[vc_row equal_height=”yes” type=”vc_default” margin_bottom=”10″ css=”.vc_custom_1490183669310{padding-top: 70px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1509905763975{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-12″][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Calendar of Dates” alignment=”left” main_heading_style=”font-weight:bold;” main_heading_font_size=”desktop:20px;” main_heading_line_height=”desktop:30px;” main_heading_margin=”margin-bottom:20px;” margin_design_tab_text=””]Sunday 11th June – Perth Races.
Sunday 27th August – Golf Strathmore Golf Club.
Saturday 7th October – Dinner Holiday Inn.[/ultimate_heading][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1509910112373{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]
A full report of last year’s events appears in the A.G.M. Minutes under the heading Committee Report.
Perth Races Scone Palace Perth.
Our first event of the year is a day at the ever-popular Perth Races for Old Boys and partners. This will take place on Sunday the 11th of June and as it is Gold Cup Day the quality of racing should be good. We have arranged a package of Marquee complete with CCTV in case of bad weather, finger buffet lunch, afternoon tea and club badge plus cash bar all this for £54 ahead including vat. Please book early to Ralph G. 01738 624674.
Golf Outing Strathmore G.C.
This year’s golf outing will once again take place at the picturesque Strathmore G.C. on Sunday the 27th of August. The first tee is booked for 1.30 pm and the cost which includes High Tea is the same as last year, £36. This is a fun day and handicaps can be arranged. Please book early for The Abbey Classic to Ralph G. 01738 624674.
Annual Dinner and Report.
The highlight of the year was the O.B. Dinner at Maurice Taylor’s acclaimed Holiday Inn, and was once more a sell out. All enjoyed the superb meal. Thanks to Maurice for the wine, Chris Dunn the port and Ralph the Bennies. The guest speaker His Grace Mario Conti Archbishop of Glasgow gave a very interesting and knowledgeable speech on the influences of the Benedictines and our Abbey in Scotland, and the effect of Catholicism and Christianity in Europe and the World. The night ended with the well-fed and watered O. Bs. reminiscing days gone by. This year’s dinner for Old Boys and partners will be on Saturday 7th October, usual venue the Holiday Inn, West Nile Street, Glasgow preceded by the A.G.M. at 7.00 pm. We have been very fortunate in getting Sir Tom Farmer CBE, KCSG, to be our guest speaker on the night. Sir Tom is a great philanthropic friend of The Church and a successful businessman; he is also an interesting, witty and amusing speaker. The dinner will cost £32 a head, and there is the usual O. B. discount of £37.50 B&B per person sharing a room, reservation number 0141 352 8300. Please book early to Ralph Giulianotti 01738 624674. Last year, once again, there were OB’s on a waiting list hoping for cancellations.
Menu.
Fan of Ripe Melon with Royal Greenland Prawns, Brandy, Split Tomato & Brandy Vinaigrette.
*****
Mushroom & Port Velouté with Garden Herbs.
******
Roast Rump of Lamb with Celeriac & Mushroom Slaw, Green Beans & Mustard Jus.
*******
Limoncello & Amaretti Mousse.
********
Freshly Brewed Coffee & Hebridean Toffee.
News.
The Raven Group are forging ahead developing the Fort into luxury flats. The building is all covered in scaffolding, and a spokesman for the company says the flats are selling well.
The corbie.com website continues to go from strength to strength thanks to Mike Drummond, although he would appreciate any new material to keep the site interesting and up to date. Donations towards the website or O.B. subs of £10 per annum or £100 life membership always greatefully received; we continue to make donations to charities and pay stipends for masses for deceased Old Boys.
O.B. Sir Patrick Grant made the headlines last year for climbing the Matterhorn wearing only his rugged tweed suit and trusty deerstalker hat! The 52 year old business man who heads up Grants of Dalvey, the award winning Alness Company that makes silver items such as hip flasks, said; “The Italian climbers were fairly tickled by my outfit of Brora Tweed”.
O.B. Dr. Michael Gordon-Smith won an international Avionics Industry Prize. His company is CMC Electronics and he designed the satellite navigation system that is going into the refurbished Boeings.
There is a book coming out this year entitled ‘ Donald Cammell A Life on the Wild Side’, publisher FAB Press. The Daily Mail described Film Maker Cammell as having been educated at an exclusive private school at Fort Augustus, then went on to study in Florence and became an icon of the swinging sixties.
