The Heartlander Dec 2015

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WOW! Enter two GREAT competitions p6 & p57

Heartlander The

News & Views of Highland Perthshire

POVERTY AND DEBT We investigate the local impact – and how help is near at hand

A BLAIR CASTLE CHRISTMAS

www.heartlander.org.uk

December 2015

£1.25

W BARHAT A £1.2 GAIN 5 !

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Local gentry had well-regimented jollifications in olden times LIGHTING UP THE WORLD A local internet enterprise is a dazzling success

LOCAL SUFFRAGETTES

The violent struggle for women’s rights had a huge impact in Perthshire

BATTER AND BANTER In Killin fish and chips is always served with sauce

SAVING THE WORLD’S TREES

Perthshire has become a giant nursery for growing endangered species

WHO’S AFRAID? Will we ever welcome back the big bad wolf?

EDITORIAL

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Highland Perthshire Media Limited, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5BX Tel: 01796 470222 admin@heartlander.org.uk The Heartlander is published by Highland Perthshire Media Limited and is a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society, registration number 2791 RS. See more at: www.highlandperthshiremedia.org.uk The Heartlander conforms to the newspaper industry’s voluntary Code of Practice administered by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Anyone believing they have a justifiable complaint should at first write to: The Editor, The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5BX All material is accepted on the understanding it is the contributor’s original work and does not infringe any third party intellectual property rights. The Heartlander accepts no liability for any subsequent Intellectual Property Rights issue and accepts no responsibility for, nor endorses, the views expressed by contributors.

Every care is taken to ensure that information in this magazine is correct, but no liability can be accepted by the publishers for any errors or omissions.

Comments and enquiries to: editor@heartlander.org.uk The publishers can accept no responsibility for any claims made in adverts. Readers should ensure that goods and services advertised are as described.

ADVERTISING (Classified rates will be announced in due course): Back cover: £500 Inside back, and inside front: £400 A4 full page: £350 A4 half page: £200 A4 quarter page: £120 A4 eighth page: £75 Design: Lucy Reid www.lucyreid.co.uk Printed by Warners Midlands plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs, PE10 9PH

Peter Hounam

is one of the founders of The Heartlander

Christmas is coming but…

Peter Hounam, Acting Editor here are plenty of people in this relatively affluent area who will have a tough time at Christmas.

So we thought it was important this month to temper – partly – the fun and frivolity that is coming soon with a look at local poverty and debt.

Many of us have little awareness of the issues this raises, and our investigation starting on p10 shows that people in all walks of life can suffer from severe financial stress if they have an unlucky break.

We also discovered it is rarely the sufferer’s own fault.

We were therefore uplifted by the work of local churches and organisations like Citizens Advice, and Perth and Kinross Foodbank, which are providing really practical help.

For people struggling to makes ends meet in this area, the message is: don’t be reluctant to seek help. There really are solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

T

Do you think this area should come together in a more organised way to offer help to refugees, whether they have already arrived here, or whether they are stuck in camps in and around Syria?

We hope to get enough of a response to cover this topic in our January issue.

Shooting the Editor

Our piece last month about the Birks Cinema caused a flurry of complaints – mostly from some of the project’s active supporters. The Heartlander was accused of negativity, selective reporting, and promoting gossip – amongst other things.

It baffled most of us at The Heartlander – and quite a few readers – because we thought we had tried hard to present the issue sympathetically.

One person close to the Birks Cinema organisation could not see why some were making such a fuss about it, and called our article a “call to arms”. That was how it was meant – a call to our readers to give fulsome support for The Birks Cinema whilst it rethinks its business model.

We could of course have ignored the stories circulating about why the kitchen had been quickly closed and staff made redundant, but The Heartlander is a news magazine. We cannot ignore the news.

And after much thought, we decided we had to mention the false story (put about by a Birks’ employee) that closure was due to an adverse hygiene report. We did so to ensure that everyone who had heard the rumours knew they were untrue.

Time moves on and we are pleased feelings have cooled. We are delighted to report on p6 how well ticket sales at the cinema have been going this autumn. And that the Birks took up our idea of running a competition with prizes of Star Wars tickets – see also P6.

Our continuing supportive message to The Birks Cinema is: “May The Force Be With You”.

“The message is: there really are solutions to seemingly intractable problems.”

Shall we help?

My brother David lives in a similarly affluent area in Bavaria, and a much bigger battle is being fought there because life has been turned upside down due to the arrival of Middle East refugees.

His village, 30 miles from Munich, is smaller than Aberfeldy but already has over 150 refugees billeted there, and it is the same in the villages all around. It is not uncommon for a thousand refugees to arrive at Munich’s main railway station on a single day.

There are political grumbles, of course, about this influx but, locally, David says most people feel an obligation to provide food, shelter and – crucially – German language lessons, as most refugees do not speak any European languages.

It has prompted me to ask readers of The Heartlander what they feel we in this area could, and should, be doing about helping refugees from the war-torn areas of the Middle East. I do not think we can ignore the issue, and there is a strong argument that Westminster foreign policy has been to blame for some of what has caused it.

Correction: Our apologies to Niamh Reed-O’Connor, author of last month’s article ‘Duel Skills’, for getting her name wrong. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

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CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 2015

IN THIS ISSUE 16 30 26

45

10 05 NEWS IN BRIEF

We cover what has been happening in and around Highland Perthshire – from concern over the proposed new barite mine above Logierait, a block on building a controversial wind farm in Rannoch, to Dougie MacLean announcing ‘Caledonia – The Musical’.

10 THE POVERTY AND DEBT TRAP

Christmas is coming – and it is going to be a grim time for some local people.

The Heartlander investigates.

12 EAT WELL AND SPEND LESS

Local debt counsellor Angela Hanvey shares her ten top tips on how we can eat more healthily, and just as enjoyably, on a budget.

16 LIGHTING UP OUR LIVES

We tell the uplifting story of a Dunkeld couple whose online business – XmasDirect – is literally lighting up the world.

25 PROGRESS… BUT STILL

45 WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG

A quiet gardening revolution has been going from strength to strength in Camserney near Aberfeldy using the novel ‘biodynamic’ approach.

Steps are slowly being made to bring together local health and social services, but an investigation by The Heartlander faces bureaucratic hurdles once again.

26 WIDENING THE A9 – THE GLEN

More on the disruptive plan to dual the route to Inverness – this time the section from Killiecrankie to Pitagowan.

With campaigners being jailed and force fed, the violent struggle for women’s rights had a local huge impact.

32 SAVING THE WORLD’S TREES

The remarkable story of how northern Perthshire is now a giant nursery for growing endangered species of trees.

36 BATTER AND BANTER

Fish and chips is a popular takeaway for locals and tourists in Killin, and it always comes served with sauce!

38 A BLAIR CASTLE CHRISTMAS

Way back in Victorian times some members of our local gentry organised festivities with almost military precision.

22 THE BEAVER INFLUX

41 SMILE!

24 LET’S MANAGE THESE VITAL

42 DEBATING POINT: PROTECT

A local farmer warns of problems if numbers of these interlopers go unchecked – as he discovered in the US.

CHANGES OURSELVES

A local figure argues we must take control of the planning process aiming to integrate local health and social services.

A local dental practice can now transform tooth repair using the latest three-dimensional printing technology.

OUR HISTORIC ASSETS!

Few people know anything about Common Good Funds but Victor Clements argues they are poorly managed and in need of reform.

BAD WOLF?

Should these feared animals be allowed to run wild on Rannoch Moor?

48 THE AMULREE EXPERIMENT

GARRY WAY

30 LOCAL SUFFRAGETTES

19 CAN WE TRANSFORM THE WAY WE EAT?

GREAT CONFUSION!

A rundown hotel, high in the hills, is being transformed, and its developer describes how it will suit a new type of ‘Perthshire Pioneer’.

51 Q&A GROWING PROBLEMS

Our gardening guru answers seasonal questions and suggests some jobs we can do in December.

53 BLOOMING MARVELLOUS

Willie Whitton narrowly survived World War 2 and in later life became a stalwart of Perthshire in Bloom.

54 HEARTLANDER VIEWS

Readers give us their opinion on local life, developments, and even The Heartlander.

57 OUR FABULOUS COMPETITION

We offer a big box of chocolates to the reader who sends us the most unusual picture of someone reading The Heartlander.

59 HEARTLAND EVENTS

We list all the fun and goings on in December in and around Highland Perthshire.

63 DEALS ON WHEELS

A rundown on some of the local services that come direct to our door.

64 SPORTS TALK

Our regular look at sporting activities and achievements. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

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NEWS

NEWS in brief

Send your news to editor@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

AND NOW IT’S… ‘CALEDONIA – THE MUSICAL’

gh es

Meeting on mines criticised

Hu Ian

Plans for a new barite mine in the hills between Aberfeldy and Pitlochry to replace the one at Foss, which is nearly played, are going ahead according to the operators, the oilfield services company, M-I SWACO. The long awaited planning application for construction at Duntanlich has been submitted to Perth and Kinross Council despite concern that consultation has been inadequate, and according to one person attending a recent meeting “ramshackle”.

A public consultation was held at Logierait Inn in early November mainly to discuss the proposed access road which would run northwards high up into the hills from a junction on the A827 between Logierait and the Ballinluig interchange.

The event was slammed by Cllr Kate Howie for being badly advertised and devised. She said: “Two notices on lampposts outside the venue and one in the forestry car park through which the access road would be built were totally inadequate. I have written to the Barite mine representative requesting a public meeting in the village hall in Ballinluig before the planning application goes to Perth and Kinross Planning Committee.”

The meeting, following on from earlier ones at the beginning of this year, was poorly attended and focussed on how walkers through the forest land, which is owned by Atholl Estates, would be affected.

The mine company’s representative, Ian Hughes, outlined a new route for the road that would leave much of the existing walking tracks unaffected, and open up a new one.

Apparently acting on Kate Howie’s suggestion, a further meeting has been scheduled at the Logierait Inn on the evening of December 4. However, the mine company has since announced its application has been submitted to the council. It said, “The Duntanlich ore-body is unique in the UK. It is the only known significant barite deposit that is economic to work and will enable the UK to become self-sufficient in a mineral vitally important to the North Sea oil and gas industry, ensuring security of supply.”

The Heartlander will cover this more fully in our January issue.

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The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

Fans of singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean who attended his sell-out Perth Concert Hall show on November 6 heard it all first!

He has written a musical and it will be called ‘Caledonia’, after the haunting song that has become an unofficial Scottish anthem.

Many of the numbers he performed on the night had been written specially for his new work, and were being performed for the first time. A few of his other popular hits will be included in the musical where they suit the storyline.

The backdrop will be life in this area 2000 years ago, set amidst battles between the Romans and local tribes in the area west of Dunkeld. Dougie, who lives with his wife Jenny at Butterstone, has been fascinated by local Roman history for a long time, and was particularly struck by the story of the huge local Roman fort at Inchtuthil ruled over by General Agricola.

Inchtuthil was close to the village of Spitalfield but there is little left to see of the fort which is believed to have housed 5000 centurion soldiers for a few years before they withdrew.

Dougie’s concert in Perth was the climax of his eleventh Perthshire Amber Festival which is now believed to generate nearly a million pounds of extra business in Perthshire. A special new venue this year was The Byre at Inchyra – a rustic barn in the castle grounds.

Dougie playing at Perth Concert Hall last month

We must plan – to get involved The long process of formulating a new Perthshire local plan has begun again only a year after the last one came into force. However, Perth & Kinross Council is making a bigger effort to persuade the public to take part in the consultation process.

A series of local meetings are taking place over the next three months at which planners will be on hand to explain the issues up for discussion. (See Advertisement on P8).

Cllr John Kellas, our Dunkeld area representative and Convenor of the Enterprise & Infrastructure Committee, is urging as many people as possible to attend. “Many key stakeholders, communities and developers have already given us their views and suggestions,” he said, “and these have helped identify the key issues which are (being) addressed. However, this is now the most significant opportunity for everyone with an interest in shaping the final plan and the future of Perth & Kinross to get involved in the plan preparation process.”

NEWS

All t e local nhew that’s fit s to print.

Iain with a chocolate selection

Iain wins award for world’s no.1 Dark truffle

Iain Burnett – The Highland Chocolatier which operates from Grandtully has won a huge accolade for their dark Velvet Truffle. At the world finals of the International Chocolate Awards at Olympia, Kensington, these chocolates received the prestigious Gold International Chocolate Award.

Iain and his team were also awarded two Silvers for the firm’s passion fruit and mango, white Velvet Truffle and for the raspberry and black pepper Velvet Truffle.

Tens of thousands of chocolates from over 40 countries were judged by world-class chefs, sommeliers and food experts.

Iain was already a winner of three awards in the UK finals earlier this year. He said his entire team are thrilled about the achievement and are proud to receive such recognition from the élite of chocolatiers.

He added, “After a decade of striving for excellence, it is exciting that this recognition is given to the Velvet Truffle in its purest form – fresh cream from a single herd of Perthshire cows meticulously combined with a rare chocolate from the island of São Tomé.

“In front of the world, the judges have identified the dedication of a small team of artisans in Highland Perthshire who create a unique truffle of unparalleled texture and purity”.

ENERGY FLOWS AT LAST IN RANNOCH

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Yew tree has a feminine side The world’s press focused on Fortingall last month when the sensational news emerged that the famous yew tree, one of the oldest in Europe, has come out as being transgender.

It is reputed to be up to 5,000 years old, and has sprouted berries on one of its upper branches which only female trees are able to do.

Scientists at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, said it was “quite a surprise” to find berries on the tree, in the churchyard of Fortingall. One of their experts explained, “Yews are normally either male or female and sexing yews is generally easy in autumn and winter.

“Males have small spherical structures that release clouds of pollen when they mature. Females hold bright red berries from autumn into winter.

“It was, therefore, quite a surprise to me to find a group of three ripe red berries on the Fortingall yew this October when the rest of the tree was clearly male.”

But he said it was not entirely a surprise: “Odd as it may seem, yews, and many other conifers that have separate sexes, have been observed to switch sex.

Normally this switch occurs on part of the crown rather than the entire tree changing sex.

“In the Fortingall Yew it seems that one small branch in the outer part of the crown has switched and now behaves as female.”

Dunalastair Estate has begun operating a new hydro scheme producing renewable energy in Kinloch Rannoch after four years of planning and construction work. Water passing through the turbine from Allt Mor Burn is returned to the river via the old millpond behind Browns Garage.

John Swinney MSP was invited to open the Allt Mor Hydro scheme on November 16 with the public able to attend guided tours of the facility, a display of museum piece turbines and to watch an interactive explanatory display. To meet environmental requirements, the turbine house has been faced with stone on the village side and has a green sedum roof. The estate is providing motorists with a fast-charging site for electric vehicles next to Browns Garage.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

5

NEWS

NEWS in brief

Send your news to editor@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

LIGHT SHOW IS ENCHANTING ACHIEVEMENT

‘The force’ will soon be with us Over 2,000 people have been to the Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy, to view the hugely successful James Bond epic ‘Spectre’. And together with films like Suffragette, the autumn season has seen the biggest growth in attendances to date.

The much-awaited new Star Wars film will begin showing here ‘on release’ from 17 December, the day before showings in the US and continues until 31 December. Tickets are on sale now.

Readers of The Heartlander can also win pairs of tickets by entering the Birks Cinema Competition, see details below.

December also looks set to be a bumper month with films including: The Good Dinosaur, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Lady in the Van, Sunset Song, Snoopy & Charlie Brown.

The full programme is at: www.birkscinema.co.uk Star Wars: The Force Awakens is number seven in the space adventure series, beginning the third trilogy. It has been crashing websites since tickets went on sale with people taking to twitter to complain.

With director JJ Abrams at the helm and the original cast returning, plus a mixture of special effects and state of the art graphics, there is great expectation it will be the best Star

Wars film yet. An added point of interest is apparently the appearance of C-3PO with “a new red arm”.

In the Birks Cinema Competition, three pairs of tickets for Star Wars can be won. Readers should complete this sentence in their own words: “I love the Birks cinema because…”

The best ones will be decided on, and used for promotion by Birks Cinema with your agreement.

Entries should be sent to: memberships@birkscinema.com One entry is allowed per person and the closing date is 14 December. Winners can choose tickets for one of the other films pending availability.

The organisers of Enchanted Forest have hailed this year’s event as a tremendous success as it attracted 62,000 visitors on more than 30 nights – a whopping 33% increase in tickets sold on last year.

The sound and light show in Faskally Wood north of Pitlochry was called ‘flux’ and directed by Derek Allan. He and his team have been praised for their creative vision and for the critical success of the event.

The organisers say the event’s impact on the local tourism economy is now expected to be in the region of £2.75 million per annum with over 50% of all visitors to the event choosing to stay overnight in the area on their visit, and 90% citing the event as their main reason for visiting the area this autumn.

A factor this year was a spell of mild and rain-free weather, which made the show particularly enjoyable and less fraught with mud problems.

Graham Brown, chairman of The Enchanted Forest Community Trust that runs the show was pleased: “This is a tremendous success for Highland Perthshire tourism businesses and we are deeply encouraged by the continued support of our visitors, many of them loyal visitors who return to the Forest year after year. It is a testimony to the hard work put in by the community that our visitors’ numbers continue to grow year on year, and that our show continues to go from strength to strength.”

Despite extending their run to accommodate increased demand, the event still sold out of all tickets by the 18th October. Over 4,000 people who were not lucky enough to get tickets for this year’s show have already signed up to an advance notice list to purchase tickets for 2016.

Enchanted Forest has been crowned Scotland’s Best Cultural Event three times in the last four years, and it was recently shortlisted as a finalist for Cultural Event of the Year at the UK Event Awards.

It currently holds the VisitScotland National Thistle Award for Best Event.

More information on how to sign up is available on www.enchantedforest.org.uk People flock to this years show

Photo: Angus Forbes

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The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

NEWS

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Technicality halts rannoch windfarm Proposals for a wind farm in an area of moorland between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht with 24 turbines each 125 metres tall have been stopped. Scottish government ministers ruled out an application by Talladh-a-Bheithe estate on a legal technicality.

It brought great joy to a large number of opponents including locals and hill walkers who complained it would affect views for miles around.

The application was ruled not ‘legally competent’. An application was lodged in June last year by ‘Talladh-A-Bheithe Wind Farm Limited’ but the Government’s Energy and Climate Change Directorate decided this company was not registered until 28 August that year.

It was therefore not a “legal entity” at the time the application was made.

A host of organisations were against the scheme. Scottish Natural Heritage and

Almond R oofing& Bu i l d i n g

Cairngorms National Park said it would adversely impact the landscape and ecology.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency criticised lack of information and its impact on peat lands and borrow pits.

The RSPB said it would threaten breeding golden eagles, golden plover and greenshank, as well as on peat land generally. The John Muir Trust objected for its effect on the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area. And this view was backed by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS)

who said it “would diminish the local tourist and recreation resource”.

A leading opponent was The Keep Rannoch Wild pressure group, which describes itself, “as an alliance of local people and others who love the landscapes and wildlife of Rannoch”.

Several groups warned the structures would be seen from Schiehallion, Ben Alder, Glen Lyon and Loch Tay, and from the A82.

Dave Gordon, director for landscape and access for MCofS, said: “Although the decision was based on a specific legal point, which meant that the application was not competent, many people thought the very idea of wind farm in such an unspoilt area was incompetent.

“We hope that Rannoch is now free forever from the threat of wind turbines and does not have to suffer repeated applications, as many communities have.” However, a further application may yet be lodged.

