The Chronicles of the Caledonian Society of London 1967-1976 The Chronicles of The Caledonian Society of London i The Chronicles of The Caledonian Society of London 1967–1976 EDITED BY HUGH COWAN Honorary Historian of the Society from 2005 INCLUDING MATERIAL COLLECTED BY THE LATE ROBERT LEITCH Honorary Historian of the Society 1965-1972 & 1978-1982 AND R WALKER THOMSON Honorary Historian of the Society 1972-1976 ii INTRODUCTION It must be stressed that although the Chronicles of the Caledonian Society of London contain much historic information, they are not rigorous histories. They were, and are, written to entertain and inevitably tend to accentuate the positive, deal only lightly, if at all, with less happy episodes and avoid much routine material. Any who seek greater detail should consult the more formal histories or archived documents. Earlier volumes of the Chronicles covered the period from the Society’s formation in the late 1830s until the end of session 1966-1967, and were published in hard copy. This procedure ceased at a time of high inflation when the cash reserves set aside for such purposes lost their real value rapidly thus making production unaffordable. There was a reluctance to abandon the tradition of the Chronicles and periodic attempts were made over the next few years to identify a practicable way of resuming publication, but to no avail. During the period of this volume, encompassing sessions 1967-1968 to 1975-1976 inclusive, it was still hoped that the traditional practice might be resumed and the Honorary Historians of the day continued to tape-record speeches and, in many cases, either transcribed them or obtained copies of speaker’s texts. Fortunately much of this material survives and text records are now held for almost half of the Sentiments together with a smaller number of those for other speeches. For this reason it has been possible to draft the volume in a manner similar to that of its predecessors in which speeches were quoted verbatim when material permitted. The archive material used is now lodged in the London Metropolitan Archives. In preparing this volume, all available archive material was gathered, sorted and summarised and this has allowed the benefit of historical hindsight to be applied during editing. Inevitably, when writing in 2016, the passage of time has removed the author’s personal knowledge of events and some of the intimacy, seen in earlier volumes, is lacking although occasional light has been available from contemporary notes. During these years, the Society sought to maintain the post-1919 annual programme of five Little Dinners and a Ladies’ Festival. The session ran between successive Annual General Meetings, usually held in June. The all-male (even the entertainers were gentlemen) Little Dinners were generally held November to March inclusive although, as an experiment, the December dinner was moved to October for two sessions before reverting to the traditional arrangement. The final session saw an, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to boost numbers at individual Little Dinners by reducing their number from five to four. The Festival came at the end of the dinner season. The various membership initiatives of the 1960s seem to have led to a Society that was larger and more diverse than previously but this may have been at the price of somewhat lower individual commitment. It also seems likely that a significant part of dinner attendances were generated by corporate entertainment, and these changes may have made attendance numbers even more sensitive to the occasional financial downturns of the time. Members seem to have become less willing to attend business meetings and to volunteer for Society offices. A significant change in governance was the gradual emergence of a dinner secretariat. At the start of the period, the Honorary Secretary fulfilled the function assisted by the Society’s Officer (piper) whose duties included collecting dinner fees at table. By its end, an Honorary iii Dinner Secretary had been added to the honorary office bearers. The post of Society’s Officer was discontinued during session 1973-1974. Dinner routines remained traditional. At the start of the period, the Society’s Officer was the default piper and sat at a table on his own. The Selkirk Grace preceded the four course dinner and seems to have been said by the President even when a clergyman was present. The two loyal toasts - ‘The Queen’ and ‘Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Rothesay and the other Members of the Royal Family’ respectively – followed the meal and preceded the first set of songs and the Sentiment which was, in its turn, followed by the interval. The second half of the evening comprised the pipe set, the toast to the guests, the reply on behalf of the guests, the second set of songs, any introduction of new