Speaker - Angus Peters on Rotary Foundation Scholars

The meeting began with a 10 minute “breakout” session where 4 smaller groups discussed what they had been up to.  Conversations included John Spittals new “celebrity neighbour who apparently plays football for Dundee United, and a discussion around how well Corona Virus precautions are implemented by airlines.  Gordon MacKenzie told us about his upcoming trip to Colonsay and Eric is planning a trip to Strathspey.

 President Jim Allison formally commenced the meeting with a question regarding the oldest Scottish Universities.  While it was recognised that St Andrews was the oldest, founded in 1413, he asked the members to put in the correct chronological order Glasgow (1451), Aberdeen (1495) and Edinburgh (1583).

 There was a good response the the “happy pound” with many of the members sharing their positive experiences of the past week.  Bruce Rollo has been walking in Glen Clova, Anne Tait has been able to visit her family, Brian Gray has discovered “Foot Golf” at Drumoig and has also got a ticket for next years Lions tour of South Africa, Eric Fraser has completed the construction of his greenhouse and Ian Black has visited the 900AD church at Markinch.

 No members have visited other clubs this week.

 Member Angus Peters gave an interesting talk about the now obsolete Rotary Foundation Scholarship program.  This was a Rotary initiative which provided sponsorship for students around the world to visit and study in foreign universities with a view to providing them with new experiences in a different environment. St Andrews was a popular destination for students and in one particular year there were 8 scholarship students in the town.  The intention was for students to be “adopted” by a local Rotary Club and a family of one of the members.  Over the years Angus and Wendy supported two American students, Cathy from Georgia and Robin from Florida.  Cathy stayed for a total of 6 years in St Andrews so became well integrated into the family.  Robin completed a PhD in Marine Archaeology after attending a talk in St Andrews about the Marie Rose shipwreck.

Foundation scholarships were stopped by Rotary as many of the students who were being selected did not require the funding of Rotary, however many of the students who came to St Andrews were not from privileged backgrounds and would not have managed without Rotary support.  The Rotary money which used to provide these scholarships is now distributed across Rotary in the form of grants that Clubs can apply for.

Angus and Wendy developed long term relationships with their adopted scholars and he was considered their “Scottish dad”.  They travelled to the USA to meet the families of both Cathy and Robin and have hosted their families in St Andrews.  During their visit to the US, Angus was invited to the meeting of Madison Rotary Club who sponsored Cathy, however nobody informed him he was to deliver a presentation but he managed to provide an off the cuff talk about St Andrews which was well received.

Brian Gray and Wilda McKinnon talked about the positive experiences they had with scholarship students whom they supported.

Gordon McKenzie proposed a vote of thanks.