Reports on Events and Meetings

Rotary Club of Dunfermline Weekly Meeting – Incoming President Ronnie Pook

Thursday 3rd July 2025.



Members: 25

Guests: 0





Outgoing President David Walker opened the meeting and welcomed members present.



TFTD was presented by Ian Morris and included musings on:

How nice it was to see Ronnie managing to come along this week (just 51 to go).

Wimbledon and the British Rain.

Tears from the Chancellor of the Exchequer under pressure.

King Charles visited Fife and obviously got lost as he wound up in Kirkcaldy.





Pres. David then welcomed incoming President Ronnie to the role and presented him with the President’s Jewel and Chain.



New President Ronnie then took on the meeting.



Ronnie’s first Presidential acts were to thank David for his very successful year as President, thank everyone for attending and supporting the club, apologise for missing his first week as President due to Holiday commitments, and then introduce his new SVP Ian Wilson who also received a modest jewel (size isn’t everything).



President Ronnie gave us an overview of the size and spread of Rotary worldwide – now 1.4M members across 200 countries – and reiterated the good that the organization has done and will continue to do.

Ronnie reminded us of our new Rotary International President for 2025/26 - Francesco Arezzo Club of Ragusa Italy, and the motto he has adopted for his year: “Unite for Good”.



Ronnie went on to give us a short version of his biography, from roles in Banking and Building Societies, then moving into the Leisure and Tourism sector with his Golfing tourism business, Ronnie was more than happy to be able to turn his hobby into his business.



As all members will know Ronnie and Carol have worked long and hard to make the business the huge success that it is today, and on the crest of that wave Ronnie is now looking at a well-earned retirement.



Ronnie’s vision for the Club in his Year is to keep the club growing and evolving. We have seen several members leave the club this year through retirement and (sadly) passing away, and Ronnie is keen to see new members come through the door.

Ronnie is also keen on us being flexible, if necessary, adjusting the shape and direction of the club as the demands on us change.



Ronnie wants us to continue to engage within the club membership through Friendship, Social events, Fundraising activities, local events such as Kids Out and the Schools Tech Challenge, where possibly combining with Other Clubs.



There then followed a brief Intermission for dinner and Tablet.



Ronnie then picked back up on membership growth, every member is an ambassador for the club, and Ronnie encouraged every member to find at least one friend / colleague / acquaintance / relative who could be inducted into the club; Ronnie has set a target of six new members in his year.



Ronnie then advised that this year’s Program Team will be chaired by Brian Blanchflower with support from Ian Morris who did such a fine job of it in the last year. They already have c.80% of the year “programmed” and are actively working on the other 20%. All members are asked to look out for possible speakers and outside events – details and ideas to Brian if you have any.





Business / Reports: Ronnie with support from Alan Condie, Ian Morris, Andrew Watson and David Fraser



1. The High Schools Technology was held on Monday 30 June and a great success, winning team was from St Columbus HS with runners up from Dunfermline HS and Woodmill HS. Alan expressed thanks to all members who were able to support the event on the day. A special thanks to David Brown who stepped in as chief judge at the 11th hour as well as trying the challenge for himself to show how easy it was….



2. Social evening at BOOFI fusion buffet in Dunfermline. Andrew Watson has organized this and asks all members to pay him, and he will then settle the bill with the Restaurant, £22 pp and buy your own drinks.



3. Treasurer David Fraser advised that membership subs are due for the coming year: £125pp for membership plus an additional £60 if members wish to take part in the monthly draw (Prizes £50 and £30 pm).

· Payment (£125 or £185) to Rotary General Account: 82-62-19 6046 1378



4. Ian Morris announced that the first social away day for the club will be an event at the Festival Fringe – on a Friday or Saturday in August – event and date TBA. Ian is also looking at events in The Outwith Festival to see if there’s anything we may want to support, again TBA.



5. Upcoming Golf events: Ronnie summarised these, as above more details to come in due course. If members are interested in any of these then names please to Keith McFarlane.



