St Andrews in Focus Issue 92 Jan Feb 2019 by Mike Collins

St Andrews in focus ISSN 2514-409X

• shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

January/February 2019 Issue 92, £2.00

the award winning magazine for St Andrews, Scotland www.standrewsinfocus.com

St Andrews in focus

• shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

Contents

From the Editor

My sons and daughtersin-law took me to Rome for my birthday. So, to counter any doom and gloom, and the inevitable broken New Year Resolutions, I thought I’d share a bit of spontaneous fun, while wishing you with all my heart, a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2019!

FEATURES •

Community Council

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John Cameron’s column

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The Foreign Office & St Andrews

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Beeching revisited

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Midgies of Arran

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One man’s Armistice Day

• Reviews: – The Scottish Ambassador

TOWN & GOWN

Flora Selwyn

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The views expressed elsewhere in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. © St Andrews in Focus (2003) JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2019 EDITOR Flora Selwyn Tel: 01334 472375 Email: editor@standrewsinfocus.com

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Happy in St Andrews

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On the Rocks

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The Green Film Festival

8 9 10

ORGANISATIONS • Seescape

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St Andrews Burns Club celebrates

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The Priory Singers

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St Andrews in Bloom

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St Andrews-Loches Alliance

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Heart Start

PULL-OUT FEATURE •

PRINTER Winter & Simpson (stephen@wintersimpson.co.uk)

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Power of Attorney

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Gibson Training

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St Andrews Business Club

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Le Rendez-Vous

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Roving Reporter

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SHOPS & SERVICES

EVENTS • StAnza

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Nell Gwynn

• Messiah

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Selected Events

OUT & ABOUT •

Rainbows over Birnie & Gaddon Lochs

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Hidden Gems

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All contributions welcome. The Editor reserves the right to publish copy according to available space.

Cover: ‘Flying Westie’, an original photo by Caroline Trotter, Highly Commended by the Master Photographers’ Association.

FEATURES Callum MacLeod, from the Provost’s Chair

The Royal Burgh of St Andrews Community Council At the end of September it was my pleasure to host a Civic Reception for the Mayor and Members of the Conseil Municipal of our twin town Loches, situated in the Loire Valley of France. Twinning such an international town as ours, with its place on the world stage as the Home of Golf, was always going to be a controversial step and, indeed, I confess to have been at best lukewarm about the idea myself over the decades it had been discussed. Nevertheless, after a protracted courtship lasting several years, the decision was taken to enter into a formal twinning arrangement. My predecessor, Howard Greenwell, was one of the signatories to the Twinning Agreement made a couple of years ago. Before and since that date there have been many links established between St Andrews and Loches, while ever greater numbers of St Andreans and Lochois have visited each others’ towns, cementing with pride friendships and cultural links. I myself have not yet had the privilege of visiting Loches, but, like many others, I was able to gain a flavour of the place from an exhibition of paintings and photographs held over the summer in the Byre Theatre.

Indeed, one of the paintings was used for the cover of issue 90 of this magazine. In welcoming the Mayor, I remarked upon how both our ancient burghs – ours still Royal, their regal status removed during the French Revolution – measured our long histories by the century. Only last year, St Andrews was the only place in the United Kingdom to be accorded European City of the Reformation status as part of the commemorations to mark the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, one of the catalysts being John Knox preaching to remarkable effect in the Town Kirk. Our University, often appearing in the top hundred rankings of higher educational establishments in various league tables, recently completed the celebrations to mark its 600th Anniversary by announcing that £100m had been raised by its Anniversary Appeal; this sum allows it to begin to refurbish some well-loved buildings, as well as build new ones fit for the teaching, learning, and research requirements of the 21st century, and beyond. Looking out of the window of the Council Chamber of the Town Hall at the Reception we could see the tower of Holy Trinity Church, the stones of which were laid

one on top of the other more than 600 years ago. From the top of that tower one can see the world-famous links, where golf was first played well over 600 years ago, while only a few months past we remembered the consecration of the Cathedral 700 years ago in the presence of King Robert the Bruce, not long after the Battle of Bannockburn. This month we will solemnly remember with gratitude the passing of another century, that since the end of the First World War, another, more sombre link between our two countries. Soon after, and perhaps somewhat ironically, Brexit will come into effect (though, after my authoritative statement about the Community Council election in the last edition of St Andrews in Focus, don’t trust that statement too much!). Whatever your views of the rights and wrongs of that process, what is certainly true is that cultural links and friendships between the peoples of the countries of Europe will become ever more important in breaking down barriers; twinning arrangements such as ours will play a vital role in this. As ever, I welcome hearing from you on any matter at: callummac@aol.com or at: 01334 478 584. dum spiro spero

John Cameron’s Column

An Optimist’s View As four years of Great War commemorations themselves fade into history it is perhaps a good moment to reflect on what we have made of the planet we’ve inherited. Society today is so complex and bewildering it’s no surprise that regret for the loss of a more familiar past is a potent theme. Yet it’s troubling that two thirds of Europeans believe the world used to be a better place. When I first read that statistic I thought the respondents couldn’t have lived long enough to remember the desperate 1940s or the drab 1950s, but evidently the feeling was most acute among the elderly, and especially men. Yet the modern era has been one of genuine social and material improvement and intellectual advance. There’s really no reason to be fearful of the future, with many reasons to be optimistic about the fate of future generations. As the terrors of nuclear extermination receded in the late 20th century the driver of pessimism became an environmental movement launched on the back of a series of highly-readable, but wildly unscientific best-sellers. Rachel Carson’s alarmist “Silent Spring” (1962) questioned the direction of science and technology, while Paul Ehrlich’s misanthropic “Population Bomb” (1968) was a lurid repetition of the Malthusian catastrophe. Ironically during this time, Norman Borlaug was getting the Green Revolution going, which disproved both these tracts. Using new technologies and methods of cultivation he produced a quantum leap in food production worldwide. In 1970 he was given the Nobel Peace Prize to symbolize the vital role of agriculture and food production in

a world that is hungry both for bread and for peace. It was one of the best decisions of that much-criticised committee. Borlaug, GM crops, and the roll-back of communism have led to a huge improvement in social conditions and reduction in poverty. In fact the proportion of the world living in extreme poverty has halved in the last two decades. Asia has become largely immune to famine, which is now almost entirely concentrated in Africa, save only for North Korea in the 1990s, the result of appalling state-directed policies and mass repression. A combination of decentralised market exchange, the extension of democratic political rights and the scientific method have transformed the condition of much of what used to be known as the developing world. Societies and cultures open to criticism and experiment are better able to correct their errors. Knowledge is always provisional, so efforts to shut down debate on such things as “global warming” should be resisted. We must be careful not to judge previous eras against modern mores, but I think it’s empirically demonstrable that social conditions are now vastly superior to a century ago and not just in advanced industrial economies. For all the hysterics about Brexit and Trump there has never been a better time than the 21st century for constitutional democracies, or for sexual equality, personal autonomy, education, and the elevation of humanity.

