St Andrews in Focus Issue 34 May Jun 2009

St Andrews in focus • shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

May / June 2009, Issue 34, £1.50

the award winning magazine for St Andrews www.standrewsinfocus.com

St Andrews in focus • shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

From the Editor I love clouds. Many’s the hour I’ve spent sprawled on my back in a field watching patterns against the blue folding and unfolding, drifting, or scurrying cloud formations, occasionally tinged with rainbows high in the ether. It’s a wonderful way to clear the brain, to let the imagination soar. I’ve discovered there’s even a Cloud Appreciation Society – from a book gifted to me, published in 2007, filled with photos of clouds from many contributors. The cover has ‘a pig with six legs’, and inside there’s quite a convincing fish, golden eagle, etc. Then there’s one entitled, ‘a proud mother greets her daughter after the first day at school’. Now I can’t really see that one, it surely requires a bit of an imaginative effort. It set me thinking about the nature of truth. In these relativistic days, truth appears to be whatever you choose to believe: clouds, shadows of reality. “What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer.” Time we all stayed – to listen, to learn.

Flora Selwyn

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The views expressed elsewhere in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor.

MAY / JUNE 2009 EDITOR Flora Selwyn Tel: 01334 472375 Email: editor@standrewsinfocus.com Designer University of St Andrews Reprographics Unit Printer Trendell Simpson Distributer Elspeth’s of Guardbridge Publisher (address for correspondence) Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd., PO Box 29210, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9YZ. Tel: 01334 472375 Email: editor@standrewsinfocus.com SUBSCRIPTIONS St Andrews in Focus is published 6 times a year.

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Please send cheques to: Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd., PO Box 29210, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9YZ.

Contents FEATURES • “A very privileged life...”

• Madras College FP Girls Club • Uniting St Andrews • Hamish – again!

• Having it all • A Scottish Lament • Ducks Crossing • Reviews – Pilgrimage – A Hesitant Opening of Parasols • Photo Teaser • Hospital Bloomers • Toonspot

8 9 10 10 10

Shops & Services • Inspired Regeneration • Golf Hotel Winner • The Property Market • Andrew Wright advises • Happy Eating!

• Kerachers Fishmongers • Belt-tightening?

• Roving Reporter

11 13 14 15 15 16 16 18

ORGANISATIONS • APRS • Early Music • The Sailing Club • University’s G & S Society

20 21 21 22

TOWN/gown • Holy Footprint !!

• Bosnia & Herzegovina • A best-kept secret • Zoologist extraordinaire • Not the first encounter with Russia

23 24 25 26 27

EVENTS • Ladies Lake • Malcolm Cheape • “Music says it all!”

• The Beltaine Fayre • St Andrews Play Club • Selected Events

28 28 29 29 30 30

Out and About • Madeira – why not?

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3 4 5 5 6 6 7

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Cover – Original photo by Richard Cormack: the water garden, St Andrews Botanic Garden

FEATURES Lorn Macintyre talked to Flora Selwyn about his

“very privileged life…”

Lorn Macintyre and St Andrews are inherently linked. The beautiful book ‘St Andrews: Portrait of a City’, about to appear in its 4th edition, has Lorn’s text complementing Peter Adamson’s photographs in a seamless, irresistible work of art.

Born “in the shadow of Ben Cruachan” in Taynuilt, Argyll, Lorn had the good fortune to benefit from the close family friendship of Angus Campbell, XXth Captain of Dunstaffnage, whose mansion house at Connel had burnt down in 1940, “incinerating some of the treasures of Scotland, and also my mother’s presents from her wedding a few months before.” Lorn’s grandmother was housekeeper and confidante to the Captain, a bachelor, and she would accompany Lorn to the ruin to pick up “shards of glass from the bay window, which visitors had signed with a diamond.” Among the original signatures was that of Princess Esterhazy, “whose family had been patrons of Haydn.”

Lorn and his brothers enjoyed rides in the Captain’s Rolls-Royce to visit Dunstaffnage Castle, the Captain’s historic family seat, “for lessons in Scottish history,” for the Captain was convinced that the Stone of Destiny had once resided there.

These early introductions into the history of his native land formed the basis of Lorn’s enduring, deep love of all things Scottish. His father, Angus Macintyre, was a Gaelic speaker.

When Lorn was a teenager, the family moved to Tobermory, on Mull, where his father became the Island’s bank manager. Gaelic became an obsession with him. The story is recounted in Lorn’s Tobermory Tales, published in 2003, in which Lorn’s father spends his time closeted with islanders, hearing their Gaelic stories, then sharing them with his family. It was the beginning of Lorn’s abiding interest in the paranormal, for the islanders were gifted (or cursed, as they would have it) with the second sight. “It became very apparent that our family were in fact custodians of these kinds of stories, because a lot of the old people were very shy and retiring, and wouldn’t speak to other people,” yet implicitly trusted their bank manager in complete confidence. Indeed, without Lorn’s father, and Lorn’s gift for writing, much of this oral history would have disappeared along with the old folk. “When I sit down and write these stories it’s as if my father is speaking at my ear.”

Lorn says he finds it quite painful returning to Tobermory, for the town has changed, and old friends have passed away.

Language being such a rich source of inspiration, it was natural for Lorn to study English for his degree at Stirling University.

A doctorate from Glasgow University, based on Sir Walter Scott, followed. There was an added bonus: “I met my wife Mary at university, and for forty years she has been an inestimable support in all ways – including on the dance floor, when I forget the steps in a strathspey!” Furthermore, Lorn believes, “I probably hold some kind of record for ceilidh dancing, because in my heyday in Glasgow, I used to go to three separate dances on a Friday night – from 8.00pm until 1.00am, when I would dance about 50 dances, including three or four eightsome reels, and with young people half

my age!” It demonstrates wonderfully the potential that Scottish dance has for fitness training!

Merchiston Castle, the boys’ independent school in Edinburgh, saw Lorn as Head of English. However, since such a post is allabsorbing, there was not enough time for Lorn to pursue his deep need to write. Freelance journalism and writing took over, heralding Lorn’s life work, “specialising in higher education, medicine, and the profiles of writers. I worked quite extensively, and was one of the first people in the 1980s to write about AIDS when it manifested in Edinburgh. The Glasgow Herald sent me down to Oxford and Cambridge to see what research was being done there.” The challenge, Lorn says, was to understand the science and get it accurate. “There was a tremendous lot of freelance work going at the time, so I was never idle.”

Mary and Lorn moved to St Andrews in 1985 and “have never regretted it.” Involved with dancing, including with students, or enjoying both the University and St Leonards Chapel Choirs, “makes St Andrews a very special place. In bleak December, when the students have gone home for the vacation, we feel bereft.” While Mary taught at St Leonards School, Lorn continued writing and worked for the BBC, helping to make Gaelic television programmes centered on the culture he holds so dear. The paranormal perennially inspires and intrigues him, reinforced as it was during his young days at Dunstaffnage. “The night before the Captain died in his house down the drive we heard footsteps on our stairs. When we went to put the lights on we could see the boards moving, but there was nobody on the stairs. This is the kind of imaginative introduction we had to the fact that there is another world, and that you don’t ignore it. I’ve had experiences myself and studied the paranormal very extensively over the years. It was an accepted part of life in very quiet communities in the Highlands and Islands.”

Drawing together these many strands in his life, Lorn has just published a new novel called Heavenly Pursuits (available through bookshops and on the internet) in which he attempts “to help to establish a new genre of fiction, using as its basis actual episodes from the annals of the paranormal”. The story is set in Wester Ross just before the last war.

One of the characters is a medical student at St Andrews University who holidays with her uncle, the local GP. He takes a gifted medium into his house, who produces terrifying manifestations, causing the doctor to be condemned in the community.

Lorn is also the author of the Chronicles of Invernevis, based partly on his upbringing at Dunstaffnage House and the stories his grandmother told him about the Dunstaffnage family history. His poetry collection, A Snowball in Summer, was published earlier this year to critical praise.

Any thoughts of retirement? “No, I don’t think you can retire.

You want to keep writing and dancing as long as you can!”

Mary and Lorn moved to St Andrews in 1985 and “have never regretted it.”

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FEATURES Kathryn Robertson, Club President, tells the story of

100 years of the Madras College FP (Former Pupils) Girls’ Club The Club was formed in October 1908. A large and enthusiastic That first January dance with the FP Boys must have been committee quickly got activities underway. Meetings were fortnightly, successful, as another was held in 1909. In later years arguments with a special evening each month; November was a celebration of arose about the suitability of inviting non-FP boys – all such had to be St Andrews night; December, a whist evening; January, a dance with approved by the committee before an invitation could be given. A party the FP Boys. The ladies were of independent minds, of music, dancing, and games for 100 children from and not always in tune with the Rector, who tried the poorest families of the town’s east end was to influence the Club rather more than its members organised by Club members, who continued this Today, 135 members were willing to accept! The place of women in the treat and the supply of garments in subsequent scheme of things in 1908 was not at all what it is years, the Cottage Hospital also being included from all corners of the today – it is to the credit of these early members that as benefactor. Money raised by sales of cake and UK, and even Canada, candy provided gifts for the School, such as a they stood up for their right to be in charge of their own Club. They started a golf section, subscription bookcase for the library, and £4 for the FP Hockey keep the aspect of 1/- (one shilling), organising their own competitions.

Club. Treats were also organised for the members. friendship going strong Regular picnics in nearby parks, and a golf outing to It was a great success, and non-FPs were so keen to join that after a few years it broke away from the St Michaels are mentioned in the minutes, though Club to become the St Regulus Ladies Golf Club, still not the mode of transport. flourishing today.

In 1913, war in Europe was becoming a reality.

At the end of its first year, the surplus funds amounted to £2 Donations of 3 guineas were made to the Prince of Wales Fund and 15s with which the Club bought pictures to decorate the School the Belgian Relief Fund. A never-ending supply of goods for local classrooms. The 33 members were very active in social work in the needs continued, plus socks and scarves for the men in the trenches; community, producing and distributing 120 garments to the town’s ‘Comforts for the Troops’ included cigarettes and matches! All this, and needy. In those pre-Welfare State days, there was plenty of real need. there was still time for hockey, tennis, and golf matches, leading to some When the Rector resigned from his position as Hon. President, the quite heated committee meetings, as can be imagined.

Club’s forward-thinking committee had a freer rein. The tie, however, The 1920s saw more government care for the poor. Money raised was not completely broken and friendly relations have continued to this by the Club supported the work of the School, in music, games, and day. the library, as well as workshops with the Byre Theatre, and the Madras Endowment fund. The Club’s 50th Anniversary was marked by the donation of a hockey cup, competed for by the School’s girls’ houses. Over the years, too, there was a continuing supply of medals and prizes for geography, arts, golf. Local charities still benefit, and the Club recently gifted the Scottish Saltire to the School, flying proudly in front of the South Street building.

Today, 135 members from all corners of the UK, and even Canada, keep the aspect of friendship going strong. Regular newsletters keep everyone in touch. Our very special treat was our Centenary Lunch at Rufflets Hotel in November 2008. It was a resounding success, with all 135 ladies catching up on the intervening years, while enjoying the best that Rufflets had to offer in its lovely new wing. Simply wonderful!

So, bring on the next 100 years. The Club is in good heart and ready for it.

Ladies who left Madras around 1961.

(Courtesy Kathryn Robertson.)

For further information please contact the Secretary, Irene Bennett, 01334 472 823.

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FEATURES Patrick Laughlin, Manager, St Andrews World Class Initiative

Uniting St Andrews?

– new partnership body proposed This will be the last column to appear in the world, and the mood of the times locally is St Andrews in Focus under the banner of very much one of collaboration and working “St Andrews World Class”. Originally set up in together. Both Scottish Enterprise and Fife 2003-04, the World Class Initiative has been Council have recently given strong indications the subject of much comment, a fair amount that they are keen to continue supporting of praise, and also occasional vilification! Its some sort of successor body (though no formal stated aim of “helping make St Andrews an commitments have yet been made). even better place to live, work and visit” has Accordingly, wider consultation around been widely supported, but some of its priorities the town is now under way on proposals to have on occasion been questioned in the local set up what at this stage is being named (as a community, with some believing too much working title) The St Andrews Partnership. The attention has been focussed on tourism and not proposed Partnership would take forward the enough on improving the quality of life for local collaborative spirit, and some of the activities, people. of the St Andrews World Class Initiative, but will However, even those who have questioned seek to do so in an even more open, inclusive, the efficacy of “World Class” in the past and participative manner. It would be led by would have to agree that the Initiative has local people, and would aim to introduce holistic been highly successful in bringing together and sustainable methods of looking after and local organisations, public promoting our historic, agencies, and private yet forward-looking, town, the mood of the times businesses to create an helping to place it at the locally is very much umbrella body of a type which forefront of modern Scotland. has not existed in St Andrews One point which has one of collaboration for at least a generation. already been well made, and working together though, is that the new Over 40 people are active participants in the various Partnership must be actioncommittees and working groups set up by the oriented (not just another talking shop!) and Initiative. They all recognise that whilst much should add value to, rather than duplicating, has been achieved, even more remains to be the work of existing organisations such as the done if the town is truly to become world class Community Council, the Preservation Trust, the as well as world famous.

Pilgrim Foundation, and the new “Stunning It has been known for some time that St Andrews” campaign group.

St Andrews World Class in its current A draft “mission statement” for the new incarnation will come to an end in summer Partnership has been prepared. It states: 2009. Accordingly, a considerable amount of thinking has been taking place in recent ‘The people, businesses and months, giving consideration to the possibilities organisations of our community aspire of creating a successor body. What activities to make St Andrews one of the finest might such a successor body carry out? How places in which to live, work and study might it be structured and funded? Indeed, what and visit: quite simply, to set Scotland’s might happen if nothing at all took the place of standards for excellence.’

SAWC? From the discussions which have taken The Partnership – it is being suggested – would place both within and without the current group, undertake activities categorised in three themes it would appear that the “do nothing” approach – the St Andrews Environment, the St Andrews is not an option. A clear consensus is emerging Economy and the St Andrews Community. that some sort of a successor body is desirable The outcomes would be higher-quality, betterand indeed necessary for St Andrews. The town integrated and more responsive services – so often resilient in the past – is no longer which would be to the benefit of local people, immune to the great challenges currently facing businesses and visitors.

It is felt that St Andrews is an ideal town in which to adopt this type of Partnership approach. It is a town which is small enough to be manageable, yet large enough to make a big impact. No other town of its size in Britain, perhaps Europe, has such a wealth of opportunity and human talent at its disposal; few other places have such international fame, prestige, and a reputation for high quality.

Many believe that if anywhere can make a Partnership like this work – and sustain itself over an extended period – it is St Andrews.

But what do you think? Is it a good idea to replace “St Andrews World Class”? What sorts of actions should be prioritised? How can more be done to encourage the participation of local residents, including younger and older people, in a new Partnership body?

