Hi- My name is Eillen. I am 13 and am the Youth Ambassador for Mount Dora Sister Cities. I am connected to Scotland through my great-great x 6 Grandfather Alexander Magruder who immigrated and established Alexandria VA. I love that our town has connections with Scotland too! My goal is to get youth in Mount Dora educated about our Sister City, Forres. Two years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Forres. We were in Scotland with the City of Mount Dora Drum and Pipe Band. Some people call it Pipes and Drum, but I’m a drummer so, I think you understand.  While we were there, we visited some of the landmarks and took a lot of photos. We met up with the Forres Pipe Band and played a spontaneous concert outside of Mosset Tavern.  I am looking forward to going back and seeing a lot more of Forres. Before we left for the trip we ordered the Fantastic Forres Book so that we could learn about Forres. We enjoyed the book so much that my brother and some friends in Mount Dora decided to create a Magnificent 

Mount Dora booklet. We took the characters from Fantastic Forres on a trip around Mount Dora. We hope to connect with students in Forres to take our characters, JP and Big Joe on a tour of Forres. We also have youth in Mount Dora who are pen pals with students in Forres. If you would like to participate in pen pals, our Fantastic Forres/ Marvelous Mount Dora scavenger hunt or have a presentation of Scottish Culture including Bagpipes, contact us at [email protected]!