New Queensferry Crossing

The weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Kirkcaldy was held at the Dean Park Hotel on Tuesday 12^th December. 31 Members were in attendance with two guests.

Presidents Business – President Mark referred to the Council meeting held the previous day and informed everyone that this year we were supporting the Christmas meal for the elderly at TempleHall in addition to the usual children’s party.Other matters arising from the committee meeting included: The Treasurer confirming that the target income has been raised for the Tanzanian project, the PR committee is looking for extra members and if anyone is interested in helping could they contact Mark Garland. President Mark reminded everyone that volunteers are required to help decorate Santa’s Grotto at Temple Hall on Friday at 2pm.

The club secretary was pleased to relay the fantastic amount raised over the weekend at the various venues, collections at Sainsbury's raised £1487.97, Asda £964.06 and Specsavers Kirkcaldy High St £183.10totalling £2635.13, the Rotary Club had also received cheques to the sum of £1525.00 giving a grand total of £4160.13.

The speaker was Ewan Macdonell with an update on the Queensferry crossing.Ewen started off by saying that they were in the final stages of completing the project which is always sad for those involved as they become very attached to the project over the years. Ewan highlighted what a success the Contact and Education centre had been with a total of 68,000 visitors over the last few years, 18,000 which were school pupils who could get interactive with engineering principles. At the moment there are only 1300 people working on the bridge, however the total number of people employed in all over the project was 12,000, of which 46% were from Edinburgh the Lothians and Fife, and a further 40% from elsewhere in Scotland. Out of a total of 539 subcontracts 300 were awarded to Scottish companies, with 91% of supply orders coming from Scotland. The bridge holds two world records, the first is for the largest amount of concrete ever poured, it was continuous for 15 days, the second is for the longest free standing span on a cantilever bridge.The bridge is capable of being operational in winds of 115 miles per hour and will accommodate 72,000 vehicles a day. The Bridge is expected to open in May, 1 month ahead of schedule and £200 Million under budget.

PP Bill gave the vote of thanks mentioning how great it was to get a first hand update on this fantastic project.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday20^th December at the Dean Park Hotel, this is the Ladies day meeting and Christmas lunch.