Evening meeting - Alice Soper

On Thursday 27th February 2020 President Ewen Macdonald welcomed 13 Club Rotarians and 12 guests to this our evening meeting, which was held at the Gilvenbank Hotel, Glenrothes. 

On reception, this week was Peter May.

Our speaker this week was Local author Alice Soper and presently President of the Rotary Club of Kirkcaldy who has published her first book. Alice began working on The Piper of Tobruk, around five years ago, inspired by her pride in her late father’s heroism. The soldier’s gallantry at Tobruk is well documented but Alice, a former councillor in Kirkcaldy, tells other fascinating stories from his time as a soldier in her account. Wounded in battle in Crete, her father also escaped from a prison camp in Greece alongside SAS commander Roy Farran, his prized bagpipes under his arm. Alice began researching her father’s story after her mother Hilda died in 2011, initially to pass it on to her two sons and four grandchildren. She said: “I found this old suitcase packed full of all sorts of photographs of various places, also some handwritten accounts of his experiences in Crete. “They are the most fascinating pieces of writing about how he was captured in Crete and sent to Athens and his experiences in a prison camp there, from where he then escaped with his bagpipes, She said that they have postcards and photographs of two Greek families who hid her dad in Athens and looked after him and Roy Farran. Her father then went in a boat to Turkey and got a pass from the Syrian Consulate, a false ID card basically, to allow him passage. He made his own way back to North Africa and re-joined his regiment. He just walked in one day and said I’m reporting back. Alice said that one British officer said he had heard her father play Highland Laddie at Tobruk was what got him back on his feet and advancing again. He said: “The Pipe Major’s playing was instrumental in kindling the spirit with which the whole attack was carried out.” Pipe Major Roy received medical attention to a wound received in Tobruk before continuing to play. Although Alice was only 11 when her father passed away, she has fond memories of him. Alice said: “He was very correct, and he liked things done properly but he was soft-hearted, he was an ordinary unassuming person, but he got on with lots of different people.” So much so, she said, that while with Farran he refused to call him by his first name because of his senior rank. Alice’s book has been described as compulsory reading for military personnel by Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, former Adjutant-General of the UK forces and Commandant of Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. In his foreword he wrote: “The Piper of Tobruk is an inspiring story of a distinguished and gallant soldier whose exploits in war and peace are genuinely remarkable. Pipe Major Roy went on to serve in Burma, India, Gibraltar and Scotland. He returned to the 7th Battalion in 1944 where he served with distinction during the final European campaign. In 1949 he was posted to the Territorial Army HQ in Kirkcaldy, moving to Dundee as RSM of 4/5th Black Watch three years later. He went to Gibraltar as garrison RSM in 1957. Pipe Major Roy was made an MBE in 1952 but died only eight years later at the age of 51. He was rehearsing to be the lone piper at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle when he suffered a brain haemorrhage.At his military funeral in Kirkcaldy the pipes with which he inspired men on the battlefield were heard again in a lament. His kilt from Tobruk, punctured with bullet holes, and his chanter are displayed The Black Watch Regimental Museum at Balhousie Castle, in Perth.

Forthcoming events

Sunday 1st March - Swimarathon – Carnegie Leisure Centre Dunfermline time TBA

Friday April 3rd Sportsman’s Dinner – Gilvenbank Hotel 7 for 7:30pm £30 per person– our main fundraiser of the year our speakers being Ex referee Stuart Dougal, Comedian Connor Burns and Compere Willie Allan MBE.

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Kids Out day at the Deer Park by Cupar.

This coming week’s meeting on Thursday 6^th March 2020 will be a lunch time meeting to be held at the Gilvenbank Hotel Glenrothes meeting at 12.45pm for a 12.55pm start. Our speaker this week is Derek Sachs from Blood Bikes who transport free of charge, samples, vaccines, specimens, urgent notes and other essential medical items for the NHS.

If you were interested in supporting the community and international projects get in touch by Private message on The Rotary Club of Glenrothes Facebook page. You will be made most welcome