It is hoped that agreement on the future direction and structure of any new organisation can be reached by summer 2009. If you have any views on the “St Andrews Partnership” idea, or are interested in finding out more about the proposed new organisation (a draft Strategy has been prepared for the purpose of stimulating discussion), please get in touch with Patrick Laughlin – Tel: 07905 857 420, e-mail: pl18@st-andrews.ac.uk – as soon as possible.

A new St Andrews Partnership organisation would aim to further improve all aspects of the town. (Photo courtesy Patrick Laughlin)

I saw Hamish wandering about Madras College recently and wondered if he was looking for an education. Alas, I’d left my camera at home.

However.....

Ann Wharmby sent in this charming study. She says that she found Hamish reposing in the Sue Ryder charity shop in Logie’s Lane.

Please send in your photos of Hamish, and tell us where you’ve seen him, and what you know about him.

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FEATURES Zoë Smith, Chair of the Community Council

Having it all Since I last wrote, I have got myself a job – a real job with pay! The real job is only for two days a week, but the chaos that ensued in our house was disproportionate, to say the least.

The real job is from 9.00-5.00 and the first hurdle we faced was that the free childcare (i.e. school) was only from 9.00-3.00ish for the big kids, and a pitiful 12.45-3.15 for the little kid. Assuming the big kids could take care of themselves, we faced a problem ensuring out littlest was accommodated in this brave new world of two working parents.

I embarked on the “finding childcare” journey with an almost open mind, but with no family anywhere nearby I realised that for the first time I was going to have to leave one of my “babies” with a stranger – and pay for the privilege. I will spare you my thoughts on the various local childcare facilities and share with you my relief that we were lucky enough to find a lovely childminder and my dismay that the lovely childminder lived in Leuchars.

That is how we now find ourselves in a situation like this two days a week: 6.00am, when Other Half gets up and therefore has peace and exclusive bathroom access until 6.45am. 6.45am – I get up, joined by littlest one, who has migrated to our bed during the night. 7.00am. big kids are woken up – and then begin rubbishing any of our preconceptions that they could take care of themselves. 7.00am-7.45am. is spent fighting to get into the bathroom, looking for lost dinner money / shoes / ties / mobiles / children. 7.45am. Other Half and littlest one leave to be at childminder for 8.00am. allowing Other Half to get to work sometime around 8.30am.

Meanwhile – back at the ranch, I finish getting ready, get big kids ready (sometimes throwing in an argument to spice things up a bit) then at 8.20am I leave the house to travel to work.

Needless to say, the first thing I do when I get there is put the kettle on in an attempt to recover enough from the stress of the morning to be productive.

I am fortunate that my job, although busy and challenging is not “work” as

I traditionally know it. I am no longer mopping floors, pulling pints or cutting grass, and I am delighted to finally have employment and fulfilment in the same package. I simply don’t think I could cope with the chaos at home and have to do any of the jobs I’ve done in the past. I am fortunate too that my partner is able to work flexible hours, as finding childcare for the latter part of the day was impossible. I honestly don’t know how families with two working parents do it. Childcare is hard to find and expensive, housework doesn’t do itself when you’re out at work and as we’ve discovered, after the tax credits have been adjusted and you factor in the costs associated with working outside the home, you’re lucky if you have any extra income!

I take my hat off to anyone who is “having it all” and still has clean clothes to wear, hoovered floors, and food in the fridge.

In an attempt to have it all I continue to do all the things I did before I got the real job, so I hope this article may provide a little explanation for those of you waiting for cheques / letters / action from the Community Council, or those of you sitting waiting for me in a meeting.

Roy Chapman offers

A Scottish Lament (With apologies to an old Scots music hall song) It’s really high time that something was done To alter the way that the country is run They’re not doing things in the way that they should They’re rewarding the bad guys and punishing the good There’s a bonus for this and a bonus for that While the people get thin, the top bosses get fat While bank tellers go home ‘cos they’re now made redundant A fat cat gets fatter ‘cos he’s now a consultant Now who was the Chancellor when things ‘gan to go down ‘Twas the PM himself, the Right Hon Gordon Brown But it wasn’t his fault, global issues were to blame Oh dear, what a pity, what a four letter shame Tell that to the bods who are now on the dole Whose house is at risk with no money for coal Their families go hungry, but what can they do While elsewhere the menu is five star – not stew Pure greed was the motive till the money bubble burst And now the most innocent are most horribly cursed Life time savers are ravaged, sterling’s far up the creek While the government wobbles ‘cos the leadership’s weak Instead of a government which borrows and gambles Let’s have a firm lead to sort out the shambles No more mealie mouthed slogans nor some pie in the sky O Lord hear our anguish, please answer our cry

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‘A Scottish Resolution’ by Melville Reid

FEATURES Monica Ramsay, a committed St Andrews-phile (!) shares some of her extensive experiences owning a B&B

“Sunny-side-up” at Ducks Crossing I have always wanted to run a Bed & Breakfast, and with St Andrews a perfect and wonderful place to live, I bought 5 Dempster Terrace nine years ago and ‘Ducks Crossing’ was born, which has led me to meet some hilarious, eccentric, and charming guests.

One lady guest from California arrived most indignant, having driven from ‘Edinburrow’, because there were no “pull-ins” for the “photographic opportunity stops.” A tad confused, I asked her to explain.

“You have all these signs with cameras on them and nowhere to pull in to take a photograph” – light having dawned that they were speed camera signs, I enquired what symbols the traffic signs depicted in California – “if it’s a camera it’s a photographic opportunity stop; our speed camera sign is a gun!” I live and learn.

Taking bookings by email can be quite confusing at times, from the “SUNDAY, ONE ROOM, HOW MUCH?” to lengthier: “I want to know reservation of a Hotel.

I want to reserve one night, twin room, one room single room two rooms from Jan 5th, but am not crowded? If there is not a twin room, it is good in a double room. Please teach rate of room. Please teach about cancellation.” (from a Spanish enquirer) Well, 20/10 for trying – but I am still confused!

Another charming Japanese guest (who was in charge of ‘Logistics’ for his fellow golfers) sent at least 10 emails to confirm his booking, and then the following letter: Dear Mrs Monica, I am pleased to inform you of our rough time schedule at Ducks Crossing as follows 13th June Our arrival time is between 6:30 and 7:00 O’clock in the evening please make seat reservation at near and good restaurant where season’s menu like white asparagus can be served 14th June we leave for golf course at 10:00 in the morning so please arrange one taxi for us then between 5:00 and 6:00 in the evening we will be back to Ducks Crossing 15th of June we leave for golf course at 9:00 in the morning and then will be back between 4:00 and 5:00 after noon for check-out to leave for next destination of Carnoustie. My question is how is the general weather condition in St Andrews during our stay, how is temperature, is wind very strong, is it raining everyday.

I need one more your good advice how to get entry ticket of tennis tournament which opens on June 20th at Wimbledon near London we want to see plays on 21st June and want to get ticket in advance, ticket of Center court and of No. 1 and 2 court will be very difficult to purchase however ticket for No.3 to No.19 court could be obtained in advance.

soya, brown, white, wheat free. One tries to satisfy the various requests, but with six guests wanting 12 fried eggs, all cooked to their liking, not to mention bacon, sausage, black-pud, haggis (vegetarian), tattie-scones, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans, the adrenalin has to kick in – especially at 7.00a.m!

One Swedish guest was horrified when I offered duck eggs for breakfast, “we are not allowed to do this in our country.” She believed I had stolen the eggs from the ducks at the bottom of my garden. I assured her they were farmed. Another American guest refused to eat her free-range egg because it was orange: “Our eggs are yellow, not orange”.

My first guests from China arrived at breakfast time, clutching a small bowl from their room, saying, “tea delicious, may we have more?” Sadly not. Earl Grey, China green, fruit teas etc. were all available, but I could not bear to explain they had just drunk the pot-pourri, luckily with no ill effects, so pot-pourri is now banished. (I hasten to add that all rooms have coffee and tea making facilities, but my delightful Chinese guests were obviously used to bowls).

If deciding to run a B&B, always keep a hacksaw handy. The number of guests who arrive with padlocked luggage and lost keys is quite amazing. (I am seriously thinking of investing in a pair of bolt cutters – they’re faster!)

Many guests, luckily, come back to stay and some have become great friends.

Eddie and Gill Lange run painting courses in and around St Andrews and have recommended Ducks Crossing to some wonderful guests. One charming gentleman from Japan who paints the most delightful watercolours, another Canadian girl who was a rollerblade star, and another artist who, as an ex-ballet dancer, “to aid her posture”, does not require a bed, but sleeps on the floor. It did strike me as rather odd to book a bed & breakfast with no bed, but she seems to be very comfortable, and thoroughly enjoys the painting tuition. My unworthy comments about the day’s paintings are always sought!

If you want to run a B&B, six guests maximum, in your own home, offering Scottish hospitality, it is essential to like people, and it is hard work. It may not be for you, but I love it. Well, maybe until eggs tomorrow!

(Photo courtesy Ducks Crossing)

See you soon, M. S. One rather ‘vintage’ caddie, Jim, arrived to stay at the request of 8 American golfers. As their hospitality was overwhelmingly generous, Jim appeared at 1.00a.m. with all eight friends, leaning on the doorbell. (It’s always good to appear at these times in an all-enveloping dressing gown, with a SEVERE look!) When asked, “where is your key”, the reply was, “in my car”. “Where is your car?”

“I have LOSHT it”! Oh dear. The funny side of being woken up in the middle of the night is the humbled chagrin of the guest at breakfast time.

Which brings me on to eggs! I did not realise that frying an egg could be difficult. My guests require sunny-side-up, over easy, easy over, eyes shut, eyes open, battered, cremated, crimped (stab a fork through the yolk), and lo! and behold, no yolk! Boiled eggs can be a nightmare as I cannot see what stage they are at. I have had requests for runny, soft, medium soft, or “very hard as I am pregnant,” plus getting the hot toast soldiers to match: buttered, not buttered,

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FEATURES: BOOK REVIEWS Alan Tricker reviews

Pilgrimage: A Spiritual and Cultural Journey

by Ian Bradley Lion Hudson 2009, £20 (ISBN 978 0 7459 5270 3)

I first went on a pilgrimage in 2000. In the Millennium Year, a group in 2003 and it is a delightful walk – the organised a pilgrimage from St Andrews Cathedral to Queensferry final crossing by the wet pilgrim way to Lindisfarne is magical.

– the homeward route for many pilgrims to St Andrews in medieval times. I just completed the first leg of the route to Ceres, but it kindled This is a book for the general reader in me an interest in pilgrimage that continues to this day and has led – but it is well supported by careful and me along various pilgrim routes. original research. I am sure there are many other books on pilgrimage Ian Bradley’s new book is entitled Pilgrimage: a spiritual and that deal with the topic in greater depth – some are listed in the cultural journey. It is a good title for a book about Christian pilgrimage bibliography – but this is one that you can delve into in moments as it establishes the difference between a pilgrimage of peace. It is very readable, accessible, and a long walk. A long walk may be a pilgrimage, informative, and frequently entertaining. The Pilgrimage to sites of but a pilgrimage is never just a long walk. As he story of Ian Bradley in a hot tub while his pilgrim states at the beginning of the book, ‘Pilgrimage is companion goes off to say his Evening Office Christian significance is perhaps best defined as a departure from daily life made me smile! now more popular than on a journey in search of spiritual well-being’.

I read the first part of the book in one sitting The book is a timely publication, for as Dr and then pounced on the chapters that dealt with at any other time since Bradley states, the late twentieth century saw the places I knew – Rome, Santiago, St Andrews, the Reformation an increasing number of people embarking on and finally St Cuthbert’s Way. The interesting pilgrimages. In 1986 for example, 2,500 worthy souls style and good illustrations made me complete made the trek across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. By the other chapters soon after. This is an ideal book for anyone who 2004 the annual traffic along this ancient route had risen to 180,000. has been on a pilgrimage, or who is thinking about it, or perhaps is Some were travelling by bicycle, but most were on foot. Pilgrimage to interested in the history of pilgrimage that played such an important sites of Christian significance is now more popular than at any other part in the development of St Andrews. time since the Reformation.

The book is delightfully illustrated throughout, and the first part looks at the history and development of pilgrimage in the Christian church. In the development of the Celtic church ‘making a journey’ was a recurrent theme – not only the travels of Columba, but also the journeys of numerous Irish monks who crossed Scotland in the 6th and 7th centuries and ushered in the golden age of Celtic Christianity. There is also a good chapter on the main period of pilgrimage – the 500 years from early 11th to early 16th century, when the Catholic Church was supreme across Europe and pilgrimages to sites of religious significance were an essential element of religious life. The main site was Jerusalem, but Rome, • Take one or more undergraduate courses in Santiago, and St Andrews were also very important at this time. In Science or Arts subjects (or a mix). countries that became Protestant after the Reformation, both civil and ecclesiastical authorities endeavoured to suppress pilgrimage.

• The Science Challenge Locally, for St Andrews, this was the end of a very prosperous era.

February 2009 – Environmental Biology, It is amazing to think that St Andrews was receiving around 250,000 Environmental Geography, Physics & Astronomy pilgrims a year at this time.

September 2009 – Psychology, Information The second, and larger section, describes some of the major Technology. and most interesting pilgrim centres and routes that have developed in Europe. They are described in roughly chronological order • The Arts Challenge beginning with the three shrines established to house the supposed February 2009 – Modern History, Classics relics of key apostles – Rome (St Peter), Santiago (St James) (Ancient Rome), Art History (Modern Period) and St Andrews. These chapters give a very readable overview of September 2009 – Scottish History, Art History the importance of pilgrimage to these sites, as well as providing a snapshot of the experience of visiting these sites in their heyday.

(Renaissance to Baroque), Classics (Classical In relation to St Andrews, the meticulously researched drawings Athens), Philosophy, Theology, Reading English.

by Jurek Putter are mentioned. I enjoyed the reference to Statio Principalis Garebrigenses – the portrayal of the assembly area in • Study at times suitable for busy people: Guardbridge, where pilgrims prepared themselves for the final part evening classes, 6.30-9.30pm. of their journey. I remember seeing the picture in an exhibition some years ago – it is full of visual pilgrim stories. It achieves in a drawing what Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales achieves in prose. It is a pity one of Putter’s drawings is not used to illustrate the text.

For further information please contact Nicky Haxell There are further chapters on the other main pilgrim sites in T: 01334 462203 Britain and in mainland Europe. It is not an exhaustive list, but E: parttime@st-andrews.ac.uk reflects a range of different types of pilgrim sites visited nowadays. or at St Katharine’s West, It also draws on the personal experiences of Ian Bradley who has 16 The Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9AX. undertaken many of these pilgrimages in recent years. The final www.st-andrews.ac.uk chapter is particularly evocative for me as it deals with St Cuthbert’s Way – a path from Melrose in the Borders to Lindisfarne. It starts The University of St Andrews is a charity where Cuthbert started his monastic life and ends where he spent registered in Scotland. No: SC013532 the later years of his life and where he died. I made this journey

Are you ready to take the University of St Andrews Challenge

8

?

