2022

Rotary Matters 1st November 2022

There is only one word to describe the RNLI members we were told about tonight, and that is “Respect”

Rebecca Allen an administrator for the RNLI spoke to club members completely unfazed by substantial technical problems with our equipment. That calmness reflects many of the qualities that encompass the RNLI who day and daily across the country put their lives at risk to save people in difficulties from the peril of the sea.

Initially we were given by Rebecca a short but interesting background to this excellent organisation formed in 1824 and in the words of their founder “With courage nothing is impossible.”

Shortly in 2024 the RNLI will celebrate 200 years of saving lives at sea!  95% of its organisation consists of volunteers currently offering a 24 hour/365-day rescue service.  These volunteers are ordinary people, many would say extraordinary who In 2021rescued 53,665 people from perilous situations. 

We were shown videos of crew training which is vital to turn volunteers into professional life savers. Some of this is done at the RNLI college where crews receive practical training in safe conditions, but real sea training is also given. 

Members heard that each year on average 150 people die in the seas around the UK. Rebecca explained that even if not going out to sea but for example you enjoy coastal fishing from the shore you should always wear a life jacket, because if swept off the rocks you are 4 times more likely to survive than if not wearing one! Other tips given were “know how to float in an emergency I.e.  “Like a starfish.” Another tip was always carry your mobile phone, check the weather forecast and tide times regularly, and if an emergency occurs dial 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard. “Do not try to rescue someone by yourself”

To amplify what had been said Rotarians were shown a short video featuring a compilation of actual rescues made over the last 12 months. These included Cliff rescues, Kids clinging to broken body boards in very rough seas,  a medivac recovery from Anstruther and. funny bits involving pet rescues. The real heroic work was also evidenced where in recent gales we saw the lifeboats battered by storms and being flipped completely over by mountainous waves. Fortunately, these modern lifeboats are designed to self-right but what an experience for their crews.

Rotarians acknowledged their bravery in an excellent vote of thanks from President elect Sandy Scott.

Peter Donaldson 1st November 2022

Rotary Matters 18th October 2022

The horrors of war in Ukraine were brought home to Inverurie Rotarians by the Rotary President of Kharkiv International  Rotary club, Erik Avetison. An imposing figure Erik towering above even our tallest members, he, his wife, and his young family fled to Scotland some 3 months ago.

Erik explained initially that his club was a very young club, created in 2019, compared with Inverurie who are 70+ years old. They have 18 members but in the city of Kharkiv there are 8 rotary clubs with 1344 members. Until the invasion by Russia they met every Thursday, now they have to meet by Zoom .

What we in Scotland see on our BBC/ITV does not really convey the true horrors that the Ukrainian people are suffering. We saw some graphic pictures of residential buildings being destroyed by Russian rockets much as we see here on TV but the reality is in the aftermath showed children blown to bits and others dying on the streets. Young Ukrainian women who had been killed protecting children being dropped into mass graves. These pictures brought some of our members to tears. The reality of this evil war was brought home to us all.

Erik then explained Rotary’s responses from first week of the conflict until very recently. Clubs there provided immediate humanitarian aid from emergency shelter, food and clothing. Since then, they have provided laptops to some 150 schools which were destroyed, and now almost all children are taught online. It is too dangerous to group children together. Rotary raised through an appeal 70K US$ and have now provided 470 laptops. They are hoping that laptop manufacturers will also provide additional support as they estimate they will need 12,000 laptops.

Their other activities have seen Rotary clubs provide meals, hygiene products, medicines, fuel and over 1000 meals per day. The need is still very great. 

Ukrainian Rotary clubs have also been involved in relocating refugees, some 6245 families have been relocated outside the country, sometimes to dormitories which are always too full  and are depressing. Individual clubs have helped to provide recreational facilities and play areas for the children .

With winter at hand temperatures fall to -25 degrees below zero and warm shelters are needed. All clubs are involved in providing heating stations made from bulk containers where people can be warmed and also receive medical attention. Portable wood stoves are being built, provided by Rotary. Ambulances, fire engines and other. Emergency vehicles are much needed especially right hand drive as in gallows humour Erik explained the Russians always shoot at the driver on the left sides so missing!

A truly harrowing talk but Erik was confident that his people would prevail but still needed financial support for humanitarian purposes . Another local club from Aberdeen who grew sunflowers raised £6000 donating it to the Ukrainian appeal. It’s very likely Inverurie club will also help to raise fund for humanitarian needs in Ukraine.

