Published, Jun 4, 2014 at 20:29 As I enter my 74th year I am surprised that in the second decade of the twenty first century there is no debate on the corrosive effects the ancient practices of freemasonry have on Scottish life. I say corrosive as my personal experiences of freemasonry have, in the main…
1978. I enter the business community. Coming from a working class background I did not need a solicitor till I was 32 years of age. In those 32 years I had served an apprenticeship as a shipwright in H. M. Dockyard Rosyth, then spent a few years in the merchant navy before working as a…
I have known some good, honest and diligent lawyers in my life. My current legal adviser and friend for over 30-years is an honest, brave modest, and shy man (so I won’t name him) who has on at least two occasions been decorated for diving into the river and saving drowning people. He doesn’t hang…
From riches to rags. Most of us start out in life with very little and if we work hard in our lifetime—and overcome the hard times such as loss of job, bad investments, or other misfortunes—we will be fortunate enough to earn ourselves the rewards of a house, a car or in some other…
Taking notes under pressure at Trust HQ. When in August 2006 I had viewed the draft supplementary charter in the boardroom of the Trust—under the watchful eye of a member of staff who cautioned me that I should only take brief notes of any of the Trust’s charters—I had sat at the table taking notes,…
Brown drops business-school bombshell. In November 2005 various press articles appeared suggesting that a Harvard-style business school was being considered for Scotland. Harvard and other US educational institutes denied any involvement in such a project. LINK In late January 2006—during the period when, unbeknown to the public, the Trust’s secret charter application was…
The boom times. The Carnegie Dunfermline & Hero Trust survived two World-Wars, The Wall Street Crash, and the Great Depression that followed, and was in a very healthy position when it celebrated its half century in 1953. In a publication commissioned to mark the event, the Chairman, William Dick, boasted of the vast property portfolio…
Early days in Dunfermline, family and friends. Born into a working-class family in Dunfermline on 25th November 1835 Andrew Carnegie was the son of William Carnegie, a hand-loom weaver, and Margaret Morrison. Andrew Carnegie was something of an enigma. Andrew Carnegie’s father William was a free-thinker and known for his radical views which were published…
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