Minutes of an Ordinary meeting of The Old
Glasgow Club held at Adelaide’s, 209 Bath Street on Thursday 11th March
2010 at 7.30pm
Attendance
105
Chair
Mr Gordon (President)
Welcome
Mr
Gordon welcomed members to the meeting.
Apologies
There were apologies from Anna Forrest,
Charlie McCall, Sharon Maceys, Brian Henderson and Isabel Muldowney.
Minutes
The minutes of the last ordinary meeting
held on 11th February were approved, proposed by Mr Woodhouse and
seconded by Mr G. Kerr. There were no matters arising.
President’s report
- Mr Gordon
announced that Mrs Forrest, the club Librarian, would be returning
from Cyprus later in March.
- With deep regret
Mr Gordon announced the passing of Jessie McArthur and Ishbel
Buchanan.
- Mr Gordon welcomed
two new members, Mr Poole and Mr Connor, to the meeting.
Secretary’s report
-
Mrs McNae reported that she had attended
the launch of the Greek Thomson Church public appeal, “A Place for
Thomson”, hosted by Sally White and Mark Baines. She suggested that
the Club could make a donation to the appeal. It was proposed that
the tea and coffee income from the next two meetings (and any extra
donations) would be donated to the cause and the amount would be
matched from the Clubs funds.
-
There will be a local history event
entitled “Heritage Matters” on March 12th at Queens Park
Church. The Old Glasgow Club will be represented.
-
Mrs McNae reminded members of several
outings:
Orkney Street Police Station, Govan on
Saturday 27th March at 10.30am.
Necropolis guided tour on Sunday 25th
April at 2.00pm.
The J.A.S. Wilson Memorial Walk, Glasgow
Green. The date will be confirmed.
The Tappit Hen Bowling Tournament, May 27th
Kelvingrove Bowling Greens.
Summer Outing to St Andrews and the Secret
Bunker on Saturday 12th June.
-
Mrs McNae has been contacted by a
representative of a group of Guernsey citizens who were evacuated to
Glasgow during WWII. There are 70th Anniversary events
being planned over the weekend of the 10-12th April. Mrs
McNae will invite a representative of the group to the next Ordinary
meeting.
-
Mrs McNae reminded the meeting that Mr
Smith would welcome any Alhambra memories for his new book.
Speaker
Mr Gordon introduced Mr Jim Mearns,
President of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, who would speak on
“What use is archaeology?”
The Old Glasgow Club and the Glasgow
Archaeological Society combined efforts in the past, firstly to save
Kelvingrove House (unsuccessfully) and secondly to successfully save the
Pearce Lodge at the University of Glasgow and the Tolbooth Steeple on
High Street.
Mr Mearns described archaeology as the
method by which the past is identified, recorded and interpreted. In and
around Glasgow we can still see visible evidence of its archaeology via
ruins and artefacts and empathise with our ancestors via these traces.
We can see how and why people clustered and settled around certain
areas.
Archaeology as we know it was initiated
by traders and travellers bringing back tales and artefacts, for example
Renaissance Europe was fascinated by ancient Greek and Rome. In Britain
Hadrian’s Wall was an early study in antiquarianism by William Camden
(1555-1623), then Egyptian artefacts were in vogue according to William
Stukely (1687-1765). Both London and Scotland set up a Society of
Antiquities and in 1844 David Findlay requested that a society be set up
in Glasgow. Archaeology then replaced antiquarianism with a more
structured and scientific discipline of study and in 1856 the
constitution of the Glasgow Archaeological Society was composed.
Since these early clubs and societies
there have been many scientific advances such as Carbon 14 dating,
computer technology and DNA analysis resulting in the many different
classes of archaeology in place today. The definition and philosophy of
archaeology has also changed over the years, from an academic study of
curios in a museum to cutting edge technology and in-depth analysis.
Archaeology has been used as a political
tool, for example in Communist Russia and Nazi Germany. Himmler was
fascinated by Germanic archaeology and used it as the basis of Ahnenerbe-
an elite think tank which aimed to unearth Germanys ancestors and
pre-historic accomplishments in order to scientifically justify the Nazi
Party’s political agenda against Jews and homosexuals. In other cases
archaeology has caused ill feeling between nations, for example an
excavation involving the tomb of Alexander the Great caused unrest
between Greece and the Former Yugoslavian state of Macedonia.
More positively archaeology is important
for explaining the past to local communities, preserving the past for
future generations, educating the young and for highlighting
environmental issues. In Scotland archaeology is closely tied in with
tourism e.g. Edinburgh Castle and Skara Brae. The economy of Easter
Island is almost entirely dependent on archaeology.
As well as being an interesting subject
we can learn a lot from ancient civilisations. Jared Diamonds study
“Collapse” used Iceland as a model for a period of archaeological
decline during the Viking age, an example of a man-made/domesticated
livestock disaster where over-farming almost caused the economy and the
landscape to collapse.
The hunt for lost civilisations e.g.
Atlantis is always popular with the public but rarely yields any
hard-scientific facts. It is an archaeologist’s responsibility to share
scientific knowledge using sound research however the public will
believe what they want despite hard evidence, for example the current
debate over creationism versus intelligent design divides people’s
opinion from a religious aspect.
In closing Mr Mearns summarises that
archaeology is extremely useful. By understanding where we came from and
where our roots are we can plan where we are going.
Mr Mearns then
answered questions from the hall. He also informed us that there would
be an exhibition; “Digging up Glasgow” in St Mungo’s Museum of Religious
Life from June 23rd 2010.
Vote of thanks
Mr Smith
thanked Mr Mearns for his very thorough talk and presented him with a
Centenary Handbook and a year’s membership.
Photo competition winner
The answer to
the competition is that the North and South Rotunda were the entrances
to the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel.
Close
The next directors meeting would take
place on Wed 31st March and the next Ordinary meeting would
be on Thurs 8th April where the speaker will be Flt. Lt.
Traynor on the topic “602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air
Force”.
Mr Gordon wished all a safe journey home.
P Cairns
Recording Secretary
Mr Gordon wished all
a safe journey home.
Next Directors Meeting-
Thurs 5th November
Next Ordinary Meeting
– Glasgow Riverside Museum Project, Iyke Ikegwuonu,
Thurs 12th November
P Cairns, Recording Secretary.
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