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7

Get Involved in Shaping the Future of your Area Local Development Plan – Main Issues Report Consultation

We need your views On how the future of your area will be shaped in terms of housing supply, provision of business land, the natural and built environment, transport and green issues.

As part of the Local Development Plan (LDP) process, Perth and Kinross Council has published a Main Issues Report which sets out the Council’s general proposals for development in the area. This is a review of the currently adopted LDP and the MIR will focus on the areas where changes are being sought.

Public consultation runs from the 27 November 2015 to 26 February 2016

A number of public exhibitions, drop-in sessions and workshops at various locations throughout Perth and Kinross are coming to you soon. These public events will allow people to speak to officers, raise issues and submit comments on the Main Issues.

Please come along

We would encourage you to get involved in this consultation by coming along to one or more of the events which will be held throughout the Perth and Kinross Council area.

2015

28 November 1 December 2 December 5 December 8 December 9 December

2016

6 February 9 February 13 February 17 February 24 February 25 February

11am-3pm 4-8pm 3-8pm 11am-3pm 4-6pm 3-8pm

Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy Blairgowrie Community Campus, Blairgowrie Loch Leven Community Campus, Kinross Perth Concert Hall, Perth Twitter @PKCPlanning #PlanPKC (Online Surgery) Aytoun Hall, Auchterarder

11am-3pm 3-8pm 11am-3pm 3-8pm 3-8pm 4-6pm

Strathearn Community Campus, Crieff Loch Leven Community Campus, Kinross Aberfeldy Town Hall, Aberfeldy Connect @ Rattray, Rattray Perth Concert Hall, Perth Twitter @PKCPlanning #PlanPKC (Online Surgery)

Further information and updates Will be available online at www.pkc.gov.uk/mainissuesldp2 and you can keep up-to-date with the LDP process by following us on Twitter @PKCPlanning #PlanPKC.

Planning & Development : The Environment Service : Perth & Kinross Council : Pullar House : Perth : PH1 5GD

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POVERTY

DER

LAN T R A E H THE

s e t a g i invest

THE POVERTY and DEBT TRAP Rural life may provide no escape from financial stress

hristmas is coming… and, alas, it is going to be a grim time for some local people. The notion that Highland Perthshire is an oasis of affluence is not the full story, as The Heartlander has discovered.

A significant number of people here struggle with debt and poverty. And for most of us it is an invisible problem – hidden in a shroud of stigma and embarrassment.

Identifying where the poverty line comes is not easy in our society. In terms of income the Child Poverty Action Group says a single parent with two kids needs to earn £14,136 (2012 figures) and a couple with two children need to earn £18,564.

But averages like this are misleading. For example, they do not take account of the needs of people with a disability or with caring responsibilities. And outside London, life in towns can be a great deal cheaper than life in some rural areas like ours.

Mary (not her real name), who lives in a rented house in a rural part of Highland Perthshire, is struggling. She wouldn’t describe herself as being poverty stricken, but she is certainly poor.

In her forties, and a single parent, she has one teenage child and another grown up daughter. Chronic fatigue or ME means she cannot work full-time, and she struggles to do occasional hourly paid jobs.

“It can be a real problem,” she said. “I couldn’t pay recently for my child to go on a school trip. I can’t afford to go on holiday. And I have to budget all the time.”

C

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The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

A key for her is tax credits, the future of which is, very controversially, up in the air since George Osborne made it his mission to cut them. Without them survival would be much more difficult.

“It makes me angry when I go to a supermarket,” she said, “and at the entrance they are trying to entice me with cheap offers to buy rubbish food full of sugar. I am very careful. I make my own soups and cook fresh things but you can understand why others with very little money are tempted.”

Mary is a positive person and said that compared with ten years ago things have become easier, not because things are any cheaper but because she can place a biggish supermarket order through the internet and have it delivered.

She can limit the cost by studying prices and offers, and save on having to travel to shop.

Vouchers are available for food banks but Mary has not sought them, although her eldest has. “It is very difficult to get them”, she said. “You have to be approved by an agency.”

But she was reluctant anyway, “because of the embarrassment”.

She thinks this area is very supporting and some of the people she works for in their homes are generous with gifts of butter and eggs.

Mary has furnished her home with cheap good quality furniture from places like the Salvation Army in Perth and FreelyWheely in Stanley. She acknowledges one expense she

POVERTY

“DEBT BESETS A HUGE RANGE OF PEOPLE AND IS NO RESPECTER OF SOCIAL STATUS. ONE HUNDRED PER CENT OF THE CLIENTS I DEAL WITH ARE DEPRESSED.”

Angela Hanvey and Katie Allstaff

could perhaps do without. She runs a car: “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke, so the car is my one extravagance.”

Though she feels supported by the community she has one major complaint – the lack of affordable childcare or after-school clubs.

“That is a real problem in this area. It makes it very difficult to get a job, and in a big town that would be much easier.”

Child poverty

A detailed and, as yet, unpublished profile about Highland Perthshire has just been completed and it is an eye-opener. According to the document, a survey in 2010 showed that Highland Perthshire has concentrations of child poverty which were above the Perth & Kinross average (11%), and close to the Scottish average of 19%.

It follows that if children are suffering, the mums and dads are going short too. The survey found that a ‘steady number of families’ required support from a community link worker.

The profile points out that some vulnerable families are being rehoused locally, “who are then at risk of further social isolation in an unfamiliar community and may require more intensive support from service teams.”

The profile’s conclusion, which does not cover the Blairgowrie area, was that child poverty and family poverty was higher in Pitlochry and Aberfeldy than other parts of Highland Perthshire, although the state of infant and maternal health to be good and take-up of free school meals low.

A key issue in Highland Perthshire was found to be under employment rather than unemployment, because jobs are often part-time, low paid and seasonal. On top of that, amongst our increasing, elderly population, there are strong feelings of social and rural isolation, which impacts on their mental health and wellbeing.

It concludes that, “Hard to reach families and rural isolation are areas of particular concern as a result of the geography of the community.”

Coping with debt

Angela Hanvey is at the sharp end of the debt problem. She is based at Aberfeldy Parish Church two days a week where she

Official opening of CAP at Aberfeldy Parish Church shows Angela, Katie, MSP John Swinney, MP Pete Wishart. Cllr Mike Williamson and church supporters )

works for Christians Against Poverty (CAP) as a counsellor.

“Highland Perthshire is a relatively affluent area,” she said, “and it doesn’t appear to have poverty in its midst. But people in poverty are lost within the statistics. Definitely there are households here which would be classed as deprived.”

She confirmed that the problems in Highland Perthshire differ from those in cities: “There might be poor transport available here to get to work; there may be a lack of stable employment, or fewer job opportunities except for seasonal or low paid work.

“Then there is the zero hours issue, and poor employment terms and conditions.

FOOD FOR FREE Another aspect of the poverty problem is dealing with emergencies – the times when money runs out and there is nothing to eat in the cupboard. Food banks have received a lot of press coverage mainly in huge cities, but right here in Perthshire there are people going hungry.

Perth and Kinross Foodbank, an offshoot of the Trussell Trust, the Christian charity, is distributing an average of 30 food parcels each week around Perthshire, feeding 37 adults and 12 children.

It said that since April, they have handed out over 7,000kg of food, and received over 10,000kg, from firms like Tesco, which donated more than half.

They also stock a food bank at the Atholl Centre in Pitlochry, where duty manager and accountant Wilma Leighton helps people who arrive with vouchers. She said many people are nervous about coming. But their identity is never revealed.

Self-employed people working from home can face the downside of irregular work.

“On top of all that is the lack of social housing and the handicap of high private rents.

Perthshire also has the biggest migrant population outside Glasgow and Edinburgh, and these people might need help too, although I find that to be rare.”

Angela said people are not often directly to blame for their debt problems: “I find the debt problems I’m asked to deal with are rarely because people overspend irresponsibly or they don’t budget properly. Almost always, there are background events which have resulted in a massive change of circumstances, such as bereavement, loss of a job, unfortunate investment decisions, divorce or ill health for example.

“Debt besets a huge range of people and is no respecter of social status. One hundred per cent of the clients I deal with are depressed, and a third of those will admit to having suicidal thoughts or have even attempted suicide.

Proof needed

Katie Allstaff, of Aberfeldy, is active in the Parish Church and chairs the local CAP Support Group and helped to launch the local scheme.

“From surveys and personal experience, we knew that real poverty existed here, in the midst of apparent affluence.

“We proposed to our Kirk Session that they should partner with Christians Against Poverty’s debt counselling and debt management service. And to achieve this we quite rightly had to prove to them that this area really did have people with a genuine need.

“The Kirk Session agreed to fund the first year of the project, almost by way of an exploratory pilot and now, almost two years www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

11

BUDGETING

Trying to eat well on a budget can be tricky, but there are lots of ways it can be done. Here Angela Hanvey has this advice, and ten top tips, on how to keep food costs down.

EAT WELL ...spend less

B

Plan your meals

Avoid wasting food by planning your meals ahead of your weekly shop, and include meals that use common ingredients to reduce the need to buy lots of extras.

There are plenty of recipes online that are budget friendly; and check out other items on Christians Against Poverty’s blog capuk. org/connect/blog.

C

Stick to your list

Popping into the shop on your way home might seem like a good idea but try to avoid shopping on a whim as you’re likely to spend more on things you won’t use. Make a list, and then go shopping.

D

Don’t shop on an empty stomach

This is a must for impulse buyers: plan your shopping trip for when you know your purchasing won’t be dictated by hunger pangs!

E Freeze it

Cheese, milk, fruit and vegetables; there’s so much food you probably weren’t aware you could freeze! And avoid unnecessary waste by freezing portions – like popping individual chicken breasts in freezer bags so you don’t have to defrost the whole

12

pack. Or putting a loaf of sliced bread in the freezer and taking out slices when you need it.

supermarket F Be savvy

There are plenty of deals to be had, but don’t get drawn in by the first one you come across. It pays to do your research – mysupermarket.com is a great way to scan the shop prices from the comfort of your armchair and then shop online and save on fuel too.

G

Raid the reductions

Check out the clearance aisle for anything that is close to its sell by date. Either use it that day or pop it in the freezer for another meal. Make sure you only buy something if you know you can use it, not just because it’s a bargain!

H Timing is everything

Head to the supermarket later in the day, when all the items due to go out of date the following day will be heavily reduced.

This is a great way to get hold of expensive fresh foods at a smidge of the cost – just freeze them for later.

I Don’t be fooled

Many supermarket deals aren’t always as good as they seem.

Multi-buy deals might sound great, but double check the price of a single item as often the saving isn’t that much.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

JCheck the small print

It’s also worth checking the price per unit, as this will tell you how much you are really getting for your money.

For example, a pack of margarine costing 89p might have seemed like the cheaper option compared to the one for £1.80 until you discovered the price per 100g is 36p as opposed to 17.8p.

Watch where

K you’re looking

Supermarkets put a lot of effort into designing their layout so you spend more money. For example, they’ll purposely place the most expensive products at your eye level and the essential items at the back to make you walk through all the other aisles and buy things you never intended – be wise to their tricks!

CAP runs free money management courses to help you budget those bills and save for the future.

Visit www.capmoneycourse.org to find a course near you.

POVERTY

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Angela Hanvey is bound by strict confidentiality rules but she had permission from two clients to tell their stories:

CASE HISTORY 1

One elderly, retired couple live in quite a remote part of Highland Perthshire with no public transport and so need a car. They got into financial problems after a business went bust some years ago. One creditor was taking the couple to court to force bankruptcy, but the Bradford team managed to reduce the debt by £3,000 and agree a repayment plan, legally forcing the creditor to drop the court action. The couple are now paying off the remainder of their debts, and within four years they will be debt free.

Angela said the whole problem and worry of insoluble debt has been lifted for them.

CASE HISTORY 2 later, we’re funded by the Church of Scotland nationally, along with other trusts, individual donations and local fundraising initiatives like the Thrift Shop.”

Angela explained, “Although we’re a Christian organisation working from the churches, we provide a highly professional service, which is regulated by the FCA using trained and accredited debt coaches. It is absolutely for any client, regardless of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.

While CAP was initiated here by the Church of Scotland, it now has the support of individual members and ministers from all the local denominations, although it’s centred on Aberfeldy Parish Church.

“However, debt clients don’t come to the church; we only see people in their own homes.

People can get an appointment by ringing 0800 3280006 when they will be advised whether CAP can help them with their circumstances. If so, an appointment will be made for them to see me as the local Debt Centre Manager.

“I then go to the client’s home, collect all the information I can about their income, expenditure and debts, and send all the details to our CAP Head Office in Bradford who has been providing a highly professional debt advice service for twenty years.

Some people keep good records, but others have thrown everything away so we have to start from scratch ringing creditors to find out what they’re owed. It can be a very timeconsuming process at the beginning.

What is unusual about CAP is that a great deal of the sifting and solving of problems is carried out remotely in faraway Yorkshire.

Angela said, “The Bradford team apply their expertise as approved money advisors to sorting out the details of monies owed, preparing a budget and negotiating with the creditors. They then send back a budget and possible solutions to the client and, if this is acceptable to them, they sign an agreement to work with CAP until they’re debt free.”

A professional couple earning higher than average wages with a teenage child got into difficulties after a failed investment. In about 80% of the cases CAP is successful in stopping interest and charges being applied, and that happened in this instance.

After industry recognised allowances were made for living costs, this left them almost half the family income to repay their debts, with money put aside for savings.

The way CAP works is that the family agree to pay, in their case, approximately half their income into a CAP Plan. CAP then distributes that money to the creditors. Once CAP is involved, the family no longer had to deal with any creditors themselves. Angela said this family will be debt free in about eighteen months.

Befrienders

An unusual element in CAP’s service is the role of church volunteers. “With all our clients,” Katie Allstaff said, “we allocate a ‘befriender’ from the local church who stays with a particular client until he or she is free of their debt problem.

Often real friendships grow from that.

“Befrienders are able to provide emotional support, and give people tackling their own poverty and debt problems great encouragement. We can help clients by paying for shopping trips or petrol for their cars to get to work, as well as organising social activities like going out for coffee or a trip to the cinema.

“All befrienders’ expenses are reimbursed

by CAP. When we go into someone’s home for the first time, people often have an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. But soon they begin to realise CAP holds a key which can open the way through their difficulties. A weight has been lifted.”

Angela agreed: “After my first visit to one family, they told me they felt they’d been banging their heads against a brick wall for years. They said that now I’d come along and opened a gate for them to go through. They were very grateful.

“With CAP’s help they’re taking control of their lives again and they’re able to lose the stigma and embarrassment of being poor and in debt. But, to make that work, we have to provide them with the assurance of complete confidentiality. Not easy when you live in a small rural community. I’m sure we all sometimes feel like we’re living in a goldfish bowl. Confidentiality is something we take really seriously.”

Ticking the right boxes

Statutory authorities like Perth and Kinross Council have a role to play in helping people with debt and poverty problems but only if they tick the right boxes - if they suffer a mental breakdown for example. But it is apparent the voluntary sector has a huge part to play.

Fortunately, the authorities are usually supportive. “We find the people at P&KC dealing with Council Tax are very sympathetic and helpful,” said Angela Hanvey, “and will refer people in difficulties to us, as will Housing, Social Work and the Hub Unemployment Service.

“Obviously, CAP are not the only player providing assistance with debt: the Citizens Advice Bureau also provides an excellent debt service, as do other agencies such as Step Change and Money Advice Scotland. “But as I’ve already explained, CAP offers a very hands-on, holistic, personalised service.

“The relationship-building and interpersonal aspects we provide are unique amongst debt counselling and advice agencies – although we recognise that this kind of approach will not appeal to everyone. Not all the clients who enquire about working with CAP choose to work with us in the end. However, they will have been given a budget and often that is sufficient for them to feel they can make progress themselves. We respect their right to solve their problems in other ways.

As a Debt Coach I need the support of volunteers who perform many different roles; as befrienders, prayers, donors or supporters who can cut the grass, bake a cake or do many other small, often insignificant things which mean so much to our clients.”

Locally, CAP aims to become financially self-sustaining, and reduce the time consuming process of applying to grant making bodies and charitable trusts. It aims to increase the number of regular donors, in what is called the Transformers Scheme. Angela explained: “The work of CAP really does transform lives.”

Citizens Advice Scotland helps with poverty and debt problems and holds local drop-in sessions. These are currently held at Aberfeldy Community Hospital, Old Crieff Road, on the first and third Wednesday of every month.

No appointment is necessary but for complex issues a follow-up appointment may be required. In Pitlochry, they are held at Pitlochry Community Hospital, Ferry on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

13

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Established 1947

BUSINESS

er on

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

er on

16

am Charlie C

s A Dunkeld web-based busines makes Xmas dazzle

t 14 Bridge Street in Dunkeld, just a few minutes’ walk from

By Fran Gillespie the Telford Bridge over the River Tay, is an attractive, stone-built, period building New career with a modest shop frontage. Outside there’s The Camerons originally became involved no hint that it’s the gateway to a magical with the Christmas tree and decoration world of glitter and sparkle, where brilliant business when Charlie left the army and was strings of lights jostle for place with Xmas looking for a new career, and a friend who trees of every imaginable type and size, grew Christmas trees suggested they might coloured baubles galore, frost-encrusted market them from their home in Aberdeen. wreaths and richly decorated garlands.

Later, in Edinburgh, they started The All crammed into one small shop? Not Corporate Christmas Tree Company, a exactly – No 14 is the headquarters for business which supplied fully decorated live XmasDirect, an online company set up in trees to offices and businesses, starting after 1998 by Charlie and Fiona Cameron to supply the premises had closed for the night so that the world with high quality Christmas lights staff arrived the next day to find everything and decorations. set up as if by magic.

With Christmas “It was hard work,” “GONE ARE THE DAYS decorations widely available recalls Fiona, “I recall WHEN YOU DUG OUT in retail stores, what made decorating trees at LAST YEAR’S XMAS Charlie and Fiona spot a three in the morning LIGHTS FROM THEIR niche in an already with my baby CARTON IN THE GARAGE daughter sleeping competitive market? Fiona ONLY TO FIND HALF THE alongside me in her explains how it all started.

“At that time, LED lights – it car seat!” Not only BULBS WERE OUT.” stands for ‘light emitting were live trees diodes’ – were in their unpredictable to deal infancy, and were mostly marketed by with – sometimes the needles began to fall if commercial companies selling to businesses. the premises were too warm – but also the “We started off with traditional fairy lights Camerons found it difficult to track down but very quickly moved to LED – the benefit is decorations of the quality they wanted. that you get fabulous brightness using very And so the idea of XmasDirect was born. little power. They don’t have filaments in the Moving to the Amulree area, they bulbs so there’s nothing to burn out – gone established ScottishQuads, which has the are the days when you dug out last year’s largest fleet of quad bikes in Scotland Xmas lights from their carton in the garage operating from hillside premises in the only to find half the bulbs were out, resulting Strathbraan area. This shared its office at in a frantic scrabble in the old Quality Street 14 Bridge Street with XmasDirect. tin for spare bulbs!

At first they ordered their Chinese-made “We estimate our lights last around goods through a middleman, but now deal 100,000 hours, and you can run 1000 lights direct with several factories in China which using the same power as one normal 100 manufacture the lights to the Camerons’ watt bulb. And this combines with the fact own specifications. that they contain no lead or mercury so “We’re aware, like everyone else, that they’re ecofriendly.” ‘made in China’ used to be synonymous with

A

LIGHTING UP OUR LIVES!

am Fiona C Photo: David Gillespie

Dunkeld premises

Checking the lights

Charlie in the warehouse

BUSINESS

poor quality,” says Fiona, “but by personally visiting the factories several times a year we can keep control and ensure that the cables and diodes are always top quality.

