St Andrews in Focus Issue 80 Jan Feb 2017

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

January/February 2017 Issue 80, £2.00

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

St

Andrews in focus

• shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

From the Editor

New years always seem to regurgitate those old clichés about time flying, and all that. 2016 has certainly flown. It’s a year that’s likely to stay in the collective memory forever, because of all the expectations of every kind turned upside down and inside out! What will future historians make of it, I wonder? If only I could come back every hundred years or so to see how things pan out!

2017 starts with a host of uncertainties, which no doubt will eventually be resolved, one way or another. Note my caution! I’m no futurologist (they tend to get most things wrong in any case). Whether you’re happy or unhappy with what’s been happening, there seems to me to be some sort of sea change in the air. Let’s be optimistic and trust it will turn out to be a good 2017 for all of us, both here and in the wider world as well.

Flora Selwyn

******** The views expressed elsewhere in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. © St Andrews in Focus (2003)

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 EDITOR Flora Selwyn Tel: 01334 472375 Email: editor@standrewsinfocus.com DESIGNER University of St Andrews Print & Design (printanddesign@st-andrews.ac.uk) PRINTER Winter & Simpson (stephen@wintersimpson.co.uk) DISTRIBUTER Drop 2 Door (billy@drop2door.co.uk) 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: £14 in the UK (post & packing included).

Please send cheques to: Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd., PO Box 29210, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9YZ. £25 overseas (post and packing included).

Please send remittance by International MoneyGram. See website at: http://global.moneygram.com/in/en/money-transfers REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND: 255564 THE PAPER USED IS 100% RECYCLED POST-CONSUMER WASTE

2

Contents

FEATURES • From the Provost’s Chair • Remaining cheerful • St Andrews – the Toun • A working artist’s journey • Bible-inspired economics • Ask the Curator • Reviews: – Iona – David Rollo – Local Hero – Wycombe Abbey Revisited

3 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 9

EVENTS • StAnza 2017 • Report on STAFCO concert • The Coastal Rowing Club outing • Selected Events

10 11 12 13

TOWN & GOWN • The Green Film Festival

14

PULL-OUT FEATURE • Concert Diary

15-18

SHOPS & SERVICES • BID • From the Osteopath • Golf entrepreneur • The Succession (Scotland) Act 2016 • Grey Statement for the Auld Grey Toun • Roving Reporter

19 19 20 21 21 22-23

ORGANISATIONS • Vocational Ambassadors Foundation • SSAFA • Decorative & Fine Arts in Fife • The St Andrews Social Club • APPG Golf

25 25 26 27 28

OUT & ABOUT • Lathockar Water Tower restored • The Kinburn Labyrinth • ScotWays • Letterboxes

29 29 30 31

NEXT ISSUE – Mar/Apr 2017 COPY DEADLINE: STRICTLY 28 JANUARY

All contributions welcome. The Editor reserves the right to publish copy according to available space.

Cover: An original photo by Richard Cormack, “Snowy walk in the Lade Braes, St Andrews”

FEATURES Callum McLeod, Chairman, St Andrews Community Council

From the Provost’s Chair May I begin, of course, by wishing all readers of this magazine a “Guid New Year to one an’ a’!” It would also seem a good time to put on record our appreciation of the tireless work done by Flora Selwyn in producing St Andrews in Focus six times a year, thereby bringing news of our ancient, but forward-looking Burgh to an audience within and far beyond its boundaries. We honour Flora’s service to our community in doing so, though I know she seeks no glory for her efforts.

Service to others was the theme of my remarks at the Annual Civic Reception which we hold to mark the start of the St Andrew’s Week Celebrations in November. I wondered what the fisherman Andrew would make of the great Cathedral erected in his name, where weary pilgrims would come to venerate relics of the Apostle? Or of the city which grew up round the Cathedral and eventually bore his name? Or the great seat of learning and the worldrenowned golf links with which he is now indirectly associated? I suspect he might be more than a little bewildered by it all.

But I also think he would recognise three things in modern St Andrews as well – first, that we too live by the sea, our lives shaped to varying degrees by the fresh, salty air, the bracing winds and the glorious views; secondly, that many, many residents young and old, long-term and transient, feel a calling to serve others in one way or another, freely sharing their talents and gifts; and, finally, he would recognise that we too live in a time of great uncertainty and upheaval.

The exercising of democracy in 2016 only marked the beginning, not the end of a new era at home and abroad.

My community challenge this month stems from a proposal made by our Treasurer, Community Councillor Iain Munn. Iain came up with the simple but effective idea of a “Welcome & Good Luck” letter being sent to any new business opening in the town. This was quickly agreed and to it has been added a framed certificate which businesses might even like to display on the wall.

The past ten years or so have been a time of great economic change and challenge, with high streets transformed, partly due to the rise in internet shopping – who would ever have thought that Woolworths would disappear from

Market Street virtually overnight? Many Scottish town centres are lined with derelict and boarded-up shops; we can count ourselves lucky that we still have a vibrant town centre with a great range of shops, though it is notable and, many would say, regrettable, that many small, local family businesses have failed to survive. Friends visiting are sometimes astounded by the number of eating and drinking places and by the high-end shops which grace our town centre that would normally only be seen in large city centres. I personally like the number of charity shops we have, both for the good work they do and for the opportunity they give us to recycle and upcycle surplus goods and clothing.

All too often, we hurry past new or unfamiliar shops, perhaps meaning to pop in to them at some point. My challenge, then, is this – in the course of next week, simply go into a shop or business or café which you have never visited before – and see what they have to offer…

As always, I welcome hearing from you at callummac@aol.com or at 01334 478 584.

Dum spiro spero

John Cameron

On Remaining Cheerful When I worked as a maths teacher my Before dusting my crystal ball for 2017 I turned for inspiration to a heart sank when a child would inform me, Daily Telegraph piece written by Alex Proud last year, in which he gave “My gran says oor family canna dae maths” – reasons to be cheerful in 2016. too often that turned out to be a self-fulfilling In it he assured us that Brexit, Trump, and Putin would sink without prophecy. We can also try to think outside the trace, Angela Merkel would rise again as the conscience of Europe, box, to work creatively, not letting ourselves be and being clean-shaven would be the new look. cowed by those who grumble that “it’s always The first three are in rude health, Mutti Angela is probably on the been done this way” and “who do you think way out, while Andy Murray still looks as if he spent the previous night you are?” sleeping on a bench in a public park.

Albert Einstein was lucky to have initially been unsuccessful as However, there are people who sail on serenely through tough an academic, fetching up in the Swiss patent office, bombarded by times. There are a number of ways of thinking which can help us – way-out ideas with no-one to “keep him right”. Above all we mustn’t be starting with being grateful for what we have. Rather than focusing on afraid to fail because nothing paralyzes us like fear what is wrong, we should write down things that make of failure; in hard times things will go wrong. We will our lives special, so that when troubles loom we can need to learn from these failures and press on. And return to that list and focus on those things. At every there’s no point in endlessly beating ourselves up stage in our lives we need to set short- and long-term Let’s be positive and – we all make mistakes, we all pay a price, but we goals, starting with a daily to-do list, because a lack of share our certainties also need to be as supportive of ourselves as we direction inevitably leads to feelings of impotence and frustration. rather than our doubts are of our loved ones.

We need to stay in the moment rather than We also need to take care of ourselves. Physical dwell on the past, or worry about the future, exercise – even just getting out of the house – will because focusing on the present and today’s tasks elevate our moods, keeping us feeling optimistic and will keep us positive and productive. The simple act of smiling can in control of our lives. actually change our mood. We should seek out the people we know It may be one of those things people expect a clergyman to who will make us laugh, opening us up to the possibility of being happy say, but the fact is that taking the focus off oneself while focusing on again. someone else does boost one’s mood and self-esteem. In this regard Finally we need to “take five” – to set aside some quiet time during we must watch what we say, because sending negative messages every day to recharge by turning off the ubiquitous mobile phone, the is corrosive and damages the young. Let’s be positive and share our laptop, and those voices in our heads. certainties rather than our doubts.

3

FEATURES Billy Anderson, “a poem…I wrote many years ago when the late David Niven, was the local provost.”

St Andrews – ‘The Toun’ I’ve lived here in St Andrews, aye the best pairt o’ my life, I used to stay outside the toun, in the country side o’ Fife.

But I came here tae the college, havin’ passed the eleven plus, An’ traivelled tae Madras each day in a blue Alexander’s bus.

It wis pretty guid on petrol, I got four gallons for a pound, Which I bought fae Eck Gillespie at the West Port Garage ground.

I kept it for a month or twa, then bought a Morris van, An’ soon I left the Savings Bank an’ became an Insurance man.

I can always mind my uniform, grey breeks an’ a dark blue blazer, An’ ma hair wis always cut richt short, by a man ca’d Hazel Radar.

Ma shirt had tae be grey or white, ma shoes wir always black, An’ I carried a’ ma school books in a school bag on ma back.

I gaed roond the toun collectin’, the same as Willie Bell, Sometimes wi the manager, my the stories he could tell.

I remember Johnston’s garage an’ the pub in Logie’s Lane, John Marshall wis in Market Street, he’s still a household name.

I can still mind o’ the rector, Dr Thomson wis his name, The pupils a’ respected him, as did oor folks at hame.

He always took an interest in each talent that he saw, An’ used the strap if need be on those who broke the law!

Miss Reid was where the vet is noo, right next to Gordon Lyle T T Fordyce had twa shops within a quarter o’ a mile.

Provost Niven was a butcher in Church Street weel I mind, Right opposite his namesake, where the Alliance noo ye’ll find.

It didnae dae nae hairm, in fact it did ye guid, An’ it taught ye a lesson, to remind you whaur ye stood.

Well, I mind I went tae Lipton’s an’ I got a message job, Delivering a’ the groceries, for the sum o’ twenty-five bob!

Mr Johnstone he had fruit shops in each corner o’ the toun, The yin at the tap o’ Abbey Street had a funny wee step doon.

I aye mind o’ the Crown Hotel right opposite the ‘Byre’ They knocked it doon for some reason, efter it went on fire!

I had a big green message bike, wi a basket on the front, An’ if I broke the wifie’s eggs, I had tae take the brunt.

I used to gie ma wages tae ma mither every week, An’ a’ the daily tips I made, she used tae let me keep.

The fire station was in Bridge Street, gey awkward for a foreigner, When the engine it cam fleein’ richt oot at Smith Leslie’s corner.

Nae one-way traffic system an’ hardly a yellow line, Nae shops that sell ye hooses an’ ithers fou o’ wine.

Noo, I sat the first O’levels in nineteen sixty-two, An’ passed in every subject except the ‘parley vous’ I got English, maths an’ music, an’ Madras I had tae thank, For the job I got in the Church Street branch o’ the Dundee Savings Bank.

But time has changed oor dear auld toun, an’ change should not bring fear, For the changes that I mention were spread ower mony a year.

An’ a’ they years I entertained wi waltzes, reels an’ Lancers, The Star Hotel, the Royal Hotel, Victoria, and MacArthurs.

The staff were near a’ lassies, but I’d still tae mak the tea, There wis only twa men in the place, Stanley Robertson an’ me.

I first worked on the ledger cairds wi Davie Duncan’s daughter, An’ eventually I progressed tae a job ahent the coonter.

Well I’ve traivelled ower the country, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Aye, an’ across the wide Atlantic, where the American nivver fails Tae ask ye whaur ye came frae an’ I’m aye proud tae reply, “Eh, a wee place ca’d St Andrews, hiv ye heard o’t, my oh my”

The wage wisnae fantastic, but three hunder pound a year, Wis a lot tae me in they days, even though it wisna clear.

I bocht a car, a Standard eight fae Andrew Culross, It cost me almost ninety pound, wi a guarantee of course!

Aye, the auld grey toun is famous in each corner o’ this earth, Through the Patron Saint o’ Scotland, the country o’ my birth.

The fame of sport an’ history, the church an’ learned goun, Combine a hame relationship, between me an’ the toun.

