Visit to Annandale Distillery Jun 27th 2016

 

 

Following a talk to the group from a representative of the distillery, a visit was arranged for those who were interested. Fourteen of us turned up to be greeted by the friendly staff. We then divided into two groups for the tour, as space is limited in certain areas.

A notice board at the entrance gives an impression of what the distillery looked like when it was owned by Johnnie Walker around the turn of the 20th Century.

 

 

Our tour guide took us into the yard to explain some of the old and new features, and buildings that make up the distillery. It had fallen into disrepair in the years after WW1 and was finally bought and restored by Dr David Thomson. It was officially reopened by the Princess Royal in 2015.

The original buildings were very dilapidated when Professor Thomson began his restoration, but he was faithful to the red sandstone originally used and searched for the same stone to use in the restoration. His diligence was rewarded and the restored buildings look as if they have been in that condition for many years.

 

 

 After a brief history of the distillery and a look at photos of the site when it was first acquired by Dr Thomson, we went inside to look at todays production process. We began under the pagoda-style roof.

 

 

We then went upstairs to see where the grain comes into the building before heading off to the different tanks and stills. The process was explained to us and we saw the mash tuns and copper stills. These are hand made to the specific requirements of the distillery.

 

 

We were then escorted to the Bonded Warehouses where the barrels of whisky are maturing. For obvious reasons (!) this was kept locked and we were not allowed to take photos inside.

 

 

The barrels are stored here - initially for 3 years - until the whisky is ready to be bottled. We saw the barrels stacked and labelled. There are two different single malt whiskies being made at the distillery - a peated and an unpeated whisky. They are to be known as the Man O'Words and the Man O' Sword, in honour of Robert Burns and Robert the Bruce.

We were given a taste of each of the Rascally Liqors that are being bottled and sold until the whisky is ready. This is the pure spirit that matures into Single Malt Whisky.

 

 

There has been a lot of thought - and money - put into the distillery. Dr Thomson is obviously passionate about whisky and the revival of the distillery. The best materials have been used throughout and this quality can be seen in even the smallest detail of gates, hand rails, doors, lights, stools and tables etc.

 

 

The Maltings Coffee Shop at the distillery is a very welcoming, comfortable area. We enjoyed platters of delicious sandwiches and tea/coffee to round off our visit.

 

 

Planned meetings for the next few months

Oh yes we can.....oh no we can't...OH YES WE CAN! January 2016

GIG were busy this month with 2 events in the same week!

On January 6th we had our Annual Dinner for members, held at the Metal Bridge. As we have come to expect from the MB, the food and service were both extremely good. A  glass of wine with the meal and mince pies with tea/coffee, were an added bonus. A very sociable evening in congenial surroundings was enjoyed by all.

 

 

We set off the next day for our trip to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, to see the pantomime Dick Whittington. Our arrival gave us time to have a wander around the shops and have some lunch before making our way to the theatre.

The Theatre Royal in Newcastle is one of the most historic theares in the UK. It was built in 1837 and reconstructed in 1901 after a fire, and is a Grade 1 listed building.

 

Photos courtesy of Lynne Hampson

 

Father and son team Danny Adams (Dick Whittington) and Clive Webb (Councillor Fitzfenwick) star this year in their 11th pantomime at the theatre.

 

  

Chris Hayward plays a fantastic Dame Rita Fitzfenwick in amazing costumes of his own creation,

 

 

Charlie Hardwick, who played Val Pollard in Emmerdale, makes a return to her hometown theatre to play The Spirit of the Tyne,

 

 

Steve Arnott plays the villainous King Rat,

 

 

Alice Stokoe stars as Alice Fitzfenwick, 

 

 

Peter Peverley portrays Little Bobby the Cat,

 

 

 

Phil Seaman plays Captain Birdseye and the Sultan,

 

 

and Michael Potts portrays The Idiot.

 

and Michael Potts portrays The Idiot.

 

 

 

We sat in the theatre watching the seats filling up with eager, excited children and adults. The atmosphere and noise built as performance time drew near...

Then suddenly the lights went down …….

The panto tells the story of Dick Whittington travelling to Newcastle to seek fame and fortune while battling the villainous King Rat and ridding the city of his army of vermin.

