Speaker Derek Anderson

Rotary club of Stirling meeting of 19th July.

Our weekly meeting was held on 19th July, VP Alan Bradshaw in the chair.  We were sorry to have received the resignation of long-standing member PP Tom Wilson. The swimming pool at the Peak is again fully open, which means we will resume our Arion bus service driving youngsters to the pool. We have a rota of drivers but a few more names would be useful. John Rankin announced the result of the Summer golf meeting held at Whitecraigs won by Stewart Wilson.

Our speaker was PP Derek Anderson, ably assisted by ground heating specialist Tom Thomson.  Derek's job has changed greatly over the years, being increasingly dominated by new government regulations around house purchase. In particular the introduction of a home report for all house sales in 2008, and later the requirement that the seller must provide and pay for an Energy Performance Certificate. The results of these are stored centrally but can be accessed by the public. The principle of the report seems simple but in practice can be difficult to carry out. In general, the age of a house can indicate it's likely construction and probable thermal quality, but the addition of extensions and often added insulation make assessment difficult. Cavity wall insulation is of many types some now abandoned, and if carried out on a timber framed building can be damaging. Derek added that it is still surprising how many homes still have no added loft insulation, but however it is done preserving ventilation is essential. Tom Thomson told us of the ground heat system built into his new build home, which heats the building and provides hot water all year round. It must be done at the time of building and is expensive but gives long term benefits and lower running costs.

The next meeting 26th July Speaker's host Colin Bayes, speaker the new director of The Smith Caroline Mather, Visitor's host Philip Allison.

Ian Richardson