West Sands (Photo by Flora Selwyn)

4

FEATURES Jonathan Dowling traces his

Journey as a Working Artist I have always considered St Andrews to be my ‘home town’. I grew up in booklets. At the time I hadn’t worked on the small village of Dairsie a few miles away and went to high school in any artwork for a couple of years and was Cupar, but knew the streets and layout of St Andrews from an early age. very much out of practice. But as I took For more years than I can remember as a child we would have cakes time to re-familiarise myself with drawing and coffee in Brambles café on College Street on Saturday mornings. while studying the intricate details of the I would spend my pocket money in Christie’s toyshop! I would walk the medieval chapel, I began to love the task, same streets as a university student, and more recently as a father. spending hours every evening drawing I was always keen to go to university in St Andrews. I had heard the the Chapel. I was quietly pleased with the history departments were very good, while I would be able to keep my finished drawing, which was well received part-time job at Safeway (now Morrisons) where I had worked since I at our wedding. Afterwards I was asked to draw a house for a family was 16. At that time fees had to be paid up front; I remember working all friend. I soon found myself working on commissions in the evenings, summer, then writing a large cheque at the start of my first semester! I creating new drawings for a family gift shop in Moray. My wife and I really enjoyed my time here, made many friends, loved quickly came to the conclusion that I should leave my learning about classical Greece and Rome, medieval job in the heritage sector when my contract ended In the coming year I history, archaeology, and geology. I took an active role and work full time on my artwork for a year or two. in the Archaeology Society, which led to my first paid hope to carry out more And that is what I did. part-time job in archaeology, recording, photographing, In my first year as a full-time artist I was fortunate commissions, and drawing the gravestones in the town’s Cathedral enough to be offered gallery space at Cambo House, graveyard with local archaeologist Edwina Proudfoot. I increase the drawings a few miles south of St Andrews. I also took part in greatly enjoyed this experience, even when I sat on a Open Studios North Fife for the first time. Since then I have of St Andrews fold-up stool trying to draw and record a gravestone in I have also achieved a strong working partnership horizontal rain, or during a cold, frosty morning. Noting with St Andrews Links Golf who sell my golf-related the number of child deaths on the many 19th and early 20th century work in their shops and clubhouses. I also work with The University family gravestones was a very sobering experience, something that has of St Andrews and St Andrews Botanic Garden who stock a range of stayed with me since. My ties with the University and Edwina Proudfoot my work in their shops. I also have an online shop and have recently also led me to working on two episodes of the popular Channel 4 series illustrated a children’s book. My portfolio of work includes many larger ‘Time Team’ when they came to Fife, also excavating a medieval castle drawings on wood, either freestanding blocks, or larger wall-mounted in St Monans (Newark Castle) and researching dovecots across Fife. pieces. My most recent work has included drawings of Edinburgh and Work and life eventually led me to move to Edinburgh, where I Stirling Castles and views in the Highlands of Scotland. In the coming took up a job with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical year I hope to carry out more commissions, and increase the drawings Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) as a landscape archaeologist. After I have of St Andrews. With such a picturesque, historical town, this five years I returned to Fife to begin working on a project recording shouldn’t be hard! historical places of worship in Scotland, which led me to work across the north-east of Scotland.

(Photo & drawing by Jonathan Dowling) During my childhood and while working in history and archaeology, I had pursued art as a hobby. As a child I drew all the time, in particular the view from beyond my back garden, where the local farmer would trundle up and down in his tractor and combine harvester, sowing and harvesting his crops. During my later years at school I pursued art and design with vigour, also attending several local evening art classes. By the time it came to leaving school after 6th Year, I had the option of going to several universities and art schools. I found it difficult to decide between Duncan of Jordanstone Art College, Aberdeen University, Dundee University, St Andrews University. My love of St Andrews, its history and familiarity and its courses, led me to my choice.

My change in career and lifestyle, from one of commuting and working in an office in front of a computer (with some weeks of fieldwork), to working at home, for myself, drawing, was an unexpected, but welcome one. I had known for some time that my current contract in the heritage sector would be ending, with little chance of renewal, due to the economic circumstances Scotland found itself in. Because jobs in archaeology and history were being cut left, right and centre, I knew I had some serious decisions to make. Coincidently, I was engaged to be married. My fiancée and family were keen that my artwork should play some role in the wedding.

I reluctantly agreed on drawing St Salvator’s Chapel as a cover piece for the Order of Service

Total

ecommerce

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

— 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

5

FEATURES Colin McAllister – the first of 3 articles on

How Much Economics Can We Learn From The Bible?

The Bible is not a textbook of economics, anymore than it is a geology or history textbook as such; nevertheless there is much of interest to an economist to be found in it.

1. Pharaoh’s dreams: Genesis 41,1-36 The National Debt (i.e. the Government’s debt accumulated over the In Pharaoh’s dreams there were 7 sleek and fat cows; 7 ugly and lean years). This is akin to Joseph’s 20% tax on agricultural output. In years cows. There were also 7 ears of corn, full and ripe; 7 ears of corn, of high unemployment the government does the opposite and runs a meagre and scorched by the east wind. Joseph interprets the dreams Budget deficit (spending more than it raises in taxes). This has the effect as meaning: 7 years of plenty to be followed by 7 years of famine. His of adding to the level of demand in the economy. recommendation to Pharaoh is that in the years of plenty Pharaoh Budget deficits have 2 components: (1) cyclical. As demand should impose a tax of 20% on the corn, and store it in barns against the falls and unemployment rises, government tax revenue falls while its forthcoming famine. expenditures on unemployment rise; (2) structural. This part of the deficit Pharaoh’s Egypt was an agricultural society, as are many developing is independent of the level of demand. It is that part of the deficit that countries in the world today. Such societies are highly susceptible to would remain if the economy were at full employment. Such deficits are what economists call shocks – external events such as droughts, floods, harmful and unsustainable, and can only be financed by selling off capital tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, which cannot be predicted in assets, a sure road to impoverishment. advance. The correct response to these stochastic or random variables There are other lessons to be learned. Countries that experience a is to hold stocks. The holding of stocks of course has a cost, but it natural resources bonanza through the discovery of gas, oil, or minerals can be regarded as an insurance policy against can suffer harmful booms, which, if not treated unpredictable events. The other response that is correctly, can lead to what is called “Dutch disease” required is to improve transport links, as it is no good – a rise in the value of the currency and a resultant during the Irish famine having stocks of food if they cannot be brought to de-industrialisation as manufacturing is made the areas of need. Indeed, during the Irish famine uncompetitive by the currency appreciation. This is of the 1840s food was of the 1840s food was being exported in the east to what happened to the Dutch in the 1960s after the being exported in the England, but could not be brought to those in need discovery of gas, also to the UK in the 1980s with in the west. oil. east to England, but Does this have any relevance for modem What is the correct response? It is best to treat could not be brought to industrial societies? Typically they have good such events as a windfall. The currency should transport networks, while agriculture and fishing prevented from appreciating by saving the those in need in the west be make up only a small part of economic activity. excess revenue and investing it in foreign currency Nevertheless there are important implications. assets, as Norway, Qatar, and other countries have Industrial societies are subject to the ups and downs done with their sovereign wealth funds. Only the of the trade cycle. Years of full employment (often accompanied by permanent income from the dividends etc paid should be spent, so that inflation or rising prices) can be followed by years of high unemployment the capital is not depleted and the income remains when the oil, gas, or (sometimes accompanied by periods of deflation, or falling prices). whatever runs out. Similar strategies should be adopted by high-earning Keynesian economics uses fiscal policy (changes in the levels of sportsmen, whose lifetime earnings are compressed into only, say, 20 government spending and taxation) to compensate. This is known as years. If the UK had adopted this approach we would still be benefiting countercyclical economic policy. In years of high or excess demand from the oil, and would not have suffered de-industrialisation to the (symptomised by inflation and balance of payments current account extent we have done. Norway has the biggest sovereign wealth fund in deficits) the government should run a Budget surplus (raising more in the world and superb infrastructure of bridges, tunnels etc. taxes than it spends). This is called forced saving and reduces the level of demand in the economy. The Budget surplus is then used to reduce (Part 2 will appear in the March/April issue)

GARAGE St Andrews 01334 472882 MOT TESTING SERVICE & REPAIRS ACCIDENT REPAIR VALETING CAR SALES 24 HR RECOVERY Used cars and 4x4’s sourced to your requirements.

Finance available on request. www.brownhillsgarage.co.uk

6

FEATURES Nicola Moss, The Preservation Trust Museum’s Curator replies to

Ask the Curator

Q. Am I right in thinking that the artist Annabel Kidston assisted in the founding of the St Andrews Preservation Trust?

A. Yes, you are. Agnes Annabel Kidston moved to St Andrews in 1936 at the age of 40, to join her sister Margaret, who was a member of the anatomy department at the University. She was instantly attracted to the architectural appeal of the town, quickly realising the need for some regulations to be established and enforced in order to preserve the character and appearance of the town. Within a year of moving here she had, with help from other concerned St Andreans, co-founded the St Andrews Preservation Trust.

Annabel’s commitment to the preservation of old houses in St Andrews was much more than simple “lip service”. She lived in a number of the town’s properties. In 1965 she purchased and renovated 21-23 Market Street in the heart of the fisher quarter. This project was partly prompted by her desire to counter the idea that this district of St Andrews was expendable.

After the Second World War, Annabel continued to work on many different projects. One of her other passions was planting and preserving the town’s trees; for many years she was the convenor of the Trust’s Tree Committee.

In the 1940s, Annabel was part of the so-called ‘St Andrews School’, which included Jozef Sekalski, Roberta Hodges, James Scott, and the McKenzie Sisters, all famous St Andrews artists.

Together, they formed a group called the ‘St Andrews Arts Committee’ under the auspices of the Scottish Arts Council.

Annabel was to become the first chairman of the Committee and was chosen as its President in 1972. In 1959, the Arts Committee had decided to create a separate Art Society, now known as St Andrews Art Club, of which Annabel became one of the first members.

Between 1941 and 1946, Annabel was an instructor of drawing and engraving for the Committee for Education for the Forces. Together with her friends and her fellow artists Alison and Winifred McKenzie, she held classes three evenings a week in Upper College Hall for the Polish soldiers stationed in St Andrews while the Polish government was in exile. These classes were very popular, not only spreading knowledge of

art, but also helping to bring together the troops with the local community.

During her later years, Annabel withdrew from more active participation in town life and the work of the Preservation Trust. Instead she focused on the Trust’s art and photographic collection, upon which she placed great importance. She died in 1981 in Berwickshire. A court bearing her name in Market Street, next to her home, still commemorates her in St Andrews.

Annabel Kidston, c.1970s (Image courtesy the Preservation Trust)

7

FEATURES: REVIEWS Ian Bradley reviews

The Book of Iona: An Anthology Edited by Robert Crawford Published by Polygon. Price, £14.99 Iona and St Andrews sit on virtually the authors like Wordsworth, Keats, Scott, same latitude at opposite sides of Scotland.

Boswell, Johnson, the bulk of the anthology In many respects, they seem very far apart is made up of specially commissioned, – not just physically and geographically, newly-written short stories and poems. but climatically and culturally. Yet they Several are by well-known St Andrewsalso have much in common as early and based authors and academics. Sara Lodge important centres of Christianity in Scotland, contributes an engaging short story about with modern magnets annually attracting a student researching the life of a recently thousands of pilgrims and visitors drawn to deceased artist, Darius Dacre, in his studio their distinctive atmosphere and history. In on Iona. Victoria MacKenzie focuses on a the not too distant future, God willing, they visit to the island by a couple whose marriage will be linked by a long-distance pilgrim route, is falling apart, while Jennie Erdal writes which will cross Scotland, joining Gaeldom of the developing relationship between a with Pictland. young widower living there as a crofter and This book is the result of a project, a lodger who comes to count and study the somewhat bizarrely entitled Loch Computer, corncrakes. which brought what the editor describes Significantly, perhaps, Iona’s birdlife, as a ‘rum crew of fiction writers, poets, especially its corncrakes, feature much computer scientists, digital more prominently in humanities specialists, the book’s eight short This is an unusual and visual artists together stories than does in St Andrews and anthology and, as I have Columba, or the island’s Edinburgh between 2014 religious legacy. This is said, not quite what one not true of the poems and 2016 to ‘ponder the meaning of remoteness where the Saint figures might expect from the and connectedness in prominently, not least title and the cover the digital era’. After in Robert Crawford’s discussions between numerous modern computer scientists and creative practitioners, versified versions of extracts from Adomnan’s the writers were asked to produce an classic Vita Columbae. Crawford also has imaginative piece centred on Iona, involving a characteristically terse and pithy poem both remoteness and connectedness. about George MacLeod, founder of the Iona It is as well to understand and take Community. There are further poems about on board this somewhat unusual, specific Columba by Louise Imogen Guiney, Mick process of genesis before dipping into this Imlah and Lionel Johnson. collection as it is not quite what one might While most of the book is distinctly literary expect from the title. While there are some in character, its origin in a project focused classic accounts of Iona from well-known partly on computing and digital imaging

is reflected in a single contribution on this theme by Alan Dearle, Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of St Andrews, in which he describes his invention of ‘The Iona Machine’, a solar-powered Qraqrbox designed to produce a puddle of internet access in remote locations like Iona so that visitors can access information and interpretation on sites of interest via their mobile phones.