Another book out just now is called ‘The Guynd’ (A Scottish Journal). These memoirs are an account of O.B. Scottish Laird John Ouchterlony’s running of The Guynd his ancestral home by his American wife Belinda Rathbone.
Father Paul Bonnici P.P. of St. Peter & St Benedict the chapel in the old lodge Fort Augustus has moved to take up duties in the Shetland Islands.
Deaths
John David Ivor Locke 1940-45 May 2005 whilst on holiday in Devon R.I.P.
Dr. Desmond Martin 1954 -1960 R.I.P.
Campbel Chisholm West End Hotel Fort William.R.I.P.
Ilse Brown, the wife of Jim Brown 1954 -1960 R.I.P.
Columb Mckinley 11th March 2006 R.I.P. Columb died after a long illness bravely borne. He was only 26 and was at the Fort when the school closed.
Masses will be said by our chaplain Fr. Stephen Dunn for the deceased.
Births.
Ralph & Nicola Giulianotti, a daughter Clara.
George & Kate Campbell, a daughter Miriam Jane.
Many congratulations from the Old Boys.
Mike Turnbull has picked out the following gems from old Corbies.
Golden rules for New Boys. A.J.H.M.(v) Vol.3 Christmas 1934.
You first enter the school and look around. Then you stroll upstairs with the obvious intention of telling the prefect of discipline you’ve arrived. You come to his room. On the outside of the door is a notice; ‘ Please knock and come in. Don’t wait for an answer’. Now my dear new chaps that’s only his fun! What you must do is kick the door open, go up to the prefect, prod him playfully on the third waistcoat button and say: ‘Here I am, sir!’ As for getting up in the morning, don’t bother about the bell that goes at 6.30. It is, of course rather annoying to be wakened up, but it’s a custom for the prefect to take a matitudinal stroll round the dorm. Don’t pay any attention to the bell. Just lie in and get up when you like.
Golden Rules for Old Boys. J.B. Vol.3 Christmas 1934.
Many of our illustrious Old Boys are, doubtless, rather shaky as regards the right thing to do when you re-visit the School. The first and most important is, of course to create an impression. You must arrive in a new car, as large, powerful and expensive as you can get a hold of, and pull up in front of the School with as much hooting and noise as you can conveniently make. After having successfully prevailed upon the car to stop, get out and stride into the School porch, howl on an infant or two, tell them to fetch the Headmaster down. After you have somewhat calmed the exuberance of his welcome, you renew your acquaintance with the Staff and boys. Always make a special point of going into the classroom and shaking hands with the Masters during class. Never appear in public without at least half a pint of perfumed hair oil on your hair, or without a nice smelly buttonhole, or without shoes of at least three different colours. If you can get blue flannel trousers and a pink sweater, your fortune is made.
Fort Augustus Old Boys Association Minutes of the 64th A.G.M.
Holiday Inn Glasgow, Sat. 1st October 2005
Present: Henry Murphy, Tom Murphy, Brian Caulfield, John Brown, Jim Dollan, Laurence Hogarth, Richard Hyams, Brian Murray, Ian McAllister, Fr. Stephen Dunn, Angus MacKinnon, Gerry Martin, Billy Sinclair, Owen Halloran, Chris Dunn, James O’Heay, Thomas O’Heay, Gerry Devine, Tony Duncan, Paddy Mulligan, Colin Mc Allister, Mike Lynch, Pat Barron, George Campbell, Michael Curley, Joe Dunn, Iain Gordon, Mark Dunn, Paul Lombardi, Joe Dunn Jnr, Shane Mackenzie, Iain Dunn, Colin Tennant, Martin Waugh, Richard Welch, Mike Turnbull, Ralph Giulianotti.
Apologies: Ian Daly, Peter O’Shea, Alasdair Macdonald, Jim Quinn, Mike Drummond, Chris Stephenson, Ralph & Mark Giulianotti.
1.) Opening Prayer: The meeting opened with a prayer by our chaplain Fr. Stephen Dunn.
2.) Minutes of 2004 A.G.M.: They were proposed for adoption as an accurate record by George Campbell, seconded by Brian Murray.
3.) Matters Arising: The Raven Group continued to develop the Abbey site, saying that they have sold over half the 80 odd flats and cottages.
4.) Abbey Boys: There are only 90 books left out of 600 printed. It has grossed £7,770 in sales and cost £5,000 to produce, so the profit to date is £2,770. Many thanks again to author Mike Turnbull.
