The Buzz

The Buzz group is aimed at people who want to meet in a social setting within the church hall. Everyone is welcome, church member or not. More details are available here.

On January 26, Margaret McCafferty opened the meeting with a poem by Robert Burns. Ian Kirkpatrick played his fiddle and we heard Flow Gently Sweet Afton and Rantin Rovin Robin. Eunice Sutherland recited a few poems, one story being an interaction between husband and wife, which was excellent. Lorna White graced us with a few songs such as Coming Through the Rye and Scots Wa Hae. Tommy Jardine put the spotlight on Burns and some of his poems, one of them being Holy Wullie’s Prayer, which was very well done.
On February 9, Isobel welcomed Dorothy Edwards, who was giving us a talk on a small area in France where she and her husband spend a lot of time at their holiday home, which they have had for many years. The fishing industry is very important to the area, with oysters being plentiful and a favourite delicacy. The picture postcards, showing roundabouts in France, were lovely and very interesting as each one is depicted differently. One of them was a floral one with lovely sunflowers; another was boats with a boy looking as if he is trailing one.

Our next meetings are March 9, My First Teaching Post with Wilson Ogilvie; March 23, Sanquhar Knitting; and April 6, Music for an Afternoon with the church choir. Plus, April 4 is the Buzz Coffee Morning.

On October 20, we welcomed Rev Bill McKenzie, who showed slides from his trip Around the World in 90 days. He and his wife flew out to Dubai and stayed in a youth hostel, before going on to Bangkok, which is very run-down and full of slums. The city has many market stalls, and you have to find the best food when you are self-catering. Buildings in Thailand are on stilts to protect them from flooding.

They flew on to Perth in Australia, sailing on the Swan River and Murray River, spotting wildlife in Fremantle including koala bears and kangaroos, before going on to Adelaide and going on a bus journey into wild country – including seeing opal mines where you can go to purchase lovely jewellery.

On November 3, we had Remember Remember with Isobel and Les. We all had photographs from our younger days and had to try to guess as many as we could correctly. Les told us about his younger days, when his father was a signalman on the railways and they lived in Helensburgh.

We listened to old music and songs and looked at old household gadgets from wartime, trying to guess what they were.

We welcomed Rolf Buwert on November 17 for a talk on Tear Craft and Tear Fund. Rolf was a police officer for 30 years, but after retiring he wanted to put his spare time to good use. Being an Elder, he was aware of Tear Fund and wanted to find out more. Tear Craft is a smaller Christian organisation getting churches involve. When we buy Fairtrade products, they people who make them are being paid fairly. They were all interesting afternoons.

For details of forthcoming meetings, see the diary.

On September 22, we welcomed Mr and Mrs Hills from Dumfries and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue. Greyhounds were called hunting dogs in the past and the landed gentry were the only people who owned them. Racing greyhounds became very big business, but they have short careers and sadly were killed when there was no use for them. Registered dogs are rehomed – so far, 500 have benefited. For funding, the group runs charity walks and tries to get schoolchildren involved. Mrs Hills brought two of their dogs in after the talk – they were very friendly and quiet and make very good pets.

On October 6, Janet McSherry gave us a Craft Time with ideas in making Christmas decorations such as reindeer and bookmarks. She also showed how easy it is to make personal cards. She designed and made one for Isobel Evans, who had just become a grandmother, to a lovely new grandson, and we all signed it. We saw one of the lovely banners made by the “Crafty Chatterers”, a group of ladies from the church who meet in the hall during the winter months. They were lovely afternoons.

At the Buzz meeting on August 25, Helen Little and friends from the ladies’ speakers club were introduced. A poem was read about what we are worth when we get older, which had us all laughing.

Molly read an account on a gentleman and we had to guess who she was describing – Hilda came up with the correct answer of Ronan Keating, the Irish singer.

We were then taken all around Dumfries and had to imagine what it was like in our childhood days; it was very hard to imagine there were 74 shops at one time, and fun trying to guess where they all were!
Another account was read out on a gentleman and Margaret McCafferty guessed the correct answer this time – it was Alexander Fleming, who invented penicillin.

On September 8, Isobel Evans filled in at our meeting in the absence of our speaker from Citizens’ Advice due to illness.

We were shown a video on a trip to Australia, including a sail in Sydney harbour, complete with its famous opera house and harbour bridge. In the botanic gardens, the flowers were lovely, with some very different from those which we have here.

On we went to Coffs harbour. They do a bit of surfing there, and there are lots of kangaroos in the park – we even saw one with a joey in her pouch.

We continued to Byron Bay, very famous for surfing and full of young people. We also saw the rainforest and Lake McKenzie – where the water is meant to purify your body. Finally, we were transport to the Great Barrier Reef.

Our forthcoming meetings are: October 6 Crafty Time with Janet; October 20 Around the World in 90 Days with Rev Bill McKenzie; and November 3 Remember Remember with Isobel Evans.