Peter Donaldson 

18/10/2022

Rotary matters 4th October 2022

Roary members  are fortunate that at our meetings we have excellent speakers and presenters. Tonights was no exception. We were treated to an informative and detailed talk on weather forecasting by Gavin Geddes, a guest of Howard Hughes our intrepid fisherman. Unfortunately Howard had to miss this meeting but his speaker was introduced on his behalf than our own Jim McColl.

Gavin started his career  when he joined the Met in 1990 when he was 4 days short of his 18th birthday  working out of Wick airport. He was almost immediately (that week) posted to Inverness airport. What followed and for the majority of his career he was an Observer based at various  locations around the UK and was detached to the Falklands. He said jokingly that it was no joke trying to launch a weather balloon in a 40MPH wind while there. Gavin qualified from the met college Cambridge  in 2014 as a forecaster after which he worked at RAF Brize Norton . 

Well travelled, in 2016 he was detached to Gibraltar for 7 months . From Gibraltar Gavin  moved to Aberdeen to be nearer to his family in Wick after the sudden passing of his wife Alison.

Gavin gave members an excellent slide presentation demonstrating what forecasting is and how it’s done.His presentation was interspersed with jokes, one from his mum who kept a stone in their family porch, saying when the stone was wet “it’s rainy and if you could not see the stone as it was covered, it’s snowing” 

Technical stuff followed but Gavin kept it simple for us, explaining some basic points used, wind speed, temperatures and dew point and the relationships between them. These are still used today but since the 1950’s computers have been more and more used. At one point  the Met had the largest most powerful super computer in the world. Nowadays all information is coded up and computerised. 

Gavin’s speciality is aviation  explaining that he and his team cover 50 airports in Scotland and supplies them with 1/2 hourly forecasts 24 hours per day. Dyce where they are based not only forecast weather but produce flood and extreme weather forecasts and special forecasts for oil rig movements.

A lively question and answer session followed particularly from the farmers amongst us who are so weather dependent. Praised for their accuracy and chided  for the occasional blip!

An appreciative vote of thanks  was given by Past president Bill Duncan

Peter Donaldson

4th October 2022

Rotary Matters 1st August 2022

About 20 Inverurie Rotarians gathered together in the KA for our first “normal” meeting after delayed hand overs.  We were welcomed by President Judy Whyte who took us through and updated some business items before handing over to George Ross who introduced us to our speaker for the evening Ms Kate Loades . A number of us who recently visited the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) at their base in Dyce knew of Kate as she is the fundraiser for the SCAA.

Kate has been a fundraiser for 15 years and joined the SCAA in 2019 and wanted to thank our club for passing over a cheque for £7500. She explained that the SCAA had been in existence for 9 years but only being based in Glasgow originally there was a great need to fill a huge geographical gap. Their second helicopter was introduced in April 2019. Lockdown meant an easing in to the tasks set as not so many people were out and about. 

Kate explained that access to the Air ambulance was via dialling  “999” tying a local service into a national system. Local is hardly the word as call outs can range from Braemar  to Orkney, not their usual ares but they work in conjunction with 3  Air ambulances across the country.

Kate quoted that on one day 1st August 2022t heir helicopter did 9 jobs ranging from Arran to Braemar. Sometimes if the call out is close road ambulances are used saving expense as each helicopter trip can cost as much as £2500. To date (1st August) there has been 566 call outs, 100 more than last year so it is easy to add up the total monies needed to keep this important service running. Road accidents and cardiac arrests are the most frequent reasons for call outs and men out number women in needing their assistance by a fair margin 296 to 223 to date.These crews are really caring people as we noticed when we visited. The helicopter always cares a teddy bear for children who need to be airlifted.

Kate gave an example of a local doctor who collapsed while golfing at Turriff . Fortunately for him the golf club had a defibrillator which his golf partner applied  quickly. That plus the swift flight to ARI saved his life. The doctor has visited and thank to SCAA for their response which saved his life . 

Kate happily answer many questions  and was warmly thanked by Rotarian Jim Sommerville, finishing her remarks by advising us that Tuesdays, the day we meet were their busiest days, so far there has been 185 call outs in NHS Grampian’s area.So Rotarians she said take care!

Peter Donaldson 

2nd August 2022    

Rotary Matters 10th July 2022

Rotarians from Inverurie, Aberdeen, Westhill and all over the Northeast were royally entertained last week at the Elgin Kintore Arms Hotel. Where? Well for those of you who don’t know the Elgin Kintore Arms Hotel was formerly affectionately known as the KA. 

Inverurie Rotary Club has met there for almost 70 years! It has recently been taken over by Elgin Hotels who own several prestigious hotels in India. 

