Great Britain and Ireland

MEETINGS
Second Thursday of each calendar month at 12.30.p.m.
Closed July

VENUE
The New Club, 86 Princes Street, Edinburgh

Meetings this year

We have had a concert for my Charity last October at my home with 25 guests. Also in October we had a trip to Stuttgart to meet the Inner Wheel of Stuttgart. 11 of our members went and it was the most wonderful experience. The hospitality was amazing. We were wined and dined in style and the friendship thoughout was warm and welcoming. We hope that the ladies from Stuttgart will come back to us. They even took us to Lake Constance.

Edinburgh

One of the attractions of living in Edinburgh is that it is easy to escape. It is not that I underestimate the pleasures of living in the city. With its festivals to celebrate almost every conceivable cultural activity, and some of dubious cultural value too with museums and art galleries; with its good sports facilities and beautifuI gardens; it would be difficult to find another city in the world with as much to offer. All one needs to enjoy these things is a plentiful supply of warm clothes and good wind-proofing! Visually, too, we have amazing skylines and architecture large areas representing different historical periods, with many buildings having associations with famous figures from the past.

In the last few years, too, we have seen interesting new developments in the city centre, notably the Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, the new buildings near the west end of Princes Street, and the Scotsman Office and Dynamic Earth Exhibition Centre down towards Holyrood Palace Meanwhile in that same area we await developments for the famous "hole in the ground"; the controversy surrounding the new Parliament building certainly adds spice to life! All this, both young and old, is within reasonable walking distance and gives the impression of a very compact city.

Climb Arthur's Seat and you get a wonderful view of the Forth, which provides a natural city boundary to the north. However, from the top of Arthur's Seat, you can also see fingers of urban sprawl and there are, of course, areas of the city which can only be described as ugly. Some of the buildings which went up in the aftermath of the Second World War have become ghettos for the people who live in them, although fortunately some of their problems are now being tackled. One of the consequences of the way Edinburgh has developed over the centuries is the shortage of socially mixed areas in which to live. This has a knock-on effect on the schools and even the local shops. As a result it is possible to find yourself living in a comfortable cocoon, so that from time to time you feel the need to burst out and stretch your wings. At such times you appreciate the ease with which you can escape the city!