SPEAKERS 2025

Bill Fiet took us through the history of Glenrothes, Markinch and Leslie. Map slides indicated the multitude of historical sites his speech referred to. From the early days of stone circles such as Balfarg, Pictish markings, a Danish battle site, bull and dog baiting sites, and sanctuary markers, through the ages from the Lomond Hill Fort undergoing current archaeological research.Reference was made to the two early schools in the area and to the areas many castles, houses, towers, and the families who inhabited them. These included Balfour House, Balbirnie House, Brunton House and its two hundred cats. Was Adam Smith from Kirkcaldy or Leslie? An interesting poser, as yet unanswered. On through the centuries and industrial growth including Fergus’s mills, water wheels, and his on site school system akin to that at New Lanark and it’s associated ethics, water systems, five local collieries referred to, local iron works, saw mills and the evolving train routes that supported them. Onward to a local pen factory, the work John Dixon, Sappi Graphics, the Mark 16 Spitfire pilotsxseat, moulded in Leslie,Haig’s whisky and the dubious merits of nuclear civil defence systems during the Cold War. This was a fascinating pot pourri of this areas rich history and development. The Rev David Smith delivered an equally eloquent vote of thanks. 2 schools Lomond hill fort and modern archaeology Balfarg stone circle Stoscross and Pictish carving and safekeeping Lesley bear and bull baiting Kinglassie Dog town stone in nearby field site of Danish battle Santuary stones Map of sites and industrial sites including pits Balfour House Markinch m q Scot’s? Balgonie Castle gen Lesley Balbirnie house Brunton House 200 cats. Balfour tower Auchmuty House Lesley House Strsthendry Castle and House Was Adam Smith a Lesley resident? Pits. Water wheels, Star of Markinch pit Balgonie colliery Thornton Kiglassie Pit 2930 Rothes pit. And modern pit Thornton and blue whin Iron industry Balgonie iron works Balgonie saw mill for Balgonie estate Rail Cupar Markinch 2st train Earl of Rothes not happy with train on his land Lesley railway Markinch Sri cross and window tax and looms and pay per bobbins John Fergus Lesley like new Lanark ‘ school for kids’ 5 mills 4 sets of workers Walkerton mill Leslie took water from the Leven Balbirnie I’ll Alburnie Park Paper mills John Dixon Sappi graphics Pen factory Bank notes printed to 1927 in Lesley My 16 spitfire seat made in Lesley Haig Civil defence ◦

Stuart Beveridge. He is head of of Accessible technology at See scape also known as Fife society for the blind. A post held for twelve years. Stuart has been totally blind since birth. He briefly outlined his school experience, and the fact that his history teacher, a club member who introduced him today, had embraced the challenge of supporting him and guide dog through school. College business studies in Dunfermline and a degree at Napier University followed, and a frustrating period of job search. He experienced rejection after rejection, reflecting the general ill ease of employees in recruiting the blind. An unexpected and at first unwelcome approach from a well known local politician led to a productive discourse about his situation, culminating in the PM taking his concerns on board with ‘ leave it with me’. He was pleasantly surprised but delighted to be subsequently be recruited as a researcher which led to his current role ‘ enjoying his working life which also reflects his daily IT needs and usage’. He mentors braille navigation, developing lifeskills, welfare rights, and use of Apps specifically designed for the blind, to customers in nineteen countries. The demonstration of the latter particularly engaged today’s audience. For example ‘ voice over’ by Apple and use of Smart glasses( £299 a pair) . On this he hits ‘ messages’ and double taps to open ‘ voice instruction. When this appears it instructs the user how to type. In this way I phones have broken down the barriers for visually impaired. ( other systems are available). AI is helping blind people eg ‘ be my eyes’ , a system which takes a pic and then describes it. To demonstrate, he took a pic of room 10 and the system described it. His dog Dax’ the best dog in the universe’ might stop while guiding him, but clearly a dog can’t tell him why he’s stopped, but the app can describe the obstacle the dog has noticed. We also learned how modern IT can assist the blind use an air fryer and how smart glasses engage with camera, microphone and private audio, and summarise the content of photos containing script. The IT research and development continues. For this audience, well, I’ve never heard so much post talk discussion by our members. It truly was enthralling, educational and presented by an engaging humorous speaker well on top of his game.

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.

The club welcomed Fey’s return as guest speaker.

Forty two of us enjoyed an interactive quiz. During the hours exerts challenged to identify, sing, and interject 50’s and 60’s songs the lyrics of included various colours.

Did we know soloists songs, group songs.

The morning concluded with ‘ a pub tour of Kirkcaldy’ which evoked many memories for most club members.

Alistair McCabe gave the vote of thanks.

Dr Derek Patrick was a welcome return speaker, and once again he held our wholehearted attention. This time with forty five members present. Today’s subject was the 7 th (Territorial Force ) Battalion. The Black Watch in World War 1. Local maps displaying troop positions across Fife, a and photos of key locations aided this articulate erudite and informative talk. Once again the club benefitting from a speaker clearly the master of the topic. We heard how this force evolved between 1860 and 1908. The 7th was a force rapidly and in vast numbers recruited across Fife. Reference was made to other battalions served by soldiers from Perth, Angus, and Dundee. Time progressed to 1914 and we heard how the impact on this force was considerable during WW1 as it suffered multiple injuries and death. As the talk progressed Derek drilled down into the subject’s rich vein of historical research including many articles from the Fife and Dundee press in 1915/16. The detail of these, let alone the fact they were published was a surprise to of some of his audience as the writings included graphic letters home from a variety of ranks, who had volunteered from all stations of civvy life, all suffering the degradation of trench warfare at the battle front. There was widespread elation, for example a mile long crowd seeing the 7th off from Kinghorn, and mass public jubilation as they went from homeland training and coastal defence duties, proudly marching kilted on parade for the first time in Bedford, and onward across the channel. Euphoria was oon replaced by the devastating dawning of reality given the harsh physical and mental impact of bloody and fatal battle. The 7th included many volunteers who were miners whose skills were put to use by the military, digging front line and communication trenches on one occasion for 36 hours. Others recruits were fisher folk, and some , the senior ranks, came from ‘ the great and the good’. Many stories emerged of heroism, the background details of their lives, the impact of life in the trenches, the floodings, bombardments that buried troops alive, and the fact the kilt was not the best of miltary wear given the surroundings. On -6th June 1916 after 48 hours without sleep the 7th were ordered, over the top. On 23 rd June 1916 two hundred men were lost during a fairly ‘ innocuous action’. Hearing this history was poignant and all the more so because these troops represented the communities from which many of our club members hail from. Meanwhile on the home front citizens and community organisations such as the Red Cross made, collected and financed the supply of additional clothing for the troops in generous amounts. It was said that Kitchener was not an admirer of the Territorials but they are generally respected for their actions. Dr Patrick is respected by our members for his enthusiastic grasp of history, and his presentation drew many questions followed by a vote of thanks from the Rev Alec Forsyth, a member who is closely associated with the Black Watch. https://

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.