PROGRAMME FOR 2018-2019

2018

Monday 1st October
The History of Mugdock
Alan McBride - Alan works for the Ranger Service at Mugdock and has an in-depth knowledge of the place. From 14th century castle and sinister gallows, to a WWI gun site and a zoo with wandering elephant, Mugdock has seen the lot. Come along and hear all about it.

Monday 5th November
The Stuart Plots
Susan Morrison - Kidnapping, murder and treasonous intrigue were all part of the royal day for a Stuart Monarch. From James VI, such dangers were hereditary, with both his parents victims of conspiracy. Join us to hear writer, comedian and presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s Time Travels as she explores three plots that had a lasting impact on James VI, from his own narrow escape at Gowrie House, to the fatal undoing of his mother through the Babbington Plot and the trail of guilt surrounding his father’s murder that night in the Kirk O Fields. It’s a night of kidnap, mayhem, murder and ink!

Monday 3rd December
Piety and Politics: The making of the King James Bible
The Nicholas Gray - Just over 400 years ago Scottish King James inherited the English Crown and a country in ferment. James decided to commission a new Bible translation both to unite his people and also fix his own regal position in the new Union. The idea was not a new one; it was a re-run of an idea he had hatched in Fife several years before. Would it succeed? Third generation Bible publisher Nicholas Gray, whose company holds a royal licence to print the Bible in Scotland, explores the background to the first printing of the Authorized Bible in 1611 and assesses its legacy for the world.

2019

Monday 7th January (2nd Monday of month)
The Antonine Wall
Jim Walker - The Antonine Wall was the frontier built by the Roman Army between AD 140-142 on the orders of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. It ran for 40 Roman miles (60km) from Bo’ness to Old Kilpatrick, and consisted of a turf rampart with a stone base topped with a wooden fence and boardwalk. The frontier was abandoned just 20 years after being built, with the army withdrawing to Hadrian’s Wall.

Monday 4th February
The History of Forensic Science in Scotland
Sarah Reid - Sarah is a Forensic Scientist at the Scottish Police Authority and will talk on the history of the science in Scotland.

Monday 4th March
Scottish Paintings
Alan MacDonald - The two earliest paintings by Scottish artists in the Glasgow Museums are a portrait of Harry Nisbit, Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1598, by George Jamesone, and a still life of Game Birds, by William Gouw Ferguson, c1640.The collection of paintings in Glasgow Museums includes works by these and many other Scottish artists such as Ramsey, Raeburn and C.R. Mackintosh and many of these paintings illustrate significant figures of events in the history of Scotland, and will form the core of Alan’s presentation.

Monday, 1st April
Arran in Books - from the 18th century to present
John Jackson - A collection of books accumulated for the last fifty years will be the basis of a look at various historical themes about the island – the clearances and the profound social changes of the eighteenth century; the growth of tourism; and the development of the science of geology in which Arran played a big part. And as an aside, something about the books themselves and the development of publishing.

Monday, 29th April
AGM and Members' Night
Short talks to be arranged.