Clubs and Societies

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
Committee: D. J. Barnes, T. J. Docherty, I. F. Crawford, J. Sayer, D. I. T. Brown, D. J. Cockburn. Members: B. Murton, I. Burgess, W. Common, C. Murray, D. Woodward, J. Baldwin, J. Manson, T. Mullholland, H. Boyle, R. Gallacher, D. Smith, R. Nesbitt.

Once again the society can report an interesting, if not always entirely successful year. For this our thanks must go to Mr Paterson, for without his help, advice, and most of all his trust, the Club could not function outside of the hour long weekly meeting.

The prize for the years most spectacular failure must go to the Society's budding cartoonists. After weeks of little thought and less action the project, finally got off the ground with the filming of some of John Sayer's more blood-thirsty than artistic sequences (involving the gradual disintegration of a matchstick man). The project itself disintegrated in the developing tank. Unfortunately consolation was at hand - "Well, you won't make that mistake again."
Apart from such comic interludes, a lot of good work has been produced, some published here and most of the rest can be seen at the exhibition -which for the first time will contain work done by some of the novices (three reached Proficiency standard within the last year).

Christmas Competition Results

Senior 1st T. J. Docherty   2nd D. J. Barnes Junior 1st W. A. Common   2nd I. Burgess   3rd C. Murray

TENNIS CLUB
This summer tennis was in such great demand that it had to be restricted to Haig House during games' periods. The standard is, as yet, not very high, but there are a few promising players who are improving steadily, coached by Mr Scott and Mr Willman.
At the time of writing the Singles and Doubles Championships have not been played. Last year's winner, Thomas Goldie, will be defending his title against some very determined challengers. The doubles should be interesting, which makes a change, because two of the favourite pairs have been drawn against each other in the first round.
Last summer a few matches were played. The boys team was easily beaten by a mixed Staff team, and the boys again lost to a team of masters. However, the adults did not rub in their victory and the boys can claim that they have only been playing for a very short time. The matches were enjoyed throughout by both parties.
This year, there have been more people entering both singles and doubles which seems to indicate that tennis is certainly gaining in popularity, and we all hope that we will have reached a much higher standard by the end of term.

PIPE BAND
Boy Pipe Major: J. G. Pryde. Pipers: S. Grant, A. A. Macdonald, K. Holmes, T. Gemmill, I. Hamilton, S. Dalziel, N. Rae, P. Adams, D. Darling, A. Crawford, I. Kempsell, G. Anderson, C. Nelson, I. Marchant, J. MacPherson, J. Harrison, C. N. Pryde,, J. Allan
M. I. Pryde. Boy Drum Major: B. R. Murton. Senior Drummer: A. Hewgill. Bass Drummer: J. McMillan. Tenor Drummers: J. G. Wrenn, A. Hewgill, K. Walker, G. Richardson. Leading Side Drummer: H. Shannon. Side Drummers: R. Paterson, G. Glass, S. Walker, B. Gilchrist, I. Grant, A. Christie.
 
The band played at the three Murrayfield international matches this year, the last of which was the centenary match between Scotland and England attended by the Prince of Wales. For this match the band remained at School until after the match, losing two days of our Easter holiday, but we were well rewarded for our efforts with a good game of rugby and a Scottish victory.
During the Easter term a select number of the band, along with the dancers, were filmed in front of the School by BBC TV for the Gaelic programme Se ur Beatha which was shown on 24th May. For this programme we played a selection including / See Mull, Hi ro Hiroam, and a jig, Cutting Bracken. From the jig we broke straight into two small strathspeys and reels for the dancers.
We still have a few engagements yet to be performed, including the Blackford Highland Games, and beating the retreat at Edinburgh Castle before Grand Day, and our annual performance after Grand Day at the Doune and Dunblane Agricultural Show.
The playing standard of the band has been quite good this year, although the majority of its members are still quite young. However, the band strength was diminished during the Easter term with several young pipers leavingr C. N. Pryde, J. Allan, M. Wood and M. I. Pryde. J. Harrison has also been unable to play because of his broken collar bone, but Pipe Major Mackenzie has kept the band up to a commendable standard and even after the departure of several more members of the band after Grand Day I am quite sure that he will be able to keep the band at its usual high standard.

MODEL RAILWAY CLUB
Only once since 1966, when the club was founded, have we put on a Grand Day display but this year, with the help of Mr Lambie, we have again built a layout of a standard high enough to be displayed on Grand Day.
Since Mr Lambie brought his foraging ability to aid the lack of supplies we have rebuilt the whole layout and also added a new section. Every Wednesday night this year the members have met to work in the confined space of the Railway Hut which at times resembled the waiting room at Clapham Junction.