St Andrews in Focus Issue 35 Jul Aug 2009

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

July July // August August 2009 2009 Issue Issue 35, 35, £1.50 £1.50

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

Alan Stephens, winner of the this year’s Art Club competition explains

“Where’s the Spade?”

This is an oil painting of my grandson, Aaron, on the East Sands, based on one of many photographs taken of the grandchildren (we have 5). I joined the St Andrews Art Club not long after we moved to St Andrews in 2005. I was very fortunate to become a member so quickly, as now we have a long waiting list.

Although watercolour is the main medium for many of the members, oil painting is on the increase, with our Monday morning oil class being very popular. I had been involved with other art clubs in Oxfordshire, and it wasn’t long before I was invited to join the committee, where my training in electronics and electrical engineering has been put to good use, looking after all electrical items for the Club and setting up our web site: (www.standrewsartclub.co.uk).

I have been painting ever since I can remember, and in 1990 I gave up my job with the BBC to concentrate on painting. I am mainly a portrait painter in oils, but will tackle any subject in any medium in any size. Commissions have ranged from the usual portraits, animal pictures etc, to “artist’s impression” for estate agents, and a squadron of aircraft lined up on the tarmac at Brize Norton for the RAF, but the most bizarre was to paint small pictures of animals and human heads on the surface of a life-sized fibre glass figure of a man, for an exhibition in Holland! (I didn’t understand it either!)

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

Elite Care (Scotland) Ltd. 01334 472834 / 01382 770303

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

Licensed by the Care Commission.

Long visits or short visits.

Driver/Carer for appointments & social activities.

Holidaying in St Andrews or Dundee?

– Home from Home Care Website: www.elitecarescotland.co.uk Email: info@elitecarescotland.co.uk

2

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

Contents

From the Editor The English poet, Gervase Markham (15681637), wrote in 1615, among many other things: “The English huswife containing the inward and outward vertues which ought to be in a compleat woman, as her skill in physick, surgery, cookery, extraction of oyles, banqueting stuffe, ordering of great feasts, preserving of all sorts of wines, conceited secrets, distillations, perfumes, ordering of wooll, hemp, flax, making cloth, and dying, the knowledge of dayries, office of malting of oates, their excellent uses in a family, of brewing, baking, and all other things belonging to an household.”

And you thought multi-tasking was a 20th century invention??

I hope the sun shines for us this summer. Wherever you are, have a wonderful time.

Flora Selwyn

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

JULY / AUGUST 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.

Subscriptions for 6 issues are: £12.50 in the UK (post & packing included).

Please send cheques to: Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd., PO Box 29210, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9YZ. £22 overseas (post and packing included).

Please use PayPal account: editor@StAndrewsinFocus.com Note: please pay with a Personal Bank Account, as credit cards incur a 3.9% charge.

Registered in Scotland: 255564 The paper used is 80% RECYCLED post-consumer waste

FEATURES • • • • • • • • • • •

When the Summer Sun is Shining Joiner Dave Wallace St Andrews in the Summer Dancie John S. Sturrock Libby Garrison on James Wilson Rooted in History Archbishop Sharp Ask the Curator Tax Rants Yearning for the Sea Reviews – Footsteps in the Furrow – Hyndland Portrait – The Stained Glass of Holy Trinity Church

4 6 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 13 13 13

Shops & Services •

• • •

Eating Out – The Inn at Lathones – The St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Co. – number forty A Warm Welcome The Garden Rooms Roving Reporter

14 15 15 16 17 18

ORGANISATIONS • • • • •

Our Lammas St Andrews Art Club Cosmos Community Centre Home-Start Gibson Training & Care

20 20 21 21 22

TOWN/gown • • • • •

Winners of the Dr Falconer Prize Success Three Times a St Andrean Oil Toonspot

23 24 25 26 27

EVENTS • • • •

A Celebrity Butler Harbour Gala First You’re Born Selected Events

28 28 29 30

Out and About •

History and Heritage

31

NEXT ISSUE – Sep/Oct 2009 Copy deadline: strictly 28 JULY All contributions welcome. The Editor reserves the right to publish copy according to available space.

3

FEATURES Melville Reid will be 90 in July. Ever young at heart, we wish you a very, very happy birthday!

In tribute, let’s play and sing this song, which he wrote not long ago.

When the summer sun is shining

4

FEATURES

When the summer sun is shining And we’re strolling on the beach On each arm a girl reclining Every one a perfect peach.

When the days are warm, inviting When I’m strolling with my dear We will find it so exciting When the summer time is here.

Then come with me to the park Or the harbour when it’s dark Let the stars shine in your eyes Or we can walk on the sands By the sea holding hands Watch that great big full moon rise

Sand and sea and sun combining It’s the season of the year Lovers’ arms are now entwining For the summer time is here.

Huddle up, cuddle up You’re only going to muddle up My mind if you desist I am just a man, but I have got a plan And you’ll be sorry if you’re never kissed

5

FEATURES Flora Selwyn is privileged to meet the most creative St Andreans

Dave Wallace – joiner and cabinet maker Brought up in a room and kitchen at An advert in the job centre led to work at Craigtoun Park in 1979, 52a North Street, “opposite the Younger “and I was there until I retired in 1995.” With his background in gardening, Hall”, Dave Wallace knew everyone in old Dave was in his element, doing maintenance, making park benches, St Andrews. Customary in those days, Dave started his education at the general joinery, and training young and older lads in a job creation West Infants, progressing to the East Infants (the Fisher School), then scheme, which “had women as well.” the Burgh School, and after passing his 11+ (the qualifying exam) Madras Before long Dave became involved with flower shows, started by College, which he left when he was 15. “Unfortunately my parents couldn’t the Council. “The gardeners grew all the plants, I picked a team and afford to keep me on at school,” no scholarships for university then. Dave designed it, and made the props.” For three years in a row they won first became an apprentice joiner in Kingsbarns with John L Bell. prize at the Ayr Flower Show. Gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show Grandfather Wallace leased a market garden and Hampton Court Palace followed. It seems on the other side of the burn from Greenside such a shame that Dave was never sent along Place, but George Bruce wanted to sell the land to with his creations; only his managers went. Part St Leonards School. Dave’s father had to change of the Chelsea Flower Show exhibit was set up his work. As many horses and vans at that time afterwards in Kinburn Park in St Andrews. Today as there are cars today, and stables as scarce Dave is saddened by the decline of Craigtoun as garages are now, Dave’s father decided to Park. “They took the glasshouses away. They deliver for the Co-operative Society Bakery, using were a big attraction. Craigtoun’s in an awful a horse and van. Aged 10, Dave began to help state now, it‘s horrible.” Even the house Dave his father deliver morning rolls. That meant rising once lived in has been left empty and allowed to at 5.00am to start at 5.30am from Abbey Street to decay.

Greenside Place, and “everything east”. Finished “Well I’m quite happy, because I’ve got a at 7.00am, Dave breakfasted, before doing a nice wee cottage down in Kemback Bridge, and newspaper round at 7.30am for Elsie Haggart, it’s big enough now, because I lost my wife, and whose shop was at the corner of Union Street (a it’s enough for me. I’ve got an acre of ground fish and chip shop today). Then Dave went home with it,” including an orchard. So Dave is still to change for school. What time was bedtime? able to enjoy his gardening, growing flowers and “Oh well, there was no television in these days. vegetables for himself, his daughter and son-inI was a great reader, so I went to bed and read, law. Recently also, he taught a friend in Pitscottie and would stop about 9 o’clock.” Dave’s mother to make cartwheels, “because it’s a trade that’s got her newspapers from Davie Grieve in Market died out, and yet there’s some folk still wanting Street. He asked Dave how much Elsie Haggart wheels.” The friend has had work as a result and paid. “7/6 (seven shillings and sixpence, old is now teaching his apprentice, to Dave’s delight. money) a week,” Dave told him. “He says to me, Photography is a new hobby. “I spend a lot of ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll pay you 15/- a week,’ my time up in the woods with my dog. I’ve got a so I doubled my salary.” Also, Dave was offered great interest in taking photographs of the deer.” the use of a brand new message bicycle both for – not for competitions, but “just my own interest” his rounds and private use after hours. “So I says, and kept on Dave’s computer. “And fishing, I I left my first job, doubled my salary, and got a go trout fishing up at Cameron.” Age eventually company vehicle! I did the two jobs right up until I persuaded Dave to stop helping the riding-forleft school.” the-disabled at Kilconquhar, which he enjoyed “After I left school I still ran the rolls with my after retiring. Did he ever go dancing? “When I father,” without pay, but simply to help. “I finished was young I went to the dancing. At that time you with him at 7.00 o’clock, had my breakfast and had three dances in St Andrews on a Saturday then I cycled to Kingsbarns.” Apprenticed for the night; one in the Town Hall, and one in what was statutory 5 years, Dave then had a year “as an called the Temperance Hall in North Street, and improver”, a probationary period. No certificates one in the BB Hall, and we’d go round them all!” indicated successful training; a lad simply offered An American cousin visited before Dave was Three consecutive wins at Ayr Flower Show. his services. Prospective employers would say, married, “we went and had a drink and he says, Top: Races; Middle: Burns; ‘come back later’. Discreet enquiries made, if ‘right, let’s go and hit the nightlife!’” Dave took Bottom: Noah’s Ark. satisfactory, the lad would be accepted. “You had him to the dance at the BB Hall, “and he was to make a name for yourself.” quite flabbergasted. And then when it finished before midnight, he says There were many joiners in St Andrews then, “so you could move that back home he’d just be going out!” For years after he would tell the around them all to see if there was a chance of a job.” Initially offered story of the nightlife that finished before midnight. a fortnight’s work with John Bell, Dave worked for him for the next 15 Tales of shared outside toilets, steamies with mangles, the ‘foreign years, till 1965 when John Bell retired. Work was extremely varied, land’ south of Kinness Burn where Dave’s grandmother lived, and the from replacing floors in old farm carts full of manure, to crafting new cows were milked, rich memories of times past – fortunately Dave is tables and chairs. For a while after that Dave worked for different recording it all on his computer. joiners in St Andrews.

(Photos courtesy Dave Wallace)

Oak Bookcase

6

Donkey Cart

Bench for a friend

Cabinet made for Dave’s daughter, Fiona

FEATURES Zoë Smith, Chair of the Community Council

St Andrews in the Summer As I write, the past few days have seen the best weather of the year so far, I spent most of them ill with a tummy bug, but I’m assured it was lovely. With last “summer” fresh in my mind (brr…) dare I say that it feels a little bit like summer? As everyone knows, I love St Andrews all year round, but it has some charms it saves for the summer.

This summer, as every other, will see the return of the weekly sandcastle competition on the West Sands. Every Friday during July and August from 10.00am until 1.00pm the beach is the arena of fierce competition and astounding feats of engineering. I have been dragging my children along to the sandcastle competition for years, and the one thing that stands out is how few locals take part. The entry fee is nominal, buckets and spades and refreshments are provided, and the only thing not laid on is good weather. I would love to see more faces I recognize taking part this year, so please brave the gale force winds often found on this part of the beach (by the Bruce embankment) and come and join in.

Close to the West Sands, on the Scores, is the bandstand.

Sporting a fresh lick of paint and a “pass” in this year’s electrical tests, it promises to be the place to be at 2.00pm on Sundays.

We already have some great acts lined up, including a silver band, a sixties act, and the Madras pipe band. Again the

weather can’t be guaranteed, but bring a jacket and a picnic and enjoy the show, it won’t cost you a penny.

This summer also sees the judging of the annual Community Council garden competition. The garden competition has run for years and our prizes remain coveted amongst the gardening community. This year we hope to give out even more awards and are including an award for a garden, nominated by townsfolk, not necessarily for its technical brilliance, but just because it brings pleasure to those who pass by it.

I hope for those of you, like me, who are holidaying at home, that this year brings some good weather so we can join the crowds at the beaches and the queues at Jannetta’s and pretend we’re tourists for a bit. Let’s hope it’s the kind of summer where Morrisons have run out of anything meat or even meatlike by 2.00pm. The kind of summer your mum will go on about for years and years (I speak as someone born in 1975 – remember the summer of 1976?) The kind of summer that makes up for not being able to go abroad.

This summer will see the opening of our long-awaited hospital.

Whilst its opening may be delayed slightly, it is still a case for celebration, so I suggest you all treat yourselves to a double chocolate waffle cone with 2 scoops of ice-cream, sprinkles, and a flake, and throw another “chicken piece with Chinese seasoning” on the barbecue.

An affectionate tribute from his friends to

Dancie John S. Sturrock It is the end of an era now that John S. Sturrock Winifred Bird Matthews give the resident band has retired from teaching country dancing in instructions on how to play Scottish dance Ceres after 35 years. John was born in Dundee music. When she left, John asked the band and after leaving Rockwell School trained as an leader what was going on. Learning that there electrical engineer. He was called up in 1938 as was going to be a country dance that night, a member of the TA to serve in the Air Defence John said he would be there. The band leader Corps at Auchtermuchty and was responsible said – “Good, will you give me a signal when for keeping the searchlights in working order in we come to the last 8 bars of each dance?”

Balmerino and other places in Fife. After some John said that in 1948 and onwards there time John was “demobbed” and was given was country dancing every week night in dance £50 and at the end of the war was demobbed halls in Dundee and Jimmy Shand used to again and given another £50. How many people play regularly at some of them. He added, have been demobbed twice? On recall in 1939 that if there was space in a close, there would he resumed his duties. Strangely, although be at least one set dancing, and if you had a there were searchlights to shine on enemy kilt, then you were the teacher. His dancing planes there were no guns to follow through! teacher asked John and Marion to go with her He sometimes felt that they were showing the to Landsdowne House to an “invitation only” enemy exactly where they were. Eventually dance. John thought that they must be quite John transferred to the REME still maintaining good to get this chance. On arrival, Winifred searchlights, vehicles, and tanks. He was sent Bird Matthews was playing the piano and to Ronken Glen in Glasgow to prepare vehicles Ann Leckie the fIddle. They stopped and then and tanks for D-Day. played 8 bars of music.

