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

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Next Meeting...

Wednesday

26th August 2026

'A one way ticket to India'

Presenter - Ian Smith

Club News

Secretary email: macblack2525@gmail.com

There was a large turnout of members at the meeting in Castlehill Community Hall on 11th August, where Chairman, John Parker welcomed everyone - and the Speaker for the day, Air Vice Marshall Ross Paterson.

AVM Ross Paterson CB OBE DL retired from his post just over two and a half years ago and now lives in Scotland. He was appointed OBE in 2001 for his charity work and mountain rescue service and CB for his work with veterans and service families worldwide. In 2016 he was appointed an Aide de Camp to Queen Elizabeth II. He became the senior RAF representative in Scotland from 2015 until retiral.

My Role in the RAF

AVM Ross Paterson provided an in-depth account of his 40 years in the RAF, ending in Dec 2023 after 9 years as Air Officer Scotland.  He began by explaining the role of the Air Force today, and the critical importance of mutual support across land, sea and air (including space); no force can function effectively without Airpower.  The history of the RAF has been characterised by incredibly rapid technology development.  The RAF was formed in 1918, and 50 years later man landed on the Moon.  And Space is the new challenge for defence and security.
Ross explained how airpower provides flexibility and political choice to dial operations up or down.  This is particularly useful in today’s geopolitical environment. He described the range of aircraft employed today, including around 556 fixed wing aircraft and 45 Chinooks, flown and supported by approximately 30,000 RAF personnel.  We enjoyed an exciting, short video showing the aircraft in action, including the latest drones, the Defender. Ross then summarised some of the highlights of his distinguished career.  He commanded at every rank and served as the CEO of the Defence Agency, overseeing a budget of £60bn/year; as a member of the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit helping to determine the balance of Service resource allocation; and, finally, Air Officer Scotland.
He finished by talking about his family life, moving regularly from place to place to follow his latest appointment.  He touched on the sports/adventure side of Service life, diving around Ascension Island and climbing the Matterhorn. His last challenge, as Air Officer Scotland, was planning and implementing the safe recovery of Queen Elizabeth II’s body from Balmoral to London following her death in 2022.  Cupar Probus were extremely fortunate to receive this presentation from such a distinguished and senior officer, and the vote of thanks was suitably effusive.

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 26th August, and the speaker will be Ian Smith. His talk is entitled 'A one way ticket to India'. We hope to see you there!