Stirling Magazine Autumn 2011

AUTUMN 2011

Harvest time Gathering local produce

Also inside

Back to school Meet the Head of Education

Caring for older people Helping you to stay independent

Your views, our actions Results of the Residents’ Survey

Page 8

Page 18

Page 21

Stirling.gov.uk

For everyone living in the stirling council area

GroWinG

On the cover

Modern Day Apprentices with the Council’s Land Services Ross Stirling (front) and David Rae gather a crop including runner beans, dill and Swiss chard in the grounds of Viewforth.

They were grown in green spaces and borders across the Stirling area as part of the Edible Borders project. See page 7 Stirling magazine brings you current news and stories from across Stirling’s public sector organisations. Please let us have your comments and ideas for future issues by emailing stirlingmagazine@stirling.gov.uk

my, and our area’s econoideal place is a strength of the First-class food nick nairn Cook school amazing ith’s produce into Port of Mente turn that tip-top kilpatrick does just that ah to learn how to reporter Debor meals. Stirling

it: How to make sauce: warm • Make the tomatothick-based a the olive oil in onion pan, add the chopped without and slowly sweat few minutes a colouring. After dried chilli flakes imagined! “Most add the garlic, work than I and cook for this course and seasoning COOKING people take A DAy OF called ‘Simple tarred chef another five minutes because it’s tomatoes and 10am: Michelin-s there’s nothing CookinG Course • Add the tinned reduce the briefed us in Italian’, but John Webber bring to the boil. gently it,” Tristan professional simple about is Stirling’s food is all the pristine, heat and simmer sauce is Nick Nairn chef, with was divided points out. “Italianand kitchen, which • while the tomato the own celebrity workstations about the quality restaurant at using reducing, assemble into separate of the food, an acclaimed e Dunblane the ground the equipment provenance local area.” meatballs. Place set out with the day. , at the Doubletre breadcrumbs what’s in your meats, Cook School we’d need for parsley into a Hydro and Parmesan and are made using your Port of Menteith. ic large bowl and, tutor Tristan to 2pm: Our gnocci Add 10.30: Our from the Cook He’s an enthusiast us how hands, mix thoroughly. potatoes Stirling showed yolk with the egg from oil, Campbell champion of the onion, olive The secret was School garden and eggs pinch of salt produce, using make tiramisu. ingredients They’re light and a generous black area’s fresh the and produce its chickens. making sure y and freshly ground gently mixed local suppliers garden. again and creamy, the right consistenc School’s had and flour the pepper and mix divide the from Working hands with egg, butter celebrates its before blending.

• using clean the rolled into balls.

The School into small on a menu is this year. before being walnut pesto meatball mixture balls and tenth anniversary of hands-on backwardsto my usual chaotic into The rocket easy pieces and roll all your variety a very opposite is offers them It Tristan on good to go with • when you have heat a frying methods, but good cooking incredibly tasty. courses, focusing looking to meatballs ready, oil and fry, to make, yet rocket explained that organised. if you have core skills. Those up a notch pan. Add the olive until “Make this is about being out of step their cooking growing turning occasionally, or basil garden, or if a blend of can attend three-day golden brown are all control in your cheap in the on topics such 1pm: The tiramisu, masterclasses • when the meatballsto the egg, amaretto or meat, you see it going freeze them mascarpone, coloured, add then as fish and shellfish, cream is setting and cook for supermarket, advises. and double tomato sauce game and poultry. to be We’ve also minutes. Do some,” Tristan roughly 15-20 in the fridge.

I was delightedtry the are for fresh pasta, to ensure the meatballs made dough a tomato to enjoy our Finally check invited along course this and 3.30pm: Time starters and properly cooked. serve with Italian’ meatballs, and ‘Simple to be and pesto for seasoning I wondered or sauce, all waitingmuch harder gnocci August. But me It’s olive oil, pappardelle shaved could turn cooked later. freshly whether it spaghetti and in one day? basil. into a gourmet Parmesan and

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A ne

chapwter

Edibl e ge Broo mrid

Fruitful funding for orchards

in local healthc are

the new stirling Comm Hospital is now up and unity providing a range of running, vital services

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v.uk stirling.go

What’s in a

n a me?

open for minor injurie s

the new Minor injury unit at stirling Community open every day from Hospital is now 9am to 9pm. the unit, located in the former which is currently HospitAL openinG A&E wide range of common department, provides treatment for a Hospital, one of four injuries including sprains, burns, suspected broken community hospitals cuts, minor The opening of the bones, minor head third infected wounds. and neck injuries and Forth Valley which across phase of the Forth support Valley this ensures that thousands the work of Forth Royal Hospital not Valley of people from across only experience Royal Hospital. stirling who marked the final minor injuries chapter in locally. the unit provides every year can continue to be treated This ensures local the development people of the new the age of one. Children treatment for adults and children over from across Stirling hospital, but also under heralded a the Emergency Department the age of one should be taken to continue to have new beginning for access to a at Forth valley royal Stirling wide range of health Hospital.

Royal Infirmary. services including a new Following the transfer Minor of services for children Injury Unit, X-Ray acute services from and Stirling staff and is expected young people and and ultrasound services, to Larbert in July, GP Stirling handle more than to out-of-hours services. dermatology, audiology, Royal Infirmary 200,000 has become patient appointme Stirling Communit antenatal and postnatal Stirling Communit nts each y care, Hospital y year, maintaining therapy and mental continues to be a an health important presence base for hundreds at of NHS heart of the communitythe .

the Black Lady

able to stay until they and go home and a separate larger A local woman had a curiouspushed delivery room for multiple births. experience as she unnerving unit presented pathway the new neonatal suite with special the rough gifts from pram along is much nHs Forth valley lighter and brighter Babies born at Forth her – a cuddly toy one autumn than valley Walk royal Back rabbit, of the neonatal facilities and existing Hospital are to be known a certificate and a Then will provide 1970s. cotton a by staff in earlywith topthe inscribed a more pleasant environment as larbert lads and afternoon the words lassies. only hear ‘Forthshe staff, patients and parents. for valleycould the new name was young mother, royal First’. coined by as she the new women Midwife Practitioner there are also two overnight of the gurgling andtot Children’s Catriona gleeful unit the at Forth rooms for parents who Cully. “i wanted a namethe valley twilight royal hasover the want to a through unite trundled host of extra facilities to while their baby is undergoingto stay all the new arrivals make covering and i think this leaves brittle, spent brown fits the bill.” cascade oftime in hospital much more and treatment or stay overnight to help cemetery the comfortable. circles prepare the first baby from the path – which these include for taking their baby the stirling home. improvemen line area to be born at the the neonatal unit is ts in thethe and marks labour suite on new Forth Rock, such as an extra birthing same floor as the labour the valley royal Hospital Castle pool, a defences fortified was kenzie ward the Burgh changing which has improved liddell from Bannockburnof room for partners access close . kenzie, in the 1540s.

Guiseen-suite detheatres, made it easier for mothers and Mary to who was born on 13 by delivery July 2011, to visit was incline steep rooms where themany their babies while they As she reached mums will be are being cared for in the unit.

Hospital to the

Kenzie Liddell is the first baby ld Town from the Stirling area to be in Stirling’s historic O born at the new Forth Valley Hauntings Royal Hospital

Community cops on hospital beat

Women AnD CHiLDren’s

The new security officers will patrol Forth Valley Royal Hospital, as well as monitor the site from a CCTV control room

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stirling.gov.uk

poLiCinG

statements from patients and staff can now be obtained far easier and quicker thanks to the work of two new police enquiry officers who are based full-time at Forth valley royal Hospital.

PC steven Dodds and PC walter robb were recently appointed as Enquiry officers at the new hospital and are working closely with staff across the site to obtain and record medical evidence, medical history and expert witness statements.

“The new unit has a host of extra facilities to make time spent in

from Cowane’s to catch hospital more comfortable” Ladies’ Hill she paused to her breath, and was startled feel something ‘like a finger pressing up and down the length of my back’. She to turned, and was alarmed the find herself alone upon no lost She shadowy path. truck with ‘silly time in hurrying home. superstitions’, he was Such encounters here were Apparitions have been about to call a cheery once commonplace, it seems, known to appear in Stirling welcome – sure that and attributed to visitations the grey man was me, of the Black Lady, a ghostly garbed in the great grey nun, supposedly seeking secret postal-cloak which forms furtive union with her it’s not just stirling that has the nook of – though he priestly lover in some secluded intriguing connections with part of my Staffman’s livery should Castle Rock. the supernatural. Hundreds did think it odd that a GhostWalk the day.

A stubbornly silent and of years ago, the community be in progress so early in him – none of Stirling’s uncommunicative spirit What happened next silenced of Aberfoyle had a host of a great deal to say word, as the figure female phantoms have haunting stories to tell. before he could utter a into is as obscure vanished purpose ‘just her – for themselves in the late 1600s, robert the stone at the top as her origin and kirk, a minister (and seventh Not path. the she of destination, though son) set out to collect behind. Not beside. is generally thought by his parishioners’ stories through.

