A SLICE of your Diarist’s family links with the north-east has come to light in an old shoebox from the early 1930s. Chemical engineer Keith Hart and his wife, Liz, have lived in the old manse at Ardallie, near Ellon, for more than 30 years, near the church which has long since ceased to be a place of worship. They came across the shoebox in the loft of the front porch which they were replacing.
“Had we left the porch as it is, the box would never have been found,” said Mrs Hart. The couple discovered that your Diarist’s maternal grandfather, the Rev Charles Macdonald, originally from Tiree and previously at charges in Appin, Argyllshire, and Enzie, was minister at Ardallie.
And they gave your Diarist access to the contents of the Easiphit box, mainly a collection of gentle love letters to My Dear Mac written between 1929 and 1932 by a girl called Hilda, of Hilton House, Downfield, Dundee.
Mac was one of grandpa’s sons, also Charles, and was a divinity student at St Andrews. However, it’s here that the plot thickens.
Young Charles, an MA graduate of Aberdeen University, appeared to forsake the clerical life and took off for south-east Asia, never to be seen again by his family. He married a Geordie and they had two sons.
A WACKY job advert by a cook and sublime pastry chef has paid off big style.
Mother-of-two Lisa Stocks, of Portlethen, whose specialities include mile-high lemon meringue pie and gingerbread men with kilts, said in an ad in the P&J’s Your Job supplement that she had “markedly unconventional and distinctive qualities and made affa fine funcy pieces”. Lisa, 37, is looking for “an inventive, productive and passionate food industry or customer-service-related employer”.
Well, the phone has never stopped ringing, including one call from an Indian restaurateur who is still working out what a funcy piece is. “The response has been fantastic,” said Lisa, who is considering offers.
Meanwhile, her biggest fans are wishing her the best – husband Davie Brunton, who is Mr Maintenance at Aberdeen FC’s Pittodrie stadium, and their sons Callum, 9, and Keir, 6,
Lisa can be contacted at 07742 522303.
STILL on the subject of having your cake and eating it, why not treat yourself at Cults Bowling Club on North Deeside Road today?
Members are staging a Cake Day, starting at 2pm, to raise funds for the Aberdeen branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
“This is the third year running we have done this and it has always been a great success,” said the club’s David Steele.
“People come along, play bowls if they wish and then come in to eat cake at £1 a slice.
“You can eat as many slices as you like.”
Main organisers of the day are Sylvia and Alan Kennedy, but they get a lot of support from bakers in their midst.
A POSTHUMOUS tribute has been paid to Ali MacGregor, leader of the Tain Scottish Dance Band, who died two years ago, by a former protégé, Texas-based button-key accordionist Hugh Morrison.
He has published a book of Ali’s compositions and a CD of his music. Hugh teamed up with Banchory fiddler Judi Nicolson, also in Houston, and pianist Kendall Rodgers, from Kentucky, to record a selection of Ali’s tunes. The book, Ali MacGregor’s Music Collection, is published by the Skye-based music publishers Taigh na Teud. Proceeds from both the book and CD, which are available online or by contacting Hugh at hugh@hughmorrison.co.uk, are going to Macmillan Cancer Support in Inverness.