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What Makes Probus Tick?

I have been giving this subject some thought inrecent weeks. As I mentioned at the AGM in April,

I joined the club ten years ago at the time PeterHolmes was Chairman and I was immediately struckby the warmth and friendliness of everyone. I soonfound I was getting involved when asked to proposethe vote of thanks to the speaker talking about “TheWest Highland Way” not long after I became amember!

Our membership in 2005 stood at 58 and ourturnout for meetings would be around the mid thirtieslevel. Now our membership list stands at 73 members( including country membership) and the turnout levelfor meetings is much more towards the mid forties. Inearlier days we used to have only one table at “TheClachan” for lunch - now we often have to spreadover two or even three tables!

Clearly the Club is thriving and is in good shape, butwhat has brought this about? First and foremost is tohave a programme of lively and entertaining speakers.The development of the subcommittee whose soletask is to organise the talks has, I believe, been crucialin this so that we have been able to draw in speakersfrom all walks of life. Michael Boulton - Jones and histeam have done another excellent job in drawing up astimulating and thought provoking programme for thecoming session.

Apart from our regular meetings, we now have theWalking Group lead by John Carruthers which in thelast session not only gave us good exercise but also wegained more knowledge about Glasgow's bridges. Forthose who prefer less energetic gatherings theMorning Coffee Group still gathers on alternateThursdays at The Pottery.

Outings also feature very much in our programmewith Angus Campbell organising a successful andentertaining visit to Pitlochry in May. Along with therecent visit to see The Tapestry of Scotland at StirlingCastle and a visit to The Scottish Parliament to come,there is clearly something for everyone.

We are very fortunate to have such a lively andfriendly Club. Part of the reason for this is that we areat a good size and at our maximum membership level.

New member - Donald Hardie

Joining Probus was a special  experience, so many ofyour members are very well qualified, whilst I have

been able to slip through life almost without  anyqualifications.

Blairmore was a new preparatory school, and I wasthe only boy sitting Common entrance for MerchistonCastle, the local Minister invigilating, looking over myshoulder after a few minutes he commented, that weboth knew, my answer was wrong, thereafterdiscussions occurred  before pen was put to paper.

We have had a team of excellent Chairmen andClub Secretaries to guide us in recent years so that weenter our 25th Anniversary in good heart and withplenty of optimism. I will do my best to keep on withthe good work.

Jim Morris, Chairman 2015/16

Probus Club of Lomond

Newsletter 21 August 2015

Donald Hardie after a successful day

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Academic results from Merchiston suggested that  agood degree was, to say the least, unlikely, and off wewent to do National Service, surprisinglycommissioned, even  after failing the exams for thesecond time. I remember  clearly at the end of myservice, on being dined out, the  Colonel said hewould miss me, but not as much as the otherSubalterns, who would have to learn how to beOrderly  Officer again ! (Other NS subalterns will Ithink  understand.)

My first  employment, obtained through nepotism,was in textile finishing, an industry which sadlydisappeared from Scotland a couple of years later.

We are now in the late fifties and  “Plastics”  wasthe new thing, and thinking it  would grow, despitewhat I did to it, (which fortunately it did) HardiePolymers was born, acting as agents and distributorsof plastic raw materials, and processing  machinery.

Having enjoyed  National Service, I joined the TA,however to my horror some  years later, they broughtin promotion exams. Fortunately I managed toorganise being moved up a rank, before the exam  forthat rank was introduced, finishing up some thirtyyears later as a Brigadier.

Lord  Lieutenants, originally appointed by Henrythe VII with the  ability to raise Armies to keep thepeace, meant that people with some Military background, tended to be appointed, as  indeed I was in1990.

Keeper of Dumbarton Castle is a life timeappointment, and when one dies the incumbent LordLt. is appointed, Brigadier Pearson my predecessordied in 1996  when it became my turn. Sheena and Iwere received at Holyrood, by HM and HRH Dukeof Edinburgh before a Garden Party, when I wasstanding down after seventeen years in  post :-HM “This is you at the end of your service to me.”Me “Certainly not Your Majesty, I am still Keeper

of your Castle in  Dumbarton.”HRH “Nobody's likely to nick it  are they?”

Donald Hardie

three years and looking for further internationalexperience I moved to Nairobi as Africa MedicalDirector for four years after which I transferred toGlaxo and went to Singapore for five years.

