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Branch News
December 2007
10/1/08
Scotland North Branch held its first at The Skean Dhu Hotel in Dyce on
Saturday 29th Sept. This was a race night and raffle which attracted support from 140 members and guests. Scotland East member Roddy Watson and his wife Jennifer, organised and compered proceedings and obviously everyone had a good time, as a total of £2900.00 was raised for our Benevolent Fund.
Our Chairman of Trustees, Mark Everett, who was the driving force behind the formation of the Branch earlier this year, was there. He said – “This was a remarkable turn out, and a big achievement for the first Branch function and all credit must go to Chairman John Hayesand his Committee who have made tremendous efforts to get this new Branch off the ground”.
Branch’s first Benevolent Fund aid
4/7/07
Scotland North’s Chairman John Hays presents our Benevolent Fund’s cheque to the Branch’s very first beneficiary.
Scotland North, the Club’s newest Branch formed at the beginning of the year, recorded its first Benevolent Fund case last month. This was a particularly sad case as it concerned the sudden death from a heart attack, of a man who had, for many years, overcome the aftermath of falling through a roof whilst working on site.
Although wheelchair bound, the victim achieved widespread popularity in his local sporting community where he was chairman of the disabled supporters club for the local team. ‘He was fun to have around’ said a friend.
Ross Walker, our Welfare Officer in Aberdeen, dealt with this case and since it was a ‘first’ he asked the widow if she would waive her right of absolute anonymity. She very kindly agreed for us to publish the picture shown above.
Shortly after his successful efforts with Scotland North’s first welfare case, Ross Walker has taken the opportunity to move to Brisbane for his company Hays Construction.
We all wish him good fortune as he takes post on Australia’s Gold Coast where there are already a handful of Lighthouse Club Members.
A Lighthouse Club Brisbane Branch before too long?
Making a start on the Structure!
19/2/07
Secretary John Kirkland with Chairman John Hayes. In the background Girdleness light, from 1831, designed by one of the renowned Stevenson family of lighthouse builders.
An inaugural meeting of committee members was held on February 2nd.
Chaired by John Hays, the meeting began by confirming the roles as already agreed.
Mark Everett was present, representing National Council, and he had with him the money needed to open an account so as to get the Branch going.
Getting going involves ‘housekeeping’: adopting the ‘model constitution’; aquiring promotional literature; arranging for printing letter heading. All basic stuff but time consuming for a small committee.
A programme for ‘spreading the word’ was agreed and by now is being implemented. A discussion on ‘future events’brought forth a number of ideas with, naturally enough, golf to the fore.
Towards the end of the meeting Mark Everett, with the benefit of 14 years experience to call upon, discussed with the committee and its new welfare officers the best procedures for dealing with applications to our Fund and the subsequent interviews with the workers and families involved.
Next committee meeting April 18th.
Our new Branch is up; and if not yet running then it’s out of the starting blocks!.
Aird Buist
18/12/06
Aird Buist, who is the Regional Director of contractors Mansell has now formally joined the committeee. Aird’s presence is certain to be very beneficial in taking our new Branch forward. Mansell are an important player in the region, and as Regional Director Aird will have contacts and influence to add to those of our Branch Chairman John Hays.
The fact that our new Branch will enjoy the support of the local principals of Hays Construction & Property; Balfour Beatty C.E. and Mansell promises well for 2007.
Branch Formation
5/12/06
Our Chairman of Trustees, Mark Everett set a personal goal some two years ago to try and drum up support for this new Branch, but despite introduction letters to most of the Trade bodies, plus telephone calls to a variety of contacts, nothing really happened.
That stalemate changed dramatically when Mark met John Kirkland. John, who is Regional Director of Hays Construction Services, volunteered his services and by utilising the Hays data base letters were sent to the Principals of the major Companies in the Northern area.
An immediate response was forthcoming from John Hayes, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Northern, who offered to take on the role of Chairman and Aird Buist, Regional Director of Mansell who wants to get involved. The new Branch also managed to recruit Ross Walker of Hays and Bernie Morris who are taking up the positions of Welfare Officer in Aberdeen and Inverness respectively. The appointment of two people for our welfare activities is very welcome, the north of Scotland is a very large area, the distance by road from Aberdeen to Inverness is over 100 miles.
We now have a nucleus for a new Branch and the response from individuals to our initiative has been extremely encouraging. An announcement at the recently held West of Scotland dinner created some very positive replies.
The first meeting of the new Branch Committee is scheduled for some time in the next month or so, but emails and telephone contact is being made with prospective Members on an ongoing basis.
Anyone interested in joining the newly formed North of Scotland Branch should contact any of the following individuals;
Chairman John Hayes
Secretary John Kirkland
Telephone 07785 706101
Chairman of Trustees Mark Everett
Telephone 07803 612750
Welfare Officer (Aberdeen) Ross Walker
Welfare Officer (Inverness) Bernie Morris
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