· Friendly 4-somes – Details TBA

· Family Golf event (for golfers and non-golfers). Planned for 2nd last Sunday in August. Details due from Keith McFarlane

· SCLAR trophy competition will be held at Kinross Golf Club, planned for the 1st Sunday in October. Again, details TBA



6. Membership, after some discussion it was agreed that Babcock remain on our “books” as a corporate member, represented by George White.

· (George if you manage to see this minute and have any comments, please let me know (Neil Wilson, Sec.)

No further business.

Rotary Club of Dunfermline Weekly Meeting.

Thursday 10th July 2025.



Members: 22

Guests: 1 Bill (Dusty) Miller – “I wish I’d thought of that”.





President Ronnie’s first full meeting, Ronnie welcomed 22 members and one guest to the weekly meeting.



TFTD was presented by Ian Morris. Ian shared some thoughts on the warm sunny weather we have seen recently and the need to protect ourselves from it as we are unaccustomed to it, it isn’t made of leather so don’t risk your skin; but on the other hand, enjoy it while it lasts.

“Oh, and if you haven’t already… pay your Dues”





1. The Club has been asked to put forward a member who is willing to be our point person on all things PVG – Mike Williams generously offered to take this on.



2. Mike Williams then discussed the upcoming District 1010 Conference, to be held on Sat 25 October at The Glen in Dunfermline 09.00 - 1230. Mike has been asked to arrange an activity or event on the Friday (24th) for those District Reps who have travelled the day before. The original idea was for a “mini gavel” competition, but given the numbers involved this is not possible. The Idea of Quiz instead was mooted and largely (informally) agreed. Additionally, our Club has been asked to provide stewarding support for the Saturday event; also, members are asked to attend the event if possible as club representatives. Mike agreed to follow up on this and keep members advised.



3. Ian Morris advised us of the upcoming Couples event at the Edinburgh Festival/Fringe. Ian has bought the requisite number of tickets and has published the QR Code and details of meal options. Ian asks all those interested to advise their meal options as soon as possible.





4. Brian Blanchflower gave us an update on the program for the coming year.

· This evening Dusty Miller (see below)

· Thursday 24th July: Sandy Masterton & Martin Rogers with an illustrated talk on the history of Rosyth Dockyard

· The Program year is now pretty-much complete, and the Google Sheets have been updated to reflect this. Brian expressed his thanks to his team for making this happen so quickly and so seamlessly. Brian expressed particular thanks to Ian Morris for keeping a hand on the tiller until Brian returned from his vacation.

· Brian also mentioned some of the external (non-meeting) events coming up:

i. Festival Fringe visit

ii. Couples’ Golf at the Halkett course on Sunday 24th August

iii. Indoor Bowling at Headwell club on Thursday 28th August.



5. Dunfermline Whisky Association who supports a local charity “Sailability” are having a photo shoot at Lochore Meadows Park on Saturday 26th July and have asked for a Club representative to support this. Mike Williams kindly agreed to do this.



Dinner and conversation



Speaker Dusty Miller – I wish I’d thought of that

After a brief resume of Bill’s Resume by President Ronnie, Dusty addressed the club for the second time in recent months. Bill’s last talk was about memory, how it works, why it stops working and how to train it to “keep it fit”.

This time Dusty gave us a talk about lateral thinking, cool ideas and problem solving…



What makes us think of things? Where do “good ideas” come from?

In fact, it’s always the result of lateral thinking or “thinking outside the box” and often comes from taking a fresh look at a problem or having someone from a different background take a look.

Bill gave us a host of examples.

· Torvill and Dean making full use of Ravel’s “Bolero”, rather than edit the music to fit their routine they simply stayed kneeling on the ice, with skates off the floor, for the first 17 seconds of the piece, they then skated for the full piece of music, hit the crescendo at the end and won gold.

· Then there was the car that wouldn’t start if the kids wanted Vanilla Ice Cream, but any other flavour was OK.

· The soap factory in Japan that occasionally produced an empty box

· How to track an Afghani Warlord in his Mercedes.

· How to not spend $Millions on a NASA pen that works in zero gravity.

· Basketball hoops over recycle bins

· Where’s Wally poster above a Dentist Chair.

· Green lights in a car park

· Elevator buttons on the floor

· The Hotel Fire Escape Plan board at the foot of the door, not above it.