I said we were royally entertained and fed by two very special gents. 

One you may well know was our entertainer for the evening Neil Skene and other, our chef/cook and server is a really special man. 

Some of you may have heard of this octogenarian, from Westhill Rotary, revered as a hero throughout his home country India, former Indian Air Force Squadron leader Pushp Kumar Vaid VrC. 

You can see and hear of his heroism and success in the India – Pakistan war when Bangladesh came into being 51 years ago. He was awarded a gallantry award called Vir Chakra by the President of India.

Pushp joined British Airways as a helicopter pilot when he migrated to UK.

He survived the tragic Chinook crash 37 years ago 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9JCSeo5HM4

Pushp loves to cook especially for charities. This event in aid of Local charitable organisation Grampian Opportunities was an Indian Banquet, prepared by and cooked under Pushp’s supervision by him and Rotary and GO’s volunteers. 

Around 100 friends of Grampian Opportunities, Rotarians their partners and friends sat down to enjoy a sumptuous meal prepared and cooked from scratch by Pushp and volunteers over the previous 3 days. Elgin Hotels hearing that Pushp was to preside over and deliver this banquet celebrating Indian food handed over complete use of their kitchen and facilities to his use. A very generous act indeed showing how well-respected Pushp is in India!

I digress, many folks are wary of hot fiery curries, not what was delivered here. Beautiful flavoured dishes of salmon, chicken, beef, pork, paneer cheese with side dishes of papadom’s, nans were the order of the day followed by delicious sweet rice dishes with fruit salads. A banquet indeed. 

Our own Rotary President Judy Whyte did the introductions, having worked hard in the kitchen as a volunteer for 3 days, cleaning bulbs of garlic and chopping spinach among other tasks. A huge raffle followed in aid of Grampian Opportunities again ably assisted by Judy. 

I briefly mentioned above Neil Skene who is another very special man. Many of you will know that as a blind man he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. No mean feat even for fully fit and sighted people. Neil kept us entertained with many funny stories and jokes centered around his personal experiences as a blind person. Just one example was when he was “lost” in Inverurie and asked a passing lady if she could help with where he was. The lady then bent down and spoke into his dog Poppy’s ear telling the dog to look for the street name sign and turn left! Many similar stories kept us all roaring with laughter. A truly remarkable man.

A great night, thanks to the special people who helped and to two very very special men who gave their time and skills to support a very worthwhile charity.

Peter Donaldson 

10/07/2022

Rotary matters 5th July 2022

This weeks meeting saw the start of our new Rotary Year and in the absence of our new President for 2022/23 Judy Whyte who was attending an important family celebration, responsibility for running the meeting fell to our new President Elect Sandy Scott. Additionally Sandy was to be  the speaker who  would talk on his 10 years as a volunteer judge on “Keep Scotland Beautiful” part of the National charity in Scotland for the environment.

One of our welcome guests, Jim Hatter was a former Inverurie club member, now District Governor elect . Jim brought greetings from our new District Governor as well as from his current club Kintore, Kemnay and District .

After some brief club business Sandy Outlined what Keep Scotland Beautiful does involving Combatting climate change, reducing litter and waste and supporting the UN’s programme of sustainable development. 

We all know about climate change because as Sandy  explained,  it is currently  newsworthy.  Global temperatures are rising and this organisation works in schools and in the community  providing climate energy training, plus practical hands on stuff such as litter picking, beach cleaning and recycling. 

They promote awareness for example the fact that 1 million people in Scotland live where litter pollution is acceptable. In our throw away society 478 million plastic cups are used once and thrown away each year. One in ten paths have severe dog fouling. 

In their work they (KBB) Spring clean beaches, litter pick . To be fair  Sandy pointed out that 94% of Scots do make the effort to recycle . 84% are comfortable with reusable goods. 81% believe their actions are important but believe industry needs to do more. Who needs shrink wrapped broccoli or indeed turnips! Members heartily agreed !

Sandy elaborated on how they promote national awards for the environmental excellence citing Aden country Parks Green flag award. He said we all need to take action to protect and enhance our own places.

A lively question and answer followed centred around litter being dropped from cars, especially coffee cups, food trays. Sandy again said “People need to take responsibility and to report to the authorities when they see litter being dropped”

An excellent  vote of thanks was given by fellow gardener Jim McColl.

Peter Donaldson 

5/07/2022  

Rotary Matters 21/06/2022

A bit of navel gazing! Forward planning and a generally good and thorough look at ourselves and our happenings over the last year and plans for our future serving our community.