“We’re very, very safety-conscious and we do our own quality control inspections as well as obtaining safety certification from internationally recognized agencies. As a matter of fact Charlie’s on his way to China tomorrow – to order next year’s Xmas decorations!”

Mostly UK

Who buys Xmas lights and decorations online? “Most of our customers are based in the UK,” Fiona explains, “but we also send baubles and lights to Ireland, Australia and Canada. People who live far away from large cities and supermarkets find our quick and efficient delivery service invaluable - we supply a lot of goods to people in the remoter areas and the offshore islands.”

Charlie and Fiona are proud of the fact that they provide full-time employment for six local people, both in the Dunkeld office and in the warehouse at Amulree. At busy times they take on extra staff, with their young daughters Clara, Amy and Grace cheerfully lending a hand with packing in the holidays and at weekends.

Unlike most retail outlets, they supply all

kinds of decorative lights for both indoor and outside use all the year round. There is a market for weddings and other special events – at Indian weddings the outside of the reception building is often strung with lights – and for festivals such as Divali.

One of our biggest sellers, they say, are artificial garlands: “For every wreath that’s ordered we sell at least 80 garlands. Longleat Safari Park’s just placed a big order.

“We regularly sell lights and decorations to companies: Boots’ Xmas 2011 and 2014 television ad featured our string, icicle and net lights. But a large part of our business is supplying private customers.

“Every year we try to introduce new items – this year’s big seller is the Baublecraft pack containing clear, seamless plastic baubles.

These can be filled with whatever small items you want [the set includes white curly feathers] and decorated on the outside with acrylic pens. Crafters love them!”

Their core item, however, remains high quality LED string lights, both for indoor and outdoor use.

business training, but mistakes are bound to occur.

“We massively over-advertised in the Millennium Year,” she recalls ruefully. Now that LED lights are more widely available they are facing steeper competition, but although the products sold by XmasDirect are a little more expensive than those available in supermarkets and elsewhere, Fiona believes that their superior quality ensures customer satisfaction.

Comments from dozens of delighted customers on their website www.xmasdirect.co.uk show how much people appreciate a personal service where they can speak to someone on the phone and are usually guaranteed next-day delivery. Although there’s always the odd glitch.

One indignant customer complained that the person answering the phone had suddenly hung up on him. The office puppy was discovered to be guilty – he’d chewed through the telephone cord!

Learning curve

Starting up and running any business inevitably involves a steep learning curve.

Fiona’s previous experience as a wine merchant was helpful in providing some www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

17

The ‘Prince’ Bruce Patterson

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HORTICULTURE

derway A biodynamic revolution is un in a Camserney field

By Nancy Warren

Anneke in her biodynamic garden

Photos: Adrienne Crenshaw

CAN WE TRANSFORM THE WAY WE EAT?

For two years a quiet gardening revolution has gone from strength to strength in Camserney near Aberfeldy, led by a red-haired woman called Anneke Kraakman. everal kindred spirits who have understood her campaign have rallied in support – offering a plot of land and loaning farm equipment, or taking up tasks from fund-raising to weeding.

All were anxious her message is heard and understood: that her innovative project – “Biodynamic Farms and Gardens” – can change the way we eat in Highland Perthshire while extending and improving many lives.

At the end of the 2015 growing season, she came to my cottage to explain the biodynamic gardening vision, offering a clutch of large purple garlic bulbs, bags of fresh lettuces dotted with bright edible flowers and a dramatic bouquet of blue-green baby kale – all nearly too beautiful to eat.

I am an avid gardener who had just been through the Garden Hell of Summer 2015 and owned the tee shirt. Tomatoes, peas and beans never materialised, flowers just didn’t, raspberries rotted on the bushes and the same for pumpkins and squash on the vine.

From mid-July to the first frost we’d had only cold and damp that impeded propagation.

I’d never seen a more discouraging lack of bees, butterflies and sunshine.

Thus the first obvious question: “How on earth did you grow these? This year my garden was pointless!”

S

These days, to grow locally and in-season is a lost idea and art, although it will create the best possible food. This entire process is truly organic and of benefit not just to us humans but to the soil and animals that share the land with us.”

Anneke smiled and talked about Anneke Kraakman is a professional with biodynamic preparations that warmed plants broad experience in a variety of landscapes. when there was no sun. Despite a long Her knowledge and unconventional ideas are acquaintance with a hoe and watering can, I’d hard-won, the product of many years in the never heard of such a thing. Maybe there was a difference between biodynamic farming and field – quite literally.

“I learned about biodynamics as a young the organic methods I knew? person growing up in the Netherlands where “Well biodynamic produce is a big step this is a household word,” she explained. “The beyond simple organics,” she assured me in same as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, her soft Dutch accent. where Rudolf Steiner’s ideas of a lifestyle that’s I learned that ‘organic’ could mean lots intertwined in harmony of things. Crops can be called organic and still be “THIS ENTIRE PROCESS IS with the environment are well known.” treated with chemicals. In TRULY ORGANIC AND OF In Scotland, she biodynamic gardens BENEFIT NOT JUST TO US worked for four years everything is natural, HUMANS BUT TO THE SOIL to develop Corbenic’s comes from the same AND ANIMALS THAT SHARE Camp Hill garden farming area and is of the THE LAND WITH US.” programme alongside same ecological system. people with physical, And she described the mental and social challenges. vital sequence behind that difference. “We “We all had to train ourselves more to make create our own resilient seed over successive it work,” she said. “We all had to push. The team years of planting and use only open-pollinated, of residents was very mixed and the process untreated seeds that thrive in this climate,” was to empower special needs people.

Anneke said. “We treat the soil with manure “I’d find the appropriate work for them, preparations that come from animals that graze individual by individual. the same land; compost from the immediate This is the process with any group of environment as we till and weed, and also from volunteers, whatever their knowledge or plants we grow just for that purpose. challenges. We find every person’s strength “All our efforts in gardening are in keeping and they become contributors. with the seasons and even phases of the moon. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

19

HORTICULTURE

“This represents the spirit of biodynamics.

We took grassland that produced nothing and made it a bit of paradise for the people who live there. This is gardening as an agency of change and has so many applications.”

Harsh

Her premise that biodynamic gardening can succeed nearly anywhere is based solidly in experience and she offered an extreme example: “My next big job was on the Isle of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Such a harsh and windy place and most forbidding because the ‘land’ available was an abandoned RAF airfield – yes, literally concrete!

“All the food on the island was grown somewhere else and not much of it fresh. Local people wanted to raise the quality and choice, and not just sit there and take what grocery chains offered.

“So we built raised beds and brought in top soil from a school building project. And we specialised in growing the low profile crops relied on for centuries in the Hebrides – crops “It’s a way for older gardeners to continue that were nearly lost. These were plants that working in the outdoors, growing better food stand up to the wind out there. that’s affordable. Now we’ve met any number “We could have grown grapes and of people in this position, who have a strong peaches with that much warmth and light wish to keep their gardens going and want us – but the wind was damaging. Fishermen to work with them to renew neglected veggie abandoned their nets when plots. We’ll continue to expand that idea.” they wore out, and we adapted them as “As a result, we’ve become part of the local windbreaks. There Care and Well-Being are no trees for protection, Cooperative, proposing we so you grow what fits, what “NOW WE CAN will be part of social will thrive.”

REALLY BLOSSOM prescribing through the It was all another learning WITH PARTICIPATION NHS. Aberfeldy doctors can curve, she explained, more FROM THE LOCAL recommend us as a uphill climbing to perfect COMMUNITY. WE CAN resource to keep people her craft.

BECOME A REAL gardening, retain their “It’s still producing and has outdoor activity and also expanded,” Anneke said, AGENT OF SOCIAL benefit by eating well. Once “including heritage species ACTION...” this is underway, the elderly indigenous to the Hebrides may request support and that were nearly lost. This is we’ll be funded to provide that. They’ll also part of the idea – to find the plant species have the option of working in the larger garden that belong to the specific area, to the climate. in Camserney.”

We ensure that they continue because they belong there.”

Beautiful food

In 2013, Anneke brought her skills and dreams to the Aberfeldy area. She soon teamed up with two enthusiastic colleagues who immediately took up the challenge; a qualified countryside manager, Gordon Stronach and local gardener, James Evans.

“Together we wanted to show what could be done here to produce beautiful food packed with nutrition,” she said. “We’ve improved the acreage loaned to us by the Murray farm in Camserney. Our produce is on the shelves in the local farm shop and weekend markets. We’ve got great reviews from customers.

“We have four or five volunteers who are paid in vegetables they’ve helped to grow. But that’s only a start, a means to prove the point about quality and the dynamic life cycle. Now we can really blossom with participation from the local community. We can become a real agent of social action...

20

Expansion

And there have been other promising developments for the Biodynamic Garden this year: “In our second year we decided on major expansion at the original site,” she said with a wide smile. “We’ve solicited several types of funding and been successful in an application to the Griffin Wind Farm. That was matched by the Environmental Climate Challenge Fund and added to by the Grandtully Community Council, Dull and Weem Community Council, Humanos of Aberfeldy and Albion Biologic.

“The children of Grandtully Primary School held a bake sale for us. We’ve applied everything we received to the purchase of a large poly tunnel, cold frames and mediums.

Our immediate goal is production of salads and herbs that can be sold over an extended season. Soon we hope to offer veggie boxes, made to order, for individuals and restaurants.

“We’ll have room in the polytunnel to grow to order for restaurants who’d like to include

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

Gordon Stronach sells at a country market

local produce in their menu – another support to both health and tourism.

“We’re looking forward to training young people interested in horticultural certification.

Duke of Edinburgh students can spend their volunteering with us and have credits. If you want to learn gardening for your own pleasure and relaxation, come to us, we’ll teach you!”

“So what’s the ultimate goal?” I asked.

“You’ve mentioned a very broad effect over Highland Perthshire. How does that happen?”

“That will happen because we improve on the standard and what we’re doing can be easily reproduced all over Highland Perthshire.”

Fresh diet

“We’re connecting into the National Health Service and demonstrating how expectations can increase for good health into old age as people continue to work in the outdoors and eat a fresh diet. We’re showing young people how to create this for themselves and their communities – something to enjoy all their lives.

“There’s no reason this garden we’ve started can’t be copied again and again as we train a workforce. No reason why food of this standard can’t be readily available to everyone and affordable. And we’ll be producing for the professional trade, adding another dimension to the draw for tourism.”

Anneke gazed out the cottage window, over the fields and into the future, summarising her view: “Food tastes here the way it’s meant to taste and develops in a beautiful place. This is the ideal.”

Readers who would like to volunteer or simply learn more about the Biodynamic Gardening movement in Camserney are invited to attend the organising event for the 2016 Growing Season in the Locus Centre February 20th from 7 to 9 pm. Or go to: www.facebook.com/ biodynamicfarmsandgardens/

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WILDLIFE

Following our article on beavers in our pilot issue, local farmer Duncan McDiarmid warns of problems if numbers go unchecked – as householders and villagers in rural areas of Massachusetts have learned to their cost. On their farm west of Aberfeldy, the McDiarmids have already had to clear dams three times from a ditch that drains 200 acres of their land.

THE BEAVER INFLUX

t…

Another side of the argumenlantic from the other side of the At

ith local interest triggered by the very recent influx of beavers to the Highland Perthshire scene, readers might be interested in the experience of rural dwellers in other parts, and particularly in the very similar area of Athol in Massachusetts, USA. The Atholl Highlanders (the local ceremonial regiment) have been very involved with the town of Athol in Massachusetts since their first visit there in 1987, and to date have now made three separate visits.

The town has a population of 9,000, is due West of Boston, and is in almost exactly the same latitude as Highland Perthshire. It was so called by an emigrant Murray from Blair Atholl who settled there and named the area Athol (with one L!) as he thought the land, climate and topography was very similar to that in his previous home in Scotland.

Over the years the land became farmed in a very similar manner to the Scottish uplands. It was typical livestock agriculture – not suitable for arable cropping, but good for rearing cattle and sheep, and with some dairy farms based almost entirely on grass management systems.

The visits to Athol of the 80 or so strong Highlanders were hosted by the people of Athol in their own homes, and many lasting friendships have been formed as a result.

The story related below is the result our second visit, and my staying with the not inconsiderably endowed “Wee Tom” Kussey – all of 30-plus stones.

Tom was the initial organiser of the very first

W

Duncan McDiarmid is a local farmer

“HE WAS ABSOLUTELY AGHAST THAT ANY AREA WHICH WAS CURRENTLY BEAVER FREE SHOULD ENTERTAIN ANY THOUGHTS OF INTRODUCING THEM!”

22

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

visit, and instigator of the first re-connection of the two Athol(l)s after around two centuries.

Flooded streets

On being driven to a function by Tom in the small town of Royalston, we found streets flooded to a depth of around a foot, and had to make a detour on two occasions. This was during a very dry spell of weather in June.

Wee Tom seemed to accept this situation as nothing unusual. I asked what was causing such flooding in dry weather and was told, “Oh it’s the beavers”. And he added that it was a problem they had great difficulty in accommodating since beavers had been given protected status.

On mentioning that there was currently a proposal to introduce beavers to Scotland, my host expressed alarm and astonishment, and warned me that they were a very expensive pest and regarded as a great nuisance in that area.

Royalston, Massachusetts where streets were flooded

WILDLIFE

He was absolutely aghast that any area which was currently beaver free should entertain any thoughts of introducing them!

Without my asking, he said he would fax copies of any cuttings regarding beavers he saw in the local press to me over the next month or two.

This he did, and below are only a few samples from a multitude of faxes, sent to me over a period of a few months, taken from the local press, and only relate to an area of about 30 miles around Athol.

They record the many problems created by beavers in the area named Athol because of its similarity to Highland Perthshire. Those problems in USA are of course compounded by the fact that beavers were given protected status and can only be tackled after approval by the appropriate environmental and/or health authority.

A good example of beaver damage

Beaver work in progress in Dam near Weem

More beaver damage

ATHOL DAILY NEWS May 28th

Beavers, Rain Raise Havoc in Athol Area.

Firefighters responded several times to the vicinity of Gage St and Coolidge St to assist residents in alleviating a severe flooding situation that has resulted from beaver activity and heavy rains.

(Floods)… had washed away an access road.

A culvert… has become packed with branches, brush, logs, and other debris due to the apparent work of several beavers reported in the area.

Delaney… tried several times over the weekend to clear the blockage with no luck.

Firefighters attempted to remove the water to her basement and asked the Town obstruction themselves… to no avail and Administrator to find out how much of a brought in a backhoe (JCB) and tried to force problem the rodents are causing around town. out the debris by ramming a log through it…

The answer is, 24 areas in town are which subsequently became jammed in the experiencing problems. While Highway Dept. opening as well. In a temporary fix the fire breaks dams during the day, the beavers repair department laid two the breaks at night… separate pipes across the it costs $250 for a “A CULVERT… HAS BECOME registered trapper driveway in an effort to PACKED WITH BRANCHES, siphon the water… to remove a beaver.

WORCESTER TELEGRAPH Aug 8

BRUSH, LOGS, AND OTHER DEBRIS DUE TO THE APPARENT WORK OF SEVERAL BEAVERS.”

Town to act on beaver dams.

The town will be asked to establish a committee to help residents cope with beaver dams that cause property damage and to provide $4,000 to remove troublesome beavers… that threaten property.

WORCESTER TELEGRAPH Aug 26

A beaver dam that stands about 7 feet tall has built up an estimated 10 million gallons of water and the health director probably will issue an emergency permit to allow a developer to set traps for the animals and gradually lower the water… The Wilder Brook Estates received final approval… and is ready for construction of 82 homes… The recent beaver-related activity… now jeopardizes the viability of the project in its entirety.

GREENFIELD RECORDER Sept 17

A Whitney Street resident complained that beavers had built dams that ended up sending

WORCESTER TELEGRAPH Oct 6

A half dozen homeowners in the Podunk Road and Terry Lane neighbourhood are concerned about beaver activity… and the effect it’s having on their wells and septic systems. And well they should be, according to Malcolm M Spelcher, long-time trapper and problem animal control trapper.

“I know if I were living there I would have my well water tested”.

WORCESTER TELEGRAPH Oct 22

Gardner seeks help fighting beavers.

Beavers, and the flooding they cause, can wreak havoc and have become a major problem in Gardner…

City Public Works Director Dane E Arnold wrote: “Three or more highway employees dedicate one to three days a week to removing beaver dams from blocked culverts… So far this year, at least 52 of roughly 200 working days have been lost to highway workers removing

beaver dams… On top of this time, is the repair and replacement time for culverts damaged by removing the dams?

Thousands of dollars of damage is being done to private and public property by flooding, tree removal and erosion.

WORCESTER TELEGRAPH Nov 18

…the closing of the road has not isolated houses but residents have a longer commute out… rather than travelling directly by route 140. … the beaver problems have placed a heavy burden on the highway department – “We lose about a day a week unclogging these things” Last night, the council approved spending $1,795 to hire Beaver Solutions… to install beaver thwarting devices at the Temple Street culvert.

Beavers Strike Again in Gardner. …This time the dam is under Stone Street – Highway foreman said the city was forced to close the road after beavers plugged two culverts that allow water to flow under it. …In the past the city has managed to get at least one culvert open but this time the dam was too tough to break. He said the culverts are also too fragile to withstand the kind of pounding necessary to break through the dams. …Mr Landry said the city will have to replace the culverts before the road can be reopened – that might take some time.

Last night the City Council approved spending $5,700 to rebuild the culverts at Stone Street.

The Heartlander would welcome further comment for or against this this issue. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 23

HEALTH GRAHAM HUGGINS is a Strathtay businessman, chair of Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP), and a director of Highland Perthshire Media Ltd., which publishes this news magazine. He is also treasurer of the Friends of Pitlochry Community Hospital, but he writes here in a personal capacity.

too Our health and social care is rs important to leave up to othe he Community Empowerment and Engagement Bill going through the Scottish Parliament at the moment points out that Scotland’s communities are a rich source of energy, creativity and talent.

It adds: “ They are made up of people with rich and diverse backgrounds who each have something to contribute to making Scotland flourish. Central and local government needs to help communities to work together and release that potential to create a more prosperous and fairer Scotland.”

Thus, it seems clear, our politicians are committed to our communities being supported to do things for themselves – community empowerment – and to people having their voices heard in the planning and delivery of services – community engagement and participation.

T

Kinross Council to engage with communities to find ways they would like to be looked after, and ways in which the community themselves can help with that care.

It is this transition that is being badly handled by the NHS in Pitlochry, although better in Aberfeldy.

Consulted at each step

We have been told on many an occasion that the public will be consulted at each step and thus be able to become part of the solution where local support will be a crucial building block in establishing the support mechanisms required to fulfil the needs of ‘Care in the Home’.

“IN A NUTSHELL, LET US TELL THE NHS AND P&KC WHAT WE WOULD LIKE – AND THEN LET THEM TELL US WHY WE CANNOT HAVE IT.”

Perfect storm

We are all aware that the medical, social care and general welfare of the population of the UK is experiencing tremendous change. This is caused by the perfect storm of advances in medical science, increased longevity and the fragmentation of society in general due – to the ever-increasing emphasis on the individual.

This is especially so in a rural environment such as we have in Highland Perthshire where sparse public transport coupled with poor communication and infrastructure exacerbate the problem, especially in the case of the elderly.

