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Writer's pictureJohn Dempster

AGM and Open Mic: Embracing the future

We had a great HighlandLIT meeting on Tuesday evening – an AGM and OpenMic. Following the recent appeal for new Committee members to ensure the continuance of HighlandLIT, several people kindly volunteered, and a new Committee has been elected, full of enthusiasm for taking HighlandLIT forward.


The formal minutes will be issued, but we can announce the new committee members. Mark Williams (Chair – pictured); Cathy Carr (Secretary); Trish Salt (Treasurer); Mo McQuarrie (Fundraising Co-ordinator.) Four people will share the roles of Programme Co-ordinator and Fundraising Co-ordinator – Scott Fraser, Sharon Gunason, Penelope Hamilton and Liz Macrae Shaw. John Dempster is Website and Newsletter Co-ordinator.


After the AGM, 20 people enjoyed listening to some excellent writing the Open Mic session. There were fine poems from David Goldie, Timski, and (in Scots) Lynn Valentine. Graham Bullen read the first few pages of the novel he is working on – ‘an arresting, unsettling opening,’ said Paul Shanks who chaired the session. Anne-Mary Paterson read from the Introduction and the section on Beauly Station from her book on private stations and waiting rooms on the Highland Railway, Lairds in Waiting. Malcolm Timperley, master of accents, regaled us with a characteristically ghoulish tale told by a Cockney taxi driver, inspired by the ‘Highgate Cemetery Vampire’ hysteria in the 1970s. John Dempster read a passage from his memoir Choosing Joy about his time at Wishaw High School in the 1960s.


Whatever happens with regard to COVID in the months ahead, its good to know that HighlandLIT remains in safe hands. Watch this space!





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