FEATURES Stephen Gethins, MP for North East Fife and a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee

What the Foreign Office can learn from St Andrews The end of November is a special time for Soft power is an incredibly important tool those of us who live in and around St Andrews in foreign policy, something I have been able as we mark the Feast Day of the town, and to see first hand as a member of the Foreign the nation’s patron saint. This year was Affairs Committee. That is why I sponsored particularly special with the switching on of a St Andrews Day debate in the House of the lights at the Cathedral as it celebrated its Commons to discuss Scotland’s Foreign 700th birthday. Yet it is also a special day for Policy footprint with UK Government Ministers millions throughout the world as members of and colleagues in all political parties. the diaspora, businesses and embassies, and Regardless of Scotland’s constitutional those who feel an affinity to Scotland, mark our future, it is important that we harness that soft National Day. power. We have seen that in recent years This provides us with an opportunity to with our achievements in meeting climate show off what is best about St Andrews and change targets that have opened doors and Scotland to the whole international community partners in areas as diverse as the Maldives in a very competitive world. During my time and California. That provides educational working at Scotland Europa and business opportunities and the European institutions with the new technologies St Andrews has led the in Brussels ensuring that that are being developed as way in recent years Scotland’s voice was heard well as being the right thing was always a challenge with to do. 28 Member States, as well as dozens of subIn the field of peace building it can be state nations, regions, localities also vying difficult to find neutral yet attractive venues to for attention. St Andrews Day gave us an try and bring parties together. In recent years opportunity to showcase our culinary, cultural, I have been involved with groups from Syria, academic, and commercial achievements. That the South Caucasus and elsewhere, who may not sound like the high politics that you have used Scotland as a ‘neutral’ venue to might expect, but provided a vital opportunity discuss differences. to ensure that our voice was heard without As I made clear in the House of having a full seat at the decision-making table Commons, that is a valuable resource of sovereign Member States. the Foreign Office should be harnessing.

Stephen Gethins in action in Westminster Scotland has a marked and valuable global brand – we should embrace that. St Andrews has led the way in recent years, often providing me with a useful point of reference when meeting with colleagues from overseas. The University has been particularly good at using its global brand, not least with 45% of students and staff coming from outside of the UK. Its ‘Internationally Scottish’ exhibit celebrating students, staff, and alumni was a fantastic way to use that resource. The Foreign Office has many hard-working and excellent officials doing a tough job in some of the most difficult parts of the world. Maybe it can learn from looking outside the Whitehall bubble at the alternative resources at its disposal. As I told the Foreign Office Ministers, St Andrews would be a good place to start!

FEATURES John Hamilton recalls

Old Train Services Fifty years ago, on Saturday, 4 January 1969, the last trains ran between St Andrews and Leuchars. Before going any further, we must be clear about Dr Beeching. He is rightly credited with, or blamed for, recommending the closure of many miles of Britain’s railways, including the coast line between St Andrews and Leven, which closed in September 1965. He was responsible, too, for the loss of the stations at Guardbridge, also St Fort on the main line, which closed at the same time as the coast line, but in his “Reshaping of British Railways” he had left Leuchars to St Andrews as a viable part of the network; it was the opening of the Tay Road Bridge in August 1966 which, by siphoning off the significant Dundee commuter traffic, sounded the death knell for our railway. I had first become acquainted with the St Andrews railway some fourteen years previously, when I arrived at the University. Then, in the sixties, I became a regular traveller to Dundee, usually on the main morning commuter train (8.13, 8.18, 8.15, 8.12, as it was variously timed). In the fifties the trains had, of course, been steam hauled, the conversion to diesels taking place towards the end of that decade. One of the benefits of those new trains was the possibility of sitting in the front, getting the same view ahead as the driver, or sitting at the back, watching the view recede. There were typically some twenty trains a day in each direction – slightly fewer in steam days, more when the diesels came in. More than half operated only to and from Leuchars, the others gave a direct link with Dundee or beyond; because of the track layout at Leuchars it was always necessary to change there when travelling to or from the south. There was no Sunday service; however, on at least three occasions special trains operated, one of which I saw for myself: in 1963 a train had brought Boys’ Brigade members and their families across from Dundee for a parade and other events in connection with a Brigade Council meeting being held in St Andrews. Towards the end of the sixties ominous signs began to appear, with the posting of notices announcing, “Withdrawal of Passenger Train Services between Leuchars Junction and St Andrews”. Then there was the statutory public meeting, at which a petition with many signatures was presented, but declined by the chairman as objections should have been lodged by an earlier deadline. I recall a University spokesman making a powerful plea on behalf of students arriving and leaving four times a year with their considerable luggage. But it was all to no avail. On Saturday, 4 January business was brisk; I personally made two return journeys, at a cost of 3/4d (17p) each time. The last train out was the 22.32 and the last return from Leuchars

was scheduled to leave at 23.07. We were a few minutes late leaving, and certainly did not reach St Andrews on time as the communication cord was pulled frequently, bringing the train to a complete halt each time. When we eventually reached St Andrews there was, I think, some speech making, then it was all over. That was Saturday night. The following Monday morning was different. For Dundee commuters there were three options. Firstly, they could join those who had already been driving themselves the whole way, despite the toll on the bridge; another was to join the new direct bus service to Dundee at 8.00am, which was introduced as a condition for closure of the railway; thirdly, one could drive to Leuchars and join the train, which now started from there, running through to Arbroath. This was my choice as I travelled to Broughty Ferry. After a year or so, it started from Cupar, and continued in this way until October 1973, when it was discontinued beyond Dundee. So I, too, eventually drove the whole way to Broughty Ferry. There are few signs left now of the railway. The most obvious are the remains of the three significant bridges. Firstly, passed by hundreds of people every day, are the abutments of the Petheram bridge on the main road out of St Andrews; then at Guardbridge, easily seen from the old road bridge, but only glimpsed from the present road are the piers of the bridge over the Eden; finally, there are the piers of the bridge over the Motray Water north-west of Guardbridge. The site of St Andrews station is now the upper end of the Petheram car park. In some places, well-made paths follow the line of the railway, as alongside that car park, here and there over the golf courses and through Guardbridge, where it forms part of the Fife Coastal Path. But elsewhere the trackbed has been built over, as for example at Kinnear Court in Guardbridge and the Old Course Hotel outside St Andrews. The Hotel is built on the site of the original station, which had latterly been the goods station, and where in the early sixties, there were still several sidings and an engine shed. By the time the Hotel was built the sidings had been removed, but when it opened in June 1968 trains would continue to run for another six months along what is now the front of the building. At the Hotel is one remaining vestige of the railway, still in use today: the Jigger Inn was formerly the stationmaster’s house. So we had said goodbye to the St Andrews railway .... or was it au revoir? For nearly thirty years now, Councillor Jane Ann Liston has led the Starlink organisation with the object of reconnecting St Andrews to the national rail network. From time to time there are encouraging signs, the latest being news of a funding boost of £40,000 from the Scottish Government’s Local Rail Development Fund. I look forward to seeing everyone on the first train!

Gordon Jarvie

Midgies on Arran An itchy wee sonnet? Wee sleekit biting bliddy beasties, did ye enjoy yer midnight feasties? Luik at ma airms, ma face, ma ankles – aa chowed tae bits, ma bed in fankles! The very Monarchs o the Glen can staund nae mair, an this is when they flit alang Lochranza’s shore because they canna thole NO MORE! Intae the briney sea they gang jinking thir nippit antlers sair, roaring thir heids aff. It’s no fair. The enemy they canna see maddens thaim jist lik thee or me. May salt seawater set thaim free.

