Speaker - James Beaumont

Our speaker was Jim Beaumont, retired restaurant owner and now racehorse owner. He started by giving a summary of his career. He had been brought up in the hotel trade and, on being called up for national service, had been appointed to the catering corps where he trained cooks in field cooking at home and abroad. He then became the manager of several prestigious hotels including The George in Edinburgh and Gleneagles in Perthshire. Latterly he owned a chain of restaurants.

Over the years Jim has owned a great many racehorses. For the past 20 years he has had runners in the Grand National. Though his horses have been placed many times, it was not till 2013 that he had a winner. He had bought Auroras Encore only six months previously for £20,000 - a very low price for a racehorse particularly one that is about to win the Grand National.

The horse had a starting price for the race of 66 to 1 with prize money of almost one million pounds. Auroras Encore won the race by several lengths. The trainer was the retired champion show jumper Harvey Smith operating out of his Yorkshire base, Craiglands Farm. This year Jim will have three horses in the Grand National which is now sponsored by Crabbies.

Jim then showed two DVDs. The first one of part of the race and the second of Jim in a television programme.

A vote of thanks was given by David Cormack.

Report by Alan Young