Dave Parnham

President Mike Birkett began the meeting with a poem about a “Wise Old Owl”, then debunked the notion that the owl is a particularly wise bird. Owls have big eyes, which allow a lot of light in during the hours of darkness, enabling them to hunt at night, but big eyes are not a sign of super intelligence.

We were asked by our webmaster to ensure the details we hold are correct so that everyone can keep up with our latest news. Our visit to the Great Tapestry is on Tuesday 22nd April, meeting at Kirkcaldy Station for the 9.47 train. Remember, if you are joining us on our visit to the May Isle, you need to book your own tickets. We are also going to Newtongrange Mining Museum in June, and you should give your names to Stuart Rennie for this visit. Our first club golf outing is to Falkland, and arrangements are well in hand, as is the programme for Fife Probus Golf. Our bowling group will continue each Monday at St Clair’s Bowling Club at 2pm. At our first meeting, last Monday, we managed to play, despite the forecast. We have had two successful walks on the last two Fridays. Contact Ian Gilchrist for details of this week’s walk. The walk next Thursday will be from Findattie to Lochend Farm.

Our speaker this week was Dave Parnham, formerly of the Roslin Institute, whose subject was “Understanding Animal Research.” The first point is that researchers really care for the animals in their charge: they want them to be as calm and content as possible so that any experiments they carry out give as accurate results as possible. To enable this contentment, the researchers are specially trained, and vets must always be available. Animals are accustomed to the researchers, as they are handled regularly so they feel no fear. The researchers practise “environmental enrichment”: animals are kept in family groups where appropriate and use natural nesting materials. Units are air-conditioned and kept at the appropriate temperatures and humility.

Animals are bred, again to remove the possibility of outside variants, and traditionally there has been no alternative, and the law demands it.  Nowadays, there can sometimes be viable alternatives.  Medicines are tested so that when they come on the market there are no dangers to the patient, and doctors know what is the appropriate dosage in different circumstances.

Roddy McLean gave the vote of thanks to Dave for his very informative talk.

Our next meeting is on 7th May, when David Holdsworth will tell us about “Burntisland to the Solent and Back by Catamaran”, and the following meeting, on the 21st, will be preceded by a committee meeting.

George Laidlaw

New president Mike Birkett opened the meeting by looking at the history of Probus clubs since their inception. The first club started in 1965, when a need became obvious that older men wanted an activity to fill part of their time. The name “Probus” was coined in May 1966. Its name translates as honest and trustworthy, and its aim was “The promotion of good fellowship.” There are now 1700 clubs in Britain and many more around the world, each with its own rules in the movement’s spirit of informality.

Our almoner reported that the previous week had been the sixtieth anniversary of Derek Bethune’s wedding. Our congratulations go to Derek and Lin. The games afternoon went well, with so many activities we had no time for the anticipated domino tournament. Our trip to the Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels is on April 22nd and the visit will cost £25.00 which includes entry, a light lunch and an introductory talk. For the May Isle visit, you will have to book your own ticket. We are sailing on the 10.15 boat on Monday 26th May, and may also fit in a visit to the RNLI station. There is also a proposed visit to the National Mining Museum at Newtongrange, cost £7.50, on Wednesday 11th of June.

The Fife Probus golf begins on 30th April and those interested should send their replies in as soon as possible. The bowling season is almost upon us, and, weather permitting, we will begin on Monday 14th April at 2.00pm at St Clair’s Bowling Club. New players are welcome. Friday’s walk will be to Balmerino to see the daffodils and next Thursday’s walk will be to Heather Hall Wood, walking to Ladybank.

Our speaker for the day was George Laidlaw, who has an amazing store of football memories and knowledge and seems to have attended matches for many of the teams in Scotland. George was representing Football Memories – United – Dundee. This is an organisation that holds three meetings in different Dundee locations per month for those suffering with various forms of dementia; and uses football memories to prompt them to reminisce with their own memories. Does it succeed? As one delighted partner said, “I drive here with this sad parson with dementia, and I take home my husband.” George brought along many cards, books, programmes and pictures, as well as projections, to illustrate the sort of ways the 5-person team stimulate the memories of the groups. He also had a short sports quiz, three alternative answers per question, for the members and handed round a version of “Spot The Ball” after which, he revealed the picture behind the spots was of Paul McStay missing a certain penalty in the 1994 League Cup Final. George was one of those “Dancing in the Streets of Raith” that night.

Jim Husband gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the members.

Our next meeting is on 16th April, when Dave Parnham will answer the question, “Where Do Medicines Come From?”

James More

Before our AGM, President Euan Fraser thanked Stuart Rennie for his marvellous work in producing our annual reports booklet, which can be found on our club website. At the end of the AGM, Euan handed the reins over to Mike Birkett, our new president, whose first task was to introduce our speaker for the day, James More, past HT of Balwearie High School. James’ topic was “The Earth in Space”, giving a full perspective on where Earth sits in the universe.