The panto was brilliant  and as the Hartlepool Mail said in their review:

"There was a wonderful blend of high-octane energy, acrobatics, slapstick comedy, and a love story. it was all pulled together with remarkable audience participation that saw audience members getting wet, custard pied, dressed as Tellytubbies and even taking part in an edge-of-your-seat knife-juggling stunt.

One of the real stand-outs this year was the special effects, including a 15ft-high rat and a massive shark roaring out into the auditorium and even swallowing Dick Whittington at one point. The 3D effects were truly remarkable and added a new high-tech visionary experience to the show that will be talked about by everyone and will rival any cinematic delight.

After the interval the audience is recommended to pick up a pair of 3D glasses, which were free as long as you returned them afterwards, for a special part of the show that was a real standout. It used state of the art technology and saw the audience jumping in their seats to dodge bombs and monsters that appeared right in front of your eyes.

There was bagfulls of singing and dancing and a trampolining scene that had perfect comedy and choreographical timing."

A great review for a great pantomime!

Pantos are all about tradition and audience participation in a loud and colourful way. The audience today was engrossed from the minute the panto started! The speed and content of the performance kept us enthralled in the story from beginning to end, laughing and joining in all the way through. The bangs and flashes, scary moments, panto innuendo and very old jokes were all that we expected and the glitz and glamour along with sensational musical numbers and fabulous sets and costumes made a brilliant show that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Photo courtesy of Keith Torrington

 

Can't wait for next year when the panto will be Cinderella!

 

 

Christmas at Traquair 28th Nov 2015

All our trips with GIG so far have had lovely weather on the day, but this trip looked as if it was going to be different. Rain, wind and a chill in the air greeted our departure - and unfortunately continued throughout the whole day. Saturated fields, full of bedraggled sheep and/or livestock were on either side of the roads, which themselves had rivers of water running along at the edges. In a few places these even met in the middle - flooding the whole road. Hats, gloves and umbrellas were therefore the order of the day!

Traquair House is situated to the SE of Peebles and is, it is claimed, the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland. It is built in the style of a fortified mansion. The estate is made up of about 4000 acres with several farms, cottages and areas of forestry along with a stretch of the River Tweed and its associated fishing. Over the 900 years of its existence Traquair has had 27 monarchs visit, and sometimes stay, in their 50 rooms.

However if you are a visitor to Traquair, you cannot use the main entrance.

The Bear gates were installed in 1738 but when they were closed after Bonnie Prince Charlie passed through in 1745 the Earl at the time vowed that they would never be opened again until a Stuart king was on the throne! They therefore remain closed to this day.
 

 

Today Traquair was hosting a Festive Fayre, with the house open for visitors to see it decorated as in Victorian times. There were craft stalls to buy presents and many activities for children to participate in. Unfortunately, with the weather on the day, walking around the grounds was not really an option. There are no formal gardens here but you can walk around the grounds, some of which run alongside the river, and try to find your way around the maze! Traquair have previously been part of the Snowdrop Festival in Scotland, when many of the grounds were open for visitors to see them covered in snowdrops.

 

 

 We wandered around the house seeing some of the furniture and artefacts on display in the various rooms. The Drawing room had many portraits of family ancestors....

 

 

 

The Dressing room showed how everyday life was lived in days gone by ...

 

 

The King's room was where Mary Queen of Scots stayed....

 

 

... and the Museum has some of her belongings as well as a mural dating from the 16th Century.

 

 

The Still room contained some stunning 18th Century porcelain and the Dining room was set out as if for a meal...

 

 

 

The Library was filled from floor to ceiling with books...

 

 

Even the cellars had wonderful collections in them...

 

 

 

... and there are maps and old prints everywhere - all relating to the wonderful history of the house.

There are stone staircases that take you from floor to floor but they are often spiral staircases and we had to take care when going up and down. We also saw some more secret stairways....

 

 

Traquair also has it's own chapel, built in the 19th Century, and its own brewery! This dates back to the early 1700's but went out of use and the space was filled with family memorabilia. It was rediscovered in the 1960's with all its brewing equipment intact and brewing began again. The brewery became a success and beer is exported all over the world.

As well as the craft stalls erected in various rooms of the house for the Fayre, there are also some craft workshops in the grounds. There is also a small café serving refreshments.

Despite the weather, we enjoyed our visit to a fascinating place - even if we couldn't use the main entrance!

