288 September 2018 - Gryffe Advertizer

18
The Advertizer
Rotary Club of Gryffe Valley
Speaker Meetings At The River Inn
Wednesday 18th July – Kitty
Walker “Glasgow’s Britannia
Panopticon Music Hall”
Kitty Walker was introduced by
Edwin Fisher. She is well known
to members from when she was
a teacher at Houston Primary
and for her lively performances
at Rotary Burns Suppers. Her
subject was Glasgow’s Britannia
Panopticon Music Hall -the oldest music hall in the world and also the first
cinema in Glasgow. Kitty explained how the music hall tradition had begun
and grown in the second half of the 19th century. AE Pickard, an English
eccentric, became the owner and added waxworks, a roof top carnival,
a human freak show and a basement zoo! He coined the name Grand
Britannia Panopticon and his period of ownership included the debut of the
young comic who was to become known as Stan Laurel. After a finale in
music hall tradition, Kitty ended her very entertaining talk with a reminder
that more information about the trust (formed by Judith Bowers) which is
seeking to renovate the venue is available at www.brittanniapanopticon.
org .
Wednesday 2nd August – Allan Gilfillan
“O-Level English”
Club Secretary Allan, well known to all
assembled, received an appropriate
introduction from President Andrew. Allan
opened by intimating that more than 30
years after emptying his parents’ house, he
had opened an envelope from one of the
boxes and found it contained his O-Level
papers. Prompted by questions in the English paper, Allan had purchased
“Chaucer’s People – Everyday Lives in Medieval England” by Liza Picard,
which is an absorbing and revealing guide to the Middle Ages, populated
with Chaucer’s Pilgrims from the Canterbury Tales.
Allan revealed that the Pilgrims were made up of country, town, church and
military folk, and went on to illustrate many facts and figures relating to the
late 14th Century – including many dodgy characters. First was the Wife
of Bath, who is the subject of Chaucer’s best-known Canterbury Tale and
who saw off fi ve husbands. There were at least a couple of chancers (not a
misspelling of Chaucer!), in a booming London: Gilbert Magfeld, a London
merchant and moneylender, and Nicholas Sardouche of Lucca, who rigged
the silk market, illegally exported gold and silver coins and bullion, and
smuggled luxury goods into the city. Allan went on to relay many interesting
facts and statistics of the time. There were 12 Guilds, similar to those in
today’s Glasgow Trades House; the first Poll Tax (between £2 and £6 13s
4d pa – depending on status) was introduced; it was 0.25d for a loaf and 6d
for a gallon of red wine. £1 in 1380 is equivalent to £1015 today. Health
was an issue with medicines prescribed to treat diseases such as leprosy,
malaria, cancer etc. President Andrew asked the assembled company to
thank Allan in the traditional manner for his very informative presentation.
Wednesday 9th August – Claire
Pearson “Supporting Unpaid
Carers”
Zia Hotiana introduced Claire
Pearson, a social worker with
Renfrewshire Council, who
focuses on the elderly, including
people with dementia. Claire
explained recent changes to the relevant law -Carers (Scotland) 2016.
788,000 people in Scotland are providing care. The Carer’s allowance is
£64 per week. In Claire’s experience, many examples families are in need,
some quite desperate. There is recognition of the need for Carers to have
some respite – The Creative Break Fund may be helpful.
Councils now have a Carer’s Rights Charter eg the Warm Home Discount.
All Carers should have a Carer’s Plan. There is help for Carers to negotiate
their way around the Health & Social Care provisions. Clare responded
well to Questions and there were contributions from Members with some
experience. Andrew Macleman thanked Claire for her knowledge and
professionalism.
Wednesday 15th August –
Cameron Brown “Loch Fyne
Oysters”
Ian Jackson introduced Cameron
Brown who is CEO of Loch Fyne
Oysters. Cameron was born
in Elderslie, went to Glasgow
University and after several
moves around the country now
lives in Houston with his wife and children. He has worked 30 years in
the food industry. The Loch Fyne smokehouse has a 17 million pound per
annum turnover and exports its produce world-wide. They have 5 sites in
3 main locations in various parts of the country. In addition to oysters and
mussels they sell 1.2 million tons of salmon per year. Two months ago they
won the award for producing the Best Seafood in Scotland.
INVITATION
Dinner meetings are held in The River Inn, Crosslee at 7pm for 7.30pm.
We enjoy a good meal and a tremendous variety of speakers. Some
are challenging, some amusing, but all very interesting, as indicated
by the reports above. If you are interested in Rotary and would to
like to attend, or help at any of our events, please contact the club via
the “contact” button on the website www.gryffevalley-rotary.org.uk or
phone Mike Farley (613314).
Wednesday 29th August – Professor Kenneth Patterson Director
of the Glasgow-based medical research charity Tenovus - guest of
Hamid Khatib
Wednesday 12th September – Malaika Rose - guest of Bob Ross
from “Action on Hearing Loss”
Deadline date for our October issue - Friday 14th September - you don’t want to miss it!!