This Saturday will see the Stew/Mel arrive at Anniesland supported by the IADS--who are the IADS?

I.A.D.S. - The History-courtesy of Stew/Mel website



Inverleith Amateur Dramatic Society (the IADS) surfaced some twenty or so years ago. Jim "Pinetree" Preacher was arranging the bi-annual trip to Twickenham for the Stew-Mel Social XV. A match had been arranged against the might of the Old Millhillians Titons. Accommodation was required for the fine body of men who would represent the Edinburgh side against their southern counterparts.

"Are you a rugby team ?"

"Yes."

"Sorry we don't take rugby teams."

This was Pinetree's fourteenth call to a London Hotel and so far he had been given the knockback because of his party's sporting activity.



"Are you a rugby team ?"

"Emm, no, emm, we're an amateur dramatic society."

"Which one ?"

"The, emm, Inverleith Amateur Dramatic Society."

And so the IADS were born.

The hotel agreed to the booking, and several weeks later the assorted shapes and sizes of the newly formed IADS arrived at a dubious hotel in the back streets of Paddington. The hotel receptionist examined the cauliflower ears, the squint noses and the stout frames of the arrivals and queried…..

"Amateur Dramatic Society. What exactly are you here to see ?"

Preacher, quick as a flash responded, "Much Ado About Nothing."

And so it was that the IADS came to be. Over the years there would be a varied selection of IADS productions. Games against such luminaries as the Guinness Brewery Social Club Second XV, the Glamorgan Wanderers, Stade Francais Les Vieux and Edinburgh Athenian Touring Society (EATS) would become regular fixtures.

note from Ed--- Pintree Preacher is now a pillar of society and lives in leafy surburban Bearsden he is also a Hearts man and is seen standing behind Firework Phil in todays Herald photo

This article was originally posted on 1-Nov-2005, 15:17 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 1-Nov-2005, 15:35.