I then returned to UK and after a couple of yearsseized the opportunity to join Scotia Pharmaceuticalsin Stirling in 1995. During the last two years of thatcompany’s existence I went back to Singapore to setup their Asia base.

In 2002 Scotia had problems and was subsumed, soI decided to return to General Practice and, after re-accrediting in that discipline, signed up to work as aGP with Forth Valley NHS.

I retired from full time work in 2011 but continuepart time doing NHS out of hours GP sessions,locums for the Army in Nepal and Tribunal Workhearing appeals against benefits decisions.

I have been married to Sheilagh for 45 years andhave three married daughters and eight grandchildren.Sheilagh and I live near Thornhill.

Graham Cooper

New member - Graham Cooper

After qualifying in medicine in Dundee in 1970and getting married, I went south to do junior

hospital jobs in Northampton. Three years later Ijoined a partnership in the Fens of Lincolnshire doingGeneral Practice and, as you could in those days, parttime anaesthetics.

Seven years on in General practice and now withtwo daughters, I decided to try something different –so we all moved to Brunei and I spent two yearsworking in the Government hospital. I never treatedthe Sultan but his kids dropped by sometimes!

Returning to the UK (now with daughter numberthree) and, after a lot of soul searching, I decided totrain in Pharmaceutical Medicine and joined CibaGeigy as a medical advisor based in Sussex. After

Graham Cooper

Reflections on Working in Nepal

Our introduction to Nepal started in early 2011,when Sheilagh and I were visiting our daughter

who was teaching at the British School in Kathmandu.Through a chance contact whilst there, I heard of theopportunity to work as a locum civilian GP with theBritish Army in Nepal. I applied and was luckyenough to get the position. My retirement from theNHS was in August 2011 and I started working at theArmy Camp in Nepal the following month.

The Republic of Nepal, since 2008 no longer aKingdom, is a land locked country sandwichedbetween north east India and Tibetan China. It has apopulation of 27 million and is about twice the landarea of Scotland. There are close cultural ties withIndia; the Nepalese language is a form of Hindi and

80% of the population are Hindu. Home of theHimalayas “abode of the snow”, eight of the world’shighest mountains are located in Nepal.

The British military base in Nepal has the task ofselecting the annual intake of recruits to join theGurkha Brigade of the UK Army. The GP looks afterservice personnel and their families, a total of abouttwo hundred people. Care is also provided to an equalnumber of locally employed civilians. The main campis in Kathmandu, the administrative centre, at whichwe were stationed full-time, with a second base inPokhara about 100 miles to the west where most ofthe recruiting process is carried out.

As on most military bases there is a medical centre,in Kathmandu it is well-staffed with civilian Nepalesehealth personnel. Administration is looked after by apractice manager and SAFFA provide a British healthvisitor; the staff patient ratio would be the envy ofmost British practices. I felt it was a bit like a smallScottish island practice, with low patient numbers andthe chance to provide a personal service.

There were differences from NHS practicehowever. One of the first essentials was to learnwhere it was safe to refer patients. There is noeffective, acceptable secondary care provided by thestate, so all referrals are into the private sector whichis patchy in quality. The best of the facilities arereasonable and as a GP there is opportunity to meetwith consultants to discuss problems in a way that issadly uncommon now in UK practice. Any patient inhospital was regularly visited by myself and monitored– the Army takes welfare very seriously and the doctoris rightly expected to know exactly what is going on atall times. A little bit more demanding than NHSpractice but satisfying.

The defence medical services require that anyserving personnel or their families requiring non-emergency surgery or specialist medical assessmentare referred back to UK from Nepal. A referral systemis operated by RAF which enables this process – itdidn’t become necessary all that often but with the sixhour time difference one could sometimes be sittingon the Medical centre phone fairly late into theevening.

The first six month stint passed fairly quickly and tocut the story short, further locum opportunities arosethrough 2012 and into 2014 at British GhurkhasNepal culminating last year in a ten months stretch bywhich time I had completed a total of nearly two yearsin the country.

During our stays, we came to know a circle of ex-pats and Nepalese friends. There is a large foreign aidcommunity; UK’s Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) is the largest single donor toNepal, but almost all European countries and ofcourse the US are significant aid donors. Some 25%of the national budget is aid money. It is interesting tohear the perspectives of the expats, particularly the“off the record” thoughts of those who “manage”

these donations - DFID maintains a significant expatstaff in country doing just this.