When they eventually Everyone got on to the It is the end of an era returned and were surplus and another 8 now that John S. Sturrock floor to requirements he helped bars were played, then to mothball them. a chord. People were has retired from teaching John was invited to go expected to know what country dancing in Ceres on a blind date during the dance it was by the music war – and it was a stroke and to be able to dance after 35 years of luck for him as this it without any instruction. led to marriage with Marion. While living and John and Marion never went back! working in Dundee they joined a new country John’s work took him to Ladybank and dance class organised by a church minister, he joined the Kirkcaldy branch of the Royal who wanted to encourage young people to Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). come to church. This was his first introduction On enrolment night Miss Nancy Arnott, who to Country Dancing and as far as John (and ran the Branch, asked which class he wanted Marion) was concerned the rest is history. He – Beginners, Intermediate, or Advanced. was sent to work by his firm to the Locarno When he answered ‘Advanced’ she gave Ballroom in Dundee and heard Scottish Country him a long searching look and asked if he Dance music being played. He saw the famous was sure that this was the class for him.

After being in the class for one week he was asked to join the demonstration team. His work then took him to Guardbridge, Kirkcaldy, and finally to St Andrews University, where he was Senior Assistant Clerk of Works. He joined the St Andrews Branch of the RSCDS and was soon dancing for their demonstration team. He danced in this team for many years and demonstrated in fields, village halls, prestigious hotels, festivals, and took part in a Folk Festival in Leyden, in the Netherlands.

He qualified as a Fully Certificated Teacher of Scottish Country Dancing and began teaching in Guardbridge. He also taught classes in EImwood College, Rathillet, and Ceres. He has served the St Andrews Branch well by being a loyal supporter – committee member and Chairman twice. John was presented with an inscribed quaich by the Ceres class and friends, at a dinner in St Michaels Inn. The photograph shows John being presented with the quaich by Jean Donaldson, a founder member of the Ceres class. The photograph was taken by John M. Sturrock. Yes – the St Andrews Branch has two John Sturrocks – but only one John S. Sturrock.

(Photo courtesy Ceres Branch RSCDS)

7

FEATURES Libby Garrison Sloan, the daughter of Maynard Garrison, is a graduate of the University of St Andrews, and now an expert on James Wilson as well – she and her husband are frequent visitors, as the family have a home in the town.

Maynard Garrison on James Wilson of St Andrews: Two Men who Have Had an Impact on US History It all began in and Confederation Congresses. He was one the summer of six men to sign both the Declaration of of 1995, when Independence and the Constitution, and one my father, Maynard Garrison, found a small of the original justices appointed by George pamphlet at the St Andrews Town Hall Sunday Washington to the Supreme Court.

Antiques Fair titled James Wilson of St The culmination of this entire project for Andrews: An American Statesman, 1928, by my father, was a special lecture on 26 April, Andrew Bennett. It was the start of a long and 2009 at Montpelier, James Madison’s historic fruitful journey back to academia and American mansion in Virginia. The talk was titled, “James history.

Madison and James Wilson: A Little Known The journey for my father included years of Collaboration” and featured Ralph Ketcham, the research, lots of writing, even more re-writing, author of the definitive biography of Madison and many conversations with the leaders of US (America’s fourth president), and my father. history and the keepers of the US Constitution.

They discussed Wilson and Madison and their The research resulted in the important work together at Collected Works of James the Constitutional Convention Wilson, an impressive to more than 120 historians, two-volume set comprising scholars, family, and friends. the most comprehensive The lecture lasted about an collection of materials hour and the audience was assembled by and about this enthralled—Ketcham agreed important St Andrean. that the importance of Wilson James Wilson was born on the creation of the US on a farm near St Andrews Constitution was profound in September 1742. He and not to be overlooked. earned a scholarship to the My father professed that University of St Andrews, Wilson never got the credit where he initially studied he deserved for his important Divinity, but soon switched contribution to the founding to Classics, Rhetoric, and of America and it’s about Political Philosophy. After time we learned what really Maynard Garrison and his studies, Wilson spent happened back in the 1700s.

Alastair Buchan-Hepburn two years in Edinburgh and The programme was Glasgow pursuing the study followed by a presentation by of the Scottish Enlightenment’s critical thinkers, Sir Alastair Buchan-Hepburn to the Montpelier including Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Foundation. The gift was an original painting Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, and Sir James

by Lady Diana Douglas-Hamilton featuring Stewart, among others.

Madison and Wilson together discussing the In 1765, Wilson traveled to Philadelphia, US Constitution. The painting remains on where he began his legal studies. While view at Montpelier. For me, it was a chance building a successful legal practice, he to see my father as a scholar among some of entered politics serving in the Continental America’s most renowned. After hearing about

Jude Innes found Hamish going under cover!!

8

Maynard Garrison and Ralph Ketcham

Maynard Garrison, Mary Garrison, Lady Diana Douglas-Hamilton and Alastair Buchan-Hepburn James Wilson for almost fifteen years, I finally understood the magnitude of his words. I sat in the audience as an extremely proud daughter knowing that for my father, this was one of the most significant experiences of his life and an important day for US history.

(Photos courtesy Libby Garrison Sloan)

FEATURES Barbara Fleming is Postgraduate Studies Secretary in the School of Modern Languages of the University.

She explores the question, “Just who does my mother-in-law think she is?”

Rooted in History Hold on, we haven’t fallen out, rather I’m maintaining the theme of Sessions raised income for the poor the BBC television’s Who Do You Think You Are?, the family history from fines, payments for carrying out programme where actors and TV personalities discover their roots. marriages, baptisms, funerals, and church Tracing a family tree has become popular, thanks to shows like this, and collections. is a favourite hobby for the time-rich retired.

Lists of distributions to the poor The senior Mrs Fleming has always said her middle name – Selkirk in cash and in kind appear in session minutes, though almost always – is a result of her family connection to Alexander Selkirk, the mariner recorded in amongst all the other financial business of the parish. on whose eccentric life the famous story of Robinson Crusoe is based.

This is just what I found when I went to Special Collections to see Maybe you are smiling to yourself thinking, “Not another one”. However, the original record for 1701. I had pre-arranged my visit with Moira, the when we recently found her grandmother’s birth certificate, my husband librarian, and she had the session book ready for me, marked at the was inspired to see how far this statement could be proved. relevant places where Selkirk is mentioned. I’d been warned several Public libraries have trained staff to advise family historians and times that reading the old-fashioned script could be tricky, but it proved the expert librarian at Elie directed Jim to the appropriate websites. We easier than I imagined. I loved being able to read the actual account of started with www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk one of the best pay-per-view Selkirk’s “indecent behaviour” and the 300 year-old book quickly had me research sites. The combination of our skills as ex-teacher and internet in its spell. surfer/keyboard operator meant we found ourselves reaching back in time Payments to the poor in the parish were listed as expected, and then to Jim’s three times great-grandmother, who was born in 1803. With good came the phrase I was to read over and over again: “Did those present luck and good judgement we had selected the correct path until the name know of any scandall (sic)?” Mention of a parishioner’s “fornication” Selcraig began to appear in the 1700s. caught my eye when it was brought to the notice of the session, who We knew Alexander Selkirk was born in 1676 with the surname agreed that they’d have to wait for it to be proved. As weeks went by, Selcraig, although contemporaneous documents showed several different her condition showed that Christian Craige had indeed been guilty and spellings, to be expected before standardised spelling became the norm. that her fellow sinner was George Walker. They were summoned to The son of a shoemaker and tanner in Lower Largo, in his youth he appear at a meeting of the session and explain their behaviour. George appears to have been an awkward troublemaker. 19 year-old Alexander fell back on the old excuse, “The devil was in her and she tempted me, was summoned on 27 August 1695 to appear before the Kirk Session for saying she’d make me some silk stockings and garters if I agreed to his “indecent behaviour” in church. His brother had marry her.” In due course, they both appeared in played a practical joke on him by filling his stick The combination of our skills church to confess what they had done in front of (which was a container for drink) with sea water, so the entire congregation. As I eagerly turned the as ex-teacher and internet that when he drank the unpleasant liquid in church pages looking for the next instalment, I found that he spat it out noisily. As a result, once home, he the story didn’t end there. The Kirk Session had surfer/keyboard operator started a fight with his brother and father, which reported George’s sister, Agnes, had been fighting meant we found ourselves was so severe it got them all into trouble. and spitting at Christian in the street, shouting that The original records of the Kirk Session (a she was a whore. “Scandall” indeed. reaching back in time court of the minister and elders of a parish) for Of course, no-one is directly descended from Largo and Newburn Church are housed here in the Special Collections Alexander Selkirk, as he was without issue, and we are currently looking of the Main Library. I checked with the librarian and found I could go and at his brothers’ records for that final connection. Quite a few people living read the account for myself. in the East Neuk claim him as an ancestor, even though he seems to The records of Kirk Sessions, presbyteries, synods, and the General have been a thoroughly unlikeable character. Jim’s head is now full of a Assembly make up a major part of Scotland’s written history, and they new set of ancestors and we are so close to his famous relative it feels as are used by a wide range of academic, professional, and amateur if we could reach out and shake hands with him. researchers, especially genealogists and ecclesiastical historians. Five Once we close that story another one awaits: my late father-in-law million pages of valuable information are now made available to the used to say he was related to Sir Alexander Fleming, whose work on public, thanks to digitisation. penicillin changed the medical world. We don’t have to go back so far into After the Reformation, the responsibility for the poor fell on the the past this time and the little work we have done suggests we are on the parish, jointly through the local landowners and the Kirk Sessions. The right track. Who do we think we are? former often made voluntary contributions to the poor fund in preference (Photo courtesy Barbara Fleming) to being assessed (a tax on the owners of land or property). The Kirk

Swimwear at

Elspeth’s of St Andrews — for clothes of distinction

9 Church Street, St Andrews Tel: 01334 472494

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

9

FEATURES Alan Robertson, Life Member of the Kate Kennedy Club, recounts the story behind the Procession re-enactment

James Sharp (1613-1679) Archbishop of St Andrews (A classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time) Spectators of the Kate Kennedy Procession relish the spectacle of Perhaps the most Archbishop Sharp dragged from his coach by his assailants and done detested official of the The so-called Bishop’s Bridge, Ceres to death, while his daughter Isobel emits ear-splitting screams. College time was the SheriffEchoes lists them as David Hackston of Rathillet, James Balfour of Substitute of Fife, William Carmichael, owing his appointment to Sharp.

Kinloch (aka Burley, who was Hackston’s brother-in-law) and William Of dubious background, he was in charge of the military occupation of McKean (or McIain) of Argyle, all lairds, or sons of lairds. Rathillet Fife by troops engaged in the vigorous suppression of conventicles, the surrounds what is now the junction of A92 and the minor road towards term applied to open-air gatherings of worshipping Covenanters.

Cupar; Kinloch lies close to B937, a little south of its junction with A91; Put simply, the Covenanters were fiercely opposed to the Argyle in the west of Scotland has in more recent times been known as Episcopalian form of worship and church government foisted upon Argyll.

Scotland by Charles II not long after the The actual episode was quite different, and Restoration. A fair number had taken up arms Coming eighteen years forbye the above-named three, at least six others in defence of Presbyterianism, leading to years after his enthronement and of conflict costing many lives. Mere refusal to were present: James Russell of Kettle; George Balfour of Gilstoun; Robert Dingwall, a farmer’s son appointment as Chancellor acknowledge the King as head of the church was from Cadham; Alexander and Andrew Henderson, a capital offence, besides those shot on the spot of the University, Sharp’s sons to John Henderson of Kilbrachmont; and for refusing to say ‘God save the King’ when taken Andrew Guillan, a weaver from Balmerino or prisoner after skirmishes with Government troops. murder shook Scotland.

Balmerinoch, a hamlet on the south side of the Tay. The graves of many Covenanters are still to be Coming eighteen years after his enthronement and appointment seen throughout the Lowlands of Scotland, particularly in the west, with as Chancellor of the University, Sharp’s murder shook Scotland. What some closer to St Andrews. motivated those held responsible for his death, and did justice catch up In that first week of May 1679, a group of Covenanters had spent with them? much of the previous two days out on horseback, hoping to ambush Sharp narrowly escaped an earlier assassination attempt. On the detested Carmichael. Alerted, Carmichael wisely returned to Cupar.

Saturday 9 July 1668, James Mitchell fired a pistol at his coach as it Having had no luck on that score, the disappointed group spent the Friday entered Edinburgh’s High Street, wounding Andrew Honeyman, Bishop night in a barn at Baldinny. About to split up and go their separate ways, of Orkney, also in the coach. Although it was to be five years before he a farmer’s boy came to say that a coach had been spotted in Ceres. was arrested, Mitchell was hanged in 1678. After Mitchell’s discovery and According to some accounts, the coach was thought to be Carmichael’s, arrest, no evidence being against him, it is said that Sharp personally and all haste was made to intercept it. Only when the leading rider of the persuaded him to confess (only after torture) assuring him that by so party caught up with it did they realise it was the Archbishop’s. This, they doing, his life would be spared, a promise he broke. He acquired the believed, was nothing less than an act of divine providence. status of a Presbyterian folk hero, while Sharp’s role in the affair only From the accounts of Sharp’s daughter, the coachman and served to stoke Covenanter wrath against him. attendants, the Archbishop, aware of pursuing horsemen, urged his 3 May 2009 saw the 330th anniversary of Sharp’s murder at Magus coachman to speed up, but to no avail. One of the party of Covenanters Muir near Strathkinness. The site is marked by a pyramid-shaped stone cut the horses’ traces, bringing the coach to a standstill. Others disarmed monument erected at the behest of Dean Stanley, one of the most notable Sharp’s attendants, two of whom sustained sword wounds in the process.

Anglican clergy of his generation, Rector of the University 1874-77.

A pistol shot shattered one window of the coach and struck Sharp in the Signposted from a car park on the road towards Drumcarrow Craig, it shoulder. Then, with Isobel still trying to protect her father, both were lies a little way into a wood and is surrounded by yews. The inscription dragged from the coach. While Andrew Guillan restrained her, pleading reads: HUNC PROPE LOCUM/ JACOBUS SHARP/ ARCHIEPISCOPUS for her father’s life, James Balfour and another, attacked Sharp, by then SANCTI ANDREAE/ A SALVIS INIMICIS/ FILIA SUA ADSTANTE ET kneeling on the ground, striking at his head with their swords.