members and the close of the evening. The sequence for the latter was the Society’s Strathspey, four verses of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ sung according to the Society’s custom, one verse of the National Anthem and the President’s farewell. Any Society notices were given by the President at a suitable point in the evening. Variations inserted appeals on behalf of the charities and, usually in March, the toast to the Honorary Office Bearers and its response. Apart from piping, musical entertainment at Little Dinners was generally restricted to a single male singer. A Brother Caledonian (Robert Eadie until the end of session 1968- 1969 and then Fraser McLuskey) was usually ‘at the piano’ to accompany the singer, although some preferred their own accompanist, and also to lead ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Arrangements for the Festival were more flexible while following the same general pattern but with the inclusion of a toast to the President and sometimes also a toast to the Society, the Past Presidents’ salute to the President and the presentation of the Gold Badge to the latter. The presence of guests at all dinners continued to be greatly prized and their numbers were still a major part of total attendances. A particular challenge in preparing this text was in deciding how to handle the names of new members introduced at Little Dinners. Study made it clear that not all those listed for a given night were able to be present and also that some who joined the Society were never included in any such list. Nevertheless, the information did seem to be sufficiently accurate to be of interest and best available data has been quoted but using an appropriate degree of ambivalence in its wording. Total membership was in the 130s during the first seven years but then fell away by about ten for the last two sessions; the number of ordinary members varied between the mid-80s and low-90s, against the constitutional limit of one hundred. Average attendance of members and guests for a dinner varied between 113 and 142, comparing quite well with previous years despite occasional expressions of disappointment. The first two years of the period were the last for which the minutes record the results of the Society’s lists for the Royal Scottish Corporation, and sometimes also the Royal Caledonian Schools, annual appeals, thus ending a very old custom. The reason for this cessation is unknown but may have been connected to a switch to more tax efficient giving using deeds of covenant. Donations from annual surpluses in Society funds continued. Apart from financial support, five out of the nine Presidents from this time are known to have held office in one or both charities. A similar casualty to the published Chronicles was the Year Book that last appeared in session 1969-1970. Thereafter the constitution and rules and membership lists were provided separately. iv CONTENTS Page Number Introduction iii Contents v List if Illustrations vi Session 1967-1968 1 Session 1968-1969 18 Session 1969-1970 41 Session 1970-1971 58 Session 1971-1972 62 Session 1972-1973 73 Session 1973-1974 100 Session 1974-1975 134 Session 1975-1976 168 Index 177 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Number RY Kennedy (President 1967-1968) 1 Menu Card Cover, Session 1967-1968 2 Menu Card Insert, Thursday 16th November 1967 3 Vernon J Eddie (President 1968-1969) 18 Alastair Fisher (President 1969-1970) 41 Rev Dr J Fraser McLuskey (President 1972-1973) 73 George Deans (President 1974-1975) 134 vi SESSION 1967-1968 President RY Kennedy Office Bearers President RY Kennedy CA FCWA AIT Vice President Vernon J Eddie MA BCom Honorary Secretary George Deans Honorary Treasurer John AD Paton CA Honorary Auditor James H Robertson MM CA Honorary Historian Robert Leitch FIAS Society’s Officer Pipe Major JB Robertson MBE The President. In common with many other members over the years Bob Kennedy was an Ayrshire man, having been born in Ayr. He was a chartered accountant by profession and also one of the small band of Presidents to have served in the Royal Navy. After leaving Ayr Academy, he undertook his accountancy training in Glasgow, qualifying in 1938. In 1939, he joined Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Company in London. War service, as a paymaster officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was spent mainly in the Mediterranean. Subsequently he worked for Winsor and Newton, manufacturers of fine art products, becoming a director in 1960 and Company Secretary in 1966. He gave his recreations as gardening and holiday golf. He joined the Society in 1944-1945 and later, as Past President, served as Honorary Auditor from 1974-1975 until 1979-1980. Bob Kennedy retired to Ayr where he died in December 1991, a little over a year after having been made an Honorary Member.