Talks
March Meeting 2016
Matt Storey – ‘Bede and his Works’
17 March
Matt has worked in Historical Education since he graduated with an MA in Medieval Studies from Leeds University. He is currently the Pier Project Co-ordinator with Sunderland City Council.
He was Operations Co-ordinator at Bede’s World when the Society visited last year during the Northumberland Spring Trip, and has previously worked there as an Education Assistant, Volunteer Co-ordinator and Education Team Leader.
Those of you who were on the trip will remember Matt’s tremendously enthusiastic and informative tour and will be looking forward to hearing much more about Bede and his works at our March Meeting.
February Meeting 2016
Thursday 18 February
Ian Archibald – ‘Shipwrecks of the Forth’
Ian is Convenor, and a founder member, of Burntisland Heritage Trust. He is involved in designing their summer heritage exhibitions and has helped develop the local Heritage Trail walks.
He is a former Cartographic and Geographic Information Systems Manager for the Crown Estate Office in Edinburgh and before that worked for the Ordnance Survey as a land surveyor and survey manager.
For many years Ian was much involved with the search for the ferry the ‘Blessing of Burntisland,’ which sunk in July 1633, carrying the treasure of King Charles 1st….. We are looking forward to hearing all that he has to tell us.
January Meeting 2016
Our first meeting of the new year, on 21st January, will be given by Ian Low and is entitled “Where there’s Life there’s a Hope – the Hope Family of Hopetoun”.
Ian has been the head guide at Hopetoun House since 2005 and is extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject. We are really looking forward to hearing what he has to tell us.
This is a timely talk as the Society wishes to visit Hopetoun House next April.
December Meeting 2015
Our Christmas social event this year will be held on Thursday 10th December, in the Abbey Church Hall. We will again be entertained by the Limelight Singers. Their repertoire includes music from West End musicals, operetta and opera classics, popular ballads and traditional songs, performed as solos, duets and ensemble pieces.
This promises to be a very enjoyable evening and we hope to see you all there, but please remember this is an event for Society members only.
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.