· Tuxedo pizza boxes

· Using a bus to clean the lights in the Clyde Tunnel

· Proving there’s more space in an iPod by drowning it and finally….

· A mute button on your microwave oven so your dinner guests don’t know you reheated the meal….

Bill gave us a fair few more, but you get the picture.

His final example was of an idea that didn’t go quite so well.

After a lengthy and costly project with the Folks on Madison Avenue Electrolux proudly unveiled their new slogan….” Nothing sucks like an Electrolux”. Wasn’t received by the buying public in quite the way they’d hoped.



VOT: the vote of thanks was delivered by David Gemmel, gamely working with his new joint.

Rotary Club of Dunfermline Weekly Meeting.

Thursday 24th July 2025.



Members: 22

Guests: 4 Sandy Masterton & Sandy Rogers - speakers.

Andy Gordon & Gerry Moriarty – friends of members







Errata: two notes from the previous meeting minutes to be corrected.

1. Andrew Croxford, not Mike Williams, volunteered to be the club representative for all things PVG – thanks Andrew

2. John Haxton, not David Gemmel, delivered the VOT for Bill Dusty Miller’s talk – thanks John







President Ronnie welcomed twenty-two members and four guests to the weekly meeting.



TFTD was presented by Sean Doran. Given recent sporting events, Sean shared some thoughts on winning Vs. losing Vs. just being in the game. While we may aim for gold, achieving it or not isn’t as important as taking part; it’s the work done, the preparation made, and then being in the moment. That said, winning does make it better…



Business and Social.



1. SVP Ian Wilson gave an update on the weekend’s event with Rotary Club of Cowdenbeath. As part of their centenary celebrations RC of Cowdenbeath produced a plaque in-memory of the miners of the area who worked and often suffered injury or worse, either during their working day or in later life. After some lengthy speeches, in the rain, Jim Leishman unveiled the plaque, which is on display at The Mining Heritage, in Brunton Square, Cowdenbeath.



2. Ian went on to note that Craig Bennet from the Cowdenbeath Club is planning to visit us on an upcoming Thursday.



3. Ronnie updated the club on the Dunfermline Whisky Association’s photo-shoot for their charity “Sailability”, which Mike Williams was to represent the club at, has been postponed, still planned for Lochore Meadows Country Park; update to be advised.



4. Ronnie asked a reluctant Keith McFarlane to update us on the golf pairs: Ralph McCran and John Sim beat Keith and Ronnie to move onto the next round.



5. Ian Morris advised us of the upcoming Couples event at the Edinburgh Festival/Fringe. All is done, meals requested, tickets purchased, 17 people attending.





6. Finally, Ronnie reminded the club that the next Council meeting (his first as Pres.) will be held at his address on Monday 28th July at 19.00 hrs. An agenda is currently being worked up and will be forwarded to Council members over the weekend.



Dinner and conversation



Speaker: Sandy Masterton supported by Martin Rogers on the subject of Rosyth Garden City and the Royal Dockyard.

After a brief introduction by Pres. Ronnie Sandy gave us an overview of the history of Rosyth and the Royal Dockyard.

The Dockyard was very busy during the two world wars and part of the Cold War, is less so now. However, 110 years ago there was nothing there, no dockyard, no Rosyth, just farmland and a few buildings.

Due to the advantageous aspects of the River Forth, wide estuary, deep water etc. a dockyard at Rosyth was given the go ahead and work started in it in 1909. The town of Rosyth was developed, in part, to accommodate the 5,000+ workers (“Navvies”) employed to build the Dockyard.

It is estimated that around 60 workers lost their lives during the building, about the same as those lost during the construction of the Forth Bridge. There is no record of the number of injuries.

As well as the men, there was a huge amount of plant and material brought into the area including over 50 locomotives, for the railway they built to move equipment around.

As the Dockyard was a Military / Naval Project, the work on the dockyard spawned the development of ancillary Military sites in the area:

o Communications towers on Castlandhill

o Hospital and Barracks in Rosyth

o Barrage Balloons at North Queensferry

o A Destroyer Base at Port Edgar

o An Air Station at Donibristle

o An Ordnance Store and Gunnery School at Crombie.

