RSC E-Newsletter 22.04.21

As we enter July and I look back on the last month, I am amazed at how far we have come. We are seeing so many of you regularly again for lunches, coffee and cake etc. We have small meetings and events taking place in line with restrictions and we held our first members event since March 2020. Each day we are learning to thrive in our new normal and are thrilled to have you all along for the ride. I cannot express my thanks enough for your continued support and kindness over such a confusing time, but it truly feels like we are taking huge leaps in the right direction now.

We have a few updates to opening times which I have detailed below for you. These will be in place for July and August and will be reviewed in mid-August by which time we hope to be back to full opening hours after restrictions ease. We are excited to re-open the dining room for dinner Tuesday-Saturday and would really appreciate your support to make sure it’s successful. As always please don’t hesitate to contact me if something is unclear or you’d like to make any bookings or ask any questions.

We had a special offer on over May and June which automatically entered anyone that booked for lunch into a draw to win a free lunch for two. I’m delighted to announce the winner is Mhorag Blue!! Congratulations Mhorag and I hope you enjoy your free lunch. We will be running this offer again for July and August so all you need to do is book a table in the dining room and you’ll be automatically entered into the draw. The more lunches you book, the more chances you have of winning. Good luck!

I have a lot of you asking about the events calendar for the rest of the year, rest assured we are working on it and hope to announce dates in our August E-newsletter. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the selection of photos from the Beating Retreat which are at the end of this newsletter.

I hope some of you are able to get away and relax over the summer months and if you find yourselves in Edinburgh, please don’t forget to pop in and say hello.

Stay safe, pray for sunshine, and I hope to see you soon,

Ayesha and the team at RSC

Contact Me

Opening Times

Please find below our opening times for July and August, these will be reviewed in mid-August, by which time we hope to be back to full opening hours after restrictions ease. You can download a copy here to print and keep or copies will be available from the Club reception.

We are re-opening the dining room for dinner Tuesday-Saturday and would really appreciate your support to make sure it’s successful.

If you would like to make a booking please just email me on events@royalscotsclub.com or call 0131 525 6156. Bookings are subject to restrictions at the time, currently a max of 6 guests from 3 households.

Accommodation

With the recent announcement of The Edinburgh Fringe going ahead in August, the Club is a perfect spot to stay. Incredibly central and within walking distance of most of the outdoor venues, you couldn’t pick a better place to put your feet up at the end of an exciting day.

And if you prefer the flexibility of self-catering accommodation, the Club has got you covered with 34A Abercromby Place. A 3-bed luxurious, dog friendly, self-catering apartment right on the corner of Abercromby Place and Dundas Street. The apartment has a modest kitchen, living area and each bedroom has an en-suite bathroom.

34A has its own website so check it out here.

Don’t forget, members get 30% off our bestselling accommodation rates and their guests get 20% off. A fantastic saving on a city break! Drop Leanne or Morag a message now on reservations@royalscotsclub.com for availability and costs.

We need YOUR help

As part of our ongoing series of evening lectures we are pleased to announce that, at 7pm on Thursday 16 September 2021, the Royal Scots Club will be hosting a lecture titled Glider Force – Silently to War. The lecture will explore and celebrate the pilots who flew military gliders in World War 2, the soldiers who were carried into battle by glider, and the many others who enabled it to happen.

The presenter, Tony Bray, is very keen to weave into the lecture the stories of family or friends of current Royal Scots Club members who were involved in any way. The glider-borne units involved service men and women from a wide range of skills and cap badges, including:

The glider pilots themselves.

The soldiers carried into battle by glider, be they infantry, gunners, sappers, medics, service corps, chaplains etc.

RAF personnel who trained the glider pilots to fly, the ground crews who maintained the gliders, or who crewed the aircraft which towed the gliders into battle.

The people who designed and built the gliders.

So if you know of anyone who was involved with the glider-borne forces, Tony would love to hear from you. If you have any mementos, photos, or documents which you would be prepared to display on the evening of the lecture that would be an extra bonus. If you can help in any way please contact me and I will pass your details onto Tony, who will then be in touch with you directly.

Zoom Lectures

We have a great selection of virtual lectures coming up. Find out all the details below along with links to book via Eventbrite. I do hope you can join us but if you are unable to, I will endeavour to record the lectures and share them in an upcoming newsletter.

Bookings closed at 3.30pm today for tomorows lecture so be quick!

The experimental gunnery work of ATS women in World War 2 with Nina Baker

Saturday 3rd July 11am

Tin hats, white skirts and slide rules: the experimental gunnery work of ATS women in World War 2

It is widely known that women from the Auxiliary Territorial Service served with expertise and heroism on the many World War 2 ‘Ack-Ack’ (anti-aircraft) batteries around the country. What seems to have been much less well known is the story of the hand-picked women who served at the Royal Artillery experimental ranges both during the war and, in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, for years into the Cold War era.

As this period covers the cusp of transition from Victorian ballistic test methods into the modern electronic era, a summary history of these methods will be included. This talk will look at the unique uniforms the ATS women were required to wear at the ranges, the expert technical work they did and how this changed with the post-WW2 technology. This, largely forgotten, story will be amplified with some first person recollections of women who worked in this remarkable but secret world.

Dr Nina Baker is an independent engineering historian specialising in the history of women in engineering. She has had a varied career, starting out as a deck officer in the Merchant Navy. She later studied for an engineering degree as a mature student, followed by a PhD in concrete durability. We hope you will join us for this fascinating talk.

BOOK HERE

Mary Cameron: Life in Paint with Dr Helen Scott

Edinburgh-born artist Mary Cameron (1865-1921) was a woman ahead of her time. A professional painter, skilled linguist and intrepid traveller, she was well-known and respected by her contemporaries. Since her death, however, her name has been virtually forgotten. This illustrated talk places Cameron back in the spotlight, tracing the story of her remarkable career, from the elegant family portraits of her youth to the spectacular Spanish scenes of her maturity.

Dr Helen Scott is Curator of Fine Art at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh. In 2019 she curated the first major exhibition to focus on Cameron in over a century.

The accompanying monograph Mary Cameron: Life in Paint was published by Sansom & Company and can be purchased here

BOOK HERE

Beating Retreat & Garden Supper

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Beating Retreat and Garden Supper on Saturday 19th June. The band were phenomenal and incredibly rousing, we dodged the rain and we got to see some friendly faces at long last. A truly fantastic event if I do say so myself! We were so sad to have to limit the numbers, but I hope you enjoy looking through a few select photos of the evening.

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