A DNNER IN HONOUR OF ADAM SMITH FORMER RESIDENT IN KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND

Paul McCabe posts (4 June) in Fife Today HERE

“A dinner in honour of our Mr Smith …"

"A charity dinner held by the Adam Smith Global Foundation has been hailed a success, with many attendees already looking forward to the next one.

The fundraising event was held in the atrium of Fife College on St Brycedale Avenue to mark the birthday of Kirkcaldy’s most famous son and to swell the coffers of the Foundation, as it gets ready to open the new Adam Smith Visitor Centre in September.

Marilyn Livingstone, chief executive officer of the Foundation, said she was “delighted” with the evening’s events.

“From the point of view of the Foundation, it went really well,” she said.

“Although primarily a fundraiser for the Foundation, the evening was a celebration of the birth of Adam Smith with the focus on young people, which we focused on in two ways.

“Firstly, the food – which was excellent – was provided by Bryan McCabe and the students at the college, then there was the entertainment, which was organised by Janet Robertson at the Fife Cultural Trust and performed by the Fife Youth Arts Hub, and they were just fantastic.

“We also wanted to highlight the work the Foundation is carrying out, aiming at the social and economic regeneration of Kirkcaldy in conjunction with Kirkcaldy’s Ambitions, and getting people on board with that. And, of course, it was also a celebration of Adam Smith’s life.

“We don’t have his birthday, but we do know his baptismal date, which was June 5, 1723 at the Old Kirk, so we held the dinner the week before then.

“Since Friday, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback on Facebook and Twitter and I’ve had emails from people saying how much they enjoyed it and they would definitely come to the next one, which is great.”

Speaking at the dinner was former Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Gordon Brown, who paid tribute to the Foundation while outlining its plans.

“In the last three years, the Adam Smith Foundation’s board has managed to attract £1 million investment in Kirkcaldy,” he said.

“The timetable means completion of the Adam Smith Visitor Centre by autumn 2015 and the completion of Adam Smith Close.”

Comment

The initiatives of the Adam Smith Global Foundation in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland are encouraging. Much of the credit for these developments is down to the energetic influence of the former UK Prime Minster, Gordon Brown, who stood down as the local MP at the recent General Election and the enthusiastic hard work of the local team led by Marilyn Livingstone, chief executive officer of the Foundation.

I have attended several events organised in Kirkcaldy, where Adam Smith was born in 1723. They have proved to be excellent educationally and socially for the many international scholars who attended them.