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March Meeting
The Annual General Meeting was held prior to the regular Club Meeting and the Office Bearers were re-elected for the coming year. A small matter concerning subscriptions seemed to take up a large amount of time. The Club looks forward to another successful year.
The regular March Club Night got underway, and although there were several empty seats, President Jim MacArthur was able to extend a warm welcome to an enthusiastic gathering of Cronies and Guests, who were looking forward to an enjoyable evening of fellowship and enjoyment. In addition to welcoming 4 new members to ‘581’, he was also able to welcome Paul McCue and Alan Gault from Co-op Logistics, Sam Gault, guest of David McMahon and Tom Jameson , returned after 10 years in South Africa. After Grace given by David Plunkett, the company enjoyed a fine meal of Broth and Steak with vegetables, prepared by Ron Paterson,ably assisted by Beatrice, Jessie and Clare, it was delicious ! The meal over, Secretary Tom Myles read a Toast to ‘Absent Friends’ and Jim Graham got the formal proceedings well under way with a song - ‘A Mans A Man’, - unaccompanied, as sadly Club Pianist Peter MacFarlane was unwell and unable to attend. The main speakers for the evening had stood in at short notice and the first was Past President David McMahon, whose theme was ‘Another Poet’, the Scottish poet W.D. Cocker who wrote both in broad Scots and in English. David painted a thumbnail sketch of the poet and suggested there were many similarities with Robert Burns, and illustrated this by reading several of his poems which he hoped would perhaps whet the Cronies appetite. Ron Paterson, gave his usual polished performance in reading Burn’s letter to Alexander Cunningham - a real skill ! President Jim MacArthur, at 1 day’s notice, gave us a very interesting - and amusing - talk entitled ‘Burns and Satire’, in which he covered many facets of Burns work, and highlighted poems and events where the poet was able to use his skills to poke fun and have a swipe at The Establishment and the Church - a very amusing talk , much enjoyed by the Company. Despite not having a pianist, there was no shortage of singers for the Harmony - Davy Boyle -’Scots wa Hae’,Tom Myles - ‘There will never be peace till Jamie comes hame’, ‘The Soldiers Life’ from Donny Smith and the ‘Mummers Song’ from Owen Costello - absolutely hilarious ! Tom Johnston missed his usual battle with the Pianist, and managed to sing ‘Corn Riggs’ with some twirly bits! Newfound singing star Finlay Bruce gave us ‘The Scottish Glens’ - with just a wee hint of alcohol. Not to be outdone we had fine performances from Peter Capaldi with ‘Young Albert’, Dick Duncan warmed us up with ‘The Cremation of Sam Magee’, ‘The Tree of Liberty’ from Paddy Scott-Hogg, and Jimmy Kinloch’s own piece -’Dad’ - The Undertaker gave us a good laugh. Piper Duncan Drew was at his best, and Vice President John Graham rounded off what was a very enjoyable night with a fine vote of thanks to everyone concerned.