We spent most of our time in Kathmandu. The cityis emblematic of the history of the country.Monuments and sacred buildings reflecting the Hinduand Buddhist traditions of the people abound. Sadlywe now learn that many of these sites have been badlydamaged by the quake. Religious culture amongstNepalese is very strong and great efforts are alreadyunderway to restore these sacred buildings.

There was also opportunity to get out and see someof the beautiful countryside often against thebackdrop of the staggeringly alluring Himalayas. Ahuge contrast to the polluted, chaotic traffic infestedcity of Kathmandu and the other cities.

Three quarters of the population live in rural areaswhere life is based largely on subsistence farmingusing quite primitive agricultural techniques. Housingis often improvised from whatever materials arelocally available; education and healthcare aresupposedly government delivered, but often requireadditional ‘contributions’ from the crushingly poorvillagers. Sadly the fragility of this rural environmenthas exposed its vulnerability as fertile ground has beendestroyed in landslips and simply built homes andschools have been destroyed.

Despite this frailty we always found a welcomingfriendliness in the countryside - and that is an abidingmemory of Nepal, not just in villages but everywhere -the Nepalis seem to be hospitable welcoming andgenerous people. This has been borne out by recentstories we hear from friends, who were in theearthquake. After the major hit a lot of foreigners,who couldn’t get back into their houses were offeredfood and shelter by Nepalis who were themselves invery difficult circumstances - selfless generosity.

The future looks very difficult. Aftershocks, evennow nearly two months after the disaster, are stilloccurring every day. Shocked and shaken people arenerve-shattered with every tremor. Many dwellingsand large buildings are standing but are having to bedemolished as they are structurally damaged andunsafe. Building regulations in Nepal exist but havenot been enforced and it is to be hoped that theirreplacements will be properly constructed.

Disbursement of much of the aid money that hasbeen collected internationally is being governmentcontrolled; given the administration’s record ofincompetence, mismanagement and worse this fillsmany with concern.

Yet through all this, talking to those friends still inNepal, the overriding impression is of a people whoare exhibiting great resilience and determination not tobe beaten. Our own brief excursion into this land wasa privilege. Our experience of the friendliness andgenerosity of its people leaves us saddened by whathas happened and trusting that the right path forwardwill emerge.

Graham Cooper

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Slavery

Nowadays, everyone agrees that slavery was anevil institution. We, the British, are guilt ridden

by our use of slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries.But why did our forefathers think it such an obvioussolution to the problems of their time?

Look back in history; slavery was an integral part ofthe economy of every powerful society. From earlymentions in the Old Testament to the Nazi regime,powerful states have used slaves. Slaves built thepyramids for Egyptian rulers and powered the RomanEmpire. The Arabs raided Africa for slaves overcenturies and the Ottoman Empire used capturedChristians for all sorts of purposes notably as theirelite fighting force. Even after slavery was abolished inBritain, our government sent criminals to developAustralia and without them, Australia may ever haveremained a barren land. The Spanish and Portuguesenot only enslaved the people of their conquests inSouth America but began buying slaves in Africa andtransporting them to the New World. Every power inhistory has made use of slaves following conquests inbattles. This truism has a certain relentless logic.Before the steam engine, the only power available forwork was human muscle and that of domesticatedanimals - with the small exception of wind power.Therefore, slave power enhanced a country’sprosperity. Slaves made possible “les grands projets”of many societies.

If slaves performed the menial tasks, then localcitizens had more time to specialise and develop skillsto increase the country’s prosperity. It was the wealthpouring in from South America through Portugal andSpain that financed the commercial enterprises thatdeveloped in the 17th century in Northwest Europe.Nor was slavery the only source of labour. MostEuropean countries enslaved their own people in afeudal system making serfs of a majority of theirsubjects. Serfs, like slaves, had no choice in their workbut differed in that they sometimes had some land tocultivate even if it was not theirs. Like slaves, theycould be sold. And serfdom survived for a surprisinglylong time. The first hint of freedom came in theunlikely guise of the Black Death in 1348-50. A thirdof the European population died which led to ashortage of labour. In some Western Europeancountries, such as England, workers were able to selltheir labour to the highest bidder. Richard ll tried totighten up on this new freedom but only provoked thePeasants’ Rebellion in 1381. In Scotland, the last serfswere only freed in 1799 and in Eastern Europefreedom of labour took much longer to arrive.Serfdom was abolished in the Austro-HungarianEmpire after the year of revolutions in 1848 andRussian serfs were only freed in 1861. Therefore therewas a long history of what might be called internalslavery through much of Europe.

