doubt may have gone back to the days of the window tax. Included in the

renovation was an extension housing the kitchen, and the addition of another

bedroom by joining up with the first of four single end cottages next door.

‘In the early part of our twenty four years in ‘The Tavern’ it was very

much a man’s pub, but gradually, over the years, women became part of the

clientele, and the place became a real social meeting place. It was always

very much a Locals’ Pub and Saturday night was the busiest night of the week.

The highlights of the evening were the darts and domino competitions. Aleck

Crowe ran the dominoes for many years ... before, during and after the period

we were at the pub. The first prize was always a steak pie which was no doubt

much appreciated by the winner for Sunday lunch!

‘There was no Sunday opening in those days, the hours of business being

10a.m. to 2p.m. (later changed to 11 a.m. —2.30 p.m.) and 5p.m. to 10p.m.

in the evenings. During the early years we were the only “late bar” in the

district. St. Andrews closed at 9 p.m. and Cupar at 9.30 p.m. Some of the

‘young bloods’ would leave St. Andrews on ‘time’ and go to Cupar until ‘time’

— then on to Strath Tavern until 10p.m.! It was never a mad caper,but just

a ritual.

In 1978 ‘The Tavern’ was bought by Alexander, the butcher, St. Andrews

for his daughter, Fiona. At the time she was the youngest publican in Scotland.

Fiona successfully introduced Pub Lunches to ‘The Tavern’. After two years

she left to get married and it was bought by Mr. and Mrs. D. Coutts, the present

owners’

Julie Cockburn and Fiona Barnett, two girls who have not long since gone

to Madras, have written about their primary school days at Strathkinness

School.

‘We started Madras College in August 1985. 1, Julie, with my friend Fiona,

are going to tell you about Strathkinness School, and what it was like when we

were there. There were only two classrooms and in .each one there was a

teacher. In the infant class, there were 4 primaries -- primary 1—4. In the

older class there were 3 primaries —— primary 5—7. Miss Anquetil took the

infant class, and Mrs. Thomson, who was the headmistress, took the older

class. The school got quite a few visiting teachers, not including a Monday

teacher named Mrs. Mowat. The rest of the subjects were taught by the

teacher of the class. Mrs. Thomson had a secretary, Mrs. Coutts, who only

came in the morning until about 11.30.

‘Fiona did not go to Strathkinness School for very long. She was only

there from Easter ‘85 to summer ‘85. She came from a town called

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