Talking timber with castle friends

A small group of Friends of Brodick Castle enjoyed a very interesting talk by Douglas Johnston on ‘Wood, nature’s genius’.

He gave a very enlightening picture of just how dependent we all are on wood and its products and how many trees there are in the world - about 420 for each human being. It is the only building material which is renewable, and it satisfies all five human senses: we touch wood for luck, we enjoy the sound of the wind in the trees, the smell of the resin and the taste of various leaves and we love to see them.

In the First World War, ac- cess to the European forests was cut off and so the Forestry Commission was formed in 1918 to replace the timber used in mining, construction, paper manufacture and the other multitude of industries reliant on wood.

Anecdotes

During Douglas’s career as an international timber trader, he has visited just about everywhere that timber is produced and has a wealth of anecdotes relating to his travels.

Brazil was mentioned as a place prone to spring surprises, be they of a medical nature or the frontier-like lifestyle of the people he met and traded with. He spoke about working with Glasgow dockers in his early days to luxury camping in Nepal and, at the end, there were so many questions that the tea ladies thought they were redundant.

Douglas had brought some pieces of different types of timber and its products and these were examined and admired by his very appreciative audience.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, October 21, at 7.30p.m. when Tim Keyworth, the castle’s head gardener will give a talk on ‘A year in the gardens’. All are welcome whether members or not.