FEATURES: BOOK REVIEWS Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University and co-author of Arts of Resistance: Poets, Portraits and Landscapes of Modern Scotland (Luath Press, 2008) reviews

A Hesitant Opening of Parasols: Poems

by Lillias Scott Forbes Calderwood Press 2009, 1 Beachmont Court, Dunbar, EH42 1YF, ISBN 978-1-902629-20-9. Price, £3.

The first poem in this attractive little book begins with the author sitting under the hesitantly-opening parasols, while waiters scan ‘the fickle watery blue’ under a ‘reluctant sun.’ When a wind ‘blows up from the firth’ we know that we are in Scotland, but the parasols suggest memories of ‘the warm south’: Paris, the Place Sorbonne, or some ‘other dingy, quite seductive scene’.

Lillias Scott Forbes is one of Scotland’s national treasures, a vivid and bright personality, a nonagenarian whose memory is magnificently stocked with perceptive accounts of a generation almost lost to our contemporaries. Her father was F.G. Scott, the greatest Scottish songwriter of the twentieth century, whose work stands as tall as any of his European contemporaries. Hugh MacDiarmid was her father’s school pupil, collaborator and friend, and she was married to one of the finest modern Scottish composers, Erik Chisholm, whose work is only beginning to be rediscovered. Lillias comes from a history in which St Andrews was a powerhouse of Scottish cultural activity, where her critical values were forged. In these poems, the values of tenderness and care, robustness, good humour, the generous but discerning spirit, are all active.

Lillias is a fine poet with a lyric grace and wicked sense of humour.

She knows how to chuckle and take pleasure in the everyday, as well as how to see through the shams and pretences of cosmopolitanism.

Her memories reach deep places, where colours are luminous and characters flamboyant, encounters truly challenging, and incidents abundant. Her poignant sense of time passing, her own ageing and maturing, is never cloying or sentimental. Indeed, her impatience with sentimentalism is ruthless. Many of her younger contemporaries could learn from it. That opening poem ends: The two of us together, hunched over our bread and cheese On the deserted rain-washed terrace Scattering raindrops in the welter of our laughter, Fingers entwined for warmth, Your last kiss burning on my ice-cold cheek.

That’s a memory worth putting in a poem. Yet it is not merely a personal reminiscence: anyone might identify with the intensity of the sensual imagery, and in a world so badly saturated with superficial glamour, childish appetite indulged by mass media and the general trivialisation of the arts, Lillias’s poems are an invaluable sign that some people still care deeply about what really matters.

She writes both in English and in the language we call Scots. In ‘The Bodach’ she gets both the immediate presence of physical things and the spooky sense of the eldritch, supernatural world into her language:

here by the ingle, fair forfochen, / My braw locks a’ dabberlack, bound in my servant’s cap…’ She dreads the ‘pridefu summons’ and sharp command of her mistress, and when she enters the lady’s room, her observation is sharp and satiric: There she liggs, the jaud Easefu efter the cantraips o the nicht Rowed saft a roun wi broderies Devised by auld frail hands, Pillage of war, trophies from battlefields.

The scorn for social hypocrisy and the pretensions of wealth in the light of a common, sympathetic humanity is powerfully rendered.

There are also a number of beautifully poised poems, sparked by memory, evocative of contrasts between Scotland and France, such as ‘Café Mirage’ with its lovely ending, ‘one of those rare imagined moments’ in which the white flare of the candle is ‘capering’ and inviting ‘a timorous searching of finger-tips’ as arms reach over ‘the red chequered cloth.’

Memories of Hugh MacDiarmid’s potent legacy and a birthday poem for the poet, publisher and literary historian Duncan Glen, offer salutations and exclamations of praise. So the tones of the poems in this slim collection are varied and constantly fresh. In ‘Before Battle’, the contrast between the bombing of innocents and the work of ordinary civilians renders an extraordinarily strong conviction in the value of art: Stay your hand on the trigger Listen while time stands still, Murder needs only a minute But the song has all time to fill Lillias Scott Forbes has earned the right to make pronouncements as unerringly true as that. She has paid close attention to all things that surround her: a sudden snowfall in the courtyard outside her window, the madcap days of youth, the fresh east coast air of St Andrews, and the balmy intimacies of France. MacDiarmid’s judgement that her poems were characterised above all by integrity rings true. May an enterprising publisher look forward to a Collected Poems and a book of Memoirs: generations yet to come would be the better for them.

An unco sicht thro the smirr o rain Yon gantin wa, chapel-like, clawin up Frae the shuddrin huddle O yird an stane This is a real wall marking a site from which people have departed, in a real place, (named, ‘Tweeddale’), but it might be a metaphoric wall too, beyond which childhood beckons, remembered children run and play, where ‘hoodie craws in duds o’ dule’ sit grimly, and ‘a hoolet’s cry’ is heard ‘frae the sooghin boughs’: The deil hissel fae the daurk o the chapel door – His haun upon my back, His shaddie lowerin ower my lanesome way!

There is a sinister grue to that, very much in the ballad tradition.

If ‘The Bodach’ gives us a picture animated by personal memory, ‘Roup’ is a dramatic reconstruction of characters and scenes in history. The narrator of this poem is Tib Pennel, lady’s maid, ‘Sat

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FEATURES Ann Wharmby created this

Photo Teaser Can you identify these photos of places not too far from each other? Answers at the foot of the page.

Photo montage – courtesy Helios Internet Systems, Dam Park House, Brigton, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 8NB. Tel. 0845 2260 531 / 01334 472 081 email: admin@heliosnet.co.uk website: www.heliosnet.co.uk

Roy Chapman unearthed these. It’s not only churches that make mistakes. Let’s hope our new hospital does better than the following:

Actual Notes From Hospital Charts (seriously)!

1. The patient refused autopsy.

2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.

3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

4. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

5. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

6. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.

7. The patient is tearful and crying constantly.

She also appears to be depressed.

8. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

9. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.

10. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.

11. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

12. She is numb from her toes down.

13. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.

14. The skin was moist and dry.

15. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.

16. Patient was alert and unresponsive.

17. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

18. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.

19. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.

20. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.

21. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

22. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

23. Skin: somewhat pale but present.

24. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.

25. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

Ask the Curator will be back in the July issue

1. South Street, almost by St Leonards School entrance 2. House on right of Psyche’s Garden Shop, South Street 3. West door, Logies Lane, of Holy Trinity Church 4. South Street (east end, opposite shops ) 5. Roofline above words, ‘Christian Institute’ at Innes’ shop in South Street 6. Also on South Street (east end, opposite shops) 7. St Mary‘s College, South Street 8. More often open than closed, same side of South St & east of the fish shop 9. The Pembroke, house in narrow part of Market Street

Answers to Photo Teaser:

10

SHOPS & SERVICES Graham Drummond has, over the last 10 years, achieved

An Inspired Regeneration

Mount Melville House entrance

4 cars in courtyard (pre 1914) (with kind permission of Mrs Jean Moore)

Courtyard view of entrance to Stables & Younger offices

Internal shot of Tower Office

The first Mount Melville House was new St Andrews hospital and community demolished and rebuilt in1903 for Dr & Mrs health centre move to the new complex.

James Younger of the Younger brewing Graham has an exciting new project family. In 1947, their mansion house, also in hand. “My early background,” he together with 47 acres of the Estate, were explains, “was in building.” His father bought by Fife County Council (for £25,000) was a builder and joiner. A chartered civil to form Craigtoun Hospital and Craigtoun engineer, Graham has long experience of Park. For shooting parties the Youngers, the built environment. “I was born in Stirling however, retained the nearby stables, and worked and lived in Fraserburgh, garages, and bothy, renaming Inverness, Epsom, this building Mount Melville and Aberdeen“. His “we were fortunate House. work in Epsom, Surrey, in being able to Until 1999, this property was in town centre was owned by the artist Joe redevelopment, and in give the clients Austen, who used the tack Aberdeen he was the what they wanted.” project development room as his studio – Rusacks Hotel in St Andrews displays director of the Bon Accord many of his paintings. shopping centre. But, “I always wanted A project management consultant, to be my own boss!” Until 2004 he was Graham Drummond needed more working as a consultant to Orange in the accommodation for his work. He and his telecoms sector. wife Fiona recognised the huge potential of Graham is committed to the principles this property and purchased it. A sensitive of sustainability. His new plan is to build restoration followed. As many original and sell low energy, healthy homes, with features as possible were retained, such natural materials that are locally sourced as the pitch pine parquet flooring and many wherever possible – “it should really be the fireplaces. Pitch pine panelling was reused. future of new houses.” The first plot has To begin with, Graham offered workstations already been bought in Craigrothie and for rent, consisting of “a desk and a detailed plans are being prepared. computer”. Prospective clients, however, With his energy and enthusiasm preferred an entire office to themselves, Graham, aided by his wife Fiona, has built so Graham redesigned the spaces in 2004 up an impressive portfolio of successful as three offices. In 2005 he utilised the enterprises. The current recession will not tack room to provide another three offices, deter him from steadily adding to it! as well as a kitchen and toilet facilities.

The name, “flexi-offices” denotes that the Please see Graham’s websites for all concept is “client-led”. Graham explains, details of flexi-offices and the proposed low “we were fortunate in being able to give the energy healthy homes: clients what they wanted.” http://www.flexi-offices.co.uk/ The offices have all been fully in http://www.lowenergyhealthyhomes.co.uk/ use. Two of them, however, will become available this August when the NHS Fife (Photos courtesy Graham Drummond) Project Team and PFI contractor for the

flexi-offices

••••••••••••••••

high quality offices to let in St Andrews flexible, all-inclusive, user friendly terms

www.flexi-offices.co.uk

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SHOPS & SERVICES

Support your independent businesses! They have a deserved reputation for friendly and cost-effective service with a smile.

Does Hearing Loss Affect Your Quality of Life?

Elite Care (Scotland) Ltd.

If so, contact your local hearing aid specialist:

24 hour a day “Care at Home” service throughout Fife, Dundee & Perth.

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Driver/Carer for appointments & social activities.

Holidaying in St Andrews or Dundee?

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St Andrews Hearing Services Ltd (Graeme R Cockburn RHAD) Independent Hearing Aid Audiologist Open Mon-Fri 9.00 to 1.00pm – or at other times by appointment • latest digital hearing aid technology • • 30-day trial • • 2 to 5-year guarantee on systems •

24 Argyle Street, St Andrews KY16 9BU telephone 01334 470 011 to make an appointment

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Swimwear at

Elspeth’s of St Andrews

1a Greyfriars Garden St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9HG Tel: 01334 477070

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9 Church Street, St Andrews Tel: 01334 472494

SHOPS & SERVICES Brett Murray, Mixologist at the St Andrews Golf Hotel, is celebrating victory

Mekhong Cocktail Competition Aberdeen 2009 The cocktail craze has hit St Andrews, with many pubs and bars offering varied cocktail lists and deals. Most people have experienced cocktails, some good, some not so good, and some that blow your mind. With increasing levels of interest in the art of mixology, it is no surprise that bar tenders in our seaside city are upping their game and pushing to create cutting-edge recipes and stylish presentations.

It would be wrong to criticise a cocktail for it’s simplicity, sometimes the simplest recipes provide a perfect blend of flavours that explode onto your tongue, yet the simple fact is, quality remains the key; the use of premium spirits, fresh fruits, and home-made syrups is essential.

A good cocktail menu is like anything coming from the kitchen; it’s about the passion and the love, and one young man has certainly demonstrated these two qualities: Brett Murray claimed victory at Mekhong Northern Scotland mixology competition. Brett is one of our best mixologists and has stepped up the game for many bar tenders in the town. Number Forty Bar prides itself in having some of the best cocktails in St Andrews. Starting his cocktail career at Snafu in Aberdeen, Brett has since moved back to St Andrews to work his magic. Snafu is similar to Number Forty; with a title like Scottish Nightclub of The Year 2007/08, there’s no disputing Snafu’s credibility. The little boutique nightspot is Brett Murray (on right) with Gemma Coughlan and George Kaplan the premiere destination of those in the know, unpretentious and laid (Photo courtesy the Golf Hotel) back, with a warm, friendly atmosphere, meeting the needs of a smaller, eclectic, and vibrant crowd looking for more.

With an extensive range of award-winning and unique spirits, a quirky in the world. With a slightly lower alcohol content of 35%, Mekhong is cocktail menu, delightful wine, and champagne menu, Snafu and Number extremely versatile and mixes well with a variety of beverages. Blended Forty question the rule that nightclubs can’t compete with style bars, when with a secret recipe of natural Thai herbs and spices, Mekhong is artfully it comes to service and choice. Snafu hosted this year’s ‘Employees Only’ balanced to deliver a truly unique experience.

Mekhong Spirit of Thailand Cocktail Competition. The competition invited The finalists were invited to mix and present their cocktails at 8 bartenders to devise a delicious concoction the competition final held at 9.30pm on 11th reflecting the exotic appeal of this uniquelyFebruary at Snafu, 1 Union Street, Aberdeen. At quality remains the key; distilled blended spirit. The aim of ‘Employees the competition final all finalists came prepared the use of premium spirits, Only’ is to get all like-minded bar souls together with sufficient ingredients to mix two cocktails for an evening of education (where learning is capturing The Spirit of Thailand. fresh fruits, and home-made fun...’cause we get to drink), competing (because The running order was drawn at random. syrups is essential winning is everything!) and lastly, but really the All finalists were asked to prepare the cocktail most important part, partying. submitted for the paper judging. There was a strict The brief was straightforward – create a cocktail that you believe truly maximum of 10 minutes for preparation and presentation of the cocktail. captures “The Spirit of Thailand”. They wanted to provide the competitors Drinks were marked on taste, appearance, and the creativity of their with as much scope for interpreting the brief as imaginatively as possible, representation of The Spirit of Thailand. Bartenders were also marked so they kept the competition rules to a minimum: on their style in making drinks, e.g. nice pours, no spillage, relevant explanation of what they were doing and why to the judges at the bar, and 1 all recipes must contain a minimum 35ml of Mekhong also marked down for exceeding the time limit.

