Guided Tour of St. Mary's Parish Church, Wednesday 5th November, 10:30am.

Further to his talk on the history of St. Mary's Parish Church earlier this month, Graham McKenzie will lead a guided tour of the Church on Thursday 5th November starting at 10:30am. Meet at the Church door a few minutes before 10:30am. 

The tour will last not more than an hour and a half, after which people will be able to look round the building until 12:30pm. Those wishing to attend the Scottish Local History Forum's Annual John Muir Symposium in Lenzie Academy will be able to get there in time for the start at 12:45pm.

This tour is part of St. Mary's regular programme of Open Days. In order to have an idea of numbers, could members please indicate by email to kdsantiquaries@gmail.com if they intend to go on the tour in advance.

The history of Glasgow's motorway system by Stuart Baird, Thursday 6th November at 7:30pm in the Park Centre

 Our next meeting will be in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1LF, at 7:30pm on Thursday 6th November. Tea and coffee will be served from 7pm. 

Explore the history behind Glasgow's road developments of the 1960s, when the city eagerly embarked on the construction of new routes. This engaging talk offers insights into the creation of the city's ring road and its expansive motorway network. The presentation is illustrated with rare, previously unseen photographs from the Scottish Roads Archive collection.

Stuart is a Chartered Engineer with a keen interest in transport and civil engineering heritage. Currently employed by Transport Scotland, he’s held various roles, mostly relating to structures, across the Scottish motorway and trunk road network. Stuart is Founder and Chair of the Scottish Roads Archive, the largest private collection of roads and transportation records in Scotland.

DEVOTION AND DISCORD: The History of St Mary’s Parish Church Kirkintilloch by Graham McKenzie. Thursday 2nd October 2025

 The first meeting of the 2025-26 session will be on Thursday 2nd October in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1LF. The meeting will start at 7:30pm with tea and coffee served from 7pm.

Society member Graham McKenzie will give a talk on "Devotion and discord: the history of St. Mary's Parish Church, Kirkintilloch". St Mary’s church located in the Cowgate in Kirkintilloch has been in existence for over 110 years, but it is only the latest manifestation of a local parish church history that goes back over 700 years. The history of this parish church is a story of those who were devoted to promoting Christian worship in Kirkintilloch, but also a story of the discord that arose when people began to challenge the rights the law had conferred on the church. This illustrated talk will cover the history of the two earlier parish churches and will describe in detail the controversy that attended the planning, design and construction of the current church.

Graham was born and grew up in East London, South Africa, and studied and worked in topographical surveying before taking up a project administration and management role with a South African engineering consulting firm. While working, he completed a BA with majors in history and psychology at Rhodes University. He transitioned into preparing and managing engineering consultancy tender submissions. He moved to the UK in 2008 to take up a proposal management position with a company in Glasgow and is still working in the same field.

As part of plans for celebrating the centenary of the current St Mary’s church in 2014, Graham undertook to write a publication that updated and extended aspects of Joe Fisher’s book, ‘The Auld Kirk, Kirkintilloch Parish Church, 1644-1944’ and Iain Smith’s book ‘St Mary’s Parish Church, Seventy-five years on, 1914 – 1989’. The new publication provided a detailed analysis of the planning, design and construction of the church in the Cowgate.

Come along and join us for what promises to be a fascinating presentation.

Doors Open Day and Old Aisle Cemetery Walk, Saturday 6th September 2025

This year's Doors Open Day in East Dunbartonshire is on Saturday 6th September 2025. The Society's contribution is an exhibition in the foyer of the William Patrick Library profiling significant local personalities, mostly buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery, Kirkintilloch. In connection with the exhibition, which will be on view for the following week, a guided walk around a selection of these graves will start from the cemetery's belfry at the Old Aisle Road entrance at 2.00 pm. The full programme for 2025's Doors Open Day may be downloaded here with details of the Antiquaries exhibition and walk on pages 9 and 11 respectively.

The grave of David Lawson, the founder of the transport company,
in the Old Aisle Cemetery. The business expanded in the 1920s to
include buses and 'Land Cruise' coach tours, and the Lawson brand
continues to this day as a funeral undertaker. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Annual General Meeting and Talk by David Forsyth, Thursday 24th April at 7:30pm in the Park Centre

 Our Annual General Meeting will be held in the Park Centre at 7:30pm on Thursday 24th April. 

The AGM will be followed by a talk by David Forsyth titled "Confessions of a Tour Guide: or more correctly a walk around Auld Reekie" This will hopefully be a light-hearted look at tour guiding round the Old Town of Edinburgh, while discovering some of the more obscure aspects of Edinburgh's history on the way.

David Forsyth worked for National Museums Scotland in various curatorial roles within the Scottish History collections for a quarter of a century. He retired in 2022 after acting as Keeper (Head) of both the Scottish History & Archaeology and Art & Design Departments. The mainstay of his research and exhibition interest was the Scottish Diaspora and more generally the juxtaposition of history and material culture, having exhibited and published on topics as diverse as the Scottish military diaspora, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Jacobitism. He now enjoys as post-retirement career as a historical guide and freelance historian.

Here's an image of David in full flight:

Visit to Town Hall Heritage Centre and Exhibition, Tuesday 11th March

Sixteen members of  the Society visited Kirkintilloch Town Hall at 2.pm on the 11th March 2025 for a guided tour of the Cultural and Heritage exhibitions on display for the Local History Month programme organised by East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust.

After being welcomed by curator Jennifer Binnie, the group was guided into the ground floor of the centre which has been refurbished into a multipurpose facility for conferences, business meetings, and various theatrical and musical events. As many of us will have remembered it was also where we were invited to attend by Public Health Scotland for immunisation against Covid and flu. The second floor was of particular interest as it is here that most of the exhibits were on display from the timeline of Kirkintilloch in history with particular emphasis on the importance of its transport connections( the Forth and Clyde Canal and railways) and industrial ( weaving, boat building and foundries) past. Exhibits based on local notable personalities ( Bain, Cowan and Clugston) were greatly appreciated as there was acknowledgment of the contributions made  to these exhibits by members of the Society. a good feeling reinforced by the display of 'bits and pieces' photographs provided by local historians.

A most interesting afternoon was rounded off over a cup of tea and an opportunity to reflect on the various exhibits and to thank the staff for their input and hospitality. 

Photo by Ivan and Ruth Ruddock