We are pleased to announce that Bruce Keith, who gave us an excellent and highly entertaining talk on milestones, "Are we nearly there yet?" in November 2023, has agreed to give us a talk on "Scotland beneath the surface" on Thursday 16th September 2027. The meeting will be in the Park Centre at 7:30pm. This is an advance notice to allow members to put the date in their diaries, as we do not usually have meetings in September. We are currently finalising the programme for 2026-27, which will start with a meeting in the Park Centre at 7:30pm on Thursday 1st October. Full details will be circulated by the end of the summer.
"Scotland beneath the surface" is a journey across, and under, the country, celebrating our rich and varied natural and man-made heritage. The illustrated talk explores natural caves, hollow mountains in which to generate hydro-electric power, railway tunnels and underground defence bunkers. The materials for our built heritage are hewn from rocks beneath the surface, as are the coal and oil shale deposits which powered the industrialisation of the nation and the water resources on which we all depend to this day. Celebrating our natural wonders and our human ingenuity, the talk focuses thought on how we manage our resources in a sustainable manner given today's environmental challenges.
Bruce Keith is a retired chartered surveyor and environmentalist, having started his professional career working on several Perthshire and Aberdeenshire estates and in Edinburgh with the Department of Agriculture. Bruce moved south of the border to Peterborough in 1996 as Chief Surveyor with English Nature, but kept his Scottish connections, retiring eleven years ago as Head of Property at SSE (the Hydro Board). In his retirement, Bruce has researched and written three books combining his passion for Scottish history, geography and landscape with his interest in heritage conservation. This evening Bruce takes us on a journey through Scotland exploring the natural and man-made heritage under our feet, which was the topic of his third book, "Scotland beneath the surface".
