Clubs and Organisations
Common Weal Perth and Kinross Common Weal Perth and Kinross next meets at 6.45pm on Wednesday, August 23 at Blend Coffee Lounge, 274 High Street, Perth, for “coffee, cake and conversation” on various aspects of current affairs and politics. All are welcome to come along and take part. You can find out more about Common Weal at www. allofusfirst.org and follow the Perth and Kinross group either on Facebook or on Twitter at @commonwealpk@outlook.com
Fair City Probus Club On August 16 Club member Rupert Carpenter-Jacobs spoke about ‘Living with a Smart Phone’. Rupert spent 28 years in the IT department of the council but that was in the days before Smart Phones. They can communicate with lots of things, have a microphone, loud speaker and camera and can be a sat nav. Rupert explained that items in the Random Access Memory (RAM) are not saved when the phone is switched off whereas in the Read-only Memory (ROM) they are stored. His Smart Phone has replaceable batteries but now most batteries are inaccessible. Apple’s system is known as iOS but most use Android. Rupert was dismissive about club members who are on ‘pay as you go’ (probably the majority) because they are not maximizing the usefulness of their Smart Phones! He explained that programmes, applications and apps are the same thing. WhatsApp is a good way for families to communicate with each other. Peter Bing gave the vote of thanks in which he cast doubt on whether modern technology was serving society to the good! On August 30 Brian Raine’s topic is ‘My Stroke and Aphasia’.
National Health Service Retirement Fellowship The next meeting will be held in The Civil Service Club, 11 St Leonard’s Bank, Perth on Monday, August 21. Committee meeting at 1pm followed by the general meeting at 2pm. Speaker will be Rachel Prothero from Perth Theatre. New members welcome.
Perth and District Fuschia Group The group held its annual show in the Bridge of Earn Institute on Saturday, August 12. Despite a poor growing season the show was well supported with a number of members of Fife Fuchsia Group making the journey to show. The following exhibitors received awards - Silverlea Shield for Best Cutting F. Adamson; Caithness Trophy for Best Board of Heads E. Scott; Jack McNee Trophy for Best 3.5” Pot G.Cameron; Bob Gourlay Trophy for 3 X 3.5” Pots G.Cameron; John Allan Trophy Best Triphlla G. Stewart; B.F.S. Bronze Medal for Best Standard F.King; A.D.Trophy for Best Hanging Exhibit G.Cameron; B.F.S. Spoon for Best Matching Pair F.King; B.McK Trophy Three Pot class E.Scott; B.F.S. Rosette Best Novelty Exhibit F.King; B.F.S. Rosette Best Bonsai W.Duff; Muriel Roberston Trophy Best Pot Plant F.King; John Mathieson Trophy Most Points L.Hegg; B.F.S. Spoon Runner up Points G.Cameron; 21st Anniversary Trophy Best in Show E.Scott; Gourlay Vase- Best in Members Section E.Scott.
Perth and District Ramblers Walk on Saturday, August 19. Glen Banvie and Bruar Circuit. 10 miles Grade C+. Meet at 9am at Asda car park, Perth or 10am at Old Bridge of Tilt Car Park. Map ref. 43/NN:874663. Registered assistance dogs only please. Further information from Allen Bardwell tel. 01738 444459 mob. 07952 339171. The group also holds Perth Hillwalking Club ticked off two more Munros in August as 34 club members attended the walks to the Kingussie area. See the club’s report below
walks every Wednesday; for details contact Jim Pirie tel. 01738 451314 mob. 07923 457219.
Perth Domino Club League Recent results: RASC Cup first round: Staff Club A 100-88 Saints Hamdani, Black Watch 97-110 Legion Ex Service, RASC Cup second round: Staff Club A 75-101 Legion Ex Service, Ex Service B w/o Staff Club, Tulloch Saints 87-97 Letham A, Tulloch 91-89 Ex Service. Forthcoming fixtures: Friday, August 18. RASC Cup 1/2 finals (in the Saints club) Legion Ex Service v Ex Service B Letham A v Tulloch. Two winners then compete in the final. Tuesday, August 22, Jimmy Veitch Cup first round - Saints Hamdani v Letham A, Black Watch v Staff Club A.
Perth Hillwalking Club The club ticked off two more Munros in August as 34 club members attended the walks to the Kingussie area. The various routes took in two Munros and one Corbett in the Monadhliaths and the Badenoch Way in Strathspey. Weather conditions were dry for most of the day. The next walks are on Sunday, September 3, with a combined coach to Taynuilt/Loch Awe. Two challenging walks will tackle various Munros and finish in Loch Awe Village, and two moderate walks through Glen Noe will finish in Taynuilt. The coach leaves Broxden Park and Ride at 7am and bookings should be with Elsie Wilkie by Thursday, August 24. New members are most welcome to try out a walk and can contact Eric Pryde, Membership Secretary on 01738 445609 or see www. perthhillwalkingclub.co.uk for information.
