Meldrum Visits

One of the advantages of business travel is that, now and again it can fit in well with some personal matters. I had come to Aberdeen for meetings, but I had several hours before I could check into my hotel and the meetings did not start until the next day, so I was able to make a couple of personal visits.

First, I had the pleasure of visiting Mrs. Hazel Sim’s P5 class at Meldrum Primary, some of whom had taken part in the unveiling ceremony for the Battle of Barra memorial.
But first I had to figure out how to get into the school! Things had changed since my boys went there, so after some driving around I had to ask the “lollypop lady” (crossing guard for Americans), how to get in. However I finally made it, and received a warm welcome from Hazel and her class. The class had recently completed a project on “Wallace and Bruce”, and the told me about it and showed some of the things they had made. We spoke about the Battle of Barra and I told them about the “blog” and answered some questions. I also heard about plans for a future activity where they will learn more about Barra Hill and the battle.
I hope it will be possible to provide a report on this in a later post and to show some of the work the class did for their project.
Thanks to Hazel and P5 for a great visit.

Next I had my “fly cup” (a mid-morning or afternoon cup of tea) with Moira Gregg, the author of an article on the battle, in “Scottish Field”, featured in an earlier post. Moira, whose home is at the base of Barra Hill, and overlooks the Bruce Field, told me about her decision to start writing and how it was so natural to write about these events which had taken place almost in her own garden. She was full of praise for the MBHS, their work on the memorial, and the information provided by various members for the article. We discussed the history a bit, and the fact that her problem with the article became, “what to leave out”, because of the wealth of information available. Although Moira is quick to point out she is no historian, she has produced a wonderful, short and concise article on the battle, which has helped reach a much wider audience, and increase awareness of the battle’s importance to the history of Scotland.
I plan to share some of her pictures in a later post.
Thanks Moira, for your hospitality.

I also spoke with Evelyn and was delighted to receive an invitation to meet with members of the MBHS, at her house on Friday. I am really looking forward to this and will post the details later.