DEPRECANTE / TRUCIDATUS EST/ AD MDCLXXIX (Close to this spot, James Sharp Archbishop of St Andrews was slain by savage enemies, despite the presence and pleas of his daughter, AD 1679).

While the spot now seems well off the beaten track, it lay in those days on the direct rough coach road to St Andrews.

The Archbishop, accompanied by his daughter, was returning from Edinburgh, after a meeting of the Privy Council. In all likelihood The Covenanters’ Grave The Sharp Monument, Magus Muir they crossed the Forth, landing at Largo. If, to our 21st century eyes, the distances involved seem short, remember how slow was 17th century travel. Met at Largo by his coach & six, and five liveried servants, Dr Sharp & Isobel, the eldest of his four daughters spent the Friday night at Kennoway, lodging in Captain Seton’s house, which stood until 1951. On the Saturday morning, they resumed their homeward journey to St Andrews, pausing briefly at the manse in Ceres, probably for what Covenanters’ Grave, we might today call ‘a comfort stop’.

Sharp Monument Inscription Covenanters’ Grave, rear inscription front inscription

10

FEATURES Firmly believing in the rectitude of their deed, the Covenanters rode off to a cottage in the vicinity, prayed together, giving thanks to God, before going their separate ways. At this point, it is as well to emphasise that although nominally leader of the group and present at Sharp’s killing, David Hackston of Rathillet actually took no part in it, remaining on horseback throughout. A personal dispute with the Archbishop over some commercial matter, he was anxious to stand aside lest his motives be misinterpreted.

One of the uninjured members of the Archbishop’s entourage reached St Andrews that afternoon with the bad news. A hue and cry was set in motion. Troops quickly, but fruitlessly, scoured the area.

All but four of the original nine seem to have vanished from history: David Hackston, James Balfour, William McKean, and Andrew Guillan.

Of these, the first three quickly made themselves scarce by travelling westwards. Having survived questioning by the tribunal set up after Sharp’s death, and with connections in Ireland, where he was soon joined by his family, McKean sought refuge in the glens of Antrim, where land was available for Protestant settlers.

David Hackston continued in the Covenanting struggle. Captured at Airds Moss in July 1680, he was quickly identified. That he had taken no active part in the death of Sharp counted for nothing. His mere presence

Andrew Guillan’s Grave at Claremont Farm

Haxton Grave, Cupar

there was enough to see him convicted at Edinburgh, sentenced to death at the Mercat Cross on 30 July 1680. His head was affixed to the Netherbow, his quartered body displayed at St Andrews, Glasgow, Leith, and Burntisland. His relatives had only his right hand to inter in the kirkyard of Cupar Old Parish Church.

Taken prisoner in 1680 at Airds Moss together with David Hackston were five other Covenanters with no connection with the killing of Sharp.

They were taken to Magus Muir and hanged there. Their grave lies within a railed enclosure a little way into a field close to the Sharp monument.

The fate of Andrew Guillan, the Balmerino weaver who had held the horses and restrained Isobel Sharp that day at Magus Muir, must qualify as a stroke of sheer bad luck. He had travelled to Cockpen, a few miles from Edinburgh, where he had taken work as a farm labourer. Seen working on the Sabbath and questioned by the local curate, he was first arrested merely as a Noncomformist. When his identity emerged, he was recognised as one of the ‘murderers’, taken to Edinburgh, convicted and sentenced to death in July 1683 at the Gallowlee. His body was taken to Magus Muir and suspended on a pole. Later, friends or relatives took the risky step of removing it. It lies buried behind Claremont Farm (on the minor road towards Pitscottie, a little way south of Magus Muir) marked by a headstone erected in 1783, the inscriptions well nigh illegible.

Sharp’s elaborate black and white marble tomb in Holy Trinity Church St Andrews was erected by his son, later Sir William Sharp of Scotscraig.

It is said to be empty, the Archbishop’s mortal remains reputedly removed by diehard Covenanters, who more than once broke into the building, also damaging the tomb. Such attacks were unpopular with the majority of townsfolk, who rallied to repel the raids. Their motive should be seen less as veneration for Sharp’s memory than as self-interest, since the Sharps had attached to the tomb an annual ‘mortification’ (allowance) for its maintenance and for relief of the parish poor.

Besides his son William, who evidently prospered, James Sharp’s four daughters made good marriages: to Cunningham of Barns; to William, 11th Earl Saltoun; and to Alex Leslie, 7th Laird of Kininvie. And what of Isobel, who doubtless remembered Magus Muir to her dying day? She married into the family of Erskine of Cambo. The name of Lady Catherine Erskine of Cambo will be known to all as chairing the Kate Kennedy Procession Committee.

(Photos courtesy Alan Robertson)

Welcome back, Lesley-Anne Lettice, Curator of the St Andrews Museum to answer

Ask the Curator Q. I recently saw a photograph of ‘Dr Wilson’s experimental garden’, inscribed in pencil on the back. Can you shed any light on this?

A. I think this probably refers to the ‘botanic garden’ created by Dr John Hardie Wilson at St Mary’s Quad in South Street. Dr Wilson’s father owned Greenside Nursery in St Andrews, so he had always been interested in plants and agriculture. At the age of 22 he became a journeyman gardener at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and later attended the University there. He then returned to St Andrews and graduated Batchelor of Science in 1887. He went on to teach a pioneering course in Botany and set up the University’s first botanic garden in the south-east corner of the Quad in 1889. He resigned that same year, but stayed on as an extra-mural lecturer in Agriculture.

The garden was about a quarter of an acre in size, with 78 beds containing over 800 species of plants. Dr Wilson conducted a variety of experiments in the hybridisation of agricultural crops, particularly potatoes and other root crops. Agriculture at this time was becoming more and more linked to science and Dr Wilson helped to pave the way for many discoveries in terms of improved disease resistance, persuading local farmers to take part in crop trials.

Dr Wilson’s garden was the forerunner of the Botanic Garden near the Canongate.

The decision to move it out of the University grounds was taken in the 1950s. The move was due to its expansion over the years to accommodate research and teaching needs.

Originally built for the University, the Canongate site was leased to Fife Council in 1986.

Q. Can you tell me when the Step Rock Amateur Swimming Club was formed?

A. The Club was formed in 1928. The first President was Jack Humphries, Manager of the Cinema House in North Street. After the Step Rock Pool was closed to swimmers in 1976, the Club used various other pools, including the one at Madras Kilrymont. In the early 1980s, the indoor pool at the East Sands opened and some of the first swimmers were members of the Step Rock Club.

Q. Can you tell me when women were first allowed to study at the University?

A. The Universities (Scotland) Act 1889 enabled universities to admit and teach women.

Whether or not it chose to do so was at the discretion of the individual University. In 1892, the University of St Andrews began to admit female students and University Hall was built to provide accommodation and ‘adequate supervision’.

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

11

FEATURES Andrew Wright expounds on the

Tax Rants of a Grumpy Old Man! I am writing this in the last week in May, but am very conscious that it will not be published until a month later. Observations that seem pertinent now may appear obvious, or indeed wrong, in a month’s time. This is a pity because there is so much fertile material with the MPs’ expenses scandal etc. Tax misdemeanours seem boringly trivial by comparison!

On the subject of tax, the Government continues to demonstrate muddled thinking in its recent budget (and pre-budget) proposals.

For example, the latest increases in Employers’ Class 1 national insurance contributions are effectively an increase in payroll tax in a time of rising unemployment. These increases, both in the headline rate and the upper rate band, provide a further reason for employers to cut the workforce as a means of keeping within their tight expenditure budget. As everyone knows, the unemployed contribute nothing to the national tax take and are forced to draw on assistance from the State.

Just a couple of years ago, the capital gains tax rules were radically simplified and this was presented as a policy objective of the Government, to simplify the tax system.

Although it undoubtedly simplified the capital gains tax system, sweeping away indexation and taper relief, it was brought in quickly and

without consultation and, as a result of the resultant furore, Entrepreneurs’ Relief had to be introduced in a hurry to provide a measure of relief to businessmen on retirement. The whole process was messy and unplanned and an example of how not to introduce new tax rules.

As an aside, the simplification of capital gains tax stopped short of simplifying the complicated rules for opting for “main residence” relief on second homes. As a result, capital gains tax is not payable where the appropriate claims have been made. It is not clear why MPs decided to keep this rule.

Simplification of the tax system now seems to have been abandoned as an objective of tax policy. We have since had the introduction of fearsomely complicated rules on the taxation of non-domiciled UK tax residents (eg. “foreign” husbands/wives of British academics). We have had the phasing out of personal allowances for those on incomes over £100,000 and the introduction of a new band for employees’ national insurance contributions to reflect amounts that do not qualify for state pension benefits. These latter changes make it far more difficult to calculate tax and NIC deductions from salary, unless you have the relevant software. In addition, we have had the vindictive increase in the tax rate on Discretionery Trusts

from 40% to 50% despite the fact that the income from the vast majority of such Trusts is vastly less than £150,000. The Government just cannot accept that there can be sensible, practical reasons for the creation of a Trust other than tax avoidance.

The unfairness relating to qualification for Pension Tax Credits remains, despite the increase in the capital disregard from £6,000 to £10,000. The income that can be raised from £10,000 of capital at today’s rates is minimal.

Therefore the pensioner with a little bit of capital is at a severe disadvantage to those with no savings at all.

I must stress that the views expressed in this article are my own and not necessarily those of my firm!

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

Tel: 01334 472 255

Tom Gordon is ever

Yearning for the Sea Yearning for the sea, what a feeling.

Thoughts of boats and ships, over me stealing.

Thinking, wondering, longing for the sough of the waves along the hull, Or of the haunting cry of a herring gull, on a lonely beach.

Wanting the feel of the ocean’s swell, beneath the feet, Or the roar as the tide surges up some distant river’s reach.

Just like a hand round one’s heart, dragging down.

The longing, pining for the seas known only to the chosen.

Dreaming of boats, in ice cold waters frozen.

The feeling as of the tides, surging up a channel And the estuary, emptying as one’s heart, with the thought Of the lone sailor, departing on the outgoing tide . . .

Yearning, yearning, yearning, Longing that becomes an agony.

Even in a shuttered room, the salt air seems to linger, As the breath of the sea on one’s face, As the smell of the seaweed on the shore, The smell of the rotting tangled kelp, takes one back once more . . .

In reverie, the beat of an engine beneath one’s feet, a mighty bow arising, the ocean’s force to meet.

Exhilarating! Taking one back to the seas of youth.

The feelings sometimes wane, but never the yearning.

It surges in the very blood.

The sheer joy of pounding into head seas, With the wind searing, hot or cold in one’s face, Or in the quiet velvet nights of the tropic seas, Gliding, slipping gently through the darkened waters.

Of being amazed by the phosphorescent trails Left by porpoise or dolphin, Like giant milky ways on the ocean’s face . . .

Or by the dabs of light, Left by startled shoals of flying fish.

Living seas, living on and in and with the sea.

It’s like a fever in the veins, it throbs through the body, When one is old, the fever cools and becomes a longing, The longing becomes a yearning, and the yearning never dies.

(Illustrated by Tom Gordon)

12

FEATURES: BOOK REVIEWS David Carter reviews

Life On The Land, Then And Now

By Andrew Arbuckle Published by Old Pond Publishing, ISBN 978-1-906853-05-1.

Available at J & G Innes, South Street, St Andrews, and all good bookshops, price £9.95 Drive past a farm these days and the chances are you will see a high shed with tower blocks of crates full of potatoes, shifted and stacked by the ubiquitous forklift. Temperature in the shed is controlled and the driver is comfortable in his cab.

Wind back 60 years, however, and the treatment of the potato was very different. Then you would see farm workers laboriously heaping the potato crop into mounds and then covering them for protection in straw and earth. Later, deep in winter, the potatoes would be dug out for selling and perhaps a pick would be necessary to start the process. Finally the potatoes had to be checked and sorted – miserable, exposed work.

This is the kind of change chronicled by Andrew Arbuckle in his recent book Footsteps in the Furrow. His experience equips him ideally for this, as he is from a farming family, was a farmer himself, and was the Farming Editor of the Dundee Courier. He is probably known by more people as the popular and affable Fife Councillor for the Howe of Fife and Tay Coast.

Now park your car in Cupar’s spacious Fluthers car park, ideally on November 28. This is Martinmas and you are at the time and place in the early years of last century of the annual feeing market, when farmers would hire men for the next year’s work on the farm. If you were taken on, your new employer would supply a horse and cart for the flitting to a new house. Chances were that the weather would be wet and all your worldly goods would be soaked. To make things worse, the new house might be damp, and certainly unheated. But at least you got the day off work, to add to the other two days a year (apart from Sundays) – New Years Day, and the day of the Fife Show.

By no means all the memories in the book are as grim as this, but there is no escaping the arduous life of the farm worker then. Still in

E. Williams reviews

Hyndland Portrait

by Nanzie McLeod Available at J & G Innes, South St, St Andrews, and all good bookshops, price £9.95 (ISBN 0 9529527 6 9) In this charming sequel to Pittenweem Sojourn, Nanzie McLeod continues the family story through the war years and into the 1950s.

Annie Corning suffers from multiple sclerosis, and as she and her daughter Helen move between a busy urban life in Glasgow and the summer holidays in Fife, Helen has the responsibility of caring for her invalid mother, added to the normal problems of adolescence.

The book gives a poignant portrayal of this unusual parent and child relationship, yet is never over-sweet. The closeness of their relationship is beautifully evident as they work together to overcome the difficulties of finding suitable household help and wartime shortages of food and clothing. As her condition deteriorates, Annie uses ingenuity and humour to deal with the small, but vital everyday practicalities. Helen’s relationships with other family members are less rewarding. She struggles with an over-enthusiastic, yet mainly absent father, a powerful and critical grandmother and a beloved, but ageing, grandfather. Through her love of music and dance and her mother’s unwavering encouragement, Helen develops a strong sense of self. Annie’s character is also apparent, with its calm acceptance and dry wit. Her creative talent proves an excellent weapon against pain.

This is a compelling book that illustrates these lives with warmth and clarity.

