September 10 2008

The Reunion took place at Trinity Hall, Aberdeenhome of the Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen on 
August 15 2008

David Kilgour was the prime organiser of the event assisted by his lady, Josie, and others including Gordon Simpson--the event  proved to be a resounding success

Please click on the heading you wish to see:

#Chairmans Report---The report by  David Kilgour
#List of Attendees
#Address by Ramesh Jaitly
#Gordon Simpson Speech on how the collection for Cathie Campbell was arranged  
#List of Subscribers to Cathie's presentation 

Pictures from Peter Bartlett
Pictures from Maxine and Robin Humphries
Pictures from Bob Simpson
Pictures from John and Monika Mackenzie

The editor is very grateful for all the help Gordon Simpson gave 
in getting all the names correct for the foregoing photos in order 
that folks around the world could enjoy

#News cutting from Aberdeen paper
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Report on the Assam Reunion Held on 15th August 2008
                                  by David Kilgour

The Planters Reunion was held at Trinity Hall home of the Seven
Incorporated Trades in Aberdeen on 15^th August 2008. The reunion
started with coffee being served in the small hall on arrival but two
enterprising Planters managed to enter before 11.00 via the back door!

The reunion attracted many from down South and also a couple from
Ireland. Several had not seen each other for forty years or more. Most
arrived early and enjoyed chatting to each other and catching up on all
the news.

Several groups took advantage of a tour of the building including the
four committee rooms containing collections of historical items many of
which were in display cases.

Pre lunch drinks were then served at 12.30 and just before lunch David
introduced Ramish Jaitly ex ITA who gave a very witty and interesting
address which was appreciated by all. David then proposed a Toast to
Indian Independence Day.

The doors of the main hall were then opened and everyone took their
seats for lunch. A short welcome address was given by David who thanked
everyone for supporting this reunion. All together 113 attended.
Unfortunately the Fosters, Millers, Elliots and Janete Bain could not
make the journey to Aberdeen due to Hospital appointments.

David then introduced Charles Bruce who had kindly come to Aberdeen to
talk to us about the Scottish Heritage Trust of which he is chairman.
Charles Bruce explained that this trust had been set up in May to look
into the negleted state of the Scottish Cemeteries in Kolkata. Charles
said that this had the backing of the Indian and Scottish Governments.
The committee's first project is to restore the six acre Scottish
Cemetery. He also mentioned that at the Kolkata International Book Fair
in January 2009 the organisers have designated Scotland as the theme
country and are planning to hold the world's biggest Burns Night.

Lunch was served and enjoyed by all. There was a short break followed by
coffee. Afterwards David thanked the Trinity Hall staff for the
excellent meal. Gordon Simpson then spoke about the sterling service
Cathy Campbell had provided over 33 years in maintaining the Koi-Hai
Directory. Josie Kilgour presented Cathy with a cheque and a card of
congratulation specially painted for the occasion by Bob Simpson.

Afterwards people started to drift away to catch trains, planes and
buses with the last leaving at 16.30. David's recollections of the
reunion are a bit hazy as he has no idea 6 hours could just disappear in
a flash.

E-mails and letters have been received saying how much everyone
appreciated the reunion and David feels sorry that he was unable to get
round and personally thank everyone for supporting the reunion.
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                                  A list of those who attended

   David & Cynthia Air                 Williamson Magors

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The  address given by Ramesh Jaitly to those 
attending the lunch

Ladies and Gentlemen

The British officially left India on the 15^th August 1947.  The Scots hung on to the Tea Districts for much longer. Much has changed in India since Independence, but one thing has remained constant, the goodwill towards the British.

In some other Commonwealth countries, Zimbabwe for example, intolerance, even hatred appears commonplace, but it has not been so in India.  If anyone here returned to the Garden they were on, I am sure they would be given a tumultuous welcome and I know at least one of you here has.

But other things have changed.  India is fast becoming a financial power.  A country to reckon with in international politics.  Where there were ferries, there are new bridges over the mighty Brahmaputra.  At Goalpara, Gauhati and Silghat for instance.  There is a broad gauge line from Delhi to Dibrugarh.  Gauhati now has flyovers, enormous shopping malls, multi-storied buildings galore and more "Indian made Foreign Liquor Shops" selling Scotch whisky than it has Pan shops.  Every car marque in the world is available.  And just think, even though the Indian voter may be largely illiterate, it recognises bad government and has changed it more than once.

