7 May 2015 Gail Edwards Face to Face

President Peter Farr welcomed members to last week’s meeting  at the Westlands Hotel.
Before the meeting started, President Peter invited Andrew Hilley and Lawrie Orr to come forward to accept a cheque on behalf of the Club for the almost £5000 raised at the collection for Nepal the previous weekend. This cheque would be sent to ShelterBox to purchase 8 new boxes to replenish the stock they have been using in Nepal and further stock which is held in reserve around the world.

Andrew Hilley on left and Lawrie Orr on right accept cheque from President Peter.

It was then the turn of new member, Gail Edwards, to address members and with her Face to Face talk.
Gail regaled us with tales of her life and travels – her dad was in the Royal Navy and the family moved around a lot; Gail said she had attended 12 Primary Schools then junior High School before leaving home to go to college in Manchester. This was in the 70’s when bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin were in vogue and Gail described herself as very much a ‘Rock Chick’.
After finishing college, she started teaching in Chorley then, when her dad was posted to Bander Abbas on the south coast of Iran, she moved there to teach. The 1979 revolution which deposed the Shah made life very precarious so Gail had to leave and went to Dubai for a few months. Her early years had given her a taste for travel and she has visited many places in America, South Africa and Bali in Indonesia.
She settled in Dunblane in 2002 when she came to Queen Victoria School and has been involved with the school pipe band and dancers as well as the P7 Junior Minstrels.
Colin Strachan thanked Gail on behalf of the club for a fascinating talk.

Members were out over the weekend at the Co-op in Bridge of Allan collecting for the Duck Race which is at 1pm on Saturday 30 May along with all the other entertainment for this year’s Dunblane Fling. Full details can be found on the Fling website: www.dunblanefling.com.