Speaker Alan Skilling

Rotary Club of Stirling Report Friday 10th May 2019

President Sandy Farquharson chaired the lunchtime meeting in the Golden Lion Hotel. He reminded members that the Annual Barbecue will be held at Tom Thomson’s house on Saturday 1st of June at 6.00pm. The trip to Inchmurrin is on the next day. Alan Rankin reported that he has sent details of the draw and start times of annual golf Am-Am on Friday 24th May to each team.

Our speaker was Past President Alan Skilling, who had flown home from Florida for the meeting. His subject was ‘Engineering Archie’, Archibald Leitch, who was born in Glasgow in 1865. He was an architect and designer of football grounds, not the famous film star Cary Grant. His first stand was for Kilmarnock in 1899, in which year he also designed a new stadium for Rangers, the team which he supported. Leach’s new stadium at Ibrox Park had a capacity of 80,000. This stadium was the scene of the first Ibrox disaster. During a match between Scotland and England in 1902, a section of timber and steel terracing collapsed killing 25 fans. Leitch learned from this disaster which might have ended his career. His later designs used solid earth banks for the terracing rather than steel frames with wooden boards. He also introduced tubular steel crush barriers on the terraces. At one time 16 out of 22 English first division clubs had hired Leach’s company to design their grounds. Among these were Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool an Manchester United. Several of his stands have now been replaced by more modern ones but many are still in use including at Everton, Dundee and Aberdeen.
Although his name is now almost forgotten millions of football fans have stood on his stands. Despite having designed stadia for most of the country’s top football clubs, on his death in April 1939 there was not a single obituary in any newspaper. After Alan finished members contributed to a lively discussion on football, fame and obscurity. That a Scottish architect who had such influence on building football grounds could be so quickly forgotten is incredible in our celebrity dominated society.

The vote of thanks was given by Past President Sandy Leven. Next week will be a fellowship meeting. Visitors’ host is Mike Queen.