2 they must embody the Spirit of Thailand in some way The Golf Hotel is extremely proud to announce that Brett Murray was 3 all entries must include; recipe ingredients; mixology instructions; the winner of the competition, the candidate with the highest combined details of presentation, including glassware and garnishes scores. His cocktail ‘Thai’ed to the Bed’ was described as long lasting Mekhong Thai Spirit is a uniquely distilled premium blend of sugar cane and absolutely banging! His complex combination of Mekhong, jackfruit, and rice spirits. Named after the Mekhong River, which flows along mango, lychees, sweet Thai basil, sugar syrup, and cold green tea, Thailand’s border, the Mekhong name is derived from Mae Nam Kong. resulted in an explosion of flavours that continually developed over the Mae translates as ‘mother’ and Nam as ‘water’. Together they mean ‘the palate. The judging panel comprised : David Lind (Mehkong & Chang mother of all waters’, forming the symbolic character that is this premium Marketing Manager); Tai Altman (Founder of IP Bartenders, London ); spirit of Thailand. Established in 1941, Mekhong is Thailand’s national Gordon Hynd (Brand Rep); Adrian Gomes (High 5/Trend Magazine) spirit. Since then, Mekhong has become a source of pride for the Thai Winning the competition, proves Brett’s ability; as per usual, bragging people, coming to symbolise the hospitality for which Thailand is world rights were up for grabs! Prizes were materialistic, egos are more renowned. Dating back to the time of King Rama I, it’s only natural that important…Coverage was guaranteed for Snafu Magazine, and there will the Bangyikhan Distillery would produce Thailand’s most seductive probably be an inclusion in the next issue of Trend Magazine. InverBev spirit. Nestled in the Pathum Thani province, the distillery is located had a PR agency from London to cover it. amidst some of the most stunningly picturesque scenery of the country.

The Golf Hotel earlier this year claimed the Bronze award for Best Mekhong is 100% Thai. The country’s sumptuous, tropical climate Bar None Fife, so for any of you out there who have not been fortunate produces exceptional sugar cane that’s among the finest and purest enough to experience Number Forty, come along for the ride !!

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13

SHOPS & SERVICES Ewen Sparks, a Partner in the St Andrews office of J & E Shepherd Chartered Surveyors is upbeat about possible

Good Times Returning to the Property Market in St Andrews?

There is no denying that the economic crisis has had its effect on The introduction of the the property market. Even in North East Fife there has been an Home Report for properties unprecedented number of homes on the market which, combined marketed after 1st December with difficulties in obtaining mortgages, uncertainty of jobs and other 2008 has met with a mixed factors, has led to the market stagnating somewhat. A buyers market response. This was heavily has developed and prices being paid are quite often below sellers’ advertised in the run up to expectations. This has resulted in a general lowering of valuations across December by the Government the Kingdom of all types of property. and is a home sales pack that There are, however, signs of recovery. While the last three months comprises a Single Survey of 2008 were particularly worrying, the beginning of 2009 saw renewed with optional Mortgage activity that seems to be gaining momentum. Although prices being paid Valuation Report, an Energy have not increased, there are more people viewing properties, which is Performance Certificate, and resulting in a relatively healthy number of sales. There have even been a Property Questionnaire. While there is a reluctance on the part of the rumours of closing dates on several properties! seller to part with a not-inconsiderable amount of money before marketing On the whole, it does seem that many sales are still below asking commences, it does make financial sense to establish a true market value prices, but this increased turnover should in turn reduce the stock on the of the property with the aid of a Chartered Surveyor and a survey can market and prices should increase as confidence returns. identify potential problems at the outset that may cause Yet whilst stabilisation is returning to the market, it may a sale to fall though. be some time before we see a noticeable increase in There are a lot of new properties coming onto the There are, however, market at the moment and, since the introduction of the values.

Selling agents have, on the whole, reacted Home Report, we have noticed a number of relatively signs of recovery constructively to the problem and most have not been quick sales occurring with prices being agreed at the shy in discussing reductions in asking prices with their level of valuation. Many prospective purchasers do clients. Many of those that have accepted a lowering of seem to be relying on the survey carried out for the their price are managing to secure a purchaser. seller as it is undertaken by an independent surveyor and the Mortgage While there was a denial by the general public that prices would Valuation Report is accepted by many lenders to fund the purchase. drop in Scotland, let alone in St Andrews and surrounding districts, this While there are still reports of doom and gloom in the media (that fact is now established and most sellers have either adjusted their price, Robert Peston on the BBC has a lot to answer for!), we seem to be over withdrawn from the market, or are letting out their property. It is realised the worst and to be entering a period of stabilisation. With lower interest by most homeowners that while they may sell for less than they would rates and more mortgage deals emerging all the time, now is not a bad have liked, they will in all probability be able to purchase at a reduced time to consider moving. In time it is thought that property values will start level, particularly if they are upsizing, and therefore there may be no to increase again, but the heady rates of price inflation seen in recent financial loss. years are unlikely to occur again for a long time.

Ferguson’s Shoe Repairs Where better to give your footware new life?

151 South Street, St Andrews Tel: 01334 472134

St Andrews & District Community Safety Panel

For more information about your local panel please contact PC Paul Buttercase, Community Safety Officer Tel. 01334 418745 EMail joanne.francis@fife.pnn.police.uk

14

SHOPS & SERVICES Andrew Wright has

More About Tax Returns Do you need to prepare a Tax return? The noted on the Coding Notice. For employees, answer is only if one is issued to you or you it is important to check that any car, or other have an untaxed income source (eg. rents) to benefits, are correct. Sometimes there will be report. In the latter case, you are expected to an entry for “unpaid tax”, which normally relates write to your Tax Office and inform them. to uncollected tax from the previous tax year.

Some of our clients receive a letter from Increasingly, HMRC are trying to collect tax through the PAYE system rather than by the HMRC saying that they no longer need to complete a Tax return. This is usually good traditional means of payments on account in news, but remember Tax January and July followed Repayment Claims will still a balancing payment in Remember, if in doubt, by need to be completed if you the January following the are due a tax rebate. With see your friendly local tax year-end. For example, employees and pensioners, higher rate tax that is likely accountant!

HMRC try to manage a to be due on investment person’s tax affairs through and rental income may be the issue (and frequent amendment) of PAYE collected from your pension income by means of a restriction to your PAYE code. You are not Coding Notices so that the employer or pension provider collects the tax for them. But obliged to accept this, and may ask to continue sometimes the wrong code is issued and a to be taxed in the traditional way, thereby person pays too much (or too little) tax. With delaying the payment of tax. pensioners, the main reason for this is usually From a tax planning point of view, you can that they are given the wrong age allowance. no longer “ carry back” a pension contribution to This is because the amount of age allowance the previous tax year, but you can opt to “carry a person is entitled to depends on the level back” gift aid payments. Nowadays, there are of taxable income. As this can vary from some pretty impossible questions on the Tax year to year, HMRC may estimate the wrong Return. For example, “Benefit from pre-owned figure. Therefore for pensioners, an important assets” (Box 18), and “income derived from figure to check is the “taxable income” figure provision of your services through a Service

Company”. The old idea that the intelligent layman can prepare a Tax Return through following the notes, or phoning the Helpline, no longer applies in these cases. You should either contact an accountant, or explain the position in the “white space” (Box19 on page TR6). If you make a reasonably detailed explanation in the “white space”, HMRC have until the following 31st January (22 months after the tax year-end) to ask any questions. They should only ask for information after that date if they suspect fraud or a deliberate cover up.

Remember, if in doubt, see your friendly local accountant!

For further information on this, or other matters, please consult: Henderson Black & Co. 149 Market St., St Andrews.

Tel: 01334 472 255

Annice MacLeod so much enjoyed a recent visit to the Peat Inn that she wants to tell everyone about it –

Happy Eating!

Being Hebridean I have was beautifully presented. My an affinity for peat! So I heart leaped when I realised was drawn to the Peat they had been discerning Inn, long before I arrived enough to serve this Hebridean in St Andrews. lass Stornoway black pudding.

The Peat Inn is It didn’t stop me accepting synonymous with good food a second home-made roll, so the “Winter Warmer” parmesan flavour to follow the three course lunch for £16 fennel. This cheapskate was was an offer I couldn’t already considering the meal a refuse. Having dropped bargain. children off at nursery, I The main course was did my usual dash and poached Shetland salmon, arrived looking like I really needed medication – of an alcoholic variety. herbcrushed potatoes, A starter of home-cured Since I tend to look harassed at the best of times, I find fancy restaurants cucumber tagliatelle and lobster salmon with Anstruther lobster intimidating. Not so with the Peat Inn. The staff were very welcoming. We beurre blanc, served in a cheffy and avocado crème fraiche perused the drinks menu on comfy seats next to a log fire. I overheard vertical tower manner, with another diner ask for an alternative to the set menu and without hesitation alternating pink, orange, and green colours. This was not your typical the manager told her to choose any dish. I was already impressed! “rush them in, rush them out” menu! Considerable artistry and culinary Guests were discreetly ushered through to the dining-room, which skills were being employed. All the food was well sourced and cleverly was bedecked in white linen. Such combined, the salmon cooked to perfection. was the elegance that the forks The restaurant was full. The “ladies who do lunch” went completely pointed down silent when they were served the dessert of malted in deference. A Such was the elegance milk parfait, milk chocolate mousse and caramel selection of fresh sauce. Each mouthful was accompanied by “oohs” that the forks pointed rolls was served, and “aahs” in appreciative unison. It certainly was followed by an delicious, though a little crunch would have earned an down in deference “egg cup” of carrot extra tick in my texture box. The chef had decorated and ginger “velouté” – soup to you the plate with chocolate smears and caramel dollops. I scraped them all and me! I am pleased to say that this off using my spoon. I would have licked my plate if the other diners could was a free extra. My hackles did rise have coped with such bumpkin behaviour! slightly as I found the dainty spoons Replete and happy, we adjourned to the comfy seats for homemade tablet and coffee “on tap”. Lunch for two, including wine and coffee, something of a “faff”. However, I could easily have consumed a bucketful of came to £51 and was worth every penny. The good news is that the the velvety contents.

“Winter Warmer” will continue throughout the year, but under seasonally Our starter was a “warm salad appropriate names: a prospect sufficient to put a spring in the step of this of soft poached egg, black pudding Hebridean lass. and apple with pancetta dressing”.

(Photos, courtesy the Peat Inn) Not a limp “cos” lettuce in sight! It

15

SHOPS & SERVICES The Keracher Family is overjoyed to announce

Kerachers – Back At The Helm!!!!

Since Monday, 6th April 2009, Kerachers Fishmongers is once again back in the hands of the well-known local family. Mark Keracher will be the fifth generation of Kerachers to open the doors of the successful shop, situated at 73 South Street, St Andrews.

Working alongside his brother Steven, and mother Margaret, Mark will continue to offer a wide selection of fresh, smoked, and marinated fish, along with wild game and poultry. On the premises, skilled fishmonger Steven will be busy filleting, steaking, and skinning; preparing your fish exactly the way you want it.

Open six days, Monday to Saturday, Mark and his family look forward to re-establishing this local business within the town and they will strive to offer the customer the highest quality of goods and services.

The business was established in 1925 by Andrew Keracher, his ambition being to create a reputation for providing the finest fresh and smoked fish. In taking back the business, Mark is following in his ancestor’s footsteps, and you only have to ask anywhere in Scotland to find that Andrew Keracher’s ambition has been more than realised.

Steven and Mark

Peter McNeely says that

St Andrews Enjoys Tightening Its Belt Those living in St Andrews hear what the rest suggest for the changes coming to the rest of of the country has been hearing. An economic St Andrews’ dining in the coming years?

The Healthy Living Award process, which crisis threatens. More and more questions are asked regarding the quality of the Scottish diet, Zest will be completing this April, is one particularly when eating out. St Andreans see excellent way to measure the shop’s difference. economic conditions of developing, exporting In keeping with the Award’s standards, Zest has nations and the debate has begun on ethical created a home-made, honest and guilt-free trading (both Fair Trade and “Buy Local”). Also, menu. For example, making all of their own this very diverse city finds itself challenged soups from fresh, local vegetables, they have with new dietary requirements sparked by avoided all preservatives and additives. Since health concerns, ethical they put each ingredient convictions, and life-style. into each dish, they are But their most certain Vegetarians and vegans, able to guarantee that what low-salt eaters, soya-lovers, you read is what you get, plan is this: to keep and the gluten-intolerant and that taste lives up to listening to the town in expectations. are revolutionizing Scottish and St Andrean cuisine this Another key to Zest’s front of their till. century just as the arrival of difference, and St Andrews’ the potato did in 1536. coming changes, is the St Andrews has welcomed these changes, way Zest has benefited from its community. and the growing success of Zest Juicing and There, a morning finds the staff swapping cake Coffee Bar on South Street is just one clear recipes with an enthusiastic coeliac baker; an (and welcome) sign of the times. Since its evening finds them taking tips for new ways of inception in June 2007, Zest has established using apple-sauce in vegan cooking. Of course, itself as the haven for all of St Andrews’ lunch-time still finds Zest filled with a crossconscientious café-goers, and has burgeoned section of the town. “Tea for two…and maybe into a busy port of call. So what has made the a couple fruit scones…” Only now, these trusty difference, and what might the example of Zest customers might be pleased to find they have

16

the option of “Flora” instead of butter, with their cakes. Throughout the day, the community of St Andrews has made Zest into a new kind of café as St Andrews becomes a new kind of town.

In the months and years ahead, Zest plans to continue tackling new challenges, so long as St Andrews continues to enjoy tightening its belt with Zest’s healthy and thoughtful offerings. Responding to requests from some of their regulars, Zest has already turned to free-range and local meat, from J.B. Penman’s in Crail. Similarly, an increasing number of their products, from their tea-bags and sugar on up, will be either Fair-trade or Rain Forest Alliance.

Zest intends to continue implementing these changes without price increases, finding their new way often cheaper. But their most certain plan is this: to keep listening to the town in front of their till. Perhaps, with our heads together, we in St Andrews will find a most palatable solution to the challenges facing us.

(Photo courtesy Zest)

SHOPS & SERVICES

Our chefs use fresh local produce to create delicious dishes from Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Scotland. Together with Bangladeshi and Indian Beer and spirits you are sure to have a unique experience !

The best food, the best service and all-in-all friendly atmosphere second to none.

3 Course Early Evening Meal £9.95 5-7pm (except Saturday) 3 Course Lunch £5.95 12.00-2.30pm (except Sunday) Takeaway menu available Home Delivery Service Open 7 days Lunch 12pm-2.30pm Dinner 5pm-midnight Sunday 5pm-midnight

OAPs & students – Bring this advert for 15% discount

5 College Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AA Tel: 01334 476666 Fax: 01334 475380 Email: maisharestaurant@hotmail.co.uk www.maisharestaurant.co.uk

17

SHOPS & SERVICES

Roving Reporter . . .

thinks that it’s worth remembering what Harry Gordon Selfridge said in 1929 during the Depression (though not to follow his example and gamble away your entire fortune!): “ Business is still largely what you make it. By reiterating that business is bad, people hypnotise themselves into a state of apathy...”

