OFFICE BEARERS

CHAIRMAN               
David Martin             
Tel. 07597 301748

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN               
John Parker              
Tel. 07970 568425

SECRETARY              
Allan Black              
Tel. 07512 022949

TREASURER              
Duncan Pickard             
Tel. 01334 870203

TALKS CONVENOR        
Graeme Hogg        
Tel. 01334 653043

COMMITTEE MEMBERS       
Jim Lawrence           
Maurice Shepherd             
David Sinclair 

ASSIST. SECRETARY   
Vic Broad

ASSIST. TALKS CONVENOR   
Bill Bowman

TALK RECORDERS              
Vic Broad 
Tony Miklinski           
Brian Murray             
Graham Pirie

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

Wednesday

25th June 2025

10.00am

Talk: 'A Ref abroad.'

Presenter: David Galloway

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Club News

Secretary email: macblack.author@gmail.com

The meeting in Castlehill Community Hall on 11th June was opened by Chairman David Martin. He welcomed today's speaker, Tom Davison, and a new member for induction, Walter Hill.

Walter Hill was originally a Falkirk bairn who moved to Sussex and began working life in a steel foundry where he became Sales Marketing Director, and he has chaired Trade Associations. He has been Justice of South Yorkshire and, after retiring, became involved in charity work. He now lives in St Andrews.

Our speaker, Tom Davison, is at the final stages of publishing a book about today's subject. He lives in Ceres and is a keen walker, and just recently completed a major charity walk. His subject today is about James Oswald, the eighteen century composer.

'Thank you for the musick' - the life and times of James Oswald.

Members  were enthralled by the presentation from Tom Davison of his talk “Thank you for fhe musick - the life and times of James Oswald.”  Tom has undertaken considerable research into this musician and his enthusiasm was evident.

How many residents of Fife have heard of this musician and how many know that he was born in Crail in the 18th century which at that time had a populations of around 1,700?  From a humble start in life he ended up in London, via Dunfermline and the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. He went about London in his long coat with his fiddle in the  large internal pocket of his coat. We think there are a lot of coffee houses nowadays, but we were enlightened about the number of coffee houses in London all that time ago. Not content with making it to London with a larger audience base and customers to purchase his music he became a regular at the Royal Court, London. It is thought that some of the music attributed to Robert Burns may have come from or been inspired by James Oswald. He also started writing music for a new instrument – the guitar.

James treated us to some of the compositions of George Oswald played by musicians today. These were appreciated and were well received. Hearing some of the music from this composer brought it alive for the audience.

For those wanting to know more about this musician from Fife then they will not have long to wait as Tom is hoping that his book will be published soon.

Vic Broad