Annandale Speakers Report of Meeting 09.03.17

President Michael Dickie welcomed a large turnout of members to the penultimate meeting of the season. Before introducing Mr Speaker for the evening, he congratulated the members of the curling team who won the Fulton Trophy in this the 50th year of its playing.

John Reid was in charge of proceedings thereafter and as Mr Speaker, he found a novel way of introducing the various speakers with anagrams of their names which was both original and amusing. Jack Forrest (or Jokers Craft) was first to the rostrum with “Hold your Station”. This was a railway story with a difference as Jack described his early memories of sheep being transported the length of the country by train. A nostalgic piece in Jack`s inimitable style.

Kenneth Morland followed his title “Another Platform”. This was no railway story but a well- crafted piece on the importance of the month of August to himself and therefore his family. This was Ken at his best with a rollicking speech interspersed with many little anecdotes as he charted his path through life. And no mention of Queens!

Completing the first half was Donald Martin with his “Get off the Line”. This was a well- researched piece on the true origins of the telephone. As a Dundee native, Donald was proud of the amazing heritage of a man called James Bowman Lindsay, born in nearby Carmyllie. This man was a self- effacing genius who grew from modest means to become a visionary and pioneer in the field of electricity. He perfected the world`s first incandescent light decades before Eddison and Swan; demonstrated wireless telegraphy through water long before Bell and demonstrated the possibilities of arc-welding. As ever, Donald`s presentation was very well received.

Ronnie Callander made a welcome return to the Club and was in charge of Topics. Brian Shaw was asked about Dundee leading the way in electric cars; Laurie Howell gave two minutes on the place of drones; Robert Jardine on the resurgence of Scottish athletics led by Laura Muir; John Kerr on the rising popularity of Waygu beef; John Cannon on the poor TV coverage of the Scottish Curling Championships; George Gilhooly on the state of the NHS; John Edgar was asked for comments on the recent, dramatic Barcelona/PSG match, but soon reverted to Waygu beef. A good variety of topics, tackled in a good variety of ways.

David Bell began the second half with his talk, “With a String Tied to it”. David regaled his audience with the countless uses of baler twine on a farm. This hilarious account could only be produced by a farmer. He ended on the sad note that, with the demise of the small bales, he had to actually go and purchase a new roll of twine!

The evening closed with David Logan`s topic, “WWW”. David led off with a history of the group Wet Wet Wet, but soon got into top gear when he moved on to the other WWW, the World Wide Web. Here he was in his element and in an informative talk, delivered with enthusiasm, grabbed the attention of members.

The evening closed with the Timekeeper, Alistair Stevenson proposing a well-deserved vote of thanks to the three principals for the evening, Mr Speaker, Topics Master and Critic.