Cupar, take a stroll at lunchtime up one of the town’s two main streets, Bonnygate. If it’s in term time you’ll see clusters of Bell Baxter pupils walking and talking as they eat carry-outs from the local shops. What was the young Andrew Arbuckle doing in his lunch hour around 1960? He was at the Auction Mart, “with several friends,” as he writes, ”of an agricultural inclination. Not that we as schoolboys could see a great deal,” he continues. “The auctioneer would point and say, ‘The bidding is with you’, but so long as it was not in our direction, we felt safe. Returning to school with a pen of cattle, we reckoned, would be somewhat difficult to explain.”

Farming then was in the man’s genes and bones from the beginning.

He doesn’t want Footsteps in the Furrow to be seen, however, as “just a farmers’ book”. So who else would be interested? Local historians obviously. Did you know, for example, there was once a flax factory at Uthrogle on the site of the former Cupar racecourse? (It closed in 1945, with the loss of fifty jobs.) Economists will be fascinated by the author’s analysis of the rise and fall of the sugar beet industry in Cupar. Engineers will lap up the chapter on the developments in farm machinery. The chapter headings themselves show the wide range of the book: from Farms, Fields and Steadings; to Horsepower; from Poultry; to Pigs; from Transport; to Pea Growing; and so on. We all live near fields in this part of Fife. We’re all aware of social and cultural changes. Maybe we all have our opinions of farmers and can smile at their laconic ways. ( A man would only find out if he was being kept on, and would therefore miss the lottery of the feeing market, if his employer casually remarked, “Are ye bidin?”) Nostalgia buffs will have a ball. And fellow Fifers will, I am sure, be fascinated.

Ian Bradley reviews

The Stained Glass of Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews, Fife

By Hugh Playfair Printed by FWB Printing Ltd. Wincanton. Available at J & G Innes, South Street, and Holy Trinity Church, price £4.50 The stained-glass windows of Holy Trinity Church are one of the great glories of St Andrews. Now that the Church is open every morning from Tuesday to Friday they are no longer a hidden glory, but can be enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.

This makes the publication of Hugh Playfair’s new book on the windows all the more timely. The author is the grandson of Patrick Playfair, minister of the first charge from 1899 to1924 and instigator of the restoration of Holy Trinity to its medieval form, the centenary of which is being commemorated this year.

Most of the glass at Holy Trinity is the work of artists associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. The most significant was Douglas Strachan (1875 to 1950) a prominent portrait painter who was inspired to take up stained glass by the windows of Chartres Cathedral. His 11 windows in Holy Trinity include the great East Window based on the Te Deum Laudamus. He was also responsible for the great West Window given by the women of the congregation and celebrating the Women of the Bible and the characteristic female virtues of fidelity, faith, charity, hope, and patience.

Hugh Playfair’s book reminds us that Strachan is not the only artist whose work is represented in Holy Trinity. There are also windows by his son, Alexander, William Wilson, Herbert Hendrie, Sax Shaw, Alex Ballantine, and Louis Davies, who was responsible for the particularly impressive set of windows in the Hunter Memorial Chapel illustrating Christ’s Nativity, baptism, agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and crucifixion.

As well as detailing every window and providing biographical material on the artists, this booklet contains a useful summary of the history of Holy Trinity and two pages of general explanation on the art and making of stained-glass windows. Superb photographs

by Peter Adamson bring the windows to life and enable one to see details which are not normally visible, especially in those windows which are higher up.

If you have not seen the wonderful windows of the town Kirk, take yourself there, buy this guide and take the tour that it offers. Even if you think you know the windows well, you will find much new to discover by going round armed with Hugh Playfair’s booklet. If you’re like me, you will find yourself drawn back again and again to these magical icons and find something unexpected and exciting every time you look at them.

13

SHOPS & SERVICES: EATING OUT Flora Selwyn and Anne Morris sampled the delights of the restaurant at the award-winning gastro pub,

The Inn at Lathones It wasn’t long before we It is hard to know where to begin – the Inn at were ushered to our table by Lathones has deservedly won so many awards Greg Jenkins, a charming that it is almost gratuitous for someone like young South African who me to sing its praises! Situated on the A915 has been at the Inn for two a few miles out of St Andrews, I have often years. The wooden tables driven past it, thought it looked interesting, are attractively set with linen but without any idea of how beautiful (and napkins and pewter mugs extensive) it really is. Drive into its ample car for water. It was good to find park at the rear and you are transported into a jug of plain water on the another world. Scotland’s only 4-star inn dates table without having to ask. from the 17th century, when it was a coaching Again a departure for me, inn. Nick White and his wife, Jocelyn, bought it we both eschewed wine! The in 1997 and proceeded to transform it, creating 17-page wine list is actually a lovely courtyard surrounded by 21 bedrooms impressively varied. Nick and suites. They turned the stables (built in White has written comments 1603) into a music venue, which has become for each kind. For example, home to the R.A.T.S (rocking at the stables) under the Australian red, Shiraz, Heritage, and won for them the prestigious title of Barossa Valley Shiraz, you’ll see, “Every time I ‘Music Pub of the Year’ at this year’s Publican try to reduce the amount of Shiraz on my list, I Awards. find another great one! With a little difference.”

Anne and I were instantly made to feel at Prices range from £850 for a bottle of 1985 home by manager Morag Peattie, who showed Château Pétrus, Pomerol us into the comfortable (“The world’s greatest! lounge, and handed us the It’s taken 6 months to find menu. While deliberating, we a bottle of this age at a each had a St Clements, a On the way home, reasonable price!”), to a most refreshing non-alcoholic Anne said, “my taste £15 bottle of house wine. orange juice and bitter lemon soda. The summer menu buds are still dancing!” And some wines are also available by the glass. (they change menus with Can there be a better We were served tasty the seasons) is divided into miniature loaves, half sections: hors d’oeuvres; recommendation! brown, half white, straight soups; seafood & pasta; from the oven, on a pretty roasts & grills; casseroles wooden platter with a & slow-cooked foods. A thistle handle, along with a dish of butter. The separate dessert menu is offered after the soup came with an intriguing ring of crème main course. A departure for me, I decided to fraîche on top. It was smooth, mildly flavoured, choose the same dishes as my companion and quite delicious. The menu description of – usually I have something different and swap the main course didn’t quite meet the reality. It ‘tasters’! So we plumped for the day’s soup, did say there was a “modern twist” – however, potato and basil. To follow, we ordered “fish “fish fingers” they were not! The portion of fingers” with a modern twist : a tempura of haddock was quite substantial, while the salmon, halibut, haddock, with homemade salmon and halibut were more modest. The chips and tartar sauce (and a little salad).

Photos, Flora Selwyn

14

Photo courtesy Inn at Lathones batter was crisp and just perfect, though again, I wasn’t sure where the “tempura” came into it. As for the chips, they arrived stacked like a child’s toy bricks and were more like soft roast potatoes. That aside, Anne and I agreed that it all tasted wonderful, and it was creative!

Then it was time to choose desserts. We were spoiled for choice, between iced whisky heather honey parfait; vanilla crème brûlée; white chocolate pot; or pudding of the day.

Also possible was a Scottish cheese platter with quince, celery, grapes, & Pittenweem oatcakes. Anne asked if she could have ice cream on its own. I chose the Pudding of the Day, a chocolate fondant, but I preferred cream with my fondant, rather than ice cream. It was no problem, Greg said, and he was true to his word. Anne was more than happy with her ice cream. My fondant was absolutely moreish, filled with warm chocolate and accompanied by strips of new season rhubarb poached with ginger, and fruits. We then repaired to the lounge for a cappuccino for Anne, and an espresso for me. The menu lists a range of speciality coffees and teas, such as Café Louis XIV Café Monk: “made with brandy, not Louis XIV, but just as warming. The Benedictine monks loved this!”

Our coffees came with a couple of melt-in-themouth chocolate fudges.

Head Chef Richard Brackenbury moved to the Inn at Lathones after 13 years at the St Andrews Links Trust, reaching the position there of executive chef and overseeing the creation of three kitchens. He is to be commended for his locally-sourced, freshlycooked food with a flair. Presentation is excellent, whetting the appetite immediately!

At £28.90 each for three courses and coffee, (service is discretionary), the meal is value for money. Of course, wine would add to that, but even so, for an evening out with superb service and wonderful surroundings it is moderately priced. Happy to be spared that ever-present muzak imposed by so many other restaurants, we found our surroundings delightfully relaxing, and we were able to converse comfortably (that’s surely how restaurants should be). We were told that on music nights the Inn is absolutely packed, and we were not surprised, since they welcome top performers from all over.

On the way home, Anne said, “my taste buds are still dancing!” Can there be a better recommendation!

SHOPS & SERVICES: EATING OUT Annice MacLeod went exploring, and to her delight found the

St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company There is something wonderful and incongruous about having an Italian there were other amazing tarts strutting their stuff; the lemon meringue dessert overlooking a lush green field – and another, with Anstruther pie looked mountainous! Accompanying my husband’s “topless tart” were beyond. The aroma is pungent and evocative: This is cow country! beetroot chutney, coleslaw, and a salad rather too liberally doused in On a lovely spring afternoon, I and my husband, who now wishes vinaigrette. Less vinegar and more substance would have rendered this to remain anonymous, headed for the St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese dish more satisfying.

Company. The St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company To finish, my husband had an Americano coffee, and café-shop were set up by Jane Stewart and her farmer while I indulged in the “iced coffee shot”: Baileys ice The café-shop is a cream with espresso poured over and served with husband at the end of 2007, to sustain their dairy business.

Don’t blink or you will miss the little blue sign on the cinnamon shortbread, all for £3.50. I returned mine as I foodie’s delight B9171 near Kellie Castle, indicating the entrance. The café was expecting the Fife equivalent of “Affogato al caffé”. building is utilitarian and spotless. You could eat your food off the floor I explained to the waitress the importance of juxtaposing hot and cold, next to the Farrow-and-Ball-painted skirting. We basked on the decking in sweet and bitter. Timing is crucial with this dessert; ask Nigel Slater, or glorious sunshine, imbibing all that Fife has to offer in one beautiful vista. any good-looking Italian. I might have expected the looks of the kitchen Despite the name, the menu is not restricted to one theme, but staff to suggest that I was now up to my oxters in what makes the grass embraces a variety of wholesome, home-made delicacies. Local ice go green in Fife, but they met my demands with great grace. Had there cream and milk feature alongside the signature “Anster” cheese, which been any, I’d still have wanted to head for the hills! Instead I ate/slurped my replacement iced coffee shot next to my now silent, anonymous is made on the premises. The website describes “Anster” as a dry and husband. crumbly artisan cheese. They should add “scrummy”, too – it really is The café-shop is a foodie’s delight. All sorts of delectable gifts that delicious! On certain days of the week you can watch Jane make it, which “go well with cheese” – oatcakes, mustards, chutneys – line the shelves. explains the fastidiously clean environment.

Instantly I fell in love with Angela Hewitt’s Highland Cow tea towels and I ordered the Tuscan bean soup served with an Anster cheese scone bought a stash. for £3.45. My husband ordered the quiche with salad at £5.20. Then we Next time I will try the spiced green lentils piled on chicory leaves and swapped spoons and notes… topped with a soft egg. The hard work and commitment involved in this The soup and scone were hearty and tasty. The quiche pastry was enterprising diversification is evident, from inception to its home-made “short” with no soggy bottom. The top was flavoursome, but since the butteries and cheese. Gutsy dishes and big tarts are what opinionated menu described the dish simply as “quiche”, I had to ask what it was wives want! made of, despite the fact that I am usually good at guessing. However,

Your Editor and her friend Jamie enjoyed another gastronomic experience at

number forty

Tart tatin starter

Salmon starter Crème Brulée Hotel du Vin have wasted no time in upgrading the Golf Hotel on the Scores in St Andrews ahead of their major facelift due later in the year. Renamed number forty, the restaurant and bar have been transformed.

Jamie and I enjoyed a splendid dinner for two, seated by the window looking out over our glorious West Sands and Bay, and the people passing. The dark wooden tables were inviting, with their white linen napkins, sparkling glasses, Risotto main Lamb main Panna Cotta and candles glowing in ruby tumblers. Friendly staff made us welcome. We agreed, however, My eyes opened at the size of my portion We accompanied our meal with a glass of we didn’t much like the unnecessary music: of Wild Mushroom Risotto with Rocket Salad New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for me, and an good food, good company in good surroundings & Parmesan Shavings. It tasted wonderful; Australian Sauvignon Blanc for him. The wine induce conversation, which shouldn’t be creamy, and textured to perfection, the rocket list is pretty impressive overall. However, we swamped by obtrusive sounds, especially when and cheese complementing find one glass enough, and the list for wines by the kind of music played can’t the rice well. So it really hurt the glass is not that long. possibly please everybody.

Head Chef Chris Russell to have to admit defeat and With the coffee came the most delicate wee We were served is to be commended, both leave some of it. ‘batons’ of chocolate, making our happiness deliciously crisp, light French for culinary excellence and Even so, we both opted complete. We were asked if we wished to take bread and butter, and Jamie for dessert! Jamie swears our coffee in the lounge, but we decided we chose for his starter Classic for presentation that properly-made crème were comfortable at our table.

Smoked Salmon with Brown brûlée is what distinguishes a good restaurant.

It was a memorable evening, and at £24.95 Bread & Butter. Beautifully presented, he I used to say it was the trifle, but that no longer each for the 3 course dinner (which includes said it got the appetite whetted, and fulfilled appears on menus, at least not where I’ve eaten tea/coffee), it was also very good value. Head expectations! Tasty as well as pretty! I had the over the past few years. However, he decided Chef Chris Russell is to be commended, both Tomato & Goats Cheese Tart Tatin with Rocket to have the White Chocolate Panna Cotta with for culinary excellence and for presentation.

Salad – scrumptious and satisfying. The pastry Berry Compote, while I had the Vanilla Crème Service is friendly, efficient, and unobtrusive. beneath, rather than on top, as the name Brûlée with Homemade Shortbread. Naturally There are not that many restaurants offering suggested, was deliciously crisp under its juicy we sampled each other’s out of greed! And they evening meals in St Andrews. Number forty will filling. The tomatoes melted in the mouth. were both equally good! Mine was creamy, with certainly see us return, especially as the menu Next, Jamie had the Roast Rack of Lamb, a crisp top, his was chocolaty and firm. Both changes frequently, making every visit a new Dauphinoise Potatoes & a Rosemary Jus. desserts had miraculous twists of pastry – how adventure.