Additionally, Rosyth started to grow (Bungalow City, Dolly Town etc.) initially to accommodate the working men but then to accommodate military personnel and their families; and finally, as people moved to the area through natural growth. In 1916 “The Garden City” build commenced.

The first RN vessel to enter the dockyard was HMS Crescent.

During its early days the Dockyard was visited by various dignitaries including Kings, Emperors and Prime Ministers. The list of Ships that docked there is equally impressive including the previous and current Naval vessels named Queen Elizabeth.



The Dockyard was busy throughout the 1914-18 war and was host to the surrender of the German fleet before they were escorted to Scapa Floe. There the German crews scuttled and sank them rather than see them broken up or re-tasked under the British Flag.



Between 1918 and 1924 the dockyard was used as a port and a breakers’ yard for military ships that were no longer required; after a few years this work dried up and came to an end in 1924.



In 1925 the Dockyard was mothballed as there was little need for a naval dockyard; however, the peace wasn’t to last, and in 1938 the Dockyard re-opened as the prospect of hostilities with Germany (again) became a reality. It was at this time that HMS Caledonia was established.



The Dockyard’s increased relevance in the new war effort resulted in an influx of work and men again – both military and civilian. It also attracted the attention of The Luftwaffe who bombed the dockyard in October 1939, resulting in the death of sixteen people. Martin then showed a short film of the burial service for those lost in the bombing.



The flow of men back into the area meant more house building – this time in the Kings Road area and Dollytown.

After the end of WW2, it was feared that The Dockyard would again be shut down, but this time it remained open.

Over the following years the fortunes of the Dockyard have changed for better and for worse, however the relevance of the site has remained and during the brief Falklands War a great deal of activity was seen around both the Dockyard and The Ordnance Stores at Crombie.

Today The Dockyard is in private ownership with many businesses working out of the port and surrounding area.

Similarly, Rosyth as a town has continued to grow with new housing and businesses coming into the area.



Martin then closed the presentation with a short (very dated) film entitled “Commissioning at Battleship”. An enjoyable and interesting film with some fascinating views of the dockyard and the ship involved; members also enjoyed the voice-over from an over-excited Narrator with marbles in his mouth talking about 2x normal speed and a deafeningly jingoistic soundtrack. (they really don’t make them like they used to…)



The talk concluded with 3 or 4 good questions from the members.





VOT: Jim Leggat gave Sandy and Martin a respectful, grateful and succinct Vote of Thanks.

Rotary Club of Dunfermline Weekly Meeting.

Thursday 31st 2025.



Members: 18

Guests: 1 Alan Donaldson (Speaker)





President Ronnie welcomed eighteen members and one guest to the weekly meeting.



TFTD was presented by Ian Morris. Ian made an excellent start with a mouthful of bread (great timing Ronnie), then commenced a lengthy dump on the US President after his short self-interested visit to Scotland.



A visit in which he complained about wind turbines and European Immigration, attacked Sadiq Khan in front of his friend Kier Starmer, attacked Nicola Sturgeon as being “an awful person” (she later said “the feeling is mutual”) and managed to get a ludicrously one-sided trade deal with the EU. All the while playing (and shamelessly cheating at) golf and saying how much he loves Scotland.



No dissenting voices in the room, and a promise of something more uplifting next week (maybe it was the bread)





Business and Social.



· Sports Correspondent Keith McFarlane gave an update on the recently completed Golf Contest – “Friendly Fours”.

o 2024 Winners Graham Steedman & David Chalmers

o This now puts David clear 2nd in number of times winning the cup - five x. David's first win was with David Smith was in 1991

o Graham is now in 3rd equal place, with Ken Fraser on 4 wins.

o Jim Barnet's record of 10 wins is well out in front. (He won 4 times in the first 5 years of the competition which began in 1978)

o David Chalmers now equals Jim Barnet's record of twice having consecutive wins.

o Other consecutive winners have been Ken Fraser, Chris Morris and Graham Steedman, but the record for most consecutive wins is George Adamson with 3 between 1996 to 99.



