Admiral Lord Cochrane - 23/07/18

On Monday evening President Andy Slater presented a cheque on behalf of Irvine Seagate Rotary to Elma Mitchell of Marie Curie. This was part of funds raised at the Seagate Sportsmen's Dinner.

 President Andy also gave a cheque to Stephanie Frearson of Ayrshire SANDS, representing money raised at the bottle stall run by Seagate at the recent SANDS gala day at Eglinton Park.

Speaker on Monday was Alex Blair on the life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald. Born in 1775, he joined the navy at 17 and by 25 had his own command. In 13 months he took 53 vessels and 500 prisoners, and was a public hero but never got on with the navy hierarchy. Leaving Britain, he founded the modern Chilean navy and is a national hero. He also served Peru, Brazil and Greece. Latterly he returned to Britain and was granted age related promotion to Admiral. He died in 1860. His exploits were the inspiration for many novels including Hornblower and Master and Commander. After questions a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Fiona Lee.