Page 156 - Mind, Body and Spirit Online Edition

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the golf competition played on the Kinross Montgomery Course
on Friday the 7th of June. Andy Steven took the honours in the
Scratch competition, Gary Jones won the Mens Stableford and
Sandra Jones the Ladies Stableford. Our Honest John trophy was

presented to John Gardiner for his continued support to Scottish
Association golf and for being an inspiration to us all involved in
the sport.

61 people enjoyed the Friday evening social where we were
entertained by the Drum Major from 2 SCOTS, an Instructor from
the School of Bagpipe Music, Frank Sinatra and the Mike Mooney
Folk trio. Haggis, Neaps and Tatties provided the food sustenance

and our own dedicated bar stayed open until the entertainment
inished around about midnight. Once again this Friday evening
format proved very popular with everybody and will continue to be
a regular feature at future Gatherings.

On Saturday evening the same venue was transformed into a very
smart restaurant where 88 guests were treated to an evening of Fine
Fayre and Scottish Dancing. The hotel chef once again produced
a high quality menu professionally served up by their friendly and

helpful staff followed by short speeches from our Chairman, the
Senior Master At Arms and the Association Secretary. A troop of
dancers from Kirkcaldy then gave an energetic demonstration of
Scottish Country Dancing after which a Ceilidh Band provided

music and instruction in this traditional art form for those with
energy to spare and partners willing to be subjected to being
twirled and whirled in the conined space of the dance loor. Once
again the bar staff were kept busy and a most enjoyable evening

came to an end in the early hours of Sunday morning. Four of our
regular families could not attend on this occasion due to illness
and injury. Bill Mortimer is recovering from a fall and stroke, Ivor
Tulloch has recently returned home from hospital, Howard Gee Maj (Retd) S G McNeish and Maj (Retd) D McGill

has had another knee replacement and Tom Jones suffered a
mild heart attack the week leading up to the Gathering. Our best resplendent in the Branch Tartan and led by Jimmy Bishop
wishes go to them all and their families and we hope to see them carrying the Branch Standard. I shall be retiring next year from the
back with us at next year’s event.
Headquarters Adventurous Training Desk Oficer and as Branch
Secretary and look forward to attending the Gathering as a guest

As I close we are all looking forward to the Arboretum weekend in the future. Volunteers to take on one or both of the roles will be
where a contingent from the Scottish Branch will turn out
very welcome.

SOUTH WEST BRANCH

Lt Col (Retd) P Watkins

A
nother year races by, which only goes to demonstrate one of the originals and had the foresight to set up the branch, we
how old we are all getting and of course the policemen are certainly owe him and Tony a debt of gratitude. George Gelder

actually getting even younger. We all await the arrival of has stepped into the role off Deputy Chairman, Bob Taylor is our
spring, which although promised seems to be dragging its feet, Treasurer and Jayne Ecott the Secretary.
still by the time we all read this we will have bathed in the glories
of a glorious summer.
We were delighted to be joined at Falield by the SMAA and his
lovely wife Norma and also the new Association Secretary, Gary

Our annual gathering in Falield went exceptionally well and
although we only had 52 attendees, the mood was light and
jovial. Unfortunately George Gelder could not make it as he
was recovering from an eye operation which I am glad to report,

went well and he is now back on form. I do hope that all of our
members who are a little poorly are on the mend, we wish you all
a speedy recovery.

The AGM went well, we decided on a number of issues, the main
ones being to look for another venue to Falield, so the team are
spreading the net wide, I am concentrating on the Weston-Super-
Mere area, but other areas are not ruled out. We are also going

to hold the event a little later in the year; we are looking at the
3rd weekend in March and holding the dinner on the Saturday,
obviously more news to follow once we have more facts. Both
John Cork and Tony McNiel stood down as members of the
committee, after much hard work and a long tenure, John was
Peter Hunt and Dick Sharkey taking an interest in Phil Watkins