He started with quotes from three songs, notably “Twinkle, twinkle little star”, and the information that stars do not in fact twinkle, it is the Earth’s atmosphere that causes that effect. If we see footage from the Hubble telescope or other space telescopes, the stars do not twinkle.

James gave us a few facts on each of the planets in turn before giving us an idea of relative distances. The Earth is 100 million miles from the sun, yet the sun’s light reaches us in just eight minutes. It takes four hours for that light to reach Pluto, the farthest planet, and thirteen hours to reach the end of our solar system. The light from our closest constellation takes four years to reach us, and giant telescopes can detect light from thirteen billion years ago. How insignificant our small planet seems when we read these facts!

Stars are not all the same size, and if Betelgeuse, the brightest star in the Orion constellation, was to replace our sun, it would swallow up our first five planets, so big is it. Stars also have life cycles, and we heard of the Orion nebula – below the “belt” of Orion – which is one place where stars appear to be “born”, and of some stars which are in their death throes.

John Stewart expressed his amazement at, and gratitude for, the presentation on behalf of the members.

We were reminded of three events: the games afternoon at St Clair’s bowling club on Thursday 27th at 2.00; the visit to the Great Tapestry of Scotland, where we can hire a guide if the group is large enough; and the trip to the May Isle, for which we were encouraged to book asap. Our next meeting is on 2nd April, when George Laidlaw will talk on his “Football Memories United”.

Frank Hay and Len Saunders

President Euan Fraser opened our 1166th meeting by thanking members for the strong turnouts of Probus members for the funerals of Walter Simpson and Kate Johnston. Most subs are in and our Treasurer thanked members for this. Our dinner at the academy was most successful therefore is likely to be repeated; and members had an excellent outing to the rugby club, though unfortunately did not see our local team win. Two other trips are in the offing; one to Galashiels by train to visit the Great Tapestry of Scotland, on Tuesday 22nd April; the other to the May Isle on Monday 26th May. We will also run a games afternoon at St Clair Bowling Club on Monday 27th March. Our club golf starts on April 17th at Falkland, and fixtures for the season have been issued; Fife Probus golf begins on Wednesday 30th April at Scoonie. Our walk for Friday has still to be decided and next Thursday’s walk will be round Riverside Park in Glenrothes.

We were blessed with four speakers for the day, representatives from “The Briggers” group, who were here to tell us about “The Briggers, The Men and Boys Who Built the Forth Bridge”. This was a most appropriate day for the talk, as the 4th of March was the 135th anniversary of the Forth Bridge opening. We started with two alternating speakers – Alan Sutherland and John McEwan – who gave us the history of the world’s first steel bridge, now a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2015.

The Briggers group are from South Queensferry, and when a memorial was proposed for the 57 men and boys who died in the construction of the bridge, the group volunteered to take on the research task. They searched the papers, the records of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and local records, as well as accounts from the “Sick and Accident Club” a welfare organisation, way before its time, created to look after the health and wellbeing of workers and their families. Two memorials were erected: one in South Queensferry, the other in the North.

The talk was helpfully illustrated; one illustration highlighting the lack of health and safety concerns during the 1880s, contrasting with a well-protected worker on the bridge today.

Frank Hay and Len Saunders answered the many questions fully and expertly. More information can be had from The Briggers website.

Roy Urquhart gave the vote of thanks to all four speakers on behalf of the members.

Our next meeting will be our AGM on 19th March, and this will be followed by a talk by James More entitled “The Earh in Space”.

Beren Rongen

President Euan Fraser opened the meeting with details of two funerals. Walter Simpson’s funeral will take place on Thursday 27th February at 12.00 at Bennochy Church and Kate Johnston’s will be at Abbotshall Church on Tuesday 4th March.

There are still a couple of reports outstanding for the AGM and we need these asap. The College dinner is on the 20th at 6.00 for 6.15, and the rugby is on Saturday 1st. Please bring cash for the rugby refreshments and game. Details of two possible outings were circulated: one to see the Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels in April; the other to the May Isle in May. Partners and friends are welcome to both. The weather forecast is poor for Friday so walkers should meet at the Merchant’s House to discuss possibilities. Next Thursday’s walk is planned to visit Pittencrieff Park, meeting at 10.00 at the usual car park. Details for Fife Probus golf will be circulated four weeks before the first event, and there is the possibility of a games afternoon next month.

Our speaker today was Beren Rongon, of the Torch Trust, telling us of his very different life. Beren was born in the Darjeeling area of southern Nepal, just north of India, and his village was 4,000 feet up the mountain. He spoke of rising at 5.00am in November, when the weather is at its clearest, to watch the sunrise. There are layers upon layers of mountains, culminating in Kangchenjunga, the snow-clad third highest mountain in the world. He drew wonderful word pictures of the mountain turning from pink to gold to orange as the sun rose, all in the space of two minutes. Equally evocative, he took his bamboo flute and played us a piece from his homeland, carrying us far away on the notes.