Pitlochry SWI Pitlochry Scottish Women’s Institute (SWI). We were Pitlochry Scottish Women’s Rural Institute (SWRI), until last year. Now we have a new name, a new logo and a new programme for 2017-2018. We meet on the third Thursday of the month in the Aldour
Hall between September and April from 7.15pm till 9.15pm with a different speaker each evening. Sometimes the talks are related to home crafts, and sometimes not, but we always have a yummy supper. Subscription for the year is £20 which covers all the meetings. For those who would rather just pop in and out at their leisure, each visit is £3.50. All ladies are welcome - bakers, knitters, seamstresses, arty crafty people, or none of these. All are welcome to come and enjoy the varied programme. Below is a preview of the winter’s programme for your diaries. September 21 - Fashion from Pitlochry Knitwear, October 19 – Care in the Atholl Medical Centre, November 16 – Flower arranging, December 14 – Christmas Dinner, January 18 - Scottish recipes, February 15 - Pamper session, March 15 – Crochet for all, April 19 – Bead work and AGM. We look forward to welcoming new members when the session starts in September.
St Leonard’s Probus Club President Bob Leggeat welcomed
everyone and handed over control of the meeting to Quizmaster Frank Martin. The rules were explained to nine teams of Mastermind wannabes and the Quiz comprised four rounds of a variety of topics. President Bob Leggeat, new member Ian McCann and John Davidson were worthy winners achieving the maximum points although other teams were not far behind. The next meeting will be held at the Caledonian Bowling Club at 10am on Thursday, August 24 when the speaker will be Ian Lindsay who will explain the history and activities of the “Perth High Constables”.
RSAS Club
Bingo Tea: scheduled for Friday, September 1, eyes down at 7.30 pm, tickets available from the bar. Cabaret: is on Friday, October 6, ‘Just Beatles’, tickets are £10 and available from the bar. Association Bowls: singles competition for both ladies and gents is on
The St Leonard’s Probus Club quiz winners for 2017, Ian McCann, Bob Leggeat and John Davidson proudly show off the coveted Rose Bowl and prizes. See the club’s report above
Tay Probus Club Our meeting on August 9 was a most unusual talk and presentation by Neil Robertson under the title of “Café Owner Extraordinaire”. Following an extensive career in catering including managing Littlejohns outlets in both Perth and St Andrews, in 1994. Neil bought the Tannochbrae Tearoom in Auchtermuchty and has operated it since. Used in the STV series of “Dr Finlay’s Casebook” the tearoom reflects the style of post-war Britain. Having inherited a love of cooking and baking, and constantly annoyed at his mixtures clogging the curved inner surfaces of normal wooden mixing spoons, Neil conceived the idea of the “spon” – a wooden spoon with both faces curving outwards. Following a long process of evolution, involving design assistance from inventor Trevor Bayliss, prototypes from Strathclyde University and a Chinese producer equipped with a triple axis router and the spare capacity to fulfil an initial run, Neil eventually took delivery of his first order of several thousand packs of two sizes of “spons”. Since then he has sold in excess of 70k such packs – through the tearoom shop, by word-of- mouth, via his website and, most recently, by Amazon. Always a keen porridge maker, and with the improved mixing of ingredients by employing one of his spons, Neil was drawn into participating in the World Porridge Making Championships held annually in Carrbridge. In 2010, at his second attempt, he won first prize and received the Golden Spurtle Award. Spurred on by that success Neil has subsequently been placed third in the World Stovie Championships in Huntly, has won a Gold Award for his jam making and received First Prize for his Cullen Skink. In light of these achievements he has been asked to judge food competitions in both Germany and Sweden. Whilst delivering his talk Neil was slowly cooking a demonstration batch of porridge on a small portable stove. This turned out to be the type of salt-free recipe employed by Mary’s Meals in Malawi, incorporating oatmeal (or other grains) with locally produced vegetables, to provide a highly nutritious meal a day for countless thousands of kids in that country and, increasingly, in many other African countries. Given the opportunity to try the finished product for ourselves, we were pleasantly surprised by the taste and even more impressed by the simple way in which this Charity contributes massively to alleviating malnutrition throughout much of Africa. Remarking that he had indeed given all of us “food for thought”, Iain Halliday thanked Neil for a most entertaining and illuminating talk and members showed their appreciation in the usual way.
Union of Catholic Mothers St John the Baptist RC, Perth, Our Diocesan opening Mass will be held on Wednesday, August 23 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 7pm. We look forward to seeing as many of the UCM members as possible.