minutes

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.