5.) Website: Mike Drummond apologises for not attending tonight as he has other commitments, but has sent in the following report: The website is still achieving its main objective which is to help keep O.B’s in touch with and locate former colleagues. We have 251 current members, although the number hasn’t changed much from last year, we have actually added around 20 new members. The discrepancy is due to members not updating their email addresses.
Chatroom. I installed a chatroom on the site earlier this year and we enjoyed a couple of hours banter with around 13 OB’s after a few technical problems Ralph managed to tune in! Whilst the facility is available all the time we really need to set a time perhaps once a month so that fellow members know there will be others available for chat.
Photographs. I have asked for more photographs on the site. I have more photographs, mainly from my era, but since the Photo Gallery has a facility for members to upload their own photographs I don’t understand why more OB’s don’t use this facility. Finally, any suggestions to add interest to the site are always welcome, and please advise me of any changes to email addresses. The OB’s thanked Mike for the tremendous job in keeping the website interesting and up to date over many years. It was proposed by The Chairman and agreed by all to once more allocate £150 to the running costs of the site.
6.) Committee Report: This year we organised a programme of four events.
A). The first outing of the year in May to The Scottish Catholic Archives was a great success and well attended. Mike Turnbull’s talk with slides on The Influence of St. Benedict’s Abbey on Scotland was first class. By the time he was finished we were all feeling very nostalgic at such a great loss to Scotland. Once again very many thanks Mike for all your work in putting together this great talk. Andrew Nichol the Archivist gave us a tour of the building which houses the Catholic History of Scotland dating from 1177, and is full of Fort Augustus and Carlekemp memorabilia, pictures, diaries, chronicles etc., well worth a visit. Afterwards we adjourned to the Cumberland Bar, which used to belong to O.B. Paddy Crossan and was called The Tilted Wig, for a pint and bar lunch, to round off a perfect day.
B). June saw the OB’s once again meeting up for a day out at Perth Races. The 22 O.B.’s and partners had a great day in our usual private marquee, where we enjoyed buffet lunch, afternoon tea, bar, CCTV, and tote facilities. However, for some it was a case of what Angus Macdonald Sen. would have called the ruination of man, “Slow horses, fast woman and the booze”!
C). In August we had our annual Golf Tournament at O.B. Pat Barron’s Strathmore G.C. The course was in great shape, weather fine and High Tea delicious. After a close fought competition Colin McAllister won the Abbey Scratch Quaich and Owen Halloran the F. A. Handicap Cup.
D). The last event and the highlight of the year will be tonight’s Annual Dinner at O.B.Maurice Taylor’s award winning Holiday Inn. We are honoured tonight to have His Grace Mario Conti Archbishop of Glasgow as our guest speaker. I am sure it will once again be a night to remember with gourmet food, great service and jolly companionship. The drink is again being kindly provided by the following, Maurice the wine, Chris Dunn the vintage port and Ralph G. the Bennies. They were given a big vote of thanks from the thirsty Old Boys!
Next year when the committee has its spring meeting in Perth we will arrange events for 2006, we are always open to suggestions.
7). Treasurer’s Report: Joe Dunn reported a profit of £54 on the year, after income of £772, and expenditure of £718 mainly on stipends for deceased O.B.’s and donations. Funds held in bank amount to £6,784. The Chairman on behalf of all present thanked Joe for his sterling work over many years. In fact Joe started as Treasurer in 1958, which makes it 47 years at the crease. In three years time we must do something for his Golden Anniversary.
8). Elections: The Hon. President remained Abbot Alban Boultwood, now aged 94 and living in Washington D.C. Pat Barron proposed that the entire committee be re-elected and he was seconded by Jim Dolan. The Chairman pointed out that none of the officials were getting any younger and could do with some youthful volunteers.
9). A.O.B.: Jim Dollan told the meeting that he had prostate cancer. He had enormous support in Australia and urged all members to get themselves checked. He was seconded by Colin McAllister who mentioned the case of John A.B. Kelly who had gone for a check-up and been treated.
Congratulations were offered to Mike Turnbull who had been awarded a doctorate in Ecclesiastical History from the University of Edinburgh.
George Campbell drew the meeting’s attention to O.B. Sir Patrick Grant of Dalvey who had recently conquered the Matterhorn dressed in his tweeds and faithful deerstalker!
10). Date Next AGM: Once more to precede the Old Boys Dinner in the Holiday Inn Glasgow October 2006.
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