FEATURES Michael Buchanan’s

Armistice 2018 – A Day I’ll Remember In London, after some early morning heavy showers, the sun shone all day on Remembrance Sunday, 11 November. Special services and events seemed to be very well supported. In the morning, after a short delay (as a tube train’s destination was ‘Not in Service’), I travelled in unhurried comfort to Southwark Cathedral, avoiding the lines passing Westminster and Whitehall. At Southwark I was advised that ‘my godchild’, the 2.5 tonne Tenor Bell, Andrew, whose restoration I had contributed to, would be in action. Re-cast in 2017, its inscriptions include these words: ‘In Memoriam / those who gave service and sacrifice in the First World War.’ Hidden from view in the belfry, this massive artefact is, inter alia, a new war memorial, impacting on the soundscape of central London from time to time, hopefully for hundreds of years to come. It is one of the heaviest bells in the country. As I was crossing London Bridge the sound of the bells was caught in the wind. After the service, led by the Bishop of Southwark, the bells pealed again as part of the 12.30hours nationwide re-enactment of the ringing that on Monday 11-11-1918 had at 11.00hours spread the good news of Armistice, projecting a mood of joy, relief, and celebration. The Dean of Southwark had been attending an open-air service by the War Memorial in Southwark. At 3.00pm, I attended the annual London Scottish Regiment Church Parade at St Columba’s, Pont Street, with the involvement of the Chaplain General to HM Land Forces, a Church of Scotland

Minister. With a police escort and a full pipe band, the kilted troops and veterans marched from barracks in Victoria to Knightsbridge, a rare and guarded privilege since 1887. After the service, the procession was joined by families with children, for the return march. I then attended the evening service at Crown Court Kirk in Covent Garden. This was a small gathering compared to the capacity crowds earlier. The high pulpit – only for preachers with a sure head for heights – was decorated with a cascade of 100 poppies, set off with effect by the dark wood of the sanctuary. The previous evening, there had been a fine Concert of Music and Readings for Remembrance followed by a reception. The concert had concluded with Fauré’s Requiem. On 24 March 2019 Crown Court will be 300 years old. Plans are afoot! I was home again in time to catch up with events elsewhere on the TV news. To see highlighted the Tribute in the Sand on West Sands, St Andrews, to Dr Elsie Inglis (died 26-11-1917, age 53 – see Issue 58 of this magazine May/June 2013) was a fine way to end a long, memorable day. It was good that in St Andrews a non-combatant was remembered for her work with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in France, Serbia, and Russia, where the British Ambassador’s wife, Lady Georgina Buchanan, played a valued part in St Petersburg. (Photos courtesy Michael Buchanan)

Michael Buchanan at the christening of the Southwark Cathedral Bells in January 2017

NB – Gallant Michael has very kindly sponsored this Issue of the magazine for the Media Walls of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee Airports. Heartfelt thanks Michael [Ed.]!

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FEATURES: REVIEWS Anna Crowe reviews

The Scottish Ambassador by Robert Crawford Published by Cape 2018. Available at all good bookshops price £10.00. Robert Crawford’s new collection is characteristically wide-ranging, both in subject matter and in style, combining linguistic energy with lyrical pianissimo. The reader will meet poems that explore Zoroastrianism with its principle of fire; zesty portraits of Scotland’s major towns and cities, poems that celebrate Scottish landscape, history, and culture; poems that pay homage to St Columba and St Adomnán, and to a professor of linguistics; lyrical love poems, also poems that embrace far-flung places of the geographical and digital world; poems in Scots that twin luminous translations from Chinese and Ancient Greek. The book opens with ‘Search’, one of several poems that give a nod towards the digital world. ‘Search’ promises the reader a voyage in time, space, and the imagination, while striking echoes from texts that embody real voyages, such as Francis Chichester’s in Gipsy Moth, William Dampier’s, and Magellan’s, together with literary voyages, as in Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and Neil Munro’s Para Handy stories, as well as the Bible, in whose ark we will be ...steering home under the stars, Allowing for the vagaries of navigation And the distance, the closeness between us. The paradox in that last line is a typical flash of not just wit and perception, but also affection, of the way Crawford reaches out towards us, his readers. The word ‘search’ may be a noun and computing term, but it can also be a verb, maybe an imperative. For readers not familiar with Fife, who might well have to search the internet to find out why the poet introduces himself as ‘The Lower Largo Noah’: the village of Lower Largo is the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, whose account of years spent marooned on a Pacific island inspired Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, here morphing into the figure of Noah, Old Testament boat-builder, navigator, conservationist. What Robert Crawford, as Noah, is rescuing here from oblivion might be the delight in words themselves. My favourite poem in the book is perhaps ‘Professor’, a tribute to Professor Samuels, the ‘Chesty author of Linguistic Evolution,’ who ‘came alive // Explaining how the word silly for Chaucer / Meant innocent, and quoting Noam Chomsky // On colourless green ideas’ (a phrase that exemplifies multiple category mistakes). Professor Samuels’ dream is The Historical Thesaurus of English, which ‘Involved recombining all the definitions / Of the Oxford English Dictionary // To show how, across the centuries, words / Had added to or addled their meanings.’ Continuing to play with words, the poet tells us Professor Samuels ‘made us feel proud we had never received // Received pronunciation.’ We learn that it was there that he first noticed his wife, ‘Alice / In that wonderland of vowel shifts and drifting phonemes’. Here is Professor Samuels, ‘pipe-cleaner-thin’, That punning matchmaker of the English language, Passing from a bank where the wild thyme blows Past a bank of phonetics-lab reel-to-reels To the Bank of Scotland, Sauchiehall Street. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, through outdated high-tech, to the Bank of Scotland, the evocation of the wealth of language is inescapable. Meanwhile, ‘Professor’ has cunningly turned into a love poem. Among the funny, witty poems celebrating Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, St Andrews, Greenock, which raise the ‘list-poem’

to new heights, is ‘Cambus’, in praise of Cambuslang, the poet’s ‘capital of lentil-pathed gardens on tea trays / Flaunted at flower shows in the greysandstone Institute’. Here is a vanished world of ‘Swings chained on Sundays, Sabbaths of Thou Shalt Not Mow’. Sometimes cramming in yet more detail results in clunky, comic syntax: ...a class Cold War In that ex-pea-souped, still phlegm-spitting village Fallen in the 60s towards a suburb, Tabernacled, car-showroomed, bowling-greened with well-clicked jacks ‘Discovery’ too, gathers almost everyone and everything connected to Dundee (though I missed Michael Marra: his ghostly Frieda Kahlo visiting the Tay Bridge Bar might have hovered happily here). The image of ‘William Topaz McGonagall’s / Tay Bridge over homicidal waves / Love-and-hate-knuckled conceptual-artville, exiling / A L from Kennedy, Herbert from W N, / Don from Professor Paterson’ seems somewhat strained – a bridge-too-far? In ‘San Andreas’, Crawford brilliantly suggests the small city’s multi-layered history, but some references, such as why ‘John Knox, Borges, and Mary Queen of Scots / Glare at a fish and chip shop’ might well be understood only with the help of a search engine (a possible clue: Borges’ translator is Alastair Reid, whose poem ‘Scotland’ involves a St Andrews fish shop). ‘Small Data’ and ‘Search Engine’ remind us to scrutinise the etymology of our technical jargon. ‘Small Data’ marries this with the landscape of the west coast, whose weather and seasons suggest an older form of communication, ‘ a Book of Hours’. The poet tells us, ‘As it was for saints, / So for us too, the world is / Data – given things.’ And ‘The smallest data / Make everything bend here’, emphasising the interconnectedness of the natural world. The most popular search engine is ‘made up of the Chinese game of Go / And the verb ogle’, and may be far from benign: ‘It data-mines money. It is power, // Stalking, clocking us, our digital legacy,’ Alerting us to its demonic possibilities, ‘like the word legion’, Crawford ends with a chilling couplet: ‘Your house is there, your partner is there, your dreams are there. / Go on, enter your name.’ Suddenly the command ‘enter’ becomes a threat, even our ‘name’ a place of danger. Scotland is fortunate to have Robert Crawford as her ambassador: here is one of several lyric pairings in Scots, translated from Chinese and Greek, in lines after Simonides and Wang Wei: the voices of Thermopylae’s dead, and a seemingly empty landscape. The effect is magical: Ootlin, tell oor maisters this: We lig here deid. We did as we were telt. * Tuim bens. Naebdy kythin. Jist vices echoin – An licht hame-comin tae ilka daurk fir, The strath’s tap bricht aince again.

