Virginia Fowler

Wed, Nov 15th 2023 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm

Inaugural presentation on 15 November

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The speaker was Virginia Fowler who, as a new member of the club, was giving her introductory address to members. Virginia came to St Andrews from Glasgow in order to open a new shop in the town for her then employer. While she insists she is still a Glaswegian, she was so impressed by St Andrews that rather than return to Glasgow she stayed on in St Andrews with her family and worked in personnel for a number of companies in the region. While studying French, Italian and Art History at the University of St Andrews she became involved in the initial links between St Andrews and Loches, later to be the ‘ lliance’, and served as both secretary and chairperson for the organisation prior to the formal twinning between the two towns. Whilst in Loches she learnt of the discovery in one of the Loches churches of two paintings identified as being the work of Caravaggio, and on her return to St Andrews gave a seminar about the paintings which lead to an invitation to study for a masters at the university in Art History. Her M Phil dissertation was on the topic of the Loches Caravaggios. Having also worked part-time for Historic Scotland she decided to train as a Blue Badge Guide and currently works in this field using her French and Italian skills to introduce visitors to Scotland. She concluded her introductory talk to members by describing her varied work and experiences throughout the country in this field. The vote of thanks was given by Ann Baird.