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Welcome to the Perthshire Society of Natural Science web site.
All Programmes for the 143rd Winter Syllabus 2010-2011 will be available in August 2010.
Please enter either the appropriate Section to view full details or visit the Programme page with the link button on the left of this page to view our recent main PSNS Parent Body and Section Lectures for 2009-2010.
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Summer Outings of PSNS - 2010
The Parent Body of PSNS held its first Summer Outing of 2010 on Saturday, 8th May when members visited Glasgow. In the forenoon a guided tour of Glasgow University Campus was led by a post graduate student. The Main Building by George Gilbert Scott in Gothic Revival style was the first building erected at the Gilmorehall site in 1870 when the University moved from the Old College to the new Campus. Since that time the Campus has expanded and the architectural quality of the buildings has been maintained over the decades illustrating the development of architectural styles and the various building materials from quarried sandstone to concrete, aggregates, brick, glass and wood.
The quincentenary gates on University Avenue were erected in 1951 to mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of the University in 1451 by Bishop Turnbull. The Hunterian Museum with the Memorial to William Hunter (1718-83) and John Hunter (1728-93) nearby were of great interest. They bequeathed their collections to the University to found the Hunterian Museum.
On the Campus of Glasgow University there are 18 buildings listed Category A, 40 listed Category B and a number listed C.
Across University Avenue is the Hunterian Art Gallery and the Mackintosh House. This was a fascinating glimpse of the Mackintosh home as the rooms were rebuilt only a few metres from their original home in Southpark Avenue. The small dark dining room is muted and restful while the light flooded into the drawing room on the first floor diffused through muslin curtains. There was created a feeling of spaciousness and serenity. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald had created by their gifted skills and artistic abilities a home in their own unique style.
In the afternoon we proceeded to the Mitchell Library close by Charing Cross in Glasgow. This is a magnificent building. The library was opened in 1877 occupying two large flats in Ingram Street. The library was named after Stephen Mitchell a wealthy tobacco merchant who, on his death in 1874, left a bequest of £70,000 to found a free library. In 1904 a new Mitchell Library was erected. The corner stone was laid by Andrew Carnegie and opened in 1911. This building had a colossal dome topped by a female figure representing Literature. Adjacent to the Mitchell Library were the St. Andrews Halls in which the acoustics were said to be the finest in Europe. In 1962 these halls were destroyed by an extensive fire. The plans by Sir Frank Mears and Partners gave accommodation for the vast collections of the Mitchell Library. The frontage on Granville Street was a replica of the frontage of the former St. Andrews Halls.
Our members were shown through the modern part of the Mitchell to the earlier Mitchell Library. We were taken behind the scenes to view the massive collections of books. We were taken in the Burns Room with its unique collection of the works of Robert Burns and the Glasgow Room with its books, photographs, newspapers and prints forming an outstanding Glasgow collection.
Our guide for the afternoon visit, Josephine Aitken, was warmly thanked for all her information and complete tour before we left to return to Perth.
News Archive:
In March, 2007 the members of P.S.N.S. gathered in the foyer of Perth Museum and Art Gallery at the Society’s Notice Board. The Notice Board, headed by the Society’s Logo and decorated with corner carvings, was produced by Tom Heatherwick, woodcarver of Auchterarder and presented in 1967 to the Society by the then President, Dr. W. H. Findlay, to mark the centenary year. Dr. Findlay served as President 1960-1970 and was a member of the Society for over forty years.
In January, 2006 Dr. Findlay died. To commemorate his long association with the Society and his generosity a brass plaque over the Notice Board was unveiled. On display was a collection of photographs taken by Dr. Findlay to record the construction and carving and showing Mr. Heatherwick at work. For Tom Heatherwick this was a labour of love. A popular and well –known figure in Auchterarder he lived at Ben Affray house in the main street using the two front rooms as workshop and showroom. Above each of the windows were carved boards “Wood Turner” and “Wood Carver.”
Tom was born in Dysart in 1905, the son of William Heatherwick, journeyman joiner. Tom often mentioned an early recollection of chiselling sandstone on the beach and also recalled a fretwork saw – a treasured possession. Tom’s father must surely have awakened and nurtured his son’s interest in woodworking and carving.
From an early age Tom had a great desire to make beautiful objects in wood. Later introduced to Messrs A. & H. McIntosh &Co furniture manufacturers Tom served his apprenticeship with that Fife firm. To further his studies he attended classes in “Historic Styles” and “Drawing” at the Edinburgh School of Art becoming a skilled draughtsman producing his own designs for church furnishings. He was later to carve a fine oak lectern for St. Andrews Church in Auchterarder.
Tom was fortunate to find work at a number of well-known Edinburgh studios where he continued to perfect his craft. At a time of depression in the 1920s and 1930s and with a continuation of economic downturn there was little or no demand for carving work and he was obliged to find work in the fountain pen industry.