All of this done in the presence of new Assistant District Governor Paul Lawson from Alford.

Judy Whyte as our incoming President elect for 2022/23 took us through with quotes from that irrepressible Bear, Paddington, yes that’s the one that performed with Her Majesty at the Platinum Jubilee. “Life is like a marmalade sandwich, you only get out what you put in.” This rang home to us Rotarians. We celebrate our past and imagine the future where we ask “what contribution can we make both as individuals and as a club”

Keeping Rotary values at the heart of what we do and hopefully increasing our impact for the benefit of our community. At the same time we want to have fun and fellowship while responding to need within our club and the community.

Judy then took us through her vision for the club under her leadership and how we will deliver. She’ll be busy lass with both her roles as Lady Provost and President of Inverurie Rotary Club. We know she’ll do well in both roles.  While we will continue to deliver as before there will be a leaner flatter structure within the club giving members choices rather being allocated to a committee. Oversight and governance will be by a Council of Non conveners!

Assistant DG Paul also laid out broadly how he will work with clubs in a new District wide structure, keeping bureaucracy  to a minimum . Rotary has 1.4 Million members worldwide all of whom contribute to our Foundation charity, one of the very largest charity’s in the world. Continuing the Paddington theme Paul finished his talk with another quote “ I’m sure you did your best and meant well”. This is what we always do!    

Peter Donaldson 21/06/2022 

Rotary Matters 7th June 2022

What fantastic weather, what fantastic fun we’ve all had over the Jubilee weekend. Inverurie Rotarians helped to organise and manage the big town centre Jubilee party. They set up tables, cleared up between sittings, helped decorate the tables and at each of the two full house sittings, 430 ticket holders each time entertained the guests. 

At our meeting this week Rotarians celebrated the success of the Jubilee event and praised our President Bill for his hard work and praised even further our incoming President Judy Whyte for her planning, execution and also Don Gordon  for being the guiding force behind the event. Joe McDowall was also thanked for entertaining the diners, playing catchy tunes on his fiddle.It seemed that all who were there enjoyed the event .

Our meeting this week was a busy one, our speaker was our own Rotarian Jim Sommerville who talked to us very knowledgeably about Submarine Communication Cables, their history and strategic importance. Jim spent many years in the “Oil and Gas” industry but also did much survey work on submarine communication cables.

Early in his talk Jim pointed out that in a BBC report as recently as 2017 Air Marshall Stuart Peach  warned of the need to protect these cables.

What followed was detailed background report starting with the first cable between England and France in 1859

We were then taken through how the early cables were constructed starting with 4 strands of wire around a core of hemp.

We moved on to hear that the first transatlantic was laid between Ireland and Newfoundland in 1858. Queen Victoria called US President Buchanan over this cable , but unfortunately it failed shortly thereafter. 

Germany produced its own cables to New York via the Azores using it as an alternative to the British cables which by WW1 Britain had the largest telegraph network. Underlining even then the strategic importance of communications on 15th August 1914 Britain promoted cable cutting of the German cables and successfully cut Germany off from the rest of the world. At the same time around the world censors were set up to prevent intelligence from `German agents being transmitted. During WW1 some 80 million messaged were censored.

Initially at the start of WW1 the infamous Zimmerman Telegram proposed that if the USA assisted Germany then Germany would help South America regain Texas! A plea that was rejected. 

When WW2 started all German cables were cut on 3rd September 1939. The German cables were then repurposed by the US and UK for their own strategic purposes.

Cables now carry most of the internet traffic and major players are FaceBook, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Google alone having 10,000 miles of undersea cable.

As technology has developed Cable tapping is currently in progress . Putin has large submarines for this purpose . They carry smaller subs capable of siting down on the sea bed and spying on the traffic the cables  carry.  When Putin annexed Crimea  cables were cut.

A new Royal Navy ship to protect our cables is currently under construction but the project has “stalled”

After answering a goodly number of questions from members Jim was given a hearty vote of thanks by Past President Kay Diack.

PS Buckie Rotary club won the Gavel competition!

