact us with any queries. See the picture towards the top of the page to see one of our banners mounted on a pop-up canopy.

Retractable Banner

Price: ~$120 plus postage

We're very proud of these! They extend to nearly 7 feet in height and look superb! We've gone for a higher-end model as our banners get used outside and need the extra stability. The image below shows the banner passing the pet puss test in one of our convener's homes. You can see the retractable banner as part of an event set up in the image higher up the page.

Info Banners

Price: ~$38 each plus postage

Our info banners are designed to be hung up inside a pop-up canopy. They measure 4' x 2½' and provide summary information on key aspects of Watson history and the Watsons in general. We currently have two banners available - one providing a summary of the motto, the chief's coat of arms and crest and the tartan, and the other providing a timeline of the family of the last chief. We are intending to develop more, so watch this space!

Watson Crest Self-Inking Stamp

Price: ~$34 including postage (USA)

At our first event, it became apparent that it was expected for every stand to have a rubber stamp of the clan crest that children could use to stamp their clan crest passports, which provides a great incentive for them to make sure that they and their families visit every stand! We designed one immediately and it proved popular right away! The first two images below show an example clan crest passport and the third shows the clan crest that our stamp will print.

Watson Booklet

Price: ~£5.23 plus postage

When you run a Google search for our name, you are presented with various stories regarding its origin and the histories of various Watsons of old. It has become evident that we need to start controlling our narrative, and so we have produced this booklet to summarise some key aspects of the Watsons - the name, name variants, the Chiefs, the crest, the motto, the tartan, key locations of interest, prominent Watson families and more. We have purposefully designed the booklet to be durable for use on our stands, so it is printed on heavyweight paper and has a protective acetate front cover. The booklet itself is quite cheap, but postage to the US can be expensive. With this in mind, we do sometimes mail them in bulk to the US to save on postage costs, but if you want to buy one in a hurry, you can do so via this link. If you'd like to express an interest in our next bulk order, please contact us.

Business Cards

Price: ~$26 plus postage for 100 cards

Our business cards are designed to be handed out to people so that they can take our key information away with them without having to write things down. The cards contain our primary contact email address, our web and social media links, a QR code to our website and a nod to our mission statement and values. We print them on a hemp-blend paper to make them stand out from the more run-of-the-mill cards.

Optional Items

The standard kit items provide the bare essentials required to set up a stand, but many people like to add extras to really make their stands, ahem, "stand" out. We suggest a few extras that you might like to invest in here.

Watson Table Cloth

Draping your table in Watson tartan can make a huge visual impact - so much so, that we are looking at adding a tartan table cloth to our standard kit! There are three ways to go here: real wool tartan (expensive), polyester tartan (mid-range) or printed vinyl (cheapest). There are plenty of options out there, and we've love to receive your feedback on the various vendors!

Clan Watson Society Newsletters

For those visitors that are keen to learn more about the Watsons or The Clan Watson Society, it's a nice idea to have issues of our newsletter, The Sprouting Oak, available for them to leaf through. We recommend keeping them in a ring binder for protection, although printing copies out and stapling the pages together also works well.

You can find all issues of our newsletter here.

Tartan Clothing

One of the joys of Scottish-themed events is seeing the wide range of different tartans that people are wearing. Although our standard kit heavily features the Watson ancient tartan, nothing quite beats seeing somebody wearing it! We do appreciate that not everybody has the budget or the confidence to wear a kilt or handmade tartan trews, although there is a range of offerings available nowadays to suit every budget!

There are many ways to wear a little tartan, whether you simply don a tartan scarf or sash or go for a full kilt outfit or tartan skirt. Kilts, tartan skirts or trews can matched with a t-shirt and sneakers or walking shoes for a casual look or with more formal shirts and jackets depending on the weather and the type of event. If you are lucky enough to have a lot of tartan clothing in your wardrobe, you may wish to consider displaying a range of clothing and/or tartan types on your stand.

Welsey Todd Watson (Great Kilt) and Barry Watson (Short Kilt) with a Range of Optional Accessories

Examples of the Watson Ancient, Watson Modern and Watson Weathered Tartans on Michael Watson's Stand

Clan Watson Society T-Shirts

Although we have not yet got our merchandise operation fully up and running, we are able to offer Clan Watson Society t-shirts. The tees are available in a range of colours and in two "front" variants (clan crest or tartan shield) and three "back" variants (plain, clan crest or clan crest with "WATSON" text), so you can pick and choose depending upon which you prefer. Our tees are a great way to help establish our "brand" as a clan society, and we can make these available on request while we work on a more comprehensive catalogue of merchandise. If you'd like to order a t-shirt, please contact us to confirm the design and pricing.

Clan Crest Front Option

Tartan Shield Front Option

Clan Crest Back Option

Clan Crest with Text Back Option

Books on History and Culture

While we include the Clan Watson Society booklet in our standard convener's kit, many people like to include additional reading material on their stands.

If you are going to include one book, the obvious first choice is the Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopaedia, published by St Kilda Publishing and available from this link. It is easy to find secondhand copies of previous editions online, although be aware that it was previously published by Collins if you are looking for them! This book is great for engaging with those who stop by who might not be Watsons but want to learn more about a different surname or clan history in general.

Other books that are more specific to the Watsons that you may wish to look out for include the following:

Wood, John Philip (1794) Antient and Modern State of the Parish of Cramond: Biographical and Geneological Collections, Respecting Some of the Most Considerable Families and Individuals Connected with that District, Edinburgh: John Paterson - contains a description of New Saughton and some words regarding Charles Watson of Saughton, Chief of the Name.
Buchanan, William of Auchmar (1793) The History of the Ancient Surname of Buchanan and of Ancient Scottish Surnames, Glasgow: A. Buchanan - this book covers the MacWattie-Buchanan link.
Wood, Rev. Walter (1887) The East Neuk of Fife: Its History and Antiquities, Edinburgh: David Douglas - covers the Watsons of Aithernie.
MacGregor, G. (2022) The Red Book of Scotland Vol. IX, Scotland: Gordon MacGregor - provides the genealogy of the Watsons of Aithernie.
Irving, Joseph (1879), The Book of Dumbartonshire, Edinburgh and London: W. and A. K. Johnston - mentions the Watsons of Dumbarton, aka. The Watsons of Craslat/Crosslet.
Watson, David P. H. (1989) The Captains Watson and the Empire Line. Deepwater Publishing Company - the fascinating story of one sea-going family of Watsons and the shipping company for which they sailed.

It is also worth checking the references given on some of Watson history pages of this website if you want even more inspiration. Note that many older books are now available in PDF form from either Google Books or Internet Archive.