Variety Show

Congratulations to the Orkney team which won the recent 'Variations on a Theme' final at Dunfermline.

Cosy Antarctic Evening

President Patsy Paton welcomed members and our speaker for the evening, David Laird, and his assistant, Alex. She reported on the success of the institute’s recent Silent Auction which raised £835.20p and the performance of Cortachy in Angus Federation’s Ruralympics and Quiz night, in both of which the respective Cortachy team was, by coincidence, placed sixth. 

A reminder was also given of the forthcoming showing of the film ‘Chicago’ in Memus hall on Friday, 30^th November at 7.30pm. 

Ably assisted by his granddaughter Alex, David Laird spoke on his trip to Antarctica, which followed Shackleton's Endurance Expedition of 1914-16.

Alex operated the technical side of the evening, running the slide show to accompany her grandfather’s talk which ranged from the humorous results of taking a shower during a passage though choppy seas to the serious and detrimental effects of climate change on the populations of wildlife in the Antarctic region. He humanised his lecture with views and anecdotes of his family who travelled with him, the Falklands equivalent of the WRI and the apparently uncommunicative but vigilant Russian ice master, who assessed masses of ice encountered on the journey for their potential threat to the safety of the ship. 

Pat Harrow thanked the Lairds for their joint production, for the wealth of factual knowledge of the Antarctic, its wildlife and history which Mr Laird had made his own and for the efficiency of Alex’s projection skills. Pat expressed the appreciation of members for the timeliness of the talk, in advance of the unveiling, on Saturday 8^th December, of the new memorial, at Scott's View in Glen Prosen, sculpted by Bruce Walker to commemorate the local connection with Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. 

She reminded members that visitors are welcome to the Saltire Society’s Kiriemuir branch talk by Brian Kelly of Dundee Heritage Trust - 'From Glen Prosen to the Pole - Scott, Wilson and the Antarctic' in Kirriemuir Old Parish Church on Wednesday 14^th November at 7.30 pm.

Competitions -

Custard Creams – 1, Margaret Mackie, 2, Ella MacKay, 3, Aileen Pearson; 

Pot Plant – 1, Ella MacKay, 2, Marion MacDonald, 3, Margaret Mackie; 

Flower of the Month – 1, Joyce Little, 2, Marion Webster, 3, Gloria Mitchell.

Federation Quiz Night

As usual the Federation quiz night was an evening of fun in good company with a bit of friendly rivalry thrown in to get the adrenalin flowing. Our ever cheerful Chair, Nora directed the off stage operation and mine host of the The Plough, Ian, was question master par excellence.

The evening was very well attended with only three or four institutes unrepresented.

Airlie & Menmuir were equal with 63 points but Menmuir won the tie-break so final result is  - 1st - Menmuir, 63 points; 2nd - Airlie, 63 points; 3rd - Newbigging, 61 points; 4th - Tayside, 60 points.  Farnell was awarded the booby prize and Cortachy's final score was 56.  

l to r - Margaret Dayman, Jane Scott, Suzanne Bennett, Alison Paterson, Norah Meikle.

(thanks to Frances Gazzard for presentation photograph)

Remember - Cortachy Rural tonight, - competitions: custard creams, pot plant and flower of the month.