Local history groups

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Kenneth.

In the 1960's they went looking for oil under the Waikato County. For miles they laid small explosive charges that were linked together to get their test results. Then in an old sand pit about a mile from our home, they set of a 90lb charge at lunch time. Neighbours were warned of the time of the blast, and to have their windows and doors open. No problem because it was summer, but dad still reckoned it threw him and mum across the lunch table when it went off. I was away at school, but breeding 14 pairs of budgies at the time, and all eggs due to hatch over a four day period failed to hatch.

Some bang.

Alan SHARP.

[Alan SHARP]

Plans are advancing to form a history society in Eaglesham. Hoping to hold an open meeting with an illustrated talk towards the end of September.

Best wishes,

Kenneth

Greetings again from NZ.

Congratulations Kenneth and Committee, on your Eaglesham Historical Society inaugural news letter, which is very interesting indeed. In my opinion you are of to a great start, and as a by-product turning Eaglesham from an Antipodeans roots whistle stop, into an overnight destination.

Alan SHARP.

[kennethm]

Thanks Alan for your kind words.

We held our first meeting of the newly established Eaglesham History Society this evening. Sixty-four keen and enthusiastic folk came along to the Eglinton Arms Hotel to hear the Society's president, historian Bill Niven gave a fascinating talk about 'Two planned communities: Eaglesham 1769 and East Kilbride 1947' in which he compared Eaglesham, one of the early planned villages in Scotland to East Kilbride, only five miles away and the first planned new town in Scotland. It was a great success and we now have 75 members.

We're looking forward to our next meeting in December when Tom Marchant and Bill Copeland from the nearby Mearns History Group are talking about Mearns of yesteryear. Sadly Newton Mearns lost a lot of their history when the old village was bulldozed by a property developer to build a shopping mall around the same time as Eaglesham folk were conserving their village.

Best wishes,

Kenneth