In the pre-lunch publicity about the October Lunch we were promised an “interesting” speaker and that’s exactly what we got, in the shape of Tavish Scott, the former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. That, however, is not his only claim to fame as he is currently Chief Executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation and was previously Head of External Affairs with the Scottish Rugby Union. As one might expect from an accomplished politician and a native of Shetland, Tavish managed to weave stories from all of these areas of his personal history, including his association with the 3 other top table residents, into a well thought out, entertaining and seamless talk He was able to express his gratitude to GROG Scott Grier for his time as Chairman of Loganair, running a very efficient service from Shetland to Edinburgh, which Tavish called his “no. 44 bus”! Although rugby is not the main team sport on the island of Shetland it’s played enthusiatically by men, women and youth teams who travel regularly to the mainland to fulfil their commitments. It’s not often the SRU is the beneficiary of praise at GROGS lunches but Tavish was fulsome in his appreciation of the financial support it gives to the local teams allowing them to travel as often as they do. There was a good story told about Gregor Townsend, the Scotland coach, travelling as guest of honour to present the awards at the annual Sports Dinner. Gregor was a very popular visitor but wasn’t recognised in his own right by all the local worthies, especially the one who couldn’t understand why Holywood star, Woody Harrelson, had been invited to the Shetland Sports Awards event! As said, Tavish mixed his stories about sport, industry and political experiences with consummate ease, including one about being at a dinner given in Downing Street when he was sat next to Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who immediately asked his opinion about Vladimir Putin who had been in Edinburgh the previous day and had spoken about the importance of human rights. The irony was not lost on this audience. Tavish ended with the optimistic views that rugby will endure and that GROGS will be here for decades to come. “Not this one” forecast one gloomy GROG! This speaker well deserved the bottle of the much prized Special GROGS Whisky he was presented with and our appreciation for honouring a long arranged commitment.