Straight older locals to be a herald about elves, fairies, fauns, Into the stone.’ (I, of ill omen, creating doppelgangers, wraiths, a have , incidentally a sense of dread and other beings of “a saintly alibi for the appropriate to the middle nature betwixt time of this odd shadowy, overgrown man and angel”. encounter: I was causeway she frequents. kirk believed their playing Santa Claus Sightings are rare since supernatural world existed in a local shopping the path was paved and in parallel to ours, and centre all day.) electric light added, his research resulted on been the Black have encounters this Could uncanny though in an essay called The –a Lady’s immortal inamorato the outskirts of the churchyard Secret Commonwealth – a his of in Greyfriar afternoon the Franciscan still occur. On fascinating mixture of Day) hurrying to meet her 30 November (St Andrew’s science, religion and folklore. distinctive vestments – of Works for the 2002, Rab Allan, Master some believe that the under some secluded bower? such unsettling Cowane Trust, had one inhabitants of the secret Stirling of the stone steps This is an extract from Haunted experience. At the foot Commonwealth were the Ladies’ Hill, Kinnaird, published by David by leading to the summit of none too pleased with the . down to the rypress.co.uk) where a rough path leads reverend for disclosing all The History Press (www.thehisto in what offer: £7 plus p&p reader Back Walk, he spied a figure their secrets and took their Exclusive grey coat with appeared to be a capacious revenge. kirk walked daily Tel: 01235 465500 or up the path rypress.co.uk a high collar or hood, hurrying from the manse to Doon Hill, www.thehisto quote HPSTIRLING. from the Valley. but one day he did not return. worked around Please A local, who has lived and And they do say that the Offer ends 1 January 2012. and who has no the cemetery all his life, pine tree that stands to this day at the top of the hill Stirling on Wednesday talk about his book Haunted contains his imprisoned spirit.

t man ‘Betwixge and an l’ in Aberfoyle

g and and performer, has been hauntin ghost David kinnaird, author, writer his stirling more than twenty years with in the city entertaining in stirling for into the eerie goings on walk. Here, he gives an insight

Spooky

SUPERNATURAL

After two decades of I’ve never seen a ghost. a host of supposedly living and working in myself with the haunted houses, acquainting area, I’ve yet to of the history and mythology that I could not see, hear or feel anything – by reasonable, explain – at least in part

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means. rational, and utterly mundaneghosts, at least not in in I’m not even sure I believe persistent the sense of a sentient, self-aware, open to the possibility. personal essence – but I’m emotions can high After all, if it is true that upon a location, then somehow impress themselves hauntings have been of reports that surprise it’s no so numerous in this town.

Hear David Kinnaird Gallery & Museum. at the Stirling Smith Art 14 September, noon-1pm, www.stirlingghostwalk.com

stirling.gov.uk

What’s inside… opportunities for Stirling people 12 Health news 14 What’s on 16 Book extract: Haunted Stirling by David Kinnaird 18 Care services for older people 21 Residents’ Survey 26 Contact your local councillor

About…

Stirling magazine is published

by Stirling Council.

Editor: Susan Cunningham Email: stirlingmagazine@stirling.gov.uk Tel: 01786 443360 Write to: Stirling, Communications, Room 17, Old Viewforth, Stirling FK8 2ET Design and editing: Connect Communications, Studio 2001, Mile End, Paisley PA1 1JS. Tel: 0141 561 0300 Visit: www.connect communications.co.uk

Formats

Copies of articles are available by request in a range of other languages, large print and on audio tape. To request articles in any of these formats, please email or write to Stirling, or call 0845 277 7000.

Contact

To contact Stirling Council, please call 0845 277 7000 or 01786 443322 email: info@stirling.gov.uk, visit us online at www.stirling.gov.uk or visit Customer First, 1-5 Port Street, Stirling (9am-5.30pm, Monday to Friday). Follow us on...

www.facebook.com/stirlingcouncil

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“None of Stirling’s female phantoms have a great deal to say for themselves”

stirling.gov.uk

4 News and events 6 Visiting the Nick Nairn Cook School 7 Edible Borders 8 Interview with Stirling’s Head of Education, Belinda Greer, and school enrolment information for 2012/13 10 Stirling’s bid for faster broadband, and training

Health news

Thanks to everyone who took part in the recent Residents’ Survey. The report on pages 21-25 includes many of your comments and concerns, and sets out some actions already under way to address them.

The survey is crucial because it’s a chance for us to hear the voices of the people we serve. Each part of the Council is now working on how to reflect local people’s opinions in their forward planning.

Looking to the future is a strong theme at this time of year. A new intake in our primary schools is brimming with energy and excitement. Older children are taking the step up to high school. And people of all ages from right across the country and beyond are being welcomed into our community as they begin university and college courses.

Our challenge is to keep building a resilient, vibrant local economy.

Food is a particular local strength, and in this issue we cover everything from Broomridge’s food festival and the new food and drink forum to the results of the successful Edible Borders project and some tricks of the culinary trade from Port of Menteith’s prestigious Nick Nairn Cook School.

Finally, as we go to print there’s exciting news that Stirling Development Agency has signed a deal to bring Waitrose to Stirling.

Over the coming year a derelict city centre site at the Craigs roundabout will be transformed. This is another example of a new chapter for Stirling, and we are determined that as we shape our area’s future local people will be at the heart of everything we do.

coaching Kitchen

Your oWn

the tasty rewardsto It’s time to reap Borders campaign of the Edible garden bedding herbs. replace traditional vegetables and plants with which began in The project, saw the Council’s early summer, team sow vegetables Land Services other patches of on borders and across the city, available land the Burns Statue including beside Quakerfield, in central Stirling, Airthrey Road, rn, Bannockbu and in the grounds Causewayhead Viewforth HQ. of the Council’s include runner Star performers courgettes, beans, sweetcorn, cabbage and tomatoes, red artichokes. is being given FORTH VALLEY ROYAL Picked producesuch as the ns to organisatio Army.

In a first for health servicesSalvation in with my fellow chat Forth a student, Valley, security officers foodies. Emma, her increase havetobeen appointed hopes , and at Forth cooking Valleyconfidence Royal Hospital ilder, festival is on to an ex-body-bu Bill, A day-long food reassure and assist patients, Broomridge has left his steamed the menu for days broccoli October at and public and staff. chicken on Sunday 2 is becoming High School. behind environmental Bannockburn Not and n of the only a gourmet.

Stirling-based something of do they have a It’s the culminatio Environment e project, visible presence patrolling charity Forth awarded Edible Broomridg people to pasta Link has been local Out come the own the Link to 4pm: the hospital, which urges my also Environment but they buy more funding to continue support the machines. Making I never of their Forth eat, grow and produce, continue to monitor development Initiative. the site from of orchards pasta is something as a local, seasonal development Valley Orchards running I could do, but meat and dairy of central control dreamed room reduce their food waste. near through across the whole a full the The initiative, to raise run I pass the dough intake, and cut Emergency Scotland and events over n again and Department, since 2009, seeks orchards of the contraptio local , of turn it programme where the profile and watch is information months.

For more information again more people relayed ridge the next nine and encourage long, thin, smooth visit www.broom frominto more strips, than intoCCTV cut150 to eat the produce. nt Link .co.uk sheets I can foodfestival For more information, Environme cameras. fantastic the Forth .uk how I realise Diane visit www.fvfl.org Project Officer “Thanks to are. Somehow, Thetutors officers, who are John (who’s Alderdice said: s response and Tristan and employed invaluable

by Serco, the tremendou the people of have all been offering of Market fArmers’ mArkets only made a been trained Farmers’ involvement in techniques advice) not look over the past The Old ArcadeArcade, 9am-4pm Forth Valley ambitious menu stirling approved fairly have another by Every Friday, the their two years we to support not to do –Security easy I Industry Authority.

Market in us meant year’s funding but the confidence Stirling Farmers’ only the orchards, more than I of the month The new achieved officers of people’s second saturday are just development possible. them plant and one of a thought Port street, stirling number of improved skills to help own orchards.” may have services incorporated manage their more than Market 5pm: My pastainto Thornhil l my the The award of by the ragged and 10am-1pm new Forthbeen I made Valley wednesdays, Royal stuck when £84,000 was thornhill Green Community Hall, Hospital inmeatballs but I’ve never Central Scotland Larbert them,which nt Fund fried to sitisdown Network Developme now fully operational. been happier Forth v.uk was a lot and will allow stirling.go to a meal. Today I’m inspired to take in, but more. to try cooking

Hospital security to reassure patients

Hauntings

Comment

chopped finely 2 cloves garlic, chopped small pinch dried chilli flakes tinned 800g good quality tomatoes.

For the meatballs:beef 200 g ground pork 100 g ground gammon 100 g ground 1 ½ tbsp dry breadcrumbs Parmesan 2 tbsp grated flat parsley 1 tbsp chopped diced ½ onion, finely 1 egg yolk crushed 1 clove garlic, virgin 1 ½ tbsp extra olive oil maldon salt black pepper. freshly ground

Health news

Stirling Council Chief Executive Bob Jack

Food

Food

Contents and comment

Stirling Council Leader Graham Houston

stirling.gov.uk

edible bo

LLS ITALIAN MEATBA SAuCE IN TOMATO serves 3-4 ingredients sauce: For the tomato virgin olive oil 2 tbsp extra finely 1 small onion,

“The survey is crucial because it’s a chance for us to hear the voices of the people we serve. Each part of the Council is now working on how to reflect local people’s opinions in their planning”

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rECiPE

www.twitter.com/stirlingcouncil

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News

your

view

Lovely landscape

Autumn glory: Dunblane reader Ron Beaton sent us this striking view of Stirling taken from Bridge of Allan.