This is an unusual anthology and, as I have said, not quite what one might expect from the title and the cover. In some of the contributions to it, Iona receives a somewhat tangential reference, the focus being really elsewhere. However, both of those who know Columba’s island well, and those who have never been there, will find something to ponder and enjoy. It is far from being a travelogue full of purple passages with detailed descriptions of scenery and antiquity.

Rather it disturbs, unsettles and calms, just like the theology and spirituality of the Saint himself, who was at once Colmcille, the gentle dove of the church and Crimthann, the cunning and wily fox.

[Ian Bradley is Principal of St Mary’s College and author of Argyll:The Making of a Spiritual Landscape (St Andrew Press, 2015)]

Joan Roger reviews

David Rollo – Local Hero

by Andrew Arbuckle David Rollo – Local Hero is available from J & G Innes and Waterstones, or direct from Andrew Arbuckle: Andrew@andrewarbuckle.org tel: 01337 870 209. Price £10.

The life of a modern-day rugby player is a world away from that of Dave Rollo, who played for Scotland a then-record equalling forty times in the 1960s. As recalled in this newly-published book on his life, he would turn out for his country on a Saturday at Murrayfield in front of a crowd of 60,000 people, yet he was back on his farm in Fife feeding his cattle the next morning.

Again, in contrast with today’s players who spend a great deal of time in the gym, his training was based on physical farm work lifting sacks of potatoes and grain. His stamina for playing was based on running between telephone poles on the quiet country road alongside the farm.

This homemade training schedule must have worked, because Dave quickly moved from playing for his local club, Howe of Fife, to being selected for Scotland. Once there, his name was one of the first on the team sheet.

8

He did not get off to the best of starts as, in his first international against England he was knocked out after twenty minutes, but after being revived and his broken nose stuffed with cotton wool, he returned to the fray, playing so well that his efforts were singled out by the commentators. His bustling style of play which would often see him emerge from a loose maul with the ball in hand, was also noticed by the British Lions selectors, and he was invited to tour South Africa in 1962.

Throughout three decades playing rugby – a sport often associated with rough tough play – he was only spoken to once by the referee, and he was never sent off. But he was no soft touch, being more than able to hold his own in the dark shadows of the scrum.

The book, Local Hero, also relates many of the high jinks Dave and his playing companions got up to in that amateur era. These included the ‘driverless bus’, which perplexed the police until Dave admitted his involvement!

FEATURES: REVIEWS Jane Claydon reviews

Wycombe Abbey Revisited

by Dr Margaret Beckett Published by Third Millennium Publishing, 2016, price £40.

Available from Wycombe Abbey School, contact: 01494 520 381.

I regard my migration to Wycombe Abbey, not as a desertion of St Leonards, but as a natural development of my work here. The goal of the past is the starting point for the future.

Miss Dove, St Leonards Speech Day, 29 July,1896.

Many readers will know Dr Margaret Beckett, the author of Wycombe there was the same emphasis within Abbey Revisited, as she is a familiar member of the St Andrews the school on service. community. She is a graduate of the University of St Andrews twice Dr Beckett manages sensitively over, as she obtained her first degree here, then completed a PhD once to provide an insight into challenges she retired. facing Miss Dove and her successors over many decades.

Dr Becket writes an engaging account of the development of the For example, the financial worries, replicated in most other girls’ schools school where she spent most of her career. Of interest to local residents across the UK, were overcome at Wycombe Abbey in an unexpected is that the founder of Wycombe Abbey was Miss Jane Frances Dove, manner, when some school land became subject to compulsory appointed in 1882 to succeed Miss Lumsden as Headmistress of the purchase.

‘St Andrews School for Girls’. Miss Dove oversaw the transfer of the In May 1942 twenty-nine girls from Wycombe Abbey were school from the houses at the bottom of Queen’s Street, now known as absorbed into St Leonards. Their own school had been requisitioned Queen’s Gardens, to the much more spacious buildings and grounds of by the government with just sixteen days’ notice, the other girls being St Leonards. scattered around the country to a variety of different schools. (For Miss Dove (later Dame Frances Dove) had a clear vision to create security reasons the parents could not be informed of the reasons for a school for girls along the same lines as the schools attended by the closure of the school, which must have increased their concerns.) their brothers. This involved establishing a strong house system while Fourteen more girls arrived in September and Abbey Park North, encouraging the participation of the girls in team games. Miss Dove closed as a boarding house in 1941 because of World War II, was successfully achieved this aim at St Leonards, reopened under the supervision of a Wycombe creating new boarding houses, extending the Abbey Housemistress. Very little was recorded St Leonards refers to grounds, and encouraging inter-house competition. about this influx of new pupils, but it was felt Wycombe Abbey as She set up the Woodburn Laundry and Supply that the girls from the south brought a breath of Company to deal with the school laundry and to fresh air to St Leonards and a certain amount a daughter school, provide uniforms for the girls. It was also seen as of sophistication. They made a very positive Wycombe Abbey is more an opportunity to provide work for people in town. contribution to the life of the school. The only The news, in 1895, that Miss Dove intended to evidence left behind at St Leonards, to suggest comfortable with the idea leave the school she had developed with such that Wycombe Abbey girls had spent time there, that they are sister schools was the discovery of an engraved silver teapot care, in order to create a similar school in High Wycombe, in England, was greeted with dismay. and jug, in an unexplored corner of the Abbey St Leonards refers to Wycombe Abbey as a daughter school, Wycombe Park North pantry. (These items were returned to Wycombe Abbey forty Abbey is more comfortable with the idea that they are sister schools. years after the end of World War II.) Miss Dove left St Leonards in 1896, taking with her two experienced Dr Margaret Becket describes the individual and changing members of her staff and four girls in order to help her start the school. struggles, also the success stories that Miss Dove and her successors The four girls were to be the first heads of houses at Wycombe Abbey. faced as Heads while attempting to achieve their vision. They were well One of them was Helen Moir, the eldest daughter of Dr John Moir, a rewarded by their creation and the development of a great school. much-loved physician linked for decades with the Cottage Hospital and In 1895 Miss Dove wrote to the St Leonards Council, “I take this St Leonards School in St Andrews. step because I am possessed with the idea that the benefits which I Dr Beckett describes the problems Miss Dove faced as she started believe to be conferred by this school should be more widely diffused, her new venture in England. For those familiar with St Leonards, the and that this may be done by founding one, or possibly, two or more early photographs taken at Wycombe Abbey show girls wearing almost sister schools…” It seems likely that Miss Dove would have much identical uniforms with exactly the same tammies the St Leonards girls approved of the establishment this autumn, of the Wycombe Abbey wore for games. At her new school Miss Dove organised her girls in International School in Changzhou, China. houses. They played the same games as the St Leonards girls, and

9

EVENTS Louise Robertson, Press & Media Manager for StAnza

StAnza 2017

In just a few weeks StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival will work is informed by experiences of township life and inspired by the get underway in St Andrews with some of the most exciting names from ways in which language can be used to prompt social transformation. the poetry world about to descend. This is the place to hear favourite As well as being a prolific international performer, he’s the founder of poets, discover new voices and enjoy the beautiful Fife town which is Slam For Your Life, a South African national slam, and Black House the lively festival hub and home to StAnza. The Festival takes place Literature, which aims to make literature accessible in the townships. from 1 to 5 March. Traditionally it opens with a show-stopping first night Also featured in the programme are the Loud Poets, currently performance. StAnza 2017’s opening night will invite the audience taking the country by storm, generating an audience and a demand to join poet John Agard on a quirky re-visioning of the notorious New for spoken-word poetry, which continues to grow. They’ve wowed World Enterprise of Christopher Columbus. audiences and reviewers at festivals in Edinburgh, Brighton, and Agard, one of Britain’s foremost cross-cultural voices, known for Prague, where they won the 2016 New Territories Award. They’ve his mischievous satirical wit and winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for brought new poets and performers into the spotlight, producing more Poetry, takes on the voices of Columbus, The Atlantic Ocean, a native slam champions than we can count. StAnza is delighted to welcome the shaman, and The Mighty Mosquito. An uproarious voyage in verse – Loud Poets, who’ve curated an hour of performance poetry from some with songs – that mixes the subversive tides of cabaret and calypso. of Scotland’s best up-and-coming spoken-word artists.

Directed by Mark C Hewitt, with music by Thomas Arnold, of Stomp’s StAnza will present a screening, and pre-screening talk, by Scottish Lost and Found Orchestra, creating a one-man show like no other. polymath, Timothy Neat. Timothy Neat’s 1984 film offers a valuable The opening night show launches the fiveinsight into the life and work of the man who day Festival, lining up internationally-acclaimed was Scotland’s most famous Gaelic poet, poets from all over the world. Among StAnza’s Sorley MacLean. MacLean talks to fellow 2017 headliners are, British poet Alice Oswald, poets Seamus Heaney and Iain Crichton Smith The opening night (a previous winner of the T S Eliot prize), and about his writing, his life, and the landscape, show launches the fiveScotland’s new Makar, Jackie Kay. Other big which shaped him. The film won the Pascoe names are poet, critic, biographer, and professor MacFarlane Award for best documentary day Festival, lining up at the University of St Andrews, Robert Crawford; by a new director and the Silver Award for internationally-acclaimed Jim Carruth, appointed poet laureate for Glasgow Cinematography in Philadelphia. in 2014; Vahni Capildeo, recent winner of this A very special part of the programme is a poets from all over the world year’s Forward Prize; Scottish poets James tribute to Alexander (Sandy) Hutchison, one of McGonigal and A B Jackson; as well as Sarah Scotland’s leading poets whose untimely death Howe, winner of the T S Eliot prize for her first in late 2014 shocked his many friends and collection Loop of Jade; hard-hitting British poet Patience Agbabi; readers. A Glasgow-based poet who wrote in English and Scots, he was Zambian poet, Kayo Chingonyi; Jacques Darras from France. well travelled, having lived for almost 20 years in North America. He StAnza focuses on two themes, which interweave with each other was widely translated, loved and admired by friends and readers around to give each festival its own unique flavour. This year’s first theme, On the world. His first published collection was Deep-Tap Tree (University the Road, showcases poetry inspired by and reflecting on travel and of Massachusetts Press) in 1978. Bones & Breath (Salt, 2013), his migration. The second theme, The Heights of Poetry, looks at how last collection, won the inaugural Saltire Award for Best Poetry Book poetry engages with Scotland’s high places, the poetic connections in 2015, a welcome recognition of his importance to Scottish poetry. between Scotland’s hills and mountains, and those elsewhere.

Sandy was a very familiar face at StAnza, whether in the audience, Last year we had a focus on German poetry and culture. Such was taking part in events, or as a lively presence around the Festival, well its success, that this year’s Festival will have a dedicated language known to many. This year’s Festival is honoured to host an event focus on French, under the title, La Nouvelle Alliance, which will see featuring readings of some of Sandy’s poems, together with tributes various French-speaking poets taking part along with other events with from some of the people who had the privilege of calling him a friend. a French connection. Through La Nouvelle Alliance and the theme The With over 60 poets taking part in over 80 events at StAnza in Heights of Poetry, StAnza will engage with Scotland’s Year of History, St Andrews, it’s impossible to mention them all. So come along and join Heritage, and Archaeology. the many poets, musicians, visual artists, and film- makers who’ll be Other highlights for 2017 include a Poetry Café, bringing the town alive with poetry, music, and art with lunch and spoken word for social justice from for five days from 1 to 5 March. the South African poet Sibusiso Conelius Simelane.

Originally from a Johannesburg township, Simelane’s (Photos courtesy StAnza)

Jackie Kay (Photo by Mary McCartney)

10

John Agard (Photo by François M Norris)

Loud Poets rry Jonsson) (Photo by Pe

EVENTS Walter Hill

Report on STAFCO Concert – 23 November 2016 The StAFCO concert, which took place in the Younger Hall in St Andrews in November, was well attended; the audience was treated to an evening of excellent music.

StAFCO – the St Andrews and Fife Community Orchestra – is an orchestra for players of all standards. It is run by the Music Centre of the University of St Andrews, conducted by Jill Craig. It is organised in close collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) the University’s Orchestra in Residence.

Joined by the StAFCO Children’s Orchestra and by a choir, many of whom are members of the St Andrews Chorus, the lineup was completed by the ByreRhythm Taiko Drummers and The Accidentals.

First to appear was the Children’s Orchestra with three delightful pieces. The programme continued with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, beautifully played by StAFCO. The choir contributed pieces by Mozart, Schubert, and Fauré before StAFCO ended the first half of the programme with a rousing hornpipe.

The second half got off to a resounding start with the Taiko Drummers. After contributions by the orchestra and the choir, it was time for a well-received performance by the Accidentals. This is an unaccompanied singing group; its cover of The Beach Boys, John Farra, and Sam Smith songs left the audience thrilled.

