OMAGH PROBUS CLUB, WEDNESDAY 27 November 2024
The speaker on Wednesday, 27th November was Mr Harman Scott, who, by his own admission, was a poor substitute for his daughter, Naomi. Members were very much looking forward to welcoming Naomi back to the club and hearing more of her experiences as an international businesswoman. In an e-mail to the Club she expressed her regret that she was unable to make it due to unfinished business in Mozambique. Her plans, she explained, had been disrupted by civil unrest in Mozambique following a contentious general election.
Naomi’s Father Harman Scott, manfully stepped into the breach with some reminiscences about his life as a university student in Belfast in the 1950’s and after graduation as civil engineer working for Road Services in Co Tyrone. One of Harman’s interests has long been in family histories and along the way he touched on his own forebears in Donegal, Kerry and Fintona where he grew up. Could he number among his ancestors a notorious highway man called Jo Scott, who died in a fight in Donegal circa 1800? He was unsure.
Haman’s enduring interest in cars and motor sport included anecdotes about attendance at Tourist Trophy races on the Dundrod circuit in the 1950’s when competitors included motor facing greats such as Juan Manual Fangio, driving a Ferrari, Sterling Moss in a Mercedes, and Mike Hawethorne behind the wheel of Jaguar. Harman himself owned a series of sporty two-seaters and toured all over Europe in the days before children imposed the requirement for a family car.
Club members enjoyed Harman’s trip down memory lane and his reflections about some of the people he had met on the way – some opinions best not recorded.