Bill’s Dunnett Blog

My holiday, mentiond briefly in the last entry, was much needed both by myself and my father (83) who went with me, and I’m glad to say that it went superbly well. The last few months had been a bit of a struggle and culminated in my being unwell at the time of the DDRA AGM and unable to attend. I was disappointed not to be able to see some of the overseas friends who had come over for both the AGM and the event at Saddle on the west coast of Scotland, and I hope we’ll get another chance to meet up at a future Dunnett event.

Despite my absence (or maybe because of it! ) I was appointed to be chairman of the association’s committee following Ann McMillan’s retirement. Ann has been made Honorary President and will continue to use her considerable experience to good effect in that new role.

It was all change on the committee with a new magazine editor, Sandra Hall, replacing Denise Gannon who has done such a sterling job producing Whispering Gallery for the last three years. There are also two other new faces in Jean Stringfellow and Anne Buchanan. In fact I find myself the only remaining member of the original committee, so I guess I must be getting old!

For the moment I’ll also continue my other role of membership administrator so enquiries on that score should still come to me.

Finally I’ve also been lumbered with the task of taking over from Ray Gannon’s humourous back page column in Whispering Gallery in a new feature called Ask Bill. It’s intended to be part serious, with advice on things like internet-related questions, and part humourous with some more flippant questions and answers. I hope those of you who are members will send in anything suitable.

Having just returned from my first holiday in two years I was horrified to read that a member of the Dunnett reading and discussion community – Pam Crane from New Zealand – had gone missing on a Dunnett locations trip in Russia after completing a Bejing to Moscow Silk Road trip, and that her body had been found later, presumed murdered. My sincere condolences to her family who must be deeply shocked.

It is a reminder that Dorothy travelled to some very out of the way places in pursuit of her researches and at a time when such travel was rarer and more difficult than it is now. Fortunately she always emerged from her trips unscathed – it is a tragedy that years later, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Pam should be far less fortunate.

Please, all of you who are undertaking trips, take care of yourselves and be sure to be completely aware of your surroundings and any possible dangers.