The sixth annual East Neuk Coastal Path Charity Walk took place on Sunday 7th June with the start and finish points, as usual, in Crail. Eighty-one walkers took part as the sun shone and walkers enjoyed a beautiful day that displayed the fabulous scenery along the coastal path at its very best. More information and photos are available in the Coastal Walk section of our website. Information on money raised is still coming in, but so far has reached £11,341 and has benefited twenty one charities.
The ‘Rotary Year’ concluded at the end of June and John P O’Neill took over from Ian Brunton as club president for 2015-16. Many thanks to Ian for his leadership and support and best wishes to John for the year ahead.
Routine club activity also continued with weekly meetings, social events and some very interesting talks.
Bill Henderson entertained with an illustrated talk about the time in his career when he was in partnership and engaged in commercial interior design. He covered seven years or so in the late 80’s and early 90’s. His talk revolved around the creation of cruise ship and private yacht interiors - with a focus on time spent in Greece. With the political travails now being experienced there, it was of great interest to hear something of an earlier and very different time.
With the aim of ‘getting under the skin’ of another culture, Tony Lodge chose to look at the history of three European capitals – Berlin, London and Paris. From a point 1000 years ago and the influence of global warming on agriculture and population growth, he sketched out the ways in which the influences of location, agriculture and trade routes led ultimately to the emergence and growth of power in these cities. He suggested that the differing histories influenced today’s national attitudes and organizational preferences.
David Partington gave a marketing perspective on the challenges of international business under the banner ‘Exporting is Fun’ - attributed to the late Harold MacMillan. Probably true, but it nonetheless presents many challenges and pitfalls for the unwary and David told of his experiences in the Far East and Australia. Thankfully his audience had eaten before reminiscences of specialty restaurants in Japan and China! Not sure if we were being gently teased though when the story made mention of the ‘monkey brain’ establishments!
Another meeting yet again faced the challenge of a quiz! As we have previously found, a quiz evening is a challenge. With a winning score of 35% no records were broken, but the promoter has mentioned (threatened?) a re-run of the same quiz later in the year to see if any improvement has been achieved!
With so much current news reflecting the suffering of refugees, a story related by club member Ian McBain’s was both remarkable and poignant. On the 9th August 1980 Ian was Second Mate on the Bendearg in the South China Sea. They stopped to investigate a small boat adrift and with engine failed – at that time small craft were being used by refugees desperate to escape Vietnam, following the war there. When Ian’s ship intercepted this small boat there were 76 on board – plus a newly born baby. Thirty four years later, 2014, Ian told us that he was contacted by the BBC’s ‘Songs of Praise’ team who were planning a programme to be produced from Sutton Coldfield - including an interview with a priest, a father Michael, who had himself been a refugee from Vietnam. Ian and his wife journeyed to Birmingham to meet Father Michael who, incredibly was from the very boat saved by the Bendearg!
The full text of Ian’s remarkable story is included below.
August was rounded off by Eric Dewhirst with a talk on women engineers. The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain brought to mind Dr Beatrice (Tilly) Shilling OBE, a Chartered Aeronautical Engineer. She found the solution to a serious operational fault with the RR Merlin engines powering British Hurricane and Spitfire fighters. Engines could stop during certain flight maneuvers, with often-fatal outcomes.
His story continued with Dorothée Aurélie Marianne Pullinger (1894 – 1986) An MBE at age 26, a founder of the Women’s Engineering Society in 1919, an accomplished engineer in her own right and a pioneer and inspiration for women in engineering. She is honoured by the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame for remarkable work of national importance during both world wars.
