The Bridge that was never built

President Irene Walker started with her weekly “guess the place” challenge to members who for once failed to solve the 5 clues to Guggenheim Museum in Balboa; a fine victory for President Irene!  In Club Business, members were reminded of forthcoming Rotary Primary School Quiz on 23^rd March in St Leonards Junior School with 7 local schools taking part.

Past President John Spittal was the speaker, sadly for members it being his last talk before moving to Surrey later in the month. John delivered a most interesting talk, entitled “The Bridge that was not built or the Fourth Road Bridge”. In choosing his topic, John explained that in preparing for his move, he came across old engineering drawings of this proposed road bridge in the 1930s. The drawings were in the name of John’s Grand Uncle John Summerville who was born in Ayrshire but settled in Dunfermline as an entrepreneurial businessman. Although John Summerville died before John Spittal was born, the large Dunfermline house where Summerville lived and ran his businesses, was a fascinating place to visit as a child, although sadly by then was in such decay, that John’s father once had flooring collapse under him.

John Summerville had many interests including building (harbour houses in Aberdour), trying to revive a Brickworks and Windy Edge coal mine in the lost Fife village of Lassodie. During his active business life in the 1930s, John Summerville became a major proponent for a road bridge across the Forth, downstream from the Forth Rail Bridge.

As John Spittal explained to members, this proposed bridge would have been a suspension bridge incorporating the island of Inchgarvie and it was budgeted to be built at a cost of £4million (£72 million at today’s values), but sadly due to combination of design questions, government inertia, questions over location, and ultimately the pending pre-war crisis, the bridge idea was dropped. Copies of 2 bridge designs held by John Spittal were shown to members; the originals can be found in the Scottish National Archive. Although John Summerville’s name is on the drawings, John Spittal remains unsure on what exact role his Grand Uncle took in the project, but as entrepreneur and builder, it was clearly very significant.

Finally, John Spittal speculated on whether the bridge, if had been built, would have proven more robust than the 1960s road bridge and wondered how it could have been built at a fraction of the £1.3billion cost of Queensferry Crossing. After fielding some questions, John thanked members for his fun and unforgettable time in the Rotary Club.

In giving the vote of thanks, member Ewen Allan thanked John for his excellent last talk to the club, his great service to Rotary and the Club, and on behalf of all members, Ewen wished John and his wife all the best for their future life in Surrey. In closing the meeting, President Irene echoed Ewen’s thanks to John Spittal and closed the meeting with an appropriate joke about a bridge, and the usual Rotary toast.