The President's Dinner

The Royal George; 120 like minded guests; good food; copious wine; and entertaining speakers; it had to be good and it was.

President Amanda was in fine form. She needed to be. The repartee was sharp and a bit personal at times, but all with good humour. Frank and his team's organisation was flawless. The Auction went well as did the Raffle. The charities to be supported are the Scottish Association for Motor Neurone Disease and the Scottish Association for Mental Health. Over £5000 was raised including the profit from the tickets and the "Heads and Tails".

The "George did us well ", to quote the vernacular, until the last guest went home. Tay street was deserted but photogenic in the dark, illuminated by the bluish street lights. An enjoyable, profitable evening was over.

We have the photos to prove it! Any offers?

(NOTE: The access address for the photos has been e-mailed separately to members)

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Fife Walk - part 4 - Kirkcaldy to East Wemyss

The plan was to walk from Kirkcaldy to Leven, finishing at the Rotary Club but a last minute change was made as Leven were on a scatter night. So to give us enough time to get back for the PK club evening the walk was cut short to some 7 miles in total, ending at East Wemyss.

Kirkcaldy is.....how can it be described?..."unflattering" springs to mind! Lack of investment over the years has taken its toll. Where money has been spent, it has been spent without apparent thought to the effect on the townscape.

Dirty concrete blocks of flats, a beach promenade built in the 1920s, to provide work for unemployed miners, looking as if it has been neglected ever since. Rubbish lies everywhere.... not a good advertisement for the Coastal Walk.

The route follows the Promenade for about a mile. A straight road with pavillions at intervals. In its heyday it must have looked attractive, but now all that is left is the concrete greyness with cracked, faintly pink tile work. It was good to leave it behind and head towards Dysart.

Leaving Kirkcaldy the scenery changes. Ravenscraig Castle looms mistily in the distance. Built in 1460 by James II to defend the Fife coast against pirates and the English it was sacked by Cromwell and left a ruin! The castle rock, a red and yellow sandstone mix has been etched over the years to form a pleasing, wood-like pattern. In later years the castle estate was surrounded by a wall which follows the contours of the shoreline. An amazing structure it creates small, secluded beach areas all along its length. Ideal for private parties!

Dysart is a well-maintained, picturesque village. At its peak in the 17th Century, trading goods from Scandinavia and the Low Countries in return for coal from the nearby mines, it is now a commuter and retirement zone. Although the harbour is still used by inshore fishermen, judging be the amount of lobster pots and other tackle lying around. The architecture of the buildings betrays its Dutch connection with many Dutch style gables in evidence. "Hot Pot" Lane leading out of the harbour is even thought to be a derivative of the Dutch "het pad" (the path) and it is documented that the 17th Century Dysart people were nicknamed,"Little Hollanders".

Interestingly, the inner harbour is accessed from the west via a tunnel through the rock. This was bored to allow easy transport of stones from the quarry during the building of the sea-wall of the Ravenscraig estate.

The industrial past of the area was starkly brought to mind when we reached the old Frances Colliery site. Here a memorial to the mining days has been set up together with an information board.

The route from Dysart to West Wemyss passes through some woodland. Strange things seem to happen here. A gnome like creature was spotted sitting in a small carefully tended garden.

Probably a relative of the ones we saw in January!

West Wemyss was next. Simliar to Dysart in many ways it has been extensively renovated in recent years. The following extract from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning/About/3286 gives the background to the redevelopment and conservation.

" The village of West Wemyss is a rare surviving example of a planned estate burgh. Its origins date back over 500 years, but it is essentially a mining village, which thrived in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. It is a picturesque village, which enjoys an attractive setting on the Firth of Forth. But it had been in decline for over a century and before this Initiative contained the single largest concentration of derelict listed buildings in the whole of Fife. Almost one fifth of its 100 buildings were derelict and another 15 vacant. The Main Street in the centre of the village was lined by a continuous row of 14 decaying listed buildings, set within a large area of derelict ground that once housed the Wemyss Pit and gas works. Decline in the last 20 years had been rapid. The population had halved in this period and fallen from over 750 in 1945. The last shop and post office had closed and the village pub ceased trading. Previous initiatives by Wemyss Properties, the owners of the derelict property, had failed to stem the decline or tackle the main problems and as a result, community confidence was at an all time low."

Funding was obtained from a number of sources with the result that West Wemyss today is a gem on the Fife Coast and is well worth a visit.

Onwards from West Wemyss to East Wemyss through a more industrial area with scrapyards right on the beach. Not a pretty site!

Close to East Wemyss, we found an ice-cream van but no ice cream! In the same location we found enough tyres for the bogie race. Anyone willing to collect?

So that was it, another walk completed but without the Rotary visit. Next time..... Leven, here we come!

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Convenors' Reports

Youth and Vocation Report

First of all my thanks to all who helped out with the mock interviews at Strathallan. The youngsters do appreciate it and whilst it is always a thought to commit to doing it, I think that without exception everyone enjoys it once they are there. My thanks too to Nick for his excellent hospitality.

I have contacted George Bowmaker of Sports Aid regarding the presentation of a cheque for £250 to Rachel Wood the young gymnast we have agreed to sponsor this year, and am waiting to hear from him.

We have received a copy of a letter from the English National Ballet School to Shaun Kelly (the young dancer we provided funding for earlier this year for his participation at a Dance School in Australia) offering him a place at the School and confirming that in recognition of his talent he has been awarded a scholarship for half the full fees for 2007/2008 which are £12,700! The Committee will consider the request for assistance at the meeting on Tuesday 9 April.

We were approached by the Perth Club to sponsor a candidate for RYLA as Perth St John's and themselves had rececived applications from 5 candidates and there was nothing to chose between them (Perth St John's and the Perth Club are each going to sponsor 2 candidates). After consulting the members of the committee I was able to speak to at last week's meeting I recommended to Council that we agree and have advised the Perth Club.

Council also agreed that the Club would organise the Zone 5 final of the Primary School Quiz which will take place, probably towards the end of May. Watch this space as we will be looking for volunteers to help out.

Hopefully more about the Young Artist Competition next time.........

Janet