The Campsie calico printing industry by Suzanne Marshall-Smith, Thursday 5th February, 7:30pm in the Park Centre

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 5th February at 7:30pm in the Park Centre, with tea and coffee from 7pm. Textile artist and Historian, Suzanne Marshall-Smith, will share her research on the historic calico printing industry which thrived in Lennoxtown and Milton of Campsie between 1785 and 1929. This textile industry shaped and enriched local communities until its eventual demise in the early 20th century. The attached image features a print from Lennoxmill Printworks, from the collection of the University of Philadelphia.

Suzanne is a Textile Artist, Historian and vintage textile dealer, based at the Campsie Fells. She creates textile artworks from a variety of found, reclaimed and reused materials from her collections, researches textile history and teaches a range of community classes and workshops in textile art, often with a historical slant based on textile histories and folklore. 

Originally trained as a jeweller, Suzanne studied Jewellery & Silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2006 with a distinction in Historical and Critical Studies. After many years of teaching and working within the jewellery trade she moved in a new direction and in 2020, gained a Masters degree {MLitt} in Dress & Textile Histories from the University of Glasgow. She collects and sells a large range of antique and vintage textiles, using many in her unique, decorative creations.

The enigma of Sir John James Burnet by Niall Murphy. Thursday 15th January in the Park Centre at 7:30pm.

Sir John James Burnet’s talent as an architect was as great as Thomson and Mackintosh while his career was even more stellar in achievement and yet he is now little known, regarded as the most mysterious of the great Glasgow architects. Has Burnet’s ability as stylistic chameleon contributed to this overshadowing? 

Niall Murphy, Director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, discusses the career and buildings of Glasgow’s third Architect of International Stature. Photos of two of Burnet's best buildings, the Trustee Savings Bank and the Glasgow Cenotaph, are shown below, courtesy of the Glasgow Civic Heritage Trust.

Niall Murphy is Director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust and co-chair of Glasgow Built Heritage Commission. Though originally from Hong Kong, Niall has 25 years of experience as an architect and is deeply involved in heritage, conservation, and community issues in Glasgow. Niall is currently the Chair of the Govanhill Baths Building Preservation Trust, and served for a decade on the Glasgow Urban Design Panel. Niall regularly lectures on architecture, heritage and urban design issues.

After the Garden Festival by Lex Lamb and Kenny Brophy, Thursday 4th December at 7:30pm in the Park Centre

The final Antiquaries meeting of 2025 will be on Thursday 4th December at 7:30pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch with tea and coffee available from 7pm. Lex Lamb and Kenny Brophy will give a presentation on "After the Garden Festival".

The 1988 Garden Festival took an abandoned dock and used it to change how the world saw Glasgow, and how Glasgow saw itself. But how did the form and history of that site influence the spectacle that grew out of it over those 150 unforgettable days of summer? And when the gates finally closed, what became of it all? In this talk, After the Garden Festival Project Lead Lex Lamb and archaeologist Kenny Brophy look at the site before the event as well as the eventual fate of its features, artefacts and landscape with the help of hundreds of individual submissions and leads. A surprising amount, you will find, is hidden in plain sight. The talk will draw on extensive interviews Lex has carried out with GGF major players and staff, and archaeological excavations carried out in Festival Park by Kenny in 2022 and 2024. If you think you know the story of the Glasgow Garden Festival, be prepared to think again.

Image courtesy of Michael Gannon

Image courtesy of Kenny Brophy

    

Lex Lamb is a web and graphic designer with a lifelong amateur interest in all sorts of past spaces, structures and stories, particularly in the Glasgow area and mostly either very old or relatively recent. He was project leader of the After the Garden Festival project and is currently writing a comprehensive account of the history and form of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival, for publication in 2026.

Dr Kenny Brophy is a senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow. He has over 25 years of experience of researching and carrying out fieldwork on aspects of the Scottish Neolithic period. More recently he has begun to research the archaeology of the recent past, with excavations at the Glasgow Garden Festival site followed by the exploration of a 1970s concrete skatepark in Kelvingrove Park. He is a former President of the Glasgow Archaeology Society, and blogs as the Urban Prehistorian.

Significant Personalities of Kirkintilloch and District by the Research Group, Wednesday 19th November, 2pm, Park Centre.

