... Miss Marjory Middleton tells me she is about to launch a Friends of the Ballet group. Miss Middleton has been Director of the Scottish Ballet School for nearly 35 years and has been running the Scottish Ballet Club for about 20 years. Small wonder that at the New Year she received the M.B.E. in recognition of her services to ballet in Scotland. But Miss Middleton is once more facing the sad ...

... A Festival of Scotland is to be held in Cannes early next month and if the venue sounds surprising the reason is that the Festival will commemorate the 130th anniversary of the first visit there of Lord Brougham, the Scottish peer who dis covered the resort for British visitors. More than 160 Scots with interests in industry, commerce, local government, sport and tourism will attend. Mr. ...

... The Hunt Ball season is in full swing just now with members showing amazing reserves of energy dancing until the small hours and then up (or, maybe, never to bed!) in time for the meet the same morning. The Fife Hunt Ball, held on a recent Friday evening in the County Buildings, Cupar, drew about 350 guests of whom quite a number were mounted next morning at Gilston, home of Mr. Mrs. Alan ...

... Viscount Younger of Leckie was recently appointed Lord-Lieuten ant of Stirlingshire in succession to Sir Ian Bolton, and Lady Younger tells me that she doesn't know yet whether this will mean a much busier life for them both. But as she enjoys a busy life it would be no hardship for her. She has been County Organizer for the W.V.S. in Stirlingshire for the past eight years and County President ...

... A new antique shop has just been opened in Dunkeld, one of Scotland's tourist centres. The proprietress is Mrs. Charles Stewart, wife of the secretary to the University of Edinburgh. She has made a brave resolution-- not to stock reproductions. Everything isn't necessarily 100 years old, she told me, some things may be only 50 or 60, but they're of good quality even if they're very cheap. ...

... Two Highland families were united recently in the High Kirk of Edinburgh, St. Giles Cathedral, when the Marquess of Lome, heir to the Duke of Argyll, Inveraray Castle, married Miss lona Colquhoun, only daughter of Sir Ivar and Lady Colquhoun of Luss, Dunbartonshire. A traditional Gaelic marriage prayer, said by the Rev. D. W. MacKenzie, parish minister of Inveraray, formed part of the service. ...

... Much closer at hand is the coming-of-age ball to be held at Haddo in August, when Mrs. Gordon, Lady Forbes of Newe and Mrs. James Hay are joining forces to entertain the guests of their daughters, Misses Mary Gordon, Alison Forbes and Joanna Hay. Haddo, a beautiful Adam House built in 1732, will be floodlit for the occasion. It doesn't really need anything else, says Mrs. Gordon and how ...

... Among the 600 guests were many tenants and employees from both the Luss and Inveraray estates and some guests had come from America and Australia. The bridegroom's mother, Mrs. Louise Clews Timpson, had flown from New York. A feature of the wedding reception, held in the Assembly Rooms, was an enormous three-tier wedding cake sur mounted by a model of Inveraray Castle. The Marquess and his ...

... Mr. and Mrs. Noble, as well as being busy officially, are now up to their eyes in a more personal matter-- preparations for the wedding of their eldest daughter Catharine who announced her engagement this month to London businessman Mr. Peter Vey, only son of Mr. and Mrs. D. C. L. Vey, of Ewshot, Farnham, Surrey. The wedding is to be at Holy Trinity, Brompton, on 8 September. Mrs. Noble ...

... It's a great pleasure to have these pic tures around us. I just hope other people are going to enjoy the exhibition as much as I am, said Lady Cochrane of Cults when she was telling me about the exhi bition of young Scottish artists' work that is to be held at her home, Crawford Priory, Fife, next month, in aid of the funds of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research. She is a ...

... Mrs. Michael Noble, wife of Scotland's Secretary of State, was hostess at a dinner for the wives of Ministers of the European Free T rade Association who were meeting in Edinburgh. Still without an official residence in the city, she entertained them successfully in the homely atmosphere of Prestonfield House, an old mansion on the outskirts of Edinburgh which has belonged to the same family ...

... This year, Dr. H. J. Theusner, Scotland's Consul for the Federal Republic of Ger many, and his wife have been getting to know the country. This is their first year in Scotland and they have made an exten sive tour of the north and north-west. Mrs. Theusner was impressed by the scenery, but was even more enthusiastic about a recent garden party given by the Queen which she attended at the ...