Club Meeting

President Derek Clark welcomed members and guests to the virtual meeting of the Rotary Club  of South Queensferry on Thursday 15th July. The speaker was Ian Dickson, a past president of Seagate Rotary Club in Irvine. His talk 'A recent Journey of Discovery' concerned finding the grave of his uncle David Dickson in the Netherlands village of Brielle near Rotterdam. David Dickson was a crew member of a Lancaster bomber shot down over the Netherlands towards the end of World War Two. He is buried in a Commonwealth War Cemetery which Ian first visited in 2015.  Ian noticed that someone had left flowers on the grave and on his second visit, following the Rotary Conference in Hamburg, he left a small wooden cross and a message on his uncle's grave. He was contacted by a local resident called Rinus who tended the graves. Rinus  described the terrible suffering of the people in the Netherlands during the 'Hunger Winter' in 1945 when the German blockade left people starving as the allies concentrated on driving into the heart of Germany. Ian and Rinus planned to meet on Netherlands National Liberation Day and on Remembrance Day, but both ceremonies were cancelled owing to covid. They are determined to get together as soon as circumstances permit. President Derek thanked Ian for sharing this fascinating and poignant piece of family history.