However, when discussing slavery and particularlyBritain’s involvement, we usually mean the triangulartrade between Britain, Africa and the New World.Slaves were used in three agricultural industries; sugar,cotton and tobacco. These were vastly profitable andbrought untold wealth to Britain in general andGlasgow in particular. Why Africans? It is interestingthat the first slaves to be used in the Caribbean werewhite. They were poor people, usually from Ireland,Scotland and the West of England and weretransported to work the sugar plantations inCromwell’s time. They are still there in smallcommunities and are known as the Red Legs.However, they were simply not up to the work anddied in droves. Africans were much hardier being usedto the temperatures and therefore became the sourceof slave labour from the end of the 17th century.

Fortunes were made in the three slave mannedindustries and that wealth enabled Britons to diversify.Maybe the Enlightenment was an indirect product ofslavery. There was also progress in applied physicsleading to an era of remarkable innovation, whichtransformed the world. The supreme example was thesteam engine. Newcomen produced the first workingmodel in 1712 but it was a pretty crude machinerequiring huge amounts of coal to do its work, whichwas to pump water out of mines. About 50 years laterJames Watt had ideas to improve its efficiency andspent much time and money trying to build a workingmodel. This helped to bankrupt his first sponsor, JohnRoebuck. The patent was bought by Matthew Boultonand Watt moved south to Boulton’s Soho Works in1775. Thanks to Wilkinson, who had developed atechnique of boring iron accurately to make cannon,Watt was able to engineer a cylinder and piston withsufficient precision to make a successful engine.Initially, these engines were also used to pump outmines in the Southwest of England, but Symingtonshowed that a boat powered by such an engine couldbe propelled through the water of Dalswinton Loch in1788. However, Watt’s patent did not expire until1800. Then the floodgates opened and steam was usedto power the production of cotton goods, ships andlater railway locomotives. In short, the industrialrevolution, which had started with waterpower,arrived in earnest. Britain, which had been dependenton slave worked crops, now had other sources ofincome.

The speed with which Britain acted to restrictslavery was amazing. If 1800 is taken as the date of thestart of exploitation of steam power, it took onlyseven years for Parliament to pass an Act prohibitingthe trading of slaves. The Royal Navy was used topolice the policy and captains of ships found to becarrying slaves were fined £120 per slave. In 1833,Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act, freeingall slaves in areas ruled by Britain. Slaves in India(ruled by the East Indies Company at the time) werefreed 10 years later.

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Is Anyone Still Mocking?

There was an interesting news item in The Heraldin March this year. Lieutenant Colonel Neil Stace

became one of the three finalists in the Great BritishSewing Bee. He was reported as being delighted tohelp destroy the stigma attached to men sewing. Hewas initially mocked by his troops for taking hissewing machine on his tours of duty in Bosnia andAfghanistan, until they realised how useful it was fortheir own uniform repairs and making curtains fortheir accommodation. Besides his family, Neil has twoextreme passions: sewing and rugby. He has beenknown to rush straight off the rugby pitch to go hometo finish an evening dress for his wife to wear laterthat day.

I was reminded by this report of an incident at aProbus meeting in, I think, early 2008. All Probusmembers had been shocked by the sudden death ofour then chairman, Peter Holmes. There had been agreat turnout of Probus members at the funeral. Iwanted to confirm to Peter’s widow, Angela, howdeeply we felt the loss of Peter. At that time I oftenmade door stops so I decided to make one for Angela.This involved my sewing a tapestry box and fitting abrick inside. Round the base of the box I sewed aband of lettering: “Peter is greatly missed by theProbus Club of Lomond”. I thought I had bettercheck with members that they approved of this. Soone Thursday morning I brought along the finisheddoorstop. There was a general chorus of approval.However, one member - himself a distinguished ex-soldier - shouted out loudly, “Did you sew thatyourself?” I replied that yes I did. His response was,“Oh, Colin, you’re just a great big Jessie”. I think Imanaged to laugh.