We all must accept there are no easy answers, the problems are complex and each person’s issues are unique. The government in its various forms is well aware of the issues and is therefore attempting a number of initiatives to try and ameliorate the problems caused.

One initiative is to alleviate the pressure on hospital beds by organising care in such a way that it can be performed in the home. The further benefit is that care at home can often prevent hospital treatment in the first place.

In Highland Perthshire the organisation, PKAVS (Perth and Kinross Association for Voluntary Service) has been employed by the Social Services Department of Perth and 24

LET’S MANAGE THESE VITAL CHANGES OURSELVES

Meetings have been held but they have been so poorly conducted that far from engaging the community they have alienated it. All participants seem to be well-meaning but they appear to work in a culture of fear where information has to be carefully imparted with meaningless words, phrases and acronyms and few solid facts.

You will never hear the phrase, “I don’t know, but I will try and find out” – an honest admission which would be perfectly understandable in the situation. Rather, you will hear, “ I am sorry but I am not allowed to comment on that.”

The NHS appears to be incapable of communicating in normal language and seems to want to control everything from a small central core that can never be reached by the general public.

Thus wards and hospital units are closed without giving the public the comfort of an explanation as to how the service will be replaced. Instead they tell us it is too

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

expensive to run, this new system is more efficient, or they talk about budget cuts.

Let’s act!

We, the people of Highland Perthshire, should set up our own forums and then call the various bodies who are involved in this huge change in our lives to come and account for themselves in public – rather like a parliamentary committee.

Maybe then we will get some answers and, more importantly, sensible action.

The NHS does a wonderful job and is full of dedicated people giving the UK the best National Health Service in the world. But its management seem to be completely out of its depth when it comes to managing change.

Thus my suggestion is that we use the facilities of HPCP to set up a community based monitoring committee that is the main on-going connection between NHS, PKAVS and the Community.

HPCP is in a unique position to represent Highland Perthshire in this area as all the Community Councils of Highland Perthshire are members.

I now refer you to the opening paragraphs that show this approach is completely in line with government policy regarding local communities taking charge and taking responsibility for their own needs and aspirations.

The fundamental difference between this system and the current one is that the agenda and input will be driven by the community rather than the NHS or PKAVS. After all they are supposed to be serving us the community rather than the other way round.

I am sure we can get support for this from our politicians both at P&KC and at Scottish Government levels. We may find we will not necessarily resolve the situation easily, but we will be able to help set priorities and we will understand the problems involved in executing this fundamental change in the way we live our lives.

In a nutshell, let us tell the NHS and P&KC what we would like – and then let them tell us why we cannot have it.

HEALTH

THE HEAR

LANDER investTig ates hampers Jargon and bureaucracy still social care changes understanding of health and

PROGRESS… BUT STILL GREAT CONFUSION! term illness) and currently based in Coupar lans for streamlining local health and chaired one public meeting about the Angus would move to Pitlochry.” and social care, and bringing it changes. He was described in one P&KC report organisationally under one roof, as “a well-respected ‘leader’ who enjoys the have moved a step forward. A first confidence of local people.”

On-going meeting has taken place in Highland Perthshire However, he too is worried about the lack After a week, and a reminder Debbie Huband of an Integrated Joint Board composed of four of clarity, although he thinks there is slow came back with this statement: “We will health service members and four from Perth progress. “The NHS and other agencies have a continue to provide proactive communications and Kinross Council. serious problem in explaining what is to all publications in the area, including the Apparently no local lay people have been happening with integration,” he said. “But Heartlander, on an on-going basis to update invited on as members (see article opposite). meanwhile progress is being made. In members of the community on information However, it means our elected representatives Aberfeldy there are signs of integrated thinking about health and social care integration and like Councillor Kate Howie, who sits on the perhaps leading to an integrated budget. respond to issues raised throughout the new Board, will be in a better position to “Meetings have taken place that have on-going engagement programme. explain to the public what is happening, and allowed the development of a concrete plan “This ensures that the communities we translate some of the obscurely written and a proposal for further development of work with are given the most up-to-date, official leaflets that have been circulated. integrated health care delivery at Dalweem (the accurate information on health and social The Heartlander’s investigation last month care home that is due to be partly converted care integration and how it will work in their into what is happening with the integration of into a replacement facility for Aberfeldy local areas.” Reading between the lines this services found little public understanding of Community Hospital). Within this, there should seemed to be avoiding the important issues what is being considered, partly because of the also be properly funded local mental health we had raised about key changes in the jargon being used by officials care, probably based in “THE NHS AND OTHER Pitlochry or Dalweem after services provided to local people. and a reluctance to answer AGENCIES HAVE A some key questions. it has been redeveloped, Fundamental change SERIOUS PROBLEM IN and therefore better Following legislation last How the Government sees their significance EXPLAINING WHAT IS delivered in the home.” year, integration of health and was expressed in April by Scottish Health HAPPENING WITH social care is now one of The Heartlander Secretary, Shona Robison. She described the Scotland’s major programmes focussed on this initiative as, “an important milestone in INTEGRATION.” of reform, according to the issue in seeking Scotland’s journey towards the full Government. It says further integration of health and social ambitiously, “At its heart, health and social care clarification from the authorities. care.” It fundamentally changes integration is about ensuring that those who As we related last month, all the way parts of the healthcare use services get the right care and support questions to officialdom are system operates. whatever their needs, being channelled via the NHS She said “Integrating health at any point in their care journey.”

Communications Unit in Dundee, and social care services will help The Government has stated: “Fully and are dealt with by its boss to shift the focus away from acute iso Shona Rob integrated services must be operational by Debbie Huband. care towards a model of care that April 2016.”

We said we were keen to publish looks after the person at home or in a But local officials can perhaps be forgiven their reaction to last month’s article, and to our homely setting. People are living longer. This is for not grabbing the reins more firmly when editorial comment, which was critical of the a good thing and testament to the advances in they try to decipher how the Government says Unit’s slow and reluctant response to our our NHS and the medical care we now provide. this is meant to be achieved. It advises that: questions. And we asked them especially to But this means that we have an increasingly “Two model flowcharts (and their explanatory respond to this paragraph from the article: elderly population with more complex and annexes) act as an aid to facilitate the “(The Heartlander) needed to know if a long-term conditions than ever before…” implementation of integration arrangements whole range of community services, including “To make sure the process of change is and highlight the formal sequence of steps that social services, are now being operated and as smooth and successful as possible, I will enable shadow arrangements to transition managed by one homogenous team in announced earlier this month that we would to formal arrangements…”

Highland Perthshire, as implied by the leaflets. be allocating a total of £300 million over Dr Hamish McBride, a retired Aberfeldy GP, We were also left wondering if community three years to help partnerships achieve has been involved in discussions for two years psychiatric nurses (recently decimated by long their ambitions.”

P

n

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 25

A9 DUALLING

WIDENING THE A9 – Glen Garry Way

Pitagowan section to ie nk ra ec lli Ki e th at ok lo A

By Fiona Somerled

Between the leafy Pass of Birnam near Dunkeld and the more open spaces of Glen Garry near House of Bruar, Transport Scotland has appointed designers Jacobs UK to develop widening plans for the A9. And it is emerging as one of the toughest sections of the £3 billion upgrade from Perth to Inverness to realign and reconstruct. ccording to the Government in its bland prose, Jacobs has to “consider environmental mitigation, develop route options, junctions and accesses.” But in reality it means blasting through hillsides, building some very large new bridges, keeping the local population as happy as possible, and making sure the mainline to Inverness – which runs alongside the A9 in many places – is not disrupted.

The Killiecrankie to Pitagowan section is 6.6 miles long (10.7km) and the proposed upgrade discussed here begins just beyond the Pass of Killiecrankie, running through the site of the Killiecrankie battlefield and over the existing A9.

It ends at the point where the road crosses the River Garry just before the House of Bruar.

A9 should be widened on the northbound side, the southbound side, to both sides, or whether there should be short sections on a new alignment, close to the existing A9?

Junctions: What type of junctions could be provided, considering factors such as nearby properties, environmental features, landscape, topography, engineering and operational considerations and cost.

Apparently a great deal of information has been gathered including ecological, landscape, visual, environmental, traffic and topographical surveys. And Jacobs has discarded route and junction options that create the most environmental, engineering, traffic and cost difficulties. They say that after feedback from the public and local organisations detailed consideration will be given to laybys and facilities for pedestrians, and cyclists.

North or south?

Major junction

A

Fiona Somerled

is Production Manager of The Heartlander

In a leaflet issued this summer, the follow design issues were identified: Mainline dual carriageway: Whether the 26

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

The junction at Aldclune east of the bridge over the River Garry is considered major and a great deal of work has been done on

A9 DUALLING

“IN REALITY IT MEANS BLASTING THROUGH HILLSIDES, BUILDING SOME VERY LARGE NEW BRIDGES, KEEPING THE LOCAL POPULATION AS HAPPY AS POSSIBLE AND MAKING SURE THE MAINLINE TO INVERNESS IS NOT DISRUPTED.”

Option 1 for eastern section

Option 1 for middle section

Option 1 for western section

designing a number of possible solutions.

Options 1 and 2 involve a widening to the southbound carriageway and options 3 and 4 involve widening to the northbound carriageway.

Here is how it would be for people travelling along the new road in a northerly direction: Option 1 would extend the southbound carriageway to near the Shierglas Quarry, and then would switch, extending the northbound carriageway to the House of Bruar.

Option 2 would extend the southbound carriageway only as far as the Aldclune Junction, then would switch, extending the northbound carriageway to House of Bruar.

Option 3 would see widening of the northbound carriageway until the Aldclune junction, switching to widening the southbound carriageway as far as the Shierglas Quarry. It then switches back, with widening taking place on the northbound side.

Option 4 would mean widening on the

northbound side of the carriageway for the entire section.

The current two-way Aldclune Bridge

Access

Some proposals for the Aldclune Junction will provide restricted access or what is known as “partial movements”.

With Option A, vehicles traveling north could leave at this junction to reach Killiecrankie and Blair Atholl, joining the existing B8079. But traffic from Killiecrankie and Blair Atholl could no longer join the A9 here – the entrance point would be near the House of Bruar.

The acceptability of this option was based on measurements of traffic flows – suggesting that relatively low numbers of vehicles would be affected.

For those traveling southbound wishing to reach Blair Atholl and Killiecrankie there is no provision. Local traffic can however join the A9 to travel south.

Option B allows for what are called “full movements”. Going northwards, a slip road leads off to the left, to the B8079

The current Blair Atholl junction

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 27

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A9 DUALLING A9 junctio n options west of bridge

Satellite view of proposed improvements Artist impression of new Ardclune bridge looking east

A9 junctio n options west of bridge

(this was the main road before the existing A9).

From here travellers could head south to Killiecrankie, or north to Blair Atholl. For traffic from both Killiecrankie and Blair Atholl, this road feeds on to a slip road heading northwards.

For travellers going south, the B8079 passes under the dual carriageway and connects to a slip road on the southbound carriageway. Leaving this junction from the southbound carriageway, the slip road turns back on itself to join the existing B8079.

The engineers have apparently identified the following sensitive issues in the vicinity of the Aldclune junction: • Shingle islands along the River Tay, and Aldclune and Invervack Meadows, which is a site of scientific interest; • Killiecrankie Battlefield, which is the site of a Category B listed limekiln, and the remains of Aldclune Duns; • Essangal Bridge at the River Garry, and Allt Chluain Bridge; • Ancient Woodland; • Cairngorms National Park, a Lower Highland Glens’ Landscape Character Area, and Loch Tummel National Scenic Area; • Residential properties at Clunebeg and Essangal;

“MOSTLY, THE WIDENING CHOICES ARE VERY DETAILED, BUT THEY WILL HAVE A MAJOR EFFECT ON LOCAL ACCESS TO FARMS AND HAMLETS BECAUSE FAR FEWER JUNCTIONS ARE BEING CONSIDERED.” • The Highland mainline railway; • The B8079; and • National Cycle Route No.7.

Local access

People likely to be affected by widening works on other parts of the Killiecrankie to Pitagowan route have to study four more options for each of three sections. They are likely to be confused at first by the fact that most of the maps are not orientated north/ south but are either upside down or at a longitudinal angle.

Mostly, the widening choices are very detailed, but they will have a major effect on local access to farms and hamlets because far fewer junctions are being considered.

Transport Scotland says, “The A9 will be upgraded to a high standard dual carriageway and direct access to the A9 will generally only be available at grade separated junctions. Some left-in/left-out accesses may be provided but only in exceptional circumstances.”

It urges people affected by the potential closure of any of the accesses to get in touch.

Plans of the junction options can be viewed on the Killiecrankie to Pitagowan section of Transport Scotland’s website: www.transportscotland.gov.uk Other parts of the A9 dualling, from the new Tay crossing north of the Dalguise junction to Ballinluig, and Pitagowan to Glen Garry, will be discussed in future issues of The Heartlander.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 29

HISTORY

The film Suffragette has been playing to big crowds recently, but how many people know that the Scottish struggle for women’s votes was at least as dramatic as anything that happened in England – and Perthshire was its epicentre?

LOCAL SUFFRAGETTES e Perthshire was a centre of th y struggle for women’s equalit

et me take you back to the early years of the 20th century.

Some things weren’t so different. There was widespread anxiety about suspicious packages in public places. Nine bombs were planted. The Duke of Buccleuch’s private chapel, Dundee’s Dudhope Castle, Glasgow’s Belmont Church, and the water main from Loch Katrine, survived unscathed, but explosions broke the glass in Glasgow’s Kibble Palace and did minor damage to the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh and Rosslyn Chapel (of Da Vinci Code fame).

The fires were more serious, doing millions of pounds’ worth of damage in today’s terms.

Schools, railway stations, racecourse stands, sports pavilions, a hospital, a church, a university laboratory, several large private houses: every blaze lit by a hard core of militant suffragettes, sick of holding meetings, signing petitions, being fobbed off with promises, and getting nowhere.

They attacked property, not people, so any large building standing empty was a temptation.

Sc But, wherever possible, militant ott action held a coded message.

By Ajay Close

L

ella Arab

Whitekirk in East Lothian was burned because the minister was an outspoken opponent of women’s votes. When Fanny Parker and her

lover Ethel Moorhead left a bomb at Burns’ Cottage in Alloway, they were pointing up the hypocrisy of Scots taking pride in the egalitarian principles of their national bard while women were denied the vote. Sporting premises were torched and holes gouged in bowling greens and golf courses because the government was not ‘playing the game”’.

Perthshire suffered several high-profile attacks. Fanny Parker burned down Perth cricket pavilion in April 1913 and held a public meeting next day to explain her reasons. Only the police saved her from a lynching.

Ten months later, suffragettes pulled off arguably their most spectacular stunt, north or south of the border: the burning of three 30

he lM oorhead

Bombs

Et

mansions in Upper Strathearn on a single night.

The owners or tenants of each property were away, though a report in the Courier made much of the fact that six female servants were asleep at Aberuchill Castle, near Comrie, when one of the fires was set. A wing of the castle was damaged, with the loss of antique furniture and paintings, but the thickness (and dampness) of the walls contained the blaze.

The owners of the other two houses were less fortunate. Allt an Fhionn at St Fillans, built

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

Fanny Parker is arrested

just ten years previously and one of the finest private residences in the district was gutted and all its contents destroyed. It was owned by Stirling Boyd, whose wife was a prominent anti-suffragist. At the four-year-old House of Ross, just outside Comrie, the private chapel survived and some furniture was rescued, but the building itself was razed.

Lloyd George

Suffragette newspapers were left as ‘calling

HISTORY

cards’ at all three fires. Lloyd George was due to speak in Glasgow that night, and was particularly reviled by suffragettes for supporting their cause in opposition and becoming one of its chief obstacles once he was in government. At Allt an Fhionn a postcard was found bearing the words ‘a warm welcome to Lloyd George’.

The fires were synchronised for dramatic effect, sorely taxing the local fire brigade. A fourth house, Dalveich at Lochearnhead, was Arabella on right in protest also a target, but either the fire-setter was interrupted or the blaze failed to catch.

Local witnesses reported having seen five side of the border. In 1914 the government put women arrive at St Fillans station before going its foot down. their separate ways. The police had a fair idea Force-feeding was not totally unknown who was responsible, and arrested Annie in Scotland. It happened in lunatic asylums Rhoda Craig, a stevedore’s wife from Yoker in when mental patients wouldn’t eat, so the Glasgow. They also suspected Ethel Moorhead, Prison Commission found an ambitious but no one was convicted. asylum doctor, Hugh Ferguson Watson, Highland Perthshire had its share of and gave him a job. suffragette sympathisers. In 1909 the His first “patient”, Ethel Moorhead, National Union of Women’s was fed in Edinburgh. She resisted, Suffrage Societies held meetings and milk got into her lungs. As a in Pitlochry and Blair Atholl result, she nearly died of during its Highland Campaign. pneumonia. After this, the But the long shadow cast by government transferred the doctor the 145,000-acre Atholl Estates to Perth Jail. It was easy to rally a made many wary of expressing crowd of supporters in Glasgow or de on rH their views – at least on their own Edinburgh, less so in Perthshire, on ugh Fergus doorstep. (The railways put account of the suffrage meetings in Perth, burned-down “‘ARTIFICIAL FEEDING’ Blairgowrie and Crieff cricket pavilion.

INVOLVED BEING HELD within easy reach.)

In June 1914, DOWN BY A TEAM OF The Marquis of Arabella Scott WARDERS TWICE A DAY, Tullibardine, Unionist MP for entered the West Perthshire, and his wife prison. She WHILE THE DOCTOR Kitty Stewart-Murray (later had been INSERTED A STEEL ‘GAG’ TO Duchess of Atholl) were sentenced to HOLD THE MOUTH OPEN.” leading opponents of votes nine months for women. An active figure for setting fire in the Scottish Anti-Suffrage League, the to a racecourse stand in Kelso. Next to arrive Marchioness was one of two main speakers was Frances Gordon, who had tried to burn at a grand anti-suffrage demonstration in down a mansion in Rutherglen. Maude Glasgow in 1912.

Edwards had walked into the Royal Scottish Despite her views, she was elected to Academy in Edinburgh and stuck a hatchet in parliament, in her husband’s former seat, in the King’s portrait. Fanny Parker had been 1923 and became the first woman to serve in a caught red-handed at Burns’ cottage. She let British Conservative and Unionist government. herself be arrested, giving her lover and co-conspirator time to get away.

All four were forced to lie flat on their Force feeding backs. Sitting up was thought to bring on Not all women wanting the vote supported regurgitation. They were not allowed visitors, bombing and burning, but in 1914 the letters, books or newspapers. Reading, along government handed the suffragettes a major with any form of excitement, was considered propaganda victory, outraging militants and bad for the digestion. non-militants alike. Scottish prisons began ‘Artificial feeding’ involved being held down force-feeding suffragettes on hunger and by a team of warders twice a day, while the thirst strike. doctor inserted a steel ‘gag’ to hold the mouth Technically it was a humanitarian act, open (the reason so many militant suffragettes keeping women alive (and behind bars) but, had chipped and broken teeth). A mixture of for those on the receiving end, it was hard to milk, eggs and sugar was poured down a distinguish from torture. For five years Scottish rubber tube inserted in the throat. When the prison doctors had refused to do it and jug was empty, the nose and mouth were suffragettes were treated differently on either

ee ef Forc

W ats on

clamped for up to two hours to make sure the liquid wasn’t vomited out.

Arabella Scott coped with this grisly experience – at least, physically. Emotionally, she was under immense stress. The doctor spent many hours alone with her, trying to persuade her to abandon her hunger strike.

