Training on the use of The Park Centre's defibrillator

On Friday 16th November, together with 7 other users of The Park Centre, Kirkintilloch, I took part as a representative of the Society in a 3 hour Basic Life Support and safe use of an Automated External Defibrillator course organised by St Andrew's First Aid.

After registration we were introduced to the topics by a combination of teaching slides and illustrations but principally by practical demonstrations using dummy torsos and a teaching model of the type of defibrillator recently installed in The Park Centre. At the end of the session we had all been given the opportunity to take part in 3 basic procedures viz cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), use of the defibrillator and how to achieve the Recovery Position.

While it was apparent that these techniques required some basic knowledge and a degree of dexterity in their performance, we all felt more confident and less inhibited about our individual abilities at the end of the training course due in part to the facilities provided by The Park Centre - including a cup of tea and biscuits, and the skills of the trainer and equipment supplied by St Andrew's First Aid. Hopefully we will all have learned and achieved a Certificate. 

Thanks all round.

David Graham

Edward Z. Smith: Scotland from the air: Thursday 6th December 2018

Kirkintilloch resident Edward Z. Smith will give a presentation of photographs showing the wide diversity of historical and natural locations that exist in Scotland. 

(© E.Z. Smith)

These images were taken by him while running his aerial survey business – Hawkeye Aerial Photography, established after his previous career with John McGavigan & Co. Ltd. Travelling to photograph projects all over the UK created the opportunity to build a large archive that Edward calls ‘Capturing images on my way to and from my place of work”.

(© E.Z. Smith)

Evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF. The annual membership subscription is £10; visitors are welcome at all of the Society's activities with a donation of £3.

"Elsie Inglis - the woman who would not sit still!"

This topical drama based on the life of Dr Elsie Inglis might be of interest to members of the Society. The Dumfries House performance is sold out but there is still availability for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Janice Miller: Lennoxtown Friendly Victualling Society: Thursday 1st November 2018

Founded in 1812, the Lennoxtown Friendly Victualling Society was one of the earliest co-operative societies in Scotland. It operated for 153 years and was at one point proclaimed the oldest co-op in the world. Janice Miller, East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture's Archivist, will tell its story using various resources including the 1960s co-op film 'Tomorrow is Yours'. 

Evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF. The annual membership subscription is £10 with an admission fee of £3 per meeting for visitors who are welcome at all of the Society's activities.

The Society's September 2018 Newsletter

The September 2018 edition of the Society's newsletter has recently been created and edited by committee member Valerie McClure and gives information on the activities of the Antiquaries since the AGM. It can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the image below.

The newsletter was circulated to those members of the Society who had responded positively to the Secretary's request in May concerning the use of their email addresses for receiving communications; an action necessary following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. The list of active email addresses will be updated using the information supplied on the renewal slips for the 2018-19 session.

Don Martin: The railways of Kirkintilloch: Thursday 4th October 2018

KDSA Secretary Don Martin this year re-visits one of his favourite subjects, although in fact it is many years since he last addressed the Society on "The railways of Kirkintilloch". Kirkintilloch’s railway history is certainly distinctive. It began with one of Scotland’s earliest public railways, the Monkland & Kirkintilloch, in 1826, and ended with a comprehensive blow of the Beeching axe in 1966, surely one of the most illogical closures of that era. Over these years Kirkintilloch served first as a connecting link between the railway system and the Scottish canal network (including ‘train ferries’ for mineral wagons), and later as a significant railway centre in its own right, with a range of junctions connecting different lines. Passenger traffic ended in 1964, since when Kirkintilloch has arguably been the largest town in Scotland without this facility.

Back o'Loch Halt, Kirkintilloch,1960. (© D.Martin)

Kirkintilloch Town Station, 1961. (© D.Martin)

Evening meetings of the Society are at 7.30 pm in the Park Centre, 45 Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1LF. Visitors are welcome at all of the Society's activities.