Back in the 1930s, a competition was launched among the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes to create the best village book produced by a branch. The SWRI were no strangers to competitions, however, this one differed from the more usual cooking, handicrafts and amateur dramatics contests. Largo Institute had a large membership and one of their own, Miss Leonora Rintoul (pictured below), was president of the Fife Federation at the time. She was also already a published author of several ornithological works ,with friend and fellow SWRI member Evelyn Baxter, including 1928 publication The Geographical Distribution and Status of Birds in Scotland.
It was a foregone conclusion that Largo Institute would enter the village book competition and a given that they tackle the challenge with ambition. The approach taken was to cover a wide range of aspects of village life - not just to document the history of the place but also to chronicle many aspects of everyday life such as the facilities and clubs available to local people, local customs and of course Miss Rintoul's area of expertise: the flora and fauna found in the area.
Leonora Rintoul intuitively knew how to communicate, being a regular public speaker, writer of ornithological books and organiser of a great many community events and fundraising activities. She used language which was articulate yet accessible to a wide audience. She sought to cover topics omitted in other local history works - details of local life that might otherwise have been lost. Another aspect to Largo's entry was the inclusion of six illustrations of the Parish. Drawing upon the Valentine's postcard catalogue, the scenes selected for inclusion were: Upper Largo Kirk, Sir Andrew Wood's Tower, Lundin Tower, the Standin' Stanes of Lundie, Largo Harbour and Largo Law and the Temple from the sea.
When the result of the contest was announced in the summer of 1932, Dr George Pratt decreed that equal first place should go to Largo Women's Rural Institute and Meigle Women's Rural Institute (in Perthshire). Although the two entries differed in style, he thought that both were of a very high standard (see extract below from 6 July 1932 Perthshire Advertiser). Prizes were awarded but what the prize was is not mentioned in newspaper reports.
The judge wrote in the Scotsman of 29 July 1932, under the headline "The Countrywoman as Historian", that the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes never ceased to surprise with their "energy, industry, resource and other virtues". Tasked with deciding the best Village Book, the judge noted that "two volumes, packed with interesting matter, lie on my desk at the moment, and they represent the achievements of two Institutes who tied for first prize. They are Largo and Meigle."
He continued to sing the praises of the handwritten works as follows: "Much labour has gone into the making of these books....Painstakingly, their compilers have collected data from existing records, the aim being to present as complete a picture of their village as possible, its history, its social customs and its people." On Largo Village Book in particular he notes: "Largo Village Book is a monumental work compiled by one pair of hands." in which a "human touch" was added to usual "official records".
The above newspaper report from the 28 Jan 1933 Fife Free Press describes the "energy and resource" put into the book by Miss Rintoul. The reputation of the author and of Miss Baxter is also highlighted as "known throughout Scotland". Such was the quality of the output that it was decided that the handwritten book be printed and published by J. & G. Innes. Priced at 2 shillings, the book ran to 130 pages in length. A review of the book is shown below from the 4 April 1933 St Andrews Citizen. This comments, quite accurately, that "no doubt all Institutes would not be as lucky as Largo in possessing a compiler with Miss Rintoul's gifts and experience in literary work".