We made our regular stop at the Brechin Castle Garden Centre on our way home yesterday.  There is always a fine scone, and a good place to give the dogs a walk.  What drew my attention this time was the group of men sailing their model boats on the big pond which is the centre piece of the country park there.   As I drunk my tea I noticed the tip of a sail going past the boundary wall of the café terrace.  The sailors were in action!  The last time we stopped, the sailors had just packed up, securing their boats in the little shed there, but today there was chance for a photograph.

By the time I made my way to the edge of the pond it was an AH (Arbroath registered) model fishing boat which was buzzing round.  The three men sitting on the bench caught my eye.  They did not seem to be paying all that much attention to the boat, but I am sure the one in the middle had the controls.   It is clearly a great opportunity for some summer afternoon socialising as well as giving the boats a sail.

Standing there near Brechin my mind went back to the only occasion I have sailed a model boat.  It was many years ago (in the 1950s) but not all that far from where I stood yesterday.   A challenge had gone out for Scouts in Angus to build a boat, and enter a race in the River South Esk at Major Neish, the Angus County Commissioner’s estate at Tannadice.  I can remember the excitement as we were allocated our places in the river.  Unfortunately our Scout Troop, 10th Angus (Brechin Cathedral)  had to launch our boat at the far side of the river, where there was no current.  Other scouts, from all round Angus got places where the current was stronger.   It’s not fair we protested!”  as our red and black painted boat (the colours of our scout neckers) came in last.

A visit by Major Neish was always a special occasion.  I am sure he was a delightful man, but his large frame, and commanding appearance certainly made this little scout tremble when he came to the Cathedral Hall were we met on a Friday evening.

I left Brechin long ago, but my Scout career continued in Clackmannanshire. I believe that Jock Neish’s name is no perpetuated in the Scouting Centre build on his estate at Tannadice, near Finnavon in Angus. It seems right to be thinking about him on this day when we are remembering the Battle of the Somme. I read in a newspaper that his interested in Scouting had started through his admiration for Lord Baden Powell and his experiences as an junior officer in the Black Watch during the Second Battle of the Somme. Perhaps he seemed formidable to me as a wee boy, but he gave a lifetime of service to Scouting in Angus, with the Tannadice Scouts, and as I remember him, the County Commissioner. Perhaps we did not win our model boat race, but how great it was to have the facilities of the Tannadice estate to pursue our scouting activities, way back then.