Curling at Lockerbie

Another trip to 'have-a-go' at a sport meant we were heading to Lockerbie Ice Rink on the warmest day of Autumn but in multi-layered clothing. Most were getting a bit worried about having to stand or walk (or run?!) on ice.

Once welcomed to the rink our footwear was inspected as any particle of grit would cause havoc to the sliding stones. We were warmed up with a few exercises to help prevent aching muscles. Our lead coach was Marion Murdoch, quite possibly the best curling coach in the world as her son was Skip of the Olympic men's medal winning team.

We were then taken onto the ice and despite the first few steps being very tentative we soon got a bit more confident.

Split into 4 groups on two sheets (note the technical terms!) each group now had a coach. For the first hour on the ice we were shown basic techniques and rules of etiquette and the game which we tried out in turn.

Not everyone could cope with all the squatting and bending but we were taught how to use sticks to push the stones.

Gradually we were pushing the stones further and further with slight spins.
For the second hour each group had a 'match' with another group.

Please excuse the blurred photos - people were moving and I was standing on sheet ICE !!

We actually managed to get stones in the house, set guards and miss completely!!

No-one fell over but the cold did permeate through shoes and layers of socks to numb our extremities but a bowl of soup in the café (on the warmest day of Autumn) soon got us acclimatised to the outside world again.

Many thanks go the everyone at Lockerbie Ice rink for giving us such an enjoyable morning. How many will want to do it again?? 

Fun at 10 Pin Bowling

Bowling followed Pizza sounded like fun. 10 of the GIG members hired a couple of lanes at Carlisle bowling and quickly got into the swing of things.

Gutter bumpers were raised to aid shots and some of us got lucky by bouncing our way to the pins.

The ladies formed one team whilst the men on the second team vowed to get a higher score.

Fun and laughter soon followed as we tried our best. Luckily all the scoring is done automatically so we didn't have to tax our brains too much.



All too quickly the frames were completed and we headed for lunch at Pizza Hut. All you can eat buffet meant we could pick and choose slices of different pizzas along with endless salad.

Something to do again - although Curling at Lockerbie is next on the programme.

AGM and Trophy Night Wednesday 2nd September 2015

Committee members set up tables in anticipation of a good turn out for the AGM. How many people would turn up? Would there be enough members signing up tonight to make it worthwhile continuing the group?
Well we weren't disappointed. As 7pm came round people arrived carrying photographs, craft items, floral displays and food. Tables filled up and extra ones had to be brought out for exhibits. Memberships were renewed and seats filled up in anticipation. Extra seats were squeezed in and finally everything and everyone were ready to begin.
Our Chairman welcomed everyone and gave his report. A very busy year had included talks covering a range of topics and a good number of trips had been organised and enjoyed. A new Satellite group - Silver Surfers - was proving popular and several trips for the future were outlined. The Treasurer then gave her report, outlining income and expenditure and explaining that the accounts had been successfully audited. Re-election of the Treasurer followed, along with election of the members of the committee. The Chairman concluded the AGM with a thank you to all members - as without them there would be no group!
Voting then followed for the following categories-
Tom Straiton Memorial Trophy for a floral display of predominantly roses.
Hodgson Trophy for a Landscape photograph.
Annantown Garage Trophy for a Bird photograph.
Memet Trophy for a Wildlife photograph.
Craft Trophy for a hand made item.

There were fantastic entries in all categories and much work had obviously gone into every single item entered. Members of the group were then allowed to vote for their favourite item in each category. It was a very difficult decision to choose one item above all the others in each category but votes were cast. While the votes were being counted members helped themselves to the delicious looking buffet.

After the buffet it was time to announce the winners! It was very close in all the categories, sometimes only one vote separating the winner from the rest! The committee were very pleased to see just how many entries there were. Winners were announced and trophies handed out by the Chairman as follows:
Tom Straiton Trophy to Glenys Donald.
Hodgson trophy to Mike Read.
Annantown Garage Trophy to Lynne Hampson.
Memet Trophy to Lynne Hampson.
Craft Trophy to Linda Wade. (David accepted the trophy on her behalf but later sent us a photo of Linda with her prize)

Congratulations to all winners but we must say thank you and well done to everyone who entered an exhibit.