Weekly Meeting

Wed, Oct 22nd 2014 at 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Speaker Supply: Peter Haselhurst
Fellowship: Rennie Ritchie
Dinner Duty: Doreen Gray

President Peter McKinnon welcomed three guests to the meeting, along with thirty-four members.

"The John Muir Trust" was Rotarian Peter Haselhurst's title for his after-dinner talk. The trust is named after a Scot, who was born in Dunbar in 1838, the third of eight children, and who emigrated to the USA with the rest of the family when he was eleven, settling on a farm in Wisconsin. Muir was an early advocate of the preservation of wilderness areas in the USA, and in 1890 was influential in the passage of the National Park Bill through Congress. The Sierra Club, an association of mountain lovers, was set up in 1892 with Muir as its first president, and he remained in post until his death 22 years later.

The Trust was set up in 1983, and has its headquarters in Pitlochry. It is a UK conservation charity, which owns and looks after some of the UK's finest landscapes, including Ben Nevis, Schiehallion, Sandwood Bay, Quinag, part of the Cuillin on Skye and 3,000 acres of the Knoydart Peninsula. It protects wild land for its own sake, while working with the people who live there, and seeks to defend wild land when it is threatened. Sensitive to the conflict between preservation and access, the trust set about repairing the footpath on the side of Schiehallion when it took possession in 1998. The path had become very muddy, and in places was 90 feet wide, forming a scar on the hillside. Over a period of five years a realigned path was constructed using local materials, and the scar is now gradually blending in with its surroundings.

Quoting Winston Churchill, who had been described as a pillar of the church by saying "not a pillar of the church, but a buttress, supporting it from the outside", Peter confessed that he hadn't done much physical work as a member of the trust, but was happy to support it financially and by promoting its activities.

Past President Rennie Ritchie proposed the Vote of Thanks.

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If your local community organisation has a specific community project in the pipeline that is looking for funding you may be eligible for a small grant from Cupar Rotary. Send details to secretary@cupar.rotary1010.org Image by Alexa from Pixabay