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TOWN & GOWN Professor Gavin Reid

“I’ve never found a better place to be an academic than here in St Andrews.” I’ve been living here in St Andrews now for over a quarter of a century, As a social scientist, I’d wish that Adam Ferguson, the first maybe an iota towards being a true St Andrean. I arrived here with sociologist (author of the ground-breaking Essay on Civil Society of my family in 1991, having spent twenty years at Edinburgh University, 1767, and buried in the St Andrews Cathedral grounds), had been an as Reader in Economics, and Acting Head of Department. Several occupier of No. 23; but, whilst he might have visited my house, the persuasive conversations with the then-Principal of St Andrews ‘past-owner privilege’ goes to Derek Landells, the current owner of No University, Professor Struther Arnott, led me to apply for the post of 17, which accurate research confirms, was Adam Ferguson’s residence Professor of Economics. in St Andrews. Principal Arnott was an incredibly impressive man, with a big As for immediate neighbours, it was a pleasure, for fifteen years, to vision for St Andrews University. Once I was privileged to be appointed have Sir John Cowperthwaite, and his wife Lady Sheila Cowperthwaite, Professor of Economics, Struther living in No. 25: a mirror image told me, “You come not to Athens, of my No. 23. Sir John was a but to Sparta”. In a sense he was remarkable figure, and one of the right, but the Sparta of his regime most famed economics graduates was stimulating, as well as bracing, of St Andrews University. He teaching us to do a lot with a transformed Hong Kong from a little, and to aspire to an Athenian ‘barren island’ to an economic outcome. powerhouse. Sir John died in Great hilarity amongst Edinburgh 2006, but his memory lives on. Neil academics greeted my appointment Monnery has recently written a to St Andrews, then ranked with fine biography of him, Architect of Aberystwyth University (currently Prosperity: Sir John Cowperthwaite 65th in the UK). A typical comment and the Making of Hong Kong was, “I hear you are ‘retiring’ to (2017). St Andrews”. How wrong could they Throughout my time in No. have been! 23 I have been the neighbour St Andrews University, initially of living legend of St Andrews, impelled by Principal Arnott, Grant Milne, who lives in then well supported by his highly No.19. Highly intelligent, with talented successors, Brian Lang, great entrepreneurial drive, he Louise Richardson, and now Sally transformed the brand of Fisher Mapstone, went through an almost & Donaldson bakery. Observe the unbelievable transformation. Within magnificent Royal Warrant sign one generation, it has gone from on their Church Street outlet: ‘By being a relatively minor, cloistered Appointment to HM The Queen’. university, to the third ranked in the Grant is a great raconteur and UK, next to Oxford and Cambridge, has led a fascinating life. Never with a substantial international discouraged by controversy, reputation and outreach. he literally thrives on complex Setting up home in St Andrews, problems seeking innovative I had been in the habit of collecting solutions. residences, selling houses in One of my main research Longniddry, Prestonpans, and areas, and a topic I’ve written on Liberton (Edinburgh) to buy my extensively, is entrepreneurship. heart’s desire, at 23 South Street, I’ve also tried to maintain an from Professor Donald Bullough, entrepreneurial streak in my Dean of Arts and Professor of own life. In my neighbours John Medieval History. Donald became a and Grant, I’ve had world-class firm friend. After he retired in 1991 policy makers and practitioners of he was a familiar sight in what was entrepreneurship literally on my then the University Staff Club on doorstep. South Street. His magnum opus Today, if I’m visiting Edinburgh 23 South Street has proven a wonderful was his biography of Alcuin of York, University I’m often hailed with, family home, located in the most ancient part “Hello Gavin, I’ve not seen you the 8th century cleric, the tutor to Charlemagne, published shortly after for a while: have you been on of St Andrews Donald’s death in 2002. a sabbatical?” Twenty-seven 23 South Street has proven a years after leaving Edinburgh, as wonderful family home, located in Honorary Professor in St Andrews the most ancient part of St Andrews, with short walks to work, schools, I now feel fully embedded. I’ve seen three children, two nieces, and a shops, theatre, cinema, harbour, and much more (e.g. lawyers, nephew grow to maturity at No. 23, and I’ve still two young daughters accountants, banks, dentists, vets, etc) of great convenience. The at school in St Leonards, just opposite the house. At a recent event to house is intrinsically interesting because of its fine appearance, as an mark my retiring, I was described as not being ‘put out to grass’, but ancient four-floor town house, of complete integrity, which has not been rather as ‘seeking pastures new’. The ‘new pastures’ are intellectual, flatted, and retains nearly all its period features (shutters, brass fittings, not locational; after many travels, I’ve never found a better place to be cornices, bannisters, doors, cupboards, locks, and so on). But more an academic than here in St Andrews. than this, it is interesting because of its association with events of the (Photo courtesy Gavin Reid) past. There have been distinguished clerics, intrepid sea captains, and more recently, courageous senior RAF personnel, who have lived here, as well as illustrious academics of the past, including Donald Bullough himself.

