Diary

May 2017 Meeting

Our next meeting is the 2016/17 AGM. It will take place on Thursday 18th May, at 7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Hall, Abbey Park Place, Dunfermline, and will be followed by “Thirty Years of Fife Constabulary” by George Beattie.

George is an old friend of the society and contributes regularly to our web-site. He is also a good friend and former colleague of George Robertson, so is an ideal guest speaker for this month, as it will be George’s final meeting as Chairman. His talk will, I’m sure,  be very entertaining as well as informative.

 

April 2017 Meeting

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 20 April, at 7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Hall, Abbey Park Place, Dunfermline.

Morna Fleming will speak on “Robert Henryson, Dunfermline’s Medieval Poet”.

Dr Fleming first developed her interest in Scottish Literature through Glasgow University’s innovative M.Phil distance-taught course. She went on to undertake a Ph.D by research into the poetry of the court of James VI and I, examining the impact of the Union of the Crowns on the lyric poetry of the Scottish poets of the period. She has published widely on the poetry of James VI/I and his coterie, and is a frequent conference speaker on various topics, increasingly the poetry of Robert Henryson.

She has been the Secretary of the Robert Henryson Society in Dunfermline for many years, and is looking forward to seeing the promotion of the poet in the new Library and Art Gallery.

 

March 2017 Meeting

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 16th March at 7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Halls, as usual.

Prof. David Munro MBE will present “The History of Lochore Castle”.

Currently Heritage Advisor to the Duke of Buccleuch, David is a geographical consultant with a special interest in conservation and landscape studies. As a Research Fellow in the 1980s and 1990s he led Edinburgh University expeditions to the tropical forests of Central America and compiled a number of geographical texts including Chambers World Gazetteer and the Oxford Dictionary of the World. He later co-authored Scotland – An Encyclopedia of Places and Landscapes and in 1996 was appointed Director of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, a post he held for 12 years. A frequent lecturer on cruise ships, David Munro talks on subjects ranging from landscapes and place-names to exploration and travel.

David lives in Kinnesswood and as Chairman of the Kinross (Marshall) Museum, he has been involved with the Heritage Lottery-funded Living Lomonds Landscape Partnership programme which included an archaeological ‘Big Dig’ at Lochore Castle, the subject of his talk this evening.

 

February 2017 Meeting

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 16th February at 7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Halls, as usual.

Ian Shearer will present “5000 Years of Kinneil”.

Ian, who lives in Bo’ness, is a trustee of The Friends of Kinneil, a local heritage charity dedicated to supporting, promoting and developing Kinneil House and Estate in Bo’ness, and the history of the surrounding area.

Ian, who is a regular volunteer guide at Kinneil, offered to speak to us following our very enjoyable and informative visit there, as part of last year’s April trip, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about this varied and fascinating place. He also has a keen interest in the history of Dunfermline, so I’m sure this will be another excellent evening.

 

 

January 2017 Meeting

Our first meeting of the new year will take place on Thursday 19th January at 7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Halls, as usual.

Hugh Walker will present “The History of Sanitation”. This talk comes to Dunfermline Historical Society highly recommended and should prove an interesting and entertaining evening.

Hugh was brought up in Coventry, and after graduating, spent his working life in the electronics industry at Hewlett-Packard South Queensferry, working in design and marketing of products for the telecom industry.  His local history interests include Dunfermline’s Linen Industry, and he wrote two books on the subject in the early 1990s which were published by the Carnegie Trust.  His current project is recording the history of the HP South Queensferry factory which closed in 2010 and has since been demolished.  Hugh’s interest in sanitation stemmed from some DIY projects a few years ago and the search for a toilet with a realistic flush!

All welcome.