STAFCO Orchestra (Photo courtesy STAFCO) StAFCO’s rendition of the Liberty Bell March by Sousa provided the triumphant finale to a most enjoyable evening.

Jill Craig conducted the orchestras and choirs throughout the evening. Continuity was provided by compère, Jimmy Spankie. Johanna Burns, on behalf of the SCO, explained its involvement in supporting StAFCO.

There was no entry fee for this concert.

However, audience and sponsors generously donated more than £1500 to charities supported by the Rotary Club of St Andrews, who provided front-of-house services for the event.

11

EVENTS John Ardley

The Caledonian Canal with ‘Blue Bay’ and the St Andrews Coastal Rowing Club Two-and-a-half years after the St Andrews little different, it transpired, interesting!

Coastal Rowing Club (StACRC) took to The first section was along a very scenic the water, the Club embarked on its first part of the canal, although short at 5 expedition; a row along the length of the miles, most enjoyable. The row finished Caledonian Canal. at the top of the 5 locks at Fort Augustus.

The seeds for the trip were sown in late To get through the locks, ‘Blue Bay’, 2015 with the planning starting in earnest in minus crew, secured to the side of the April 2016. First stop was the Scottish Canals support boat was pulled into and out of website, followed by a reconnaissance trip each lock, ie warped. As this took time, to establish launch site, crew change points, it was an ideal opportunity to asses the overnight moorings, recovery location. The next row, that into the dark and mystical Scottish Canals Staff at Corpach and the waters of Loch Ness. Crew 2 set off from lock keepers along the canal gave invaluable the sheltered westerly end of the Loch. It advice; they were very supportive so the trip was not long before rougher water was was possible. encountered. The southwesterly wind had Detailed planning could now start. After increased throughout the day creating a a few amendments a ‘Passage Plan’ was strong following swell, with many crests agreed. This, along with other breaking and forming necessary documents, was white caps. This was Where to for 2017, that is submitted to Scottish Canals not a problem for a the big question? Thinking crew used to rowing in headquarters in Inverness, caps are on – we will be where again the staff were open sea conditions, most helpful. With all the in fact it meant that going somewhere… paperwork completed, our the crew could make Club secretary, Andrew Rendle, was able to good speed. The problem came at obtain the required licence. The importance of crew change! As there had been no the licence cannot be overstated, for along with suitable areas on the shore, crew 3 it came the key to the canal-side toilets! were on the support boat, so that crew Again Andrew came to the Club’s aid change needed to be done in open by hiring a pleasure craft as support boat. It water – a first. The conditions were would be used as safety boat, mobile canteen, too rough at the pre-designated point, camera platform. but a few miles further on, conditions eased. With some skillful handling of The expedition was to be over 4 days: the support boat, a safe and successful crew Day 1. Drive to Banavie, (near Fort William), transfer was accomplished. Andrew, our launch the ‘Blue Bay’ then moor it support boat skipper, was a Master overnight Mariner; having captained ocean-going Day 2. Banavie to Laggen swing bridge, vessels, he made it look easy. Crew Aberchalder, 23 miles 3 continued in the choppy waters of Day 3. Aberchalder to Urquhart Bay, 22 miles. the Loch, before gliding into the calm, Day 4. Urquhart Bay to Inverness, 14 miles. sheltered waters of Urquhart Bay. Having Skiff on the road home. secured the support boat and ‘Blue bay’ to a pontoon in the marina, the crews set On Thursday 15 September, 16 members off to Fort Augustus to join the rest of the of the StACRC with 4 supporters, having gang for the final night’s get together. launched the skiff, got together at Fort The last day, like those previously, Augustus, the social hub for the duration of the dawned fair and with the following wind trip. holding, conditions could not have been Day two started early, with the 45-minute better for the last stage of the expedition. drive from Fort Augustus to the top of Only 2 crews were required for the Neptune’s Staircase and the start of the row. shorter final leg, but the first crew had to The 4 rowers and cox of the first crew, rowed manage the rough waters of Loch Ness, the 6 miles along the canal to Gairlochy, for before entering the final section of the the first crew change. The 2nd crew had the canal and handing over to the 2nd crew pleasure of rowing the 10.5 miles of Loch at Dochgarroch Lock. Approaching Lochy to Laggan Locks. The final crew of Inverness along a gentle canal section the day had 6.5 miles to row along a canal was wonderful. There were many folk section, followed by the open water of Loch taking a stroll along the tow path, all Oich, arriving at Aberchalder swing bridge. The giving a cheery wave and words of planned mooring for the night was just beyond support. The Club Captain, Clayton the bridge, but unfortunately, it could not be Hardisty, who had rowed previous opened due to a technical problem. Luckily the sections, had cycled out to greet the bridge was fixed within a couple of hours, and incoming crew and direct them to the slip ‘Blue Bay’ with support boat passed through to where the skiff would be recovered. With the night’s mooring. The weather throughout all hands, ‘Blue Bay’ was pulled from the day had been ideal, not too hot, no rain, the water, placed on her trailer, washed and a gentle following wind. Fingers were down, and prepared for the tow home. crossed, hoping that the following legs would So ended the Club’s first extended go as smoothly. expedition, an event enjoyed by all who Day three was a more leisurely start, took part. being just a few miles from Fort Augustus. The Where to for 2017, that is the big question? day’s row would again involve 3 crews, with Thinking caps are on – we will be going the change between crews 2 and 3 being a somewhere…

12

Loch Lochy

Loch Lochy cr

ew

ue

Laggan Aven

Leaving Laggan Lock

(Photos courtesy Den Rayner)

EVENTS

Selected Events Wednesday, 4 January – 7.30pm. Younger Hall, North Street, St Andrews. New Year in Vienna. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra celebrates the New Year. Contact: 01334 462 226.

Email: music@st-andrews.ac.uk Tuesday, 10 January – 7.30pm. Lecture Theatre B, Chemistry Department, North Haugh. Read All About It; Gardening books, Catalogues and Journals to 1900. A talk by Angela Montford for the Friends of the St Andrews Botanic Garden. Entry Free.

Contact: friendsmembership@standrewsbotanic.org Wednesday, 11 January – 7.30pm. St Andrews Town Hall.

Migration: the Big Picture a talk by Will Cresswell for the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club. Contact: Caroline Gordon, tel: 01592 750230.

Wednesday, 18 January – 7.00-9.00pm. All Saints Church Hall, North Castle Street. Beginners Watercolour. Learn the basic techniques. Contact: eden.art@hotmail.com 07890 716 543.

Tuesday, 24 January – 5.15pm. Swallowgate 11, School of Classics, Butts Wynd, St Andrews: Public lecture by Prof Roderick Beaton (KCL) on Why did the Greek Revolution break out in 1821? – organised by the Scottish-Hellenic Society of St Andrews and co-sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. Please arrive by 5.10pm.

Contact: nm66@st-andrews.ac.uk Friday, 27 January – 12noon-2.00pm. Supper room, Town Hall, St Andrews. RNLI St Andrews Fundraising Branch Annual Soup Lunch. Contact: ali.e.malcolm@btinternet.com Sunday, 29 January – 7.00pm. Younger Hall, North Street, St Andrews. Opening concert in the ‘Music and the Environment’ series. The Heisenberg Ensemble, conductor Jill Craig. Music

by Vivaldi, Grieg, Beethoven. Tickets £12 / £10 concessions / £5 students / accompanied school children FREE. Byre Theatre box office: 01334 475 000 or at the door.

*****

Thursday, 2 February – 7.00-9.30pm. Hotel du Vin, The Scores, St Andrews. Whisky Tasting. The St Andrews Whisky (Quaich) Society. Proceeds go to Water Aid. Non-members, £10.

Contact: Quaichmail@st-andrews.ac.uk

Saturday, 4 February – 9.00am-1.00pm. Argyle street, St Andrews.

Farmers’ Market.

Tuesday, 7 February – 5.15pm. Swallowgate 11, School of Classics, Butts Wynd, St Andrews: Public lecture by Dr Elizabeth Fowden (Cambridge) on King Solomon, Perikles and the Parthenon Mosque – organised by the Scottish-Hellenic Society of St Andrews and co-sponsored by the School of Classics. Please arrive by 5.10pm.

Contact: nm66@st-andrews.ac.uk – 7.30pm. Lecture Theatre B, Chemistry Department, North Haugh. Joint lecture with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Fife & Kinross. The plight of the bumble bee. A talk by Helen Dickinson, Bumble Bee Conservation Trust for the Friends of the St Andrews Botanic Garden. Entry Free. Contact: friendsmembership@standrewsbotanic.org Wednesday, 8 February – 7.30pm. St Andrews Town Hall. Choughs of Islay a talk by Amanda Trask for the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club. Contact: Caroline Gordon, tel: 01592 750230.

Saturday, 11 February – 10.00am-11.30am. Supper Room, St Andrews Town Hall. Friends of Rymonth Coffee Morning.

All welcome. Contact: ali.e.malcolm@btinternet.com Thursday, 16 February – 7.00-9.30pm. Hotel du Vin, The Scores, St Andrews. Whisky Tasting. The St Andrews Whisky (Quaich) Society. Proceeds go to Water Aid. Non-members, £10.

Contact: Quaichmail@st-andrews.ac.uk Tuesday, 21 February – 5.15pm. Swallowgate 11, School of Classics, Butts Wynd, St Andrews: Public lecture by Dr Alex Long (St Andrews) on Immortality in early Greek poetry and philosophy – organised by the Scottish-Hellenic Society of St Andrews.

Please arrive by 5.10pm. Contact: nm66@st-andrews.ac.uk Thursday, 23 February – 7.30pm. St Salvators Chapel, North St. The Piatti Quartet playing music by Haydn, Britten, Brahms. The St Andrews Music Club. Contact: paul.spicker@googlemail.com Monday, 27 February – 5.15pm. Simon Conway-Morris, FRS (Professor of Palaeobiology, Cambridge) The Emergence of Life for the James Gregory lecture series on Science, Religion & Human Flourishing. Contact: eric.r.priest@gmail.com

Print & Design We welcome commercial enquiries The services we offer include: • Colour Digital Printing • Graphics & Pre-Press • External Display Banners • High Quality Fine Art Printing St Katharine’s West, 16 The Scores St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AX T: (01334) 463020 E: printanddesign@st-andrews.ac.uk www.st-andrews.ac.uk/printanddesign The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532

13

TOWN & GOWN Connor Turner

The Green Film Festival Returning for its fourth consecutive year, the St Andrews Green Film Festival is back – hosting five films over five nights at the Byre Theatre between Thursday, 9 and Monday, 13 February.

As the only environmental film festival of its kind in Scotland, the event is a rarity in its ability to bring together members of the St Andrews community, to be educated, entertained, and inspired, by some unique takes on our most pressing environmental issues.

This year the Festival will again extend itself beyond just a series of film screenings. There will be notable speakers arranged following the viewing each evening to help explain and put into wider context the messages from the films. In addition, on Monday,13 February, a panel discussion will be held, entitled ‘The Environmental Implications of Brexit’.

St Andrews, although small, is not detached from Environmental issues, and the Green Film Festival has clearly considered this by aiming to address the most intimate,

local scales as well as the global in its set list for this year.

On the local scale, ‘Can You Dig This’ follows four unlikely gardeners in gangheartland South Central Los Angeles. They are part of an urban gardening movement empowering disenfranchised black Americans to put down guns, pick up shovels, to change their neighbourhoods and to change their lives in the process.

Set 5000 miles to the south, in the Bolivian Andes, the documentary ‘Pachamama’ aims to explore the human narratives behind climate change. In a classic case of those who commit least harm being impacted most, an indigenous population whose world revolves around ‘Pachamama’, or Mother Earth, has no doubt of the reality of climate change and its increasing toll on their lives.

Meanwhile, ‘My Stuff’ is an entertaining exploration of consumer culture, following a Finnish man who (amidst an existential crisis) decided to put everything (literally everything)

he owns in storage, taking back one item per day for a year.

A special double bill night will feature two shorter films. Creating awareness doesn’t stop pollution, grow food, or heal the sick; these things take doing! ‘Billions in Change’ follows an unconventional billionaire pushing technology that could change the world, while ‘Rock the Boat’ chronicles an unassuming canoeist’s attempts to turn the concrete LA River into a real river again.

A key ethos stressed by the Festival, and by its organisers Transition UStA, is community engagement. For those keen to get involved, they are holding a short film competition this year, aptly named the ‘Leafies’. On one of the nights of the Festival, finalists’ entries will be shown and a winner announced.