Thanks to everyone who sent in images.

If you’d like to see your view in Stirling, email it with a little background information to stirlingmagazine@stirling.gov.uk

Earlier this year the Customer First centre opened in Stirling’s Port Street, replacing the council tax collection and advice service at Viewforth

Great service is our priority Customer service

At the new Customer First centre you can pop in to make payments for Council services, get help with filling in forms, or speak to one of our customer service team. Some of our community based teams have moved in, alongside colleagues from HM Revenue and Customs and Visit Scotland. Knowledgeable advisers on a range of council services are also based here.

Janice Hewitt, Assistant Chief Executive (pictured), said: “Stirling Council wants all our customers to receive great customer service all the time. Our Customer Care Strategy sets standards for the service we want to give people who use our services.”

The promises are: CUSTOME we will always FIRST R be helpful, and 1-5 Port Street , Stirling treat you with Open 9am-5 .30pm, Mond courtesy and ay to Friday (we will review respect these hours afte we will listen customer feed r back) to what you ask for and respond to your requests and feedback we will keep you informed about the services we provide and when we provide them, and let you know if they change we will do our best to ‘Get It Right First Time’.

Janice Hewitt would love to hear from readers on how to make customer service better. Get in touch at hewittj@stirling.gov.uk

Advisers’ views What our customer advisers say about Customer First: “The open plan area makes it easier to communicate between different services. It helps a lot in finding solutions to challenging enquiries” “Our customers are able to use the service when it suits them” “It’s an easy stop if you’re out shopping in the city centre” “We’re able to give a quicker, more personal service”.

Customers’ views What our customers say about Customer First:

Mrs Scobbie from St Ninians has popped in twice so far. “I think it’s a good idea, and very convenient. You can sort out everything in one go.”

m Fallin was at Gillian Martin fro h her four-yearwit st Customer Fir e staff are old niece Milly. “Th d Gillian. “I really helpful,” sai added Milly. a,” love the pink sof

John Sheppard has just moved into a new flat in Stirling. “It’s a handy location, an d it’s great having everything in one place.

You’re not passed from one department to anoth er,” he said.

stirling.gov.uk

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News

In Brief Help test new site We’re building a new Stirling Council website. If you would be interested in helping test it out, please get in touch at communications@stirling.gov.uk Disabled parking rules New rules were recently approved about qualifying for a Disabled Person’s Parking Place at your home. To receive a place you should now: have a valid blue badge have a vehicle registered to your address have no access to a suitable off-street parking space (a driveway and/or garage) have a genuine parking problem.

For more details, visit www. stirling.gov.uk/disabled_parking

A year of big events 2014 will be a spectacular year for Stirling, with a programme of events marking the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

A new £5 million visitor centre is being built for the event. It’s also Scotland’s

second Year of Homecoming, and in addition to Bannockburn 700, highlights will include the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

We’d love to hear everyone’s ideas – local people,

community groups and organisations, and ex-pats and friends of Stirling from around the globe. et involved and register G your interest now at www.stirling2014.co.uk

Hogmanay tickets Plenty of people were keen to get their hands on tickets for Stirling’s 2011 Hogmanay when they went on sale recently at The Tolbooth. Watch out for more ticket offers coming soon.

Guidance to protect New national guidance for Child Protection in Scotland has been issued. Changes include: • new categories of risk • strengthened child protection case conferences • a wider definition for child protection, seeing it as part of public protection • stronger role for Chief Officers and Child Protection Committees.

Read the full document at www.stirling.gov.uk/ childprotection Remember, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure our children are alright. If you have concerns about a child, contact the Social Work Initial Assessment Team (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday): 01786 471177 or Social Work (after 4.30pm and at weekends): 01786 470500.

Volunteers needed Stirling-based Start-Up Stirling is looking for volunteers for a new befriending project which will offer support to people experiencing housing difficulties and homelessness.

To get involved, email mail@ startupstirling.org.uk or visit www.startupstirling.org.uk 4

stirling.gov.uk

Have your say on rail plans Stirling area people have the opportunity to comment on one of Scotland’s largest-ever rail investment programmes as Network Rail launch a public consultation around the Edinburgh – Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP).

Despite the slightly misleading title, EGIP offers significant benefits for rail travellers from Stirling, Bridge of Allan and Dunblane commuting to Scotland’s largest cities. As well as the environmental benefits of electrification, the completed project will deliver shorter journey times on a new fleet of lighter, quieter trains.

New home for radio show Radio Royal has now settled into its new home at the state-of-theart NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert.

With the latest technology and studio facilities, Radio Royal aims to provide each and every patient with great entertainment from their own individual flat-screen bedside television to help make their hospital stay as comfortable as possible.

Radio Royal caters for all

audiences with everything from specialist to lighthearted programmes, as well as its famed patients’ choice show.

The station has its own team of ward visitors who collect requests from patients to be played by one of the dedicated presenters.

For more information about Radio Royal, visit www.radioroyal.org

To find out more about the consultation, visit www.networkrail.co.uk/egip The team at Radio Royal caters to the musical tastes of all audiences in wards

Get active Gavin Francis shares his tales of travelling throughout Arctic Europe

There are a number of new ways you can get active in the Stirling area...

Raploch Community Campus Active Stirling at the Raploch Community Campus has a fantastic new timetable which includes various popular classes such as Spinning, Zumba, Tai Chi, Thumpboxing and more! Active Stirling also provide gym membership at the campus. The new gym and class membership starts from £10 per month.

Book festival

Stirling’s popular Off the Page Book Festival returns from 10-17 September with an exciting array of events for adults and children.

Highlights will include leading authors Christopher Brookmyre and Mark Billingham in conversation, first-time visits from Caro Ramsay, Sue Lawrence and Gavin Francis, an Evening of Gaelic at the Tolbooth, and a Gruffalo drama workshop for children. Cargo’s Special Delivery, which showcases a mix of acclaimed authors, new writers and live music is another first.

Prizes will be awarded in Stirling Libraries’ annual poetry competition Off the Stanza. For children, writers Cathy Cassidy, Catherine Forde, Lynne Rickards and Matthew Fitt will make appearances.

Off the Page is sponsored by Creative Scotland and the Evening of Gaelic is sponsored

by Bord na Gaidhlig. The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum is offering a programme of lunchtime talks as part of the festival.

Active Living Express This is an exciting new scheme offering local residents the opportunity to use the leisure facilities in Stirling High School from 6pm-10pm, Monday to Friday.

The scheme incorporates gym, fitness classes and swimming from as little as £3.50 per week.

Visit the website at www.stirling.gov.uk/ offthepage and become a Facebook friend at www.facebook.com/offthepagefestival

On the Verge of something special environmental campaign

On The Verge is an environmental campaign started by local resident Leigh Biagi in partnership with Stirling Council.

The idea is to provide food sources for our ailing bee populations by sowing nectar-rich wildflowers in green spaces in and around Stirling.

In May, the Council sowed 13 wildflower areas, forming a ‘corridor’ through the city from the Castleview Park and Ride to Cornton via Gowanhill and the Back Walk.

Sites along Burghmuir Road and in King’s Park and Beechwood Park were also turned into minimeadows. A further 20 areas were established by other On the Verge partners.

The next stage of the project, preparing and sowing further sites, will begin in late autumn.

News

Time to go off the page for literary treasures

Over 50?

Active Stirling’s new 50+ Physical Activity programme is a timetable of fitness, exercise and activities for the over 50s across the Stirling area.

Activities range from walking groups to gentle exercise classes and other activities.

Nominate an Olympic torchbearer

community you would like to see recognised?

Walking Why not join in one of the free weekly walks run by Active Stirling as part of The Stirling Walking Network? There is a range of walks within your local area – great for some gentle exercise, socialising and fresh air. Walk Leaders are on hand to assist and encourage you. You don’t need to register, just turn up for a great walk.

Choose from shorter walks in local communities for those who are new to walking or recovering from an illness or operation, to longer walks in the stunning countryside across the Stirling area.

There’s still just time to nominate a friend, colleague or family member who you think deserves to be considered for the honour of being a London 2012 ‘Moment

Nominations can be made at www.lloydstsb.com/ carrytheflame until 12 September and www.samsung.com/london 2012 until 30 September 2011.

Download information and timetables for all the above at www.activestirling.org.uk or call Active Stirling on 0300 028 0101.

Beautiful On the Verge wildflowers such as blue cornflower are appreciated by locals, visitors and bees alike

o find out more, visit the Stirling Council T Ranger Service on Facebook: www.facebook.com/stirlingcouncilrangers

to Shine’ Torchbearer for our area in the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. Is there someone whose personal achievement and/or contribution to the local

stirling.gov.uk

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Food

RECIPE Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce Serves 3-4 Ingredients For the tomato sauce: 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped small pinch dried chilli flakes 800g good quality tinned tomatoes.

For the meatballs: 200 g ground beef 100 g ground pork 100 g ground gammon 1 ½ tbsp dry breadcrumbs 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 1 tbsp chopped flat parsley ½ onion, finely diced 1 egg yolk 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil maldon salt freshly ground black pepper.