On Wednesday 19th November, the Research Group will present profiles of a selection of the 22 personalities they researched for an exhibition in the foyer of the William Patrick Library from 6th to 13th September as part of Doors Open Day 2025. The personalities cover a wide range of professions and backgrounds, the common thread being that they are all buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery. A guided walk around the Old Aisle on the afternoon of 6th September took in 11 of the graves, covering 15 of the personalities. 

This is the third year that the Research Group has held an exhibition on this theme, and the personalities studied this year include the Alexander family, who ran Alexander's stores, a family of GPs, a number of other shopkeepers including Daniel Jack, who ran a well-known bicycle shop, the MacDonald family who were builders in the area and a former provost, John Shanks. The exhibition also included former member of the Society Susan Ross, and David Rollo Senior, the father of current member David Rollo.

The profiles will be presented by Research Group members Jenny Burgon, Don Martin, Ivan Ruddock and Barrie Stewart and the meeting will be held in the Park Centre at 2pm on Wednesday 19th November. Come along and see which personalities are profiled and whether they stir memories for you.

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.

Significant personalities in Kirkintilloch and District by the Research Group: Wednesday 20th November, 2pm.

 Our next meeting will be in the Park Centre at 2pm on Wednesday 20th November, when the Research Group will present profiles of several significant personalities in the history of Kirkintilloch and District that they have been researching over the past year. The personalities are all buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery and were featured in our exhibition in the William Patrick Library and guided walk round the cemetery on Doors Open Day on7th September. 

The personalities include some who are well known, such as Petticoat Dan and others who were significant in their time, such as William Patrick, his brother David and the entertainer Tommy Lorne. It will include several prominent women, including the first female Provost of the burgh and a keen angler who founded an all-women fly fishing club. Don Martin, MBE will introduce the history of the Old Aisle as a church and then a cemetery, and profiles of selected personalities will be given by Barrie Stewart, Jenny Burgon, Ivan Ruddock and Murray Reid. 

This afternoon meeting has been arranged to enable members who are reluctant to go out on cold, dark winter nights to hear what the Society has been doing over the past year. We hope for a good turnout. If you know any former members who may be interested in this event, please tell them about it; they will be most welcome. 

Who are these people? Come along and find out!

The RNLI: 200 years of saving lives at sea by Louise Nixon. Thursday 7th November, the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, 7:30pm.

 

This year the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) celebrates 200 years of saving lives at sea. It all began in the early 18th century with rescuing sailors and passengers from many wrecks. From there the RNLI was founded and has developed from strength to strength, from modest beginnings of a few volunteers , early life jackets, developing self righting boats to the international charity life saving organisation it is today.

Louise Nixon is the Vice President of the Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries. She has been a RNLI sea safety and Education Volunteer for 20 years, attending and delivering the water safety message at major  events schools, youth groups, scouts, Guides, BB and at clubs and societies for all age groups. 

The Roman Campaigns in Scotland: Brian Young. Thursday 3rd October 2024, 7:30pm, The Park Centre

Our first meeting of the new session will be a talk by Brian Young on “The Roman Campaigns in Scotland”. There were three Roman campaigns in Scotland. Did the romans really ever conquer Scotland ? What was the point of and who was responsible for building the wall across Scotland? All of these questions plus more will be answered…

Brian is a graduate of Strathclyde University with an honours degree in electrical engineering and has worked for a diagnostics company all his life as a principal engineer in numerous projects over the last 30 years . He is currently working with AI and digital generated solutions for medical testing in biochemistry and pathology labs. He is also a student of history with special interest in Alexander the Great and the Roman period. He has a specific interest in tactics and strategy used in warfare. He has written one book about the lost legion (9th) approximately 12 yrs ago and is writing a new book hopefully to be published next year about Hadrian’s wall, its construction and recent developments found about dislocation.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1LF starting at 7:30pm. Members will have the opportunity to pick up membership cards at the meeting. Visitors welcome.

Annual General Meeting and 'The Forme of Cury - King Richard II's Cookbook': Thursday 25th April 2024

This session's Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 25th April 2024 at 7.30 pm in The Park Centre, and is an opportunity for all members to have their say in the running of the Society. The various activities since the last AGM will be reviewed, the accounts will be presented for approval, and the office bearers and committee membership - for which nominations are sought - will be confirmed.