For more information about the Leafies and to follow updates on film times and speaker announcements, visit the website: stagreenfilm6.wixsite.com/greenfilmfestval or ‘like’ the Facebook page ‘St Andrews Green Film Festival’ ( facebook.com/StAGreenFilm )

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

14

STÂ ANDREWS CONCERT DIARY JANUARY - JUNE 2017

www.st-andrews.ac.uk /music

PULL-OUT FEATURE The University of St Andrews Music Centre presents a broad programme of concerts, talks, workshops and masterclasses throughout the academic year. These feature both outstanding visiting performers and the enormous breadth of talent from within St Andrews, both Town and Gown. All these events are open to the public. Highlights of the forthcoming semester include visits by the outstanding Piatti and Fitzwilliam String Quartets, Byre Opera’s production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and a complete performance of Bach’s ‘Great Eighteen’ Leipzig Chorales for organ divided over three Tuesday lunchtime concerts.

SEMESTER DATE

TIME VENUE

EVENT

Every Sunday during Semester

11:00

St Salvator’s Chapel

University Service sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir

Every Sunday during Semester

16:00

St Salvator’s Chapel

Choral Evensong sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and

other groups

Every Wednesday during Semester

Choral Evensong sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and

17:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

other groups

Every Thursday during Semester

22:00

St Leonard’s Chapel

Compline sung by St Leonard’s Chapel Choir

WEEK 1

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by Scott Gardiner and Jonathan Kemp

Wednesday 25 January

(Scottish Traditional Music)

Sunday 29 January

19:30

Younger Hall

Heisenberg Ensemble directed by Gillian Craig

WEEK 2

Tuesday 31 January

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Andrew Macintosh (Deputy University Organist)

Wednesday 1 February

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Lunchtime concert by Jemma Brown (soprano) and

Wednesday 1 February

14:30

Maryam Sherhan (piano)

Younger Hall

Music Talks with Julia Prest:

Rehearsal Room

Black or Post-Black Performance?: Ronald Samm Plays Otello

WEEK 3

Tuesday 7 February

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Christopher Cromar (Cheshire)

Wednesday 8 February

13:10

Younger Hall

Lunchtime concert by Seamus Heath and

William Fielding (piano duet)

SCO: Big Ears, Little Ears

Friday 10 February

10:30 &

MUSA

11:45

Saturday 11 February

19:00

Younger Hall

The Masque of the Olympic Knights

Sunday 12 February

14:30

MUSA

Music in Museums: Scholarship Saxophone Quartet

Sunday 12 February

18:00

Students’ Union

SCO VIBE

WEEK 4

Tuesday 14 February

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Tom Wilkinson and Chris Bragg (St Andrews):

Bach, ‘The Great Eighteen’ Leipzig Chorales I

Wednesday 15 February

13:10

Younger Hall

Lunch concert by Hyuk Namkoong (piano)

Wednesday 15 February

14.30

Younger Hall

SCO Cello masterclass with Philip Higham

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Wednesday 15 February

Conference Room

16:00

St Leonard’s

Open Rehearsal with Sir James MacMillan and

School Auditorium

St Salvator’s Chapel Choir

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Wednesday 15 February

19:30

St Leonard’s Chapel

Mr McFall’s Chamber and Marco Blaauw (trumpet)

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Thursday 16 February

17:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

Instrumental and Choral Music by Sir James MacMillan

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Saturday 18 February

10:00-13:00

Younger Hall

Improvisation Workshop with Marco Blaauw (trumpet)

Stewart Room

14:00-18:00

St Leonard’s Chapel

Theoartistry Composition Workshops with Sir James MacMillan

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Sunday 19 February

WEEK 5 NEW MUSIC WEEK

Tuesday 21 February

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Sean Heath (Keyboardist in Residence)

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Wednesday 22 February

14:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

Lunchtime concert by Sue McKenzie (saxophone) and

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Wednesday 22 February

13:10

Byre Theatre

Ingrid Sawers (piano) Music Talks with Dr David Evans:

John Cage, ‘Where Are We Going? and What Are We Doing?’

St Andrews Concert Series presents the Piatti String Quartet

Thursday 23 February

Photo on previous page © Oli Walker

19:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

PULL-OUT FEATURE WEEK 6

Monday 27 February

19:00

Byre Theatre

Tuesday 28 February

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

University Opera Society presents Handel’s Semele Organ concert by Tom Wilkinson and Chris Bragg (St Andrews):

Bach, ‘The Great Eighteen’ Leipzig Chorales II

Tuesday 28 February

19:00

Byre Theatre

University Opera Society presents Handel’s Semele

Wednesday 1 March

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by William Stafford (clarinet) and Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano)

Wednesday 1 March

14:30

Younger Hall

Music Talks with Sir James MacMillan

Rehearsal Room

Wednesday 1 March

17:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

Choral Meditation for Ash Wednesday

Thursday 2 March

19:30

Younger Hall

Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Alec-Frank Gemmill (horn)

Friday 3 March

19:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

Madrigal Group Spring concert

Saturday 4 March

19:30

Younger Hall

Scottish A Cappella Championships

Sunday 5 March

14:30

MUSA

Music in Museums: Scholarship Wind Quintet

WEEK 7

Monday 6 March

10:00

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ masterclass with Henry Fairs

Tuesday 7 March

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Henry Fairs (Honorary Professor of Organ)

Wednesday 8 March

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by Zvonimir Filjak (guitar)

Thursday 9 March

19:30

Byre Theatre

St Andrews Concert Series presents Anna Huntley (mezzo-soprano) and

Emma Abbate (piano): The Anglo-Italian Connection

WEEK 8

Tuesday 28 March

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Callum Alger (Birmingham Conservatoire)

Wednesday 29 March

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert for Bach’s Birthday by Tom Wilkinson and

Sean Heath (harpsichords)

Saturday 1 April

19:30

Younger Hall

Music Society Concert Wind Band and Big BUStA

WEEK 9

Tuesday 4 April

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Steven McIntyre (St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow)

Wednesday 5 April

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by Sophie Rocks (harp)

Thursday 6 April

19:30

Byre Theatre

St Andrews Concert Series presents the Fitzwilliam String Quartet

Sunday 9 April

14:30

MUSA

Music in Museums: Thorpe Davie Scholarship String Quartet

WEEK 10

Tuesday 11 April

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Anne Michael (Birmingham Conservatoire)

Wednesday 12 April

11:00-13:00

Younger Hall

SCO violin masterclass with Aisling O’Dea

Rehearsal Room

Wednesday 12 April

13:10

Byre Theatre

Wednesday 12 April

14:30

Byre Theatre Studio

Wednesday 12 April

17:30

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by scholarship holders Music Talks with Tom Wilkinson: Conceptions of musical harmony and time in eighteenth-century music theory.

SCO and St Andrews New Music Ensemble Early Evening Concert:

Jeremy Thurlow, A Composer Portrait

Thursday 13 April

19:30

Younger Hall

Music Society Symphony Orchestra

Friday 14 April

19:30

Byre Theatre

University Gilbert & Sullivan Society present Utopia, Limited

Saturday 15 April

14:30

Byre Theatre

University Gilbert & Sullivan Society present Utopia, Limited

Saturday 15 April

19:30

Byre Theatre

University Gilbert & Sullivan Society present Utopia, Limited

Sunday 16 April

19:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

St Salvator’s Chapel Choir Easter Day Concert

WEEK 11

Tuesday 18 April

13:10

St Salvator’s Chapel

Organ concert by Tom Wilkinson and Chris Bragg (St Andrews):

Bach, ‘The Great Eighteen’ Leipzig Chorales II

Wednesday 19 April

13:10

Byre Theatre

Lunchtime concert by scholarship holders

Wednesday 19 April

14:30

Younger Hall

Music Talks with Dr Joseph Coroniti: Scoring the Ages: the Timeless

Rehearsal Room

Soundscape of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now Redux

Wednesday 19 April

19:30

Younger Hall

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven, The Eroica

Thursday 20 April

19:30

Younger Hall

St Andrews Chamber Orchestra with Susan Tomes (piano)

Saturday 22 April

19:30

Younger Hall

St Andrews Chorus: Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast

PULL-OUT FEATURE POST-SEMESTER

Tuesday 25 April

19:30

Union Stage

Music Society Singers and Ukelear Fusion

Wednesday 26 April

19:30

Younger Hall

StAFCO Spring Concert

Saturday 29 April

19:30

St Salvator’s Chapel

St Andrews Renaissance Singers

Wednesday 3 May

19:30

Byre Theatre

St Andrews Baroque Orchestra

Saturday 27 May

19:30

Holy Trinity Church

St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and The 24, directed by Robert Hollingworth

Friday 16 June

19:30

Byre Theatre

Byre Opera presents Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

Saturday 17 June

19:30

Byre Theatre

Byre Opera presents Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

Sunday 18 June

19:30

Byre Theatre

Byre Opera presents Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

(© Harry Gunning)

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST! To receive our season brochure ‘Music in St Andrews’ through the post and/or receive our weekly email updates, please fill in the form below and return to the Music Centre office at the Younger Hall, North Street, St Andrews, KY16 9AJ. Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...........................................................

Postcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phone No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I would like to receive information by (Please tick as appropriate): Post

Email

I am interested in the following genres (please tick all that apply): Orchestral

Chamber

Opera

Choral/Vocal

Organ

Piano

Early Music

Contemporary Music

Folk

Jazz

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland. No: SC013532

SHOPS & SERVICES From Rhonda McCrimmon, Manager

BID St Andrews The BID company would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2017.

With the festive season behind us, the BID company is pleased that our range of events was well received. The Land Train and Grotto were popular and brought a festive cheer to the town centre, encouraging visitors into the centre in the run up to Christmas. Plans are now underway to increase the Winter Festival Offering in 2017 and we would be pleased to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

The BID Company also worked with St Andrews in Bloom by funding the creative project that brightened South Street this Winter. Dave from the Clean and Green Team also assisted by installing the lights and we extend our thanks for all his hard work. We would also like to thank the St Andrews in Bloom group for inviting us to be involved in their imaginative project. South Street was much improved for these efforts.

We are now looking forward to our second year, also to our Burns events, and the St Andrews Fashion Festival – STAFF. The aim of A Touch of Burns evening event is to host an evening of frivolity for those who enjoy a light-hearted Burns celebration. There will

also be poetry reading and a workshop over the course of the weekend of 28 February, so we hope to see some of you there. Please visit the BID St Andrews Facebook events page for more information and to buy tickets for any of the events on offer.

St Andrew’s Fashion Festival presents a multimedia fashion showcase featuring collections from local and national retailers. Join us to celebrate the best of what St Andrews’ city centre has to offer, and be further inspired by further afield. Tickets are limited so be sure to grab yours! standrewsfashionfestival.com The BID company have many more projects developing, details of which can be found on our website: bidstandrews.co.uk

Heather Lang

‘ Your body actually reminds you about your injuries – the body has a stronger memory than your mind.’

Dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov According to official reports over the past few months, Britain is in the midst of a whiplash epidemic. It is estimated that whiplash compensation in excess of trauma suffered following a road traffic accident is costing the insurers £1bn per year. With many legal firms specialising in personal injury claims, we’ve all seen the adverts: – Had an accident? Discover your entitlement now!

– 100% no win no fee!

– Risk-free whiplash compensation!

– 100% compensation for your whiplash injury!

So what exactly IS whiplash?

‘Whiplash’ is a non-medical term that describes a range of painful injuries to the neck as a result of sudden change of movement, technically referred to as a flexionextension injury of the cervical spine or ‘Cervical acceleration-deceleration’.

Whiplash can happen in any circumstance that causes sudden force in the neck, such as a rugby scrum, a fall, bungee jumping or a horse riding accident. A text book example of a whiplash injury happens when sitting in at traffic lights and being shunted from behind at around 5mph. The occupants of the stationary car are thrown backwards into the seat then forward over their seatbelt, causing a ‘whip’

effect through the neck which strains the ligaments and muscles of the neck.

What makes whiplash complicated is the way it affects the brain and spinal cord. The brain and spinal cord together are covered in a tough ligament called the dura matter. It is easiest to think of the dura matter as a sort of fluid-filled sleeping bag that covers the brain and spinal cord. The fluid, called cerebro-spinal fluid, flows round the brain, down the spine to the ‘tail’ and back up to the brain.

With whiplash, this dura matter covering can tighten up, which creates a tension and pulling all through the length of the brain and spinal column.

The role of the cerebro-spinal fluid is to supply the nerves of the brain and spinal column with nutrients, so anything that disrupts the flow of the fluid can have a detrimental effect on the nerves of the whole body. The dural tension is also part of the reason it is common to suffer from low back pain after a whiplash injury.