How to make it: • Make the tomato sauce: Warm the olive oil in a thick-based pan, add the chopped onion and slowly sweat without colouring. After a few minutes add the garlic, dried chilli flakes and seasoning and cook for another five minutes • Add the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently • While the tomato sauce is reducing, assemble the meatballs. Place the ground meats, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and parsley into a large bowl and, using your hands, mix thoroughly. Add the onion, olive oil, egg yolk and a generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix again • Using clean hands divide the meatball mixture into small pieces and roll into balls • When you have all your meatballs ready, heat a frying pan. Add the olive oil and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown • When the meatballs are all coloured, add them to the tomato sauce and cook for roughly 15-20 minutes. Do ensure the meatballs are properly cooked. Finally check for seasoning and serve with olive oil, pappardelle or spaghetti and freshly shaved Parmesan and basil.

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stirling.gov.uk

Kitchen

coachi First-class food is a strength of our area’s economy, and Port of Menteith’s Nick Nairn Cook School the ideal place to learn how to turn that tip-top produce into amazing meals. Stirling reporter Deborah Kilpatrick does just that Cooking course

Nick Nairn is Stirling’s own celebrity chef, with an acclaimed restaurant at the Doubletree Dunblane Hydro and Cook School at Port of Menteith.

He’s an enthusiastic champion of the Stirling area’s fresh produce, using local suppliers and produce from the School’s garden.

The School celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

It offers a variety of hands-on courses, focusing on good core skills. Those looking to step their cooking up a notch can attend three-day masterclasses on topics such as fish and shellfish, or meat, game and poultry.

I was delighted to be invited along to try the ‘Simple Italian’ course this August. But I wondered whether it could turn me into a gourmet in one day?

A day of cooking 10am: Michelin-starred chef John Webber briefed us in the pristine, professional kitchen, which was divided into separate workstations set out with the equipment we’d need for the day.

10.30: Our tutor Tristan Campbell showed us how to make tiramisu. The secret was making sure the ingredients had the right consistency before blending. Working backwards on a menu is the opposite to my usual chaotic methods, but Tristan explained that good cooking is about being organised.

1pm: The tiramisu, a blend of mascarpone, egg, amaretto and double cream is setting in the fridge. We’ve also made dough for fresh pasta, meatballs, and a tomato sauce, all waiting to be cooked later. It’s much harder

work than I imagined! “Most people take this course because it’s called ‘Simple Italian’, but there’s nothing simple about it,” Tristan points out. “Italian food is all about the quality and provenance of the food, using what’s in your local area.”

2pm: Our gnocci are made with potatoes from the Cook School garden and eggs from its chickens. They’re light and creamy, gently mixed with egg, butter and flour before being rolled into balls.

The rocket and walnut pesto to go with them is very easy to make, yet incredibly tasty.

“Make this if you have rocket or basil growing out of control in your garden, or if you see it going cheap in the supermarket, then freeze some,” Tristan advises.

3.30pm: Time to enjoy our gnocci and pesto starters and

Food

Time to eat

edible borders Growing your own

ng chat with my fellow foodies. Emma, a student, hopes to increase her cooking confidence, and Bill, an ex-body-builder, has left his steamed chicken and broccoli days behind and is becoming something of a gourmet.

4pm: Out come the pasta machines. Making my own pasta is something I never dreamed I could do, but as I pass the dough through the contraption again and again and watch it turn into long, thin, smooth sheets I can cut into strips, I realise how fantastic the tutors are. Somehow, Tristan and John (who’s been offering invaluable advice) not only made a fairly ambitious menu look easy to do – their confidence in us meant I achieved more than I thought possible.

5pm: My pasta may have been ragged and my meatballs stuck when I fried them, but I’ve never been happier to sit down to a meal. Today was a lot to take in, but I’m inspired to try cooking more.

It’s time to reap the tasty rewards of the Edible Borders campaign to replace traditional garden bedding plants with vegetables and herbs.

The project, which began in early summer, saw the Council’s Land Services team sow vegetables on borders and other patches of available land across the city, including beside the Burns Statue in central Stirling, Quakerfield, Bannockburn, Airthrey Road, Causewayhead and in the grounds of the Council’s Viewforth HQ. Star performers include runner beans, sweetcorn, courgettes, tomatoes, red cabbage and artichokes.

Picked produce is being given to organisations such as the Salvation Army.

Fruitful funding for orchards Stirling-based environmental charity Forth Environment Link has been awarded funding to continue the development of their Forth Valley Orchards Initiative.

The initiative, running since 2009, seeks to raise the profile of local orchards and encourage more people to eat the produce.

Forth Environment Link Project Officer Diane Alderdice said: “Thanks to the tremendous response and involvement of the people of Forth Valley over the past two years we have another year’s funding to support not only the orchards, but the development of people’s skills to help them plant and manage their own orchards.”

The award of more than £84,000 was made by the Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund and will allow Forth

Edible Broomridge

Environment Link to continue to support the development of orchards across the whole of central Scotland and run a full programme of events over the next nine months.

For more information, visit www.fvfl.org.uk

A day-long food festival is on the menu for Broomridge on Sunday 2 October at Bannockburn High School.

It’s the culmination of the Edible Broomridge project, which urges local people to eat, grow and buy more local, seasonal produce, reduce their meat and dairy intake, and cut food waste.

For more information, visit www.broomridge foodfestival.co.uk

Farmers’ Markets The Old Arcade Farmers’ Market Every Friday, Stirling Arcade, 9am-4pm Stirling Farmers’ Market Second Saturday of the month Port Street, Stirling Thornhill Market Wednesdays, 10am-1pm Community Hall, Thornhill

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Education

hire s n a n n a m k c la C + Stirling services n o ti a c u d e r e g n o = str

A place to

thrive Enrolment The 2012/13 school year begins on 21 August 2012.

All children who are five on or before 21 August 2012 must start their primary school education on that date. Children who are five between 22 August 2012 and 28 February 2013 may start on 21 August 2012.

If you want your child to start school in August 2012 you must enrol him or her by 25 November 2011 for: Bannockburn Primary School Braehead Primary School Cowie Primary School East Plean Primary School St Margaret’s Primary School St Mary’s Primary School, Bannockburn Dunblane Primary School Newton Primary School.

Your child should be enrolled by 20 January 2012 for all other primary schools. For details on enrolment arrangements for individual schools, please visit www.stirling.gov.uk/enrolling yourchild or phone the Council on 01786 442648, or contact your local school.

The Council now checks the residency of parents enrolling their child. To avoid any delay, please bring your child’s birth certificate, child benefit book or award letter and working families tax credit award letter, together with a recent utilities bill and council tax bill when you go to your catchment school to enrol your child.

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Interview

Belinda Greer joined Stirling Council as Head of Education in 2009 and recently headed the groundbreaking merger of Stirling and Clackmannanshire Council’s education services.

Here, she talks about how this will help ensure a positive future for our children.

Belinda, how will merging the two services improve things for

children and young people in Stirling?

The current financial climate calls for us to do better with less, to be more efficient.

Sharing skills, experience and best practice across Stirling and Clackmannanshire will build greater capacity in the team and strengthen delivery of the service in both councils.

The governance of schools is not changing and so Stirling schools will remain Stirling schools. Since we work to a national agenda

such as Curriculum for Excellence there will be very little difference for pupils. However, I would like to see improved outcomes and life chances for our children through high quality learning experiences.

What do you think is the most important aspect of education for children?

Wide achievement and high attainment. I believe that the core skills of literacy and numeracy are crucial.

Children get one chance at education so we must ensure that they get the best chance of achieving well and to the best of their ability.

Is there anything else you’d like parents of school-age children to know?

I want to reassure parents that change is a good thing – a chance for us to take a fresh approach and improve what we do.

“Children get one chance at education, so we must ensure that they get the best chance”

Education

Need to know: school places Transfer from primary to secondary Children currently in P7 will transfer from primary to secondary education in August 2012. Your primary school will notify you about transfer arrangements. For enrolment at a secondary school other than your catchment school you should make a placing request even if your child already attends an associated primary school of your chosen secondary school.

Placing requests for session 2012/2013 Parents or guardians who wish to make a placing request for the school session 2012-2013 should do so in writing no later than 15 March 2012. Your right applies to a request that your child be placed in a school other than the school which normally serves the area in which you live. It applies to a primary school or, where appropriate, the transfer to a secondary school, including a school providing for children with additional support needs.

Application forms and guidelines are available from the Council’s Education service on 01786 442648. It is essential that you enrol your child at the school that serves your local area, even if you are making a placing request for another school.

Please note that if your placing request is successful school transport will not be provided for your child.

The joint working is not about diluting what we do, it is about strengthening it. We are the first in Scotland to join education services. It shows that Stirling and Clackmannanshire are leading the way.

I would also encourage parents to play a part in the life of their school and join or actively support the parent council. There are opportunities for the chairs of parent councils across Stirling to meet with the education team, and minutes of these meetings are available on the web.

Schools information Information on local authority schools in Stirling Council and placing request arrangements are available from the Education Business Team on 01786 442648.

For information about a particular school, please contact the school.