He awarded it 10 out of 10, savouring the such things can be made and handled is a (Photos by Flora Selwyn) tenderness and flavour of the lamb, and wellcomplete mystery, a true chef‘s secret! balanced accompanying vegetables.

15

SHOPS & SERVICES Flora Selwyn meets another unsung heroine who has

A Warm Welcome For Everyone! billeted there for the next three ‘Happiness’ is the word that first came to mind years, Sandra never learnt the on meeting Sandra Griffiths – she radiates it. language, “everybody spoke The warmth of her welcome is genuine, and it English; we were spoiled in a doesn’t take long to understand that she really sense.” Her daughter Ailsa was likes people. As manager of bustling Littlejohns born there.

Restaurant in Market Street, St Andrews, it is In 1986 the family was a definite advantage for everyone, staff and posted to Leuchars, then not visitor alike. long after, to Anglesea, near Holyhead in 11th of a family of 14, 9 girls and 5 boys Wales. That was where Ailsa started school at 4 brought up on a farm in Whithorn, S.W. years of age. While on the base, Sandra began Scotland, Sandra has never known loneliness; to volunteer at the Help Information Volunteer “I enjoyed being in a large family.” Her Exchange (HIVE); “I do love serving,” she mother and ploughman father were never admits. strict, “so easy-going, always there.” It was Back again at Lossiemouth, “that area is an idyllic childhood. Today there are also 39 absolutely gorgeous,” Sandra found herself grandchildren scattered in all parts and with few opportunities to foregather all in hotel work again. At the It is Sandra who has together. same time she completed Leaving school at 17, a short course in business made Littlejohns a Sandra entered a Youth administration. The RAF venue to be treasured Opportunities Scheme learning moved the family back to joinery, how to refurbish furniture, make toys, Germany, where Thomas was born, then back for £23.50 a week. She then moved on to a once more to Leuchars. hotel as a waitress and chambermaid. Her next From waitress to restaurant supervisor, move was to Lossiemouth where she met her then general manager at Drumoig Hotel in Fife husband-to-be at a party her sister had taken for five years, Sandra next came to St Andrews her to; “it was love at first sight!” as manager of Littlejohns.

Married to a survival expert in the RAF Though she found the place very run down Sandra now found herself in Germany, on at first, she says she, “found it enjoyable, but an air base near the Dutch border. Though very demanding.” Two years later Littlejohns

16

was completely refurbished, and Sandra is happy. Most business is from tourists, including many Glaswegians. The restaurant has 175 places, and some nights there are over 100 customers. Sandra looks after a staff of 35, with 9 in the kitchen full time. Mindy, the Head Chef is Lithuanian. “I work on a respect basis with the staff,” Sandra explains, “ and I’m a hands-on manager.” As it is primarily a restaurant for families, Sandra aims to “make young couples with babies comfortable.” Since she comes from such a large family herself, Sandra knows exactly how to do that. Children have their own menu and are given pictures to colour or balloons to play with. The atmosphere is relaxed, and Sandra and her staff greet everyone with a smile. The main menu is changed annually, but ‘specials’ can change at any time. Sandra is adamant that Littlejohns is not a fast-food restaurant, everything is freshly cooked daily. It is Sandra who has made Littlejohns a venue to be treasured.

SHOPS & SERVICES Flora Selwyn is delighted to announce another welcome makeover enhancing our town,

The Garden Rooms Mary Angus Vizan and Laurence Vizan have Mary Angus Vizan said, “When we bought the Garden Centre, newly named The bought the Garden Centre we wanted a gift Garden Rooms, in South Street and are in shop.” Walk into it and you will open your the process of transforming it into a series of eyes wide! Bright and airy, overlooking the garden themed rooms. The core business, plants outside the windows, the goods on selling garden plants and garden accessories, sale are amazing. Here you will find exquisite remains and this will gradually expand. Outdoor artificial flowers of every kind, so botanically plants are sourced from the largest Scottish accurate it is hard to believe they aren’t real. plant nurseries in Glasgow and Fife, known This is a SIA retailer. What is SIA? In 1963 in for their reliable high quality products. Garden Sweden, Sonja Ingegerd Andersson began furniture is on offer, also fencing and forest her business making paper flowers, designing craft timber products including Log Cabins. A printed fabrics. From these small beginnings, small selection of pet products remains on sale: with both “a passion for decoration and a birdseed, food, and sundries, although there will love of nature”, the business has flourished no longer be any fish or other pets. to such an extent it has circumnavigated the The Garden Rooms houses globe. There are gloriously Think ‘garden’, visit the only Interflora-accredited scented candles in ceramic florist within St Andrews and the The Garden Rooms, holders, or boxes. There are North East Fife area. The flower beautiful Vietnamese pots of and all your dreams shop’s friendly and skilled florists unusual design and finish. can come true! provide a bespoke flower service There are pretty picture for local orders, weddings, sympathy flowers, frames. There are comfortable cushions for birthdays, graduation ball, corporate events, outdoor seating. Oh, and lots more; as well mother’s day, and Christmas, using only the as products by Crabtree & Evelyn, where the highest quality fresh flowers and plants in all Garden Rooms have been appointed their their arrangements. Staff are happy to manage accredited stockist for the area. To complete not only your local orders, but also your the circle, the Evelyn Rose fragrance National and International flower deliveries, collection is on sale, as well as the David which can be sent anywhere in the world. A new Austin Evelyn Rose outdoor plant. website giving access to Interflora’s complete More surprises: you can choose from range of products will be launched very shortly: the Tregothnan range of Tea, the first ever www.the-garden-rooms.co.uk English tea grown over the last nine years

at Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall, or their world exclusive Kea Plum jam. Surprises to come in the near future include a range of Champagne and wine gifts, spring and summer food gifts, hampers plus special birthday and romantic gifts, all at affordable prices. What’s more, Mary and Laurence will certainly make your visit very welcome and affordable.

Mary Angus Vizan from Scotland and Laurence Vizan, who was born in Spain and brought up in Australia, settled in Fife in 1995 after working and travelling the world. They owned the Eden House Hotel in Cupar and, as their daughter attended school in St Andrews, it was logical to move to St Andrews and “try to bring some of our experience and knowledge into the town here.”

Think ‘garden’, visit The Garden Rooms, and all your dreams can come true!

17

SHOPS & SERVICES

Roving Reporter

is having his optimism reinforced . . .

1. Premises in Bell Street were about to be demolished by developers and rebuilt as 3-storey flats. Instead, Tracy Kinnaird has been allowed to come in and transform them into a simply delightful Aladdin’s cave of goodies. Go to La Boutique, 6-10 Bell Street, (01334) 477 823 and be amazed!

Glaswegian Tracy studied fashion design.

Extensive travel all over the world honed Tracy’s skills in design, so on her return she opened a lifestyle boutique in Glasgow.

Success led to another outlet in Glasgow similar in style to the shop in Bell Street.

Always wanting to move to St Andrews, and since developers don’t find building flats so attractive just now because of the credit crunch, Tracy found the opening she was looking for (never mind what the papers say, credit crises offer opportunities too).

St Andrews is lucky indeed! “I love what I’m doing!” Tracy enthuses, and it shows.

You will find unusual clothes from many countries, as well as handbags, perfumed bathroom goodies, gifts, and cards of all kinds, all beautifully displayed in a light and airy setting. Tracy was overwhelmed by the welcome she’s had from St Andrews.

Scheduled to open last Easter, “people were practically breaking down the door!” encouraging her to work twice as hard and open early. Tracy feels wanted, and Reporter can easily see why, for as Tracy explains, “everything here is picked with love and attention to detail.” Let’s give her the three cheers she deserves, says Reporter, and make sure her lease never runs out!

College in Arbroath, Jodi has added food items such as freshly-made sushi, and a range of sandwiches, to what was already available. In addition to the list of juices on offer, which still features wheatgrass, Jodi has immune-system boosters, such as soya-based drinks. She told Reporter that she makes hangover remedies, as well as energy enhancers. A free muffin with tea/coffee for £1.50 is sure to be welcomed by many. Orkney ice cream is still available, so are homemade carrot cake and other temptations. Loyalty cards will continue.

Outdoor catering is new: Jodi catered for the recent highly successful student African fashion show at the Old Course Hotel.

After college Jodi travelled all over the world, working her way for 5 years through South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. In 2007 she was in Nîmes, France where “we used to go kite flying.

It was good!”

Juicylicious supports cancer charities and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

When Reporter visited, the place was buzzing, and it’s not hard to see why!

***** 3. Entrepreneurship is very much in the air.

*****

2. A young lass who’s always wanted her own business has taken over Juicylicious and made it hers. Jodi Duncan travels every day from Arbroath to her Jodi’s Juicylicious at 91 Market Street, St Andrews. Trained as a chef at Angus

Reporter sped to Riach Contracting, Unit 1, Avalon Business Park, Guardbridge to meet Dan and Katherine Riach. This is where, from early this summer, state-of-the-art woodburning stoves are to be found. Fully trained by the HETAS Specialist training programme for the Solid Fuel Installer and Chimney Engineer, and also by plumbing specialists BPEC Certification Ltd, Dan can “provide a lot of solutions” for your heating needs.

“We focus on chimney knowledge, which is critical to ensuring that each stove works at maximum efficiency.” The design and functionality of woodburning stoves have made huge strides in the last few years.

From traditional cast iron to avant-garde heavy steel and glass stoves, the choice is wide. Furthermore, a conventional fireplace is no longer a necessity, for you can locate your stove wherever you want. Efficiency

is guaranteed, as well as compatability with clean air requirements; all stoves on sale are “smoke control exempt.”

From Edinburgh, Katherine met Dan in Melbourne, Australia, where she was visiting her doctor Godmother, a St Andrews graduate – Reporter felt he had to put this in, he was so taken by the connections! He was also totally caught up by the couple’s enthusiasm and forward-looking plans. The Business Park, on the left just beyond the Hungry Horse on the Guardbridge Road, has ample parking. Look up the website: www.riachwoodburningstoves.co.uk or call (01334) 848 913. You, too, could enjoy a cosy winter in front of your environmentfriendly roaring wood fire!

(Photo courtesy Dan & Katherine)

*****

4. An arresting window display caught Reporter’s eye, and since the shop was open, in he went! There he met Adrian Lamb from Stirling, and welcomed him to St Andrews. Newly opened Curiosity at 83a South Street is a cornucopia of fascinating top-quality objects. The most striking are stuffed animals, animal heads, and horns. Adrian was quick to stress that none of these animals had been killed for sport – all of them had died naturally and been preserved by fond owners. One example he pointed to is the head of a Highland coo, which had been a farmer’s much-loved pet. Adrian has connections with North Africa, Dubai, North America, and says that if he doesn’t have what a customer wants, “we can get hold of it.” Adrian told Reporter that he is a stone mason/plasterer to trade and that he works on the renovation of stately homes. Owners often want to make changes, giving Adrian the opportunity

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

151 South Street, St Andrews Tel: 01334 472134

18

SHOPS & SERVICES to purchase both artifacts and furniture.

With a “warehouse full of stuff to come in here”, Adrian has no shortage of stock.

His prices range from £1 for sunglasses, to £3,000 for the Highland coo’s head. If you are eager for crystal balls, chess sets, chests of drawers, pictures, or any other thing you fancy, Reporter suggests you visit the shop, or ring Adrian on his mobile: 07983 702 7887. It won’t be long before he has a website too.

*****

5. Students Katy Brill and Mufadal Jiwaji met Roving Reporter over a coffee in town and told him of their plan to set up a new society. He learnt that, “The Fine Food and Dining Society is for those who love food; cooking it, tasting it, learning about it, or even just talking about it. The Society’s founders believe that living on a student budget does not have to mean compromising on quality. Advocates of shopping locally, they hope to show students how to make the most of local produce in their cooking. The Society will be holding trips to farms, producers, and Scottish food events; running demonstrations, classes, and tastings, with the involvement of some fantastic Scottish chefs; as well as dining out as a Society at some of the best restaurants in the area. With the support of Slow Food, Harvey McGuires, Butler & Company, I J Mellis, Bridges, The Little Italian Shop, and many other shops and farms, one

of the Society’s principle aims is to forge valuable links between students and local suppliers of quality food.” Reporter was impressed with the serious research already done, and the ground that has been extremely well prepared. There will be more news in the next issue of this magazine. In the meantime Reporter says, do contact Katy (or Lucy) at: foodsoc@st-andrews.ac.uk

*****

OAPs & students – Bring this advert for 15% discount

flexi-offices

••••••••••••••••

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

www.flexi-offices.co.uk

19

ORGANISATIONS Alan Sturrock, of A.J.S. Professional Funfair Video Productions, on

Our Lammas A.J.S. Professional Funfair Video Productions, St Andrews residents to benefit part of the A.J.S. Video Services Group, from. headed down south to the Boston May Fair I have been co-ordinating model show to sell their full range of DVDs. with Keith Jackson and Ian Boston May Fair is just like our Lammas Barbour of Fife Council when Market, it’s held in the streets of the town next I have been out filming the to old and new buildings. It’s thought that a Lammas and seen at first hand market/fair has been held in the first week the hard work that Keith and of May every year since 1125. Boston was a Ian put in for all of us to have a major port of the Hanseatic League, therefore very successful and enjoyable merchants came from all over Europe to Lammas Market. buy and sell at the fair, just like the Lammas I also have an excellent Market, from 1153 to the 1870s, when the working relationship with many funfair started to take over. Nowadays funfairs of the showmen, which has represent an old market as part of a town’s developed since 1991, the first Lammas that history, up and down the length of the UK. I filmed. Many of them now expect me to be Fife Council last year carried out a survey waiting to greet them as they pull into the Old during the market, the results are available on Course Road ahead of the buildup; in fact, their website and I’m pleased some even phone me with to see that the locals are their arrival times, just to All profits from the backing the Lammas Market make sure I catch them for Lammas Market go into to remain in its traditional site. the DVD! the St Andews Common The Council are, however, Showmen and their Good Fund for all listening to concerns about the families enjoy coming to St Andrews residents to noise levels and consulting St Andrews and the Lammas with the Scottish Section of Market, some even come to benefit from the Showman’s Guild ahead of St Andrews at other times of this year’s event. the year, and some have come even when they All profits from the Lammas Market go into no longer have a pitch, but come and support the St Andews Common Good Fund for all others and take in the atmosphere. Some also

return and have their weddings here; recently Charlie Horne’s daughter and son both got married in local churches and Douglas Taylor’s daughter got married in Holy Trinity Church, the receptions were all held in local hotels.

