November meeting 2015

Diana Maxwell is our guest speaker. Her talk has the title: ‘HMS Tarlair – Listen Up!’

HMS Tarlair is the name of the WW1 Royal Navy research base that was located at Hawkcraig point in Aberdour, Fife. Nothing now remains of the base, or the associated seaplane station, other than two or three shattered concrete hut bases and the crumbled remains of an old pier. There is little memory remaining of the base or the people who worked there.  Who now knows that this base played a key role in the defence of the nation?

The work carried out at HMS Tarlair is of local and national interest. During its short period of operation, major technological advances were achieved, not only in the detection of submarines, and it was one of the first instances of collaborative work between civil and military scientists and researchers. This is not only the story of the development of technology, but also of the characters and personalities involved. From early 2013 the Aberdour Cultural Association has been supporting a community-driven local history project which has uncovered a significant amount of archive and other material, and with local residents has carried out original research and has compiled this information. The results of this programme were presented at the 2014 Aberdour Festival which included the launch of the booklet Listen Up!, a history of the base and the people who worked there.