On the prowl as usual our Reporter has discovered that 1. Bell Street’s Dollond & Aitchison The Opticians, has announced plans to merge with Boots Opticians, to form the second largest optical chain in the UK. It thus becomes one of 690 branches, and 210 franchises, employing over 5000 people. Reporter is assured that customers can expect a continuation of the level of care and expertise they have always valued. He hadn’t appreciated that 10 years ago De Rigo, the designer of high-quality eyewear, had acquired Dollond & Aitchison. One of the largest optical retailers in Europe, De Rigo now jointly owns the company with Alliance Boots, which has the controlling share. Pradip Patel, MD of Boots Opticians, becomes Chairman, and Andy Ferguson, CEO of Dollond & Aitchison is the Managing Director. Maurizio Dessolis, Vice-Chairman of De Rigo said, “The proposed merger will bring together many complimentary strengths. The new business will offer customers excellent service and high-quality eyewear. We are confident that with this extraordinary opportunity for expansion it will thrive as a leading eyecare and eyewear provider.” Stefano Pessina, Executive Chairman, Alliance Boots added, “The merger gives us an excellent opportunity to create a leading force in the UK optical market.

Our plan is to grow and develop the new business, building on the strengths of the Boots brand.”

Reporter can only say ‘amen’ to that, and wish the new business every Manager Alex Spacey with success.

Assistants Tracey & Gemma

*****

2. Vantage Pharmacy on Tom Morris Drive (Tel: 01334 475 395) is relocating to the new Hospital and Health centre site on Largo Road.

The pharmacy owned and run by Pharmacist Kenny Craig and his wife Liz for 19 years will move mid-July. The new premises will be sited at the entrance to the hospital and will be larger than at present. There will be two consultation rooms, which will allow two Pharmacists to consult simultaneously, or just provide an extra area away from the counter for a quiet word. The retail area will also be larger and will enable more choice of medicines, toiletries etc.

A make-up range will be incorporated and some old favourites will be re-introduced, which previously were lost when the dispensary was enlarged. The move will be exciting, but also hard work for the Craigs and their team . “ We are lucky,” said Kenny, “to have a loyal hardworking team of staff and know that we can rely on them to make sure the move goes smoothly. We have employed Crescent Shopfitting to fit out the new shop and have worked closely with them on the design to hopefully get it right from the start. We are also grateful to the team on site at the Hospital for their help with things and their courtesy during site visits.”

An enhanced delivery service will be in place to ensure people are not inconvenienced by the move and if anyone has any concerns please get in touch with the Pharmacy. Kenny and Liz would like to thank customers for their continued support and assure them of their continued dedication to their business at the new site. Reporter feels reassured that there’s more than one pharmacy in our town.

18

*****

3. FRITTO is the new name for the fish and chip shop formerly known as PM’s, situated at 1 Union Street facing west down Market Street, St Andrews. Donald Brown told Reporter that he took over the business last spring, and has run it since then with the help of long-serving staff Peter Lessels, Margaret Wilson, and Carol Reekie. He and his staff are celebrating their first year by taking on a new identity, and making many changes. All food is now cooked to order, meaning the fish is fresh and moist and the batter is crispy. “The best fish supper ever,” Reporter is happy to say. The fish is sourced locally from G & J Wilson of St Monans, and the tatties are peeled and chipped daily on the premises. New healthy options on the menu include hot and cold baguettes, warm wraps, and salads, as well as old favourites such as pizzas, and cheeseburgers.

There are lunchtime meal deals, a kids menu, and a popular innovation is the new half-size fish supper.

The shop is open 11.00am to 10.00 pm Monday to Saturday, and 12 noon to 10.00pm Sundays. Go there, says Reporter, go spoil yourselves!

Donald Brown (left) and staff

*****

4. Now that the better weather is here, Reporter learned from Spokes of St Andrews, 37 South Street, (01334 477 835) more and more people are leaving their cars at home and cycling. This is a great way of getting healthy and getting more cars off the road, helping the enviroment. If you do not own a bike, Reporter says it’s easy; Spokes have a range of bikes available for hire with prices from £13.50 for a day. They also have a range of TREK mountain bikes in a variety of sizes from 13” frames to 22” frames, so will cover people from about 5ft 4” to 6ft 2” and everyone in between. As the weather improves (allegedly) more and more people use this facility, so it is worthwhile booking ahead. Spokes told Reporter they stock a very wide range of new bikes, from small children’s bikes to high-end road bikes as used in the Tour De France, catering for all budgets. You should pop in and discuss your needs with the friendly, knowledgable staff, who will be more than willing to help you with your choice. Spokes says, “If you have a bike and it needs a wee bit of TLC then we also offer a repair service and do most of the repairs on site, usually within the same day, again pop in for a chat to establish what you require and approximate costs.” Go for it, Reporter enthuses, and enjoy the freedom!

5.

*****

It looks, says Reporter, as if St Andrews is escaping any financial crisis. Roving around the town he has come across yet another success story. Mike & Jo Robinson have opened Munch at 209 South Street (01334 477 009) – their third eatery, the main one being in Cupar. Interestingly, Mike told Reporter that he offers traditional foods, in fact all the wellknown brand names, along with Hellman’s Mayonnaise, HP Sauce etc. Healthy eating, asked a surprised Reporter? Mike told him that

o

ips

to

d

SHOPS & SERVICES the local habitués of a dieting club in Cupar enter his premises with, “oh, we’re going to be naughty today!” and plump for all the usual foods. However, Mike uses free-range eggs, non-hydrogenated fats, “I’m more chemical-conscious than fat-conscious” he explains with a twinkle. Along with the soups, rolls, baguettes, he also plans to have Jannetta’s ice creams and milk shakes. A refreshing – literally!

– change, volunteers Reporter.

*****

6. Another success story – Butler & Company in Church Street has been acquired by Harvey McGuires of Pitscottie. Maureen Sherret emailed Reporter, “We are delighted with our recent acquisition of Butler and Company. We have taken over a wonderful independent delicatessen, which is similar to our other delicatessen, Clive Ramsay of Bridge of Allan, both having won independent delicatessen awards. As well as a vast array of local favourites we also have a wide selection of American, Asian, and European delicacies. To compliment our very busy ‘Wrap Bar’ we will be adding some new offerings, including fresh Fair-trade coffee-to-go,

and we are introducing our own range of ready to eat meals made

by Grant MacNicol of Harvey McGuires -Young Chef of the Year 2007. Fresh local, seasonal produce will also feature prominently during the Summer months from Fife’s wonderful larder, to include fresh strawberries and raspberries. We will be holding many tastings for our customers of local produce starting with our new Scottish artisan cheese selection.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers at Harvey McGuires delicatessen over the past two years, and we hope to see you at Butler and Company in the very near future!”

*****

Wholesale and Retail Fruit & Vegetable Merchants The Warehouse, Kinnessburn Road & the shop at 201 South Street, St Andrews.

Tel: (01334) 472138 (24 hour answering service) Fax: (01334) 479316

PM’s is now known as

Fritto

fish & chips We’ve changed the name because we now offer:

* Cook Fresh *

Your fish is cooked when you order it – this means fresh fish in a crispy batter

* Home made chips, freshly made * New Healthy Options * * Wraps, Baguettes, Salads * Meal Deals *

ritto F Some thingsFish haven’t changed –

at lunchtime to suit your pocket and your diet Friendly service and Value for money & Chips

Fritto

Fish & Chips 1 Union Street, St Andrews

19

ORGANISATIONS John Mayhew, Director of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland

Scotland’s Countryside Champion Do you care about the countryside around St Andrews, or indeed anywhere else in Scotland? Then please join the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS), the charity which cares about all of Scotland’s rural landscapes.

Our Aims are to 1 Protect and enhance Scotland’s rural landscapes for future generations 2 Promote effective planning and landscape protection systems in Scotland 3 Encourage genuinely sustainable development in rural Scotland 4 Raise awareness of the importance of Scotland’s landscapes to its people and economy 5 Support the activity of land managers who care for Scotland’s landscapes We try to achieve these aims through a firm belief in working in partnership with individuals, other charities, local authorities, government, public bodies, and by active involvement in the development of national countryside and landscape policies. We regularly advise members of the public by phone and email on how to respond to proposals affecting their local landscapes; we publicise our work to our members and beyond through our website, our quarterly newsletter Rural Scotland and regular email bulletins.

Our Current Priorities We are currently focusing on influencing national Scottish policy development on: 1 Active protection and management of National Parks and National Scenic Areas 2 Badly-sited renewable energy developments and transmission lines 3 Urban expansion into the countryside 4 Mechanisms for the care, protection, and active management of landscapes 5 Changes to the town and country planning system

Our Concerns around St Andrews Readers of this magazine are no doubt particularly interested in the fine town of St Andrews. I recently visited the town for the first time in many years and was impressed once more by its impressive legacy of historic buildings, and by its remarkable setting in a bowl between the sea and the hills. However, I was disappointed to see this fine landscape setting, which is one of the key features of the town, being continually eroded by development of many kinds – housing estates, university expansion, hotels, supermarkets, and various golf-related developments. In my experience there tends to be a point beyond which historic towns start to lose their character, quality, and identity if they are allowed to expand too much. In my opinion St Andrews has already reached the point at which the attractive countryside which provides its landscape setting cannot Glen Lednock reasonably be expected to take any more development. We have several active members in Fife, and recently responded to Fife Council’s review of landscape designations, which it is feared may reduce landscape protection around St Andrews and elsewhere in Fife.

Scotland’s Rural Landscapes By ‘landscape’ we mean not just attractive scenery, important though that is, but the whole wealth of beauty, resulting from the interaction between people and the Our Future Proposals land over many centuries. Some In the near future, if resources of Scotland’s fine landscapes are become available, we also intend to predominantly natural – the high run a three-year joint study with the mountain plateaux, the Caledonian Scottish Council for National Parks to pine forests, the rugged coasts, develop and promote a future strategy and islands. However, others have for National Parks in Scotland. We resulted not just from natural forces, also plan to develop information and but from human endeavour over the advice resources to help local rural centuries – the designed landscapes communities to engage with the of the Borders, the rolling farmland planning system and to protect their of Angus, the heather moorlands of Cuillin from near Elgol local landscapes. We have identified Aberdeenshire. APRS cares equally the need to promote the value of Scotland’s landscape heritage to its about any of these landscapes – anywhere which has value and meaning economy, and we would dearly like to recruit additional members both to for local people or for visitors. If Scotland’s landscapes can retain clean increase the force of our arguments and our financial self-sufficiency, and water, clean air, and freedom from noise and light pollution, they can to involve additional volunteers in our work. underpin a rural environment supporting diverse and productive ways of life, yet also maintaining the sense of place for which Scotland is so rightly valued.

Our History APRS was formed in 1926, out of widespread concern after the First Our Recent Achievements World War that the quality of Scotland’s world-famous countryside was In recent years we led Scottish Environment LINK’s Landscape Task threatened by ribbon development and other inappropriate changes, Force, which then helped to set up the Scottish Landscape Forum – this in the absence at that time of any effective planning mechanisms. was the first time that all the public and voluntary bodies concerned with APRS currently has around 700 members, including many Community Scotland’s landscape sat round the same table to discuss issues which Councils who in turn represent many more rural residents. Our advisory matter to all of us. We founded and led the Perthshire Alliance for the Council comprises some Members elected by the members of APRS Real Cairngorms, which in 2008 won its case for incorporating parts of and some representing other national and local Scottish organisations.

Highland Perthshire into the Cairngorms National Park. We were one of Council appoints an Executive Committee of about 10 Members, which is a group of six national charities which opposed the proposed Beaulyresponsible for routine management and financial control. Four volunteers Denny electricity transmission line at the 2007 Public Inquiry. In 2006 we help regularly with various aspects of publicity, fundraising, research, and ensured that the new Planning Act provided a clear new statutory basis administration. APRS leases a small office in central Edinburgh. It has two for Scotland’s National Scenic Areas, our finest areas of outstanding sister bodies, CPRE in England, and CPRW in Wales. As a charity, APRS scenic beauty. In 2002 we completed a pilot Village Design Statement for is wholly dependent upon financial support from its members, charitable Tarland in Aberdeenshire, which was subsequently incorporated into the trusts, and private companies. Please join us – you can find full details on Local Plan. our website at: http://www.ruralscotland.org (Photos John Mayhew)

20

ORGANISATIONS Directed by Claire Garabedian, the St Andrews University Music Centre has recently launched an

Early Music Ensemble The focus of instruments in its authentic style, you are in for this ensemble a treat! There is a special transparency, clarity, will be to learn and ‘danciness’ to this style of playing that is about historical quite unlike the typical modern orchestral sound performance practice in an informal, supportive and approach. The baroque style of playing atmosphere, through the rehearsing and is based on the art of rhetoric, or speech. performing of a wide variety of baroque and Everyone will learn to lead the group, so that other ‘early’ repertoire, including the works of eventually there will be no need for a conductor!

Bach, Handel, Purcell, Vivaldi, and Telemann.

Claire Garabedian moved to St Andrews The ensemble is made up of violins, violas, a year ago with her partner, who is working cellos, bass, flutes, recorders, bassoon, harp, at the University. She is an accomplished and harpsichord. We are baroque and modern cellist who particularly looking for string has performed and recorded The baroque style players, as well as plucked with many of the foremost of playing is based orchestras and chamber instruments, such as theorbos and lutes, although we would ensembles in the United States. on the art of be happy to hear from any Since moving to Scotland, rhetoric, or speech she has frequently performed instrumentalist or singer with an interest in this repertoire. with the acclaimed early music This ensemble is open to all levels and group Dunedin Consort, based in Edinburgh. ages, although you must be able to read music.

She is also a regular guest lecturer at the We hope in the future to mount joint projects University of St Andrews, and will be giving with the University’s choirs and opera group, various introductory courses in different aspects as well as giving concerts of instrumental of early music through the University’s Open orchestral and chamber music.

Association this coming autumn. She is also the For those who have not had the pleasure of founder and past director of the ‘New Baroque experiencing baroque music played on original Orchestra,’ a community-based baroque

ensemble centred in Seattle, Washington, which is still going strong over five years later.

Claire received a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Historical Performance at the Longy School of Music, both in Boston, MA. The orchestra is planning to rehearse weekly throughout the summer, and chamber music groups will be forming at this time as well. If you are interested in seeing what this ensemble is about, or perhaps would like to join immediately, our first informal performance will be on Tuesday, 12 May at 8.00pm in the Younger Hall, North Street.

For more information, please contact Claire Garabedian at cgarabedian40@yahoo.com or call 01334 461 319 (Photos courtesy Claire Garabedian)

Alice Meaden – 1st Year Representative

Sailing The University of St Andrews Sailing Club sails twice a week and currently has nearly 100 members. Anyone can be part of the Club, whether a complete beginner, an experienced dinghy racer, or a yachter; there really is something for everyone.