Common symptoms of whiplash include neck and shoulder pain, headaches, blurred vision, difficulty swallowing, nausea, ringing in the ears, poor concentration, fatigue and weakness, dizziness and low back pain. The symptoms usually start to emerge 12 to 48 hours after the event. What makes whiplash such a delight for legal firms is the long-term effects of whiplash, which untreated, can last for months or years. Unlike a tight muscle, the body is unable to easily stretch

out the tension in the dura matter and spinal cord so the core of the body becomes tight and inflexible. This tension places a greater stress on the surrounding muscles and joints, which in turn become tight and painful. Over time, a painful neck can become painful shoulders, facial numbness, jaw pain, aching low back, hips, migraines etc. as the pain pattern spreads into a chronic condition.

In treating whiplash, it is important to be considerate of the different structures injured so after an examination, it is typical to use gentle techniques to rebalance the area, softening the tight and painful muscles and gently mobilising the joints that have stiffened up due to the trauma. In addition to treating the painful area, other parts of the spine would be examined and treated for any reaction they have had to the initial injury. Any pre-existing conditions which may be aggravated by the whiplash injury would also be addressed to reduce the cumulative strain on the whole body. Overall, this reduces the influences, sprains and strains that prevent the body fixing itself and allows healing to happen.

Heather Lang is a registered osteopath and ergonomic consultant.

For further information, she can be contacted at St Andrews Osteopaths, www.standrewsosteopaths.co.uk Tel: 01334 477 000 Mob: 07501 113 480 (Images courtesy Heather Lang)

19

SHOPS & SERVICES Flora Selwyn chatted to

George Finlayson, golf entrepreneur In issue 70 last year Roving Reporter described the amazing Trackman golf simulator that George Finlayson had installed at Bassaguard Business Park in St Andrews. The advantages were manifold: weather became unimportant; practice shots were analysed in minutest detail so improvements could be contemplated; any course could be chosen for play – a golfer’s dream situation!

St Andrews Indoor Golf Centre has moved next door and now has three golf simulators, Trackman, Skytrak, and a Huxley Putting Green, a Srixon Fitting Cart, together with a clubhouse area with free wifi (and Scotland for Golf offices upstairs). So how has he got here?

Born and brought up in Edinburgh, young George left school to take up a golf trainee apprenticeship under George Yuille at the Royal 5 pros on opening day Burgess Golfing Society (the oldest golfing society in the world, founded in 1735). This was followed by more golf training, this time at Dalmahoy the Finlaysons opened their first sports shop in the town – followed by Golf Club under David Ingram. Then it was off to Kokkedal Golf Club another, and another… It was a long winter before the season resumed in Denmark for a year and a half for teaching and tuition. George again at Elie. George then took over Bob Harrison’s club maker’s explained that golf instruction is more popular on the Continent than it business, with the J R Carstairs brand, because, “That was to keep back is in Scotland. People take more instruction and in golf because I missed it.” work indoors through the winter. This may explain Next stop was the Murrayshall House Hotel and It’s a win-win opportunity! Golf Courses, Perth, as Director of Golf. In 1998 the stream of Northern Europeans who have been successful on the European Tour?

George was invited to go to Skibo George’s mother saw a small Castle in Dornoch as Director of advert in the Scotsman one day Golf. for a PGA post in Elie, in the East One of the Top 100 Golf Neuk. She sent it to Denmark.

Courses in Scotland, Skibo George applied, then forgot about attracted all the top celebrities in it. A surprise phone call one the world. Madonna was even Sunday morning asked him if he married there. “It was a stage really wanted the job, because it show at Skibo. Every night they had been offered him! That led to put on a floor show with dancing the next 8 years in Elie teaching and a ‘Scottish dinner’.” The both golf and tennis, looking after table plans were arranged so that the bowling green, driving ranges, like-minded people sat together, and the 9-hole golf course, as fishers, golfers. A raconteur would well as being responsible for the sit with people interested in stories development of the Sports Club. about Scotland. “I ended up sitting At 21 years of age George had his for dinner, talking about Andrew first PGA Pro job!

Carnegie (Skibo was his summer “The Elie job was such an home in Scotland) & toasting the exciting one”. It was somewhere haggis.”

Down the line a golf professional hadn’t been.

Geraldine pointed out that John Reekie, a clubmaker, was Edinburgh was 199 miles away retiring from the post. In summer wives would come with their children and that their three children were in boarding school there. So it was for the 6 weeks of the school holidays, from Glasgow, Edinburgh, and back to Edinburgh, where George started a golf tour company. As a PGA elsewhere. The husbands would join them at weekends, then for their Professional he offered lessons to overseas visitors and locals. Then the own fortnight holidays. Often the parents would be socializing while family moved to St Andrews, where George was allowed to teach at the George and his assistants taught their children golf or tennis. By this time Links Academy. Scotland for Golf still has a relationship with the Links a married man, George’s wife Geraldine worked on the retail side of the as an independent approved golf instructor. George is also involved with business, while the boys taught and played events. the Professional Golfers Association as a PGA Coach Education Tutor.

Although a dream job, it was only making money in the summer He was at the start of designing with a colleague the Volunteer Coach months from April to the end of August. Seeing a property in Leven, Programme for SALJGA. Two sons are in London, playing regularly. Scott, also a PGA Professional, has worked with his father for 12 years. George, along with Scott, decided to emulate his Continental comrades by opening his indoor training facility in Bassaguard. It is available for anyone to come.

Ladies might like to play for an hour then socialise, have a coffee and chat. Older people with less mobility can play in a safe environment without the stress of wind and rain. Groups of up to 12 youngsters can learn the rudiments of the game. Possibilities are endless. Membership is offered with unlimited access, or people can book an hour or two when it suits. The facility can be reserved for corporate evenings, or celebrations of all sorts. Team building for businesses is popular. Most important for the serious golfer, there is enormous potential for improving his/her game over the long winter months so that he/she is better prepared for the summer. It’s a win-win opportunity!

For further information please email George at: info@standrewindoorgolf.com or call: 01334 611 466 Starting young

20

(Photos courtesy George Finlayson)

SHOPS & SERVICES Fiona McDonald

The Succession (Scotland) Act 2016 November 2016 brought in the full of a civil partnership, trigger any provisions implementation of The Succession (Scotland) in a Will in favour of a former spouse or civil Act 2016, a new key piece of legislation that partner to be treated as that person having replaces rules that have been in place since predeceased. These rules apply apart from 1964. The Act has been eagerly awaited by any appointment as guardian for children, or the legal world; it affects how your estate is provision made to the contrary. This updates dealt with on your death. the law to what many people may have In Scotland individuals can record in thought already applied. their Will their wishes for their estate on their The new Act also brings in provisions death. Making a Will is a good opportunity to regarding rectification of a Will if it has been review family matters and ensure that your written incorrectly, in that it does not reflect wishes are recorded to provide for loved the wishes of the deceased person. New ones and/or favourite charities. As part of rules are brought into force regarding the the Will-making process drawing up a list of succession laws if the order of death is assets can be good planning to ensure that uncertain for individuals dying at the same nothing is overlooked in the event of your time, for example in an accident. death, also to consider New rules regarding Inheritance Tax and the succession of Taking professional planning opportunities. entitlements when an Many people hold assets advice is recommended asset is left to someone digitally now; these should for them to enjoy during so that your wishes can also be considered and their lifetime have also listed. been introduced, as well be recorded correctly Making a Will also as the rights of children allows you to record the or remoter issues age at which you would wish beneficiaries to step into the shoes of a predeceasing to inherit, as without an age recorded, parent who was named to inherit, in certain entitlement would be at age 16 in Scotland, circumstances. which many people consider to be too young.

We have been fortunate enough in Recording in your Will who you would like to Scotland that succession issues have act as guardian for your children, if minors, is been on the agenda of the Scottish Law also sensible, as well as any funeral wishes Commission and the Scottish Government, you may have. which led to the new Act. Further The changes introduced in the new Act consultations are anticipated, which may make many technical changes, including lead to additional new rules, particularly in that divorce, dissolution or annulment of a relation to legal rights on death for spouses marriage, or the termination or annulment and children or remoter issue, which they can

currently claim in law, and the rights of cohabitees.

The new rules impact the treatment and distribution of an estate, which in turn affects the Inheritance Tax treatment.

Inheritance Tax is governed by Westminster and the rules apply across the UK, although with the Scottish succession rules differing from the rest of the UK the Inheritance Tax position can differ. There are Inheritance Tax changes ongoing as well, in particular the residence nil rate band, which provides an additional opportunity for reducing Inheritance Tax payable if a home is left to direct descendants. These new rules are due to come into effect in April 2017. There are also opportunities for transferring the relief between spouses, and for relief to be claimed if an individual has downsized their property or sold it before passing away.

New rules, such as the new Act, are good in that they prompt consideration of one’s own estate – be it making or updating a Will and ensuring that correct wishes are recorded to provide for loved ones. Reviews should be carried out regularly to check if wishes, assets or the laws have changed.

All of the new rules are technical and every individual’s circumstances are different.

Taking professional advice is recommended so that your wishes can be recorded correctly.

(Photo courtesy Fiona McDonald)

Jonnie Adamson

Grey Statement for the Auld Grey Toun The Chancellor delivered his first, and last, Autumn Statement on 23 November, despite many questions remaining over the Brexit strategy. Whilst there was plenty of fodder for economists to digest, it was a quiet statement from a tax perspective. ‘Spreadsheet Phil’ has gained a reputation as the ultimate boring accountant, who loves poring over reams of figures in his spare time. He is not the first Chancellor, or indeed, accountant, to face being dubbed bland, grey, or uninteresting.

I fondly remember the spitting image portrayal of John Major. However, neither of these chancellors were accountants, so perhaps have been judged harshly.

Accountants have often been branded as dull and uninteresting.

Perhaps we could blame the Monty Python representation; indeed it is “fun to charter an accountant,/ And sail the wide accountancy,/ To find, explore the funds offshore,/ And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!”

I do indeed own (at least) one grey suit, and make no secret of my love of spreadsheets, but does this qualify me for a dreary existence?

A relatively dull Autumn Statement is probably just what was needed in the circumstances. There have been many changes to the tax legislation recently, and allowing these to take effect rather than jumping on the next bandwagon seems sensible. The new changes that are worth mentioning include the following:

•

Legislation will be included in the Finance Bill to ensure profit allocations to partners are fairly calculated for tax purposes

•

Loss relief for carrying forward losses will be reduced to 50% from April 2017

•

National Living wage will be increase to £7.50 from April 2017

•

Insurance Premium Tax to rise to 12% from June 2017

•

Restriction on money purchase allowance from £10,000 to £4,000 to restrict over 55s recycling pension savings and enjoying double pension relief.

•

Finally, the march to making tax digital goes on.

With the Autumn Statement turning into an Autumn budget next year the Chancellor will no doubt return to his spreadsheets in an attempt to consider the finances of the country. I will return to mine to cement the dreary perception of our industry (which I secretly enjoy!)

For further information on this, or other matters, please consult: Henderson Black & Co, 149 Market St, St Andrews Tel: 01334 472 255

21

SHOPS & SERVICES

Roving Reporter 1.

Chris Rose has opened a charming boutique, The St Andrews Waffle Company, 131 South Street. Reporter enjoyed coffee and a plain Liège waffle, so he can vouch for the quality on offer!

Dough for the waffles comes direct from Belgium – you couldn’t get a more authentic Liège Waffle dough, quite different from the American variety! Made fresh from yeast, butter, flour, eggs, the other important ingredient being pearl sugar, a type of white sugar that doesn’t melt at normal baking temperatures and is popular throughout Northern Europe. Previously manufacturing food equipment, Chris and his business partner Richard Nuir decided a waffle shop would allow their families to work together to add a unique food experience to the St Andrews scene. Customers choose from a mouth-watering menu of toppings for their waffles.

Coffee is roasted for Chris by Glen Lyon in Aberfeldy. It is manually blended by experts using different beans according to the season, since, as Chris explained, beans don’t keep fresh for the whole year.

However, all his coffee is 100% Arabica. Tea to take away is put freshly into new muslin bags – there are no packages of commercial tea bags. Opening hours are 8.00am-6.00pm Monday to Friday; 10.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday; 10.00am to 4.00pm on Sunday.

Chris is printing “1500 free coffee vouchers for local businesses” to let them sample quality coffee. He will be using vintage tricycles for a hot food and drinks delivery service in the centre of town, including a breakfast service. For more information please email: chris@standrewswafflecompany.co.uk Phone: 01334 474 559. Small premises, huge delights, says Reporter!

