Forest Farms dairy visit provides Rotarians with food for thought - and ice-cream
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Inverurie Rotary members now only meet twice monthly at the Kintore Arms on the first and third Tuesday.
However, when there is a fifth Tuesday they generally meet with wives, partners and friends for a social event or an outside visit.
As member Peter Donaldson explaiend; "There were five Tuesdays last month and so we all took ourselves, to a nearby very successful business enterprise at Blackburn.
"The venue was of course Forest Farms where as well as receiving an excellent welcome and talk about this amazing business from William Willis, joint owner with his brother.
"Since 2017 this family enterprise has expanded from a simple dairy farm into a true success story.
"They now employ over 40 staff producing and selling on site fresh organic milk, some 250 litres per day from state-of-the-art dispensing machines.
"But we were not there purely for milk.
"We were there to sample their delicious, made on site ice cream, sorbets and hot chocolate.
"A truly successful operation that will very soon be self-reliant with their own energy being produced from solar panels and shortly a wind turbine.
"Sample the goodies we did, and all were delicious and inexpensive.
"Ample parking for 150 vehicles on site so well with a visit.
"You can enjoy their produce comfortably in their cosy bubble domes, futuristic!."
On other matters he continued: "Never folks to sit by when something is happening in Inverurie A few Rotarians were out on Sunday flying the flag for Rotary in the community when the Tour of Britain passed through the town.
"Despite getting absolutely drookit in the process we positioned ourselves on Blackhall Road at the first sprint finishing line.
"What a spectacle!
"The kids who were there loved it.
"Have you ever seen 60 plus Police motor bikes with sirens going and blue lights flashing following a huge number of cyclists in the Peloton, bunched so close it was hard to imagine how they did not crash into each other.
"Whoosh and they were gone at great speed despite the torrential downpour.
"A long way still to go until a Kiwi won the first stage at Glenshee.
"On Tuesday, September 6 Neil Baillie gave a talk to his fellow Rotarians on his hobby, Photography.
"Neil is a busy man being a District Councillor and a professional carer and still he finds time to develop his practise and interest in Photography. "Together with fellow Councillor Alastair Forsyth he has set up Man Cave studios to produce promotional materials including photos, videos, and drone work free of charge for community groups and others.
"Neil began his talk with some history of photography.
"He showed how the development of cameras has changed over the last fifty years, moving from the use of chemicals to solid state for image production.
"He used a succession of slides to show examples of cameras pointing out how camera size has reduced as we have moved into the electronic era. He included an impressive slide of a collection of his latest gear including video and sound recording equipment.
"It certainly looked like the contents of a “Man Cave”.
"Neil also taught us some of the basics ways to take good photos.
"Using filters, changing shutter speeds and depth of focus, and thinking about composition was all covered in his presentation.
"He left us thinking about “the rule of thirds” when next we compose our own photos.
"He illustrated his lesson with beautiful photos and reminded us that looking at a subject from many angles and in different seasons can be rewarding.
"This was an ambitious talk, but Neil whizzed us along.
"It was well structured; the illustrations were excellent and the subject was interesting.
"He finished his talk with a short video which included some of his Drone photography and received a warm vote of thanks from fellow Rotarian Joe McDowall."
