On Tuesday evening, fourteen members of the Society attended the Annual Joint Meeting of the four local Societies, i.e. East Ayrshire, Alloway, Largs and Troon. This year the event was hosted by Troon Family History Society in St. Meddans Church Halls, Troon.
The speaker was Professor Bruce Durie, who is an expert genealogist. His subject was the famous painting by Charles Lee “The Golfers”, painted in 1847. He discussed how the characters in the painting had been identified. The family histories were traced by students of Professor Durie at Strathclyde University, who were attending the Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma course in Genealogy. The Strathclyde team used 21st century technology to trace the lineal descendants of the characters depicted in the painting. Photographs were then shown, featuring some of the descendants of the players and onlookers from the 1847 painting, which was set on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Most of the people in the photographs were delighted to find out about who they were descendant from and were in agreement to having their photographs displayed.
Professor Durie then explained the various technologies that had been used in identifying these characters.
An excellent buffet was served by the ladies of Troon FHS.
Afterwards each Society gave a report of their year’s activities.
Barbara Finlay