Denominational enrolment Parents/carers wishing to apply for enrolment to Our Lady’s RC Primary School, St Mary’s RC Primary School, St Margaret’s RC Primary School, St Mary’s Episcopal Primary School and St Modan’s High School should contact the school to discuss enrolment policy.

Gaelic Gaelic Medium Provision is available at Riverside Primary School,Forrest Road, Stirling, for which parents may enrol their child. Further information is available from the school.

Details are also available at www.stirling.gov.uk/enrollingyourchild

Belinda Greer encourages parents to play a part in the life of their child’s school

Pilot on early enrolment Children in the Dunblane and Bannockburn ‘clusters’ due to begin primary school next year are taking part in an early enrolment pilot scheme.

“We’re making the enrolment process more straightforward

and bringing it forward to give schools, the Council and, above all, children and parents more time, making the move from nursery to primary and primary to secondary as smooth as possible,” explained Belinda

Greer, Joint Head of Service, Education.

“Earlier enrolment makes it easier to plan classes and make sure we can offer children the best possible start at their new school.”

Other schools will be starting the new pattern of enrolment in January 2012. A list of individual enrolment sessions will be available on the Council website

so parents can check when to enrol their child into P1.

Children in the Council area who will be moving from P7 on to high school will also receive P7 transfer letters earlier as part of the updated procedures.

This will allow for improved planning and sharing of information between primaries and secondary schools.

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Business

Want a faster

connectio Help bid for a better broadband infrastructure for the Stirling area

“The more evidence we can gather on provision, the stronger our bid will be”

Stirling Council is working with partner organisations to deliver a faster and more consistent broadband service to households and businesses across the local area.

In partnership with Clackmannanshire Council and Forth Valley & Lomond LEADER, the Council is delivering a pilot project called ClacksMax. The project aims to provide a new high-speed wireless broadband service in Clackmannanshire and parts of rural Stirling.

Initially focused on Throsk and Cambusbarron in the Stirling area, this pilot service will be in place by the end of the year.

We would like to extend access to

high-speed broadband across the Council area, helping to meet Scottish Government targets to deliver broadband speeds of at least 2MB/s to all households by 2015 and 24MB/s to 90 per cent.

The Government is making a limited amount of funding available to improve broadband infrastructure – and we need your help to bid for this.

You can strengthen the case for improving broadband infrastructure by taking part in a short survey

Turn to training for a great skills development scotland

Last year, almost 1,000 people in the Stirling area signed up to learn with Skills Development Scotland for national training programmes, including Modern Apprenticeships, Get Ready for Work and Training for Work.

The organisation offers careers information, advice and guidance to people of all ages: school pupils and leavers, jobseekers, and people facing the threat of redundancy or looking to advance their career.

Skills Development Scotland’s

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business support includes the Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI), which offers companies up to £2,000 when they employ

someone who has been out of work for some time or has faced barriers in the past. And this year, the criteria has been

widened to offer 6,000 additional incentives to help businesses in Scotland benefit.

Among those who will now become eligible for the initiative are people aged 18 and over who have previously been unemployed.

Businesses can also benefit from Skills Development Scotland’s Flexible Training Opportunities (FTO) Fund, which aims to help small Scottish businesses become more successful by covering 50 per cent of training costs, up to a maximum of £5,000.

Business

n? that will gather information on broadband speeds and any local broadband issues.

Councillor Scott Farmer, Portfolio Holder for Economy, Tourism and Finance, said: “The more evidence we can gather on broadband provision across the Stirling Council area, the stronger our bid for funding will be.

“We are extremely pleased to be part of the ClacksMax pilot project that will deliver high speed broadband to some rural areas, but would like to extend quality broadband services to residents and businesses from all our communities.”

Find the survey at www.stirling.gov.uk/ broadbandsurvey or contact Sandy Frickleton, Business Liaison Executive, Stirling Council, on 01786 443403, email frickletona@stirling.gov.uk to ask for a paper copy to be sent to you.

career If you are looking for help finding work or training or need advice, please call the careers helpline on 0800 917 8000.

If you are a business looking for further information on Skills Development Scotland’s initiatives, including ERIs and FTOs, or if you would like support, advice or information on taking on a trainee or someone recently made redundant, call the employers’ helpline on 0800 783 6000.

For more details, visit www.skillsdevelopment scotland.co.uk

Best in food and drink for Stirling visitors Food tourism

Sampling top-quality, well-presented local produce is one of the most enjoyable things about visiting any area – and ours has plenty of first-class fare to promote.

Now, a new forum is taking steps to maximise the appeal of all that Stirling’s food and drink businesses have to offer. Stirling spoke with Council Tourism Executive Jason Clark to find out more.

What do you think visitors to our area are looking for as far as food and drink go?

People love trying new experiences on holiday. Our visitors want to try famous and authentic Scottish produce, drinks and dishes and tell their family and friends about it when they get back home.

There’s also a demand for excellent and friendly customer service, and websites such as Tripadvisor make it quick and easy for visitors to comment on their experiences and for businesses to receive feedback. Getting glowing reviews on these sites is great marketing!

We know that many visitors welcome healthy menus and like information about how food is prepared and if it’s sourced locally.

And for others it’s about social and cultural experiences that can be enhanced with great food and drink – enjoying a coffee and delicious cake in historic, atmospheric surroundings, for example.

Why is the Food and Drink Forum being set up?

Research from the City of Stirling Visitor Survey over the last three years shows that there’s room for improvement in Stirling’s food offering. There can be a gap between what our visitors are looking for and what they are experiencing.

Jason Clark: ‘Our visitors want to try top quality local fare’

We wanted to tackle this, so with help from Scottish Enterprise two half-day tourism innovation workshops were held earlier this year with participants from the local food and drink sector. There were workshops and discussions, and the group established a private sector-led Stirling Food and Drink Forum.

How will the Forum work?

It’ll help raise the profile of Stirling’s food and drink outlets and hopefully improve their bottom line. The focus will be on the tourism market, and exploring opportunities to increase business and exchange views and information.

How can businesses join in?

The Forum is keen for more city centre food and drink retailers to become involved.

The next meeting is on Monday 19 September at 10am in the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling. New members are most welcome, and I’d encourage anyone interested in coming along to contact me.

You can get in touch with Jason on 01786 442532 or email clarkj@stirling.gov.uk

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Health news

Hospital security to reassure patients Forth Valley Royal

In a first for health services in Forth Valley, security officers have been appointed at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to reassure and assist patients, public and staff.

Not only do they have a visible presence patrolling the hospital, but they also monitor the site from a control room near the Emergency Department, where information is relayed from more than 150 CCTV cameras.

The officers, who are employed by Serco, have all been trained in techniques approved by the Security Industry Authority.

The new officers are just one of a number of improved services incorporated into the new Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert which is now fully operational.

name?

What’s in a Women and children’s unit

The new security officers will patrol Forth Valley Royal Hospital, as well as monitor the site from a CCTV control room

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Babies born at Forth Valley Royal Hospital are to be known by staff as Larbert Lads and Lassies.

The new name was coined by Midwife Practitioner Catriona Cully. “I wanted a name to unite all the new arrivals and I think this fits the bill.”

The first baby from the Stirling area to be born at the new Forth Valley Royal Hospital was Kenzie Liddell from Bannockburn. Kenzie, who was born on 13 July 2011, was

presented with special gifts from NHS Forth Valley – a cuddly toy rabbit, a certificate and a cotton top inscribed with the words ‘Forth Valley Royal First’.

The new Women and Children’s Unit at Forth Valley Royal has a host of extra facilities to make time spent in hospital much more comfortable. These include improvements in the labour suite such as an extra birthing pool, a changing room for partners close to theatres, en-suite delivery rooms where many mums will be

chapter

Health news

A new

in local healthcare The new Stirling Community Hospital is now up and running, providing a range of vital services Hospital opening

The opening of the third phase of the Forth Valley Royal Hospital not only marked the final chapter in the development of the new hospital, but also heralded a new beginning for Stirling Royal Infirmary.

Following the transfer of acute services from Stirling to Larbert in July, Stirling Royal Infirmary has become Stirling Community

Hospital, one of four community hospitals across Forth Valley which support the work of Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

This ensures local people from across Stirling continue to have access to a wide range of health services including a new Minor Injury Unit, X-Ray and ultrasound services, dermatology, audiology, antenatal and postnatal care, therapy and mental health

Open for minor injuries The new Minor Injury Unit at Stirling Community Hospital is now open every day from 9am to 9pm. The Unit, which is currently located in the former A&E department, provides treatment for a wide range of common injuries including sprains, cuts, minor burns, suspected broken bones, minor head and neck injuries and infected wounds.

This ensures that thousands of people from across Stirling who experience minor injuries every year can continue to be treated locally. The Unit provides treatment for adults and children over the age of one. Children under the age of one should be taken to the Emergency Department at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

services for children and young people and GP out-of-hours services.

Stirling Community Hospital continues to be a base for hundreds of NHS

y Kenzie Liddell is the first bab from the Stirling area to be born at the new Forth Valley Royal Hospital

able to stay until they go home and a separate larger delivery room for multiple births.

The new neonatal suite is much lighter and brighter than existing neonatal facilities and will provide a more pleasant environment for staff, patients and parents.

