Page 34 - LOTN Advent issue 57

FAITH AND CULTURE

came to Llanarth. I can remember the men from the electricity waking up on really cold winter mornings and seeing the rime
board putting in the poles and attaching the cables. After that of frost on the inside of the window! I most definitely prefer
we had a small electric cooker - two hot plates and an oven, and the modern conveniences of life we enjoy in the twenty first
of course an electric iron. Mum still used the ovens by the fire century, but why did it take so long for this country of ours to
occasionally. We regularly had pigeon and rabbit, that dad had get to where we are now?
shot in the fields, for our main meals. In 1951 I started school Back to our weekend away: we travelled by train to Durham,
at the local primary school in Llanarth. It was called the Pitt changing at Edinburgh. And from Edinburgh we travelled on
School, and it was near to the Blacksmith’s shop in the centre an LNER electric powered train: so smooth, and quiet, and
of the village. The school had two big classrooms, a downstairs fast. I have no nostalgic feelings for the old steam trains that
one for the younger pupils, and an upstairs classroom for the I remember from my childhood, and into my early twenties.
older pupils. Only in the late 1960s did diesel locomotives begin to take over
Moving to rural Worcestershire a year later, where Dad had from steam in the UK. I still remember travelling to London
secured a job on the maintenance staff of another large boarding from Worcester in 1969 on a steam train! Yet, even now the
school, we moved into a house on the school estate with the UK is still light years behind other major developed countries
same basic facilities as Plas Ivor. No central heating, no double in terms of high speed rail travel. Spain, France, Germany, and
glazing: showers were unheard of, but there was a bathroom. many other countries of the world have enjoyed high speed rail
Hot water was heated from the back boiler behind the fire, so travel for decades. Even the Eurostar train from London to Paris
there was no hot water in the mornings until the fire was lit. and Brussels, which I’ve travelled on many times, has only a
Later, electrical immersion heaters were installed in a water tank small part of its network in the UK.
so that hot water wasn’t dependant on the coal fire: the tank was I leave you with a quote from the French novelist, Marcel
located in a cupboard, which was used for airing washed and Proust:“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the
ironed clothes. One particular memory I have of the 1950s is remembrance of things as they were.”

Geographically speaking, the Diocese of Aberdeen is one of the largest in Europe and encompasses a wide rang of cooking
styles, traditions and recipes. Margaret Bradley, with the help of parishioners from around the Diocese, explores some of the
unique dishes to be found in our part of the world.
From the church of St Thomas in Keith, recently ordained Deacon, Graeme Morrison tells us about his previous life in the
whisky trade and shares a favourite family recipe for Roast Venison.
BY DEACON GRAEME MORRISON

ran into Margaret Barclay at Pluscarden after the
Diocesan Pilgrimage to Pluscarden, where we chatted
I about the Diocesan Choir singing at my ordination,
two years ago. It was there she kindly asked me to do a
little piece for her page about my 'other job' in the whisky
industry. So here we are!
I have been employed in the whisky industry for
40 years, having had many good years at Chivas Bros in
Keith, Glenfiddich in Dufftown, and for the last 16 years at
Glenglassaugh Distillery near Sandend, Portsoy.
I wondered what to write about that would be suitable
for this publication and decided to tell you about some of
the workmates I enjoyed working with at each facility.
Working as a warehouseman for a considerable number Glenglassaugh Distillery
of years, there are always highs and lows in the months, [Markus Trienke, Wikimedia Commons]

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