Recently I decided to make a couple of tapestrychairbacks based on William de Morgan tiles, one of astag, the other of a pair of boxing hares. We have atalented young woman in Buchlyvie called Eilidh Weirwho made up the tapestries for me so that they werereversible. She was pleased with the result and asked ifI would allow her to feature them on her Facebook.Here I should stress that my sewing skills are asnothing compared with those of Neil Stace and EilidhWeir. However, within a couple of days my bits ofsewing trended and then went viral; not globally ofcourse - only within Buchlyvie. I think there issomething delightfully bizarre in thinking ofantimacassars and social media at the same time.Eilidh introduced the antimacassars like this. “I amfascinated when I come across men who sew. I'malways curious to find out how they came to sewing Ijust know that I love it that they do. Gaun yersel,Colin.”

Colin Holroyd

This was a remarkable turn around. The anti-slaverylobby had been active for some years. For example,Adam Smith came out against slavery on ethical andeconomic grounds. He considered that slaves enrichedthe privileged few who were thus removed from theinfluence of the invisible hand. The legal battle againstslavery scored two notable triumphs with thejudgements for Somerset in England in 1772 andKnight in Scotland in 1777. These were interpreted tomean that there was no legal justification for holdingslaves in the UK. It is worth noting that a slave inFrance had been awarded wages by a French court asearly as 1738. So, in the era of the Enlightenment,there was a groundswell of opinion against slavery butthe wealth and influence of the merchants whobenefitted from slavery must also have beenconsiderable. Indeed, when Parliament passed the Actabolishing slavery, slave holders were given financialcompensation.

Thus slavery, present for all recorded history andaccepted by almost all societies ever since huntergatherers settled into agrarian communities, wasabolished within a few decades of the discovery of arealistic alternative to powering an economy. Ratherthan being ashamed of our slaving history, should wenot be proud of the leading role Britain had in itsdemise? And proud of the speed with which it wasabolished? Proud of the fact that we used the wealthcreated by slave labour to free the slaves?

Michael Boulton-Jones

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Travel Plans for 2015

It’s difficult to make a decision where to go onholiday this year.

I’ve been in many places, but I’ve never been inKahoots. Apparently you can’t go alone. You have tobe in Kahooots with someone.I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no onerecognizes you there.I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have anairport; you have to be driven there. I’ve made severaltrips, thanks to my children, friends, family and work.I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have tojump, and I’m not too much on physical activityanymore. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sadplace to go, and I try not to visit there too often.I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was veryimportant to stand firm.Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more oftenas I’m getting older.One of my favourite places to be is in Suspense! Itreally gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the oldheart! At my age I need all the stimuili I can get!I may have been in Continent, but I don’t rememberwhat country I was in. It’s an age thing. They tell meit’s a bit damp there.

Supplied by Arthur Benns.

Tom Weir M.B.E,Born 29th December 1914, died 6th July 2006.

When Tom Weir died in 2006 a void had beenleft in his particular style of reporting on all

things relative to the Scottish landscape andcountryside. He wrote regularly in “The ScotsMagazine”, and presented a very enjoyableprogramme on television called “Weir’s Way”.Although Tom was born in Glasgow, in his later yearshe lived with his wife Rhona in Gartocharan, a villageclose to Loch Lomond.

On his death a group of enthusiastic people gottogether and embarked on raising funds to have someform of commemoration of his life. This group, calledthemselves the Tom Weir Memorial Group. Thegroup set themselves a target to have something inplace by the 29th December 2014. Hundreds ofknitters, knitted red and white hats, or toories as theyare affectionately in Scotland. These toories were sold,cans were rattled, and other funding and help camefrom The National Park, Stirling Council, D. C.Thompson, STV, The Friends of the Loch andTrossachs, a number of clothing companies, The OakTree Inn Balmaha, and the public, without whose helpthe project would not have been possible. Theeventual decision of the group was to have a life sizedstatute of Tom made and erected somewhere on thebanks of Loch Lomond. The task of sculpting astatute was awarded to Sean Hedges-Quinn.

The spot chosen for the statute to be erected wasnorth of the Oak Tree Inn at Balmaha. Oncepermission was approved for the erection of thestatute the plan was to have it in place by the 29thDecember 2014.