Peter Donaldson 

7th June 2022

Rotary Matters 31st may 2022

It hardly seems like a year since our Rotary club decided to meet twice each month rather than every week, however where there is a 5th Tuesday in the month we keep that as “special.” We usually use the 5th Tuesday to have a “fun night” 

In past 5th Tuesdays we’ve had concerts, quizzes. Burns suppers but this week we’re using it for “The Gavel competition” . In effect the Gavel  is a series of bar games, sports played by teams from the Rotary clubs in our area Winners progress and compete with other Rotary clubs from areas as far away as the Western Isles. Given the ferry problems teams are a bit circumspect in wanting to win. It’s not just an evening out it can be three days! Some of the games like Yenga are well known but our club has a unique putting competition where contestants use a copper pipe “club” of wonky design created by the late Jack Henry, a Rotary Stalwart. Trying to putt using this contraption  even for low handicap golfers is a real trial. In the past our putter has been at the centre of competition. President Bill warmly welcomed our two visiting  teams (of 8) from Buckie and Ellon Rotary clubs 

As usual the evening started with an excellent meal at the KA and our President  Bill covered and updated everyone on what we’ve been up to as a club in our community. Although we now meet together twice a month we have been active in the community. Rotarians led by President Elect Sandy Scott have been helping Uryside primary with their garden projects.  Uryside has just won “A one Seed for All School Award” an award that is the highest of its type and Uryside is the first school to win such an award in the UK. Inverurie Rotarians hare delighted to be associated with such a successful  school.

Club members also took part in our annual schools quiz being delighted that Uryside primary had offered their assembly hall to hold the competition.  Keithhall took 1st, followed by Uryside 2nd and Strathburn 3rd.The winning team will take part in the final at the Beach Ballroom  on the 11th June.

Inverurie Rotarians also collected well over £400 last weekend for the RNLI.Other members help each month collecting

 litter around Inverurie and Port Elphinstone  

As a club wE will be helping with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee  and at the street party on 5th June THere’s plenty more over the summer months and our New President Judy Whyte will lay out her plans when she takes over on 21st June. As a club we were all delighted to learn that Judy had been appointed as Aberdeenshire’s Lord Provost.

I cannot give the results of the gavel competition as yours truly had to leave early to deal with some other matters. Watch this space!

Peter Donaldson 

31st May 2022

30th May

 2022

 Inverurie Jubilee Street Party Sunday 5 June 2022 DUTY ROTA (as at 29/05))

Rotary Matters 15th March 2022

Tonight ’s meeting saw some of us back at the Kintore Arms for the first time in months. A live face to face meeting although we all took lateral flow tests beforehand, wore masks while moving about and used sanitiser etc on entry. Even though our numbers were well down, 18 present, as a number of members were still shielding or isolating. It was however a good feeling to see and chat to friends even while social distancing was observed.  Illness prevented a combined meeting with Zoom not being available.

Our meeting started with a former member and previous president being readmitted to the club.  Wilf weir had been working outwith our area for over 7 years but is now retired and back living in Inverurie. A weel kent face members welcomed him back into full membership.

Next up was our speaker well known to us all, and who has spoken at the club previously on a diverse range of subjects such as bee keeping, and engineering. Henry Riddich from Oldmeldrum has been the chair, leading light and driving force in ALEC for many years. 

Many young people will remember the caravans and bus that used to circulate schools in the North East advising youngsters about drug misuse. Harold the puppet giraffe was a favourite in getting a serious message across. Rotary clubs in the Noth East have supported ALEC over the years but times change . There now is LIFE BOX which can be more easily transported and delivered to schools saving £70K per year, necessary as council funds shrunk. 

The important messages on drug misuse to young people are now since the first Covid lockdown delivered on line via SCARF. Many schools now use this method as every Schoolteacher can log in and be provided with intensive lessons. A lot of time and effort during lockdown was spent training  teachers to use SCARF so as to access all the material that is available.

Henry explained that it is still important to get the anti drug message across.  

The second Covid lockdown closed almost everything down again and schools were a no go area, needing risk assessments etc before going access.  Fortunately being online meant that children could be contacted at home but as we move into summer 2022 things will return hopefully to “normal”

Financially though much Council funding has reduced things are ok but fundraising will be needed next year and Rotary clubs will be expected to support anew as they have in the past.

Henry advised that the effect of ALEC has been good. Young people remember the message . In terms of drug deaths the North East fairs better than other parts of Scotland.

Former President Kay Diack gave an excellent vote of thanks.

Peter Donaldson 

15th March 2022                 

      Report on Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday 1st Mar (22)

Once again, our weekly meeting was held courtesy of Zoom! It has become customary on these occasions to invite the guest speaker to be first on the programme and this week introduced by Past President Ian Mathers was Annette Johnston, Co-ordinator of Aberdeenshire Council's 'Tackling Poverty and Inequalities' programme and what a programme it turned out to be!

