If you have ever walked from the Scottish Fisheries Museum along Shore Street, you will have been on a space walk, following the trail of the Anstruther Model Solar System. Starting at the Sun Tavern you quickly run into Mercury, Venus and Earth, but space is big: it’s a good 10-minute walk to the edge of the Solar System at High Street West. Along your way you will find the eight planets that make up our Solar System, as well as the asteroid, Ceres, and the dwarf planet, Pluto. 

What do the planets and other objects in our solar system look like, what do we know about them, and what do we not know yet? How do we collect information from these far-away worlds? And will we ever be able to visit? In this talk Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans, Reader in Astrophysics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews, will take a voyage through the Solar System, and find out how astronomical research is shaping our understanding of the different worlds that make up our Solar System. Time permitting, we will also travel a bit further into space and will have a look at some of the other solar systems out there in the Universe.

Please note this event will start not before 7.30pm and follow on from the AIA’s AGM, which will begin at 7pm.

When you step outside your home, do you appreciate the trees around you? From Rowan and Oak to Birch and Holly, here in East Neuk we are surrounded by a large variety of beautiful native trees. Trees are fascinating and pretty, but they offer our planet more than beauty. Trees are vital for the survival of many living creatures and play an important part in combatting the climate emergency. Team Footprint will talk about the importance of trees, their remarkable lifecycle and immense value to planet Earth. They hope it will inspire you to stand up for trees and help us bring back woodland to the East Neuk.  At the end of the interactive presentation, Team Footprint will give away free trees for your garden or balcony.

£3 entry or free for AIA members.

You can join the AIA here.

The ‘Beggar’s Mantle Fring’d with Gold’ that is the East Neuk and its string of coastal burghs enjoyed a period of prosperity in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries – and this is reflected in what survives of its carved oak furniture.What does remain is very distinctive in its vocabulary of motifs and carving style.

This talk is a detective story, in which David Jones puts together evidence for a furniture-making workshop that flourished between 1590 and 1630, examining pieces that have been found in places as far apart as Anstruther and Anglesey.

The industrial landscape of the East Neuk has changed significantly in the last 150 years. All physical evidence seems to have gone of boatbuilder, John Alexander Millar’s yards. He built at least 60 large fishing vessels in Cellardyke, before moving to Anstruther Esplanade.

Richard Wemyss will tell of his discovery of this highly regarded and innovative boatbuilder and some of the vessels he built during the largest period of growth in our fishing industry, the 1860s to 1903.

For more than 600 years, the University has drawn pioneering individuals to St Andrews to research and to learn. The stories of these people can be found in the collection of the University Museums. 

In this talk, Eilidh Lawrence, Learning and Engagement Manager at Libraries and Museums, University of St Andrews, will share some of the ground-breaking discoveries, inventions and ideas that were developed in Fife and have had a lasting impact on Scotland. Some of them even changed the world.