At their meeting of 30th January the Rotary Club of Anstruther & District had as guest speaker Jamie Peters from the UK Youth Climate Coalition.

Jamie, who is a volunteer, gave an interesting talk about the work of the group, which was set up 4 years ago and is of people in the age range of 18 – 30 years. They want to raise awareness of climate change matters and in language that anyone can understand.

Posing the question why does youth and civil society bother? -  Jamie explained that UKYCC is motivated in its work by the view that young people form the majority in the World’s population, are the biggest stakeholders and with the greatest interest in the rights of future generations.

The group is very aware of the United Nations climate change negotiations and of the meetings of the World’s governments. The group regularly has a presence at meetings and seeks to lobby, to raise awareness, to make understandable, to intervene and to engage.

As might be expected on this topic, the talk prompted a number of questions from club members and to which Jamie was able to provide informed answers.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Roderick Skinner.

On 23rd January the Rotary Club of Anstruther & District gathered with family and friends for its now-traditional Burns Supper at the Craw’s Nest hotel.

It is an opportunity for club members to impress with their knowledge of Burns and even to practice amateur theatricals! We were off to a good start with the Selkirk Grace from Roderick Skinner and the Address from Graham Meacher – with the haggis led in by Poosie Nancy and skirled mightily by John Mitchell.

After an excellent meal there was a humorous toast to The Lassies from Allan Wood and a particularly interesting and thoughtful Immortal Memory from Andrew Lindsay.

Rotary club friends then took over – firstly from Peter Peddie and his usual rousing and outstanding interpretation of Tam O’Shanter and then to a great contrast with beautiful and moving music from the fiddles of ‘Strathearn Strings’, in the shape of Gordon Duncan and George Smith. They even motivated the audience to sing – no small achievement; and it even sounded quite good - though natural modesty precludes any greater praise or compliment!

Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable evening organised by Alastair Graham and ably chaired by club president Derek Mathie.

‘Oh Scotland, but I’ll suffer for ye the morn’

On 19th December and for its final meeting of 2012, the Rotary Club of Anstruther & District gathered with family and friends for Christmas dinner at The Craw’s Nest hotel.

After an excellent meal the annual competition for the most outstanding festive tie took place. It was won this year by a quite amazing fashion item from Ian Brunton. Wired-up and switched-on hardly does justice to it!  Light-hearted entertainment followed from the club’s very own ‘choir’ – now something of a tradition - and very ably led by honorary choir director Miss Jessie Lyon. The club is most appreciative of Jessie’s help and support and, especially, of her firm direction - which is clearly needed by the choir!

In a reflective address, the Revd Arthur Christie gave a sometimes humorous, but always thoughtful and thought provoking Christmas message. A serious message of our traditions and values and with a very relevant mention of the plight of today’s Palestinians.

The 19th December also marked the last day of the club’s Christmas Post delivery service, now in its 24th year - and each year raising money for charitable causes. This year’s organiser Graham Meacher was able to report that so far this Christmas over £4,000 has been raised – meaning more than 20,000 cards and letters received, sorted and delivered along the East Neuk, from Elie to Crail.

At its meeting of 28th November, the Rotary Club of Anstruther & District heard from Natasha Thompson, a pupil and prefect at Waid Academy, Anstruther.

Natasha came to speak about her experiences at this years RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) camp – her attendance having been supported by Anstruther club.

This annual event takes place at the Abernethy Centre, Nethy Bridge and offers many team activities – rock climbing, mountain climbing, raft building, gorge walking, off road cycling and many more. All aimed at team building and especially at developing self-confidence, inter-personal and leadership skills. The outdoors team-building activities are supplemented by daily formal morning and evening lectures, with speakers from senior positions in business, the professions and in competitive sports. A total of 69 young people attended the week-long camp.

Natasha, who plans to attend university to study business law, produced a very professional DVD from film taken at RYLA and spoke enthusiastically of her time there. She mentioned the insight she had gained into team building and the different leadership roles - and of the value of her experience in personally leading a kayaking activity.

When asked what single word would best describe RYLA she replied ‘AMAZING’. Natasha went on to say that the thing that has remained most strongly with her is the idea of ‘an ordinary person doing extraordinary things’ through commitment and dedication. 

The Club was not surprised to hear Natasha also comment on how a group of nervous strangers at the start of the week, became transformed into a close-knit group of friends.

Natash was thanked by club member Bill Henderson, who also presented a framed RYLA Certificate.

Anstruther Rotary Club’s meeting of 21st November was dedicated to Children in Need, with £650 raised, thanks to the generosity of club members, friends and guests who attended the evening gathering.

After dinner at the Craw’s Nest Hotel, some excellent prizes were raffled and many ‘Pudsy Bear’ badges, toys and emblems sold.

Entertainment was provided by guest speaker Mr Archie Lawrie, whose subject was the Spanish Armada of 1588 and the ship El Gran Grifon, the flagship of the Armada’s supply squadron of supply hulks. It was one of many ships scattered in disarray by battle and by adverse weather. After a hazardous journey around the northern coast of Scotland and south towards Ireland it was forced by storm to return to Fair Isle, where it was driven ashore on 27th September. After many weeks of privation the crew and soldiers made their way to Orkney and then to Anstruther – the ‘Ainster Dons’.

Mr Lawrie has an interest in the paranormal and in psychic phenomena and this led to his story taking a surprising and most unexpected turn. We heard of modern day ‘sightings’ in and around what is now Kingskettle – of ghostly Spaniards in dress of the 16th century and believed by the psychic involved to be ‘Ainster Dons’. Without doubt a very different account.

He went on to speak in some detail of his research into the history of the time and gave an interesting insight to the harsh conditions for the sailors of the day. He spoke of the landing that contemporary accounts suggest did actually take place at Anstruther harbour and, finally, of the repatriation of the Spanish sailors via Leith and a dangerous journey through the English Channel to Spain.

A vote of thanks was proposed by club member Ian Brunton.

On 14th November we were intrigued to hear Club President Derek Mathie speak about the inner workings of the Combine Harvester! With a business in agricultural supplies, Derek had in earlier years trained as an Engineer on combine harvesters; it had clearly made a lasting impression and he was able to speak knowledgeably about these huge yet essential machines.

The statistics of a modern harvester are impressive – with the reel at the front of the machine up to 30 feet across and with a price tag of perhaps £200,000 some 60 to 70 acres can be fully harvested in a day, yielding perhaps 100 tons of grain per hour. Such modern machines need 200 – 500 horsepower to drive them. A far cry from older times, when a skilled man and scythe could manage maybe 1 acre of barley in a day – and that just to cut the crop!

Derek described Reels, Cutter Bars, Beater Drums, Augers, Straw Walkers, Sieves, Choppers, Grain Tanks and other wonderfully-named items making up the bowels of the harvester – as well as commenting on the extent of electronics now employed. With a great deal of automation to assist the farmer, the driver’s cab is nothing less than an advanced control room, with screens displaying pictures from closed circuit TV cameras focussed on vital parts of the gathering, cutting, handling, threshing and delivery processes.  

We heard that harvesters now come with ‘tank’ tracks for difficult ground to supplement the traditional wheels. There are even machines designed for steeply sloping fields, where the entire body of the machine can tilt in order to keep the internal machinery level and therefore able to work efficiently.

Altogether a fascinating insight to the way that advanced engineering supports the high-tech nature of agriculture today and a glimpse inside a machine that is essential to our wellbeing.