Speaker Malcolm Cordwell-Smith

Rotary club of Stirling meeting of 12/10/2018.

President Sandy Farquharson opened the meeting by thanking Sandy Leven for the recent edition of the club Round Up, with it's usual mix of news and humour.  On recent visits to Stirling station we found our planters dirty damaged and displaced by the contractors working on platform 2.

President Sandy has taken this up with Scotrail who fully support us and plan to meet the contractors this week. Some of the planters may need to be replaced and all will need to be cleaned.    President Sandy is to join the Carse of Stirling club this week to interview a candidate to represent us in the next Euro scholar project.    Our outing to Bannockburn House at 2pm on 29th October is already fully booked, consequently a further date has been arranged for 12/11/2018.

Our speaker, PP Malcolm Cordwell-Smith told us about his lifelong hobby angling, clearly something in which he takes great pleasure. As a youngster living the Cotswolds he started with a small local stream, and his move to Scotland 45 years ago, managing estates allowed him to progress to larger rivers and Lochs.  He is a member of the oldest angling club in Scotland, the West of Scotland founded in 1834.  Most of his angling involves Trout, wild and introduced, especially on the Lake of Menteith, which is now the centre for Trout fishing in Scotland since Loch Leven has become contaminated with nitrate from agricultural runoff. Malcolm and Robin Sutton now organise two meetings a year on the Lake to compete for the fifty-year-old Harry Rankine trophy. Malcolm also fishes for Salmon, although almost all fish caught are returned to the river, in an attempt to reverse the falling numbers of Salmon.  A rod caught fish would be valuable, but cannot be legally sold in Scotland, as opposed to commercially caught fish taken at sea and sold directly into Europe. As the Salmon only, feeds while at sea this is a significant problem. The pleasure given from angling was evident not only to the speaker but to the other angler’s present. The vote of thanks was given by Robin Sutton.

Next meeting 19th October is a business meeting, Visitors host Gordon Murphy.

Ian Richardson