The Scots have a natural ability when outside their native land to create their own enclave within the communities in which they reside. The evidence of this is to be found in every corner of the world and proud they are, as is their host nation, to be able to recreate the Scottish culture and traditions in another environment.
A look around the immediate environs of Amersham can explain why so many Scots felt at home in this corner of England, which mirrored in miniature the hills, pastures and streams of their native land.
The strong Scottish following in Amersham was not the reason for the establishment of the Amersham & District Scottish Association, but it was certainly a catalyst in its creation. It is hoped the ethos of the Association is presented in a manner which can be a permanent record for the benefit of future generations of members.
George Todd and Russell Neil, both Scots, commented on the number of their fellow countrymen living in and around Amersham. From this emerged the proposal to reunite the many Scottish Air Raid Wardens, their wives and any other Scots known to them and living in the area, to gather for a Burns' Supper on 25 January 1946 in the Station Hotel, Amersham.
By 1950 the Association was well established. While a strong membership played its part in supporting the events, the driving force was in the dedicated members of the Committee. In particular, Russell Neil and George Todd had lost none of their original enthusiasm and this created the life-blood of the Association.
People in the early Fifties still enjoyed making their own entertainment and, perhaps as a consequence of the war years and the still lingering elements of rationing, were more content in themselves, than is the case today. This extended to family participation in so many things, and with the Amersham Scottish the events of children were as important as those for the adults.
While in the early Sixties the Beatles, Jean Shrimpton, John Profumo and Harold Wilson started to change the cultural, moralistic and political standards of the country, the Amersham Scottish continued to adhere to its conservative, but popular, programme of events. However, as the Sixties drew to a close and the Seventies dawned, it perhaps started to show that change was required, when the second generation of local Scots did not follow the pattern of their parents in supporting the Association with the same degree of vitality.
At the Annual General Meeting in 1970 the membership had reached 160 and it was noted that support for some of the functions was waning. The early years of the decade were to follow a trend of general apathy among members in support of many of the Association's activities. This was a source of frustration to successive Committees. One evening always continued to be popular, and that was Burns' Night. However, the second five years of the Seventies laid foundations which would start the process of transformation.
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Where the Seventies had started with an Association faced with dwindling numbers and support for its functions, it ended with the tide being stemmed. The Eighties had to ensure the attraction of new and younger members as well as programmes of events which would achieve these aims.
The Association entered the last decade of the century in greater health than it had been in since the halcyon days of the Fifties. The Committee was full of vibrant people eager to ensure the continuation of the Association into the next century. Many traditional interests were rekindled with greater verve and the membership started to reflect a span of ages.
Yes, the Scot in Amersham is alive and well and hopefully in another fifty years the Committee of that day will be writing of Recollections of One Hundred Glorious Years of the Amersham & District Scottish Association.
DON KENNEDY
January 1995
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Presidents
since the foundation of the Association
| 1946-1947 | Archibald Campbell - Chairman |
| 1947-1951 | Archibald Campbell - President |
| 1951-1952 | Dr Blanchard Sellors |
| 1952-1953 | Andrew Melville JP |
| 1953-1954 | W Russel Neil |
| 1954-1955 | George A Todd |
| 1955-1956 | H Gordon Keith |
| 1956-1957 | H Graham Sutherland |
| 1957-1958 | Brig Ian Adams |
| 1958-1959 | H P Mackinnon |
| 1959-1960 | William Richardson |
| 1960-1961 | Alec Baird |
| 1961-1962 | Dr John Sharp Grant |
| 1962-1963 | William S Risk |
| 1963-1964 | Mrs Jess Bonnet |
| 1964-1965 | Ronald Bell MP |
| 1965-1966 | W Russell Neil |
| 1966-1967 | W A McBride |
| 1967-1968 | Finlay Currie |
| 1968-1969 | W Kerr Hill |
| 1969-1970 | George A Todd |
| 1970-1971 | George Young |
| 1971-1972 | David MacMillan |
| 1972-1973 | George A Todd - Chairman |
| 1973-1974 | James Risk |
| 1974-1975 | Rt Hon Sir Ian Gilmour |
| 1975-1976 | Leslie Gibson |
| 1976-1977 | Mrs Georgie Swann |
| 1977-1978 | Mrs Elizabeth Stirling |
| 1978-1979 | Andrew Elder |
| 1979-1980 | Miss Lorna Robertson |
| 1980-1981 | John Munro |
| 1981-1982 | Jim Munro |
| 1982-1983 | Alistair McGuffog |
| 1983-1986 | Don Kennedy |
| 1986-1987 | Mrs Georgie Swann |
| 1987-1988 | Donald Kennedy |
| 1988-1989 | John Adamson |
| 1989-1990 | Mrs Elizabeth Stirling |
| 1990-1991 | William Bradford |
| 1991-1992 | Mrs Ann Watson |
| 1992-1993 | John Munro |
| 1993-1994 | Andrew Swann |
| 1994-1995 | Mrs Anne Wright |
| 1995-1996 | David Seiler |
| 1996-1997 | Mrs Beatrice McPhee |
| 1997-1998 | Bill Lawrie |
| 1998-1999 | Craig Aitchison |
| 1999-2000 | Jim Anderson |
| 2000-2001 | Dr Archie McNair |
| 2001-2002 | Mrs Isobel Barrack |
| 2002-2003 | Dowling Munro |
| 2003-2004 | Mrs Gillian Munro |
| 2004-2005 | Andrew Swann |
| 2005-2006 | Dr Ella Munro |
| 2006-2007 | Jim Campbell |
| 2007-2008 | Mrs Isabel Lang |
| 2008-2009 | Bob Rae |
| 2009-2010 | Mrs Eileen Aitchison |
| 2010-2011 | Eddie Fraser |
| 2011-2012 | Bill Wright |