William Jim Perrett - late of Currie, Midlothian.

See following text as photo is out of sequence.

last week whilst reading the Edinburgh Evening News I spotted an Obituary to a Jim Perrett of Currie and realised that he was an old friend of my parents and a gentleman who regularly had to keep me "sorted". His eldest son Robert was in my class at Currie Senior Secondary School and brother Jim was in mys sisters class, and a keen scout with me. Jim Snr. and his wife Edith assisted my parents with the Scouts, were members of Currie Kirk, keen golfers and Jim was an expert bridge player. He died at the age of 95 yrs in the Erskine Home, a loss to the family and friends.

Although a bit out of sequence, I eventually found the black and white photo, taken in either 1962 or 1963 when Jim ( 3rd from left) along with myself and the other helpers ( I can only remember Jack smith, Jimmy Dunbar, Jim, self, ??; Geoff White; and ???,) acted as waiters for a dinner evening run as a fund raiser for the 42nd Midlothian, Currie, scouts. Obviously we dressed smart for the evening and those without facial hair did a bit of theatrical dressing up.

The present Currie Kirk is built on the site of a previous church building which dates back to 1296 where there is a reference in the history books to St Kentigern. There are the remains of the original buildings visible on the site which is well worth a visit.

Adjacent to the Water of Leith which runs only about 100 yards from the Kirk is an old tower, which I cannot find a record of and cannot remember what it used to be used for, no doubt I was told at one time but have forgotten - sign of old age perhaps.

The Church service for Mr Perrett was very nice and afterwards he was interred in the local graveyard. The family and friends then headed off to Baberton Golf Club, where I was reunited with the Perrett family who I had not seen since 1963. possibly not the done thing under the circumstances, however we did pose for a photo together along with Jim Millar, Jim Leishman and Tom Wilson, who were all at school with me . There was a comment about my lack of red hair and the fact that I was shrinking ( having lost about two inches in height - true).

An interesting day, with another incident in the next blog.

I did manage to make it to Bonnyrigg in the evening to attend a Special meeting of Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg, No 720, organised by RWM Craig Gordon. The meeting was extremely well attended by the members and a healthy discussion took place. It was nice to be back in the fold and to be able to thank the brethren for their support and best wishes whilst I had been off ill.