So, as it’s almost time for the Lammas Market to roll into our streets again, spare a thought for all those working behind the scenes to make it happen, and then enjoy all the fun of the fair.

For any of our funfair DVDs, call Alan on 07710 501 458.

(Photo courtesy Alan Sturrock)

Gillian Swanson, Committee Member of the

St Andrews Art Club St Andrews Art Club is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. To mark the level. Many of the teachers come back occasion all members have been invited to give a small painting, to take classes the following years – a which will be bound into a celebration album to be kept in our sure sign of their success. archives.

Between October The Club has developed into a thriving and busy and March the Club The Club has several association. During the summer it holds a series of meets every second opportunities to display outdoor sketching and painting sessions – weather Thursday in the the work of its members permitting. In the winter there is a range of classes during evening, and there is the day, covering many media, and there are several a varied programme workshops on Saturdays during the winter. Fridays are set aside of lectures, demonstrations, and for people who just want to paint alongside others without following critiques. The crits are nerve-wracking a teacher’s programme. These are always very popular – the for the participants, but very helpful for the atmosphere is supportive, friendly, and helpful, though a lot of work artist as well as the audience. goes on! Some of the classes are specifically for beginners, and some The Club has several opportunities are for the more experienced, so everyone can find something at their to display the work of its members. There are weekend exhibitions at Easter and during the St Andrews Festival, where work which is mounted, but not framed, is displayed and on sale. The highlight of the Club’s year is perhaps the summer exhibition, of framed exhibits, which this year runs from 18 July to 2 August. It is always busy, with locals and with holidaymakers. There is a collection made for charity, and visitors have an opportunity to vote for their favourite painting.

Recently the Club has offered its premises to a portfolio class of final-year school pupils to help them work on their folio requirements for admission to art college. The library has also recently received a generous bequest of up-to-date art books. This complements the existing selection of books and DVDs and ensures a good selection of resources to borrow.

The Clubs premises are tucked away in a small wynd off Argyle Street, behind the print shop – clearly signed during exhibition times. Though currently there is a waiting list for membership, those interested in joining should contact the Membership Secretary: 32, Lade Braes, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9DA. (Photo courtesy the Art Club)

20

ORGANISATIONS Gill Joy, Chair of the Management Committee, makes a plea

Volunteer Treasurer Needed for Cosmos Community Centre The Cosmos Centre is a thriving hub in the so the Treasurer is able to focus on more strategic financial issues: centre of St Andrews, providing an impressive forward financial planning, working with auditors on annual accounts, range of services investment decisions, liaison with funding and activities for organisations, and partner organisations.

We are looking for a volunteer Treasurer to people of all ages in the local community.

We hope you can circulate this appeal join the Committee to help with our financial Over 1,000 people come through the to your readers and other contacts. The planning, to liaise with auditors and funding Cosmos doors every week and we Cosmos is a great organisation that really bodies and to ensure our financial operations makes a difference in the community and have a very strong team of employees running the Centre on a day-to-day basis it’s also a really enjoyable place to be work in a timely and transparent manner.

– approximately 13 part-time and full-time involved as a volunteer. staff.

The Cosmos is a registered charity with a very committed Management Committee (all volunteers) as the governing body.

Please feel free to pass on my contact details to anyone who is We are looking for a volunteer Treasurer to join the Committee to interested in finding out more. email: gill@joy.abel.co.uk help with our financial planning, to liaise with auditors and funding Tel: 01334 479 899. bodies and to ensure our financial operations work in a timely and Cosmos Community Centre, Abbey Walk, St Andrews KY16 9LB transparent manner.

Tel: 01334 474140.

The Cosmos Business Manager and Centre Supervisor handle most of the day-to-day financial administration, including the payroll,

From Lauren Sykes, Administrator

Plant a seed this summer and watch it grow . . .

. . . volunteer for Home-Start East Fife It’s a little-known fact that Home-Start is the UK’s leading family support charity. Across the UK, more than 15,000 Home-Start volunteers visit families at home each week, supporting parents in situations as diverse as illness, disability, bereavement, and multiple births, or who are just finding parenting a struggle. These volunteers provide practical and emotional support in a non-judgemental way and help build a family’s confidence and ability to cope, reducing the need for intervention by other services.

Home-Start East Fife provides this unique service for families across North East Fife.

Based in St Andrews, Home-Start East Fife recruits and trains volunteers to support parents with young children at home and in our Family Support Groups.

without the additional support provided by their volunteer.

Can you help?

All you need to volunteer for HomeStart East Fife is parenting experience, a couple of hours a week, and the willingness to help a local family with young children.

We will be running a Preparation Course for New Volunteers this autumn, and we need you! Although we have a large list of excellent volunteers already, there are always new families needing support.

We would be happy to give you more information on what we do, and there is never any obligation to volunteer after an initial chat.

We often need office volunteers and Trustees as well as home-visiting volunteers and Family Support Group helpers.

Please contact Joanne, Lauren, or Aileen on 01334 477 548, pop into our offices at 158 South Street in St Andrews, or check out our website at www.home-start-eastfife.org.uk for more information about what we do and how you could help a local family with young children.

Who are the volunteers?

Parents and grandparents volunteer for Home-Start: maybe like yourselves. Our volunteers are people who have time on their hands, since their children went off to school or left home to have their own families.

Who are the families?

Any local family with at least one child under five years of age, who is finding parenting a struggle, can be referred to Home-Start.

Families are referred by all kinds of different professionals, such as health visitors, social workers, community psychiatric nurses, and GPs. The families can also refer themselves.

In the last year, Home-Start East Fife has supported 40 trained volunteers to support around 60 families with a total of 130 children, any of whom could have reached crisis point

21

ORGANISATIONS From Helen Muir, Chief Executive, Gibson Care Agency.

‘Caring for you with Confidence’ An extract from the Trust Disposition and Settlement of William Gibson Esq. at Edinburgh, 5th of November 1852:

All customers/clients who enquire about our service are met by one of the management team to discuss requirements and needs. If the customer wishes to proceed with the service, we set up a meeting “I, WILLIAM GIBSON, of DULOCH, residing in St. Andrews, / interview with the potential carer and client in order that agreement Considering that I entertain a great regard for the City of is reached on the service to be delivered and to ensure compatibility.

St. Andrews, my native place, and that I am This is part of our participation strategy to desirous to increase the comforts, and to some involve both client and carer in all aspects of The William Gibson Trust extent supply the wants and necessities of the the service to be provided. continues to the present aged, sick, and infirm poor, after described, of All staff are fully inducted and attend the City and Parish of St. Andrews, by founding specialised workshops to further develop their day as a charitable trust and endowing an Hospital or Charitable knowledge and skills. Gibson Training and and is a well-known Institution, within the said City” Care Ltd. provides an education resource centre for all staff to use for both private study institution in St Andrews The William Gibson Trust continues to the present and SVQ study. day as a charitable trust and is a well-known institution in St Andrews.

In 1998, the Gibson House management team invested in the Our management team is happy to answer any enquiries: professional development of their carers to enhance the quality of Telephone St Andrews 01334 477 505 or Leven 01333 429 443. care delivery. This proved very expensive. We therefore applied to Visit our Website: www.gtca.org.uk for info and to view testimonials. the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to become an approved centre for the delivery of Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) in care. We achieved this and committed to training all our staff to meet the National Standards. We are approved to deliver Levels: 2, 3, 4, in Health and Social Care, and the Leadership and Management award at Level 4 (formerly the Registered Manager’s Award in Health and Social Care).

We were very soon approached by Scottish Enterprise (Fife), now Skills Development Scotland (SDS), to provide training to carers throughout Fife and Tayside. Gibson Training was formed and we have continued to successfully deliver SVQ awards to carers and managers, and are a Lead Training Provider throughout Fife and Tayside for SDS. Through meeting with candidates and employers throughout Fife and Tayside, we were often asked if we could or would provide trained carers to cover holidays and sickness etc. After careful consideration, Gibson Care Agency was founded by the Gibson Training team in 2006, and we have worked together to develop and implement quality systems to enable us to deliver an holistic approach to care that meets the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the clients in our care.

We are an equal opportunities, customer-focused organisation and operate a 24 hour on-call system 365 days a year. Calls are direct to the manager on duty and provide consistency throughout the service.

Gibson Training and Care Ltd. are registered with the Care Commission in accordance with the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act (2001) for: • Nursing / Care Agency • Care at Home • Housing Support We are subject to regular inspections by the aforementioned and we have been graded 5, this classification being very good, (grade 1 being unsatisfactory and grade 6 being excellent). A copy of our inspection report is available on request as it is not on the Care Commission Website at this time.

Gibson Training and Care Ltd. is part of the William Gibson Trust (Reg. Charity No. SCO17100) and any profit is returned to the Trust to enhance the care at Gibson House.

The Care Agency is contracted with Fife Council and has an established private customer base. The team is committed to ensuring clients and staff members participate in all aspects of the service we provide and this is enshrined in our philosophy.

Total

ecommerce

Total Ecommerce, 7 Borthwick Place, Balmullo, Fife Call: 01334 871101 Email: Info@total-ecommerce.co.uk

22

— No nonsense brochure websites from £250 — Ecommerce websites from £400 — Beat the credit crunch and get your business back on track — No nonsense approach to your online business from Total Ecommerce

TOWN & GOWN

The Dr Falconer Essay Prize for Science 2009 St Andrews in Focus is proud to announce the winner of this first Essay Prize competition: Isabel Peters from Germany, for her essay on Computer Science, and runner-up, Philip Birget from Luxembourg, for his essay, ‘Bombastic Biology’. Both these essays will be published in full in the next issue of St Andrews in Focus (Sept / Oct).

First-year science undergraduates were invited to describe their chosen studies to a general readership. They were asked to explain their enthusiasm, and what they hoped to do after graduation. Nine essays were entered. The judges were, Hon. Professor of Chemistry Douglas Lloyd; Zoë Smith, Chair of the Community Council; Moira & Graeme Cockburn of the St Andrews Hearing Services; and Carly Lamb in the 6th Form at Madras College.

A dinner for 30 was held at Maisha Restaurant in College Street on 29th April, at which Head of the School of Chemistry, Professor Derek Woolins presented the prizes. Dr Jacqueline Falconer, who sadly was too unwell to attend, gifted the £200 prize money. Matthew Guest of the Student Association designed the Certificate, and the dinner was generously sponsored by The After Many Days Club and Fife Council.

L to R, Gillian Falconer, Flora Selwyn, Philip Birget, Isabel Peters, Prof. Woolins.

(Photo: © Peter Adamson)

Are you ready to take the University of St Andrews Challenge • Take one or more undergraduate courses in Science or Arts subjects (or a mix).

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

?

•

The Science Challenge February 2009 – Environmental Biology, Environmental Geography, Physics & Astronomy September 2009 – Psychology, Information Technology.

•

The Arts Challenge February 2009 – Modern History, Classics (Ancient Rome), Art History (Modern Period) September 2009 – Scottish History, Art History (Renaissance to Baroque), Classics (Classical Athens), Philosophy, Theology, Reading English.

• Study at times suitable for busy people: evening classes, 6.30-9.30pm.

For further information please contact Nicky Haxell T: 01334 462203 E: parttime@st-andrews.ac.uk or at St Katharine’s West, 16 The Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9AX. www.st-andrews.ac.uk The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland. No: SC013532

23

TOWN & GOWN Graeme Mutch, PR Officer for St Leonards School, reports on

Success x 3 corresponding to the numerical number of the A creative St Leonards Schoolgirl has shown decimal point in Pi, will enable a note to be that success really does come in threes after processed by the punched paper strip musical winning prizes in a trio of prestigious contests! movement.” Kirsty named her prize-winning Lower Sixth Form (S5) pupil Kirsty Keatch composition The Melody of Pi, a piece of kicked off her spectacularly fruitful Spring term music that also requires a little explaining! by triumphing in a school music competition “I would describe it as a small piece on the in somewhat ingenious fashion, using an expansion of Pi interpreted as an Experimental instrument she designed and built all by Sonic Art composition, a fusion of the found herself! Up against competitors using rather object with experimental music,” was her more traditional means of making music, the straightforward summing-up!

16-year-old picked up the St Leonards Iona Stuart Whatton, Director of Music at Jack Composition Award for her performance St Leonards, was understandably impressed on the Pi Horn, a unique piece of musical

by Kirsty’s ingenuity. He said, “The Pi piece equipment. Kirsty explained, “The Pi Horn is a is certainly the first time one of the students paper strip music box movement attached to has won a competition using an instrument a laundry bin that acts as the horn. I suppose they created. It really was it could be regarded as a unique piece of tuned “I just give things a go a piece of cutting-edge experimental composition. percussion! I heard about and get lucky,” Her piece, including the Daniel Tammet*, whose instrument and written synaesthesia allowed him score, was remarkable for its cross-curricular to picture the number Pi as a landscape in his qualities, as it manages to incorporate strands head and I thought, ‘If he can see Pi, perhaps of music, maths, physics, art, and CDT! I am people would like to listen to Pi’. That’s how encouraging her to enter the work in a national it all started!” Kirsty explained that she was competition, as it truly is astoundingly original.” fascinated by the characteristics of Pi, an The talented pupil enjoyed further success “irrational” number whose exact value can when she turned her attention to visual never be known. arts, and snapped up a prestigious local “The riddle of Pi is fascinating, as it defies photography prize. Kirsty scooped St Andrews logic, and as that is also an attribute of some Photographic Society’s Kodak Cup for her experimental music, I decided to play with the mesmerising series of striking images entitled fascination of Pi in terms of music. I chose Dreams Fill Spaces, beating off competition to represent a small section of Pi’s infinite from Society members, Madras School expansion as a punched paper graphic score, students, and fellow St Leonards pupils, in whereby the holes punched in the paper strip,

Kirsty receives the Kodak Cup from Dr Carslaw

Stuart Whatton with the Iona Jack trophy, with Catriona Stirling (who won the Year 10/11 section of the competition), Kirsty, and the Pi Horn

24

Kirsty with her Kodak Cup winning series, “Dreams Fill Spaces”

Kirsty receives her i-pod for her Christmas card design from Headmaster Dr Carslaw the process. The annual award, which was this year judged by Royal Photographic Society Fellow, Rikki O’Neill, required entrants to submit three prints on a unifying theme.