With the aid of a number of slide presentations, Annette was able to cover the astonishing range of their responsibilities, starting, of course with a summary of the need to tackle the  poverty which besets individuals and families throughout the County as a result of the Covid pandemic. The focus being headed 'Worried about Money' was developed by bringing together a sample group of family representatives earning less than £15k per year, described very aptly as a 'Lived-in Experience Forum'.

Needless to say, a very human element came high on the list of experiences – the stigma attached to being unable to provide for children to go on school trips with evidence of children picking up on the stresses of the parents!  Imagine a family unable to face heating bills, but to fight Covid, being advised that they should open windows to ventilate their houses. Sadly, it became evident that some families suffered, despite earning a wage because  the cost of living was going up! As a result, the  feelings of the guilt were common.  Last September, over 2000 people were on universal credit  even though nearly half of them were in work!

The Council has information and advice services available through a Welfare Rights team contacted through  the Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) Inverurie, being served by teams based in Turrif and Westhill and over the last 12 months 1000 people have been supported with total debts of over £700K! Many people who had been on furlough were amongst those affected.

The focus then turned to elements such as the need for and the success of Food Banks. Sadly however, the problems still kept coming such as the maze of support services developed to assist with financial problems and the burden of addressing the mental welfare of people coping with the stigma of enforced poverty. 

On the plus side, comment was made regarding the work of the Community Kitchen and the help given in re-branding clothing  but still,  a whole new inclusive  terminology had to be developed  to help reduce the stigma felt by many sufferers!

It was a complicated story resulting in a new way of life for a lot of people, all created to combat the vagaries of Clovid 19.  Members were very appreciative of the very detailed presentation by Annette.

All that said, members of Rotary are very aware of the  troubles people have, around the world and indeed work tirelessly to alleviate some of them on a continuing basis. As it happened, as part of the business session to follow our Outreach programme team reported having just delivered bedding, cleaning and kitchen packs in support of some homeless people  moving in to permanent accommodation in the district! Other on-going projects include another litter-picking session in the town and helping the children at Uryside School set up their garden. Lastly, discussions took place regarding our responsibilities at the Queen's Jubilee Party to be held in the Square in early June!

Rotary Matters, 15th February 2022

“As has become customary with zoom meetings, our guest speaker, this week introduced by Rotarian Eric Massie, was invited to speak first with our club business- of- the-week, to follow.  This week, we had an excellent presentation by Dr Vhairi Bateman who lives locally and works in ARI.  Vhairi is an Infectious Diseases Consultant so there were no guesses what her subject would be – CLOVID 19! With the aid of a slide presentation, she took us through the very steep learning curve for the medical fraternity, which started with the news of the infection from China in  late 2019 and confirmed  as having arrived in the UK on 9 January 2020.  Our specialists had to learn  how to assess this new menace PDQ, especially as respiratory infection transferred from human to human is regarded as being very serious – hence the importance of masks, distance, ventilation etc because the virus has the ability to spread  quickly AND change it’s character too – referred to as a mutation. Reference is often made about the R number, simply a measure of the seriousness of the strain.

The priorities for the medics from the outset, as the virus attack was classified as a pandemic were -  1. Reduce risk 2. Identify contacts 3. Prepare for bigger/wider spread and 4.  Somehow, try to retain an element of ‘normal’ life! By March 2020 patients  were being taken in to ARI which, of course, in the short term this did affect other disciplines. As time progressed however, with the development of rapid tests, treatments could now be started  more quickly but that does not necessarily reduce the burden on any of the services!

Whilst the current situation  continues, a long list of chemicals and treatments are being tested, some to tackle the problems of prevention. One challenge does cause concern- what will be the long term effect on patients? Whilst also  stressing the fact that viruses have the ability to mutate, Vhairi listed the immediate challenges as, tackling the dangers of re-infection and perhaps the  development of a route to immunity!

After fielding a few questions and comments, Jim Sommerville was invited to propose a vote of thanks. With some well chosen words and a hearty vote of thanks, the members then turned to the business! This included reports on our commitments to the local community including Litter Picking, plans for a fund-raising WAGS Dinner, continued assistance to local schools  and very importantly our involvement in the Jubilee Street Party weekend.”

Rotary matters 1st February 2022

Inverurie Rotary members were delighted to welcome back as our speaker on Zoom a Past President of our club Graham McWilliams. 

Graham was previously the Chairman of the Rotary Kids out programme and still is involved there. Over the years hundreds of special needs kids have enjoyed fantastic experiences at Kids out.

Graham, well known in Aberdeenshire and far beyond recently changed jobs moving from CEO of Glencraft to take up a new and challenging role as as CEO at River Garden Auchincruive. This is a government initiative to tackle Alcohol and drug  abuse through a programme of rehabilitation.

