Society summary

Scottish sesquicentenary dinner

The 150th anniversary of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Scotland was marked on 22 September by a formal dinner in Stirling Castle, attended by 250 guests.

Alison Strath addresses the dinner guests

In an address to the dinner guests, the chairman of the Society’s Scottish Executive, Alison Strath, repeated the message she had given at the Scottish Department’s annual general meeting (PJ, 30 June, p884) that these were challenging and exciting times for pharmacists in Scotland. She said that constitutionally pharmacists were travelling on an exciting journey. The direction they chose, at a time when the only thing that is constant was change, mattered more than ever before.

Ms Strath congratulated the many pharmacists in Scotland who had grasped the opportunities offered to them and noted that there were now colleagues in numerous strategic positions. She suggested that further opportunities for the profession to realise its full potential would accrue following the launch of the “Strategy for pharmaceutical care” document by the Scottish Health Minister later this year. “We need to harness all the innovation and enterprise within the profession to achieve progress,” Ms Strath said. She then proposed a toast to the Society in Scotland.

The loyal toast was proposed by the secretary of the Scottish Department, Dr Sheila Stevens. The Edinburgh Renaissance Band provided musical entertainment throughout the evening. After the dinner, guests were invited out to the Castle Square to witness the Beating of the Retreat.

The dinner was held in Stirling Castle’s Great Hall, which was designed by Robert Cochrane, a favourite of King James III (1460–88), and completed in the reign of King James IV (1488–1513). It has been described as the finest example of Renaissance building in the British Isles. Originally intended for parliaments and banquets, its main floor is 38m long and 11m wide, with a height of 10m to the wall head and 17m to the pitch of the roof. It suffered a late 18th century conversion into barracks for soldiers stationed at the castle, with the insertion of additional floors and walls and the replacement of the roof. Restoration began in 1964, when the army finally left, and the hall was reopened in 1999.

Series of events

The Stirling Castle dinner was one of a series of celebratory events marking the 150th anniversary of the Society’s presence in Scotland. A September date was chosen for the dinner because that was the month in 1851 in which the first meeting of the Society’s then “North British branch” took place.

The programme of commemorative events began at the start of the year with a dinner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, at which the principal guest was the Princess Royal (PJ, 13 January, p47).

The final event of the year is to be a sesquicentenary lecture on pharmaceutical care to be delivered by Professor Douglas Hepler (Department of Pharmacy Health Care Administration, University of Florida) in December.
— From Dr Steven Kayne (Scottish correspondent).

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