Jack’s lucky escape
MILK industry personality Jack Lawson has been making full use of his ‘retirement’ (see our front page of March 18) and fulfilled a lifelong ambition to pilot a Spitfire at Biggin Hill, recently.
Afterwards, he took in a visit to London. When he came out of the tube in the city centre, it started to rain, so Jack went for a coffee before intending to walk across Westminster Bridge.
If it hadn’t been raining, Jack assured me, he would have been on the middle of the bridge when the recent terror attack took place, where a terrorist drove his car deliberately at pedestrians, killing four people.
Not so lucky was American tourist Kurt Cochran who alighted from the same underground train as Jack. Kurt was one of those killed on the bridge.

Jim milks it!
THE milk produced on the McAlister family’s Bruchag Farm, on Bute, has helped Jim McAlister, who plays professional football for Blackpool, make a quick recovery from a leg break.
The midfielder says medical staff have put his progress down to drinking farm produced milk. Jim said: “I’m well ahead of where I should be and the specialist said I had an abnormally thick tibia.
“I told him I used to drink milk every day on my dad’s farm and that it was the good stuff straight out the tank before a lot of goodness is taken out with pasteurisation.
“He said that might have been the cause of my speedy recovery.” 

Benno’s ‘do’
ONE OF the great characters of the cattle breeding world, former chief executive of the British Charolais Cattle Society, David Benson, had his retirement ‘do’ last week at Gretna, where 200 were entertained by a variety of speakers, including the man himself.
In true Vera Lynn fashion, this was perhaps his sixth such retiral party!And, in a reference to how Benno used to act in the box at the Perth and Stirling sales, dispensing advice to auctioneers throughout the years, the Prince of Auctioneers himself, David Leggat, presented Benno with his very own gavel while doing the ‘eulogy’!
Presided over in inimitable style by Charolais breed president, Andrew (Honky) Hornall, it was a great evening for a great guy. But even Benno was taken aback when the waiter serving his pudding started to sing – it was, of course, a planted set of ‘Singing Waiters’ who entertained the crowd with some hits from the past as organised by Steve (spike) Nesbitt. Despite strong Italian accents, the singers, were, in fact, Geordies!


Ally’s knee-job
ALSO in attendance at Benno’s retirement was the owner of the excellent Blacksmiths Restaurant, Alasdair Houston, who was lucky to be there after going through a fairly hefty operation on his knee at lunchtime on the day of the dinner.
Ally made a good job of masking the pain which eventually started to take effect by the end of the dinner when the painkillers wore off. It was, he admitted a case of ‘tennis knee’ rather than ‘tennis elbow’!
According to some at the dinner, it was also a suitable way for him to get out of being calving assistant to his famous Gretnahouse Charolais and Aberdeen-Angus herds!