Florida Adventures Spring 2020

Rotary Club of St Andrews weekly meetings continue to be held on-line by Zoom. One unexpected benefit of the medium is that this week’s speaker, Jerry Beaulier a St Andrews Rotarian, could present his talk ‘Adventures in Florida Part 1’ from his new home in Florida. Jerry and his wife, who together run an exclusive B&B business in St Andrews, flew to Florida on the 1st of February this year intending to stay for 4 or 5 weeks in a town called Sarasota. However when Covid 19 struck and BA cancelled flights, they had to stay. Rather than continue to pay heavily for their small rented flat and car hire, they decided to buy a house and car. Jerry, an American and former USAF fighter pilot trained in Pensacola, North Florida and since then has returned to Florida many times over the years. The house they bought, in an idyllic part of town, has a large pond and is sited on the edge of the local golf course. Visited by all kinds of wild life such as Racoons, Bobcats and Cranes, this particular neighbourhood is said to be one of the premier residential areas in the US. Sarasota, twinned with Dunfermline, has strong Scottish connections being established by a Scot and former student of St Andrews University. He was John Hamilton Gillespie and was largely responsible for establishing and developing Sarasota and, it is said, the first Golf course in the US. He also established churches, the DeSoto Hotel, was the local Attorney and Mayor for a while and now there is a statue of him to commemorate his legacy.

Jerry as some will know was responsible for introducing beach wheelchairs to the West Sands enabling disabled people to enjoy the pleasures of the beach and is also involved in a similar initiative in Sarasota County where, in addition to the introduction of beach wheelchairs, boardwalks are being modified to improve access for the disabled. Much of the cost of these initiatives in Florida and St Andrews is being funded by the Hamish McHamish Foundation established by Bob and Diane Heron, friends of the Beauliers in Sarasota and who were our guests on Zoom. Bob, a former Rotarian, and originally an Architect from Glasgow is now an author and poet.  He wrote the Hamish the Cat series of books of which there are four already. Proceeds from the sale of these go to the Foundation to further fund the beach wheelchair initiatives. We await hearing 'Adventures in Florida part 2’ with much anticipation, which Jerry will no doubt present after his return to St Andrews later this month.Resident in Florida during Covid-19 is an experience we want Jerry to share