Linlithgow

Rotary Club of Linlithgow Grange At the 13th November meeting President Harry Millar congratulated members Ken MacKenzie and Thom Riddell for their recent election to posts on the Rotary District 1020 Executive Committee for 2018_19. In addition, he reported on a successful meeting he had attended at Bo’ness Academy with students planning to form a Rotary Interact club. A number of members had enjoyed the ‘Scotch Hop’ held the previous Saturday with dancing to the John Carmichael Band. The evening’s speaker was Jonathan Cameron, the son of one of the club members, who gave a fascinating insight into how data collected from across a number of government agencies in Scotland were analysed to provide information on health and social trends. This was followed by a lively question and answer session with many members keen to understand how these trends might be better understood. The club also hosted a round of the ‘Rotary District Quiz’, with visitors from Polmont. Although battling with several ‘buzzer failures’ both teams put in strong a performance, however, this time the Linlithgow team was victorious. Next weeks’ meeting will welcome the District Governor Lindsay Craig. Linlithgow and District 41 Club’s guest speaker for the month of November was Graham Percival who has recently been promoted to General Manager of the Air Ambulance Division of the Scottish Ambulance Service. Graham told the group that, on leaving school, he started work as a nurse in intensive care at South Cleveland Hospital in Middlesbrough. He moved on, joining the RAF for 10 years where his skills were used in areas of conflict around the World. In 2013, Graham’s career then took him to join the Ambulance Service where he was initially part of the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service. He explained the work done by the Service in saving lives, generally in the more remote areas of Scotland and he went on to give some examples of patient uplifts in which he had personally been involved. The Service is usually involved in 3500 missions every year. Two members of 41 Club were able to confirm that they both had personal experiences of the service, with friends receiving life-saving uplifts from remote parts of Scotland. Gordon Smith gave a vote of thanks on behalf of 41 Club, both for an engaging and interesting talk and also for the very fine work done by the Service. An enjoyable dinner concluded the evening.