· Pres. Ronnie advised members of his first Council meeting held on Monday 28th July in which, in addition to the standard agenda items, the following items were discussed

o The Club website which has fallen somewhat into disrepair and lack-of-use is to be reviewed and upgraded. Douglas Scott, who will be our speaker on Thursday 4th September will be asked to help with this necessary work.

o A new WhatsApp group is to be introduced for prospective new members, and anyone identified as being interested in Rotary; this so they can be made aware of any talks and activities that they may want to join in.

o Ronnie mentioned that we have a busy August coming up; thanks are due to Brian Blanchflower and Ian Morris for leading the program effort.

o August includes a full slew of meetings plus some external events: including

§ A visit to the Festival Fringe

§ The annual Couples’ Golf tourney at the Halkett course

§ A visit to Headwell Bowling club

§ Ronnie / Brian / Ian encouraged all members to support these events as much as possible.

o The Royal Marines Band concert will again take place just before Christmas in Dunfermline Abbey, ticket prices have been adjusted to £15 for concessions (including parents of school choir children) and £20 for everyone else.

o The Program for 2025/26 is very full but not quite complete, there are still a handful of “empty” slots which Brian and Ian



· Ian M reminded us of an event at this year’s Outwith Festival – “Mary, Queen of Rock” – and again asks members to support if they are interested. Details of this show have been shared on the Club’s WhatsApp page.



· Brian Mitchell (ADG) made a request to the Club that our Program be published or advised to other clubs in the district in case their members are interested in joining us; also, so they may share their own programs with us. A copy of the program has been forwarded to Brian Mitchell as requested.



Dinner and conversation… and tablet… then…



Speaker: Alan Donaldson – Water Polo

Alan has represented Dunfermline, Scotland and Great Britain at Water Polo, he is now a much-respected Coach and instructor for the sport. Alan is a Dunfermline man and throughout his talk referred to Dunfermline people and places that have meant so much to him in his life and his chosen sport through the years.

Alan started out as an avid sports fan and keen swimmer, encouraged by his Father who played Water Polo before it had any prominence in Scotland.

Alan described his career, from early days when he was placed in the U/10 rankings for local swimming, through to his first forays into Water Polo (WP) in 1970, described by himself then as playing “heeders in the bath”.

Alan’s swimming career stalled in 1972, and he became more fully engaged with WP; in 1976 Alan made it into the Scottish U/18 team during which he trained in Aberdeen and Dundee and represented Dunfermline in competitions in England. It was here that Alan first realized that, although barely a footnote in Scottish Sport, WP was big elsewhere.

In 1979 Alan was in the Scottish U/21 team and found himself competing across Europe.

During the period 1977-81 Alan’s WP took time out to train at Jordan hill College as a PE Teacher; that said he continued with his swimming and WP training throughout.

In 1980 Alan joined the Scottish Senior WP team for a tournament in Malta; they didn’t do well but learned a huge amount about WP and how it was played in other countries.

Alan and his team had been absent from Dunfermline due to refurbishment of the Carnegie centre, but in 1982 that was complete, and the team were again able to train in Dunfermline. When the team returned to Malta in 1984, they won.

Through the 19890’s and 90’s the Scottish team competed at a variety of tournaments both in Europe and here, against the other home nations. In 1980 Scotland placed 4th out of 4, in 1990 Scotland placed 1st.

Alan stressed the point here that of the 15 players in the Scotland team at that time 6 were from Dunfermline and another 4 from Portobello – “local lads make good”.

Alan’s talk completed the 90’s and 00’s with growing success of the Scottish and GB teams, culminating in his retirement from the game in 2009.

However, by 2022 Alan found himself coaching Ladies WP teams in various age groups including the Edinburgh University Ladies Team and the Scotland Ladies team.

Alan went on to give a short quiz on Water Polo, internationally and from Scotland’s POV. A good set of questions which our members largely failed to answer. Alan went on to show us a video of the highlights of a recent championship WP match (Men’s) between Hungary and Spain; it was interesting to note that when Alan thought we’d had enough and offered to stop the video we all kept watching. Even for a room full of people with little knowledge of the game, the match was electric.

Alan concluded his talk after the video and welcomed several questions.











VOT: Keith McFarlane gave Alan the Vote of Thanks (plus a couple more questions).