There are also two overnight rooms for parents who want to stay while their baby is undergoing treatment or stay overnight to help prepare for taking their baby home.

The neonatal unit is on the same floor as the labour ward which has improved access and made it easier for mothers to visit their babies while they are being cared for in the unit.

staff and is expected to handle more than 200,000 patient appointments each year, maintaining an important presence at the heart of the community.

Community cops on hospital beat policing

host of extra “The new unit has a e spent in facilities to make tim able� rt hospital more comfo

Statements from patients and staff can now be obtained far easier and quicker thanks to the work of two new police enquiry officers who are based full-time at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

PC Steven Dodds and PC Walter Robb were recently appointed as Enquiry Officers at the new hospital and are working closely with staff across the site to obtain and record medical evidence, medical history and expert witness statements.

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Events and activities

What’s on

Your essential pullarea. For more infor

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

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Rock On! Join a geologist to find out what’s beneath our feet. 10am-noon 10-11 September, Stirling Doors Open Days www.doorsopendays.org.uk

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OFF OFF TO THE OOK B THE PAGE FESTIVAL ts

t even Loads of gread kids. an ts ul ad for ov.uk/ www.stirling.g w.facebook. ww ge pa offthe efestival ag ep th com/off

Stirling Wedding Show Albert Halls

Big Brilliant Book Sale Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum Kings of the Castle Archaeological castle walk, 2pm-4pm

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MC COM LAREN MU LE Stall ISURE NITY s w keep ith in CENT trans ing well, fo about s RE

You c port and support g afety, a c r slippen even excommunity oups, rs for hange care. a nice your o new p ld air

Hayseed Dixie Tolbooth The Mental Feast of Pure Robert Ritchie reads from Stirling Smith Art Gallery & noon-1pm

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24 September - 6 November, Patricia Cain/Sam Cartman exhibition Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, 7.30pm

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Mugdock Country Park Gardeners’ Time: Plant Swap £3. Booking preferred: 0141 956 6100

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National Feed the Birds event Help make bird feeders and seed cakes to help your garden birds through the cold winter months. 11am-3pm. Call 01786 442768 for more information Country Roads: A Celebration of John Denver Paying homage to one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century. Tickets £16/£14.50. Albert Halls, 7.30pm

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Forth Naturalist & Historian ‘Man and Landscape’ Symposium 2011 Protecting Forth Valley landscapes. Full day ticket: £15 (half price for students).

Stirling University, 9.30am-4pm. Visit www.fnh.natsci.stir.ac.uk/symposium

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Nuts About Squirrels Squirrely activities for the whole family. Guided walks start at 1pm and 3pm (no dogs allowed). David Marshall Lodge, Queen Elizabeth Park

From Little Acorns...

Help the rangers find fallen acorns – and do your bit to ensure the future of our ancient woodland at Mugdock Country Park.

Call 0141 956 6100 for details

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T! SCHOO17LO’SctobOerU

10 a fun day Why not spend ak?

Pe e Th at rling.org.uk www.the-peak-sti

COUNSTIRLING Ex CIL A Now op tends openinRCHIVE g hour en: M

on s 9a day - T . and 1.3m-12.30pm hursday Friday 0pm-4 but ope - closed to t.30pm he pub n for g appointroups by priolic, r ment

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Thursday

Friday

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Haunted Stirling

by David Kinnaird David Kinnaird reads from his book. Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, noon-1pm

A History of Stirling in 100 Objects Elspeth King reads from her book. Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, noon-1pm

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Derek Acorah The UK’s leading spirit medium.

Tickets £20.50/£19.50.

Albert Halls, 7.30pm

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OF BE A PARTDIG THE BIG at Hillfort,

dig Archeological 10am-4pm r, be m te ep S 16-19 e dig, speak to daily. View th places on ited diggers. Lim ail cookm@ Em the dig also. k .u ov .g ng stirli

Macrobert ‘Big Ears, Little Ears’ – a short concert (45 mins) For parents/carers with young babies. Orchestra performs classics, folksongs and lullabies

ALL TH AT

30 Sept JAZZ Callandeember - 2 Octob ... r Jazz Fest er a long we iv providedekend of jazz andal internatio by more than blues thir na bands l, national an ty Visit wwwat various venueds.local .callande rjazz.com

The Axe Factory Manager’s Convention Poetry reading by Alistair Findlay.

Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, noon-1pm

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McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle Tolbooth

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Mugdock Country Park Concert Night: Alan Reid & Rob Vasante Celebration of traditional folk songs. £8 £7. Booking essential: 0141 956 6100

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Countryside Rangers’ Meadow Management Day Lend a hand in getting a field cut and raked to manage a valuable habitat for butterflies and wildflowers. 10am-4pm.

For details, call 01786 442768

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Theatre Night – An evening with Mr Wilde An evening of sparkling wit by a three-women troupe. Tickets £9/£8 Booking essential: 0141 956 6100.

Mugdock Country Park

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The Nutcracker Performed by the State Ballet Academy of Minsk. Tickets £18/£16.50. Albert Halls, 7.30pm

eN Don’t miss ththe new Stirling at n io ct in le Col ter Galleryfoot Smith Pewou e th at rt The Old CStreet. Opening pm, of Spittal ur days 1pm-4 hours: Sat 2pm-4.30pm Sundays

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Thursday 10, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 November Mugdock Music Fest at the Country Park Three evenings of music. £10-£12.

Booking essential: 0141 956 6100

Look out for det about tickets for Stirling’s Hogmanay at the Castle

Concert Night – Lorna Reid’s Jazz Café Swinging and bluesy vocalist and her band create the relaxed feel of a jazz street café. £8-£7. Booking essential: 0141 956 6100. Mugdock Country Park

November

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Take a shine! to pewter eish Pewter

Upbeat Beatles One of the premier Beatles tribute bands. Tickets £15/£13 concessions. Albert Halls, 7.30pm

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October

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September

e Delight his book. & Museum,

Wednesday

Events and activities

-out guide to upcoming events in our rmation, visit www.stirling.gov.uk

COLOUR KEY: Sports events Outdoor events School and bank holidays Tourism, theatre etc

STIRLING.GOV.UK

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David Kinnaird, author, writer and performer, has been haunting and entertaining in Stirling for more than twenty years with his Stirling Ghost Walk. Here, he gives an insight into the eerie goings on in the city

Spooky Supernatural

I’ve never seen a ghost. After two decades of living and working in a host of supposedly haunted houses, acquainting myself with the history and mythology of the area, I’ve yet to see, hear or feel anything that I could not explain – at least in part – by reasonable,

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rational, and utterly mundane means.

I’m not even sure I believe in ghosts, at least not in the sense of a sentient, self-aware, persistent personal essence – but I’m open to the possibility.

After all, if it is true that high emotions can somehow impress themselves upon a location, then it’s no surprise that reports of hauntings have been so numerous in this town.

Hauntings

Hauntings in Stirling’s historic Old Town The Black Lady A local woman had a curious and unnerving experience as she pushed her pram along the rough pathway of the Back Walk one autumn afternoon in the early 1970s. Then a young mother, she could hear only the gleeful gurgling of the tot as she trundled through the twilight over the cascade of brittle, brown leaves covering the path – which circles the cemetery and Castle Rock, and marks the line of the Burgh defences fortified

by Mary de Guise in the 1540s.

As she reached the steep incline from Cowane’s Hospital to the Ladies’ Hill she paused to catch her breath, and was startled to feel something ‘like a finger pressing up and down the length of my back’. She turned, and was alarmed to find herself alone upon the shadowy path. She lost no time in hurrying home. truck with ‘silly Such encounters here were superstitions’, he was once commonplace, it seems, Apparitions have be known to appear en about to call a cheery and attributed to visitations in Stirling welcome – sure that of the Black Lady, a ghostly the grey man was me, nun, supposedly seeking garbed in the great grey furtive union with her secret postal-cloak which forms priestly lover in some secluded nook of the part of my Staffman’s livery – though he Castle Rock.

It’s not just Stirling that has did think it odd that a GhostWalk should A stubbornly silent and intriguing connections with uncommunicative spirit – none of Stirling’s be in progress so early in the day. the supernatural. Hundreds What happened next silenced him female phantoms have a great deal to say of years ago, the community before he could utter a word, as the figure for themselves – her purpose is as obscure of Aberfoyle had a host of ‘just vanished into as her origin and haunting stories to tell. the stone at the top destination, though she In the late 1600s, Robert of the path. Not is generally thought by Kirk, a minister (and seventh behind. Not beside. older locals to be a herald son) set out to collect Straight through. of ill omen, creating his parishioners’ stories Into the stone.’ (I, a sense of dread about elves, fairies, fauns, incidentally, have a appropriate to the doppelgangers, wraiths, saintly alibi for the shadowy, overgrown and other beings of “a time of this odd causeway she frequents. middle nature betwixt encounter: I was Sightings are rare since man and angel”. playing Santa Claus the path was paved and Kirk believed their in a local shopping electric light added, supernatural world existed centre all day.) though uncanny encounters on in parallel to ours, and Could this have been the Black the outskirts of the churchyard his research resulted Lady’s immortal inamorato – a still occur. On the afternoon of in an essay called The Franciscan Greyfriar in his 30 November (St Andrew’s Day) Secret Commonwealth – a distinctive vestments – hurrying to meet her 2002, Rab Allan, Master of Works for the fascinating mixture of under some secluded bower?