Recreational sailing sessions every Saturday, organised by our Training Officer and team of qualified instructors, provide RYA teaching for any beginners who wish to come. Boat-wise, we currently have two Wayfarers, two Larks, and a GP14. Last October, there was a weekend away in Dumfries and Galloway to provide an introduction to dinghy Yacht racing sailing for beginners, while the “Booze Cruise” (also held last October in meeting, but we also have a Christmas dinner, and an end-of-year dinner Largs) was an introduction to yachting, as well as a fun weekend away to say goodbye to our leaving fourth years. We take part in the Athletic for any members of the Sailing Club, regardless of experience. We also Union ball. We hosted our very own hip-hop night this host a two week yachting holiday somewhere warm every February. summer! no-one ever really After four years of competitive sailing, awesome For the more experienced sailors who want to race, we take part in the three SUSA team racing league weekends wants to leave the socials, and great friends, it’s no wonder that no-one ever really wants to leave the Sailing Club! Every in November and February, racing in fireflies. We have Sailing Club! summer we have the Alumni weekend, when any of our our own fleet of six fireflies. This event is a great way to Alumni can return for a weekend of team racing against meet new people and develop inter-university relations. the current members, socials, including the Alumni Ball, and catching This year, our A-team qualified for the BUSA play-offs, and our Ladies up with their friends. The Alumni are very important to us as they often team will be representing St Andrews at the BUSA finals at Datchet Water provide financial support for the Sailing Club in return; we like to keep in London. SUSA champs takes place at the end of March, another fun them updated with regular newsletters. After all, we would all like to stay inter-university team-racing championship for Scotland. On the yachting updated with Sailing Club news when we leave! front, one team from St Andrews competed at BUSA in Portsmouth over the Easter break; we were third at the match-racing qualifiers in October, If you are interested in finding out more about the Sailing Club, please meaning that one team also competed at BUSA this Easter in one-on-one take a look at our website, and perhaps contact one of the committee keelboat racing. members: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~sail On top of all our sailing events, the Sailing Club hosts legendary socials. There is a social every Wednesday night after the committee (Photos courtesy the Sailing Club)

SUSA Le

ague We

ekend

Recreational Club clothing

sailing

21

ORGANISATIONS Dr Ian Bradley, Honorary Life President of the

St Andrews University Gilbert and Sullivan Society I am, of course, hopelessly biased, but I firmly believe that the University ‘Sausage roll’ song from the of St Andrews’ Gilbert and Sullivan Society does as much as any Grand Duke, as we waited student body to promote good town-gown relations, and acts as a good to go on stage. Sadly, our ambassador for the University in the community. equally stunning rendering This is appropriately achieved through spreading innocent of the double chorus from merriment, as in our most recent show, The Mikado, which played to The Pirates of Penzance enthusiastic audiences of almost equal numbers of local residents failed to impress the producer enough for us to be chosen for the next and students in Venue 1 for three nights in mid-March. Several of our round – I don’t think it helped that she did not appear to have heard of longest-standing fans, who have come regularly to Society productions either St Andrews or Gilbert and Sullivan. for thirty years or more, felt that this was the Within a few nights of the curtain going best ever – no small tribute to director Ella down on the last performance of The Next year will be the fortieth Ormerod, a third-year mathematician from Mikado, auditions were held for the one-night concert in the Younger Hall, the Society’s the Lake District, and musical director Ben anniversary of the Society, McAteer, a chemistry student from Newry, contribution to the On The Rocks festival of founded in 1970 Northern Ireland, who was recently elected student drama in late April.

Society President for the coming academic In June I will have the inestimable year. pleasure, as every year, of leading It is immensely heartening that a University impromptu singalongs at the afternoon with no music faculty can mount every year graduation garden parties with departing a full-scale production of a G & S operetta, Society members, much to the delight of entirely conceived and directed by students, many parents, and the generally benevolent with full orchestra and chorus. As always, this bemusement of some of my academic colleagues. Later in the summer there will be year’s cast was drawn from across the globe with a distinctly Irish bias, appropriate when rehearsals for a re-run of The Mikado at the we opened on the evening of St Patrick’s Day Edinburgh fringe, in the Surgeons’ Hall, for a with the new University Principal, Dr Louise week from August 21. Looking further ahead, Richardson, from County Waterford, in the our Spring 2010 show will be Ruddygore, audience. Colm Ó Siochrú, from County wonderful spoof of Victorian melodrama Cork starred as Nanki-Poo, the Mikado’s son complete with bad baronets, ghosts, and a fleeing from his elderly admirer Katisha and chorus of professional bridesmaids. disguised as a second trombone; and Graham Next year will be the fortieth anniversary of Richardson from Belfast as Ko-Ko, the Lord the Society, founded in 1970. There are plans High Executioner, with his famous little list of for a special reunion weekend to bring former people who never would be missed. Jonathan members and officers back to St Andrews. The Ichikawa, a post-doctoral philosopher from the new President has also committed himself to United States, took the role of Pooh-Bah; and more local community events and concerts.

Rachel Middle from Birmingham crowned a The future looks bright for the performance spectacular University G & S career as Yumof Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas, with their Yum. Nearer to home, the noble lord, Pish unique ability to lift the spirits and promote Tush, was Glaswegian medic, Chris Lowe; a feel-good factor. It is a never-ending joy Katisha was played by Emma Rettie from to me as a life-long addict to see this magic Ellon; and Yours Truly reprised the role of the spreading to generation after generation of Mikado. students. It is hugely encouraging, not just that The main March production is just the they fall under the Savoy spell themselves, but biggest and most public of a host of events also share their talents and their enthusiasm undertaken by the Society each year. This so generously with local community groups, academic year alone we have mounted two churches, and good causes. In these The Mikado major first semester concerts, raising over somewhat doom-laden times, we need £700 for charity, with a sell-out concert at the Burn near Edzell in aid innocent merriment and topsy-turvydom more than ever – long may the of a Brechin-based project to help AIDS orphans in South Africa, and members of this august University Society continue to sing choruses in a similarly-packed event at Dunecht near Aberdeen to raise funds public. Tarantata, tarantara! for the local church and community. A mini-tour of the Lake District in (Photos courtesy of the Society) November included a concert in Casterton School, and another in Kendal Town Hall. We serenaded the new rector, Kevin Dunnion, with a stirring rendition of songs from The Pirates of Penzance and Princess Ida during his rectorial drag and we gave a lunchtime concert in Hope Park Church for the St Andrews Hard of Hearing Club. This last was particularly moving – a good number of those present came up to me at the end and said how wonderful it was to be able to switch off or discard their hearing aids for an hour and have no difficulty hearing the melodies that so many of them loved so well. Volume is something that we certainly specialise in – as those fortunate enough to live near our rehearsal venues – Younger Hall; All Saints Church Hall; the Guide Hut; and Students’ Union – can testify.

Perhaps the most bizarre event over the last twelve months was our early morning visit to the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow to audition for the television programme, Britain’s Got Talent. Given the difficulties that students often have to get up for nine o’clock lectures, I was amazed at the way all those involved managed to present themselves at 6.30am at Leuchars Station – needless to say, there was much singing on the train. We also impressed many of our fellow competitors, including a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, and a James Bond impersonator, with a stunning rendition of the

22

TOWN & GOWN Chatting about her student days here, Diana Stonebanks BSc (1960) remembered an unusual Charities Day prank.

Holy Footprint !!

Traditions – people believe they have their origins in the dim and distant past and never change. Wrong! – especially when considering student traditions in our University here!

In 1958 the annual Charities Day still took place. It was the main fund-raising event of the year for local charities, and the highlight was a procession of decorated floats through the town. In those days there was a bottling plant where Argyle Court now stands.

Its lorries were used as floats. On Monday, 5th May 1958, the Scottish Daily Express reported that the winner of that year’s procession was entitled Nuclear Age. A science student in a pram, representing the “birth of the nuclear age” led the float on which was “a weird Heath Robinson impression of bubbling test-tubes and occasional explosions” (no Health & Safety in those halcyon days!). Behind the float was a “corpse” with the label “the end of the nuclear age.” The judges were the Rector Lord Kilmuir and his wife.

But what Diana remembered most vividly, and the reason she kept the newspaper cutting quoted above, was a truly heroic escapade. Four students hid overnight in the tower of University Chapel in North Street. At 1.00am on Saturday, 3rd May, they “lowered a rope to the ground so that the others could climb to the top of the tower.”

One student then slowly descended in a bos’n’s chair, sticking a line of paper footprints to the wall with flour paste. The prints started from the top of the spire. By 6.30am the job was finished and the students went off to bed.

A shocked University Senate met to demand the removal of the “offending” footprints!

“Mason William Fulton was halfway up the tower in a bos’n’s chair when the students pulled the rope away from the tower face. Meanwhile, his assistant William Humphries was locked inside the tower and could not help. There they stayed until the Charities Day procession had gone past. A bottle of beer was lowered to Mr Fulton – then he and his assistant were freed and allowed to finish the job.”

The students that year were determined to raise more than the “previous best collection” of £1,995 two years before. And they succeeded in bringing in more than £2,203. So they must have felt well pleased with themselves, and vindicated in their dare-devil antics. Which charities benefited? 60% went to Dr Barnardo’s, 30% to the St Andrews branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and 10% to the World’s University Service (anyone know what that was? – ed) Diana can’t remember if the students were punished. She does remember that before the event the girls in University Hall, where she stayed, were asked to volunteer their footprints on paper, which then, presumably provided the cut-outs. Were her feet included? She’s not saying!

The Mason is swinging in mid-air. The remaining footprints can be seen on the steeple.

(Photo courtesy Diana Stonebanks)

The New Picture House Winner of the RAAM Independent Cinema of the Year Award for Excellence Enjoy a pre-show drink in our lounge or book an exclusive function or children’s party with a private screening

www.nphcinema.co.uk 117 North Street, St Andrews Tel: 013334 474902

23

TOWN & GOWN Postgraduate Philip Giannecchini is studying Peace and Conflict. He travelled with thirteen other students to Bosnia and Herzegovina to research the attempts to build peace in the country.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 years on . . .

“The people are more ruined than the A former socialist country, it was never the occur, and people freely move around the entire buildings”. That’s what one human rights responsibility of the people to decide matters city, the division is apparent and ominous. activist told us the first afternoon we were in of education, health care, and employment; Mr Jovich, whom we interviewed along with Sarajevo. She spoke after sitting quietly for the state took care of it on their behalf. Civil two of his colleagues from the CDU, asked over an hour, listening to her colleagues talk society was not necessary (or permitted). what action was being taken to reconcile the about the failure of the international community, The fall of communism provided the perfect people, promptly informed us that, “all forms of corrupt politicians, and the disjuncture between opportunity for civil society to take root in reconciliation have finished and are complete”. what we are told and what is actually the case.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, but before it could We chose not to pursue the matter further; he Her one sentence carried more weight than emerge the war blocked it, thus making its posthad said enough. anything that the others had said. She didn’t war materialisation difficult. The international For him, reconciliation is not an issue explain what she meant and she didn’t have to. community strongly advocated the formation of because he doesn’t believe there is anything The scars of war in Sarajevo serve as civil society, resulting in a donor-driven design, to reconcile. He doesn’t see that there are no a constant reminder of what occurred over too weak to stand alone, representing the will Bosniacs living on his street or going to school thirteen years ago. And of the international with his grandchildren, yet the population of what should never be community rather Mostar is more than a third Bosniac. Why The scars of war in Sarajevo allowed to happen again. than that of the should he be concerned? He is a protectionist serve as a constant It requires more effort people. We began who pledges allegiance to Croatia, not Bosnia to see what is really to realise this was and Herzegovina. Therein lies a fundamental reminder of what occurred unfolding in the country definitely affecting the problem: those who control the political stage, over thirteen years ago at the moment; how situation in the country and who refuse to let it go, are inherently the people are coping and was strongly protectionist and out of touch with the society with the past, and what they hope to achieve. contributing to the ‘ruined’ nature of the Bosnia over which they have power. The constitution As Peace and Conflict researchers from the and Herzegovinian people. There is limited is designed to favour the elite few who hold University of St Andrews it was our duty to opposition to the status quo and those who power, and gives no voice at all to minority look deeper. We had to look past what we saw oppose it do not have the support necessary to groups. and scrape away at the layers of interpretation change it, and progress is limited.

There are those who strongly advocate (and often misinterpretation) offered to us by Many of the local people we spoke to change – slowly their voice is being heard. those we interviewed. Only then could we seemed confused, somewhat disillusioned.

Firstly, the constitution must be re-written. give meaning to what we were told that first Sanel Huskiç, the President of ACIPS – a nonSecondly, civil society must emerge. Thirdly, afternoon in Sarajevo, and in turn, begin to governmental association of experts in the society as a whole needs to be more understand possible ways to rectify this. fields of democracy, human rights, and state integrative.

Dr Jason Franks, our supervisor from the management – told us that democracy has not The World Bank recently projected International Relations department, explained failed in Bosnia and Herzegovina because there increased unemployment and loss of small that often what is not said during interviews with has never been democratic government. The businesses. Coupled with the ongoing people is more telling and insightful than what situation is exacerbated by extreme nationalist international financial crisis, the road towards is actually being said. It didn’t take long for us politicians, who push for EU integration progress grows ever steeper. We all agree to realise this for ourselves. After meetings with whilst advocating national segregation. Such that the restoration of the people is far from the UNDP, Human Rights NGOs, DFID, the politicians, whose capacity to stir up popular complete and unless this changes soon the Office of the High Representative (OHR), and support remains strong, seem so far removed people, as well as the buildings, will remain in a various politicians representing the constituent from reality that it is dangerous. For example, state of ruin. peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was the meeting with the Croatian Democratic relatively easy to pinpoint the different agendas Union (CDU) party took place in the city of I wish to thank Dr Jason Franks for making our of the various actors. Analysing the different Mostar, near Sarajevo. The city is divided, with trip both fruitful and enjoyable. Also, Stefanie perspectives of the people we interviewed, the Bosniacs (Muslims) on one side and the Kappler, a PhD student from the Department we observed how their agendas influenced Croats on the other. Between, is the former of International Relations, who aided us in our what they told us and even how the interviews front line separating the two groups during the research and understanding of Bosnia and were conducted, i.e. did they lecture us, or nineties’ conflict. Whilst some integration does Herzegovina. were they open? What can we infer from this?

For example, in a meeting with the nationalist political party, the Croatian Democratic Union, the Chairman Dragan Jovich, lectured us for over forty minutes explaining why the party believes what it does, and how democratic it is.

Why did he feel it necessary to explain this? In reality, it is not very democratic at all, and they know that. Initially they remained reserved and it was hard to get a response from them that didn’t sound predetermined. A couple of cleverly articulated questions from certain members of our group got the emotive outburst we wanted, and the nationalistic nature of the party was exposed.

The lack of cohesion between the different actors became apparent, which in many respects reflects the political and social situation in the country as a whole. DIFD, for example, do not work with local NGOs, and there is no evident channel of communication between the politicians and the citizen. More problematic, is the lack of a clear civil society movement, that is, a non-state institution (Photo courtesy Philip Giannecchini, second on the left) advocating the rights and needs of citizens.