After the business part of the meeting, David Garbutt will give a talk entitled 'The Forme of Cury - King Richard II's Cookbook'. The presentation will explore the 14th century Forme of Cury and explain the use of language and style of writing in the book. Recipes will be translated and described and the vast range of herbs, spices and other ingredients available in the Middle Ages will be revealed. It will be shown how many recipes relate to modern day equivalents.

Contents page of the Forme of Cury.
(Public domain)

David graduated with a BSc Honours degree in Computer Science from Manchester University. After two years working in data communications design, he worked in Saudi Arabia for five years on systems design and build for the petrochemical industry. In the UK, he has worked for several organisations as a consultant systems analyst and project manager specialising in large databases. Outside of work, David has been a member of a speakers club, indulges in gardening, woodworking - including set build for Giffnock Theatre Players, abstract art, stand-up comedy and hill walking. He enjoys all forms of cookery and is known for making preserves, especially marmalade!

Visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening meetings.

Local History Month: 'The Old Aisle Cemetery - some people of note': The Park Centre, 2 pm Wednesday 20th March 2024

Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries will be holding a special open meeting for the annual Local History Month 2024 at 2pm on Wednesday 20th March in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1LF. 

The presentation will be based on the exhibition and guided walk on the same theme held by the Antiquaries for Doors Open Day in September 2023. After an introduction to the Old Aisle cemetery and its history, sketches will be presented of eight or nine individuals who are buried there. Some of these will be people who were very well-known in their day and who made a mark on the fabric and development of the burgh and, in some cases the nation. Others will be less well-known but who illustrate aspects of the life and times of Kirkintilloch. 

The participants in 2003's Doors Open Day guided walk in the
Old Aisle Cemetery hearing about the history of the site
and the belfry. (© I.S.Ruddock)

The guided walk group at the monument to Father James Bonnyman,

the first Roman Catholic priest appointed to Kirkintilloch for an

extended period and who was responsible for the building of

St Ninian's. (© I.S.Ruddock)

The speakers will be Don Martin MBE, well-known local historian and former Secretary of the Antiquaries, Dr Murray Reid, the current Secretary, and Dr Ivan Ruddock, President of the Antiquaries. We hope that this sample of the personalities buried in the Old Aisle will encourage others to enquire into the history of other 'residents' and learn more about their history and that of the community.

All welcome, with no booking required. 

James Mearns: ''What the Romans did for Glasgow Archaeological Society': Thursday 7th March 2004

Jim Mearn's presentation will relate the history of Glasgow Archaeological Society (GAS) from its foundation in December 1856 to the present day. It will mention some of the interesting people who have been members of the Society, such as Miss Cranston of tea room fame; William Blackie the publisher; Lord Kelvin, several Lord Provosts of Glasgow, a Confederate General and a Kirkintilloch native, James Dalrymple Gray Dalrymple. Particular attention will be paid to the legacy of Dalrymple and his impact on the Society. His family plot is in Old Aisle Cemetery but his work in archaeology is not well known locally. Some further links between GAS and the Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries will be explored.

The Society's activities, including lectures, excursions, campaigns and publications, will be described along with its leading role in the excavation of sites along the Antonine Wall such as forts in the neighbourhood of Kirkintilloch, especially Bar Hill Fort at Twechar. GAS has played a leading role in excavating, researching and publishing material on the Romans in Scotland, and its various reports on the Antonine Wall and the creation of its handbook to the monument will be covered.

Bar Hill Fort: headquarters building excavation.
(Image supplied by J Mearns)

Jim was born in Glasgow and graduated with a BSc honours degree in archaeology from the University of Glasgow. His subsequent career was mainly in public administration as a civil servant in the Department of Transport in London, followed by various senior roles within Glasgow City Council. Outside of his career, he has been active in Glasgow's trade guilds, been Chair of Glasgow Humane Society, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Within the Archaeological Society of Glasgow, he was President in 2006, its Sesquicentennial year, and for the last 10 years has been its archivist and editor of its publication, Scottish Archaeological Journal.

Some publications of Glasgow Archaeological Society on the Antonine Wall. 

(Image supplied by J Mearns)

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events without charge as a 'taster'.

