Prof. Gerard Carruthers: Editing Robert Burns for the 21st century: Thursday 1st March 2018

Professor Gerard Carruthers holds the Francis Hutcheson Chair of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He is an authority on Scottish literature of the 17th-20th centuries, on which he has published many books, articles and essays. A major activity at the present time is as General Editor of the Oxford University Press multi-volume edition of the Works of Robert Burns. He has many other academic interests. In East Dunbartonshire he is well known for his research into the life of Thomas Muir of Huntershill, the prominent Scottish radical of the 1790s. He is also one of the instigators and leaders of a significant project The People's Voice, to study 'Scottish political poetry, song and the franchise, 1832-1918'.

Prof. Gerard Carruthers. (© Univ. of Glasgow)

Alexander Nasmyth's portrait of Robert Burn.
(National Galleries Scotland; photograph © I.S. Ruddock)

All evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF. 

Report on Members’ Night: Members' Collections: 15th February 2018

The Society’s annual Members’ Night was held on Thursday 15th February with “Members Collections” as this year’s topic. A total of twelve members contributed by bringing along items representing their collections and they made the meeting one of the most successful in recent years, despite the rather cramped space available. The evening began by the participants each being given a couple of minutes to describe their collections and how they started them. There was then three quarters of an hour for the Society's members to tour the exhibition and examine the material and engage with the exhibitors. Members' Night 2018 was rounded off in a very appropriate fashion by the Society’s guest of honour - Mr Peter McCormack, East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture's Museums Development Officer – who played the role of exhibition critic or cultural commentator. He discussed the underlying themes of the collections and linked them to his own views on collecting in an entertaining way. 

Peter McCormack addressing Members' Night.
(© I.S.Ruddock)

Below are photographs of each of the displays on show.

Family genaelogy. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Football programmes. © I.S.Ruddock)

Victorian memorabilia found during
renovation of a cottage. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Printing memorabilia. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Various small china items.(© I.S.Ruddock)

Stones and minerals. (© I.S.Ruddock)

A collection of books related to First World
War poets and poetry. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Part of a large collection of books on Arran.
(© I.S.Ruddock)

Some hand knitted figures from a large

collection. (© I.S.Ruddock)

Biographies of the WW1 casualties listed on
Coatbridge's War Memorial.
(© I.S.Ruddock)

A small sample from a large collection of
scrapbooks of newspaper cuttings.
(© I.S.Ruddock)

1950s Hornby O Gauge locomotives, rolling
stock and other items, and a selection of the
first 1000 Penguin books.(© I.S.Ruddock)

Members' Night: Thursday 15th February 2018

The annual Members' Night will be held on Thursday 15th February 2018. The theme this year is "Members' Collections" and the evening will be an opportunity for members to share, examine and talk about what has been brought along. Mr Peter McCormack, Museums Development Officer for East Dumbartonshire Learning and Culture, will be the Society's special guest for the event and will provide some personal reflections on "collecting" and "collections".

Members' Night is one of the highlights of the winter programme and it is anticipated that this year will maintain this fine tradition. 

 (© I.S.Ruddock)

 (© I.S.Ruddock)

 (© I.S.Ruddock)

All evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF. 

Brainworks Project

Members of Kirkintilloch and District Society of Antiquaries are invited to participate in the Brainworks Project supported by the Welcome Centre and the Carnegie Trust. Full details and contact information are given in the poster below.

Rediscovering the Antonine Wall: 12th February 2018

A consultation on the future of the Antonine Wall is being held in the afternoon and early evening of Monday 12th February 2018 in Kirkintilloch Leisure Sports Centre. Full details are given on the poster below and additional information may be obtained by contacting Colin Welsh, Managing Consultant, Jura Consultants Limited (email: colin@jura-consultants.co.uk, tel: 0131 440 6750).

Paul Bishop: Kirkintilloch during and after the last ice age: Thursday 1st Febuary 2018

The Last Ice Age was responsible for much of the landscape, landforms and soils we live on. As the ice ground its way from the highlands to the sea, it carved great valleys (glens) and moulded the land surface. The sea was more than 100 m lower and the Earth's crust was depressed by the great load of ice weighing it down. When the ice melted, the sea returned and the Earth's crust rose again as the weight of the ice disappeared. The land surface then started its long recovery from the deep blanketing by ice, as vegetation slowly returned to the thawing landscape. 

Prof. Paul Bishop is a geographer and has recently retired from the University of Glasgow. In this talk he explores the various lines of evidence around Kirkintilloch and nearby areas for the presence of this ancient massive ice sheet, and then shows how the landscape recovered from the deep freeze.

British ice coverage during the last ice age.
(Reproduced with the permission of the British Geological Survey
© NERC. All rights reserved.) 

Bardowie Loch - an example of a "kettle hole" created by glaciation. (© P. Bishop)

All evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF.