This landmark in Scottish AA life took place at Dunblane Hydro from 12th to 14th April 1957 and was a great success. The only thing that spoilt it slightly was the fact that Don (Inverness), Scottish Inter-Group Chairman, did not take an active part in the proceedings through ill health – still, it was nice to see him there.
On Friday night there was an opening meeting, after which two films were shown - one about “Alcoholism in Industry” (American) and the other “Lost Weekend.” On Saturday morning we had another closed meeting with Jimmy T. (Glasgow) in the Chair. Almost everybody contributed something at this meeting. Then, after lunch, we went our different ways – golfing, sightseeing, etc. – to gather again for the first open meeting on Saturday evening. Jimmy R. (Glasgow) took the reins at this meeting and the speaker was Sackville, of Dublin. The latter gave a very fine talk, encouraging, uplifting and well expressed. Came Sunday morning and the second open meeting. George (Glasgow) was in the Chair, and Willie (Glasgow), Willie (Blairgowrie) and Dr. Don (Oban) (a non-alcoholic), all spoke. This meeting, like the one on the previous evening, had an attendance of one hundred and the collections at these meetings more than paid the incidental expenses of the Convention. Our last meeting was a half-yearly inter-group on Sunday, when Archie (Glasgow) was Chairman. Quite a bit of business was got through.
We had a couple of visitors (Lexie and Tom) from Kerry, Ireland, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Then, of course, there was Padge (London), Bob (London) and Sackville (Dublin), not forgetting “oor Lil” reading out her report at the business meeting. And so it was that, after tea on Sunday afternoon, we again went our separate ways, back to the grind after the fellowship of a most pleasant weekend, but with the assurance that next year’s Convention was already a “date.”