Members' Centres and
Friends' Groups
Dear Friends,
Last month we welcomed Lance Forman, pictured on the left with myself, who came to tell us about smoked salmon - his company, H. Forman & Son, was founded by his great-grandfather in 1905. Back then, the salmon came from the Baltic in barrels of seawater; smoking was a way of preserving the fish.
Discovering fresh Scottish salmon, how well it suited their smoking process and how much better it tasted soon led London's top restaurants to offer Forman's Scottish smoked salmon as a gourmet delicacy.
Until 30 years ago, smoked salmon was considered to be a treat, but the easy availability of farmed Norwegian salmon and competitors with cheaper production methods ushered in a more ubiquitous food.
sss
Not so for Forman's! They continue to smoke only Scottish salmon with their "London Cure" technique, which now has protected name status.
Our next talk on Wednesday, 11th December at Newnham College, will be given by Euan Dunn, the expert and author on Puffins - see below.
Tickets are £10.00 each (£12.00 on the door), including a glass of wine on arrival.
It marks the end of our autumn programme; the dates and details of our spring 2025 events are shown below.
Donald Douglas, Chairman
December 2024 Meetings
- Wednesday, 11th December 2024 at 7.30 pm in Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF
- "Puffins", with Euan Dunn MBE.
Euan Dunn MBE has a lifelong love of the sea, derived from his upbringing in Aberdeen, where his grandfather was a top trawler skipper.
Euan was head of marine policy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), at its Sandy HQ, where he worked on the impacts of fisheries and other marine threats on seabirds and how best to alleviate them. He retired in 2019.
Euan was a Zoology undergraduate at Aberdeen University and went on to conduct research on seabirds at Durham and Oxford Universities.
He was awarded an MBE for contributions to marine conservation in 2007.
Euan has worked on other seabirds in numerous islands around the world. These included the Shiants and St Kilda, where he also helped census the declining puffin population.
In 2014 he wrote "Puffins", which distilled the knowledge of this enduringly popular seabird for a non-scientific audience.
Spring 2025 Meeting Dates
- Wednesday, 19th February 2025 at 7.30 pm in Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF
- A special event devoted to tasting Scottish cheeses with a cheese expert and enthusiast from d'Arry's, the Cambridge luxury British cheesemonger, on hand to explain. There will be six cheeses to sample, with bread and water between samples to clean the palate. NB Tickets will be £15.00 each (£17.00 at the door ) as a contribution towards the cost of the cheese.
- Wednesday, 19th March 2025 at 7.30 pm in Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF
- Short talks from CFNTS members and supporters on places for which they have a particular fondness. Highlights so far are Craigievar, St Kilda and the West Highland Way.
- Wednesday, 16th April 2025 at 7.30 pm in Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF
- Erica Utsi will tell us how she used ground-penetrating radar at Dunfermline Abbey to uncover secrets of the final resting place of Robert the Bruce.
- Wednesday, 21st May 2025 at 7.30 pm in Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF
- Felicity Starr on the Kelpies, the world's largest equine sculptures: a pair of monumental steel horse-heads which stand next to the M9 between Falkirk and Grangemouth.
Where we meet
Our regular evening meetings are at Newnham College, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DF, at 7.30 for 8.00 pm.
Tickets are £10.00 in advance (see below) or £12.00 cash / cheque on the door - they include a glass of wine on arrival. Raffle tickets are £5.00 / strip - first prize is, sometimes, a bottle of whisky.
Ticket Application
- Buy your tickets in advance via your bank - please let Donald know (see point two):
- £10 ( £15 for 19th February ) per person via BACS
- To Cambridge Friends of the NTS.
- Sort code 30-91-56.
- Account number 03771503.
- Reference: your name!
- Let Donald Douglas know donalddouglas710@btinternet.com. Donald will email your tickets to you.
- Or send a cheque ( £10 ( £15 for 19th February ) ) per person to CFNTS, Mar House,Long Lane, Fowlmere, SG8 7TG, made payable to Cambridge Friends of the NTS; please include an SAE if you would like your tickets by mail - or request tickets by email.
- Tickets on the door will be £12.00 ( £17.00 for 19th February ) per person.
NB We will not pass your details on to any other organisation.
Committee members:
Donald Douglas, Chairman and Membership Secretary
Judy Potter, Deputy Chairman and Secretary
Jim Stewart, Treasurer
Peter Mann, Newsletter Editor
Patsy Glazebrook
Julian Landy
Dr Robert Smith
Jill Tuffnell
