President Gordon Burgess welcomed thirteen other members and two guests, Assistant District Governor Gail Savage and membership applicant Reay Mackay.
On behalf of Youth Services convener Jack Rudram, Donald Fullarton reported that the annual Young Chef competition was held at Hermitage Academy the previous Tuesday afternoon, organised by associate member Lindy Harvey and the Academy's Isabel Cullen.
Unfortunately the original entry of nine had dwindled to only two, possibly because the event was immediately after the two week half-term holiday, but the standard of cooking was as high as ever. President Gordon presented the gold medsl to Andrew Rickards, who goes forward to the District 1230 final at South Lanarkshire College in East Kilbride on January 24. The runner-up was Elizabeth Swain.
An interested spectator was the Academy's new head teacher, Robert Williamson, on only his second day in the job, and he thanked fhe club for its interest in and support for the school.
ADG Gail, who is president of the East Kilbride Kittoch club and who had attended the pre-lunch Board meeting, said that Helensburgh was clearly a vibrant club with a fantastic youth programme, and she was sure that the club would go from strength to strength. She urged the club to attempt to win a Presidential Citation.
Derek Hall gave a short talk on scientific applications, including reflections on ice cubes in glasses of whisky, the presence of the poison quinine in gin and tonic, and why beer is kept in bottles with coloured glass — as when in plain glass it quickly suffers from the effects of UV light.
The president proposed the votes of thanks to both speakers, and the winner of the weekly raffle for a whisky miniature was John McCormick.