Tom married Anne Barclay in 1935 and their daughter Anne was born in 1941. At the end of the Second Word War Tom decided to return to his craft of woodcarving and in 1946 began his own business. He was a lover of nature and the countryside and built a small wooden bungalow at Glen Urquhart by Loch Ness. However, post war restrictions limited his plans and his venture was not totally successful. Tom was a true craftsman, skilled in woodworking and performing all branches of that craft – a machine man, a cabinet maker, a wood turner, a wood carver and a polisher.
Becoming established in the Glen Urquhart area he hoped his business would help and be helped by a growing tourist trade. Orders were coming in. However, frequent flooding from the rivers in spate annually damaged his home and after almost five years the family moved to Auchterarder, a town
centrally situated in Scotland where he chose a centrally positioned house for his home and business in the main street of the Lang Toon.
In a post war Scotland Tom often had difficulty in finding supplies of good quality timber in the first place and then waited patiently for delivery. He always maintained that spending time carving poor timber was a waste of time and effort. In his craft he worked in African walnut, Japanese oak and Scottish oak as well as sycamore, redwood from Canada, mahogany from Honduras and Scottish birch, ash and lime.
Tom’s production list was formidable – wooden puppets for Pan Puppeteers in St. Andrews, challenge shields for various organisations, buttons of mahogany with brass loops at the back, porridge bowls, sandwich platters, paper knives, ash trays, cigarette boxes, two-handled Quaich’s and spirtles (stirring sticks). He particularly enjoyed producing book-ends with finely carved figures, birds or animals. He had orders for church furniture – fonts, lecterns and pews from many churches in Scotland. He always said that his biggest job was a domestic one - a dining room suite with sideboard, extending table and six chairs, all handmade and carved!
Tom Heatherwick’s concern about the future of the ancient craft of woodcarving – and other rural crafts – was clear in his desire to pass on the skills that he possessed to a future generation. He frequently exhibited at Agricultural Shows being a prize-winner at the Royal Agricultural Show in 1949 with a skilfully carved pair of book ends. He warmly praised the Scottish Country Industries’ Development Board helping to spread rural industry. He extended his own business receiving orders from Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Economic conditions prevented his ideas for training boys in his craft from being put into practice and his was always regretful that so few young men were keen to learn the craft.
Tom Heatherwick died in January, 1975. Having lived for over twenty five years in the town he was “well-kent”, much respected and greatly missed by his many friends. He participated in local activities enjoying the Billiards Club and supporting the Youth Club. With his friend Tom McCormack he was a keen cyclist and member of the Cyclists’ Touring Club of Great Britain. In 1963 at the foundation of the Auchterarder branch of the An Cornun Ghaidealach with Tom McCormack as Secretary, Tom Heatherwick became Treasurer and the branch continued for 35 years with Ceilidhs held monthly to begin with.
Princess Elizabeth attended a performance “Twelfth Night” in Perth Theatre in 1951 and Tom was commissioned to produce a carved plaque to record that occasion. His delight in nature is clearly seen in the two corner carvings on the Notice Board in the foyer of Perth Museum.
Tom Heatherwick’s focus was always the perfection of his skills as a craftsman and the satisfaction and enjoyment he took from creating articles of beauty and use out of a piece of plain wood.
Members and friends of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science met at Jubilee Car Park, Kinnoull Hill, on Saturday afternoon, 27th October. With Mr. John Spittal of the Forestry Commission they moved into the Aitken Arboretum where trees were planted to commemorate two former Presidents of the Society - James Aitken of Orchardbank and Dr.W.H.Findlay, both of whom lived on the lower slopes of Kinnoull.
James Aitken was well known and respected in Perth, Perthshire and beyond as a landscape gardener, having set up business in 1934, the first of it's kind in the area. He was an alpine plant specialist and keen botanist and as a skilled photographer his illustrated talks delighted audiences. As a young man he helped the Rentons to lay out the now famous Branklyn Garden, adjacent to Orchardbank. During World War II he flew with the Pathfinder Force as flight- sergeant and completed 41 missions.
James Aitken died in November, 2003 having been a member of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science for just over seventy years. His contribution to the Society was immense and he served as a member of the Council.
From 1970-1986 he held the office of President. Among his bequests was one of £80,000 for the refurbishment of the Arboretum at Deuchney. The work began in 2005 and after felling, pruning and path forming it is now being planted with young trees.
The current President of the Society, Mrs. Mary Cairncross, explained that the trees chosen for planting were specimens of Crataegus - Paul's Scarlet and Crimson Cloud to commemorate James Aitken.
Six Amelanchier canadensis were then planted to commemorate Dr W.H.Findlay. After studying medicine at Glasgow and holding posts there and in Stirling he was appointed Deputy Medical Officer of Health and Tuberculosis Officer for Perthshire. He was chest physician for Perth and Kinross for 25 years until his retiral in 1970 and in retirement his hobby of photography became his career. Dr Findlay joined the Society in the mid-1950's .He was an active member of the Photographic Section.
In 1960 he became President of the Society, a post he held for 10 years before passing the Presidency on to James Aitken.
As a conclusion John Spittal spoke about the work already done at the Arboretum and the plans for future management. A short walk through the area followed and members were able to see at close hand the lay-out and progress in the area.