We initially had some technical problems as Graham was speaking from his digs in Ayrshire  where because of recent storms in the North East our connections kept dropping out, but eventually Graham prevailed.

Graham has an excellent track record in Corporate Banking and before moving to River Garden left Glencraft in excellent position contactually with contracts in china and South Korea.

River Garden Auchincruive , on the site of the former West of Scotland Agricultural college, on the banks of the river Ayr is  some 6 miles from the town of Ayr , and  is one of Sir Tom Hunter’s investments . It’s aim is all about Saving Lives and Growing people.

As background Graham reminded us that last year 1400 people in Scotland died of drug abuse and that Scotland has 3.5 times more than England, and appallingly the highest drug death rate in Europe 

A grant was made by the Scottish Government  but has to last for 5 years and there is a lot to do. Over the next few years the project will be required to generate 1/3rd of their income as well as selling produce they produce on the farm .

Work is ongoing and renovated buildings mean that a cafe is now open 5 days a week and the grounds 7 days per week.

Graham stressed that Auchincruive  is a very safe place . No drugs, alcohol are allowed to be used on or off site.  Participants spend the first year totally on site and are not permitted to leave so as to keep them safe and not allowed to fall back into their old ways. After that they can be reintroduced carefully following methods learned from Sweden and the USA. A board of trustees voluntarily provide Medical and addiction specialist help and advice.

Presently there are 6 people in residence with plans to increase that to 56 within the five years.These residents do not pay during their 3 year rehab time but offer use of their time and skills. Participants are expected also to cook for each other, planning menus,ordering food. Even Graham has to participate and on his second week on the job had to cook Mac and cheese for 15!

Although we could not see faces or learn full names Graham gave Rotarians examples of some of the participants, some of whom are now buddying others and working permanently on the grounds or on nearby farms. Some great success stories. 

An excellent vote of thanks was given by George Ross who as usual had a tale to tell. This time was on turning around the gable of his home during the recent storm, a gust of wind lifted him completely off the ground depositing him some 10 feet away. No harm done he said as a dyke stopped him from completely flying away !

Peter Donaldson 

1st February 2022

Rotary Matters 25th January 2022

Inverurie Rotary Club were fortunate in having to cancel our Burns Supper night to be able to call on two excellent speakers who actively promote our native Doric speech. 

What ensued was a wonderful presentation by two locals. Aaron Gale a Huntly driving instructor by day and illustrator/author by night. Jackie Ross a teacher from Lumphanan with a passion for the Doric language.

Rotary had previously gifted their start up publishing house, initiated  during the first lockdown,  some money and acquired copies of their 3 books for 7 local schools, care homes and libraries which they explained had been a great boost. Aaron had wanted to pass on to children the Doric spoken by his grandparents. His first books were “Auld Macdonald hid a fairm,” “The Puddock” and “Nae place like hame”. 

The  success of these books, so taken to by local kids meant Jackie and Aaron were interviewed by Doric TV and the BBC , both helping to spread the word the Doric.

“Fit are we gain to dae noo “ we were asked ? Well! Funding applications will be made so that they can get into 6 libraries and will place Doric blethers in care homes across Aberdeenshire. 

At Macduff Aquarium they will create Doric stories on endangered species, the Halibut being one of them.!

Also on famous locals. We were then also treated to pictures of two special footballers, one being Denis Law whom the great Pele we were informed said that “he was the only player who would get into the Brazilian team”, praise indeed!  Another local lass shown was Rose Riley who was in the team that won the World Cup playing for Italy. Scotland would not allow her to play as she was a woman. How times change!

Part of their objective is to promote the writings and performances of the local Doric writers such as Inverurie lass Deborah Leslie, well known to Club members who has spoken and performed at some of our biggest fundraising events.

Jackie explained that Doric varied from place to place and each tends to have different spelling. A language/ dialect it is very varied but attitudes to speaking Doric have changed. What was once frowned upon and discouraged is now actively promoted . 

Finally Jackie treated us to one of the bard’s best known poems a brilliant recitation of “To a moose”. So appropriate on our Burns night. 

Rotarian John Nicol himself a Doric speaker gave an excellent  vote of Thanks .

Peter Donaldson 

25th January 2022

Rotary Matters 18th January 2022

Another meeting of the club this week had to again be on Zoom. We were fortunate that it was one of our own members who was our guest speaker as not all potential speakers are comfortable with the technology.

Alex (Sandy) Lamb gave us what turned out to be an amusing and interesting talk on his early university days when he joined the Aberdeen University Naval Unit. 