Kirsty’s colourful series was captured whilst she was on holiday in Ibiza last year. She said, “I used to live in Ibiza, so I took the pictures to remind me of being there. It’s nice to see the bright colours in the images because it’s normally so dark and cold over here! I just took the shots on a simple, snapshot camera, and the idea behind the theme was that everyone needs their dreams. People have so much going on in their minds it’s nice to have dreams to escape to. It was a real surprise to find out I’d won. I didn’t think I’d win as I didn’t think they were my best pictures technically.”

Donna Rae, art teacher at St Leonards, commented, “Rikki O’Neill said that Kirsty’s entry was very creative and that the images worked very well as a series, with the pictures telling a story. “I’m absolutely thrilled for Kirsty.

It’s a great honour to win, as there are no distinctions made between more experienced, adult members of the Society, and the school pupils.”

Kirsty’s trio of successes was completed when she bagged yet another prize, this time in the field of E-technology. The Newport student won an iPod Shuffle after coming second in the 14-16 year-old category of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) electronic Christmas card competition.

The UK-wide contest challenged pupils to come up with an eye-catching design with a scientific theme. The judges were impressed

by Kirsty’s European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) inspired, animated card.

Kirsty said, “One of the suggested themes was CERN, so I thought I would try to make it look Christmassy! I used a big star template and included images of the Higgs Boson particle, the Christmas tree star cluster, CERN’s Atlas Detector, and space invaders! There’s also a Spanish Christmas carol playing in the background.” Kirsty says she only entered the competition for a bit of fun after her physics teacher, Dr Catherine Dunn, encouraged pupils to give it a go.

Following hot on the heels of her other triumphs, Kirsty’s latest success clearly demonstrates that she possesses a real creative talent. Not that she is letting it go to her head; “I just give things a go and get lucky,” she said modestly.

(Photos courtesy St Leonards School)

The Pi Horn *

Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant who holds the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes.

TOWN & GOWN Judith Gillespie counts herself

Once, twice, three times . . . a St Andrean I was brought up and educated in West London, travelled to school on the London Underground and applied deliberately to a University a long way from home. I got off the train in St Andrews in 1960 and asked the way to Kennedy Gardens. I didn’t understand what anyone said to me and realised that things were going to be very different. I had never been to St Andrews before; I’d only been to Scotland once, on holiday, when I was ten. I don’t know if the phrase, ‘a steep leaning curve’ had been invented then, but when I see new students who have done the ‘Open Days circuit’ and ‘Freshers’ Week,’ which didn’t exist nearly 50 years ago, I wonder if they feel as nervous as I did.

Kinnessburn House was an annexe of University Hall; we had a senior student in charge and a wonderful housekeeper, Nora. We were, naturally, an all female residence. We had to sign out if we left the house after the evening meal, and we had to be back in by 11.00pm on weekdays, and midnight on Saturdays. My room-mates and I got into trouble for taking the sheets off our beds to dress up as vestal virgins for the Classics Society float in the Charities procession. There was a strict routine for changing bed-linen; top sheet to the bottom and Classical Society Charities Float clean sheet and pillowcase on the top. Funny how that memory lingers much more clearly the photographer’s monkey at the Lammas than the French Fifth Republic or Middle High Market bring back the smell of hot generators, German. I joined the Madrigal Group and went dodgy burgers, and candyfloss. The weather on their first overseas tour to Turin. Some of our was always sunny for days spent on the kilted male student members caused quite a stir West Sands, building sandcastles, eating on Turin railway station during the morning rush gritty sandwiches and drying shivering hour. I failed First Year Moral children. Donkey rides on Philosophy (along with many Life as a permanent the beach, ice cream cones others) and had to come up from Jannetta’s, visits to resident is a totally for resits in September. I still Christie’s toy shop, and remember arriving late for an different experience Wilson’s, the Ironmonger’s, end-of-term German Literature are all woven into our family exam and having to stumble, breathless, into history. A steak pie from Murray Mitchell the last remaining seat at the very front of welcomed us and we never left to travel south the Younger Hall. In 1961 I was invited to the without one of his black puddings in the car.

Madras FP Rugby Club Ball in the Victoria I learnt what ‘messages’ were and got my Café. I had never watched a game of Rugby head round the notion of ‘the back of five’. and didn’t know what FP stood for. I learnt a We came up at Christmas and Hogmanay, lot in St Andrews. When British Road Services made new friends and felt we were coming collected my trunk at the end of my stay, I home. We moved around as RAF families headed to the railway station with a degree, an do, but St Andrews remained a constant. engagement ring, and no idea where my bicycle By 2000, we had moved seven times, was. children had left home and we were both Between 1964 and 2000, we came as retired. We lived in Hampshire and I a growing family to St Andrews on holiday could detect that my husband’s thoughts to stay with my in-laws and later, in a were turning towards the idea of moving rented holiday flat in Bell Street. No parking permanently to St Andrews. His mother, problems then and it was free! Black and brother, and friends were all there and we white photographs of our children holding were a long way away. The house sold, we embarked on a downsizing, four-day move to Denhead and arrived in time to experience the worst snow in our part of North East Fife for forty years. My patient, adaptable mother also came to Fife and has settled in Cupar.

Life as a permanent resident is a totally different experience. Parking is an expensive nightmare and most of the shops that I knew from the ‘60s have disappeared, one of the latest being the much lamented Woolworth’s. Housing has stretched the town in all directions and I’m still not sure whether golf, tourism, or the university has caused the most havoc. We were at the Today, with granddaughter Isabel opening night of the new Byre Theatre and,

Dancing in the Younger Hall after being the venue for Saturday night hops and an examination hall, we now appreciate the Younger Hall afresh when we attend the regular and excellent concerts given by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Although the Cinema House has disappeared and charity shops, eating places, and estate agents have multiplied, St Andrews is still a great place.

Eight years is perhaps not a long enough apprenticeship to be considered a local, but I do know from relatives, friends, and from our own experience, that there are many people who live and work in St Andrews, in the UK, Europe, and worldwide, who are proud to ‘belong’ to St Andrews.

(Photos courtesy Judith Gillespie)

25

TOWN & GOWN Flora Selwyn was invited by the St Andrews Economics Forum 2009 to their second anniversary Conference on

‘Oil: Challenges and Opportunities’ resource, but “we don’t really know what’s there….just because a The all-student Executive Committee of the Economics Forum (saef) paper is cited 500 times doesn‘t mean it‘s right.” There are beloware to be congratulated without reserve for the Conference they held ground and above-ground issues, plus the environment. 548 giant on 1st May. Meticulously planned in detail over some nine months, the oil fields with 61% of global production are “not in decline” yet, and event gathered experts in the field from Britain, America, and France, “will become extremely creative in producing both conventional and as well as participants from leading European universities. unconventional oil.” There is “no expectation that they would last Since 37% of today’s world energy is oil related, it is imperative forever”, but “we’re getting more careful” and the trend is towards that an understanding of future supply/demand, and its wider improving efficiency. implications, are fully debated. To this end saef The second session, on pricing, was organised the Conference, with the hope that, opened by Bassam Fattouh, PhD School of “one generation may teach and engage with the Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), London, next one….enabling leaders of tomorrow to better The all-student Executive and a Senior Research Fellow and Director address issues crucial to our future.”

Committee of the Economics of the Oil & Middle East Programme at the A reception held at the Golf Hotel on the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. There Scores in the evening of Friday, 30 April, Forum (saef) are to be is a discrepancy between structural and introduced the Conference. At Parliament Hall, congratulated without reserve cyclical transformation. Oil producers are South Street, the following day was divided into not oil exporters who set the prices. OPEC three sessions. A panel of four speakers began administered the pricing system until new by addressing the question of Peak Oil. This discoveries were made in the 1970s. An was followed by a panel of three discussing the oil market-related system emerged in 1986, leading to a futures Pricing of Oil. Four speakers after lunch formed the final panel on market. But does that encourage speculators? Is there a need for new Oil Conflicts. Once each panel member had spoken, questions were methods? The loss of OPEC spare capacity means that geopolitical invited from the floor. or weather shocks, or refinery fires etc, cannot be withstood. Can Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Professor Emeritus Princeton University, spare capacity be renewed? Though OPEC no longer sets the geologist and peak oil expert, with research conducted at the Shell price, it nevertheless continues to exert an influence which is not Laboratory In Houston, opened the proceedings. He stated that, straightforward. Slowdown in demand for oil will not be driven by high although there have been new discoveries of oil, the peak of extraction prices. has already been reached, requiring possible future rationing of Next, Hermann Franssen, PhD Fletcher School of Law & supplies as well as a “long series of readjustments”.

Diplomacy, and with the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, said Colin Campbell, PhD Oxford, founder in 2000 of the Association that transportation is the greatest problem. Since 1970 energy from for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, who has worked both at the oil has dropped from 60% University of Oxford and to 40%, and is expected all the world’s leading oil to drop to 25% by 2030. It companies, claimed that we is not certain that 10% of are not running out of oil “any energy from renewables time soon”. The problem is can be achieved. Oil that of measurement, defined prices affect gas prices. ambiguously, reported laxly, Price predictions are all and governed by vested wrong, “more religion than interests. What are the science, I believe.” categories being addressed?

John Gault, PhD Conservative estimates believe Bassam Fattouh and John Gault Harvard, is an Associate in ‘steady growth’ – however, Fellow at the Geneva nowadays there is less and Centre of Security Policy, less scope for this. “We need and he has taught at the skills of a detective to the American University unravel all the confusion,” of Beirut, and Bir Zeit country by country. Perhaps University (West Bank).

Norway comes nearest in Which oil prices are we producing accurate figures. talking about? If crude, Economies worldwide are which crude, where, affected by rampant population which time period? Is it growth, shortfalls in oil being determined by the market, made up from expensive Colin Campbell Colin Campbell and Hermann Franssen or the government? Costs extractions of heavy and deepshouldn’t be dictated by water oil. “Globalism is over: governments, they reduce by themselves. Taxes are “basically what we need to return to rural local communities, with local currencies”. governments can get away with!” Since Britain, with 61% tax on petrol, Next, from France, was Jean Laherrère, geologist-geophysicist, is an island, people can’t simply drive across borders to find cheaper whose work on seismic refractions surveys contributed to the discovery petrol, as they can on the Continent. Sanctions on Iran, Sudan, and of Africa’s largest oil field. He, too, said that definitions are lacking Libya impact on investments, though oil is “a self-investing industry”.

– “what is a peak?” Oil is “any viscous liquid which can burn”, such The impact of the Iran question is unknown, and “OPEC members as olive oil. If not properly defined, the concept of Peak Oil must be watch each other like hawks,” as there is no transparency. Lack of rejected. He compared the story of the cod fisheries, destroyed by new feedback mechanisms leads to price rises. technologies, short-termism, “cheating, and political goals”. Another The opening talk at the session on Oil Conflicts, was given by analogy, which was striking, was that, “it is impossible to have a baby Paul Sullivan, PhD Yale, a professor of economics at the National in one month from nine women,” that it is often forgotten that “time is Defense University and adjunct professor of security studies at one of the most important restraints.” Structures age, human behaviour Georgetown University. He has also taught and researched at the is irrational, “life is change and evolution. You have to change the American University in Cairo. The world use of oil is 37%, that of gas world.”

23%, coal 25%, nuclear 6%, biomass 4%, hydro 3%, and solar 0.5%.

The fourth panelist was Peter Jackson, BSc St Andrews, PhD Conflicts will increase unless alternatives are found, as the Middle Edinburgh, who is the Senior Director at Cambridge Energy Research East becomes less important. Most heavy and extra-heavy oil is found Associates (CERA). He agreed mostly with the other speakers. The outside the Middle East. A pipeline formally used by Iran to export oil media sensationalise reports, and it’s a pity that the question of peak through Israel is now being used by Russia. oil is polarised by a lot of so-called ‘experts’. Oil is certainly a finite

26

TOWN & GOWN George Joffe teaches contemporary history, geopolitics, and international relations of the Middle East & North Africa at the University of Cambridge & King’s College, London. Oil is an excuse for conflict, which might be either a conflict of interests or war. Once a conflict begins, oil becomes important. Producer states raised prices to keep out Western interests. During colonial times, because of exploration and production risks, there were unfair revenue splits.

Nevertheless, producer/consumer disagreements are more important than military threats.

Roxane Farmanfarmaian, PhD Cambridge, is a founding member of the Centre of International Relations of the Middle East & North Africa (CIRMENA) at Cambridge University. Producer states have an identity issue. Iran can buy where it likes because it is rich, so China and Russia are its clients, though that is considered a direct threat by the West. Iran perceives the assassination of former Prime Minister Mossadeq as a consequence of Britain’s control of its oil. China deals with Iran because of the country’s reliability, rather than for political gain.

The last speaker was Ali Ansari, PhD School of Oriental & African Studies, London, and currently Professor in Modern History with reference to the Middle East at the University of St Andrews, where he is the founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies. He is also Associate Fellow at Chatham House and sits on the Governing Council of the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS). Oil was found in Iran in 1908. The 1973 nationalisation of the industry changed relations with the West. After the 1979 revolution, Iran was no longer the leading oil exporter in the region. Pipeline policies led the Clinton administration to turn a blind eye to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, because America was trying to sideline Iran by piping gas and oil through Afghanistan. Despite having huge natural gas assets, Iran is importing gas. Although nationalised, the oil industry is not doing well, and may need the help of international and private experts.

David Robson, head of Energy Research & Forecast in the Scottish Government finally addressed the Conference, having

saef Executive Committee only just arrived from Washington. “The future requires immediate attention,” he said, “existing security mechanisms are not well placed to deal with it.” Complexity requires complex solutions, “business as usual is utopian.” Abrupt climate change will have network outcomes.

