Memories from a Grammar boy
Thank you for sending that excellent February issue of Leopard. Having been gone from Scotland for almost 60 years I am more or less out of touch with contemporary newspapers, magazines and other news. In fact all that reaches me annually is the Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine along with e-mails from Martin Jeffrey.
I think Leopard’s written pieces are articulate, the layout clean and flowing, while the ads front and back leave the copy uncluttered – something rare in publishing these days.
There was a letter referring to the Inverbervie Old Bridge and the flax mill at Pitcarry. I was born on a farm three miles north of St Cyrus and seem to recall that the flax mill was owned and/or managed by a Mr Burness whose daughter Marjorie was at Miss Oliver’s while I was at the Grammar. Pitcarry was also a farm owned by the well-respected Anderson family.
The item about His Majesty’s Theatre and the Donald family reminds me of an occasion when I was a ‘wee loon’ and my mother took me to see Peter Pan at HMT. Seated in the front row of the dress circle I was horrified when Captain Hook was quietly sneaking up behind Peter – intent on no good.
Apparently I stood up in the silent theatre and screamed, “Watch out behind you!”. I was later told that action on the stage paused and the audience roared with laughter.
My wife was interested in the reference to the Donalds as her great-grandfather, the Rev. Andrew Donald, came out from Scotland in the 1840s as the last missionary to Canada from the Church of Scotland. He started 12 churches in New Brunswick, riding to them on horseback in that thickly-wooded province to deliver his sermons.
My forebears were three brothers who came from Ireland in 1666 and settled in Aberdeenshire. I have the family tree from then until today, thanks to records kept by my mother and others who preceded her. The achievements of the descendents of the three brothers in politics, law and business are quite impressive given their modest roots.
George Stephen,
Toronto