You, during the course of your employment in India have been part of that change and the aches and pains of a country stumbling from foreign rule into independence.  You, along with the Indians have been through the language riots in Assam, the chaos and turmoil of the Chinese invasion of India and the evacuation of Planters; the initial unease with, and eventual acceptance of the emergence of the trade union movement in the Tea Districts, inspite of its militancy and the fact that many suffered physical violence in the Dooars.  Most of you were not there during the terror of ULFA and the Gurkha movement in Darjeeling.  I have almost forgotten the annual terror - Floods.

All of us have been involved with and evolved with change in India.

Tea Planting was never really a job.  It was and is a way of life, the type of which the average person outside this hall cannot possibly imagine.  It was never the best paid of jobs in the world, but many of you would not have changed it had your hand not been forced by the changes in the rate of exchange for instance.

All of you made a positive contribution to change in India in general, and to the Tea Districts in particular, which contribution has never been properly acknowledged.

We were good at everything - work or play.  Can the yobs of today hold a candle to the Goriajan crowd on a "pub crawl".  The difference was that we never harmed anyone.

Please allow me to add my personal thanks to Kathie for her splendid job on the Koi - Hai directory.

May I also propose a toast to the British Tea Planter, and that unsung hero - his long suffering wife - not only the administrator of the bungalow, director of hospitality and confidential secretary but even the driver home.  

Jai Hind.
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This is the address given by Gordon Simpson at the lunch

Ladies and Gentlemen

Before I go on to the main reason for standing here I am sure you  will all join me in thanking David Kilgour for arranging this Lunch.  
  Without David, ably assisted by Josie, this gathering would not have happened    He has already mentioned that the final number attending is far greater than at first anticipated and he has coped extremely 
well to accommodate this much larger  group of people.

Some time after the announcement of this event was posted on the "Koi-Hai" website David Air, Editor of the site, who was in the UK for most of the summer, received a call from David Kincaid (yet another David!).   He suggested this would be an appropriate occasion to honour Cathie Campbell for 33 years of dedicated service as Hon. Secretary of the "Koi-Hai" Directory.      David Air ,David Kilgour and  I thought it was an excellent idea and discussed how we could offer as many Koi-Kai members as possible the opportunity to contribute towards a gift without alerting Cathie, --- yes Cathie we were conniving behind you back to give you a surprise.   We considered asking you for your mailing list but thought you might realise something was going on so gave up the idea. 

 A decision was then taken to use the names in the Directory .   David  Air and I  arranged two teams of helpers  consisting of:- Peter Bartlett, Colin Jackson, Cethin Davies, Alan Lane , John Gill, Margaret Donald, Jennifer Dunn and Jean Campbell .    Josie Kilgour  volunteered to be the Banker   We first scrutinized the pages and eliminated those we knew  were no longer with us and then contacted the others.   This produced 144 replies with donations some of which came  from India and Australia.

I would like to thank all who donated to Cathie's farewell present and the helpers already mentioned for work they did to make the collection a great success.

Cathie ---  I will now quote from some of the comments of appreciation and thanks received from the  grateful members of the Directory

1) long and outstanding service to the  " Koi-Hai " Directory
2) magnificent  job
3) appreciate all her hard work over the years
4) truly done a wonderful job
5) faithful and meticulous work, wonderful memorable years of devotion
6)  with every good wish to Cathie. She has carried the banner for a long time and so splendidly
7) thank you Cathie for a labour of love for so many years most of it on 
an old type writer

  I am sure you  will all agree that Cathie deserved all these splendid comments.

  I  now call upon Josie Kilgour to present Cathie with her farewell gift  which is a cheque for £1720   In the envelope there is also  an appropriate card designed by Bob Simpson  together with a list of the names of those who contributed .  

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Below is the list of those kind people who subscribed to the Presentation given to Cathie Campbell 144 in all and the card of
congratulation specially painted for the occasion by Bob Simpson.

The following news cutting appeared in the Aberdeen local paper mentioning the Reunion lunch on August 15 2008

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