Fifty members of Arran History Society welcomed Diana Maxwell of Aberdour and Whiting Bay to their March meeting, writes Norma Davidson.
Aberdour is near Rosyth with its naval dockyard situated on the River Forth. She was aware of the existence of a research station there during the early years of World War I and in the mid-1990s began to research the station. By information gleaned from local folk and the records which had by then come into the public domain she was able to build up a fascinating talk sub-titled, Memories of Hawkcraig Admiralty Experimental Establishment Station, 1915-1919. Like all shore-based establishments, it had a nautical name, in this instance HMS Tarlair.
In the early years of the war, one in every three merchant ships were lost to U-boats and at one time the nation was down to six weeks of supplies; indeed, some sources said as little as two weeks.