Probus Club of Lomond
Newsletter 14
March 2011
From the Chairman
Walking Group, Second Part 2010
N
T
he walking programme got off to a good start on
Tuesday 5th October with a walk from Blanefield
to Killearn. We have, of course, followed the route
along the Water Pipeline track before but this time we
left the Water track at the Glengoyne Distillery to join
The West Highland Way. The plan then was to have
lunch at The Beech Tree Inn. Unfortunately we found
this was closed on Tuesdays, (they had moved on to
Autumn opening times). We therefore had to press on
along The West Highland Way, leaving the path where
it crosses Drumbeg Loan and we approached Killearn
going through the remarkable woods in Killearn Glen.
A very much delayed lunch was then enjoyed at The
Old Mill Inn with everyone feeling that they had really
earned it !
one of us escaped the elements this winter, and
as I write the weather is still very stormy with I
am told, further snow forecast.
At the moment our membership stands at 61. As
always it is good to welcome new members and
visitors; please continue to encourage your friends to
come along and sample the “Probus” experience.
Looking back over our syllabus, I hope you will
agree that starting off with a fantastic musical
selection brought to us by Glyn Bragg, we continued
to be both entertained and educated by a variety of
speakers covering varied interesting topics.
Fortunately Jack Webster was able to join us in
January and his stories of personalities from days gone
by whom he had interviewed were fascinating. Charlie
Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor - the list
seemed endless, and his humour was just the tonic we
needed for a dull January day.
Professor John Knowles was unfortunately unable
to attend as scheduled but we look forward to hearing
him at a future date.
Looking forward at the remainder of our session we
hope to arrange a private visit to the new Transport
Museum as a result of our talk by Gavin McLellan last
October, and as ever our annual outing to the theatre
at Pitlochry is always popular.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the work John
Ingram has put into organising the Poppy Appeal
collection over the years. Last November we collected
£765.00 and thanks also go to the volunteers who
gave of their time to do the collecting. John has now
retired from this responsibility and I hope to take over
from him, thank you John.
It has been an honour to be your Chairman and I
look forward to the remainder of this session.
The Group on the Pipeline Track below Dumgoyne
The second walk of the current session was on
Monday 15th November. Only three of us managed
on this outing; Scott Baxter, Ken Lockey and myself.
Nevertheless, we had a lovely walk in part of The
Woodland Trust Estate at Glen Finglas. This is an
excellent area for walking with more paths being
opened up by The Woodland Trust. When I was
doing my reconnaissance of this walk I was amazed to
see Dr. Morag Thow coming up the hill on her
Allan Armstrong
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5. A billion pounds ago was only 13 hours
and 12 minutes, at the rate our government
is spending our money.
The next time you hear a politician use the word
“billion” in a casual manner, think about whether you
want the “politicians” spending YOUR tax money.
mountain bike ! This was only a few days after Morag
had given her talk to us on the role of Physiotherapy
and the importance of keeping up our activity levels.
Bring back any memories?
S
omeone asked the other day, “What was your
favourite “fast food” when you were growing up?”
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,” I
informed him. “All the food was slow.”
“C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?”
“It was a place called home,'' I explained. “Mum
cooked every day and when Dad got home from
work, we sat down together at the dining room table,
and if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was
allowed to sit there until I did like it.”
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was
afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage,
so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have
permission to leave the table. But here are some other
things I would have told him about my childhood if
I'd figured his system could have handled it:
Some parents NEVER owned their own house,
wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of
the country or had a credit card.
My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle
that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one
speed, (slow).
We didn't have a television in our house until I was
10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station
went off the air at 10 pm, after playing the national
anthem and epilogue; it came back on the air at about
6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news
and farm show on, featuring local people.
I never had a telephone in my room. The only
phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you
had to listen and make sure some people you didn't
know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk
was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys
delivered newspapers - and had to get up at 6AM
every morning.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast
food, you may want to share some of these memories
with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame
me if they bust a gut laughing.
Scott Baxter and Ken Lockey enjoy a break
It was just as well that we got these early walks
completed because the weather deteriorated quickly
after that and heavy snow had arrived by late
November. With Spring (hopefully!) just around the
corner, we should manage some more interesting
routes before the end of the session.
Jim Morris
Reading Power
P
lease don’t ignore this just because it looks weird.
Believe it or not, you can read it !
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulacity uesdnatrnrd
waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the
hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to recheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers
in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist
and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rdet can be a
taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
Bet that was impressive?
Pordveid by Auhrtr Bnens
How many zeros in a billion?
W
e are now used to hearing of Government
spending in terms of billions of pounds. A
billion is a difficult number to comprehend, and a
billion pounds means nothing unless you can relate it
to something we can understand better. One
advertising agency did a good job of putting that
figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
Contributions
1. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
2. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
3. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living
in the Stone Age.
4. A billion days ago no-one walked on the
earth on two feet.
To continue the Newsletter we need contributions.
Have you news, views or information to share with
other members?
Have you any items you would like to see included?
Contact Arthur Benns, Peter Smith or any committee
member with your ideas.
Editorial team
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