Sandy has had a pretty varied career and has worked all over the world as a civil engineer but this talk was completely different . Sandy became an officer cadet on HMS Thornham in 1969 an ex Royal Navy minesweeper. Times were harder then and our hardy naval personnel were on an open  exposed bridge  where they  telegraphed any course instructions  below. Their quarters, amidships were where previously magnetic resonance equipment was lodged, used to explode mines, so not exactly the Ritz!

Sandy recounted training off the coast of Collieston with the local coastguard where rockets were launched  to attach them to the rescue vessels, quite alarming said Sandy “when rockets from the clifftop come hurtling at you”.

It wasn’t all work and no play however and future trips took him to Greenwich where beside the college they anchored next to the Cutty Sark. As students they were unaware that a nuclear reactor burbled away in the basement. They also tied up on exercises beside the Discovery Now located in Dundee.

On their return trip north from Greenwich an unexpected gale blew up force 8-9 sending 5-6 metre waves crashing over the the open bridge soaking everyone there!  Sandy escaped that as he quietly told us his duty that night was in the engine room, quite cosy!

Spending a week at the Royal Navy college Dartmouth was hard learning work but a deal of partying and high jinks also took place. One such night a high spirits  event saw the CO’s mini moke driven upstairs inside the building and left with a stone bust of Lord nelson in the driving seat. Boys will be boys!

Many other enjoyable trips took him around the western isles where they were challenged by a Royal Navy frigate protecting our coastline. Not being fully accustomed to the rapid Aldis lamp’s message they eventually identified themselves and avoided being boarded.

A number of excellent pictures accompanied Sandy’s talk and he was given a hearty round of applause . A vote of thanks followed given by Rotarian Murray Matthew 

Peter Donaldson 18/01/2022

Rotary Matters 4th January 2022

Inverurie Rotarians were welcomed to their first meeting of the New Year by President Bill Duncan. Unfortunately like the last meeting of 2021 it had to be held because of Covid Omicron by Zoom. Rotarians missed our last get together with wives and partners in the KA it also being cancelled because of covid but though held by Zoom we were treated to lovely singing by our guest Rev. Sheila Craggs, former interim minister at St Andrews church. Sheila also joined some of our glee club members in entertaining us. 

President Bill gave a short resume of some our community involvement last year which was pretty extensive ranging from litter picking, delivering Easter eggs, maintaining flower baskets throughout the town, crocus planting, seats at Uryside park, tree plantings and much more. Members will continue this work this  coming year.

Our speaker at this weeks meeting was  David Thornber, a world-renowned Rail Engineer speaking to us from Lancashire, (one of the benefits of Zoom)! His topic was Wood Fired Steam Locomotives working on a single track  180 miles into the Forests of Zambia.

David gave us a little of his personal background before the main subject . He is an ardent fan of Steam locomotives and has published many articles in the technical press on his favourite subjects. While working in Singapore  he was an advisor on their MRT (Mass Rapid transport system), a far cry from Steam, but one of the best underground railways in the world.  His talk to Rotary focussed on timber harvesting 180 miles into the forests of Zambia.We were taken on a steam train journey starting in Livingstone near the Victoria falls. This 4-5 day trip was to collect hardwood logs  from the sawmill where the trees were being felled. As senior engineer he travelled first class in 1966 for £1-16-3d, but there were no lights or water on the train for passengers, or flushing toilets, and speed was 10miles per hour with stops every 5 miles or so. David pointed out travellers did so at their own risk. 

One passenger fell asleep and his candle fell over setting the entire coach on fire, fortunately not on this train.

There were no roads into the forest and the railway was built from second hand rails. Girders for bridges were also from  older railways so bridges had to have their supports built to match the width of the girders. The locomotives were also very old ranging from 1800 to 1898.  Curiously a centre “safe” compartment which could only be accessed from outside via a steel door carried the wages of some 900 workers at the sawmill. 

The train crew had 10 firemen, 9 of whose jobs were to push the wood forward from the two tenders while the 10th, the senior actually stoked the firebox!

The wood carried on the journeys was very heavy and often fell off damaging couplings which as they usually travelled overnight sometimes meant that part of the train was left behind and resulted in the train being shunted back often for miles to find the missing carriages. Other times derailments meant that the train still loaded with tons of wood had to be jacked up by hand and resettled on the tracks. Health and safety were never mentioned in those days!

All in all it was a most interesting and amusing talk  and David was well thanked by Rotarian Ian Mathers.

Peter Donaldson 

4th January 2022