Cowane Trust, had one such unsettling science, religion and folklore. experience. At the foot of the stone steps Some believe that the leading to the summit of the Ladies’ Hill, This is an extract from Haunted Stirling inhabitants of the Secret where a rough path leads down to the

by David Kinnaird, published by Commonwealth were Back Walk, he spied a figure in what The History Press (www.thehistorypress.co.uk). none too pleased with the appeared to be a capacious grey coat with Exclusive reader offer: £7 plus p&p Reverend for disclosing all a high collar or hood, hurrying up the path Tel: 01235 465500 or their secrets and took their from the Valley. www.thehistorypress.co.uk revenge. Kirk walked daily A local, who has lived and worked around Please quote HPSTIRLING. from the manse to Doon Hill, the cemetery all his life, and who has no Offer ends 1 January 2012. but one day he did not return.

And they do say that the pine tree that stands to this Hear David Kinnaird talk about his book Haunted Stirling on Wednesday day at the top of the hill 14 September, noon-1pm, at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum. contains his imprisoned spirit. www.stirlingghostwalk.com

‘Betwixt m’ ainn and angel Aberfoyle

“None of Stirling’s female phantoms have a great deal to say for themselves”

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Caring for older citizens

Reshaping our services for older people Stirling Council is responding to the care needs of the older population

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Caring for older citizens

Support

Over the past year, Stirling Council has been developing new ways to provide care services for older people.

We know that older people want services tailored to their needs and choices.

At the same time, Government predictions show that Scotland’s older population is likely to increase by about two-thirds in the next two decades.

And with the challenging financial situation facing all councils, it is crucial that limited resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Along with NHS Forth Valley, the Council has introduced a number of changes to transform care for older people in Stirling, working more flexibly to meet the growing demand and allowing us to give the best possible support.

Our new approach includes a rehabilitation programme developed within Stirling Council’s own care homes. Through this intermediate care service, three-quarters of people have been able to return to their own homes and live more independently, rather than being

“Carers and occupational therapists will work with older people to increase skills and confidence to allow them to live independently in their homes for as long as possible” admitted to long-term care.

Our approach also involves Reablement and Falls Prevention, in which carers and occupational therapists will work with older people to increase skills and confidence

to allow them to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible, while relying less on formal care services.

When formal care is required, the Council will arrange these services based on any need that has been identified from an ongoing assessment.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 >

Help with grocery shopping The Council is working with voluntary organisations to look at new ways we can offer a grocery shopping service to help older people who wish to stay independent in their own homes but may be having problems getting to the shops.

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Caring for older citizens

< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

New-look meals on wheels At the moment meals on wheels services are provided for local people by a combination of the Council and volunteers.

Meals are prepared in the kitchens of some schools, and delivered to people using the service by Home Support staff and WRVS volunteers. The service can’t offer full coverage of the Stirling Council area, and in some places is only available on certain days of the week.

After consultation with older people who use the meals on wheels service, the Council has decided to introduce a new service next year. Prepared meals will be delivered to homes by an external company, and the service will be able to cover all parts of the Council area. There will be a wider selection of dishes, and

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they can be heated up and eaten at a time that suits.

The service will be able to cater for individual dietary, ethnic or religious needs, too.

It’s expected that the new-look meals will be available from 1 February 2012. If you receive meals on wheels at the moment, we will be visiting you in the meantime to assess your needs.

You don’t need to do anything – we’re just letting you know about the change, and will be able to give you more information nearer the time.

You said,

we’ll do

Listening to Stirling’s people

The latest Residents’ Survey is helping transform your views into positive improvements to Council services

Repairing roads was one of your priorities

Feedback from local people

Every three years, our Residents’ Survey gives a snapshot of how local people are feeling about Stirling Council and its services.

Earlier this summer, the survey was sent to all 1,300 members of Stirling’s Sounding Board citizens’ panel, who make up a representative sample of the community as a whole. It was also posted on the Council’s website so anyone interested was able to take part.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 >

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Listening to Stirling’s people

Survey results at a glance The biggest issues you wanted to know more about are roads and transport and winter maintenance, recycling and waste and planning and housing developments.

< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

“I’d like to say thank you to everyone who took part,” said Council Leader Graham Houston. “It was a terrific response – almost 700 people.

We’re grateful to everyone who let us know their thoughts, concerns and preferences and told us what we’re doing well and where we could do better.

“This survey is vital because it gives us a wealth of information from the most important audience of all – the local people we serve. Of course, our resources are limited, but we’ll make sure

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Overall satisfaction with the Council is up 5 per cent since the last survey (65 per cent compared to 60 per cent in 2008). Two out of three participants told us they were fairly satisfied or very satisfied with Stirling Council.

Almost half (45 per cent) of positive comments were about recycling and waste (23 per cent) and the Council’s response to the severe winter weather (22 per cent).

The response to the bitter winter weather was also local people’s biggest concern. When

asked what had recently given a negative impression of the Council, 54 per cent of participants mentioned the condition of roads and pavements over the winter and how the Council dealt with the poor weather. The weather was the most severe to

hit the Stirling area in 30 years, and a Severe Weather Group was set up to assess the Council’s response and help plan for the future.

Stirling magazine is your most preferred way to receive news about what’s happening in your Council area.

“The survey is vital – it gives us a wealth of information from the local people we serve” this data is turned into real action to improve services wherever we can.”

Some of your positive comments included: The new high schools for the Stirling area.

Plans for new housing and further programmes for kitchens, bathrooms etc.

Handling of winter weather

conditions and excellent communication using Facebook updates.

The Park and Ride Bus Service – excellent, frequent and reliable.

Maintenance and expansion of the recycling programme – much better than in my university town (St Andrews).

Elderly care seems to be

Comments about the services Stirling Council provides included: There is a big problem with litter in the area so more should be done to educate youngsters (and some adults!) on why it’s important not to litter and provide more bins in problem areas.

Longer opening hours for recycling centres as not open during the week during the day – ridiculous given the money spent to provide these centres.

Faster repair of potholes, but I do understand that the winter and the economic climate were both harsh!

More information on refuse collection – e.g. changed times due to public holidays.

Alternative arrangements/ flexibility during adverse weather (snow) when access impossible for lengthy periods.  No more application for change of user premises to public houses (e.g. Post Office Building) to be approved.

 Allowing communities to remain in individual villages/ towns instead of constant development making them large faceless towns.

More variety of shops.

Far too many clothes shops.

We need shoe, hardware and card shops, fish shop/ greengrocer etc – good quality shops.

Not sure whether Social Services comes under Stirling Council. We have home support and respite and these are excellent and highly valued.

In this period of limited resources, perhaps the Council could give priority to essential repairs to roads improvement and put traffic calming and restoring of cobbles on the back burner.

Council staff are working hard to turn your views into better Council services

finally being taken seriously, with Council initiatives under way.

You felt there was room for improvement on some issues. Here is what some respondents told us: Disappointed in the winter with the road clearing and in the pavements being kept clear.

Horrendous state of roads and lack of information on resurfacing schedule.

No treatment of the

Listening to Stirling’s people

Views on Council services

pavements during the cold weather, forcing pedestrians to walk in the road.

The effort to establish recycling in the last 10 years is good. Coming here 10 years ago from Germany, I was shocked to find this virtually non-existent.

Projects such as food waste collection should be extended (and please don’t tell people they have to do this to avoid EU fines - this does not support the right attitudes).

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 > stirling.gov.uk

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Listening to Stirling’s people

More information needed

You told us you’d like more information on:

How savings are going to be made.

Monthly expenditure of councillors, and areas of expenditure, for example transport, education, roads, etc staff and overtime.

Council plans for engaging local communities with, for example, topics such as local

winter clearance.

Recycling and what can be taken to the tip.

The rota for green/grey bin collections and the rota over public holiday periods.

Any planning developments for local areas in small villages, which could affect the quality of life for some people.

< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

I felt that gritting could have been improved this winter. Although priority routes were cleared fairly quickly, residential areas were left. There are not

enough grit bins positioned to allow residents to clear their roads.

The cleanliness of the streets, roads and other public places detracts from

Priority areas We asked for your views on the priorities for improving the quality of life for the people of the Stirling area.

Here are some replies: Encouraging more up-market shopping such as John Lewis/ Waitrose/Lakeland in Stirling city centre.

Affordable housing for young people and families within the rural communities, and more appropriate housing for older people and others with special needs.

Professional maintenance of the roads, including resurfacing, line painting and cat’s eyes – especially in rural areas.

More spend on roads: resurfacing and potholes.

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Reduce red tape and regulations, for example too many parking restrictions, too many meters and too much traffic calming.

I think the Council does a reasonable job – refuse collecting, street cleaning and so on. But to encourage investment and tourism we have lots of walks, footpaths and tourist attractions that could do with some or a lot of attention all year round.

Make people clean up their rubbish. More severe action right away – and wardens to have

the superb city and countryside we have, and is a disincentive to tourism.

Litter, fly tipping and gum etc must be addressed. effectively. powers to take swift action.

Encourage the creation of entertainment industries other than existing sports. Yes, a swimming pool is good, but why no laser quest/paintballing or a gaming room with board games to rent?