Nina Baker: 'Human spiders spin and spin - ropemakers and rope making in Scotland': Thursday 1st February 2024

Dr Nina Baker has previously spoken twice to the Society, both times during the pandemic when in-person meetings were not being held. The first was a pre-recorded talk entitled 'Scotswomen working in engineering' which was posted on the Antiquaries YouTube channel in January 2021, and the second - 'Daughters of Vulcan: women and the Glasgow Hammermen' - was delivered live by Zoom on 7th October 2021 and was also recorded for viewing on YouTube. In her new talk, she will relate the rather esoteric history of rope making in Scotland, including the participation of women.

Rope making in Germany in the 15th century. (Public domain)

Nina has had a varied career - she became a merchant navy deck officer on leaving school and then, in her 30s, obtained an engineering design degree from the University of Warwick and later a PhD in concrete durability from the University of Liverpool. She has lived with her family in Glasgow since 1989, working variously as a materials lecturer in further education and as a research administrator and, until 2017, as an elected city councillor. Now retired, her interest in promoting STEM careers for girls has led her to become an independent researcher, mainly specialising in the history of women in engineering.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events without charge as a 'taster'.

Don Martin MBE: 'Local history in folk song': Thursday 11th January 2024

Don Martin retired in the early 2000s as the reference librarian for East Dunbartonshire and has a national reputation as a historian, author, and photographer. He was also Secretary of Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries for 41 years until 2021. During his career as a librarian, and in retirement, Don has been a prolific researcher and author on mainly Scottish history and culture. As a result, he has published regularly on such topics as histories of the local communities – Kirkintilloch, Lenzie etc, and local transport – Forth and Clyde Canal, Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway etc. His contributions to Scottish libraries and heritage were recognised by the award of an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours.

When first working in Glasgow’s Mitchell Library, Don met colleagues with similar interests in music, and this led to the formation of Clutha, the famous folk group which later developed an international reputation via its live performances and recordings.

Clutha on the roof of the Mitchell Library in 1965. Don Martin 

is on the extreme right. (Public domain)

In this talk on Thursday 11th January 2024, Don – accompanying himself on guitar - will explore the rich resource for the study of local history that is contained within the traditional folk repertoire.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events without charge as a 'taster'.

Al Fleming and Linda McIntosh: ‘The 1941 German air crash at Lennoxtown, 7th May 1941’: Thursday 7th December 2023

On 7th May 1941, a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju88 aircraft taking part in a large raid on Clydeside, was shot down by a Boulton Paul Defiant nightfighter of 141 Squadron operating from RAF Prestwick. The bomber crashed on Blairskaith Muir between Balmore and Lennoxtown with two of the four man crew being killed and subsequently buried in Lennoxtown's Campsie cemetery, The grave of one - Hauptmann Gerd Hansmann (observer) - can still be seen there, but his compatriot - Oberleutnant Werner Coenen (pilot) - was exhumed after the war and reburied in the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. The other two crewmen were taken prisoner and spent the remainder of the war in Canada, although one was hanged in 1946 for a murder committed in the PoW camp.

Hauptmann Gerd Hansmann and his wife Gisela.

(Public domain)

Al Fleming and Linda McIntosh, local historians and researchers, have unearthed and chronicled the events of that night. In this talk, they will unveil a story of tragedy, murder, and the chilling spectre of mass execution. Yet, amidst the shadows of war, their account illuminates a family's remarkable journey of discovery that traverses continents, leading to an unlikely alliance with Germany and an inspiring, unexpected and heart-warming friendship nearly sixty years later. 

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events without charge as a 'taster'.

Bruce Keith: ‘Are we nearly there yet? – milestones in Scotland’: Thursday 2nd November 2023

'Are we nearly there yet?' is a celebration of Scottish milestones - not just distance markers and waymarkers, but much else asides. In his talk on Thursday 2nd November, Bruce Keith will discuss early means of measurement and maps, and the travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries whose journals laid the foundation of the Scottish tourist industry. He will also celebrate the 'Top 50 Scots', the sportsmen and women who have gone the extra mile in terms of speed and endurance to set new world records. So, something for everyone!