*****

2. Fife Cultural Trust’s St Andrews Museum in Kinburn Park also houses the wonderful Café in the Park. One family has been running the Café for the past 24 years. Present member Susan with her daughter Amy provide tea and comfort for visitors, many of them elderly local residents who regard the Café as their local club – “it’s lovely”, says Susan happily. One customer has been coming regularly for the past 15 years! Reporter is not surprised: free parking, a warm welcome from the owners, followed by fresh home baking, tea, coffee, and other goodies (displayed on the blackboard) are an understandable draw. There is also wifi throughout the building, which attracts students from many countries. In spite of their demonstrable popularity Susan has to undergo a regular tendering process, which leads to a 3- or 5-year lease and is always nail biting. Opening hours from October to April are Wednesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.00pm. (From April to October that becomes Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.00pm). Apart from the newly constructed Labyrinth in the grounds outside, visitors can learn about the history of the town in the Museum itself or go upstairs to enjoy the latest exhibition. A refreshing cuppa, thinks Reporter, is especially welcome after all this free cultural bonanza!

Susan Duncan and Amy

*****

Chinese & Cantonese Restaurant Sit in or takeaway Opening Times: Monday and Wednesday – Saturday 12.00pm – 2.30pm & 4.30pm – 11.00pm Sunday 4.30pm – late Tuesday – Closed

11-13 Crails Lane St Andrews, Fife Tel: 01334 467822

22

SHOPS & SERVICES

3. Chiropractor Kate Walder is the newest addition to chiropractic care in Fife, bringing with her over a decade of experience. She invited Reporter to visit St Andrews Chiropractic, her welcoming clinic located in the modern and bright Slotline House on the Largo Road. St Andrews is a breath of fresh air for Kate who previously ran a busy city-centre practice in Birmingham. Over the years Kate has honed her gentle, no-nonsense, personally-tailored approach to treatment. She enjoys treating patients of all ages and fitness levels. With the motto, ‘our aim is your speedy recovery’, Kate sets out her mission to rid St Andrews of its aches and pains.

“I’m passionate about chiropractic care, getting people out of pain, back to doing the activities they love”. A lifelong animal lover, Kate is also one of a very limited number of chiropractors in Scotland qualified to treat small animals. She has already treated a number of local dogs, with great success. Kate is registered with the General Chiropractic Council and is a member of the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association. She can be contacted for an appointment on 07957 686 118, via email info@katewalder.com More information is available at: www.katewalder.com (Photo courtesy Kate Walder)

*****

4. Reporter had the good fortune to discover an exciting new enterprise – Deliveroo. Intrigued by the name, he spoke to General Manager, Caroline Hazelhurst. She explained that Deliveroo is a worldwide franchise “focused on providing the ultimate food delivery experience. Customers have the option to schedule orders via the Deliveroo app up to one day in advance, or receive food as soon as possible between 12 noon and 11.00pm, from a variety of leading local, independent, and high-quality chain restaurants, delivered to their homes and offices.” Setting up in St Andrews, Caroline and her team are recruiting “riders, whether bicycle, scooter, or motorbike riders, who will deliver food from more than 15 restaurants across the city, cooked fresh to order and delivered to customers’ doors within 30 minutes.” Started in 2013 by William Shu and Greg Orlowski the company operates in over 12 countries. Reporter suggests a look at the website: https://deliveroo.co.uk/apply The team can be contacted at: deliveroo@havasww.com or on: 01612 349 771.

5.

*****

John Montgomery & Max Baillie

The town was buzzing over the St Andrews Day weekend, so Reporter thought he’d go upstairs at J & G Innes in South Street ( jg.innes@talk21.com ) to hear some music. A local group called the John Montgomery String Band (1334 461 244

hq@softplanetgroup.com ) was playing. Reporter was pleased

he could hear the words of all the vocals, something that many of today’s singers seem to neglect. Back-up was provided by young Max Baillie (07515 878 854 maxbaillie14@gmail.com ), who is equally at home on banjo as on guitar. Jude Innes is to be congratulated on offering upstairs @ J & G Innes Ltd as an art gallery and venue space available for hire, suitable for small classes and exhibitions. Reporter hopes she will be well supported in this venture as news spreads.

(Photo courtesy David Nicoll)

*****

6. Reporter is pleased to include this: “T G Gosmore Wealth Management opened its offices on South Street in December last year and are looking forward to celebrating their first year in St Andrews. Tim Gosmore has been providing financial advice in Scotland for over 15 years. He and his wife Samantha are committed to providing trusted financial planning advice in St Andrews and Fife. Since we opened our office, we have received a warm welcome from both clients and local businesses. Our two boys, Samuel and Joe, attend junior school in St Andrews; we feel extremely fortunate to raise our family, and work, in an idyllic corner of the UK. We are enthusiastic about providing the highest quality service and advice in areas such as Inheritance Tax, Retirement Planning, and for clients looking to invest for income or growth. We will be offering free advice clinics from the beginning of 2017 for individuals looking to review their finances. As a partner practice of St James’s Place Wealth Management we are in an excellent position to provide personalised, face-to-face advice with the resources and advice guarantee of a FTSE 100 company. If you would like an initial discussion to review any aspect of financial planning please e-mail tim.gosmore@sjpp.co.uk or telephone (01334) 479 276 to arrange a meeting.”

Tim & Samantha Gosmore

*****

7. It’s always a pleasure, says a smiling Reporter, to record success, especially when a young person starts a new business. Hannah Milner is celebrating her first 18 months in business as The Wee Hair Boutique. She writes: “I’ve really enjoyed my successful first 18 months of trading, meeting new people. With every appointment I get to know my clients better, until it’s like catching up with a friend.

Weddings have really taken off this year. I have been kept busy most weekends for the last few months – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and being a small part of their big day. I would like to remind people that I offer cutting and colours, ladies/gents, children, as well as weddings. Free consultations are available in St Andrews. Also, I would like to thank every one of my clients for their continued custom.

Starting your own business makes you really value that kind of support!”

Contact for Hannah: 07445 764 289 hannahmilner893@hotmail.co.uk Facebook page: The Wee Hair Boutique, mobile hairdressing (Photo courtesy Hannah Milner)

*****

23

SHOPS & SERVICES

24

ORGANISATIONS Esther Fantevie, née Glavee in Ghana

Vocational Ambassadors Foundation Issue 46 May/June 2011 told the story of Esther Glavee’s arrival in Thanks to the Vocational St Andrews as one of the two holders of the inaugural International Ambassadors Foundation, which has Student Leadership Scholarships, awarded by the St Andrews University established a structure (a school) to Students’ Association. help educate these trafficked children, Back in Ghana, Esther qualified as a lawyer, recently married put smiles on their faces, and train Emmanuel Fantevie, and just this October gave birth to a baby son, vulnerable youths in diverse vocations Alelemato. such as Dressmaking, Esther is the Founder and President of the Vocational Hairdressing, Come on board, and Ambassadors Foundation. Her Ghanaian childhood had Mechanical Engineering help these children been a constant struggle to have an education; her life etc. and youths realise was extremely tough. This gave her the determination to Come on board, and their future dreams find a way of helping others to overcome deprivation. The help these children and Foundation is succeeding, little by little. youths realise their future dreams. It’s a new year and your donations could go a long way to building a decent school, drilling Here is what Esther has written: a borehole, and enrolling more girls (especially Teenage mothers) and boys into skills training for a meaningful future. You can also come as a Life in this world is a great struggle, both for the young and the old. But volunteer to teach in the school, or be of help in any other way you can. it’s pathetic to see beautiful children suffer for no fault of theirs, but by virtue of circumstances. They are sold as slaves to help their masters in fishing. They dive into the water amidst all the risk just to be rewarded For more information please see our website: with a cow after four (4) years’ servitude. This is a mirage, since they are www.vaffoundation.com never given their hard-earned rewards. They do not get the opportunity to go to school like any average child in this modern Facebook: Vocational Ambassadors Foundation age, and their future lies in the depths of the Volta Whatsapp: (+233) 246811184 Lake. Their lives revolve around nothing but the islands of the Afram plains with poor or no educational Email: vaffoundation@yahoo.com facilities at all. glasteldor@yahoo.com

(Photos courtesy Esther Fantevie)

Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) George J Connelly MBE reported on

SSAFA – the Armed Forces Charity Annual Fundraising Lunch

The Fife Branch of SSAFA’s annual fundraising lunch was held recently at Rufflets Hotel, St Andrews. As the oldest Service charity in the UK, now 131 years old, it is sustained by generous donor charities and members of the public.

In 2015, SSAFA Fife distributed over £280,000 to support serving personnel, veterans, and their families. Examples of support included household goods, wet rooms, funeral expenses, home decorating, and mobility scooters for the disabled.

“The unique aspect of the local branch of this military charity is that every penny raised in Fife, stays in Fife.”

Issue 68, January/February 2015 of this magazine has a full article about SSAFA on page 11.

Further information can be obtained from Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) George J Connelly MBE: 0779 663 3416 email: georgeconnelly@btinternet.com The Lord Lieutenant of Fife Robert Balfour DL; Major General (Retd) Euan Loudon CBE, CEO St Andrew’s Links Trust; Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Graham Meacher MBE, SSAFA Eastern Scotland Representative (Photo courtesy SSAFA)

25

ORGANISATIONS Sarah Hector, Press Secretary

Decorative and Fine Arts in Fife Interest in decorative and fine arts is alive and well in Fife!

Kilmaron pupi ls and staff at the Scottish Natio nal Gallery

Church trail – St Salvators

The Fife Decorative and Fine Arts Society (Fife DFAS) was established in 1994 as part of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts, which works to improve decorative and fine arts education, while promoting the preservation of our artistic heritage. Fife DFAS is one of the largest such Societies in Scotland attracting members from the River Tay to the River Forth, from St Andrews to Culross and beyond.

Fife DFAS promotes the Arts through an annual programme of lectures, days of special interest, visits to many places, including some not generally open to the public. Members enjoy a varied programme of high-quality lectures given by expert speakers. The 2016/17 lecture series includes topics as diverse as Grayson Perry, Japanese architecture and gardens, Vermeer, the history of underwear – to name but a few. After the lectures Members have an opportunity to chat over a cup of tea.

Days of Special Interest, including cultural visits, add variety and interest to the programme. Days of Special Interest enable members to learn about the topic in more detail; in previous years they’ve included dolls’ houses, timepieces, figure drawing, the history of photography.

Visits during the 2016/17 programme include the Unicorn Tapestries at Stirling Castle, Scone Palace, the New Lanark World Heritage site.

There are opportunities for members to undertake volunteering activities. Churches of all denominations contain a rich artistic heritage that is often overlooked. Fife DFAS Church Recorders identify, research, document the contents of a church, including memorials, metalwork, stonework, woodwork, textiles, paintings, libraries, windows. Participating churches are presented with an illustrated book detailing each item with its history. A record of St James the Great in Cupar has been completed, while the task of recording St Athernase in Leuchars has just begun.

Heritage Volunteers work under the guidance of curators and other professionals to conserve our heritage. Volunteers have been working with the St Andrew’s Preservation Trust Museum to create a digital archive of over 11,000 old photographic images of local interest stored at the museum. The Volunteers worked at home to scan the photographs,

26

Fife DFAS Chairwoman Gay le Williamson (left) and Amanda Herries, with Gayle’s doll’s house

which were uploaded to the museum’s database, then stored in a ‘cloud’ storage system. This project will allow greater access to the collection without handling or disturbing the original photographs. The Museum’s books are also being catalogued.

Working with the Scottish Fisheries Museum another volunteer is creating a 3D model of a 1957 trawler gearbox from old engineering drawings. The plan is to make an animated version of the gearbox on a computer so that museum visitors can enjoy learning about it.

Volunteers have also been involved in the development of Church Trails – a question and answer sheet that guides children with accompanying adults round a church, encouraging them to engage with the architecture, history, and furnishings. Church Trails for All Saints’ Church, and St Salvator’s Chapel in St Andrews, have been completed. To make the trail around St Salvator’s more relevant to today’s generations it includes ‘QR codes’. Visitors with a QR Code App downloaded onto their smart phone can follow the trail to access information digitally about the church.

Fife DFAS also supports young artists. In collaboration with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, bursaries have been awarded to support the successful students to continue creating art after gaining their fine art degree. In addition, funding given to Kilmaron Special School in Cupar enabled the students to visit the Scottish National Gallery to see some of the landscape art on display, then taking part in a workshop creating their own landscape art in paint and collage.

With over 300 members, Fife DFAS is a vibrant and friendly society. You don’t have to be an art expert to be a member, but if you enjoy art and culture, would like to learn more, and meet like-minded people, why not join us? We meet in the Cupar Corn Exchange on the second Tuesday of the month. We are always pleased to welcome new members. For further information and details about how to join please look at our website: www.fifedfas.org.uk or look for us on Facebook.