All dogs to be kept on a lead and muzzled.

Dog fouling owners to be heavily fined.

Maintaining services for those in greatest need – social services, council housing, children’s services.

Stirling Performs We want it to be as easy as possible for citizens to have fair, balanced and current information about their Council and the work it does.

Monthly ‘Stirling Performs’ updates help you track our achievements, performance and plans to improve.

Each update tracks how we’re doing on 50 specific tasks across the Council – everything from the percentage of telephone calls answered within 20 seconds to the number of homecare hours provided, to how many people visited our museums, libraries and sports centres.

We also publish an Annual Improvement Statement showing the priorities for improvement for the coming year.

Read more at www. stirling.gov.uk/ stirlingperforms

Work is already under way on many of the priority areas you highlighted in the survey. Here are some examples...

Recyc ling Of the respondents, 10 per cent said they’d welcome more information about recycling.

The Council has joined up with Zero Waste Scotland on a major campaign to encourage more recycling of food waste. The first phase will be home visits by project officers this autumn.

They’ll survey the views of local people to better understand what could break down any barriers to food waste recycling and encourage residents to recycle more.

Read more about the campaign in the next issue of Stirling.

Street s Clean streets are a priority with residents: litter and dog fouling was joint third with traffic management and roadworks in the list of things giving a negative impression of the Council. Communities across the Stirling Council area have been getting a spruce-up thanks to the Deep Clean 2011 campaign. Land Service teams have carried out a number of the intensive clean-ups already this year, and more are planned as the budget permits. Areas targeted by the teams are: Doune: 11.9 tonnes of litter removed Deanston: 5.5 tonnes Callander: 30 tonnes

Give us your views

Plean: 10.5 tonnes (main road and the Old Plean area) Fallin: 6.4 tonnes Bridge of Allan, the A905 between Fallin and Throsk, and Drymen have also been deepcleaned, and next to be tackled will be Braehead and Doune to Buchany.

Roads Residents’ surveys consistently tell us that the condition of roads in our area has a great influence on overall impressions of the Council. Local people are also clear that they would like more information on what work is carried out to maintain our roads.

The road network is the largest, most visible community asset that Stirling Council is responsible for. It includes not just many miles of carriageway but footways, bridges, street lighting, street furniture and more.

The Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP), which will be

developed in the coming years, provides data on the effect of current and future planned investment on the road network and its condition. To help make it easier for local people to get information about how our road network is being managed and maintained, an annual report will be published in 2012.

You can read the current RAMP at www.stirling. gov.uk/roads

Dog foulin g Six per cent of participants felt that litter and dog fouling gave negative impressions of our local area.

We’re now following a five-step plan to tackle litter in our area over the next five years. It will focus on: street cleaning fly tipping removal enforcement working in partnership communication and education.

“Stirling’s performance on street cleanliness was recently judged to be our best in 15 years, according to Keep Scotland Beautiful,” said Cllr Jim Thomson, Portfolio Holder for Environment.

“We want people to take pride in their local environment and take an active role in making this plan a success.

Reducing the amounts of litter can only be done in partnership with the community.”

Taking personal responsibility for cleaning up after your pet is the message behind the Council’s current “Bag it and bin it” campaign, and our quirky video starring Thistle the Westie from Dunblane is pulling in YouTube and Facebook users.

Listening to Stirling’s people

How we are turning your views into action

Top dogs who support the bag it and bin it message are starring in a picture gallery at www. facebook.com/stirlingcouncil

Before and after: Doune benefitted from an intensive clean up

We always want to hear what you think of your Council. Your comments and complaints help us keep improving our services.

Whatever Council service you want to talk to us about, please get in touch on 0845 277 7000, 01786 443322 or info@stirling.gov.uk Alternatively, you can visit Customer First, 1-5 Port Street, Stirling (9am-5.30 pm, Monday to Friday). stirling.gov.uk

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Useful information

YourCouncillors Learn more about your councillors on our website www.stirling.gov.uk/councillors

Ward 1 Trossachs and Teith Bailie Tony Ffinch Conservative email: Tonyffincht@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Paul Owens Labour email: owensp@stirling.gov.uk

Bailie Graham Lambie Portfolio Holder for Education

Provost Fergus Wood SNP email: woodf@stirling.gov.uk

SNP email: lambieg@stirling.gov.uk

Ward 2 Forth and Endrick

Bailie Colin Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien Labour email: obrienc@stirling.gov.uk

Councillor Alistair Berrill Conservative email: berrilla@stirling.gov.uk

Ward 3 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Councillor Callum Campbell Conservative email: campbellc@stirling.gov.uk

1

Councillor Colin Finlay Labour email: finlayc@stirling.gov.uk Councillor David Goss Lib Dem email: gossd@stirling.gov.uk Council Leader Graham Houston Portfolio Holder for Policy, Strategy and Social Care SNP email: houstong@stirling.gov.uk

Ward map 3

4 6

7

5 2

For access to all Stirling Council services phone the contact centre on: 01786 443322 or 0845 277 7000 â&#x20AC;˘ text: 07717 990 001 Visit www.stirling.gov.uk or email info@stirling.gov.uk 26

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Ward 4 Castle Councillor John Hendry Labour email: hendryj@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Graham Reed Lib Dem email: reedg@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Jim Thomson Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability SNP email: thomsonj03@stirling.gov.uk Ward 5 Stirling West Councillor Neil Benny Conservative email: bennyn@stirling.gov.uk Depute Leader Scott Farmer Portfolio Holder for Economy, Tourism and Finance SNP email: farmers@stirling. gov.uk

Active Stirling 0300 028 0101 Central Scotland Fire & Rescue Service HQ Tel: 01324 716996 Central Scotland Police Tel: 01786 456000 Councillor Andrew Simpson Labour email: simpsona3@stirling.gov.uk Ward 6 Stirling East Bailie Ian Brown Lib Dem email: browni@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Corrie McChord Labour email: mcchordc@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Steven Paterson Portfolio Holder for Empowerment and Citizenship

SNP email: patersonst@stirling.gov.uk Ward 7 Bannockburn (Bannockburn, Cowie, Plean) Councillor Margaret Brisley Labour email: brisleym@stirling.gov.uk Councillor Alasdair MacPherson Portfolio Holder for Housing

SNP email:macphersona@ stirling.gov.uk Councillor Violet Weir Labour email: weirv@stirling.gov.uk

Dates of meetings are online at www. stirling.gov.uk/meetings or contact us by phone at 0845 277 7000

Representing you in Parliament

Floodline Tel: 0845 988188

Learn more about the Scottish and UK Governments online at www.scotland.gov.uk and www.direct.gov.uk

Forth Valley College Tel: 0845 634 44 44

Constituency MSPs

john park

Stirling

Labour tel: 0131 348 6753 email: John.Park.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk

Bruce Crawford

SNP tel: 01786 471899 email: Bruce.Crawford.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk web: www.brucecrawfordmsp.net Constituency Office Unit 111, John Player Building Stirling Enterprise Park Stirling FK7 7RP Clackmannanshire and Dunblane

F alkirk Community Hospital 01324 624 000

Forth Valley Royal Hospital Tel: 01324 566 000 Housing Repairs 0800 027 5888

Willie Rennie

Lib Dem tel: 0131 348 5803 email: Willie.Rennie.msp@scottish. parliament.uk

Hydro Electric Tel: 0800 300000 MacRobert Arts Centre Tel: 01786 467155/466666

richard simpson

Labour tel: 0131 348 6756 email: Richard.Simpson.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk

keith brown

SNP tel: 01259 219333 email: Keith.Brown.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk web: www.keithbrownmsp.com Constituency Office 80 Mill Street, Alloa FK10 1DY

NHS 24 08454 24 24 24 NHS Forth Valley Tel: 01786 463031

elizabeth smith

Conservative tel: 0131 348 6762 email: Elizabeth.Smith.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk

Quantum Meters Tel: 0845 6066766 Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley Tel: 01786 451919

List MSPs Mid Scotland and Fife

Scottish Power Tel: 0845 2727111

Claire Baker

Scottish Water Tel: 0845 6008855

Labour tel: 0131 348 6759 email: Claire.Baker.msp @scottish. parliament.uk Annabelle Ewing

SNP tel: 0131 348 5066 email: Annabelle.Ewing.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk murdo fraser

Conservative tel: 0131 348 5293 email: Murdo.Fraser.msp@ scottish.parliament.uk

Useful information

OTHER USEFUL NUMBERS

Stirling Community Hospital 01786 434 000 member of parliament Stirling

University of Stirling Tel: 01786 473171

anne mcguire

Labour tel: 01786 446515 email: anne.mcguire.mp@ parliament.uk web: www.annemcguiremp.org.uk Constituency Office 22 Viewfield Street, Stirling FK8 1UA

TRANSCO (Gas Emergencies) Tel: 0800 111999 Traveline Tel: 0871 2002233

stirling.gov.uk

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Help protect adults at risk A

dults need protecting too.

The truth is horrifying.

Vulnerable or elderly people can be abused and exploited – even by their own families.

If you suspect someone needs protecting, please call the Adult Social Care now, and speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves.

If you are worried that someone may be at risk of abuse, please contact the Adult Social Care for help on 01786 471177.