TOWN & GOWN Holly Scrivener, Head of Press for

On the Rocks

In 2018, On The Rocks, the largest studentrun arts festival in the UK, celebrated its 10th birthday. We have been providing opportunities for creative performance since 2009, and as preparation commences for our 2019 festival, we are growing still, creating more artistic opportunities than ever before. Having had a successful festival in 2018, with over 40 events across 10 days, this year the team is looking to expand the creative process outside the constraints of the festival proper, to have a greater year-round presence in the town. On 24 November 2018 we held ‘On The Pebbles’, a one-day ‘mini’ festival, featuring a taste of some of the avenues we will be exploring across the coming year. The committee behind On The Rocks, including Chloe Ashley, Festival Director, and Gabriele spaces; it featured informative and comedic Uboldi, Head of Events, are keen to use guided tours around the museum. our platform in a new way, to encourage Another popular event from On The the creative collaborative process between Pebbles was Rock Painting in the community groups who would never normally work library, run by our festival designer Hannah together. We are also excited about the use Longworth, which gave adults and children of venues and spaces alike the opportunity we haven’t traditionally to get creative with We have been providing used in the past, in order the symbol of our to make the festival, and opportunities for creative festival. The committee the arts in general, as is really focussed on performance since 2009 accessible as possible for encouraging townthe whole community. and-gown community One of the most exciting events in On The engagement. Events like this really work to Pebbles was ‘Historytelling’; a collaboration enhance this particularly special aspect of between the University’s Art History Society St Andrews. and Blind Mirth, a student-run improvisation For those who missed On The Pebbles, comedy group. ‘Historytelling’ took place in the main festival runs from 5-14 April the Preservation Trust Museum, as part of our 2019, while we are now at one of our most effort to explore non-traditional performance exciting stages of planning. We currently have over 50 events pencilled in, including

Twelfth Night 2018 both those run directly by the festival and by external groups, including, in an On The Rocks first, a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night performed by a group of Italian school children! Some of the events I am personally most excited about include a return of ‘Historytelling’, this time in the Bell Pettigrew Museum; an art event for the entire community in the Botanic Gardens; and ‘Calypso’, an exciting one-woman show on Castle Sands. The festival’s Head of Community and Outreach, Krishna Patel, has also been working hard on a number of events specifically focussed on the local community, such as ‘Secret Stories of St Andrews’, pairing together student writers with the local elderly (particularly through the initiative Dementia Friendly) to share stories about their lives. Her committee has also been working hard on Groovy Green Golf, a free crazy golf course made out of recycled materials, which is sure to be a hit with the whole family! Full details of our entire programme will be made available in March, so make sure you keep an eye on our website: www.ontherocksfestival.com and our Facebook Page (search: ‘On The Rocks Festival’) for info! In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments about the festival please feel free to email us at: ontherocks@st-andrews.ac.uk (Photos courtesy On the Rocks)

Music Café

TOWN & GOWN Alistair Macleod, Transition University of St Andrews

St Andrews’ Green Film Festival – inspiring change since 2013 St Andrews’ Green Film Festival is an annual local festival showcasing films, workshops, and guest-speaker talks, with the aim of highlighting global environmental and sustainability issues. In this article, we explore the use of films to inspire change, the history of the Festival since 2013, and what to look out for from the Festival in 2019. Using Films to Inspire Change Films are a creative way to inspire changes in our behaviour. Films tell us stories; they reach out, engage and challenge audiences’ perceptions. Film immersion through images, sounds, and symbols is a powerful tool to raise awareness. As Tom Watt-Smith (Writer and Producer of the BBC’s ‘Drowning in Plastic’) explains, one of the only ways in which profound change can occur is through the use of shocking images. Such images unsettle us as viewers, remaining carved in our minds; producing an emotive reaction is therefore an effective way of opening our eyes simultaneously to global issues and also to opportunities for transformation. Acknowledging these realities encourages us to make a difference. Our individual actions, in turn, have a ripple effect, whereby one person inspired by a film can influence family, friends, and community to initiate positive changes. Beyond behaviour change, films allow us to reach and experience the unimaginable: hidden communities, places, ideas are revealed to us through the medium of film, allowing us to travel while remaining firmly seated. The universality of images and human experiences shown through film also helps reduce age, race, nationality, gender, and location-related barriers, making messages accessible to all. It is for these compelling reasons that St Andrews’ Green Film Festival chooses to use films as the primary medium to effect positive change in our community. The History of Green Film Festival Starting as part of the Transition St Andrews initiative, Green Film Festival celebrated its inaugural festival in winter 2013, screening films primarily to a University audience. Since 2013, Green Film Festival

has continually grown in size, reaching a diverse audience from across ‘town and gown’. Last year (2018), Green Film Festival held its largest festival yet over a total of four nights, showcasing an assortment of stimulating ‘green’ films on topics ranging from the re-use movement to the potential for bugs to become a staple, low-impact protein source! The 2019 Festival For our 2019 Festival, we are excited to be screening the recentlyreleased film Beyond Crisis. This gripping documentary explores what it means to be living in a rapidly changing world and era of climate change. A story of hope, it paints an inspiring image of a better world that is not consumed by crisis and climate disruption, but instead looks forward to a more sustainable future for all. Further films are being added in an exciting new collaboration with the University’s Film Studies Department. Our aim is to inspire as many individuals as possible (whether they be University students, school children or local community members), whilst continuing to fundraise throughout the year in the hope of creating a Festival that is bigger and better than ever before in 2020. Beyond Crisis will be screened in the Byre Theatre auditorium on Saturday 23 February 2019, at 7.00pm. Find us on facebook @StAGreenFilm or vist our website: greenfilm.wixsite.com/greenfilmfestival All are welcome. If you would like to help run the festival, please get in touch at: transition@st-andrews.ac.uk

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ORGANISATIONS From Carl Hodson, Chief Executive of ‘seescape’

Sight impaired people are being inspired through ‘seescape’ as a champion for sight-impaired people, locally as well as nationally. Did you know that in Scotland, there are 170,000 people with sight It seems to us, that the time is right for a new name and ‘seescape’ loss? Of those, 4,000 are registered in Fife. Sight loss is an invisible captures our new vision and direction of travel perfectly. disability. It can affect both young and old. Were you aware that three Last year ‘seescape’ rolled out its Assistive Technology out of four people with sight impairment are unemployed? This is more Roadshows, making pitstops in St Andrews, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, than 15% above the average disability employment rate in Scotland. and Glenrothes, to demonstrate how the use of technology can assist Almost one third of sight-impaired people can experience negative in day-to-day living. attitudes from the public in The charity’s Assistive relation to their sight loss Technology Trainer, and may not be optimistic Stuart Beveridge, who about the future. demonstrates the We are ‘seescape’, different methods of a Fife-based charity technology, and helps making a real impact in the people from 8 to 80 years community. Established in old to use it, said, “The 1865 as Fife Society for the roadshows are great for Blind, we have supported demonstrating what a and advocated on behalf of wonderful role technology sight-impaired people in Fife plays in enriching the ever since. Our services are life of someone with a designed to help support sight impairment. We clients with developing show how mainstream their independence in technology, such as the areas of work, travel, smart phones, and apps, communications, and can make life easier for living skills. We provide someone to navigate information and advice to their way round their help determine our clients’ home and beyond. In needs both emotionally addition, various different and practically, through our technology companies sight-assessment service. demonstrate assistive We introduce, and technology solutions, familiarise, people to Gordon Brown, Carl Hodson (CEO), Jacqui Low (Chairman of ‘seescape’), such as stand-alone life-changing technology; Provost Jim Leishman. desktop and video we also operate our magnifiers. Braille note-takers and stand-alone braille displays are also own Optician@seescape, an early intervention service, with special available, along with specialist devices for scanning and reading text, expertise in low vision. We believe people with sight impairment should recognising colours, faces, and products.” feel empowered to live independently, making their own choices. Social Lindsey, who works at ‘seescape’, has a genetic degenerative isolation and loneliness are often felt by those with sight loss. Through macular disease. She was made aware of the condition - which causes our expertise and support our clients become more independent, progressive vision loss - when living as active members of their she was only 10. She said, community. “Although my condition is due As a volunteer you could help at one of our social groups, We are ‘seescape’, a Fife-based charity making to inheriting the gene from my parents, neither of them has befriend an individual, or support a real impact in the community degenerative macular disease. I our fundraising and administration wore glasses, but the condition activities. You could make a huge wasn’t picked up until I was difference to peoples’ lives, whilst at school, where the teachers also having the opportunity to meet began to notice a change in my central vision, meaning I had to new friends, learn new skills. Marie Lindsey, Community Engagement learn to touch type. Technology has really helped me throughout my Co-ordinator at ‘seescape’, said that the role of a volunteer is to life. It enabled me to obtain my university degree in publishing and support people with sight loss, letting them feel less lonely and journalism. It also allows me to hold down a full-time job, as I use video isolated, helping to achieve increased independence, involvement, magnifiers and specialist computer software, as well as smart phones. belonging in their community. We are calling on the people of Fife to I’ve been a client of ‘seescape’ for 20 years. I also work for them in the donate some of their time to help make a difference to someone locally sight-support team, so I have personal experience when I work with today. clients, and can advise them on what technology can do to help them Last autumn the name “seescape” was unveiled. It reflects our lead an independent life.” ambition to expand horizons for people with sight impairment. Officially launched by the Provost of Fife, Jim Leishman MBE, the charity provides a range of crucial services that have now been renamed to If you have some spare time, we’d ask you to consider becoming see them through the 21st century. a volunteer, or supporting our work by way of a donation. To find Jim Leishman said, “I’m delighted to be here today to mark this out more please visit our website at: www.seescape.org.uk significant occasion for the charity and wish them every success for the future as ‘seescape’. It’s a great opportunity to highlight the valuable work they deliver across Fife.” (Photo courtesy ‘seescape’) As an organisation we are moving forward, endeavouring to increase awareness of the great work we do, and establish ourselves

