POLICE_WORLD_2_2017

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Highland Gathering Yvonne McGregor , Tayside Branch S cretary After a year of researching and planning, February 2017 saw 64 IPA friends gather at the Duke of Gordon Hotel, Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands for the Tayside Branch Ceilidh Weekend. It was a truly International Event with Members from Sweden, Germany, Ireland and the four countries of the UK. 21 Members from the IPA Whiskey Forum were in attendance, this was the largest gathering of the Forum Members. David and I hosted them in our apartment on the Friday evening prior to dinner. It was a great opportunity for the Members to put faces to names they ‘speak’ to on Face book on a regular basis. There was Whiskey and Whisky aplenty to sample, including Swedish, German, Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish. David had donated bottles of IPA Whisky and Botanist Gin for a Lucky Dip Draw which took place after dinner on Friday. The winners were Jackie Muller and Isla Robertson, both from Scotland. £410 was raised for our chosen charity, the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA). One of our guests, Owe Nordin, from Sweden, celebrated his birthday and very generously gave everyone a bracelet to exchange for a drink at the bar. A very kind and expensive gesture. I later presented Owe with an engraved Quaich and miniature whisky, from the Branch, for his birthday and the support he has given our Friendship Weekends. The evening entertainment saw several of us up dancing and a lot of rekindling of old friendships and making new ones. A few of the IPA Whiskey Forum Members burned the midnight oil over a few drams. Saturday morning saw 39 of us visit a wee gem of a distillery, the Speyside, which only produces Malt whisky. It is nestled in the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains and was originally a barley mill, it uses the millrace as a source of water for the distillation and also to turn the waterwheel, which is a feature in the Reception Room. The building where the 2 Stills are housed was a labour of love, built by one stonemason using locally sourced stone, over a period of 20 years. The distillery featured as the fictional Lagganmore Distillery in the TV Series “Monarch of the Glen.” The Members of the IPA Whiskey Forum thought they had died and gone to heaven. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tour and tasting delivered by Sandy and Andy, the Manager and Stillman. They are the only employees who produce the whisky. In allowing others to enjoy the whisky I must say a big thank you to the drivers, Shirley Wright, Jackie Westwood and others who assisted me in the shuttle service. Saturday afternoon in Ghillies Bar saw our friends from across the Irish Sea sporting green rugby shirts sitting on one side and the Scottish contingent on the other side. There was also a group of ‘neutrals’ who stayed fairly quiet as we sat and watched Scotland v Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby. What a Game and the best team won with the Irish turning Green with envy as the skills of the Scottish Team. The timing couldn’t have been better, as when the final whistle blew at the Rugby our Wine or Whisky Tasting began. Four bottles of Malt Whisky and Five bottles of wine were available for sampling. During the tastings, Pete Connolly announced that there were Two IPA Whiskey Forum Challenge Coins available for a Silent Auction, the proceeds were to go to the IPA Charity, the

POLICE WORLD Vol 62 No. 2, 2017

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