On a dreich, wet and misty 29th December 2014,the Group enthusiasts and admirers turned out innumbers to see the statute unveiled. The unveiling ofthe statue was performed by Tom’s wife Rhona,assisted by Cameron McNish, Jimmy McGregor, andthe Sculptor S. Hedges-Quinn. There was a real party

atmosphere about the place with folk singer AlistairMcDonald singing and encouraging people to join in.Hot soup and sandwiches and toories were on sale. Itis hoped that with further funds raised, the areaaround the statute will be developed into a picnic area.I think the picture and the look on Rhona Weir`s facesays it all!

I went along to the Oak Tree Inn at Balmaharecently to admire the statue, the site is ideal and thestatute blends in well with the surroundings. Thestatute has now acquired a permanent red toorieplaced there by some mischievous fan. As I stoodbeside the statue and looked out over the Loch Iwould image Tom would have been pleased with thesite chosen.

Angus Campbell

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Trossachs Search & Rescue Team

Apart from being a member of the Probus Club ofLomond, I have served for a number of years

with Trossachs Search and Rescue Team. This is amulti-facetted organisation, one of 130 FirstResponder Units working with the ScottishAmbulance Service to attend casualties in the localcommunities. TSART covers an area from Stirling,west to Kirkintilloch, north to Inversnaid and east toLochearnhead. Then south to Stirling. Currently 36strong, each and every member is purely a volunteer.Our role is to be first on the scene, reassure thecasualty and stabilise the situation. An ambulancecrew could be as much as an hour away. Highlytrained, we carry oxygen, a defibrillator and a bagful ofessential, life-sustaining equipment. We work withground and air ambulance crews.

TSART maintains a search-dog section. Thesehighly trained dogs can work over open ground, butare more specifically used in collapsed buildingsituations. Our dogs and handlers were first personnelinto the wreckage of the Clutha Bar. Over a four hoursearch, TSART dogs located all nine casualties. Tenyears earlier, TSART dogs were used to equally greateffect at the Stockline disaster. Constant andspecialised training is required, of both dogs andhandlers. Annual helicopter practice takes place,TSART being one of only two Scottish teams whichcan be deployed in this manner by the Ministry ofDefence. Both handlers and dogs need protectiveequipment, which is expensive. The dogs, in thesesituations, must be fitted with specially designedboots.

With so many lochs and reservoirs in the area,TSART has a fast-response boat team, which alsosupports events, such as the recent CommonwealthGames, Kirkintilloch's annual regatta and severalrather strenuous activities along the east side of LochLomond. Casualties here really need to be evacuatedby boat. The capital investment, running costs andregular replacement of equipment is constant and

Rhona Weir with Tom’s statue (and classic toorie!)

pretty high. As is the commitment of of this specialistteam.

If the need arises, TSART can field rope-rescueexperts, now mainly called into action to deal withrock-fast sheep. Nevertheless, you never know whenthese skills will be required,

As part of our wider community service, TSARTprovides free training sessions in life-saving skills, alsoincluding the use of defibrillators, essential equipmentin dealing with cardiac arrest. Over the last two and ahalf years, TSART has been working withcommunities throughout our area and has placed 25publicly available defibrillators at strategic points.Many more are in the pipeline.

Unlike the the indispensable Mountain RescueTeams, TSART receives absolutely no public funding– we are totally self-supporting. We bring in money byproviding the necessary first-aid cover at variousevents; others fund-raise on our behalf. Donations arealways welcome, of course, although some, like the2013 cheque from Probus Club of Lomond, was sentin error to Lomond Mountain Rescue. They did notgive it back!

Sion Barrington

dispersed to favourite spots for lunch, shopping andvisiting the Explorers’ Garden, re-convening for thestart of the play at 2:00 p.m.

Angus had arranged excellent seats in the centre ofthe theatre where we settled in to see AlanAyckbourn’s “Improbable Fiction”.

This proved to be a true play of two halves. In theFirst Act we were introduced to a an amateur writers’club where the members met, in the home of theirChairman Arnold, to discuss their, very diverse,projects. Unfortunately, most of these had notprogressed very far. The Second Act we were treatedto complex, time-shifting action with Arnold’s housetaken over by the characters from the various writers’stories all interwoven. The cast switched costumesand characters rapidly and frequently - back stagemust have been very carefully managed and quitechaotic! This was the first performance of the playbut, as always at Pitlochry, only the programmerevealed that.