ORGANISATIONS From George Mcintosh

A very special Burns Night On Friday 25 January 2019, the St Andrews Burns Club will celebrate its 150th birthday at the Hotel Du Vin. The first recorded meeting of the Club was on the 25 January 1869, the 110th anniversary of the birth of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. This inaugural meeting took place in the Royal Hotel, South Street (now Southgait Apartments). St Andrews’ Provost, Mr Walter Milton, and hotel owner, Mr William Davidson, hosted that meeting. The gentlemen present resolved to continue the practice of meeting yearly to celebrate the Bard’s birthday, if possible on the 25 January, or on the nearest Friday night. The Club registered with the World Federation of Burns Clubs; at number 13 it is one of the oldest Burns Clubs in the world. It has met every year since, apart from the war years! This coming January the Club will celebrate this special occasion by erecting a formal plaque on the wall at Southgait Apartments, with a similar, but smaller one, on a flower tub on the pavement outside. (Residents and St Andrews in Bloom are to be thanked for giving their kind permission to do this). Past President and Secretary, Colin McAllister is kindly sponsoring the purchase, design, and placing of the wall plaque. The Club is also having a special Saltire flag made to celebrate this anniversary, which

will hopefully fly outside Madras College for a short time. It will also be used for a small parade of members from the Southgait site to our present venue at the Hotel Du Vin, on the evening itself. This year also marks a major decision by the members to admit ladies. As with quite a few organisations, the Club realised that to further the work and appreciation of Robert Burns’ songs and poetry, it had to be more inclusive of lady members and youth. Over the years St Andrews Burns Club has organized a very successful Burns competition among our local primary schools and Madras College. Past members Colin Risk, Walter Moronski, Alan Russel, Bert Dawson, with present members Ian Johnstone and David Joy, along with help from a few committee members, have organized events at Canongate, Greyfriars, Leuchars, and Lawhead primary schools, and Madras College for young folk to perform their set piece before a group of experienced judges. The Club, in fact, spends several hundred pounds each year on book tokens as prizes for the young folk in each category. The judges have witnessed some very impressive performances over the years, from a full rendition of the Toast to the Haggis to the exceptional and very emotive singing of The Slave’s Lament, and Ae Fond Kiss.

Piping in the haggis

Two very special prizes are awarded each year. The Doc Malcolm Trophy (David Malcolm was a past President of the Club and a Madras teacher). This trophy is awarded to the Madras pupil who gives an exceptional performance in song or poetry. The Ian Lochhead Trophy (again, a past President and teacher) is awarded for that very special performance by a young person who has overcome certain personal difficulties to learn and perform a piece of Burns’ work. The schools’ competition at Madras finishes with the Madras College Burns Supper in January, to which our President and a few other members are invited. The evening is organized by the senior pupils at Madras, while a few of the Burns competition prizewinners perform. The St Andrews Burns Club President is asked to present the prizes. The school staff, including Mr Olaf Darge, Ms Lynne Miller, Ms Emma Payne, Ms Vicki Birmingham, and Ms Lorna Small, are to be thanked for helping the Club by organizing the participation of the young folk. Because of their wonderful efforts, the Club has invited the head teachers of the primary schools, and those staff at Madras, to our dinner in January as our special guests, so that the members present can show their full appreciation. (Photos from 2018 courtesy Michael Joy)

Frank Quinaul

t addressing th

e haggis

Angus Peters receiving Citi

zen of the Year from President Keith McCartney

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The entertain

ORGANISATIONS Marjory Richardson, Honorary Secretary

The Priory Singers

Rising from the ashes of Pittenweem Madrigal Group, a choir of long standing in the East Neuk, the Priory Singers began life in the 1990s rehearsing in St John’s Episcopal Church and Priory, after which they were tenuously named. In those days we were a happy group of about 16 souls enjoying singing together, mostly a cappella, and giving concerts twice a year. A love of early music, church music, and madrigals, together with G & S in the early days, was maintained through a succession of musical directors, until the repertoire expanded to include more modern pieces, even jazz. Noah and his Floating Zoo in 1997 was a great hit! We would tackle anything from a Byrd 4-part Mass, to Rock-a-my-Soul. This of course was all because we loved singing, and because we have had the most wonderful Musical Directors: Betty Penman, Albert Cochrane, Richard Evans, Jim Martin, Christopher Symons, Jill Craig, now Walter Blair, who came for a term and stayed for years. Hallelujah! The Carols by Candlelight Christmas Concert in St Leonards Chapel has become a fixture in the calendar as will be, we hope, an appearance

at the Pittenweem Arts Festival, which we enjoyed so much last August. In our regular May concert we invite talented soloists to join us. In recent years we have enjoyed having Feargus Hetherington, Marie Downes, Steven McIntyre, Catherine Hooper, Nicola Davis, Ben McAteer, King Creosote, and the Russian Voskrenije Choir of St Petersburg. Weddings and celebrations are also things we do from time to time, not

to mention Evensong and Compline in the University Chapels. Come and hear us for yourself: we perform best to an audience! marjory.richardson41@gmail.com (Photo courtesy the Priory Singers)

