Monthly Meeting - 'Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a Storyteller’
Tuesday 13 October 2020
Another Ruskie meeting kicked off with the school bell then congratulations to members who celebrated special birthdays since we last met. Our president Anne Artis announced the winner of last years Competition Points Trophy – congratulations to Allison Macleod, Norma will pass the cup on to you asap! (2nd Anne Artis, 3rd Christine Bauer). Our treasurer Helen Little thanked all the members who had already paid their subs, and members and guests who had made kind donations.
Our speaker for the evening was Arthur Lloyd who took us on a journey reminding us of how wonderful Scotland is! Reminiscing on his childhood spent with his uncle, the lighthouse keeper at Dunnet Bay, which inspired a lifetime of trips ‘Up North’ was an opportunity for us to experience the wonderful stone structures of the Northern Isles – fabulous harbours, cathedrals with two coloured stone from different islands, and paving flagstones from Castletown which not only feature locally but can be found as far afield as New York and Sydney Australia! The amazing broch structures dating from 3000BC (with ‘recent’ graffiti from the Viking age which Arthur spared our feminine blushes and did not translate!) and stunning buildings – from castles owned by visiting royalty to contemporary restored hotels by renowned Swedish designers. Caithness and Orkney has something to offer all of us – combined with a lovely rail journey to get there, stations close enough together to be enjoyable (14 mile!) walks between them … or if that is too taxing then a wander along Ebenezer Place (Guinness world record holder for the shortest street in the world ) or a 2 minute commercial plane hop between islands … where the pilot will drop you off if the weather is good, and come back to pick you up if the weather holds!! All of this, plus beautiful gardens to visit and native plants to admire … and Arthurs hand picked sound track of classical and Scottish music to evoke the local atmosphere. Surely a Ruskie trip for the future?
The meeting closed with members sharing personal memories of living in, and visiting, the area and sharing plans for future trips.
PS – did we even need to mention this meeting was over Zoom with a great turnout of members, friends and guests? I thought not! Next month is a cookery demonstration on Zoom – details to follow, please join us!