The play was followed by the usual deliciousPitlochry Festival Theatre Afternoon Tea. A happyband of members and guests was then driven back toBuchlyvie and Drymen by the conventional route,probably with the sat-nav turned off !

Thanks are due to Angus Campbell for organisingyet another successful outing.

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The Best Laid Plans ... Pitlochry 2015

Our trip to Pitlochry on 28th May proved to bemore exciting than Angus had planned. Closure

of the road from Drymen to Ballat was going tonecessitate a significant detour for the coach so theBuchlyvie pick-up was scheduled for later than usual.The early re-opening of the road meant the coacharrived in Buchlyvie well ahead of the new scheduleand departed promptly. However, before we had gonefar it became clear two people were missing. A U turnin Arnprior garage saw us return to Buchlyvie just asthe stragglers arrived. The coach turned around again,reversing into Station Road from the wrong side ofthe A811, and set off again for Pitlochry only a littlebehind schedule.

We arrived at the Kippen roundabout withoutincident, but there the “curse of the Sat-nav” struck.“Turn left here” said the oracle, and so we followedthe B822, barely the width of the coach in places,through to Thornhill. Here we met a further delay asparked vehicles resulted in a road now narrower thanthe coach! After removal of the obstacles we squeezedthrough Thornhill and travelled on to Doune.Traversing more narrow streets and tight corners wefound ourselves on an “A” road at last and thenpicked up the A9 north of Dunblane.

Though we had seen some attractive parts ofStirlingshire, we were also now well behind schedule.An, almost, unanimous decision was made to cut outthe coffee stop at Perth and travel directly toPitlochry. With no further diversions or incidents wefinally arrived close to schedule and met up withmembers who had travelled by car. The party then

ContributionsTo continue the Newsletter we need contributions.

Have you news, views or information to share withother members?

Have you any items you would like to see included?Contact Arthur Benns, Peter Smith or any committeemember with your ideas.

Editorial team

The cast of Improbable Fiction

Walks 2014/2015

We had four walks in the 2014/15 session, all ofwhich were enjoyable and sociable outings. The

dates were published in advance in the TalksProgramme and were each on different days of theweek to give those with regular weekly commitmentsthe opportunity to attend.

The season opened on 6th October with a 5 milewalk on the waterworks roads south of Kinlochardgiving us a chance to inspect the Loch KatrineAqueduct structures including the pipe bridge overthe impressive Duchray Water. The occasionallydrizzly showers did not dampen spirits and by thetime we emerged from lunch in the Wee BletherTearoom at Kinlochard the sun was shining.

Next up was a circuit of 4 miles from WoodlandTrust Scotland’s Glenfinglas Car Park at Brig o’ Turkon 11th November. This involved a little climbingbefore coming down towards the GlenfinglasReservoir; a convivial lunch beside the open fire at theByre Inn followed. The weather was dry if a littleovercast.

In the hope of avoiding the worst of the winterweather there were no walks in December andJanuary. But alas this strategy was undermined by theconditions on 28th February when we encountered astrong, cold headwind with sleety showers. We walkedfrom Dalmarnock Station down the banks of theClyde following the 7 miles of the Glasgow’s ClydeBridges Heritage Trail, passing the 22 bridges thatspan the river within the city boundary. We had toshelter from a blizzard before attempting the exposedcrossing of the 1853 South Portland Street SuspensionBridge near the city centre! However relief was athand with warmth and lunch of pie and beans (ormushy peas) in the Laurieston Bar in Bridge Street.

The final walk was a 5 mile circular loop fromStronachlachar on 5th March; this included aninspection of Royal Cottage on the shores of LochKatrine, beside the inlet to the Glasgow Aqueduct.Again a little drizzle failed to dampen spirits and lunchin The Pier Café provided a pleasant finish to theProbus 2014/15 walks.

Average attendance was 8 or 9 with a maximum 12turning out for the Clyde Bridges.

There is undoubtedly an air of “The Last of theSummer Wine” about our outings so if that appeals toyou why not join us in 2015/16?

8

Enjoying lunch in the “Wee Blether Tearoom”

Lunch in The Byre Inn, Brig o’Turk

On the Clyde Bridges Heritage Trail

Damp but happy near Kinlochard