Barbara Boyd & Lyn McCartney

St Andrews in Bloom Hopefully over the years you may have appreciated the wonderful displays of spring and summer flowers and winter lighting that St Andrews in Bloom provides. Tourists and locals often stop us when we are in town tending to the flowers, asking who we are, and who funds us? We are a relatively small group of dedicated volunteers with a real passion for making the town as attractive as we can through our floral contributions. Our funding comes mainly from individuals; local organisations, trusts, businesses; we also get a very small grant from Fife Council. This year we were delighted to be presented with Gold Standard and Best Coastal Town awards from both Fife Council and Beautiful Scotland. In addition, we were thrilled to be awarded the Rosebowl by Beautiful Scotland. This award is given to the best overall entrant in Scotland. As you can imagine we were really proud that all our efforts were recognised both locally and nationally. People generally think that the campaigns are simply about flower displays, but in fact they are much more than that. We have to showcase how the town promotes environmental responsibility, how groups in the community engage with each other, how horticultural efforts enhance the appearance of the town. We also highlight the work of other St Andrews groups. Deservedly some have been presented with discretionary awards; Argyll Court, Community Residential Garden; The Preservation Trust, Heritage Award; St Andrews Links, Dune Preservation and the Tourism Scotland Award. Due to this year’s wonderful achievement St Andrews has been invited to enter Britain Beautiful 2019, competing against towns from all over the UK. So the pressure is now on for us to pull out all the stops for next year to ensure that St Andrews continues to look its best for the Britain Beautiful campaign. However, in order for us to continue providing floral displays ….. Your help is needed…Our annual running costs are in the region of £16,000; watering alone costs us over £5,000. As a voluntary group we are always grateful for the contributions we receive. However, one of our main sources of funding has come to an end. The Council funding has been cut back, consequently we will be unable to continue to provide the number of floral displays in the town, unless we get more support from the community. This is where we need your help; otherwise there will be many empty flower tubs and hanging baskets next year! The only way we can continue to keep St Andrews looking great is if we have your financial support. No matter how small the donation, every little bit helps!

How can you help? • •

•

Become a Friend of St Andrews In Bloom. This gives you the opportunity to support the town’s floral displays and be proud knowing you have contributed. Sponsor a flower planter – For a minimum £50 annually you can sponsor a planter; a nameplate would be put in the planter with your details. You can also commemorate a special family member or friend. Volunteer – We are always looking for more people to join our small, but dedicated group. No horticultural experience is necessary, just a chance to join an award-winning team. As a Friend of St Andrews in Bloom your name would be added to the Friend and Benefactor page on our annual portfolio and shared on our Facebook page. Businesses and organisations can also become a Friend. A Friend window display sticker will be provided showing that your organisation supports us. Contact for details on how to join etc: sta_bloom@yahoo.com (Photos courtesy St Andrews in Bloom)

ORGANISATIONS Joyce Duncan, Chair of the Alliance, reports there is

Lots going on with the St Andrews-Loches Alliance Busy times for the St Andrews-Loches Alliance! At the end of August, as Joyce Duncan. On behalf of the many members present Joyce made reported in the last edition of St Andrews in Focus, splendid new signs a presentation to John, thanking him for his tremendous contribution appeared at the entrances to St Andrews, thus putting the twinning of the to the success of the Alliance over the many years of his involvement. two towns firmly on the map. The new signs aptly heralded an exhibition As guests gathered before the dinner, they were treated to traditional of photographs of the town of Loches, which was held at the Byre pipe music from the City of St Andrews Pipe Band, while after the Theatre. The photographs were stunning, bringing the town vividly to life. meal young dancers from the Jenny King School of Dance gave a Alongside the photographs, Susan Forsyth, Avril Taylor, and Lindsay superb demonstration of Scottish dancing, before leading the guests, Murray, three of the members of the St Andrews Art Club who had visited both Scottish and French, in some ceilidh dancing. They were kindly Loches the previous summer to paint, exhibited supported by the Committee and members of the some of their work, which complemented the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). The St Andrews-Loches photographs well. The St Andrews-Loches Alliance is a registered Alliance is a registered charity, At the end of September, a group of Lochois charity, holding fundraising events throughout the holding fundraising events visited St Andrews: The Mayor, Marc Angenault, and year. One such event took place at the beginning throughout the year several members of the Conseil Municipal, together of November; a Café Cabaret, starring singer Heidi with a group of members of La Nouvelle Alliance, Innes and classical accordionist Paul Chamberlain. our sister organisation in Loches. Their visit began with a reception in The hall of All Saints’ Church became a Parisian café for the evening, the Town Hall hosted by the Community Council. This was a working visit allowing members and their guests to enjoy chansons from the French for the Conseil Municipal; meetings were held with St Leonards School, music hall tradition, beautifully sung by Heidi accompanied superbly Madras College, The Preservation Trust, and the Tourist Information by Paul. This event brought what has been a very active year for the Office. Marc Angenault also met with Callum McLeod, Chairman of the Alliance to a close. Community Council. The various meetings were very constructive; it is The programme for 2019 will be announced this January. It is hoped that they will lead to useful cooperation over the next few months expected to prove every bit as exciting! For more information about the and beyond. St Andrews-Loches Alliance, including details about how to join, please The visit ended with a dinner, at which John Matthews formally visit our website: www.standrewslochesalliance.org.uk handed over the Chairmanship of the St Andrews-Loches Alliance to

Hamish Tait, Secretary Operation Heart Start, asks –

Could You Have Saved Alan’s Life? It’s potentially lethal, but with the right action death is avoidable. What are we talking about? It’s called ‘cardiac arrest’, which means the heart has stopped beating with little or no warning. This is what happened to Alan McLeod on Saturday, 26 May 2018. Alan enjoys his running and is one of the Parkrunnners on Saturday mornings at Craigtoun, even though he has had two previous heart attacks. That Saturday seemed no different from any other, but after finishing his run, he blacked out without any warning. He was fortunate: when he collapsed there were other runners who knew what to do and immediately started CPR – cardio-pulmonary resuscitation – which consists of chest compressions combined with rescue breaths. It was also lucky that, thanks to Heart Start, there is a defibrillator at Craigtoun, a machine which can restart the heart. It was used successfully to get Alan’s heart going again. He was rushed to Ninewells hospital by ambulance, where he made a full recovery. This was the third time Alan has been a victim of heart attack. The first was in January 2012, responding to CPR performed by a bystander. The second time was 2013 in the gym at Crieff Hydro; on that occasion, he needed defibrillation as well as CPR. Following this third episode, the doctors decided to fit him with an implanted defibrillator. Both the Friends of Craigtoun, and the team at Operation Heart Start St Andrews, are delighted with this outcome, but it could have been completely different. Two things were critical on each of the three occasions Alan collapsed: the presence of bystanders who

knew and were willing to perform CPR, and the availability of a defibrillator. Had you been on the spot, would you have known what to do? Could you have saved Alan’s life? Heart Start provides training for the public in CPR and has been busy installing defibrillators in St Andrews and surrounding communities. To learn what to do, or for a refresher, come along to the next public training session organised by Heart Start on Thursday, 31 January 2019, at 7.00 pm in the St Andrews Bowling Club, Kinnessburn Road. This is an open session, where all are welcome. In under two hours, you can learn the simple skills by which you could save someone’s life. And it could well be someone dear to you. Kyffin Roberts, Chairman of Friends of Craigtoun said, “The Friends of Craigtoun Park were very pleased when Heart Start St Andrews suggested that the first of their defibrillators could be installed at Craigtoun Park. Everyone agreed it would be a welcome addition to the facilities. The strange thing about having a defibrillator installed and having volunteers trained to use it, is the hope that the machine is never required. That was the case until Alan collapsed, having just completed the Craigtoun Parkrun event. It was fortunate for Alan that he fell ill close to where the defibrillator was installed. Volunteers from the Parkrun and Friends of Craigtoun staff leapt into action, administering first aid until the ambulance arrived. There is no doubt that having the defibrillator to hand played an important part in saving Alan’s life. The Friends of Craigtoun are happy to provide the small

