Spotlight on the Attenboroughs

Peter Kerr took the East Kilbride Speakers Club chair for the evening to direct its latest meeting.

A recent aspect of social history was explored in a light-hearted and amusing manner by Alex Rintoul as he brought back memories from his childhood of the limited eating habits of Glaswegians that consisted of mince and tatties, tripe and onions with the occasional fish supper as a treat and how this expanded over the years to the extensive range of Italian, Chinese and Indian dishes, including haggis pakora, that we enjoy today.

Eve Smyth then adopted a studious tone and steady pace that was entirely suited to the speech she delivered titled “Listen to the Silence”.

This was a speech that was both informative and disturbing in which Eve told of how she suffers from the constant noise in her ears due to the condition tinnitus, what causes this, the different forms it can take and how much she would welcome the sound of silence.

The interest of the audience was captured in a biographical speech delivered by David Webster as he traced the careers of the Attenborough brothers, Richard and David, from what inspired them to follow careers in acting, film production and natural history respectively.

David surprised his listeners when he also acknowledged the largely unrecognised third Attenborough brother, John, who pursued a career in medicine.

Harvey Littlejohn gave his age away and had everyone in stitches as he told how, as a youngster in 1935, his parents possessed a car, which was rare for these times.

The car had a canvas hooded top with perspex side windows fastened on with studs and was freezing cold to travel in. A modicum of heat was provided by the exhaust pipe passing below the floor and he described a journey in it beyond Loch Lomond when the heat from this set fire to the footmats causing his father to crash into an embankment.

This resulted in the family having to spend the night in a remote Highland dwelling with corrugated iron walls.

The impromptu speakers responded exceptionally well to the topics given by Ken Murray and Ross Hammond gave beneficial all-round advice in his general evaluation.

Anyone interested in what the club has to offer can obtain details from secretary Paul Munday on 01355 223894.