Clubs News
Crieff Probus Club
On November 15 members were treated to a talk by Morag Urquhart on ‘Galapagos Islands: Folk, Flora and Fauna’.
Morag was a member of the RAF for 37 years, reaching the rank of group captain.
She was brought up in Tanzania, then Tanganyika, and was fascinated by the natural world from an early age, a passion that was reignited in the late 1980s.
The talk accompanied a photographic record of a trip Morag made to the Galapagos Islands.
She started by giving members a potted history of the islands, which are on the Equator off the coast of Ecuador. Ocean currents and weather patterns have isolated and fashioned the islands over millennia, leading to the development of a distinctive flora and unique fauna.
Morag also drew attention to literary links, most notably the classic novels ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Moby Dick’, both inspired by true events involving the Galapagos archipelago.
The islands have been a national park for over three-quarters of a century. The Charles Darwin Scientific Centre was established in 1959, recognising their scientific importance, and in 1978 the islands were awarded World Heritage Site status, recognising their unique place in natural and scientific history.
The largest island, Isla Isabela, is actively volcanic. The others, including Santa Cruz the main centre of population, although of volcanic origin, are currently inert.
The flora of the islands tends to tall vegetation of typical tropical plants.
However, much of the wildlife is unique to the islands, indeed often to one particular island, a feature noted particularly by Charles Darwin. Those observations were instrumental in developing his master thesis ‘The Origin of Species’.
Morag presented a delightful picture show of the flora and fauna of the islands, concentrating mostly on the fauna, from the mocking birds and lava herons to flightless cormorants and iguanas that are undersea grazers on seaweed, as well as fur seals, sea lions and not forgetting the large, long-living Galapagos tortoises.
The vote of thanks was given by Joe Lamont.
Crieff Bridge Club
Results for the weekly match pointed pairs, held in Crieff Golf Club on December 6, were: 1 Irene Cuthbert and Jim Bradley (64%), 2 Margaret and Graham Tate (63%), 3 Jim Harley and Donald Smith (61%), 4 Sheila Vass and Eric Starritt (57%).
Comrie Probus Club
After welcoming a large turnout to the meeting on November 30 president David Anderson introduced Janet Reay, a trading standards officer with Perth and Kinross Council, whose subject was scams awareness and how to combat them.
The aim of trading standards is to provide a level playing field in business practice for both consumers and business.
They do this supported by legislation under weights and measures and consumer protection as well as dealing with referrals from the Citizens’ Advice consumer hotline.
They define scams as misleading or deceptive business practice. These include bogus lotteries, where a letter is received saying that you have won the lottery asking for name, address and bank information details.
If you provide these you are likely to be placed on a gullible consumer list, which is sold on to other parties and can result in you receiving volumes of letters per day.
Other scams include catalogue prize draws selling vastly overpriced items, miracle health cures, long-lost relatives who have died and left you money, fugitives on the run needing help, children needing an operation, fake investments, vishing and spoofing, which mainly involve telephone banking scams.
The best ways to combat these are by not giving out sensitive personal information such as a PIN number and simply putting the phone down.
Computer virus scams claim there is a virus on your computer which they can fix or that they are from BT or Plusnet and there is a problem with your broadband. Phishing involves receiving e-mails from banks, Paypal or HMRC requesting confirmation of account numbers, PIN numbers and passwords. You should never use the links in these emails.
Another scam involves fake clairvoyants and seems to originate in Switzerland.
Trading standards focus on prevention rather than relying solely on enforcement.
This action includes press releases, tweet alerts, talks to groups, leaflets, confidential advice, liaising with other organisations and a national scams hub.
Scam reporting is also strongly encouraged since many occurrences go unreported.
Advice on protection includes: being sceptical, taking your time, knowing who you are dealing with, protecting financial information, being aware of anyone requesting payment by money transfer or UKASH vouchers.
Other advice includes a Who Is website where you can find out where companies are registered.
You should also register on the Telephone Preference Service list to prevent bogus calls.
It is also wise to pay by credit card for items over £100 since a level of cover is provided by the card company in the event of any loss.
You can also be vigilant in identifying and reporting serious cases of vulnerability to scams in others.
Signs include: receiving volumes of junk mail, piles of mail in the house, having a house full of cheap goods, frequent telephone calls from strangers, being secretive about finances, large unexplained withdrawals of money or transferring money abroad, withdrawal from social relationships.
A wide range of questions followed and the vote of thanks was proposed by Richard Murray.
At the December 14 meeting Colin Carr will talk about Stirling Castle. It is the last meeting of 2016.
Crieff Accordion and Fiddle Club
The club met in the Royal British Legion Scotland clubrooms.
Although members of the audience were fewer than in previous months, there were no shortage of players.
An excellent night of music was enjoyed and players were given a chance to play three sets.
Joan Blue and Gerry Boxall were backing players for the evening, playing all night with no guest artist.
On accordion were George Brunton, Stewart Smith, Irene Anderson, Joyce Hope, Liam Hope, Robert Miller, Robert Dykes, Chic Boath, Hamish Reid and Fred Davidson.
Michael, a young Romanian, played piano as well as accordion.
Robert Miller appeared for the first time with his accordion, having only been learning for a year.
Fiddlers for the evening were Gordon Walker, Pamela Warren, Stewart Reid and Anna Fraser.
Stewart Reid played solo fiddle, which is always enjoyed by the audience.
There was hardly a repeat of any music during the evening.
The usual stramash at the end was led by Irene Anderson.
There is no meeting in January. The next meeting is February 2, when the club will be joined by the Charlie Kirkpatrick Trio.
Soroptimist International
SI Crieff welcomed Lexi Smart from Dundee, who spoke about the SI of Great Britain and Ireland international conference held in Malta.
She told members how inspired she was, hearing about all the work other clubs are doing, and pointed out that the SIGBI president’s focus this year is on girls in engineering and closing the gender gap.
One of the many inspiring speakers at the conference was the first Briton to go into space, Helen Sharman. Lexi encouraged all the members to attend the next international conference, which will be held in Cardiff.
The club recently welcomed Andrew Clegg to give an interesting and amusing talk on Jane Austen.
Andrew spoke about incidents in a number of her books that people would consider everyday occurrences now but were much more significant at the beginning of the 19th Century, when she was writing, and the importance of a good marriage for a woman’s social standing at that time.
A number of guests came along to listen to Andrew who, as usual, was extremely entertaining.
Some members joined president-elect Mahri Lawie at her home to decorate and sew winter hand muffs for people suffering from dementia, adding “bits” to provide something to occupy restless or agitated hands. The muffs are being made to distribute to care homes in the area.
Strathearn JAC
Thursday’s meeting is at Ceramic Experience, Crieff, at 7.30pm. The cost is £10 per person. For more details contact Paul on 07875 526813 or Sarah on 07792 460157.