“The more and more we know about something, the less we believe in the possibility of the contrary.”

On Sunday, 2 May the conference finally ended with a charity Polo Tournament, followed in the evening by a German ‘Oktoberfest’ at Kinkell Farm.

(Photos courtesy saef)

The St Andrews Economic Forum was founded by the students of the Economics Society in 2006 with the objective of encouraging active debate on global economic issues, and aims to generate awareness of the challenges and opportunities in the oil debate.

This year it brought together over one hundred students from such places as the universities of St Gallen in Switzerland, and Cambridge in the UK. At the closing ceremony David Robson from the Scottish Government commended this initiative and emphasized the importance of a multidisciplinary approach when addressing the challenges of modern society.

27

EVENTS The Maddy Fund has arranged for a

Celebrity butler on duty at St Andrews coffee morning On 25th July the Madeleine In real life he is a distinguished architect, specialising in Buildings for Steel Charitable Trust (“the Archives and undertaking commissions for clients throughout the world, Maddy Fund”) will hold a coffee including the Royal Family of Jordan. His alter ego, however, has made morning, (with their signature such an impression that he is regularly called upon to don his butler’s beautiful cakes) in St Andrews garb and preside at special functions organised by The National Trust, Town Hall. This national charity and other charities. Since he happened to be in Scotland, visiting friends with strong St Andrews who are supporters of the “Maddy Fund” at the time of last year’s coffee connections funds travelling morning, he dropped in and surprised many customers as, in tail-coat and fellowships, enabling bow tie, he solemnly topped up their cups from a coffee pot held in whiteprofessionals working in the gloved hands. He enjoyed himself so much that he volunteered to return field of congenital heart disease this year, so this will be a chance for St Andreans to live, just briefly, in a to spend time in international style to which they should like to become accustomed. centres of excellence to gain The winner of the 2009 Madeleine Steel Fellowship has just been experience of new techniques announced by the British Congenital Cardiac Association (the professional that can be passed on to body which administers the awards). He is a Specialist Registrar currently trainees in Britain. working in Birmingham and will travel to Toronto to take part in a study of Members of the public who drop in for coffee will adult survivors of congenital heart disease, using the have the unusual experience of being served by a butler, very latest Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques.

He enjoyed himself so who has achieved fame through his association with The organisers of the fund-raising event are extremely much that he volunteered grateful to Hugh for this generous action and to all the a popular TV series. Hugh Edgar was selected from to return this year many applicants to play the key role of Head Butler in other supporters who give of their time and talents to the 2002 Channel 4 production “The Edwardian Country raise funds in such a worthy cause.

House”. In the part, he exuded calm authority and ruled the “below stairs” world with a firm hand. He looked every inch a professional butler yet, The Madeleine Steel Charitable Trust is a registered charity SCO33732 surprisingly, he was not. Indeed he is not even a professional actor! and registered with the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCr).

Alison Gibson

St Andrews – Home to The Harbour Gala!

‘Friends of St Andrews Harbour’ are bracing themselves for another busy Gala Day! This year our Big Event takes place on Sunday, August 16th and we are hoping the weather will be a little kinder than last year.....although the rainy day in 2008 didn’t deter our many local supporters, and over £2,000 was raised for funds.

Do come along and have a fun day out – starting at midday we will have a wide range of attractions for all age groups. There’ll be lots of stalls – bric-a-brac, home-baking, plants, bottles – and loads of games too. The Human Table Football League will kick off again too with local teams competing – this is 5 a-side, and only a fiver a head....try to win that trophy! If you want to enter a team please call us. There’ll be darts, putting games, our traditional coconut shy.... and much, much more! For the younger kids there’ll be inflatable games – the Giant Slide was very popular last year and we hope to have this again.......there really is something for everyone!

There’s no entrance charge so why not come and have a walk around....you may be tempted towards some cool liquid refreshment in the marquee, have afternoon tea with scones and jam, or, if feeling a little wicked, you can treat yourself to one of our (now famous!) strawberry tarts, with real double cream of course.....delicious! Our fresh, locally-sourced, genuine ‘quarterpounder’ steakburgers will be sizzling on the BBQ.......and you can chill out later with real ice-cream! Don’t worry if it

rains....there’s lots of room under cover and plenty of seats in the Big Tent.... see you there!

(Photos courtesy Harbour Trust)

Donations for the stalls will be very welcome, please bring bric-a-brac and other donations to the Harbour on Saturday 15 August – you’ll find us in the marquee on the Putting Green! If you need anything picked up, please call us on 01334 473 536 after 6.00pm. Offers of help on the day are always welcome, and we do need more volunteers, please get in touch and we will find a job for you! If you have any enquiries, or indeed would like to help us out, please call Alison on 07793 242 376.

The marquee goes up!

Madras Pipe

28

Band open th

e Gala

rts

rawberry ta The famous st

Happy kids

EVENTS Tim Licata, artistic director of Plutôt la Vie, reflects on their upcoming summer co-production with the Byre.

First You’re Born

A British Premiere at the Byre Theatre, and a Byre Theatre / Plutôt la Vie Co-Production When Jacqueline McKay, Chief Executive of the serious.” First You’re Born is no exception.

Byre Theatre, decided to co-produce the British Like all great comedy, it uses humour to reveal Premiere of First You’re Born with Plutôt la Vie, profound emotions. The play borders on farce, I was delighted and extremely excited. The but the situations are personal tragedies for Byre is one of Scotland’s loveliest theatres. The the characters! Their fears, vanities, and stage is large, with a sense of grandeur, yet the vulnerabilities are played out to absurd, allseating creates a real feeling of intimacy for the too-recognizable extremes. It could be easy to audience. First You’re Born, a production we view the characters as eccentric or out of the thought might never happen, was rescued. ordinary, but nothing could be further from the First You’re Born is a deliciously absurd truth. Line Knutzon has said, “The characters comedy by award-winning Danish playwright are not losers. They are me and my friends. We Line Knutzon, one of Scandinavia’s most are not losers!” innovative and acclaimed contemporary Plutôt la Vie, French for, ‘Life above all…’, dramatists. The play follows six hapless chose First You’re Born as it goes well with the individuals, whose lives change unexpectedly company’s strongly visual style of theatre and as they stumble out of their apartments...and sense of humour. We’ve been planning this into each other. Axel and Bimsy love each production since 2007 with generous support other, but split up on a from the Scottish Arts whim; Viktor is one big Council, but needed a The play follows six hapless headache; agoraphobic individuals, whose lives change co-producer to achieve sisters Lis & Tis consider a the vision we had in unexpectedly as they stumble trip to the post box a major mind. We knew the out of their apartments...and expedition; and Tudeberg’s Byre would be an ideal main asset is his ability to partner, but would into each other clean. they be willing to work Critics have likened Knutzon’s work to with a small, relatively unknown company on “Samuel Beckett on acid…” and “Seinfeld mixed a large production of a unique, but foreign with Ionesco and Dr. Suess”, which I think are play? Jacqueline McKay knew us from our good comparisons. Her writing is at the same previous production, A Clean Sweep, a piece time realistic and delightfully absurd. She sees of visual theatre for family audiences about the comic in chaos, love, and the emotional two men in a world of brooms and brushes, threads that tie us all together. Peter Ustinov which successfully toured throughout Scotland, said, “Comedy is simply a funny way of being as well as to Ireland, the United States, and

Portugal.

Fortunately the Byre was willing to take a risk on a wonderful script, an excellent cast and was not scared off by our absurd sense of humour!

Publicity image from “It’s too late A Clean Sweep. (Photo and everyone’s

by Douglas Robertson, dead!” bemoan courtesy of Plutôt la Vie) the fatalistic Tis & Lis, agoraphobic twin sisters looking for love around a mulberry bush in First You’re Born.

But Line Knutzon’s view of Life is extremely positive. Sparkling! Life is delightful! First you’re born… then all the mistakes happen.

The wonderful mistakes! The play seems to be saying, ‘Don’t be too serious or you may never make a move. Jump In!’ Above all, First You’re Born is entertaining. It’s appropriate for the whole family and with the Byre’s relaxed atmosphere, restaurant and bar, it will be a great night out.

The British Premiere opens at the Byre Theatre on 7 August and will run through to 29 August, 7:30pm (Preview 6 Aug., matinees Wed. / Sat. 2:30). Directed by Tim Licata; Music by Andrew Cruickshank; Design by Karen Tennant.

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

29

EVENTS

Selected Events (Saturday, 23 May) to Monday, 31 August – 10.00am to 5.00pm daily. St Andrews Museum, Kinburn Park.

Ancestral Voices – Victorian & Edwardian St Andrews.

Life in St Andrews, home, work, leisure. Celebrating Homecoming 2009. Contact: 01334 659 380 email: standrews.museum@fife.gov.uk Thursday, 2 July – 7.30pm. Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews.

Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Alexander Janiczek, Director/ violin; Stephan Loges, baritone. Mozart Serenades.

Contact: 0131 557 6800 email: info@sco.org.uk Saturday, 4 July to Sunday, 27 September – at the Fisheries Museum, Anstruther. SFM@40 Celebrating the Museum’s 40th Anniversary.

Saturday, 4 July – 9.00am – 1.00pm. Argyle Street car park.

Farmers’ Market.

Saturday, 11 July – 10.00am – 4.00pm Victory Memorial Hall, St Andrews. Book Sale. Admission free.

Tuesday, 14 July – 12.45pm. Prior’s House in the Cathedral grounds. Recital by Simon Chadwick on his replica Queen Mary harp. Admission free, but you can reserve a place by calling the Cathedral visitor centre: 01334 472 563. For further information see http://www.simonchadwick.net/cathedral/ Thursday, 16 July – 8.00pm. St Salvator’s Chapel, North Street, St Andrews. Bach Cello Suites. Claire Garabedian – baroque cello. Contact: cgarabedian40@yahoo.com or phone: 0784 608 5077.

Sunday, 19 July – 12.00 noon – 4.00pm The Castle, The Scores, St Andrews. Divided Loyalties – choosing sides over Robert the Bruce, and John Knox’s return to St Andrews; Historic Scotland. Admission, £5.20, concession £4.20, kids £2.60. Contact: 01334 477 196.

Saturday, 25 July – 9.45 – 11.30am. Coffee morning at the Town Hall, in aid of the Madeleine Steel Charitable Trust.

A butler will be in attendance! Contact: 01334 472 877.

Sunday, 26 July – 1.00pm start. At Station Park, Madras College playing fields, (by the Old Course Hotel).

Highland Games. Admission £5 (concessions £3).

Contact Sec. Ian Grieve: ig2@st-andrews.ac.uk Saturday, 1 & Sunday, 2 August – 2.00 – 5.00pm.

Strathkinness Village Open Gardens. Tickets and maps (adult admission £4.50p), teas with home baking, and plant stalls all in the village hall on Main Street. Contact: 01334 850 024.

Saturday, 1 August – 9.00am – 1.00pm. Argyle Street car park. Farmers’ Market.

Thursday, 6 – Tuesday, 11 August – Lammas Fair and Market. Contact: Fife Council, 01334 417 846.

Tuesday, 11 August – 12.45pm. Prior’s House in the Cathedral grounds. Recital by Simon Chadwick on his replica Queen Mary harp. Admission free, but you can reserve a place by calling the Cathedral visitor centre: 01334 472 563. For further information see http://www.simonchadwick.net/cathedral/ Sunday, 16 August – from 12 noon. Harbour Gala. Free entry.

Contact: 07793 242 376.

Saturday, 22 August – 10.00am – 4.00pm Victory Memorial Hall, St Andrews. Book Sale. Admission free.

Saturday, 29 August – 10.00am-5.00pm.Town Hall, Queen’s Gardens. Antique & Collectors’ Fair. Admission £1, concessions 50p kids free.

Contact: 01334 838 217.

– 10.00am – 4.00pm. Victory Memorial Hall, St Andrews.

Book Sale. Admission free.

30

OUT & ABOUT Alistair Lawson on

History and Heritage The business of doing one’s homework and The ScotWays project has been preparing for a countryside expedition has funded by the Heritage Lottery suddenly become immeasurably easier.

Fund and by Scottish Natural ScotWays (the Scottish Rights of Way & Heritage, and some of the money Access Society) has just launched a new is being used to put informative website, www.heritagepaths.co.uk, listing heritage paths signs at the startancient routes which, as well as offering an points of the routes. In Fife, there attractive hike, have a significant historical are already heritage paths signs at background. Some are coffin roads, either end of the much-disputed, but smuggling roads, or cattle droving roads, now secure, old coach road from while others were used to carry the herring McDuff’s Cross, near Newburgh, from the coast to inland towns, or to carry down to the Abernethy road, and the peats down from the moors, or were the old approach to Carpow Ferry used by packmen and their horses, taking at the mouth of the Earn. These the latest in the way of new heritage signs lowland goods up to the are now being remote communities of alongside These new heritage signs are used the highlands. Some, ScotWays’ more like certain routes traditional type of now being used alongside here in Fife, were directional sign ScotWays’ more traditional pilgrims’ routes, or have simply showing a other ecclesiastical type of directional sign simply path’s destination. associations, such as The showing a path’s destination Archbishop Sharp’s accompanying route over Magus Muir. photograph shows the starting-point Fife also has its fair of the “String of Lorne” route in mid-Argyll, share of miners’ paths, used by the miners which starts a short way south of Oban and while going to work, and to take the coal to runs south-east, via Loch Scammadale distant customers.

Sign at Glenfeochan and Loch Avich, to Loch Awe and thence to Loch Fyne and ferries eastwards towards the lowlands. Heritage signs shortly to be erected here will be bilingual, reflecting the Gaelic culture of the area.

The routes contained in the website are just a start, and research is already in progress to identify and add further routes. Readers who may wish to submit suggestions should contact ScotWays’ Heritage Paths Officer, Neil Ramsay, on heritagepaths@scotways.com (Photo courtesy Alistair Lawson)

31

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

OPEN DAY – FREE ENTRY Entertainment & activities for all the family Sunday 26th July PLANT SALES AREA Open till end September Large selection of choice plants 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