At one point, he offered to escort her to Canada, so she could make a new life there. (Clearly, this was no ordinary doctorpatient relationship.)

Life-threatening

The other three women found it hard to breathe with a rubber tube in their throats.

Force-feeding proved life-threatening, so the doctor decided, with some logic but little nous for public relations, to address the problem from the other end.

When the newspapers reported that a prison doctor had been using nutrient suppositories – tampering with ladies’ bottoms – there was widespread horror.

Questions were asked in the House of Commons. The tide of anti-suffragette feeling in Perth began to turn. Thousands of sympathisers poured into the town.

Open-air meetings were held every evening, before the 3,000-strong crowd marched across town to picket the jail.

They rented a top-floor flat in the tenement across the road, allowing them to see over the prison wall and barrack the Governor through a megaphone.

An extra 50 police were drafted into the town but, still, church services and cinema screenings were disrupted by women shouting about torture. When the King and Queen visited Perth, a protester climbed onto the running board of the royal car. Public buildings were closed for fear they would be set on fire.

The Governor was tipped off about a plot to bomb the doctor’s house.

When it emerged that Fanny Parker, would-be bomber of Burns’ cottage, was the niece of national hero Lord Kitchener, the authorities lost their appetite for force feeding and Arabella Scott, the last of the four in jail, was released. Within a fortnight the struggle for women’s votes was eclipsed by a larger conflict. Most suffragettes redirected their energies into supporting the war against Germany.

Ajay Close’s book A Petrol Scented Spring is published by Sandstone Press, £8.99.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

31

ENVIRONMENT

SAVING P THE WORLD’S TREES me to Be proud! This area is ho ic Project the extraordinary iCON

By Tom Christian

32

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

erthshire has rightly come to be known as ‘Big Tree Country’ in recent years. An appropriate accolade, given that our county is home to one of the oldest trees in Europe, the widest conifer in the British Isles, a record breaking hedge, and numerous other trees and woodlands that have inspired bards from Shakespeare to Burns.

Our tree celebrities include many natives, of course, such as those silver-barked Birks of Aberfeldy, the monumental Birnam Oak, and ancient Scots Pines in the Black Wood of Rannoch.

Experts with nothing better to do can argue all they want about the true ‘native-ness’ of species like Beech and Yew, but imagine Perthshire without them!

Just as horrifying would be to imagine it without the Douglas Firs and Grand Firs of the Pacific North West of North America, or the Giant Redwoods of California, of which every self-respecting ‘big-hoose’ has at least two.

Some of our most treasured landscapes only appear as they do today thanks to the vision and pioneering spirit of an extraordinary cast of extraordinary people. Two native humans of Perthshire, Archibald Menzies (1754-1842) and David Douglas (1799-1834) are today regarded as among the most important plant hunters these islands have produced.

Menzies famously introduced the Monkey Puzzle tree from Chile in 1795, and described many ‘new’ American trees to science for the first time. After serving as a gardener at Scone Palace, Douglas eventually found himself in North America, introducing many species to cultivation in Britain for the first time.

Today, many of Douglas’s introductions underpin commercial forestry in Scotland.

The famous Douglas Fir, which visitors to the Hermitage near Dunkeld gawp at, commemorates Douglas in its common name, for he introduced its seeds for the first time in 1829, while the scientific name, Pseudotsuga menziesii recognises Menzies for his outstanding contributions to botany. Forestry, as we know it today, was meanwhile being pioneered on Drummond Hill, outside Kenmore.

ENVIRONMENT

TOM CHRISTIAN, who heads up the iCONic as project officer and is based at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, is a Highland Perthshire native. He grew up near Aberfeldy and attended Breadalbane Academy. It was in a physics lesson there that Tom first met John Mattingley of Cluny House Gardens, who recognised Tom’s interest in horticulture and steered him toward a career in that field (not bad work for a physics teacher!)

Tom studied for a BSc in horticulture at the Botanics and began volunteering with the ICCP as a student, before being drafted in to work on the iCONic project from its inception in 2008. This work has taken Tom on his own plant-hunting expeditions, in the footsteps of plant hunters like Menzies and Douglas, to a range of countries including Norway, Sweden, Poland, China, Chile, Bosnia, Lebanon, Morocco and Japan.

The Dukes of Atholl later scaled things up, planting millions of larch trees around Dunkeld during the 18th and 19th centuries, the progeny of which now delight drivers on the A9 every autumn. Other landowners followed suit with similar, equally ambitious planting programmes.

The grounds of all of Perthshire’s great houses quickly became filled with specimens, avenues and groves of tree species from all over the world, as Victorian landowners were swept away on a wave of enthusiasm for competitive tree-collecting.

This extraordinary heritage is what makes Perthshire unique, and it was this that inspired the creation of the Perthshire ‘Big Tree Country’ initiative in 2005, to help safeguard and promote this aspect of our cultural heritage.

Now though, a new generation of trees is taking root that will ensure ‘Big Tree Country’ remains an appropriate accolade for centuries to come.

Since 2008, the iCONic project – a sort of ‘Big Tree Country, Phase Two’ – has been quietly planting weird and wonderful trees in some of Perthshire’s most remarkable woods, forests and estates.

But these are no ordinary trees. They are drawn from an unfortunate palette – the World Conservation Union’s global red-list of threatened conifers. In English: species under threat of extinction in their native habitats around the world.

Young seedlings in the nursery at RBGE

Pine cones after collection

International Conifer Conservation Programme (ICCP), based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Since 1991, ICCP has worked to integrate in-situ and ex-situ conservation of conifers through an international programme of research, education and cultivation. In the UK & Ireland, ICCP coordinates a network of over 200 ‘safe-sites’, to which young trees are distributed from the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.

These trees are raised from seed collected in native forests around the world, from China to Chile, from Lebanon to Australia, the USA to Japan. The list is almost endless.

They are grown on in specialist facilities at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, and each one is individually tracked.

Today, ICCP is monitoring 12,500 young plants, including nearly 1,000 in Perthshire.

Because the provenance of these young trees is fully documented, and because they have been sourced from wild populations, they are an enormously valuable genetic resource for conservationists. They are, in a sense, an insurance policy. The resource can be drawn on to help restore depleted populations in the wild.

The thousand or so trees planted by the iCONic project to date include redwoods from California, planted in different Conifers threatened?

Well, sadly, yes. In fact, 34% of the “SOME OF OUR MOST TREASURED locations including near Kenmore and at Dunkeld. Forestry Commission world’s c.650 conifer species are LANDSCAPES ONLY APPEAR AS is an important partner in threatened with extinction. This THEY DO TODAY THANKS TO THE Scotland the project, and to statistic is all the more worrisome VISION AND PIONEERING SPIRIT date has helped chair it, provided given what an important group of OF AN EXTRAORDINARY CAST crucial funding, and access to land plants the conifers are, both OF EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.” for planting. ecologically and economically.

Groves of trees are settling Not only do the world’s vast into their ground at Weem Wood, conifer forests help to regulate the while a very rare fir from Turkey is putting roots down in climate, but (when managed sustainably) they are a valuable Allean Forest near Loch Tummel. On Kinnoull Hill outside source of timber, for everything from construction to firewood, Perth, a grove of Spanish Fir, native to the mountains of as well as important sources of food and even medicines.

Malaga in southern Spain, is thriving, as are ten ‘King Billy Threats to conifers range from historic logging, to Pines’ from Tasmania. contemporary, on-going logging activities where these are The King Billy Pines were something of an experiment. So either unsustainable or illegal. Habitat loss and degradation is far as anyone knew at the time, they had never been grown often irreversible, especially where activities such as opencast in this part of the world before. Specimens are known from mining, agriculture and urban development are concerned. gardens on Scotland’s west coast, but it is not a common tree Increasingly, just as we’re seeing in Scotland diseases such as in the colder, drier east. All the same, they have thrived, after Ash-dieback, diseases are an increasingly severe threat to scraping through the dramatic winters of 2009-10 and 2010-11. conifers around the world.

This sense of experimentation is an important aspect of the The iCONic Project has now placed Perthshire at the centre project. When the Victorian planters put the first giant of a global initiative aimed at helping to save some of these redwoods into the ground here in about 1854/55, they would charismatic trees. iCONic is a partnership project, born out of a have had no way of knowing whether these trees would thrive. marriage between the Big Tree Country initiative and the www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 33

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ENVIRONMENT

The author in a monkey puzzle forest in Chile

Left: planting ‘the next red fir’ at Blair Castle this spring

A frosty Alerce at Cluny House Gardens

Overgrazing is a world-wide threat

Exciting reports from California of trees larger than houses would have given them an idea of what to expect if all went well, but they didn’t really know.

Neither did they know whether Douglas Firs would thrive here. Even Larch, now so at home in Perthshire some probably assume it a native, was first grown in Scotland as a glasshouse plant shortly after its introduction to these shores in the 1720s!

Some of the other more experimental trees iCONic has planted include natives of Chile, such as South America’s answer to the Giant Redwood: the Alerce. In Chile, Alerce can attain similar proportions to a good Douglas Fir in Perthshire, reaching 200ft or more in height. They are staggeringly long lived though; the oldest ever recorded being dated at over 3,600 years old!

Alerce’s scientific name, Fitzroya, remembers Captain Fitzroy, who sailed HMS Beagle on Darwin’s voyage of discovery.

Unfortunately, this important association wasn’t enough to save Alerce from the loggers. Shortly after Europeans began arriving in Chile in serious numbers in the 19th century, logging of Alerce began.

Such was the strength and durability of this timber that staggering areas of oldgrowth Alerce forest were clear-felled. Today, all the remaining tracts of forest are protected, and international trade in its valuable timber is illegal.

Even so, there remains a pressing need to conserve this charismatic species away from its natural range as well as within it. The relatively small fragments of forest that are left are very susceptible to events such as

forest fires, disease, and in Chile, devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Alerce has been a flagship species for the ICCP, and many dozens of distinct genotypes from throughout its natural range are now protected in the network of safe-sites, including a number growing in sites that participate in iCONic. A young tree growing at Cluny House Gardens near Aberfeldy was one of the first to be planted by iCONic. It has since been joined by several plants in the grounds of the Hilton Dunkeld House Hotel.

“ICONIC IS CONTRIBUTING TO AN EXTRAORDINARY INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO CONSERVE REMARKABLE TREES UNDER THREAT ALL AROUND THE WORLD.” The hotel’s grounds play host to a number of historic trees besides young iCONic ones. The so called ‘Parent Larch’ growing next to the Cathedral was planted in 1738, and it was from this that seed was obtained for the ambitious planting programmes of the Dukes of Atholl. It is something to think about, that perhaps in another two hundred and fifty years’ time, visitors to Dunkeld will marvel at the group of Alerce next to the Cathedral, rather than the long-departed Larch.

Dunkeld is also a wonderful example of how iCONic is helping to conserve Perthshire landscapes as well as threatened tree

For more information on the iCONic project visit www.iconictrees.org

species. Many of the big estates in Perthshire are famous for their trees, but have undertaken little new planting since the very earliest part of the 20th century.

In 2008, the project planted trees of Japanese Hiba and Veitch’s Silver Fir close to the Cathedral. Both species were chosen because there were mature examples nearby, probably planted in the late 19th century, but no young trees were coming on to act as long-term replacements.

By 2013, both of the older examples had fallen victim to storms. It is thanks to the efforts of iCONic that these species continue to be represented in the tree collection at Dunkeld.

Another similar example of ‘replacement planting’ is on the edge of Diana’s Grove, an astonishing assemblage of giant trees in the grounds of Blair Castle. In early 2015, horticulture students from the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh planted a new Red Fir, Abies magnifica, on the edge of the grove.

This species had only been planted here once before, in the mid-19th century, and that planting is today the largest example of the species to be found anywhere in Britain or Ireland, but again, there was no new generation.

Through its work planting trees in Perthshire, iCONic is working both at a very local, and at a very global level. It is contributing to an extraordinary international effort to conserve remarkable trees under threat all around the world, and at the same time is helping the 21st century custodians of some of Scotland’s most remarkable landscapes to plant for the future. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 35

BUSINESS

BATTER and BANTER

served with sauce! e m co s ay w al in ill K in Fish and chips

By Vicky Taylor

or someone who says she doesn’t like cooking, Cathy Graven has spent a large part of her life doing just that. She runs the fish and chip van in Killin and from that base in the McLaren Hall car park has been dishing out fish, sausages and haggis with chips by the ton to locals and tourists for nearly two decades.

At 74, Cathy shows no sign of giving up her job either, and her regulars have not only got used to her catering but the banter that comes served with their fish suppers.

Cathy, who lives in Craignavie Road, first started in the catering business when she ran the Killin Bakery, which is now the chemist shop.

“If you could put it in a pie shell, we did it”, she says of her time there.

She ran it with help from her husband Michael and sister Madge, who have sadly since died. While still at the bakery, they took over the distinctive silver chip van. But, in the end, the 6am starts at the bakery cooking pies and rolls, then frying up the fresh fish until late into the evening, became too much.

They decided to concentrate on the fish and chip van and opened at the end of March 1996.

Cathy has been helped throughout those 19 years by her daughter Annette McLarty, 49, who lives off Main Street. Granddaughter Roisinn has a role too and says she first started working there when she was 11 in her school holidays.

F

36

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

BUSINESS

Vicky Taylor

“THIS IS TRADITION AT ITS BEST, WHAT THESE LADIES PRODUCE IS GORGEOUS AND WOULD BEAT TOP QUALITY RESTAURANTS .”

Together the three generations have been frying up every day during the tourist season, from 5pm-10pm in the high summer and at weekends only in the weeks up to the end of October. They get their fish from Glasgow and make regular trips to the fish market there.

Sausages and haggis are the next most popular. They have had regular customers from as far afield as Australia, with one particular woman coming back to Killin every two years. She doesn’t fail to stop by the van for a portion of chips and a large serving of Cathy’s banter.

teenage boys do, over whether to have salt and vinegar or not on his chips. At first it was yes and then no. Cathy, sharp as a pin, quipped, “Practising to be a man are you?”

Her expression has gone into family folklore and any indecision is now greeted with “Practising to be a man then?” Roisinn calls her gran’s banter one-off and says her most usual expression is “au natural”, that’s no salt and sauce.

Five stars

If they did their research on TripAdvisor, anyone coming to Killin for the first time would see that the fish and chip van gets a five star rating from its reviewers for the freshness of the fish, and of course for the chat. “The chips hit the spot, and the banter by the two women and a young lad was brilliant,” is how visitors from the Hebrides put it.

“This is tradition at its best, what these ladies produce is gorgeous and would beat any top quality restaurants. They should have an award,” say a couple from Liverpool.

“While you are waiting you get very well entertained with the banter. However to enjoy the banter you must join in, although you will never get the better of the “older” young lady,” was the verdict from Fife.

Annette would agree with that: “Usually people come for the banter, we’re not insulted by that, it’s good that they want to come and see us. But it’s Cathy who’s the mouthpiece of the van.”

I have my own experience of Cathy’s chat over the chips. My son, who must have been about twelve at the time, was dithering, as

“WHILE YOU ARE WAITING YOU GET VERY WELL ENTERTAINED WITH THE BANTER. HOWEVER TO ENJOY THE BANTER YOU MUST JOIN IN.”

Other customers of the fish and chip van who have extra special reasons to be thankful to it are the hundreds of athletes who come to take part in the Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon challenge every July. Then, Cathy and Annette have to get in extra supplies, particularly slices of haggis, as the hungry athletes grab something to eat, before they cycle the 35 miles around Loch Tay and the final of their four challenges.

By then they will have swum across the loch, climbed seven Munros and kayaked seven miles, so the sight of the small silver van offering a refuelling stop with a difference must be a welcome sight.

Cathy says Annette has a way of packing the haggis and chips so they can eat it as they cycle. It’s even mentioned in a few post-race blogs as one of the best things in the race.

For someone who has served up probably a few tons of chips over the decades, Cathy admits to not really liking the fried potatoes.

“I’ll have a bit of fish sometimes, but most of the time I don’t really go for them.” What she does like is the people and meeting new customers and seeing the regulars come back.

“We like them to have a good time, enjoy their meal of course, but it’s a social thing really too. We never stop laughing from the start to the closing time”.

As to plans to take it a bit slower now she is long past the official retirement age, she says she has been threatening to do it, but probably won’t be able to.

“I used to work for a while in the retirement home in the village, and had to give up there when I realised the residents were getting younger than me.”

There’s no chance of that with the fish and chip van, so expect to see Cathy, along with Annette and Roisinn at Killin’s five star fish and chip van for a few more years yet.

Photos: Richard Bowden

lives in Fortingall and London.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 37

HISTORY

A BLAIR CASTLE

s a m t s i r h C orian times Life was very different in Vict

By Ann Lindsay

hristmas was not much observed in Scotland until the last half century. When I was growing up in Aberdeenshire in the fifties, nothing happened outside our own house and those of a couple of neighbours. Shops opened as usual. Folk worked as usual. Factories did not shut down.

No services or carol services were held in village Presbyterian churches.

On the other hand, Hogmanay was considered a success if you did not sleep in your own bed for at least a couple of days, such was the first footing and visiting.

But one neighbouring family always gave a children’s party. Many of us local children were invited, and after tea, the excitement reached heights of anticipation as the time came for the Christmas tree candles to be lit.

At least two of us were allocated to stand by with buckets of water in case of an

C

ousand th Hundred Th Blair Castle wi es banner at a dance Welcom

38

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

accidental fire, and all the lights (paraffin) were dimmed. We were told to stay absolutely still, in case we created a draft and a branch suddenly and frighteningly went up in flames. The candles were alight for all of five minutes, but the magic stays with me still.

Military precision

So what a happy find lies within the Blair Castle Archives. A detailed account of the Christmas parties in 1890 held there. Grandly entitled ‘Christmas Trees’ within a marble papered notebook is an account of the Christmas party of 1890. The planning was military in precision. Children appear to be drilled, lined up, fed, and sent home.

It is worth quoting verbatim from this account: Blair, Struan, Pittagowan, Strathtummel and Glen Garry schools.

PROGRAMME Schoolchildren meet at Blair Athole (correct spelling!). School at 11 o’clock and preceded

by Donald Macbeth and two pipers walk up Front Approach, pass the Castle door where the family are assembled, the children proceed to a tent at north end of Castle where their dinner is prepared at 12 o’clock.

• Dinner for children (Mutton Broth, bread and glass of milk) • Dinner for teachers (Mutton Broth cold meats etc.)

• After which children play outside and assemble in ballroom behind curtain at 1.30, where they are arranged in Standards (classes).

• Children sing at 1.40 at signal from Duchess from gallery.

• Christmas Tree at 2 o’clock, curtain being dropped, (Fraser and two men) • Guests walk round the tree and receive

HISTORY

Party at Blair Castle

Castle in winter

presents at upper door, village people shown to gallery, remainder of guests at lower end of ballroom.

• Children walk round tree and are arranged in standards (boys and girls at opposite end of room) to receive their presents, sweets and crackers.

• Schools leave at 4.30 receiving fruit and buns on leaving.

and Duchess, to inkstands for the teachers, vases and figurines, walking sticks, paper knives in The book details the numbers of pupils from various shapes, pencil cases, match the various schools, divided up into Big Boys holders and brass candlesticks. and Big Girls, aged 12 and 13, to Infants, up Any items surplus or unclaimed to 7 years, roughly 288 children. were meticulously listed, from Each member of the Murray family was ‘Better things left over from the allocated a section of children, for example Tree’, such as cigarette cases, Lady Dorothea gave presents wrapped in kid purse, pink ribbons to the appointment slate, eldest girls, while “WHAT A HAPPY FIND monkey ink stand, Tullibardine (the Earl of) gave presents to the LIES WITHIN THE BLAIR goldfish, India rubber elephant, frogs, bats, Big Boys, tied up in CASTLE ARCHIVES. A dark blue ribbons.

