Page 22 - QARANC Vol 20 No 3 2023

22 The Gazette QARANC Association
SCOTTISH BRANCH
Criss-crossing the country for coffee and a ‘blether’
My goodness it seems a long time since our last Gazette article, but we have managed to fit a lot in since this time last year.
It was a great privilege to hold our Corps Day service at the Robin Chapel in Edinburgh last March. The service was led by the Rev Dr Iain Barclay, who is Chaplain to the Robin Chapel and one of our Honorary Branch Members. It was a beautiful service and hearing our Corps Hymn sung by such experts was quite an emotional experience.
Our summer event in July took us to Perth, to the Black Watch Castle and museum, which also houses a fantastic bistro and shop. What can I say, I always enjoy the opportunity to have a bite to eat as well as browse a shop or two, as do many of our members!
We were delighted to welcome one of our overseas members, the lovely Barbara Dunn, who joined us all the way from New Zealand! That surely must be a record for distance travelled to attend a Branch event?! Honestly though, we were very grateful that Barbara made the time to join us while spending time with her family during what was her first trip back to the UK since pre-pandemic.
We all enjoyed catching up on our news before splitting into two groups for a private guided tour to learn more about the history of The Black Watch, which from its formation in 1739 has contributed to many key moments in world history. If you are ever in the area, the museum is well worth a visit.
Members were out in force at the Services of Dedication to mark the opening of the Gardens of Remembrance in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. On Remembrance Sunday one of our Edinburgh based members, Sarah Nadin, was proud to lay our wreath at the Stone of Remembrance at the City Chambers.
Reports appeared in the press the next day of wreaths being set alight in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, ours survived unscathed, but what a shocking and senseless act of vandalism and how upsetting for those whose commemorative wreaths were destroyed.
From that point on it was all systems go with the preparations for Christmas and our Branch festive lunch, which we held in Glasgow at Glaschu restaurant. We had a great turnout of 48, including some of our serving personnel and it was great to see and hear everyone catching up with old friends and making new ones.
We were all delighted to welcome our Col Comdt, Col Carol Kefford OBE (although we didn’t know that then!) and her husband Mike. It was a flying visit for Col Carol and Mike, who had flown from London
our most senior member, Janet Mantle, known
as Nita, celebrated her 101st birthday in style with a lunch out with all her family
that morning and back again later that evening. We received many comments from our members about how much they enjoyed the comprehensive update on the Association and Corps given by Col Carol. Thanks to the generosity of our members the raffle raised a grand total of £285 and everyone was a winner on the day.
Our coffee catch ups remain popular, with our members criss-crossing Scotland in pursuit of a decent coffee and scone with the added bonus of a blether with each other. In the last year we have been to: Auchterarder, Oban, Dumfries, Haddington, Helensburgh, Castle Douglas, Burnt Island, Glasgow, and Edinburgh and just before Christmas, the lovely Walled Garden at Archerfield in East Lothian, timed to coincide with Annie Sinclair’s trip down from the west Highlands.
We were also delighted to meet up with another of our overseas members, Cecelia Buttery, who managed to join us in Burnt Island in Fife, having only arrived from Spain late the previous night.
All our Branch members are inspiring in their own way, but worthy of special mention is Mary Wilson, who became Mixed Doubles Para Champion, as well as 2nd in the Women’s’ Singles and Doubles at the UK Para Badminton Championships in December. Huge congratulations to Mary.
Also our most senior member, Janet Mantle, known as Nita, celebrated her 101st birthday in style with a lunch out with all her family. Having missed out on celebrating her 100th birthday the year before due to being in hospital, it was a very special occasion. Later that afternoon Nita enjoyed cutting the very tasty cake, made by our very own expert cake maker, Sheila Jones.
So, we can look back on a lively and sociable year for the Scottish Branch and look forward to more of the same in 2023.
Karen J Irvine RRC, Chair