The 94th Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at Chalmers Memorial Church Cockenzie on 18th. May 2019.
The President welcomed 18 members to the meeting.
The following obituaries were noted., Sir Hew Hamilton Dalrymple Bt. GCVO, Sheelagh Dowager Countess of March and Wemyss, Mrs Fiona Christison, Mr Michael Cox.
The Officers and Council were re-elected
President, S A Bunyan MBE
Vice Presidents, Mrs Joy Dodd, Mrs J Bell offered to serve as a vice president and was duly elected.
Acting Treasurer and Secretary Mrs Joy Dodd In February 2020. Mrs Kirsty Wilson was co-opted to become Treasurer.
Press Officer Mr Bunyan
Hon Librarian, Mrs Joy Dodd,
Hon Field Naturalist Advisor, Mr John Hunt,
Hon Editor of the Transactions, Mr Arran Johnstone
Members of Council; Arran Johnston, George Robertson, Mrs Gill Wilson, Mrs Elaine Whewell The Duke of Hamilton, Mr W Dodd , Mrs B Ellwood, Miss V Fletcher, Mr Ian Hardie and Mrs Shena Jamieson.
At the conclusion of the business Mr Tom Anderson, retired architect and church elder, gave a talk on the history of the church and took members on a tour of this most unusual church.
Obituary. In the course of the current year the following member and ex member have died,
Ailsa Maxwell 10th Feb 2020, Rennie Weatherhead.9th Mar2020, Brian Young 28th May 2020. Obituary notices have been posted on the web site.
Congratulations Member of the society Sir Hew Dalrymple Bt. has been appointed as Depute Lieutenant of East Lothian. We offer our congratulations.
Summer Visits 2019
Saturday 22nd June a visit was made to Portmore Gardens at Eddlestone arranged by Ian Hardie.
Saturday 13th July a visit was made to Marchmont House and gardens, Greenlaw arranged by Ian Hardie. Members were impressed by the improvements which had been made.
Saturday 4th August members made a perambulation round Historic East Linton led by Gary Menzies.
Saturday 7th September members visited Tyninghame House, hosted by members, Judy Riley and Angus MacGregor, who talked about the history of the house and led a tour of parts of the house. Joy Dodd then took the group to look at the ruins of the church and site of the old village. It was a beautiful day and the grounds were much admired.
Winter Lectures
Four lectures were given in the Maitlandfield Hotel in the course of the winter.
12th 0ct 2019 John McCreadie “Measuring the Past, Modelling the Future.” The talk described how high resolution 3d digital models using laser scanning combined with drone and terrestrial photography are created.
23rd November Alister Hadden gave a talk on the History of Wallyford.
8th February Liz Curtis gave a talk on East Lothian Place Names
14th March Stephanie Leith gave a talk on St Martin’s Kirk, Haddington.
The Annual Dinner was postponed due to the Corona Virus. The speaker was to have been the Lord Lyon, Dr Joseph Morrow QC.It is hoped to re-arrange a date in the autumn.
Planned Activities for 2020 – 2021 Planned visits have been put on hold, and will be reviewed later in the year.
Transactions
The Transactions continue to be held in high regard. They are lodged in the copyright libraries and East Lothian libraries and are purchased by academic and other libraries. They are issued to Queen Margaret University, Secondary Schools in East Lothian and to Loretto and Belhaven Hill School and some other bodies. Work on Volume XXXIII is now in hand,
The Transactions and other works are now available on-line. The society is most grateful to George Robertson and Philip Immirzi for undertaking this huge task. Members are encouraged to use the web site both as contributors and for information.
It is availability of our Transactions and the material of the 4th Statistical Society. proving of interest to many scholars and others who appreciate the increased
Although membership remains reasonably steady at 118 (24 family subscriptions and 70 single subscriptions), the Council is looking at ways in which to attract new members particularly of a “younger” age group. We believe that interest has been stimulated by increased awareness of the society online and Facebook.
Other Matters
The President represents the Society on the John Muir Park advisory group, which he chairs.
Mr J Hunt represents the Society on the AberladyBay advisory group and on the Law’s advisory group. Joy Dodd represents the Society on the East Lothian Heritage Forum.
The Society continues to support the work of the Scottish Local History Forum and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland.
The Society is vigilant in the face of threats to our heritage of buildings and landscape. Enquiries about the Society and about East Lothian continue to be received.
Stephen A Bunyan, President
May 2020.
