50th Anniversary Reunion

The big change in my life since 2005 has been retirement. I left the Mathematics Department in 2007 after 40 years there, during which time I never ceased to enjoy my teaching work. That work got gratifying recognition in 2006, when I received one of the University's 4 inaugural Teaching Excellence Awards. For 4 years starting in 2007 I was able to continue in the University's employment, on an ultra-part-time basis, as a Senior Adviser of Studies in the Science Support Unit (formerly known as the Principal Adviser's Office). Each September I saw lots of new entrants about their curriculum choice; and I looked after a number of advisees during the session. But I finally had to retire in 2011 when re-organization of the University abolished the Science Support Unit and my post consequently disappeared. Happily I can claim continuing contact with the fruits of my teaching labours in the shape of my “Former Students Family”, a set of about 600 former students who keep in touch with me. They currently include residents of 28 different nations.

Little did I know at our 2005 reunion that within 6 months I would undergo a triple coronary bypass operation! Since then I've had 2 further non-trivial operations – an ankle fusion in 2008 and a revision of my left hip in 2010. (Both my hips were replaced in 2000; a revision means replacement of a replacement.) All these operations were successful, and I describe myself as a walking monument to modern medical science! I am almost fully mobile though I have difficulty maintaining balance in strong winds.

By now I am fully adapted to retirement (and indeed glad to be away from some of what goes on nowadays in the University). I have done a bit of work tutoring school pupils for Higher Mathematics, though I've found that work strangely frustrating. But lots of other things fill my time and attention. By the end of May I will have accumulated over 60 years of weather records for the Troon area, and analysis of those records provides me with a limitless source of pleasurable interest. I continue to be involved in Troon Old Church – as an elder, as a choir member, and (since 2007) as roll-keeper. My other musical activities include piano-playing and singing as a bass in Troon Chorus, a choir which now has 50 members and puts on 2 concerts each year. And, after a gap of 20 years, I've taken up playing bridge again.

My home from home is the Dundarach Hotel in Pitlochry. I go there several times each year, to relax and enjoy both Perthshire's scenery and productions at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre (of which I am a “Supporter”). In the dining-room of the Dundarach Hotel I have been greatly taken by some very kind and efficient waiters and waitresses from the Czech Republic; and this has led me into yet another hobby – learning the (fascinating but difficult) Czech language!