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TOWN & GOWN Lesley-Ann Patrick talked to Flora Selwyn about

“St Andrews’ best-kept secret” “When physical, mental, spiritual, and “respected as the child’s first teachers”, and emotional needs are met children glow with are fully part of the whole school, which is excitement and a drive to play and work with regarded as “an extension of the home.” enthusiasm, to learn, and to create. They Mrs Patrick explained that each age exhibit a desire to teach, help, and care for group has one fully-trained Montessori others and for their environment.” director. In addition, peripatetic subject Isn’t this what caring parents would wish specialists attend for art, music, and for their children? There is a school which environmental tuition (the outdoors is a wholeheartedly embraces the philosophy wonderful resource at Kemback!) Holland leading to such an outcome – it is called The has state-funded Montessori schools, so Casa Della Pace Montessori Eco School, and an exchange programme is to be set up, it is to be found at Kemback, just six miles giving senior Kemback children the chance from St Andrews. Currently, it is the only to experience city life in Amsterdam, where Montessori-accredited school in Scotland. there is an adolescent programme. This Mrs Patrick started the school in the autumn, Kemback itself will also become a supper room of St Andrews Town Hall in 2002.

Montessori ‘teacher’ training school.

The founders of Google, Larry Page and Quickly outgrowing the premises, the school then moved to rented accommodation on The Sergey Brin, were educated at Montessori Scores, and from there to Buchanan Gardens. schools, as was the founder of Amazon.com, Finally, in 2006 Old Kemback Primary School Jeff Bezos. They say that it was the School’s Children doing science in the woods became available, “quite a magical place.” emphasis on self-direction that gave them There are now 30 children aged from 3 the impetus to think for themselves and to12, and in September this year a 12-15 programme will begin, leading the freedom to pursue their own interests. Among many other illustrious eventually to the International Baccalaureat (IB) qualification. supporters, or alumni, are Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry How does this kind of education differ from the state system?

Ford, Mahatma Gandhi, and our Princes, William and Harry. Not Montessori schools are divided into three general age groups: the surprisingly, there is a waiting list for entry at Kemback.

Children’s House, age 3 to 6; the Elementary, age 6 to 12; the Erdkinder group age 12 to18. The groups are deliberately mixed in age, the For further information, please phone 01334 650 029 / 850 868 or older children helping the younger ones, providing a mutually caring email: casadellapace.montessoriecoschool@virgin.net and nurturing environment, which mirrors real life in the wider world.

Our website can be viewed at: www.montessoriecoschool.org.uk “Learning,” according to the Montessori ethos, “is a journey of selfdiscovery that ultimately leads to high levels of concentration, high self-esteem, self-motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning.”

Maria Montessori, the founder of the system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, believed that young children absorb their culture simply by living it. She identified as windows of opportunity what she called ‘sensitive periods’ in children’s development, when there is an irresistible urge towards growth. To facilitate that urge, equipment and materials are child-centred. Fully-trained adults, directors (they don’t call them ‘teachers’), act as guides, but the children work independantly and/or in groups. Each child is individually observed and assessed, so that “new knowledge is always built on what is known already”, but it is always the children who initiate their own learning.

Anyone unfamiliar with this approach might think it sounds haphazard. However, it is carefully constructed to cover the full curriculum, and at the same time inculcates a vital sense of responsibility to others and to the wider community. Parents are

Doing an experiment in the classroom (Photos courtesy Casa della Pace)

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TOWN & GOWN Kirsty Jean MacLeod, in her final year, explains that

My decision to study Zoology was a snap one that seemed to come from nowhere . . . and which stunned fly that will control and become my family and teachers. A its legs, antennae, wings, and creative child and teenager eyes. I’ll never see more than passionate about writing a simulation, but haemoglobins and art, I had been only and the intricacies of atoms reluctantly persuaded to study and molecules controlling their Chemistry at Standard Grade vital function overwhelmed me. level declaring, “I’d never go Questions of how things work into Science”. It had been were beginning to be answered. widely expected that I would Zoologists are in a privileged follow my academic uncle’s position, straddling both the footsteps into the world of English literature, and this was my vague worlds of “red” and “green” dream. biology, with one foot belonging Stabbing at life choices at sixteen felt ridiculous even then, and in the molecular, physiological glibly picking careers with the help of computer software, paging through camp, the other in ecology prospectuses appeared deceptively easy. Like every 16 year-old I was and behavioural science. The painfully nervous of choosing the wrong path – at 16, a job is forever, patterns that captivated my there’s no turning back. The word “zoology” seemed simply to pop imagination as a child continued into my mind – but looking back, it’s easy to see the early signs of my to unfold across the disciplines. leanings towards a scientific life.

Scattering synapses firing One of my earliest memories is watching a documentary by the nerve impulses through the axons of a fish became Darwin’s sketched venerable sage of zoology, David Attenborough. I was too young to tree of life as he thrashed out the theory of natural selection, and this absorb the information, but I was mesmerised by the patterns and became dividing river tributaries flowing through a tropical forest – the shapes of the underwater kingdom, the rich colour of the rainforest and sort of landscape I’ve never lost my passion for. Zoology is the linking its creatures, and the quirks and marvels of the natural world. Intrigued, mechanism, the mediator and collaborator, the axis of biology. To I started looking for such complexity and understand the animal kingdom one beauty in my own back garden, and it must be able to comprehend the power of a single molecule in determining an started looking for me. My Doctor Doolittle animal’s fate – equally one must be qualities were so magnetic that birds able to follow the evolutionary path, and seemed to begin flinging themselves at our enjoy the thrill of its uncertainties – most conservatory with manic frequency, and I vitally in our changing world one must buried them all – but not before stretching have the vision to see the fragile web wings out, examining legs and beaks to of interactions between organism and satisfy my curiosity. The decision finally environment. What captured my heart on made, I threw myself into a naturalist’s life. the television screen at five or six wasn’t I stalked rabbits on the golf course, built the darting fish, or the mystery of the up a collection of owl pellets that horrified ocean, but the enchanting synergy of the my mother, especially when it extended two – what I now know to be the perfect to specimens of droppings from the mink tuning of muscle, scale, and bone to the and otters that live on the shores of our currents that support it. island home. I bought a tiny, inexpensive The mass cataloguing of life, the microscope and spent hours picking the discoveries of species in far-flung lands pellets apart under the lens, finding bone in the 18th and 19th centuries provide fragments, husks of insects and flickering much of the knowledge we are now able fish scales. Dead flies in the window to expand on with modern technology. of the shop where I worked afternoons With the findings of the last hundred were brought home to be inspected, the years including key work in molecular magnification bringing out kaleidoscopes and genetic biology, the bigger picture of colours and lines. Even now there’s is becoming clearer. But I believe that nothing better on a sunny day than lying there are important days yet to come in on the lawn watching tiny life go by Zoology, and as a conservationist, I want between the blades of grass. to be part of them. The reverberating All the while what fascinated me most, effects of the most successful mammal, what continues to intrigue, is simply how things work – how tendons control motion Homo sapiens, are changing the in a mouse and in an elephant, how the environment irreversibly; dealing with massive weight of a whale is supported by it will require knowledge, not just of water – how a camel survives with none. the biomes being lost, but the furtherZoologists are, in many ways, people who reaching impacts on organisms big and have not grown out of their questioning small. This is beyond saving the cuddly nature, and who see the world through panda and the majestic tiger. This is South Africa 2007 child-like eyes. Why do bees dance? about understanding the plight of species Why are some spiders poisonous? Why the world relies on, like the hard-working does a peacock have a colourful tail, but a peahen doesn’t? Studying bee responsible for pollinating the plants that give us food, the plankton Zoology at University came naturally, and instead of being narrowed, the supporting the entire ocean system. The years ahead are going to be horizons of my interests exploded. I studied cell and molecular biology, challenging – David Attenborough doesn’t know what he has started. found lecturers who could make microtubules come alive in the lecture theatre. A devotee of the mammal world, I nonetheless fell in love at x100 (Photos courtesy Kirsty MacLeod) with imaginal disks, the delicate, ethereal structures in the larvae of a

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TOWN & GOWN Aimée Linekar, “a penultimate-year French and Russian student, from Thurso. I’m currently studying in St Petersburg for a semester as part of my degree programme.”

Not my first encounter with Russia Normally, when people set upon me with the typical array of questions about epic train journeys, Lenin, banyas, vodka, and quaint folk traditions, I smile, take a deep breath, and prepare to explode some myths – exactly as I would given the equivalent raft of hackneyed kilts-and-tartan-and-haveyou-seen-Nessie enquiries about my own Aimee on “Vatrushka” country.

This is why we study languages and cultures; to venture beyond skin-deep, get a taste of everyday life outside our bubble, and just perhaps, if we’re very lucky, make a real, human connection with our neighbours. The more time I spend in Russia, the more it begins to seem that the stereotypes aren’t so far off the mark after all.

The scene: a cold Sunday in late February. We’re crushed onto the bench seats of a rather aged electrichka (suburban overground train) chugging along merrily towards Zelenogorsk, a town nestled along the northern rim of the Gulf of Finland. Uncharacteristically efficient municipal provisions have ensured that St Petersburg has already been clear of snow for several days; here in the countryside, however, it is still lying abundantly. The two men to my right are armed with tired-looking guitars; ‘Ivanitch’, a gruff, bearded redhead, looking as if he might have stepped straight out of a period piece about the noble Soviet worker, batters his own period piece, a Chaika accordion, into song. Marina has settled for a wooden tambourine, and the rest of us crane our necks to follow the song lyrics that Masha is helpfully holding up by the window.

With unquestionable enthusiasm, if doubtful musical prowess, we belt our way through a whole Burning the ch album of folk songs about journeys, love, and loss, uchela including a modern bawdy ditty about the local electrician’s legendary ‘lead’. Any attempt to learn spelling or grammar rules from these songs turns into a farce, as my companions patiently explain that an extra syllable has been added here and there for the sake of the rhythm. And it’s worth it – the whole carriage, packed full of excitable day trippers on their way to celebrate Maslenitsa (Pancake day), joins in, tapping their feet, singing along. Some even don clown wigs.

Once at Zelenogorsk, we pile into a small fleet of people-carriers and head for Yalkala. Yalkala doesn’t sound very Russian – and that’s because it isn’t. Like most of the Karelia region, it is something of a historical hot potato, passing from the Swedes to the Finns to the Russians over the course of centuries of intermittent territorial spats. In Russian, the village is known as Ilychovo, in honour of the ever-present Vladimir Ilych Lenin, who was hidden and given succour by left-leaning local Finns in the months before the October Revolution. The thick pine forest around the village even boasts a suitably munificentlooking statue of the man himself (complete with a

rather implausible snowy ‘headscarf’). Ivanitch duly pays his respects with another gravel-voiced refrain, and we press on deeper into the woods.

Around the edge of a vast, bare, snowy plain, there are signs of activity. A tent, complete with wood-burning stove and chimney, has been pitched beneath the trees and a smaller blue specimen graces one side of the icy wasteland to our right. Hanging on a chain slung between two trees, three large vats of borshch bubble away contentedly above a proper log fire. We swarm around a trestle table piled high with stacks of pancakes, cooked meats, cheeses, sweets, evaporated milk, myriad pickles, smetana, and dense black bread.

The call goes out to form teams, and before I have a chance to object, I am part of the improbably-dubbed “Loch-Nevskoe Chudovishche” (“Loch-Nevsky Monster”, the hypothetical offspring of Alexander Nevsky and, I can only presume, a rather bemused Nessie). The following two hours are a blur of absurd competitions; we run around, stumble through obstacle courses, try our darnedest to chop wood, slide down hills on vatrushki (round sledges resembling a popular Russian pastry), and I am even persuaded to fire a gun for the first – and, I hope, last – time. Much as I would love to claim a victory for international co-operation, the bitter truth is that our team lost, albeit good-naturedly, at every event.

Having stood, jumped, walked, run and even misfired a gun into the “large snowy clearing”, I notice a neatly-cut hole in the ice by the mysterious blue tent. I have, it seems, misinterpreted my surroundings. The blue tent is, in fact, a portable banya, the snowy plain – a frozen lake, and the hole in the footthick ice leading to hypothermia and certain death – a prorub, just the ticket to cool off after a stint in the sauna. Rejuvenating, apparently. So it is that my companions (by now rather merry from liberal measures of vodka and mulled wine) shed their skisuits, fur coats, hats, clown wigs, hiking socks, boots, scarves, and gloves and begin to dive from the banya to the prorub in speedos and bikinis. Young Mitya, particularly enthusiastic, starts to somersault in the snow in nothing but his trunks.

Sasha calls everyone to gather around the chuchelo – a female scarecrow dressed in chintz rags – and distributes scraps of paper. The ancient pagan rite involves burning the effigy of winter in order to invite the warmer days of spring. As an added bonus, participants can send their problems, fears, regrets, and sins to the flames in the form of notes tucked in her apron. One slightly tipsy woman even slips in a blister pack of ‘nasty’ pills for a medical condition that The Prorub she would rather be rid of. The white spirit is poured, the match struck, and children and adults alike link hands to run around the flaming chuchelo singing “gori, gori yasno, shtoby ne pogaslo…” (“Burn bright, burn bright, so that you will stay alight!”).

Stunned by the conjunction of so many national stereotypes in a single spot, I begin to wonder if I should, perhaps, reconsider the Nessie question after all.

(Photos courtesy Aimée Linekar)

Borshch

Statue of Lenin

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EVENTS Gordon Senior, on this year’s plans for his outstanding garden at

Ladies Lake

Gordon and Joyce Senior

On Sunday 23rd August, between the hours of 2.00pm and 5.00pm, the gardens at Ladies Lake on The Scores will be open to the public under the auspices of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. As usual, the kind ladies of the congregation of Hope Park Church will provide tea and delicious home baking at bargain prices.

A couple of years ago the garden opening was cancelled because of torrential rain, so, in an endeavour to recoup the lost revenue, we opened on a daily basis when the sun shone. As a result, we raised twice as much revenue as we would have raised on the “official” day.

Heartened by this experience, last year we opened on a daily basis when the weather was fine. This proved to be very popular, and more than 1,000 people turned up and deposited the requested amount of £2 in our honesty box. We also gathered a few unheard-of foreign coins!

We propose repeating the exercise this year from early June, and as I pen this note, the greenhouse is bursting at the seams with begonias, geraniums, alyssum, and salvia – only 4 varieties, but more than 1,000 of each, so a colourful display is in prospect.

A portion of the “gate money” will go towards maintenance, but most will go to a number of good causes which are close to my heart. A main beneficiary will be the Salvation Army, who looked after my elder son when his life was in turmoil.

(Photo courtesy Gordon Senior)

Fraser Gallery on South Street, following the highly successful Francis Boag retrospective exhibition last September, focuses on one of the UK’s leading maritime artists – an exciting solo exhibition by

Malcolm Cheape Malcolm, a graduate of Duncan of image to make a beautiful and rich tribute to Jordanstone College of Art and Design Britain’s past maritime strength.”