Alan holding the defibrillator that saved his life, with Chairman Kirsty Hastie and Kyffin Roberts. power supply needed for the defibrillator. The Friends also carry out regular maintenance checks. It’s good to know that the defibrillator is available, but the hope remains that it will not be called for.” Heart Start is a charity dedicated to encouraging the public to have the means to save a life through learning how to perform CPR and by having access to defibrillators. Thanks to the support of the public, they have been able to install a total of 37 public access defibrillators in St Andrews and surrounding communities at a cost of around £1800 each. These machines are accessible to the public, used by anyone: they talk you through what to do. They are all registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service, so that a member of the public can be directed to the nearest one when they dial 999. Heart Start relies on public donations: they receive no external funding, but spend next to nothing on administration. For more information, including the location of the public access defibrillators, visit the website at: heartstart.org (Photo by Peter Adamson)

ST ANDREWS CONCERT DIARY JANUARY – JUNE 2019

www.st-andrews.ac.uk /music

PULL-OUT FEATURE The University of St Andrews Music Centre presents a wide variety of performances this Spring alongside the many student societies who contribute so richly to the musical scene in the town. Highlights of this semester’s programme include visits from soprano Carolyn Sampson with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the brilliant young Delta Piano Trio from the Netherlands and the Glee Club of Yale University. The semester culminates in Byre Opera’s double bill: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea and Madeleine Dring’s Cupboard Love, the latter receiving its first public performance in the UK after thirty years of neglect. SEMESTER

DATE

TIME CONCERT

VENUE

11:00

University Service sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir

St Salvator’s Chapel

Every Sunday during Semester 16:00

Choral Evensong sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and other groups

St Salvator’s Chapel

Every Wednesday during Semester 17:30

Choral Evensong sung by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and other groups

St Salvator’s Chapel

Every Thursday during Semester

22:00

Compline sung by St Leonard’s Chapel Choir

St Leonard’s Chapel

WEEK 1

13:10

Organ concert by Kamil Mika (Poland)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Every Sunday during Semester

Tuesday 29 January

Wednesday 30 January 13:10 Lunchtime concert by John Moran and Fred Freeman – Allan Ramsey: Auld Reekie’s Sangster

Byre Theatre

Wednesday 30 January 14:30 Music Talks with Fred Freeman: A fiddler and a poet: Songs of Robert Burns

Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Wednesday 30 January

19:30

Scottish Chamber Orchestra – Berlioz: Les Nuits d’Été

Younger Hall

Friday 1 February

13:10

Music Society Lunchtime Concert by The Accidentals

Younger Hall

Saturday 2 February

19:00

Heisenberg Ensemble 30th Anniversary Concert

Younger Hall

Organ concert by Andrew Macintosh (Deputy University Organist)

St Salvator’s Chapel

WEEK 2 Tuesday 5 February 13:10

Wednesday 6 February 13:10 Lunchtime concert by Richard Michael: The History of Jazz Piano, part 2

Byre Theatre

Wednesday 6 February 14:30 SCO Cello Masterclass by Eric de Wit

Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Big Ears, Little Ears

Byre Theatre studio

Friday 8 February 13:10

Music Society lunchtime concert by Kristel Knudsen and Holly Scrivener (sopranos)

Younger Hall

WEEK 3

Organ concert by Daniel Cook (Durham Cathedral)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Wednesday 13 February 13:10

Lunchtime concert by Georgia Brown (baroque flute) and Tom Foster (harpsichord)

Byre Theatre

Music Society lunchtime concert for Queer Fest

Younger Hall

Organ concert by Simon Leach (St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Lunchtime concert by Square One

Younger Hall

Thursday 7 February

Tuesday 12 February

Friday 15 February

10:30 & 11:45

13:10

WEEK 4 Tuesday 19 February 13:10 NEW MUSIC WEEK

Wednesday 20 February

13:10

NEW MUSIC WEEK Wednesday 20 February 14:30 Music Talks by Matthew Rooke: From Universal Master via New Jersey and John Tavener to Outlaw King Music Society New Music Week lunchtime concert

Younger Hall

NEW MUSIC WEEK Saturday 23 February 21:00

St Andrews New Music Ensemble and St Andrews Fusion present Fitkin and Zappa

Byre Theatre Studio

WEEK 5 Sunday 24 February 11:00 NEW MUSIC WEEK

University Service with World Premiere of new anthem by Sam Jackson

St Salvator’s Chapel

NEW MUSIC WEEK Sunday 24 February 18:00

Baltic Meditations: St Salvator’s Chapel Choir with Allar Kaasik (cello)

St Salvator’s Chapel

NEW MUSIC WEEK Tuesday 26 February 13:10

Lunchtime organ concert by Seamus Heath (Campbell Watterson Organ Scholar)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Wednesday 27 February 13:10

Lunchtime concert by Jessica Wyatt (viola) and Douglas Holligan (piano)

St Salvator’s Chapel

NEW MUSIC WEEK

Friday 22 February

13:10

Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Photo on previous page © Oli Walker

PULL-OUT FEATURE SEMESTER DATE

TIME CONCERT

Wednesday 27 February 14:30 Music Talks with Percy Leung: Orchestral Music in the Midst of the First World War

Wednesday 27 February

19:30

Thursday 28 February 19:30

VENUE Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mozart Piano Concerto no. 27

Younger Hall

St Andrews Concert Series presents Jean Johnson (clarinet) and Steven Osborne (piano)

Younger Hall

Friday 1 March 10:00 Masterclasses by Jean Johnson and Steven Osborne

Younger Hall Rehearsal and Stewart Room

Friday 1 March 13:10

Music Society lunchtime concert by the Hetty Buchanan String Quartet

Younger Hall

WEEK 6

Organ concert by Rashaan Allwood (Rice University, Texas)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Tuesday 5 March

13:10

Wednesday 6 March 10:30 Piano masterclass with Susan Tomes

Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Wednesday 6 March 13:10 Lunchtime concert by Richard Michael: The History of Jazz Piano, part 3

Byre Theatre

Wednesday 6 March 14:30 Music Talks with Susan Tomes: Speaking the Piano – the author speaks

Younger Hall Rehearsal Room

Friday 8 March

13:10

Music Society lunchtime concert by Big BUStA

Younger Hall

Friday 8 March

19:30

University Madrigal Group

St Salvator’s Chapel

Saturday 9 March

19:30

St Andrews Chamber Orchestra

Younger Hall

WEEK 7 Sunday 10 March 15:30

Yale University Glee Club and St Salvator’s Chapel Choir: Sacred and Profane

Holy Trinity Church

Sunday 10 March

19:00

University A Cappella Society: Top of the Scots

Younger Hall

Monday 11 March

19:30

University Opera Society: The Marriage of Figaro

Byre Theatre

Tuesday 12 March 13:10

Organ concert by Matthew McIlree and Sam Myers (Campbell Watterson Organ Scholars)

St Salvator’s Chapel

Tuesday 12 March