(Photos courtesy Fife DFAS)

ORGANISATIONS Flora Selwyn went along to the

St Andrews United Social Club John Strachan was recently elected a beautiful dance hall! Members come from President of the St Andrews United Social all over the country, even England, since Club in Langlands Road, St Andrews. the Club is there for them during holidays, Together with his wife Janice, he is working when they come to stay in their caravans and hard, along with all his staff and Club holiday lets. members, to restore the Club’s fortunes after The Club has many attractions, such as a disastrous run of mismanagement. the bar where Lager costs £2.80 (compared St Andrews Football Club in Langlands with £4 in some places in town). Kiddies’ Road was founded in 1920. The Social birthday parties can be organised for Club premises were built in 1983 when members’ families. As I write this, a kiddies’ the land was purchased, but it became a Christmas party is in the planning stage. separate entity. John, who is also the current One enterprising, and successful, Chairman of the Football Club is determined venture is the Football Memories group, to “bring them together”. which meets once a month. Alzheimer’s Brought up in Glasgow, John spent 14 sufferers come along to reminisce about years in the army. Invalided out he then football. Short-term memories may have moved to Glenrothes where he met Janice. faded so “they don’t remember what they had Both of them were ardent Celtic supporters! for breakfast”, yet when asked about players Their son Ryan, a football and matches they come up I hope this article will addict since the age of with surprising details. Janice 8, is now Captain of the serves them Bovril “at half let people see what St Andrews Football Club. time”, then they go back to a treasure the Social Janice, a trained chef, their reminiscences!

Club is.

Do go along, has been providing free John and Janice, find out more, and join. together with staff and catering for the football teams coming to the Club members, work incredibly You won’t regret it! in order to raise the Club’s hard to attract, and welcome, profile. Her efforts have been rewarded and new members. “It’s trying to get new blood are “quite popular now.” She caters for those into the place, that’s the hardest part. We who hire the Club for various functions. want to try and attract more younger people.”

These include weddings, charity fundraising A brewery grant has been awarded to events, even funerals. upgrade the bar areas to make them more Membership of the Club costs £40 per attractive. Years ago membership stood at person, £35 for pensioners. This gives free 1400; last year it was 450. access to the Club at all times, including St Andrews is blessed with such the weekly dances on Saturday nights from dedicated people as John and Janice (also 8.00pm to midnight. Each week sees a their daughter Stephanie who helps as well). different band playing in the spacious, very I hope this article will let people see what a attractive dance hall. Occasionally there is treasure the Social Club is. Do go along, find a cabaret, when a small charge is made to out more, and join. You won’t regret it! cover costs. Although there are other social clubs in the town, none of them can boast (Photos by Flora Selwyn)

John and Janice Strachan

Dance floor

Sunday afternoon tea

We have pleasure in offering: • a mobile hairdresser • cutting/colouring services • party/wedding hair styling 07445 764 289

hannahmilner893@hotmail.co.uk

27

ORGANISATIONS Stephen Gethins, MP North East Fife, co-chairman and founding member

All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Golf Nowhere is golf more important than in local clubs with their own traditions and St Andrews, the Home of Golf, so when I connections, which play a very significant part became the Member of Parliament for North in golf in the town. The sport is also important East Fife last year it was the ideal opportunity to the economy of other areas: for example, to establish an All Party Parliamentary Group Kingsbarns, Crail, and Ladybank, which (APPG) on Golf to recognise the huge all have strong golfing traditions and great significance of the sport. courses, and are held in very high esteem Karl McCartney, an MP in Lincoln, also internationally. has a large number of golf courses in his I was recently very fortunate to visit Lundin constituency, as founding members we formed Ladies Golf Club, where the development the group for the purposes of promoting golf as of golf for all ages is high on the agenda, a sporting activity and as an industry. making it one of the best examples of a There are other Parliamentary groups community golf club in the country. It was that exist to play golf, but this one focuses on good to meet members of the committee, who making sure that policies are right to support are all volunteers. It was also great to have golf, act as a forum to discuss golf, exchange their longest-serving member, Helen Melville, ideas and listen to key stakeholders. Speakers recognised recently for 60 years’ commitment have included The National Golf Clubs’ to the Club and community by awarding her Advisory Association, The European Tour, the APPG Golf’s first ‘Long-Standing Service England Golf, and Sky Sports.

Award’ at Westminster. Helen has played In the past year, as well as hosting a golf all her life and been at the forefront of reception for the R&A, the group has held a the Club’s success. I was delighted that she debate on the Economic Impact of Golf on the has also now become an Honorary Member UK Economy in the House of Commons. In of the APPG on Golf and look forward to April the group launched National Golf Month other constituents being recognised for their at an event in Parliament, which provided commitment to golf in the years ahead. members with an opportunity to see the What has been very interesting for me excellent work being done at community level. since we formed this group has been the They also took part in the Parliamentary Sports positive reaction from clubs, organisations, Fair, showcasing grassroots golf. and members of the public to what we do and Golf has a far-reaching impact on the local how we can develop our remit. One of the economy, and with some of the best courses most positive stories we have told is that of in the world, North East Fife is a magnet for golf being good for health; so much so in fact both golfers and non-golfers alike; many just that it can add five years to your life! And you want to see the town, the don’t need to take my Old Course, be pictured word for it, as this is the Members of the APPG on standing on its famous product of research by Golf are always looking for Swilcan Bridge or in front leading sports physicians, of the iconic Royal and including Dr Andrew new ideas too, so if you have Ancient clubhouse.

Murray of Edinburgh something you’d like to share Businesses of all University. The research or discuss please do not sizes depend on golf in undertaken for the Golf hesitate to get in touch St Andrews where, away Foundation is amazing; from the fairways and as many golfers will know, greens, the presence of golf is also evident getting out for a round can bring a wealth of in its shops and bars. The spin-off effect for benefits for physical and mental wellbeing. businesses like hotels, B&Bs, cafés, and What is great, now, is that this is a fact and we the striking new British Golf Museum, is will be doing what we can to promote this side immense. It is important that we remember of golf, particularly amongst people who find the jobs golf can create, and the massive themselves retired and looking for a sociable boost, which events like The Open and the hobby. It is also very important that we look at Dunhill Championship, brings to the town golf development for younger generations and and surrounding area. There are also many for women. Referred to earlier, a lot of what

28

Stephen speaking at the APPG Golf reception to launch a report into the Economic Impact of Golf in the UK, commissioned by the R&A and published by Sheffield Hallam University’s Sports Industry Research Centre.

The Old Course with Dr Roger Hawkes and Dr Andrew Murray who led research into Golf and Health for the World Golf Foundation (Photos courtesy Stephen Gethins) Lundin Ladies is doing could be used as a model for other community-minded clubs.

Members of the APPG on Golf are always looking for new ideas too, so if you have something you’d like to share or discuss please do not hesitate to get in touch. I know there is a lot of good work going on at clubs across the area – it would be great for others to benefit from this too.

Since establishing the group we have been very lucky to have the support of the R&A and other groups including Scottish Golf. We want to get the best for the sport because of the benefits it can bring to us all.

You can contact me by email: stephen.gethins.mp@parliament.uk or call the constituency office, tel: (01334) 657 765.

OUT & ABOUT From Martin Tomlinson

A feel-good update In issue 59, July/Aug 2013, page 4, there was a short article on the Water Tower on the Lathockar estate near St Andrews, close to a former WWII Prisoner of War camp. At that time the tower was in very poor shape, threatened with demolition.

Martin Tomlinson, who provided the original information and photo, has now written to say that “The site in the woods where it exists is now under development and the builders have renovated the tower back to its original glory.” He included the updated photo. Nivens, the developers, are building 13 houses on the site – they are to be congratulated on their understanding of the importance of heritage in making the tower a key monument.

Lathockar before (left) and today (right)

Gillian Swanson describes

The Labyrinth in Kinburn Park, St Andrews The Labyrinth is now completed. A celebration to mark the opening was held in Kinburn Park on Thursday, 27 October. The Labyrinth was designed as a gift from the Society of Friends (Quakers) of St Andrews to the people of St Andrews, to mark the 50 years that Quakers have had a meeting in the town, and the welcome they have received here.

The project was more than 2 years in the making. In the early days the idea was warmly received by local churches, the University Chaplaincy, and the Community Council. This gave us encouragement to proceed. Financial

help was given by Dundee Friends Property Trust, our own local Friends Meeting, and generously by Fife Regional Council. We have had nothing but help and good advice from Fife Regional Council, in particular from Claire Hill, Parks and Development Officer, and Mike Hardy and his men from Fife Community Works Team. We have also benefited enormously from the helpfulness and skills of our two craftsmen, Jon Warnes from Cupar who designed the benches, and Richard Douglas from Menstrie who made the inscriptions on the benches. We feel the setting in Kinburn Park

is superb, the labyrinth enhances the setting, while there is a feeling of tranquility about the place.

The Labyrinth is now open for anyone to use. It is wheelchair friendly. It can be used in any way: for contemplation, meditation, or just having fun running about as children do.

We are delighted to see that this is already taking place. It costs nothing to use, and can be used at any time. Please come and see for yourselves!

The Labyrinth launch (Photo courtesy Gillian Swanson)

29

OUT & ABOUT Alistair Lawson, ScotWays, is sadly

Signing Off Since the very earliest days of this magazine, our editor has been of Scotland, and it was good enough to allow ScotWays a regular column, in which I have tried realised at an early stage that to encourage readers to heed the health message, get out into the this responsibility should be countryside, learn lots of local history, and enjoy the pleasure of exploring vested in larger bodies than Fife’s 950 Rights of Way, plus its many hundreds of Core Paths. ourselves. This process started Having performed this role for a decade and more, I am now about with the Local Government, to pass the baton to my ScotWays colleague, Craig Gilbert, whose first Scotland, Act of 1894, offering will appear early in the New Year. which, for the first time, gave Before signing off, I should like to tell readers a bit more about local authorities powers to ScotWays’ history and work. We were founded in 1845. We are, as recognise and protect public far as we can tell, the oldest organisation in the world dedicated to rights of way. Subsequent protecting the public’s rights of access to the countryside. Our founder legislation, most notably the was Lord Provost Adam Black, of Edinburgh, who, together with his Countryside Scotland Act of walking friends, was increasingly finding that the open country around 1967, strengthened Councils’ the city was no longer as open as it had been. In looking around for an hands, and, with the Scottish organisation to help solve the problem, they found there was none, so Parliament re-established in Edinburgh in 1999, the final touch to the they founded one! Although the infant body was initially concerned with process was added with the 2003 Scottish Land Reform Act. only the Edinburgh area, within a couple of years its Despite the above legislation, there is still a lot of horizons had been extended Scotland-wide. In 1847, work to be done by non-government organisations.

I trust my scribblings have the then Duke of Atholl challenged the right of an ScotWays continues its sign-posting and problembeen of interest to you Edinburgh University field-study party to pass through solving work, we publish maps, leaflets and and that you will continue Glen Tilt. The matter was brought to our attention, it guidebooks, we have sign-posted many “Heritage to read this column once came before the courts, was appealed and ultimately Paths”, and we organise walks for our members. reached the House of Lords, where it was decided that The most important new development is that we Craig takes over. the Glen satisfied all the criteria for there being a public offer a search service to solicitors and estate agents, right of passage. Victory! A very similar case followed in 1887, when the advising them whether properties being bought and sold include or House of Lords upheld the claim that there was a public right of passage are adjacent to rights of way, this advice being based on the National between Glen Doll and Braemar.

Catalogue of Rights of Way, of which ScotWays is the custodian. That These early victories were doubly important, in that they took place information is shared with all 32 local authorities, plus the two National against the background of the growing hunting, shooting and fishing Parks. ethos in the Highlands. These cases served, therefore, to make the point that walking, climbing, camping, and field studies were just as legitimate countryside pursuits as those pursued by the estate owners. By way The above is no more than a thumbnail sketch of 170 years of of backing up these court victories, work began on sign-posting the work. To find out more, please visit the ScotWays website: major well-established routes through the Highlands, so that there were www.scotways.com visible tokens out there for all to see, making clear that the public right of passage sat quite comfortably alongside the lairds’ right of ownership.

ScotWays was only ever a very small, voluntary body, trying, from I trust my scribblings have been of interest to you and that you will a small base in Edinburgh, to uphold the public’s rights over the whole continue to read this column once Craig takes over.

Sisyphus and friends – Alistair Lawson on the left (Photos courtesy Alistair Lawson)

30

OUT & ABOUT Arlen Pardoe

Hidden Gems in St Andrews

Focussing on features that are in plain sight, though often overlooked The Postman Cometh is perhaps a suitable title for this article, following on from previous titles: Knock knock, who’s there? And, Let there be light! There can be few properties

in St Andrews without a letterbox, of which there are many variations in size and style.

Inscribed letterboxes

(Photos courtesy Arlen Pardoe)

31