(1987), now lives and works in Glenfarg and Very much influenced early in his career Pittenweem. His paintings encompass a by the pioneering documentary photographer broad maritime theme from early 19th Century Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, who captured 19th whaling ships to colourful, Century life in the port of small contemporary boats Whitby, Malcolm shares Historical accuracy and not only the same realistic in Scotland’s fishing ports of Fraserburgh, Peterhead, style, but also a desire to documentary detail Ullapool, Oban, and document a disappearing characterise my work Pittenweem. His detailed maritime culture. “I am an paintings of lobsters and avid natural historian and fish are anatomically precise and are popular my work reflects my detailed research on the artworks, with one being commissioned for a history and mythology surrounding shipping seafood restaurant in New York. vessels, as well as the evolution of fish and Working primarily in ink and acrylic paint shellfish.” it is his clever usage of collage which makes The Cheape family are no strangers to his work unique. “Historical accuracy and St Andrews and they have had a long history documentary detail characterise my work,” with the town. Strathtyrum House was built commented Malcolm, “I use Scottish poetry, in 1782 for the Cheape family and is still financial records, engineering drawings, owned by Malcolm’s relatives. In 1821, James hydrological charts, and mythological Cheape purchased the St Andrews Links, iconography, collaging them into the painted and the Cheape bunkers on the 2nd and 17th

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fairway of the Old Course reflect the family ties to the golfing tradition that makes St Andrews so famous. Historical documents on the Cheape family are held in the University Special Collections, and date back to 1454.

Malcolm is a regular exhibitor at the Pittenweem Arts Festival every August, also annual art fairs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London. He exhibits widely in galleries in Scotland, England, and overseas. His work is in many public collections, including the City Art Centre in Edinburgh, the Perth Art Gallery, the McLean Collection in the Greenock Art Gallery, and in many private collections around the world.

The Fraser Gallery in St Andrews opened just over a year ago, but is already considered one of Scotland’s more prestigious galleries.

Malcolm Cheape’s solo exhibition will run from Saturday, 20 June to Saturday, 4 July 2009.

EVENTS

“Music says it all!”

(PJB)

On Saturday, 20 June this summer, there will be a very special concert at 7.30pm in the Younger Hall, North Street, given by the Heisenberg Ensemble, conducted by Gillian Craig. It will be a concert in memory of Professor Peter Branscombe, who sadly passed away on 31st December after a long and painful illness.

Peter is missed by so many people in St Andrews, and in the world at large. He was well loved in the University, where he held a Personal Chair in Austrian Studies. In this capacity, Peter was able to share his deep knowledge, not only of German literature, but also of the music for which Austria is so famous. As musicologist, Peter contributed regularly to music magazines, (notably International Record Review) broadcast widely, and also wrote innumerable programme notes for opera companies throughout the world. Opera was his speciality, but Peter was equally at home with all Viennese repertoire. Indeed, experts in Austria deferred to him as understanding “all the connexions between popular comedies and their music and so-called serious literature and serious music…” (Otto Biba, quoted in IRR, February 2009).

Remembering Peter’s unrivalled contribution to Austrian scholarship, the Heisenberg Ensemble will play music by Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert. Murray McLachlan will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto, K 459.

Free tickets can be obtained from the Music Centre at the Younger Hall. There will also be a collection on the night in aid of the Heisenberg Ensemble.

(Photo, courtesy Mrs M. Branscombe)

Niall Currie, Vice-president Shire of Caer Caledon (University of St Andrews Medieval Society) announces

The Beltaine Fayre The annual Beltaine Fayre will be held in St Andrews Castle, The Scores, from 10.00am – 4.00pm. on Saturday, 2nd May. It will be open to the public and we hope to attract a good mix of townspeople and students. Entry is free for students wearing their red university gowns. Otherwise, it is just the usual Castle charge – adult £5.09, child £2.54, concession £4.11 There will be: • fighting demonstrations from re-enactment groups, including Regia Anglorum, and Company of St Margaret • A Shire tournament, with the student society members competing for the champion’s Shield.

• Various craft stalls selling medieval trinkets and jewellery etc.

• Authentic medieval musicians, dancing around a Maypole, and Pagan dancing.

• Living History demonstrations, and other historical groups, including Knights of Monymusk The event will end with the ‘Multi-bash’ where all the fighters take to the arena together for a final epic clash.

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EVENTS Kenny Lindsay introduces

Whisky Galore The St Andrews Play Club’s Spring production will be Whisky Galore, to be performed in the Byre Theatre between 19th and 23rd May 2009.

During World War 2 a cargo vessel, the SS Cabinet Minister, is wrecked off the remote Scottish islands of Great and Little Todday – with thousands of cases of whisky on board.

The islanders are thirsty, due to a shortage of whisky, and manage to salvage most of the cargo before the ship sinks. But it is not all plain sailing as the islanders battle the efforts of the authorities to confiscate the liquor.

In this production of the classic Scottish tale written by Compton Mackenzie and adapted for the stage by Paul Godfrey, a group of radio actors perform the play as a ‘live’ radio broadcast – playing 26 characters, adopting many different accents, speaking Gaelic, and creating all the sound effects themselves.

This type of production is a bit of a departure for the Play Club, and something of a challenge, but one that we think will be a lot of fun and provide something slightly different during this Homecoming Year.

Selected Events Every Friday lunchtime during the semester, Mussoc presents concerts by students at 1.15pm in the Younger Hall. Admission is free.

May to Saturday, 31 October – Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther, celebrates Scottish Homecoming with events all year (see press) Also, From Buckhaven to Stonehaven.

Exhibition of photographs by Jake Brown, following in the footsteps of artist and writer Peter Anson, the Museum’s first Curator. And, Model Boats Club exhibition, models made by Club members (on show in the Historic Boatyard). For information see: www.scotfishmuseum.org Saturday, 2 May – 9.00am-1.00pm. Argyle Street car park. Farmers’ Market – 10.00am-4.00pm. The Castle, The Scores, St Andrews. Beltaine Fayre. See page 29.

Contact: Shire@st-andrews.ac.uk – 10.00-11.30am. Museum, Kinburn Park, Doubledykes Road. Wee Stories Theatre.

Storytelling: understanding evolution with a witty exploration of how animals got their unique looks; Explore Your World Day. Free family event. Contact: 01334 659 380.

– 11.00am-4.30pm. The Preservation Trust Museum, 12 North Street. Genealogy Day – Homecoming Scotland. Meet our family history group members and learn about genealogy. Tips, addresses, and information about the most famous families in St Andrews will be available to all. Junior genealogists will also be able to enjoy special activities. Free.

Contact: 01334 475 502.

– 2.00pm-4.30pm. Museum, Kinburn Park, Doubledykes Road. Birds of Scotland. Learn about bird species that live in Scotland, through activities, and a nature walk led by Tony Wilson of the Fife Countryside Rangers, Explore Your World Day. Free, but booking required; family event. Contact: 01334 659 380.

– 4.00pm. The Younger Hall, North Street. University String Orchestra. Director, William Baxter. Music by Neilsen, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, and R Duncan. Contact: 01334 462 226.

Sunday, 3 May – 8.00pm. St Salvator’s Chapel, North Street. Music performed by the St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, directed by William Stevenson.

Tuesday, 5 May – 5.15pm. The Younger Hall, North Street. Youth Choir, Directed by Gillian Craig. End of term entertainment, including the Muppets theme, and Abba songs. Admission free, retiring collection for charity. Contact: 01334 462 226.

Wednesday, 6 May – 1.15pm-1.45pm. The Younger Hall, North Street. “A Boesendorfer and a Saxophone” Richard Ingham (saxophone) Richard Michael (piano) Music by J S Bach, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Robert Burns. Admission at the door, £2.

Thursday, 7 May – 5.00pm. School III, St Salvator’s Quad, North Street. Shakespeare, Oaths, and Vows. A talk by Prof John Kerrigan, Cambridge; The Andrew Lang Lecture. Free.

Contact: 01334 462 666.

Sunday, 10 May – 7.30pm. The Younger Hall, North Street. University Chamber Orchestra, Director, William Baxter. Music by Mozart, Mackenzie, Beethoven. Contact: 01334 462 226.

Saturday, 16 May to Sunday, 27 September – 2.00pm-5.00pm. At the Preservation Trust Museum, 12 North Street. Colour, curtains, and chords – Arts in St Andrews. Painting, acting, singing....explore the variety and richness of the artistic community of St Andrews past and present. Exhibition open daily, admission free. Contact: 01334 475 502.

Friday, 5 June to Sunday, 28 June – Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther. Under the Sea. An exhibition of the winning entries to our children’s art competition. For information see: www.scotfishmuseum.org Saturday, 6 June – Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther. Museum Open Day. Family fun with a Fisher lad & lass ceremony, craft fair, chance to visit the Reaper, and much more. Free entry (in memory of the museum’s late President and founder, Tommy Murray) For information see: www.scotfishmuseum.org – 9.00am-1.00pm. Argyle Street car park. Farmers’ Market.

– 10.00am-4.00pm. Victory Memorial Hall, St Mary’s Place. Book Sale. Admission free.

Thursday, 18 June to Saturday, 20 June – 10.00am-5.00pm (Saturday till 3.00pm) Corn Exchange, Cupar. Exhibition of work by members of the Scottish Handcraft Circle. The Scottish Handcraft Circle has branches in St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Admission, including refreshments, £2.50.

Saturday, 20 June – 7.30pm The Younger Hall, North Street. Concert in memory of Peter Branscombe. The Heisenberg Ensemble. Conductor, Gillian Craig. Murray McLachlan, piano. Music by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert. Contact: 01334 462 226. See page 29.

Tuesday, 23 June – 7.30pm. The Byre Theatre, Abbey Street. Anstruther Operatic Society.

Miscellany of Music and Songs from Musicals. Friends of the Byre. Tickets, £7. Contact: 01334 475 000.

Wednesday, 24 June – 6.00pm. St Salvator’s Chapel, North Street. Graduation Recital. A showcase of this year’s most talented graduands. Tickets at the door, £3.

Sunday, 28th June – 11.00am to 5.00pm. Hidden Gardens of St Andrews. An opportunity to visit rarely-seen gardens of St Andrews. Also stalls, entertainment, refreshments. Admission charge, £4, children Free. Contact: The St Andrews Preservation Trust, 01334 477 152.

Email: trust@standrewspreservationtrust.org.uk

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OUT & ABOUT Alistair Lawson, our intrepid ‘Out and About’ columnist, has been out and about to the extent of being out of the British island, in search of good walking experiences in another Atlantic island, the so-called “Floating Garden of the Atlantic”, on account of its benign maritime climate, and there are lots of flowers and lots of colour.....

Madeira Madeira is only 30-odd miles long by 12 broad, but offers two tunnels hewn through the rock where memorable walking experiences. The most-publicised – and other engineering was not possible. Even characteristic – is levada walking. Whaaa...t? though the peaks are only 4 miles apart, A levada is a concrete irrigation channel, and this is an all-day, thereit catches the water way up in the recesses of the and-back expedition, Madeira is only 30-odd mountains (max. height 1800m) then leads it along, unless one can contrive miles long by 12 broad, in and out of every spur and gully, just a fraction to have transport at off the horizontal – to make the water flow – and the other end. The but offers two memorable delivers it, many miles away, to where it is needed. dangerous sections walking experiences The walks either follow a path alongside the lower – i.e. almost all of it lip of the channel, or go along the lip itself, which – are protected by a can be fairly apprehension-inducing when there are big drop-offs wire railing on the outer side, though on the downward side. The more popular ones have a railing (not this is vulnerable to damage by rock always maintained!), but I suspect the locals of long ago spurned falls and snow slides (yes, even in midsuch things. Because of the ins and outs, the distances walked are Atlantic, just 32° north of the equator quite considerable, even though the straight line distance would be and off the coast of Africa). The relatively short. At intervals along each levada there are little sluices, rewards, to be offset against the whitewhich each field owner can raise, as required, and deliver a quota knuckle, sweaty-palms experience, of water to his fields. Because of the winding nature of the levadas, include ever-changing views of the you move in no time at all from roadsides into the recesses of the dramatic, highly-accidented mountain mountain forests and the scattered villages and farms. As to the scenery, glimpses down to the scattered meaning of the word, think “levitate”, or French “lever” (raise), which villages in the valleys far below, distant refers to the lower lip of the channel having been raised to create the sea views, and a changing kaleidoscope course for the water. The easier and safer levada walks are muchof sunshine, mountain mists, and residual publicised, and walking groups from Germany and Britain can be snow patches. encountered most days. The local bus services enable one to reach If you are tempted, note that I found a starting and finishing points easily. fortnight well short of the necessary time The second distinctive Madeira walking experience is the to explore even such a small island. Flights ‘catwalk’ between two of the highest peaks, Pico Ruivo and Pico from Glasgow to Funchal depart Mondays, Ariero, both 1800m plus. The central mountain massif is formed and take 4 hours. by the shattered remains of the 20-million year old volcano, which explains why there is a Madeira at all. This is no classic cone-shaped volcano, the nearest description being a mouthful of rotten and giant teeth! The reason there is a ‘catwalk’ is that, otherwise, the 4mile traverse between the two peaks just would not be possible. In contemplating the walk, I had noted that there were two intermediate summits, and thought I would detour to claim them as well, little knowing that this is territory in which one just does not make casual diversions, no matter how close and tempting a new peak may seem!

The ‘catwalk’ was constructed in the 1960s and consists of hundreds of steps, umpteen ascents and re-descents, narrow paths hacked into the soft volcanic rock and hugging the steep drop-offs, and five

(Photos by M. Selwyn)

Invite you to visit a hidden treasure in the heart of St Andrews WOODLAND & WATERGARDENS HERBACEOUS & SCREE ALPINES & RHODODENDRONS GLORIOUS GLASSHOUSE COLLECTIONS OPEN DAILY ALL YEAR ROUND BEDDING PLANT SALE STARTS Saturday 16th May from 10am PLANT SALES AREA Open till end September SUMMER LECTURE & RECEPTION Tuesday 16th June at 7.30pm Chemistry Dept. North Haugh Entry free – all welcome CONDUCTED WALKS First Sunday each month at 2pm TO JOIN THE FRIENDS AND SUPPORT THE GARDEN CONTACT MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY. Canongate, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8RT. Tel: 01334 476452. www.st-andrews-botanic.org Charity No. SC006432

(East Bishop’s Hill) PricklyLomond pear in from flower

Levada walkers

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2009 Sale Dates January January February February March March April April April May May June June

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8/9 22/23 5/6 19/20 5/6 19/20 2/3 16/17 30/ May 1 14/15 28/29 11/12 25/26

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9/10 23/24 6/7 20/21 3/4 17/18 1/2 15/16 29/30 12/13 26/27 10/11

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