DETAILED ACCOUNT OF canaries, (presumably ornamental?) silk balls, and Boys received a ball, THE CHRISTMAS bright things(!) plus scent girls a doll.

PARTIES IN 1890.” bottles to how many rolls But the real of the wrapping ribbons in anticipation must have their various colours, for instance 13 rolls of light been ‘The Raffles’. Were they given a blue (allocated to Middle Girls, aged nine to 10) raffle ticket on arrival? I wonder if any were listed. reader knows? They must have been hotly I was left marvelling at just how much wished for, as there were but 44 prizes for of a highlight this must have been, how 288 children. organised, and how odd to us today, not Raffle prizes ranged from a ‘work box, set least because these events took place not of handkerchiefs, plush bag, photo album, on Christmas or before but on the 30th picture and box of sweets’ for the big girls, December and the 16th January. to toys such as an ‘engine, horse and cart, And why those specific dates? I hazard donkey, swing, top, whip, trumpet, dog’ for a guess. There could have been a full moon? small boys.

Which would have made journeying home less hazardous?

Inkstands The servants, estate staff and guests at the Castle also received presents; from a With thanks to Jane Anderson, photoframe containing images of the Duke Archivist at Blair Castle.

Blair Castle , th childrens’ C ree cheers at hristmas pa rty

Pink ribbons

Please send us your early memories of Christmas and Hogmanay. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 39

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INNOVATION

SMILE! Local high-tech dentists can now transform tooth repair

By Morag Anderson

HOT NEWS

echnological scientific studies have confirmed wizards and the clinical safety of tried and medical physicists tested Cerec tooth restorations. are busy developing Worldwide, more than 30 million i three-dimensional printing for tooth restorations have been fill Cerec various medical advances utilising produced with Cerec, and that is materials such as titanium alloys for why we have one of their machines. new hip joints as well as human skin for grafting. Teeth will come in time but fillings are Single visit no problem as we demonstrate day after day.

It is a computerised system that allows us to Although cloaked in fog and darkness make ceramic (metal-free) crowns, veneers, during some of these winter days, we are on-lays (fillings) in a single visit to the dentist. certainly not in a technological fog. Our The computerised technology means that magnificent wee town has a wealth of patients no longer have to endure messy skills and facilities to rival the biggest (gut-wrenching?) impressions of the mouth, of Scottish cities. temporary crowns, or return for a second visit We have the ability to 3D ‘print’ and form to have a new ‘tooth’ fitted. ceramic teeth right here in little old Aberfeldy Due to the incredible precision of the using CAD/CAM technology by the German technology, it can even be used in conjunction company, Sirona. We have placed many with CT scans to make implant crowns before hundreds of them in happy mouths since the implants have even been placed in the jaw. establishing Anderson Dentistry in 2008.

How does it work? We remove old fillings or The 3D printer uses a process of adding crowns. We take digital, optical scans of teeth. successive layers of material to create a 3D We create a computerised 3D model from object. What is known as CAD/CAM technology these scanned images. And we create a is a process of removing layers from a solid computerised design of a new crown/filling. block of material to create a 3D object.

The new crown/filling is then 3D ‘printed’ from Sirona is the world’s largest manufacturer of a block of ceramic, and we fit the new ‘tooth’ in dental technology, beginning in 1887 with the the mouth. invention of the first electrically powered dental drill. Having come a long way since then, they Precise fitting are now regarded as global leaders in research, The Cerec allows us to mend a broken tooth development and product design, with their and create a new tooth in a single visit. The new 300 engineers and scientists being the main one is strong, long-lasting, natural looking, and driving force behind technical progress in fitting is incredibly precise. There is reduced dentistry today. bacterial invasion at the tooth junction, and less They developed their CAD/CAM Cerec sensitivity. The tooth is metal-free and therefore system over 30 years ago and over 250 has reduced thermal conductivity. ng

T

In October researchers at the University of Groningen in Holland announced they were working on the creation of a 3D printed tooth made of antimicrobial plastic that kills the bacteria responsible for tooth decay on contact.

To test the bacteria-fighting tooth in the lab, the researchers coated the material with human saliva and exposed it to the bacterium that causes tooth decay. The anti-bacterial tooth killed more than 99% of all bacteria and showed no signs of being harmful to human cells.

However, there is still a long way to go.

There will need to be clinical trials and it has not yet been tested inside a human mouth. And no one yet knows what will happen when the new type of tooth is brushed with toothpaste.

Ross and Morag Anderson

Suffice to say they are so good that I even managed to persuade Ross to replace my 30 year old ‘wham bar’ metal fillings with Cerec ones this year – a task he had been avoiding for years claiming that I would interfere too much.

Isn’t that what a wife is for? I didn’t interfere.

He did a great job. Wham bar fillings are gone.

We are still married. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

41

CURRENT AFFAIRS

DEBATING POINT

Send your thoughts to editor@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 2BX

PROTECT OUR HISTORIC ASSETS! s are being Our Common Good Fundtor Clements managed poorly says Vic

Victor Clements

is a woodland advisor working in Highland Perthshire, and the Chair of Aberfeldy Community Council

ommon Good Funds are owned and administered by local authorities in Scotland and are of ancient origin. They are legally distinct from all other property that they might own, and must be accounted for separately.

They consist of assets that previously belonged to one of Scotland’s burghs. They usually contain a mixture of moveable property (cash, civic regalia etc.) and heritable property (land and buildings).

Very often, there can be very considerable income streams arising from these.

For example, the Common Good funds in the Borders own a lot of productive farmland. The harbour in Perth is owned by the Perth Common Good Fund, and this gives them a very considerable annual income. More usually, the annual income is very modest or sporadic, and more often than not, there is no regular income at all.

Scotland’s Royal Burghs were formed in the 11th century, but maladministration was so rife that in 1491 a Common Good Act, still

C

42

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

systems or any statutory functions of those councils at the time.

There are only two Common Good funds in Highland Perthshire. The Aberfeldy Common Good Fund has approximately £144,000 in cash assets, and also owns the Birks of Aberfeldy, the Putting Green, the Black Watch Memorial and the bridge, and a strip of land along the river. Victoria Park and the bowling green and tennis courts are also included.

The Pitlochry Common Good Fund is much smaller, with about £7000 in cash.

The Black Spout Wood is Common Good, but doubtless there are many other properties in the town as well. It is not known if these have been collated or not.

For many years, the Aberfeldy CGF in force today, was enforced so that the received about £4000 a year from the common good of each burgh “be observed caravan park, and was able to pay this out in and kept for the common good of the town”. small grants. When Perth and Kinross Council This legal protection did not protect such determined that the site was actually assets, and much continued to be lost. In the acquired for a statutory 20th century purpose, the Common following local “COMMON GOOD ASSETS Good status was removed, government ARE TODAY POORLY with the result that the re-organizations, UNDERSTOOD, AND THE Common Good Fund now the common good LEGISLATION AROUND has no regular income. further fragmented, THEM IS NOT REALLY FIT Pitlochry is in a similar and gradually situation.

FOR PURPOSE.” became less relevant to people.

Not fit for purpose

Common Good assets are today poorly understood, and the legislation around them is not really fit for purpose, but they are defined as property owned by the former Burgh Councils before their disbandment in 1975, which was not acquired for statutory purposes. The latter point is crucial as it rules out properties acquired for education purposes, administrative buildings, sewage

Archaic?

There is no question that Perth & Kinross Council (P&KC) view Common Good Funds as archaic and antiquated, and if some of their senior staff could do away with then, they would.

Others tend to go along with it and humour local communities, although to be fair, not many people get animated about these things. They require separate accounting and oversight which is

CURRENT AFFAIRS

DEBATING POINT

“THE COMMON GOOD COMMITTEES RESENT OTHERS TAKING AN INTEREST IN THEIR ACTIVITIES, AND SOMETIMES QUESTION IF LOCAL PEOPLE ARE UP TO THE TASK.” begrudged because it applies to only about 1% of the total value of their estate.

But it is important in a way which a lawyer or bean counter might not be able to appreciate. In a town like Aberfeldy where people are aware of “common good”, it tends to ring a bell with them. Older residents appreciate the tradition, newer residents like the sound of it, and will buy in to a concept of having local resources that are managed especially for them.

Common Good is capable of forming a bond between all people in a town, new and old, and it can motivate them to take part. In a time where hardly anyone takes part in local politics and where many council seats will go uncontested, we need more people taking an interest and cutting their teeth in the management of local property.

The common good committees which oversee things are made up of our three Highland ward councillors, the council leader and the Convenor of the infrastructure committee. Meetings are just an add-on to the main council business and, in Aberfeldy, we have tried in vain to get them to be more pro-active and think beyond the few pounds in the bank and about the resource as a whole.

Common Good Committees in Perthshire • Aberfeldy Common Good Fund (3 members) • Abernethy Common Good Fund (3 members) • Alyth Common Good Fund (4 members) • Auchterarder Common Good Fund (3 members) • Blairgowrie Common Good Fund (3 members) • Coupar Angus Common Good Fund (4 members) • Crieff Common Good Fund (3 members) • Kinross Common Good Fund (4 members) • Perth Common Good Fund (12 members) • Pitlochry Common Good Fund (3 members) The Common Good committees resent others taking an interest in their activities, and sometimes question if local people are up to the task. Of course, when you see local people running the Enchanted Forest or distributing £400,000 of Griffin/Calliacher funding annually, it is fairly obvious that they are up to the task and can contribute more fully.

Priorities

For me, these are the priorities for going forwards: In Pitlochry, if you have not yet mapped out what your ‘common good’ resource is, try and do that now. Aberfeldy can help you.

We have a problem at the moment in that both Aberfeldy and Pitlochry are spending money without having any income to match this, with the result that the capital value of the funds is being depleted.

We don’t have to be doing this when there are other funding sources available.

To protect our common good funds, we need a convention whereby expenditure cannot exceed income in any given year.

The focus needs to change from spending money as a feel-good factor for councillors towards how they earn it in the first place. That will be a culture shock, but it is required if these funds are not to be depleted further.

In the past, Aberfeldy Common Good Fund received the majority of its money from donations from residents’ wills. The four figure sums from the 1950’s would be worth five and sometimes six figure sums today.

Imagine we had a situation where residents in Aberfeldy and Pitlochry felt so connected with their Common Good Fund that they bequeathed money to it instead of some cat hospital or environmental group of marginal importance. They did this in the past, and it helped build these towns.

We could do it again, but it requires genuine community involvement to make sure that people have confidence in the system of oversight. The current system of oversight does not provide for that. It is not something that is taken all that seriously.

Finally, the current system allows a derisory 0.3-0.8% of interest in a year, poor use of a six figure sum of money. Back in the day, Aberfeldy Common Good Fund would lend money to other projects being taken forwards by the Town Council. The rate of return was higher than could be obtained in the bank, but lower that what the Town Council would have to pay for borrowing elsewhere.

It was safe as well, and it got the money working, not just sitting there gathering dust. P&KC would laugh at the thought of this today, but this is how it worked in the past, and it made a lot of sense.

It could be made to work again if we keep making the case, and both Aberfeldy and Pitlochry could make these funds grow again if we could develop a strategy for doing so. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 43

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WILDLIFE

Kate MacRitchie is PR and Admin Officer of HPCP

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF?

By Kate MacRitchie

wling at the moon Reintroduction may not be ho dark, winter’s night. You are traipsing back into Kinloch Rannoch village after a long walk across the empty moors.

You stamp the cold from your feet as you walk, look at the darkening sky, caught out by the early winter nightfall. A full moon shines above the pines. And then you hear it – a long, wavering howl. The wolf of Rannoch Moor!

Would the sound of wolves so close to home chill your blood? Or is the wolf an unfair victim of centuries of bad press? Could it be time for the wolf to make a comeback?

The fact is, if wolf reintroduction to Scotland were to happen, as many experts believe it ought, the ‘wolf of Rannoch’ could become a reality.

“Without the wolf nothing in nature makes sense,” believes Jim Crumley, nature writer and

A

passionate advocate for reintroducing wolves to Scotland. According to Crumley the presence of the wolf instantly unlocks the potential of our surrounding landscape.

When The Heartlander met with Crumley in Dunkeld he had recently returned from the Wolf Awareness Weekend in Edinburgh, where he put forward the case for wolf reintroduction. Disappointingly for supporters of the wolf, the general consensus was not favourable to reintroduction. I asked Crumley what he felt the main obstacles were to the wolf returning to Scotland. The biggest culprit, he felt, was our own prejudice which has been ingrained in us since nursery. In fairy tales the wolf is always the villain, demonised as a man-slaying, granny-eating vengeful creature possessed of demonic cunning.

These are superstitious tropes. I was told to do away with the notion of howling at the

moon for a start; wolves howl to communicate and are not especially nocturnal. They only hunt under a full moon if it affords good light for hunting.

And that legendary appetite for human flesh? Also untrue. Crumley describes the wolf as a bit of a coward, more likely to run from a human encounter than to mount an attack. No wild animal can risk a fight it potentially could lose. So the chances are we would never even see our fictional pack running over Rannoch Moor.

“You would hear them though,” Crumley added, “a wolf howl carries 5 to 6 miles, but very rarely would you see a wolf.”

It is important to remember that we have built the legend around the wolf. Any image we have of wolves as animals that kill for the joy of killing is one we have made ourselves. But perhaps that image can be unmade by learning more about these creatures as individuals?

In his book The Last Wolf, Crumley relates the tale of Number 14, one of the female wolves at Yellowstone National Park. Number 14 had a mate, Old Blue, who lived to be 12 years old (average lifespan is 3 – 4 years). From Old Blue, Number 14 had learned all she needed to know about the wild and survival.

Old Blue died after they had one last litter.

Rather than stay with her pups within the safety of the pack’s territory, Number 14 vanished into an inhospitable snowscape. All attempts to track her failed until one day she reappeared with the rest of her family and pack.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 45

WILDLIFE

“When everything else is at its weakest the wolf is strong.”

Wolf pack in a Norwegian forest

Centuries of bad feeling cannot be erased Her behaviour was bizarre – apparently overnight; it will take time to change public alpha females never leave their young. This strange incident led to speculation that Number perception, which frustrates those who believe the wolf belongs on Scottish soil.

14 was in mourning for Old Blue. We will never The covert reintroduction of the beaver know but this paints a more humane picture of (discussed in our pilot issue) is forcing human the predator we have learned to fear. and beaver to coexist side by side. Had we Against the odds Number 14 returned, gone through the planned bureaucratic eventually leading the pack to new food sources and winning new territory. This territory process we may still be debating whether or not reintroducing beavers is a good idea. was harsh in wintertime but under Number The growth of the beaver population 14’s guidance the pack prospered. has left a dent in human ego – try as “When everything else is at its we might we cannot control nature. weakest the wolf is strong,” Were the wolf population to Crumley explained. Before I undergo a similar growth, the fear could stop myself the image of that we cannot control large the wolves from Jack London’s predators prowling our woodland White Fang came to mind – may stir up old prejudices which canny, fearsome creatures built to rum would be problematic to a successful withstand winter. This incredibly Jim C reintroduction. resilient, adaptive animal It would be harder to slip a perhaps contributes to its own “WITHOUT THE wolf through the back door. myth by its very charm and Beavers at worst are a elusiveness.

WOLF NOTHING nuisance but when a wolf kills IN NATURE a sheep, the implications are Ingrained image MAKES SENSE.” much greater.

How can we move past this JIM CRUMLEY image of the big, bad wolf? The wolf as evil is ingrained in our Ecological argument psyche. It was our ancestors who wiped them Yet there are compelling reasons for bringing out of Scotland around 200 years ago after all. back the wolf if we can put centuries of ill will Over three centuries our hatred of the wolf aside and consider them. Imagining how resulted in widespread persecution. In Europe wolves might change the ecological and wolves were killed by any means possible from economic make-up of Highland Perthshire for shooting and poisoning to more barbaric the better might help us realise the enormous methods which included dismembering, benefit these creatures can bring to our area burning alive and, for good measure, sewing and the rest of Scotland. closed their muzzles and genitals. Do we then For a start wolves would not be set loose have a moral and ethical duty to bring back on the Scottish Highlands. I was fascinated by the species we had a hand in exterminating? an idea of Crumley’s to create a new national

ley

46

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

park to house the wolves. This would cover a large area of mixed habitats and sparse human population.

His suggestion is to locate this park in Central Scotland, with Rannoch Moor forming a key boundary. This would allow people to feel more connected to the wolves than if they were tucked away up in Sutherland or on one of the islands, for instance.

The ‘wolf of Rannoch Moor’ would be one of several, up to four packs in fact. And, in a decade or so, Rannoch Moor would have transformed into Rannoch Forest, a thriving ecosystem repopulated with species not seen in Scotland for many years.

The wilderness of Scotland, rugged and beautiful though it may be, is not living up to its potential. Currently, humans try to fulfil the role of apex predator and frankly we do a terrible job. The red deer population is out of control, decimating our wild flora and with no cohesive deer management strategies in place the overpopulation of deer remains an issue and an obstacle to biodiversity.

Introduce the wolf and suddenly things fall into place. Deer, the wolf’s natural prey, would start to think like deer again, grazing in more sheltered places where they are less of an easy target. This in turn encourages diversity, helping to regenerate the Caledonian pine forest and affording more food and shelter for birds and all manner of creatures.

A wolf’s kill will also provide food for scavenging animals such as ravens, birds of prey, foxes and pine martens. This cascade effect could even give a boost to dwindling species such as the wild cat.

Sounds like fantasy? This effect has already been witnessed at Yellowstone National Park,

WILDLIFE

Rannoch Moor – A park for wolves?

A keeper at Langedrag Nature park at Nesbyen

Wyoming. Six years on from introducing wolves, a dramatic change in the landscape occurred. Wolves are what experts term ‘keystone’ species due to the positive knock-on effect they have on their surrounding environment. Studies discovered that at least 12 scavenger species benefited from a wolf’s kill.

Undoubtedly one of the key benefits was the behavioural change that wolves effected on ungulates (that’s deer, to you and me), changing their foraging patterns due to fear of predation. In short, since the wolves arrived, Yellowstone has experienced a ‘trophic cascade’.

Elk and deer changed their foraging patterns as a reaction to the wolves, and this in turn enhanced the growth of plants and trees which provided shelter for migratory birds. It enhanced root strength along streambeds which afforded better building sources for beavers, with the resultant beaver dams creating deep ponds, which supported all manner of aquatic life. As Crumley put it, “wolves feed many mouths.”

It is difficult to overstate the positive ecological impact of reintroducing the wolf. The effects seen at Yellowstone could be replicated in Scotland – so what’s stopping us?

Threat to people and livestock

However, the first sheep or pet dog to be found dead as a result of a wolf attack will cause resentment and fear. It is important to understand that this will happen. At some stage, yes, a wolf will take a sheep or lamb.

But other countries – France, Norway, Italy, are going some way to mitigate this.

Compensation is one route, however this has done little to improve negative attitudes

towards wolves and does not solve the underlying issue. To ensure successful reintroduction local people must fully participate and support the wolf – we must adapt too.

