SPEAKERS 2025

Mr David Rees delivered a talk titled A Letter from America to forty members. The letter in question was written by Captain A Hodge while he was a Union captive and parolee of the Confederate army during the US civil war. The letter home is poignant and written in beautiful flowing language. It describes without anger or recrimination the degradation and brutality of incarceration in juxtaposition to the love he expressed for his wife and family including a child born unexpectedly during his captivity. The letter explores the deep divide between north and south over the fundamental human right of freedom, and how a key battle that Cpt Hodge was engaged in led to the Emancipation Proclamation. This was a cause that the author was wholeheartedly dedicated to. Post war the treatment of war heroes and widows became the subject of scrutiny which helped propel the Union to initiate a pension system for veterans. The interesting finale to the story was that Captain Hodge came from Edinburgh and as the speaker mentioned there was a link between him and this club. The link bring that his great great great great great grand nephew was sat in the audience. The speaker asked him to identify himself and that led to a question and answer session as the session concluded.

There are many myths regarding the Titanic. In contrast this talk by Linda Ballingall focused on the verified factual personal history from local surviving passenger the Countess of Rothes. On display too was the ‘ no 8 plaque ‘ created by surviving Seaman Jones who had commanded one of the lifeboats during the infamous night the ship sank.

This was a well received talk to an appreciative audience who rounded the morning off with a time honoured naval three cheers for Linda.

A packed house listened in awe to the inspiring story of Mercat tours delivered by our erudite guest speaker Mr Des Brogan. ‘ History is a damn good story, what it needs is a damn good telling’ His work was inspired by his love of teaching history and the critical importance and potential it can have on students. He outlined the exciting methodology he utilised. History is real to all of us. We live and breathe it and each of us is a critical part of it. Most of us likely recall dire history lessons when we were dictated a list of dates to memorise and more than likely were not taught our own history. However unravelling the story behind each event ideally requires ownership by the scholar, and utilising their potential social skills development by placing them centre stage in the story. First up came Edinburgh tours, designed to fill a gap in information for city tourist. Several tours developed, each one covering a particular theme and engaging fellow teachers as volunteers. The scheme was a success and expanded from a hobby to a profession so much so he took a risk, that paid off, in resigning from school teaching to develop his business. Battlefield tours followed, initially for school children and latterly for adults. Des provided much detail of each venture, including how youngsters role played the characters whose history they were exploring including donning their uniforms, and singing the inspiring well known songs of the day., often in marching formation. All this sprinkled with humour, pathos, and importantly the evident impact on the social development of the youngster. Personally I was champing at the bit to discover if we could sign up for a Normandy D day trip. Thanks to today’s talk I recall my first lesson in Grammar school. It was history, and a fine master by the name of Mr Rees advised us that ‘ the past is the present flowing into the future’ and thus it was and always will be, snd this morning it certainly was.

Musician, educator, cruise line entertainer Ivy Partridge was a welcome return guest speaker.

The question she posed was whether the North, South East or West of US created the best music.

All genres of popular music from the 50s onward were included including video of the key performers of their day. Many club members sang along and enjoyed a dialogue with the speaker as they enjoyed her informed charismatic talk.

We hope to persuade her to return next year to talk about novelty and humorous music.