The cover of Bruce Keith's latest book - 'Are we nearly there yet?,
a celebration of Scotland's milestones. (© B. Keith)

Bruce Keith is a retired chartered surveyor and environmentalist, having started his career on several Perthshire and Aberdeenshire estates. Following 15 years in the Department of Agriculture in Edinburgh, Bruce migrated south of the border as Chief Surveyor with English Nature and then retired nine years ago as Head of Property at SSE (the Hydro Board). Since retirement, Bruce has combined his passion for Scottish history and geography with his interest in conserving our heritage, which has yielded three coffee table type books. 

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events.

John Jackson: ‘For the benefit of all – Scotland’s first public lending library’: Thursday 5th October 2023

For the opening of this year’s programme, KDSA welcomes one of its members, John Jackson, who will speak on Innerpeffray Library. The library in rural Perthshire is the oldest public lending library in the UK, having first opened its door to borrowers in 1680. It is a remarkable historical survival from three and a half centuries ago, and remains a focus of interest for historians and academics, as well as a delight to tourists and interested visitors today. It is like nothing else – no longer a lending library, not quite a museum, but with a new life around education and community. We hear its story in this presentation.

The interior of Innerpeffray Library. (© M.Jackson)

John Jackson is a former physics teacher and retired Church of Scotland administrator. He last spoke to the Society in 2019 when he presented the history of Arran as recorded in some of his extensive collection of antiquarian books on the subject.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events.

James Kennedy: 'It started with Rob Roy - film making in the Trosachs, 1911-53': Thursday 2nd March 2023

Lights, camera, action!...Rob Roy is one of the best known works of Sir Walter Scott and, since the earliest days of the motion picture industry, adaptions of it have been regularly filmed in Scotland, including on location in the Trossachs. In his talk, Mr James Kennedy, will describe the background to how these films came to be made, including some of the personalities involved.

Actor David Hawthorne as Rob Roy in the eponymous 1922
film on the cover of Bioscope, 21st September 1925 (from
the British Newspaper Archive).

James is a historian who lives in the Trossachs, and has recently researched its use as a location for film making. A detailed account has been published in Scottish Local History, the journal of the Scottish Local History Form of which he is a trustee. On his previous visit to the Society in March 2020, he spoke on the 1919 influenza pandemic, just as the reality of Covid was becoming only too clear a few days before the first lockdown.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events.

Members' Night: 'A serendipitous discovery': Thursday 16th February 2023

The theme of this year's Members' Night is 'A serendipitous discovery', interpreted in whichever way the participants wish. In other words, the topic could be a person, a place, a historical fact or an artifact. The format of the evening will be as in previous years - each contributor has the opportunity of speaking on his or her topic for about five - ten minutes with or without illustrations.

If you are thinking of contributing, please let Ivan Ruddock know of your intention, and if you wish to have some images included in the composite PowerPoint presentation, please send them using the Society's email address that can be found under 'Contact Us'.

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events.

Grant Pinkerton: 'Records and research using the CWGC archive': Thursday 3rd February 2023

Almost everyone living in the United Kingdom is related to someone, however distant, who served and died in either of the two World Wars. That service man or woman is commemorated in perpetuity somewhere in the world by a headstone or memorial erected and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), originally founded as the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1917 and renamed in 1960. 

Mr Grant Pinkerton's talk, entitled ‘Records and Research using the CWGC Archive’, will cover the origins and work of the Commission from foundation to the present day. He will introduce the archives held both in terms of casualties as well as the Commission's own papers which provide an insight into its early years and a number of the decisions made. Using the Casualty Archive, he will look at some of the individuals commemorated with connections to the Kirkintilloch area.

Grant is one of volunteer speakers and tour guides for the Commonwealth Graves Commission as part of the MacRoberts Trust Speakers Programme. His particular area of interest is the First World War but focusing more on the lives of those remembered from the greater Glasgow area.

Some of the documents that can be downloaded from CWGC for a WWI casualty, anticlockwise from top left: the medal card, his/her effects and their disposal, and the commemorative scroll. (© CWGC)

Some of the documents held by the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission. (© CWGC)

Some of the documents that can be downloaded from CWGC for a WWI casualty, anticlockwise from top left: the medal card, his/her effects and their disposal, and the commemorative scroll. (© CWGC)

The meeting will be held in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF at 7.30 pm. The annual membership subscription is £10 and visitors are welcome at all of the Society's evening events.