Cliff Marks, creator of the Shtetle links website and authority on Lithuanian family research visited Glasgow this week. Feival and I picked him up at Central station and took him for lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms, The Lighthouse and then up to the Glasgow School of Art before visiting Harvey Kaplan at the Jewish Archive Centre in Garnet Hill Schul. Cliff, a retired Town Planner for Los Angeles,  had already professed an interest in our Glasgow Architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh so we took him on a whirlwind tour of the Hunterian Museum, Scotland Street School, The Kelvin Grove Art Gallery , Willow Tearooms and Hill House in Helensburgh before arriving in Luss where we had tea at the side of Loch Lomond. 

Unfortunately, the following day,  Cliff was affected by the Airplane cancellation due to the Ash clouds. His flight to Italy had originally cost him £87 but because of the cancellations the new arrangements finally cost him nearly £550 . We managed to claw a little back for him but so sad an end to a perfect day. After racing through to Edinburgh as Prestwick closed down the airport in Edinburgh also closed as we reached there. Bummer. 

Cliff finally had to get to London that day so he could fly to meet his travel arrangements in Italy the next morning. Here are some pix of Cliff, Feival and CRM. While most of the pix are taken by me , a few of the rest are stock images. Meanwhile Feival is feeling ser krochen having contracted a sever Bronchial Infection so he is pretty much flat on his back and the cask Proof Whiskey has nothing to with that he assures me. We all wish him the very best for a quick recovery.  Shabat Shalom from Craig and Feival

Feival Morrison with Harvey Kaplan at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre in Garnet Hill Schul, Glasgow on Monday the 4th of January 2010. Harvey is not only the curator of the SJAC but was instrumental in helping me get much of the Coussins, Cussin genealogical information for this website. His name is cited in many areas of our website and it was because of Harvey that I was fortunate in meeting my cousin Philip. Philip and I joined the SJAC last night. We gifted one of our new A1 size Posters on Jewish Lithuania to the SJAC along with a frame to be hung in the Synagogue so that Schul members can try and locate the city and area where their family may have been living before they arrived in Scotland.

Harvey is now finding a way to start up a Scottish branch of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. I am already a member of the society and Philip and I have been at meetings in Manchester where we met our cousins who are the grandchildren of Morris Cussin, Abrahams and Hyman’s brother. We have the initial meeting in a weeks time to se if this is a feasibility.

On behalf of the family we thank Harvey for all his work on our behalf and his continued interest in researching and helping families who are looking for their roots. Without people like Harvey Kaplan our work would be very much harder. 

– Craig