One method is changing the way livestock are managed. We could see an interesting turn of events where ancient professions, such as shepherding, become an essential part of our rural landscape. Dogs bred to protect livestock and fend off wolves (the Irish wolf hound, for instance) would again be used for the purpose they were originally bred for.

Or perhaps the sheep could get with the 21st century and text the farmer to warn of impending danger. Not so crazy as it turns out – a Swiss biologist has developed a collar which monitors the heart rate of sheep. The collar will then send an alert to the shepherd when the sheep’s heart rate has become unnaturally high for a long period (usually when a wolf is in the vicinity).

This brilliant blend of old profession and modern technology is a shining example of how we might overcome prejudices of the past and live peaceably with large predators.

It is also important to note that the Indian wolf is a completely separate species to the Grey Wolf. Families in the UK probably have more to fear from being attacked by their own pets with hospital admissions for injuries caused by dogs having risen to 76% in the last year.

The general consensus is that, save for a few rogue attacks, very few humans in recent years have been attacked by healthy wolves – only two attacks in the 21st century in all of North America. Wolves are hardwired to hunt deer and humans have little to fear.

Coexisting

So, we have our wolf pack running around Rannoch Forest, keeping the deer under control, creating jobs for humans and dogs, and building a thriving ecosystem. With a little education, adaptation and ingenuity human and wolf will have learned to coexist. What more could you want? How about a boost to the economy?

It turns out there is such a thing as “wolf tourism” and it could bring Scotland millions. There are already “beaver friendly” lodges, so imagine how many more tourists could be attracted to Scotland by the prospect of hearing wild wolves from their B&B getaway Walkers welcome at Bridge of Gaur?

Will ramblers now fear for In other places like their lives and think twice “THIS INCREDIBLY North America and before heading into wolf RESILIENT, ADAPTIVE Scandinavia, ‘charismatic’ territory? I asked Jim ANIMAL PERHAPS species such as the wolf, Crumley if this national park CONTRIBUTES TO ITS lynx and bears have proven for wolves would have room OWN MYTH BY ITS to be an attraction to for people too, walkers and visitors rather than scaring cyclists being an important VERY CHARM AND tourists away. Wolf-related element of the Highland ELUSIVENESS. tourism brings in $355 Perthshire diaspora. million to Wyoming, Idaho The answer was an and Montana as a result of the wolves at emphatic yes. In fact people would be Yellowstone. There are also wolf education and encouraged to walk all over the national park. conservation courses and wolf-watching tours.

As mentioned previously, the wolf preying Such activities around Yellowstone have on people – like the Liam Neeson blockbuster, brought in around $5 million and that figure is ‘The Grey’ – is somewhat of a myth. The only growing. country where there is conflict between wolves Wolves in Highland Perthshire can only and people is India where reports have surfaced become a reality if there is a sea-change, not of children being taken by wolves. Some of only in public opinion but also in the hearts and these reports have been widely exaggerated; minds of landowners and farmers who would one claiming a bridal party of 130 people was have to be won over. Centuries of fear and savaged by packs of ferocious wolves. prejudice are still stacked against the wolf, so Where there do seem to be valid instances can it be done? Crumley said we will only of wolves attacking people, many factors come understand the wolf by living with it. “The best into play; India’s dense population means that teachers are the wolves themselves.” wolves and humans live in closer proximity to one another causing the wolf to lose its natural shyness towards humans.

The Heartlander is eager to receive alternative Food for the wolf is also scarcer, leading it to views on this issue. Please email or write to scavenge closer to areas inhabited by humans. the Editor.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 47

BUSINESS

tells the story Developer Craig Henderson aan Development behind his ambitious River Br

View from road of part of proposed complex

The

AMULREE

eartlander readers may have noticed The Amulree Hotel south of Aberfeldy on the road to Crieff has been repainted and repaired; the dilapidated stable yard has been stabilised and a contractor’s compound erected.

Our consultants are now working on warrant applications with Perth & Kinross Council for a second phase of our River Braan Development. By November 2016, my company, Dew North, will deliver a refurbished eight-bedroom inn and restaurant, six residential Houses and three commercial units.

But the buildings are not the real story; its what goes into them that is far more interesting… and also the journey that has taken us to this point, and will drive us onwards.

Since 2008 the Amulree Hotel has sat vacant like so many hotels and guest houses in Perthshire: Victims of factors such as declining demand, inappropriate positioning, poor access to credit, sky-high running costs and a recession that even now refuses to truly dissolve.

These factors are important, but it has not been solely our deductive reasoning that led to a planning application, planning approval and project kick off. It was something more; it was the feel of this place; the vibrancy of Perthshire people, our creativity, tenacity and genuine warmth coupled with… good old human self-interest.

H

Catch 22

My parents bought the Amulree Hotel in early 2004 and moved in with my grandmother. They ran it for three years and 48

experiment then continued to run the business as a B&B for a further 12 months.

Towards the end of 2008, I started initial drafts of what would become the successful planning application for the ‘River Braan Development’ and also started to work on a business mix with which to anchor this five-phase development (just like any shopping centre or mixed use development I had worked on).

All I knew was that I needed to conceptually lift the hotel and its grounds and make it productive once again, and help my parents realise their own dreams unfettered by the Catch 22 the hotel had become.

As my grandmother became very Ill, and the recession bit, my father was pulled overseas to serve with HM forces in which he had been an officer. It was decided to mothball the building, drain down the pipework and put the hotel on the market.

It received some interest but it was the recession, and no one was buying… In late 2013, a potential sale trucked on for over a year with no discernible end in sight.

At that point I decided to raise some investment and sell one of my houses in order to deliver the first two phases of our development and significantly change the financial complexion.

The River Braan Development has been designed to appeal to those with a deeply rooted desire to experience both the tranquillity and excitement of rural Perthshire. We want

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

visitors to explore this country’s beauty and to experience Perthshire’s outdoor pursuits, and hidden gems (its landscape and its people) And we want them to immerse themselves in the vibrant creative culture and fascinating history of the area. In short, we are planning a development that will appeal to a new generation of ‘Perthshire Pioneers’.

The original Perthshire Pioneers were crofters driven from their tenant farms in the highland clearances. Some 500 people were cleared from Amulree, Glen Quaich, the Sma’ Glen and re-settled in Canada. To this day there is a province called Amulree in Canada.

People with passion

We now want to attract people like them who possess a broad range of skills, coupled with an enjoyment and passion in acquiring new ones.

People who resonate with the need to create a viable way of living, working, and relaxing, that not only generates a comfortable income, but harnesses the power of technology and innovation to realise, and bring into being a profitable and stable lifestyle for themselves and their loved ones.

Dew North will deliver a beautiful, eightbedroom (4 Star) rural inn and restaurant hosting events of up to 120 people, exemplar housing for short lease and holiday let, and long lease commercial units. All this will be within the curtilage of our 2.7 acre rural riverfront site.

The development focuses heavily on interdependent, mutual self-interest. This

BUSINESS

Aerial plan

Hotel front view

Work begins on renovation

Thinking and upbringing As an Army brat, my brother Colin and I changed schools every 18 months or so, moving to England, Northern Ireland, around Scotland, and laterally to Germany.

By the age of nine it was decided that educational stability was required and as such I became a pupil at Queen Victoria School, a military boarding school for the sons of Scottish soldiers, sailors and airmen, in Dunblane. This was my first introduction to Perthshire and left an indelible mark on me.

My teachers there helped me evolve my creative side, a side that would eventually take me to university, into the Territorial Army as a Royal Engineers officer and then on to London.

I have lived and worked there for 18 years, first doing retail design for the likes of River Island and HM Samuel, and then I moved on to Lewis & Hickey Architects designing and delivering stores and buildings for UGG, Hard Rock Café, Marks & Spencer and many others.

Latterly it has been residential complexes and mixed-use shopping developments in the UK and China and 30 months ago I left to join a developer handling planning applications and project management for high-spec residential properties in places like Notting Hill Gate and Wembley. It is all this experience that has helped me identify what will work in Amulree.

means that each business will feed and support neighbouring businesses while benefiting from lower running costs because of higher than required building standards and cheaper utilities.

Close-knit

We have a close-knit, five man construction team on site for the job, each team member having been selected for their unique set of skills. Our foreman Jason is a creative Canadian experienced in fine carpentry, timber frame construction, landscaping and project planning.

Our general builder Jim is a steady Yorkshire man who brings a wide gamut of building experience from groundworks, masonry, joinery and roofing. John (a shrewd Dundonian) is experienced in demolition and security, and last

Amulree Hotel was once a popular spot for motorists Stableyard from side

but not least is Matt, a homegrown Aberfeldy man, specialises in below ground drainage, foundations, landscaping and hydropower.

Our consultants, legal team, subcontractors and suppliers are from Highland Perthshire. We have specialist suppliers from as far afield as Germany and the USA but generally our belief is that by investing in the local economy we build relationships, forge alliances and give a generation of ‘New Pioneers’ the circumstances for their own ‘starts’. After all life is reciprocal and circular in many respects.

as the proposal for an interpretation centre, details of which will be announced later.

The hotel will have a soft opening in November next year in order to iron out any snagging and operational issues, and to allow the business hub to evolve and bed in. A formal opening is scheduled for March 2017 when the site will be 60% fully occupied. We are confident the enterprise will result in a resilient local business and commercial hub that acts as a destination for users, and a sales point for local businesses.

All life is an “WE ARE CONFIDENT experiment; in fact Galvanising self THAT THE ENTERPRISE maybe the greatest interest WILL RESULT IN A For me, I strongly feel that the RESILIENT LOCAL BUSINESS experiment. building is simply just establishment of a AND COMMERCIAL HUB.” the start of the business hub in process… it’s what Amulree will enhance evolves concurrently and what happens next the profile of small businesses in this area. that makes the future worth living.

Therefore we will make available two Dew North is searching for the suitable commercial units for long lease. individuals and companies to run their It is our belief that by giving a centralised own enterprises within the development. ‘beating heart’ to receptive businesses in the These will be people with creative drive Amulree area that we will increase prosperity, and determination that realise self Interest promote the area and her businesses, and isn’t a bad thing if tempered with ethos increase footfall. and empathy.

Initially the local reaction to the planning For we believe a balance of these was a little negative; with some quite terse qualities make the engine by which we can letters sent as objections to P&KC. However all, in our own ways, make a difference. To this is a natural reaction to most planning quote one of my favourite movies, ‘The applications. Gentle support grew once valid Shawshank Redemption’: “Get busy living or concerns about the look and feel of the get busy dying”. proposal and issues about natural resources such as water were addressed.

Before submission of the final application, Craig may be contacted on we conducted a presentation at the Amulree beamulree@rocketmail.com.

Village Hall, where we discussed the project and the proposed business structure as well www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 49

50%F OF ADVERTISING!

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Q&&A

Our Gardening Guru, Lennox Lindsay, answers local plant queries.

Send your green questions to: editor@heartlander.org.uk

Rowan tree “Joseph Rock”

Acer “Crimson King”

Jobs for December The usual excuse for idleness at this time of year is that the soil is too sodden and, anyway, why does anyone want to go out and dig in the frost? A little light weeding to pull out the dandelions may be sufficient outdoor work for most of us.

But there is plenty to do indoors.

Plan, plan, plan is the ideal thing to do in December. Take a fresh look at the vegetable garden and sort out the rotation: LEGUMES, ONIONS, ROOTS, followed by BRASSICAS, followed by POTATOES, followed

by LEGUMES, ONIONS and ROOTS and so on.

What trees?

Q

I have recently moved up to Perthshire from the south of England and wish to plant some trees in my new – as yet uncultivated – garden. What do you suggest for this part of the country?

a

The beauty of trees is that you get both height and colour, so take shape and size into account when you are planning where to put your trees.

This year has seen autumn colours that have been magnificent, especially the beech trees. If you have acres of ground, then buy them for the next generation: beech, birch, chestnut, larch, noble fir even sequoias, but only if you have space.

If your garden is of a more modest size, you will need to look for smaller trees, and my first recommendation would be a Scottish native which produces good autumn colour in its berries – you have the choice of red, yellow, white and pink and even white with purple spots. I am talking about rowans.

Sweet peas

Q a

I have grown sweet peas in the same spot for several years. Is this recommended or is it better to grow them somewhere else?

The general consensus is that it is perfectly safe to grow the sweet peas in the same place year after year.

The only requirement is that you feed them generously. Bone meal or fish, blood and bone is generally recommended, three or four handfuls per square metre plus liberal amounts of well rotted farmyard manure or compost.

There is a lovely one called “Joseph Rock” which produces clusters of golden berries (see photo). It is just a small tree and it provides good leaf colour from spring till late autumn.

Many of the birches (Betula) remain small enough for the garden and also Prunus (Cherry) and Malus (Apple) species should be considered.

Tourists travel across the Atlantic to admire the autumn display of maples in New England, but you can enjoy the same visual thrill at home in your own garden if you choose an Acer (“Crimson King” is a real show stopper).

Cotoneaster is an easy one to grow and produces lovely arching branches laden with red berries which the birds appreciate. Sambucus nigra is an attractive small tree with pale pink blossom and dark, almost black, leaves.

It is difficult to make a choice but most of those mentioned above will grow in any situation and in any type of soil.

Sweet peas

The idea is to limit the incursion of diseases and to reduce the demands upon the soil. Once the rotation is planned, the seed order can be prepared.

Potatoes can be started off chitting (sprouting) in a cool place as soon as they are purchased. Place them, ‘eyes’ uppermost, (egg trays make ideal containers for this job) in a frost free site and expose them to the light. Prepare the veg plot for spring planting by digging in manure now. Both potatoes and legumes will benefit from this, but if manure is in short supply give it to the tatties.

Roses and trees If you can get outside, there are some jobs which are best done during the winter months. Now is the time to plant bare root roses and trees and any fruit bushes that need to be replaced.

Strawberries and raspberries may seem to go on forever but they should be replaced at regular intervals, as the chances are that they will have mosaic or some other disease and will not grow and produce their full potential.

If quality and quantity have disappointed this year, then it is time to remove the old plants and start again. If there is frost in the soil please just keep the new plants damp and protected until the weather improves.

Any plant or shrub that needs to be relocated can be moved now and, although success is not guaranteed, it is best to do it when the leaves are off.

Again, avoid frosty conditions.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015

51

PEOPLE

BLOOMING MARVELLOUS

Roger West lives in the Pitlochry area

Willie Whitton at the War Memorial

whether he was alive until the notorious traitor and Nazi propagandist William Joyce (aka Lord Haw-Haw) included his name with those of several other captured allied soldiers in a mocking broadcast to Britain.

joy around the town War veteran has propagated

By Roger West

clothes alighted itlochry always looks attractive, to get some especially in summer when the fresh air. flowerbeds, hanging baskets and When Willie planters are bedecked with challenged colourful flowers and shrubs. The people them, they told who live and work here should be justifiably him the Prime proud of this display, and none more so than Willie in Minister was 91-year-old William Whitton, a retired plumber uniform age 19 asleep on the now living in Sunnybrae in Atholl Road. train, and they Willie was one of the founding members of were his bodyguards.

Pitlochry in Bloom, which began after Perth & The great war leader was on the way Kinross Council became concerned at the drab to Orkney to review appearance of many of its naval defences – the so towns. The original “THE PEOPLE WHO called Churchill Barriers objective of the group LIVE AND WORK HERE which were designed to was to clean things up SHOULD BE JUSTIFIABLY a repetition of and encourage the PROUD OF THIS DISPLAY, prevent the disastrous sinking of upgrading of private AND NONE MORE SO the “Royal Oak” in Scapa gardens. It was only later THAN 91-YEAR-OLD Flow by a German it concerned itself with WILLIAM WHITTON.” U-boat in 1940. planting flowers and After recovering from hanging baskets. appendicitis, Willie joined the Black Watch and Willie was born in Lower Oakfield Road in was first stationed in Barrow in Furness before 1924 and trained and worked as a plumber being sent out with the 1st Battalion London until he was called up in 1943. His recruitment Scottish regiment to North Africa where the was delayed by 6 months because Willie had Germans were on the point of surrender. to have his appendix removed but, in the He then took part in the Italian campaign meantime, he joined the Home Guard. and was part of the invasion force which landed at Anzio. He was captured in a village Churchill and was sent to a POW camp in Sagan in One of his duties was to guard the petrol store Poland where he remained until almost the end situated near the railway arch in Rie-Achan of the war. His family had been informed that Road. One cold night a train stopped to take on more water and several burly men in civilian he was missing in action and did not know

P

Forced labour

The Sagan prisoners were forced to work for up to twelve hours a day. The German economy was collapsing, food was very poor, and only Red Cross parcels kept prisoners alive.

By the winter of 1944/5, with the Russian army approaching, the prisoners, including Willie, were made to walk 500 miles to Hanover. Many died of cold and hunger on what became known as the Long March, and others were shot by the roadside.

Although he had lost a lot of weight, Willie eventually reached Antwerp, and was flown back to England in a Stirling Bomber.

In 1947 he returned to Pitlochry and resumed his plumbing career. He married Jessie Whannell in 1950 and they had one son.

Few of us who were born after the war can appreciate how much the lives of Willie’s generation were dominated by it.

A photograph shows Willie at the War Memorial, which includes the names of his two Fraser uncles killed in the First World War. He also lost three friends in the WW2 including his best friend, Victor Smith who was killed at the battle of Monte Cassino in Italy.

Yet Willie always looks cheerful and has won several Pitlochry in Bloom awards.

Fittingly, he received a particularly poignant trophy in 2005 from Lady Jane Grosvenor on behalf of the Royal British Legion for work at the War Memorial.

This is surely a life of great achievement for a man born and bred in this quiet Perthshire town. Thanks to the vision shown by Willie Whitton and many others in the early 1990’s, Pitlochry is no longer a drab little town, but instead is bursting with colour. www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 53

VIEWS News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Send your letters to editor@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

ATTRACTIVE – BUT BE LESS NEGATIVE Margaret. H. Yearsley, Aberfeldy

Kate West, Pitlochry

Don’t dual our bit of A9!

In her excellent article about the dualling of the A9, Fiona Somerled writes that, “meetings organised

by Transport Scotland… have been sparsely attended.” I think the reason for this is that Pitlochry people are naturally sceptical about such meetings.

When the question of the development of the Bank House site in Pitlochry was being considered three years ago, the views expressed by local people were mostly ignored by Perth & Kinross Council who were determined to grant planning permission regardless of how the people of Pitlochry felt about the issue.

Personally I do not think that the A9 should be dualled at any cost, and consideration should be given to starting the dualling north of Pitlochry or preferably north of Blair Atholl.

This would leave intact the beautiful pass near Dunkeld and the area around Loch Faskally which is now the location of the highly successful Enchanted Forest event in the autumn. As well as being a major attraction this is such a lovely area for people to walk about and enjoy all the year round.

Dualling the A9 north of Blair Atholl as far as Inverness would be less disruptive and not as harmful to the environment because it has already been partially spoilt by those massive electric pylons and the roads leading up to them.

54

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

November’s issue of The Heartlander is a very attractive and well-produced publication. However – there is always a ‘however’ – I do feel that a significant proportion of the articles present a somewhat negative view of our area.

There are articles on the problems faced by the Birks Cinema, the potential loss of the Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital, the possible demise of the Etape Cycle race, a perceived threat to the Enchanted Forest from the A9 widening, the difficulties faced by the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and the lack of funding for our native woodland.

Now I am aware that the publication is intended as a forum for public debate, and I welcome it as such, but I would ask that consideration be given to at least some of the many success stories current in our area.