Beren went blind while young, and gave praise to Scotland, because it was a Scottish missionary who started the school for the blind he attended, at first one of four pupils from different nationalities. They saw his potential, and he was sent to Calcutta on a scholarship in music, graduating three years later playing the sitar, an instrument he had never even known before. Before going to Calcutta, he had heard an inner voice to give his life to Jesus, and once, back in Nepal with his Scottish wife and three children, he heard a call to go to Britain. He is now acting leader of the Torch Trust in Edinburgh, and has been for twenty years. The Torch Trust is an organisation which helps people with sight loss and helps with their Christian spiritual needs

Beren twice played us Nepalese hymns on his guitar, translated into English, and finished with a hymn in Hindu.

Ian Gilchrist, who had experience of India, gave the vote of thanks.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 5th March, when Lee Saunders and Frank Hay will tell us about “Briggers – the Men who Built the Forth Bridge”.

Fiona Brodie

After opening the meeting, President Euan Fraser had the sad task of reporting on the death of one of our long-standing members, Walter Simpson. We stood respectfully for a minute’s silence. Details of funeral arrangements will follow.

Euan then had a look at the significant facts about February 5th throughout the years. This is National Shower with a Friend Day, and when suitably refreshed, you can indulge yourself further, this also being National Chocolate Fondue Day. In 1924, the first Winter Olympics began in Chamonix, and of particular interest to our generation, in 1953 sweet rationing ended.

Our Treasurer reported that the subs were coming in well, then reminded us that for the dinner at the college on Thursday 20th, we should all be there by 6.15. The menu will be sent out in advance. For the rugby outing on Saturday 1st, those attending should bring cash on the day. The club golf season will run from April till September this year, with the first game being at Falkland on 17th April. Guests are welcome, though the Derek Bethune claret jug can only be played for by members. The programme for the Fife Probus Golf competitions has already been issued. The two walking groups are both on a snowdrop hunt: this Friday the walkers are going to Aberdour; next Thursday the walkers are heading for Balbirnie Park at Markinch.

We had an unusual topic by today’s speaker: Fiona Brodie was going to recite a selection of Scottish humorous poems. Fiona has been a member of KAOS since 1981, and certainly knew how to put her poems over in an entertaining and captivating way. Her selection included poems from all parts of Scotland, and they varied in length from limericks to two sides of A4. Every poem raised at least a smile, and there were a good few belly laughs, especially at some of the clever punchlines. Several of the poems were from Fife, and Fiona concluded appropriately with “The Boy in the Train”, probably better known as “The Last Stop’s Kirkcaldy”. After a poem mentioning Leith, Fiona managed a plug for the next Kaos production in November – “Sunshine on Leith”.

Mike Stevenson added to the chuckles with a fulsome vote of thanks.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 19th, when the speaker will be Beren Rongon of the Torch Trust, who will speak on “Living with Sight Loss.” Note also the dinner at Fife College on Thursday 20th, and the visit to the rugby game, with meal and drinks, on March 1st.

Erin Wright

Our 1163rd meeting was also our first meeting of the new year. President Euan Fraser opened with the sad news of the passing of member John Morrison, which was followed by a minute’s silence. Funeral arrangements to follow. Euan then detailed six birthdays before telling us of some of the interesting content of the Fife Free Press of 15th January 1950. There were 23 church notices in that edition of the local paper, and the Burma Palais – as it was then known – had dances every night of the week. The Kirkcaldy Savings Bank advertised their assets of the time.

Euan reminded conveners that their annual reports should be with the secretary as soon as possible, then our treasurer reminded us that the annual subs were also due. Stuart Rennie asked if anyone could provide a tablet or a laptop so that an incapacitated member could watch our proceedings. We are still looking for a social convener. The college dinner is on Thursday February 20th and the rugby visit, with meal, drinks and the match, is on March 1st. Names for both should be submitted to the president. The Friday walking group continues this week, and the Thursday group meets next Thursday (22nd).

Our speaker for the day was Erin Wright of the Dogs Trust and her subject was the slogan of the Trust – “A Dog is for Life”. The Dogs Trust started life as the Canine Defence League before changing its name in 2003. In its 22 centres – the nearest is in West Calder – the Trust cares for 14,000 dogs annually and on average it takes 46 days to find a suitable home for their charges. The West Calder facility is being refurbished this year, after which it will provide 36 kennels (some with double occupancy), a mum-and-pup space and a private handover area. There is a small charge of £275 to adopt a dog, a fraction of the Trust’s costs, but each dog has been vet-checked, vaccinated, neutered and micro-chipped. If you adopt a puppy there is a small extra charge for training classes. The charity depends on donations, legacies and other fund-raising activities to continue, and if you wish, you can check out their website at dogstrust.org.uk.

Erin’s talk was illustrated with many fine pictures of their charges, and videos of appreciative adoptive families, with their new pets. Mike Simpson gave a fulsome vote of thanks to Erin on behalf of the members.

On Wednesday 5th February, Fiona Brodie of KAOS will introduce us to “Funny Scottish Poems”. This will be preceded by a committee meeting at 9.15. Future speakers and other forthcoming events can be found on our club website.