The Society's annual Members' Night was held on Thursday 20th February with 'A Favourite or Interesting or Significant Book' as its theme. Eight members participated with each speaking for eight to ten minutes on their choice of book and they made the evening an enjoyable event, as is always the case with Members' Night.
The eight books fell into the following broad categories - two on the Scottish landscape and outdoor activities, one on the history of a nearby locality, three novels, one a collection of pieces of journalism and one a Bible commentary.
'Mountain, Moor and Loch' is a profusely illustrated 1895 guide to the route of the recently opened West Highland Railway while 'Hamish's Mountain Walk' is the inspiring account of Hamish Brown's successful attempt in the summer of 1974 to climb all of the Munros in a single continuous expedition. 'The Parish of Campsie' is an account of all aspects of the Campsie area by local historian John Cameron and published in Kirkintilloch in 1892.
The three novels were chosen for different reasons - 'The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul' by Deborah Rodriguez because of its description of the challenges faced by women in Afghanistan; 'The Notting Hill Mystery' by Charles Warren Adams because it might be the first detective novel and that its true authorship is a mystery; 'The Affair at Invergarroch' by Michael Elder because not only is it a good read as a children's book, but also that the author himself was only seventeen years of age when he wrote it.
Dannie Abse's 'Journals from the Ant-Heap' is a collection of amusing anecdotes from when he wrote for national newspapers as well as being a physician and acclaimed poet. The most physically impressive choice at Members' Night was a three volume nineteenth century Biblical Commentary, i.e. a cross-referenced Bible. What made this particularly interesting was that the set had been presented in 1877 to Mr and Mrs Thomas Coats of the Paisley mill owning family by the minister of Sannox church on Arran; this previously redundant church is currently being developed as a Christian centre by a group including the member whose choice this was.
