Convener’s Chat
Mark Eden-Bushell
I am sure you remember the oak tree the Parkies planted in memory of Johann Rooke, behind Ha’penny Bridge House? It is now fast – if oak trees can do anything fast – becoming a mighty oak. It is a fine tree and I am not the only person to remark on it! If you were at the Gala last Saturday you might have seen it for yourself.
This, you will be glad to hear, is a very brief Convener’s Chat. I have to tell you a charming sight I have from my desk. I have three tubes filled with bird food especially for finches, called Niger. This is because we are visited by up to eight goldfinches regularly at this time of the year. There is also a tube filled with peanuts for the tits, mainly bluetits, and balls of fat for robins, blackbirds and tits.
A FORK visitor who came for a chat yesterday asked me if I realized there were goldfinches waiting round about. ‘They are waiting for you to go, actually,’ was my reply, which was not meant to be beastly.
I wrote in my last chat of Cardonald College wanting to return again this year. Sally, now our Convener Depute, visited them recently and this is confirmed. This is most exciting, as it underlines our oft-stated wish to influence communities beyond our own.
The Navy are visiting us again on Wednesday 25 June, in even greater numbers than last year, to do a massive clean-up up and down the River. Sally is the liaison here too. This is a reflection of a huge success! Sailors and officers of all ranks, from Commander to Rating, will have their lives most delightfully influenced by our River. The Commander who liaises with us has just got married, so congratulations to him, although we do not claim any influence in this!
