Sunday, June 21, 2009

Oldmeldrum Sports

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Oldmeldrum Sports, a venerable North East institution. The first event was held in 1930, originally to raise money to buy cocoa for local children! Nowadays, the charitable works extend considerably further afield.


The most famous man in Scotland, pictured alongside the local MSP...






4 comments:

Liberal for Life said...

The Turriff Advertiser’s excellent report (26th June) on the Oldmeldrum Sports carried a quotation from Scotland’s First Minister Mr Salmond reflecting on the fact that he was the very first politician to open the Sports in its 56-year history. His tongue in cheek remark that this was “on account of the fact that the committee haven’t been able to afford the expenses over the last half century” might well ring true with many voters at this present time. Equally it could have been a forgivable statement had a Sunday newspaper this weekend not revealed the fact that the SNP are going to charge company executives £1000 each to meet any SNP minister at their next annual conference event.

Now what Mr Salmond and any SNP minister should never forget is that they are all public servants. It’s the general public who cast our valuable vote every 4-5 years and help install them into their now elevated positions in public life. Mr Salmond in particular should know better. He not only still serves as MP for Banff and Buchan at Westminster but also serves now as MSP for neighbouring Gordon. His further elevation to the rank of Scotland’s First Minister earns him an extra £80,224 on top of his normal MSP salary of £56,671. Despite the fact he is now only drawing one third of his salary as an MP we also understand that by remaining in office until the next General Election he stands to gain a full years salary entitlement pay-off of almost £107,000 when he eventually stands down as the local MP.

Therefore is there any wonder that he can afford to forego a fee for opening the Oldmeldrum Sports I hasten to ask?

Liberal for Life said...

The Turriff Advertiser’s excellent report (26th June) on the Oldmeldrum Sports carried a quotation from Scotland’s First Minister Mr Salmond reflecting on the fact that he was the very first politician to open the Sports in its 56-year history. His tongue in cheek remark that this was “on account of the fact that the committee haven’t been able to afford the expenses over the last half century” might well ring true with many voters at this present time. Equally it could have been a forgivable statement had a Sunday newspaper this weekend not revealed the fact that the SNP are going to charge company executives £1000 each to meet any SNP minister at their next annual conference event.

Now what Mr Salmond and any SNP minister should never forget is that they are all public servants. It’s the general public who cast our valuable vote every 4-5 years and help install them into their now elevated positions in public life. Mr Salmond in particular should know better. He not only still serves as MP for Banff and Buchan at Westminster but also serves now as MSP for neighbouring Gordon. His further elevation to the rank of Scotland’s First Minister earns him an extra £80,224 on top of his normal MSP salary of £56,671. Despite the fact he is now only drawing one third of his salary as an MP we also understand that by remaining in office until the next General Election he stands to gain a full years salary entitlement pay-off of almost £107,000 when he eventually stands down as the local MP.

Therefore is there any wonder that he can afford to forego a fee for opening the Oldmeldrum Sports I hasten to ask?

Richard Thomson said...

What a lot of words (and posts) you apparently need to still say very little, Galen.

FYI, Meldrum sports has been going for a lot longer than 56 years. The clue was in the 2nd sentance of the 1st paragraph, which tells you it was first held in 1930.

Anonymous said...

“Up here we’ve always voted for the man, not the party,” the engineer says. “Except now we’re twigging that Salmond is never here and never does anything for the area. He’s never stood by the folk that elected him.”

~~Fishing and politics need the same skills, says trawlerman Buchan

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7100727.ece