CHAIRMAN

John Parker

Tel. 07970 568425

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

Martin Harris

Tel. 07720 823364

SECRETARY

Allan (Mac) Black

Tel. 07512 022949

TREASURER

Duncan Pickard

Tel. 01334 870203

TALK CONVENOR

Graeme Hogg

Tel. 01334 653043

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Jim Lawrence

David Martin

Maurice Shepherd

David Sinclair

ASSIST. TALK CONVENOR

Bill Bowman

TALK RECORDERS

Jim Lawrence

Tony Miklinski

Graham Pirie

MEMBERS PAGE

To access the MEMBERS page enter your password in the box above

...........................

Next Meeting...

Wednesday

28th October 2026

'Publishing as a Hobby...'

Presenter - Charles Bradbury

Club News

Secretary email: macblack2525@gmail.com

On 14th October it was the best turnout of members for this year in Castlehill Community Hall where our Speaker for today, Mairi Shiels, was welcomed by Chairman, John Parker. Also welcomed was a new member for Induction, Jim Elder.

Jim Elder was originally from Aberfeldy - now residing in Cupar. He has had a long career in electronic engineering working with NCR, Texas Instruments, Pirelli, and Raychem. As well as working in UK he has been in Canada, France, and USA. He has had a long association with Cupar Golf Club.

Our speaker, Mairi Shiels - born on the Isle of Harris, her early days in Clackmannan, and now lives in Newport. She was a teacher of history at Bell Baxter High School  before retirement. Mairi now indulges in her favourite subject of local and family history and has had several books published about the old days in Newport, Wormit, and Tayport. Her talk today is entitled 'The Tay Bridge disaster'.

The Tay Bridge disaster

Mairi Shiels gave Cupar Probus Club an absolutely gripping presentation on the Tay Bridge Disaster; how, on Sunday 28 December, 1879, in a furious storm, the Bridge collapsed sending a train and its carriages into the river, killing all on board.
Mairi explained that the 1850s had seen a rail boom across the UK, and that 2 major companies, the North British and the Caledonian, were fierce competitors for the Edinburgh to Dundee route; no bridges across the Forth and Tay existed, so the Caledonian went via Perth, while the North British used ferries across both rivers.  It was the North British that decided to build 2 bridges, and Thomas Bouch, an engineer, was commissioned to design and build both, starting with the Tay Bridge.  Work began in the Summer of 1871, and the bridge was to run from Wormit to Magdalen Green, single track, with 89 girders supported by brick columns. It was to be the longest bridge in the world; an astonishing feat of engineering, which was visited by world leaders such as President Grant of the USA.
But there were problems from the start.  They discovered that the bedrock didn’t stretch all the way across the river, and Bouch compromised on the design, substituting iron lattice columns for some of the brick; lighter but not as strong.  Nevertheless, the bridge was opened 7 years later on June 1878, and was hailed as a wonder of the world.  Queen Victoria crossed that Autumn and Thomas Bouch was knighted for his achievement.  The North British company captured 84% of rail traffic, and commerce rocketed.
But, on a dark and stormy night in December that year, disaster struck.  The 5.20 train from Burntisland approached the bridge around 7.10 in a storm that was driving ships aground and damaging infrastructure ashore.  Visibility was poor.  The train disappeared into the night and never made it to the other side.  Staff at Dundee eventually crawled out and found a 100 foot gap in the bridge, and no train.  When bodies began to be washed ashore, the news spread and crowds gathered.  Early reports announced 300 dead.  In fact, the most likely number was 75, possibly as low as 59.  But the disaster was reported across the world.
The public enquiry began in Jan the following year.  It reported that trains had been going too fast; the iron used had been sub-standard; the iron lattice section had many missing bolts and critically, no account had been taken of the effect of extreme weather conditions on the high-profile bridge.  The Chairman stated, “The bridge was badly designed, badly built and badly maintained, and Sir Thomas Bouch is responsible”. Bouch died 3 months later, humiliated and shamed.  The 60th victim of the Tay Bridge Disaster.

Tony Miklinski

Would you like to join us?

New members will be very welcome, so, if you are someone who has retired and you are looking for something to do on Wednesday mornings, please contact our Secretary or, better still, pop-in to one of our meetings. If you know of someone, encourage them to attend.

Our next meeting will be on 28th October, and the speaker will be Charles Bradbury. His talk is entitled 'Publishing as a Hobby'. We hope to see you there!