North Room Group
Dunvegan Castle In July 2023
The North Room Group
At the fourth Clan Parliament in 1965 Chief Flora raised a proposal from Canada and the USA to hold a Young Peoples Clan Parliament. This bore fruit when eighteen young MacLeods representing six countries met in the North Room of the Castle. This group initially used the name of its meeting place, hence “North Room Group”. Later, they used the initials ‘NRG’ as their title but over time the group became known as ‘Energy’.
Dame Flora gave her particular attention to these young people, for she regarded them as future leaders of the clan. ‘I believe the clan has started a movement,’ she wrote, ‘which will mean something to the world’.
In the years since 1965 there have been Parliaments every three or four years and at almost all of them there has been an NRG programme encouraging the participation of young MacLeods. What each NRG did within Dunvegan Castle and Estate and the Dunvegan Community depended on the needs at the time and can be explored more below, together with testimonials of those who took part. However, a common denominator is that over the years, life-long friendships were formed by young MacLeods from all over the world and many remain strong today.
Times have changed and so has the group’s name. At the 2018 Parliament, a more modern name for the 18-30 age group was adopted and they were rebranded as Young MacLeods. However, when the group from 8 countries meets next July on the Isle of Skye, they will carry a proud heritage and a tradition based on the NRG.
More information about the NRG can be found in “Tell Your Children about the Stones: a short history of the Clan MacLeod Society”, by Nancy MacLeod Nicol.