For example there is the continuing success of the monthly markets in Aberfeldy and at Logerait, the opening of new businesses in Aberfeldy, the benefits to local business concerns given by events such as the Christmas Markets and the Perthshire Amber

Festival. All these are well supported by local people and visitors alike.

It may be that we are, as a community, better at negative criticism than praise, but I feel that an overload of stories of doom and gloom does not present either an accurate or a welcoming picture of a community whose success depends on attracting people to our area.

You quote John Swinney’s remarks at the launch of the Heartlander: “From the perspective of the many thousands and thousands of people who come to visit this area at different times of the year, it’s another window, another way of expressing some of the character and identity of this locality in a most formidable and attractive way.”

I would ask that such a potentially excellent publication should present to those visitors and to the local population, a more balanced view of life in Highland Perthshire, the good and bad, the problems and benefits that our community experiences.

ROADWORKS WRECK LOCAL TRADE Bill Muntus, Aberfeldy

I feel compelled to write to you regarding the thoughtlessness of Perth and Kinross Council.

Perthshire is a beautiful county especially at this time of year with the autumn colours brightening up even the dullest day.

To celebrate the end of the holiday season, the local traders get together and plan events to boost their income by attracting tourists for the last week of the season – by holding the Tayfest,

followed by the Aberfeldy Festival for example.

So what did Perth And Kinross Council decide to do? They decided to close off Bank Street, the main thoroughfare of Aberfeldy, to resurface the road.

Not only did this inconvenience our visitors, the local traders and residents of the town, but they also put parking restrictions on all the roads in the area, therefore making visiting the shops even more inconvenient.

Whilst I know repairs must be done, but if the council had looked at their own website when planning their actions they would have seen Tayfest advertised as an upcoming event and could have arranged the repairs for a less busy time.

This confirms my suspicions that the council directors still don’t know what Aberfeldy and surrounding district is all about.

LETTERS

“...The views expressed by local people were mostly ignored by Perth & Kinross Council who were determined to grant planning permission regardless of how the people of Pitlochry felt about the issue.”

LET’S DISCUSS MOMENTOUS CHANGES

MINE IS STILL A PROBLEM John Fry, Logierait

Kate MacRitchie, Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP)

I would like to say how much I sympathised with Helen Evan’s comments which appeared in the summer pilot edition of The Heartlander under the title MINE’S A PROBLEM. Her letter concerning the proposed new Barite mine at Duntanlich in the hills above Dunfalandy set out very succinctly the debate surrounding the location of the

There is much concern about current out-of-hours services and integrating health and social care. As part of our commitment to social welfare, a meeting is being organised by Cllr Kate Howie on the 9th December at 7.30 at Mid Atholl Hall in Ballinluig. NHS Tayside and other members of medical services have been invited by Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership to come along and discuss the existing provision and any future plans.

The meeting will be hosted by HPCP Chairman, Graham Huggins, who would welcome any suggestions from the public on topics to be covered. We want these to be relevant and so would appreciate specific topics rather than general concerns.

If it proves beneficial then follow up meetings will be organised for the New Year.

This is an opportunity for us to become more involved in setting the agenda for the momentous changes coming into our lives.

crushing plant, and the choice of routes for a new extraction road which would be needed to give access to the A 9.

Many residents on the Logierait side of the hill share Helen Evan’s concerns. Let’s hope they are taken into account when a formal planning application for the Duntanlich development is submitted to P and K Council.

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oom Showr soon OPEN We’re ready to supply and install stoves of all ranges. We can design, from start to finish, all you’ll need for your installation. From just a change of stove to completely new systems.

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56

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

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COMPETITION

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Our fabulous Heartlander competition

!

N I W

The Heartlander is aiming to be read in every corner of the world via its online and print subscriptions. And now readers can show everyone just how far-out and far-flung that can be. Send us a picture of someone reading the magazine in an unusual spot or in unusual circumstances and we will publish the best. And the very best of all will win the super prize of a large box of chocolates from Iain Burnett – the Highland Chocolatier.

We start the ball rolling with three that have already arrived.

The mean man on his horse is not reading our pilot issue in the American wild-west. It is Jack Ryan, grandson of our regular contributor Fran Gillespie, and he is saddled up by a line of gum trees in the Australian outback where his family farm 5000 cattle. He donned his acubra hat and his ‘dryzabone’ coat to look ‘typically’ Australian - but he is only just 15!

And these two pipers were pictured during a competition break at Aberfeldy Show. The sun didn’t shine very much but look how pleased these guys are with the very first issue of The Heartlander which was circulated free throughout Highland Perthshire as part of our initial promotion.

Sunny and carefree - ‘notre dame’ is another contributor, Kate MacRitchie, on a trip this summer to Quasimodo’s famous cathedral on the Île de la Cité in Paris. Kate also works for Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership and lives in Blairgowrie.

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 57

BECOMING A SUBSCRIBER

MAKES THE PERFECT GIFT! Every month The Heartlander will be on sale in shops in and around Highland Perthshire.

But you might want your own regular subscription – or give it to friends or relatives.

And a digital subscription is even cheaper – just £15 for twelve issues.

It couldn’t be easier. We will mail out the print edition as soon as it’s published. A year’s subscription costs only £30 including postage.

On publication day every month we will email a link that allows The Heartlander to be viewed online. Just one click gives access to our electronic publishing platform where the magazine can be read page by page exactly like the printed edition.

IT’S A GREAT WAY TO SUPPORT THIS PIONEERING COMMUNITY VENTURE Buying any of our subscription packages is easy.

Email, phone or mail us with your name, address and phone number and we’ll be in touch to arrange payment.

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX 01796 470222 admin@heartlander.org.uk

WHAT’S ON

HEARTLAND EVENTS

Send your event listing to admin@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

Tue 1 Dec

Santa has his day at Dunkeld

SWITCHING ON OF CHRISTMAS LIGHTS in the Square, Dunkeld.

Miniature wall mounted Christmas trees will line the streets of Dunkeld and Birnam. Dunkeld House Hilton will light fire baskets at its impressive entrance gates. Pupils from Royal Dunkeld Primary school sing carols and lead the switch on of the lights.

Tue 1 Dec SHOPS OPEN UNTIL 7:30PM in Dunkeld and Birnam.

Wed 2 Dec FREE GUIDED TOUR OF HIGHLAND TAY RETREAT AT TAYMOUTH CASTLE – see the luxury suites.

Booking essential 01887 830546 sales@highlandtayretreat.com

Wed 2 Dec IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS AT PITLOCHRY FESTIVAL THEATRE. 2pm matinee and 8pm evening performance.

Contact theatre for full listings 01796 484626.

Thu 3 Dec CHRISTMAS UPCYCLING WORKSHOP Grandtully Village Hall, 7.00pm-8.30pm. Ages 8+. FREE Booking essential 01738 475289.

FRI 4 DEC BIPS PRESENT FRACKED! A new comedy by Michael Fenty directed

by Bob Davidson at Birnam Institute 7:30pm. Tickets £8 from Birnam Arts 01350 727674. www.birnamarts.com.

Fri 4 Dec FESTIVE FROLICS @ THE WEEM INN, 8pm Aberfeldy: Blues & Roots Weekend with Paul Lamb & the King Snakes. To book call Peter on 07796 886899 or 01887 820381

Sat 5 Dec CHRISTMAS BAZAAR, Kinloch Rannoch Village Hall

Sat 5 Dec SWITCHING ON OF CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, Aberfeldy. Santa’s sleigh will make its way through the town, led by the pipe band.

Sat 5 Dec ABERFELDY CHRISTMAS MARKET 12-4pm- The Square, Aberfeldy

Sat 5 Dec BIPS PRESENT FRACKED! A new comedy by Michael Fenty directed

by Bob Davidson at Birnam Arts 7:30pm .Tickets £8 from Birnam Arts 01350 727674

Sat 5 Dec FESTIVE FROLICS @ THE WEEM INN, Aberfeldy: Blues & Roots Weekend with John Hunt. 8pm. To book call Peter on 07796 886899 or 01887 820381

Sun 6 Dec BOLSHOI BALLET LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS at Birks Cinema, 3pm Aberfeldy

Tue 8 Dec LATE SHOPPING IN DUNKELD AND BIRNAM UNTIL 7.30PM. Shops will offer a range of special events such as wine and cheese tasting or – on the night – discounts.

Tue 8 Dec UPCYCLING PROJECTS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS. Kinloch Rannoch Village Hall 7.00-8.30pm – All ages. Call 01738 475289 to book.

Wed 9 Dec UPCYCLING WORKSHOP: Recycled paper decorations, including using some paper making techniques, Breadalbane Community Campus, 7pm-8.30pm. FREE - Booking essential 01738 475289.

Fri 11 Dec FESTIVE FROLICS @ THE WEEM INN, ABERFELDY: Americana & Roots Weekend with Cera Impala & The New Prohibition. 8pm To book call Peter on 07796 886899 or 01887 820381

Sat 12 Dec

SANTA DAY IN DUNKELD AND BIRNAM! Toted as one of the best Christmas events in Scotland. Santa and his reindeer leave Birnam Hotel at 1pm, come over the bridge to Wed 9 Dec Dunkeld and arrive at Santa’s Grotto HPCP MEETING: discussion of health at the Drill Hall. All welcome to join parade. Children visit Santa’s Grotto service changes, Mid Atholl Hall, between 1.30pm-4.00pm Ballinluig, 7.30pm

Thu 10 Dec LEARN TO SAVE A LIFE WITH HEARTSTART, Helen Brady of NHS Tayside. Find out how to access and use the public defibrillators. Choice of two sessions, 1.45-3.45 or 3.45 to 6pm. No need to book. Held at Atholl Medical Centre, Pitlochry.

Thu 10 Dec ABERFELDY DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS PANTOMIME SNOW WHITE. Aberfeldy Town Hall, 7:30pm

Fri 11 Dec ABERFELDY DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS PANTOMIME SNOW WHITE. Aberfeldy Town Hall, 7:30pm

Sat 12 Dec DUNKELD & BIRNAM’S CHRISTMAS MARKET is full of wonderful crafts, gifts and local produce.

Hot refreshments available, including yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream.

11am-4pm.

Sat 12 Dec CHRISTMAS RAFFLE IN AID OF NEPAL – Georgetown Hall, Bridge of Gaur 7.30pm

Sat 12 Dec ABERFELDY DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS SNOW WHITE the pantomime in Aberfeldy Town Hall, 7:30pm

www.heartlander.org.uk • November 2015 59

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• Salon treatments or in the comfort of your own home, hotel or holiday accommodation • Gift vouchers - Special offers - Tailor-made packages • Pamper parties - Minimani parties - Weddings • Reliable. Professional. Fully insured.

Perfect Christmas gifts for friends and family.

Also available:

Reflexology and Indian Head Massage.

A relaxing way to help with a number of health issues.

To book or find out more, call:

Annette Macdonald IIR MAR T: 01887 820486 07736 384035 E: Enquiries@fernbankhouse.co.uk

Breadalbane Academy Christmas Concert Supported by

Aberfeldy & District Rotary Club Wednesday 16th December 7.00pm Breadalbane Community Campus Come along and enjoy an evening of festive entertainment from the pupils of Breadalbane Academy and the Aberfeldy Gaelic Choir.

Tickets: £2.50 (Available from Wade Newsagents & Breadalbane Community Campus)

All proceeds in aid of local and international charities

Email: info@rhinocatering.co.uk

PLANTS WITH PURPOSE

& APPLETREEMAN fruit trees: taking orders now!

Scottish & heritage varieties, home-grown in our Perthshire orchard using sustainable methods, ready BARE ROOT from NOVEMBER. We also sell useful and unusual plants, offer orchard skills training, forest garden workshops & horticultural consultancy.

For advice or to order, contact Margaret & Andrew Lear:

01738 787278/ email@plantsandapples.co.uk

www.plantsandapples.co.uk

WHAT’S ON

HEARTLAND EVENTS

Send your event listing to admin@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

Face to face Santa Day in Dunkeld

Sun 20 Dec ALL AGE SERVICE AT ABERFELDY PARISH CHURCH. 11.15am

Sun 20 Dec SANTA AT CASTLE MENZIES, £7 per child. Book on 01887 820982.

1pm-4.30pm

Sun 20 Dec FESTIVE MUSIC IN WATERMILL CAFÉ, Aberfeldy with Douglas Craik and Linda Dewar. Audience participation welcome - free to all.

2pm-3.30pm

Sun 20 Dec Sat 12 Dec PARTY NIGHT AT MONESS. Three course meal and dancing for £27 pp. To book, call 01887 822102.

Sat 12 Dec FESTIVE FROLICS @ THE WEEM INN, Aberfeldy: Americana & Roots Weekend with Cera Impala & The New Prohibition. 8pm. To book call Peter on 07796 886899 or 01887 820381

Sun 13 Dec SANTA COMES TO BLAIR CASTLE. 10am-3pm. Visit Santa in his magic grotto in one of the oldest parts of the castle. £7.50 per child, booking essential. 01796 481411.

Sun 13 Dec BOLSHOI BALLET CAPTURED LIVE - THE NUTCRACKER. 3pm, Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy

Sun 13 Dec ‘THE GREAT BEAUTY’ FILM 5.40pm. Heartland Film Society at Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy

Sun 13 Dec CAROL SERVICE 6pm. Foss Kirk (Kynachan Hall), Rannoch and Tummel

Sun 13 Dec BLAIR CASTLE, CHRISTMAS CAROLS WITH THE JAMBOUREE CHOIR FROM PERTH. Refreshments included, proceeds to Marie Curie.

7pm-8pm – Admission £10 adult, £5 child. Phone 01796 481207.

Tue 15 Dec LATE OPENING OF SHOPS IN DUNKELD AND BIRNAM UNTIL 7.30PM. Shops run special Christmas promotions.

Wed 16 Dec BREADALBANE CHRISTMAS CONCERT at Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy.

Tickets £2.50 from Wades Newsagent and Community Campus. 7pm

Wed 16 Dec COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING Kinloch Rannoch Village Hall 7.30pm

Thu 17 Dec FILM. STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS – on release at Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy. Showings from 11am including 3D. Full details from cinema.

Sat 19 Dec FILM HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2, Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy 10am

Sat 19 Dec PARTY NIGHT AT MONESS RESORT. Three course meal and dancing, £27pp. To book, call 01887 822102.

Sun 20 Dec NATIVITY SERVICE in Weem Church 10am

Sun 20 Dec SANTA COMES TO BLAIR CASTLE. Visit Santa in his magic grotto in one of the oldest parts of the castle. £7.50 per child, booking essential.

01796 481411. 10am-3pm

CANDLELIT SERVICE (Advent Praise) at Aberfeldy Parish Church.

6.30pm

Mon 21 Dec SANTA AT CASTLE MENZIES, £7 per child. Book on 01887 820982.

1pm-4.30pm

Mon 21 Dec TALK BY VICTOR CLEMENTS on Perthshire Native Woodlands.

Tryst, Church Street, Pitlochry. By Pitlochry and Highland Perthshire Scottish Wildlife Trust. 7.30pm

Tue 22 Dec SANTA AT CASTLE MENZIES, £7 per child. Book on 01887 820982.

1pm-4.30pm

Tue 22 Dec STORYTELLING. Children’s holiday story time – half an hour of festive and favourite stories for 4-7 year olds. Free. Watermill Café, Aberfeldy. 11am

Wed 23 Dec

Sun 27 Dec MORNING SERVICE (joint service) in Weem Church 10am -

Mon 28 Dec MUSIC, FREE. Dougie Law plays festive and traditional favourites in the Watermill Café, Aberfeldy 2.30pm.

Tue 29 Dec STORYTELLING, FREE. Children’s holiday story time – half an hour of festive and favourite stories for 4-7 year olds. Watermill, Aberfeldy 11am.

Tue 29 Dec FAMILY FESTIVE CEILIDH. Dance to the Galavanters at Fortingall Molteno Hall. Cash bar. Adults £7 at door. 8pm-12pm

Fri 1 Jan PITLOCHRY NEW YEAR STREET PARTY, 1-4pm. The main street is closed to traffic to make way for celebration. Free event.

Sun 3 Jan MORNING SERVICE (joint service) at Aberfeldy Parish Church 11.15am

Sat 16 Jan LIVE FROM THE MET: LES PECHEURS DE PERLES, at Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy 5:55pm

Fri 22 Jan RED SQUIRREL PROJECT by Ken Neil, Scottish Wildlife Trust. 7.30pm Aberfeldy Town Hall. Breadalbane Heritage Society.

Fri 22 Jan

MUSIC IN RANNOCH. The Clyde Duo, Yvonne Paterson (flute) and Sharon Griffiths (harp). Krumpholtz Vincent Persichetti, Nino Rota: Sonatas for flute and harp, Genin: Wed 23 Dec Carnival of Venice. Hamilton Harty: In Ireland, Eddie McGuire: Folk FILM IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE – film at Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy 8pm Memories in Autumn. 7.30pm at Old Church of Rannoch. Entrance £8 at Thu 24 Dec door. Refreshments during interval.

DOUGIE LAW plays festive and traditional favourites in Watermill Café, Aberfeldy. Free. 2.30pm

WATCHNIGHT SERVICE AT WEEM CHURCH. 8pm -

Thu 24 Dec

Sun 24 Jan BOLSHOI BALLET The Taming of the Shrew. Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy 3pm

WATCHNIGHT SERVICE at Aberfeldy Parish Church 11.30pm

Fri 25 Dec Christmas morning service (all ages) at Aberfeldy Parish Church 11am www.heartlander.org.uk • November 2015

61

December Gigs Friday 4th « Scott MacDonald

Singer/songwriter from Glasgow plays acoustic guitar & harmonica driven music.

Saturday 5th « GTs Boos Band

A blues-rock sound, similar to Gary Moore, at other times the sounds in the clubs of the Southside of Chicago & then again the Rhythm & Blues sound of the 60’s.

Friday 11th « Fozzie

At the heart of it all Fozzie is a one man music machine.

Saturday 12th « Surround

Surround are a professional cover band from Glasgow, performing a mix of classic songs and current chart hits.

Friday 18th « Charlie Gorman

Singer/songwriter from Glasgow and lead singer with King of Birds.

Saturday 19th « Red Pine Timber Co.

Old Mill favourites playing a mix of Americana & Country influenced originals.

Sunday 27th « Acoustic Butterf ly

Acoustic Butterfly create melting pot of styles & rhythms, catchy melodies & harmonies.

Hogmanay « Last Orders

[Ticketed Event]

A night not to be missed! Last Orders are our favourite Rock tribute act. They play a dynamic range of rock and pop songs from the likes of Bon Jovi and AC/DC to Katy Perry and The Black Eyed Peas.

New Years Day « Red Pine Timber Co.

After the Pitlochry street party, join us for a party like no other with Old Mill favourites playing an eclectic mix of Americana and Country influenced originals.

Music Starts at 9PM with FREE Admission unless indicated. Bands correct at time of print.

Festive Party Nights

Are you bored with the same old Christmas Night out? Why not do something different this year and head to the award-winning Old Mill Inn for great food, live music and lots of festive cheer!

3 Courses with all the trimmings - £22.95pp. Call 01796 474 020 to book.

The Old Mill Inn, Mill Lane, Pitlochry | T: 01796 474 020 www.oldmillevents.co.uk | www.theoldmillpitlochry.co.uk

SERVICES Old mobile library

DEALS ON WHEELS

By Fran Gillespie

rvices past and present A rundown of local mobile se

Scotland said that there’s no limit on the funds that customers can withdraw from their accounts, but there’s no Internet access on board so personal accounts cannot be accessed direct and, to withdraw funds, customers need to cash cheques or provide adequate ID, as cards cannot be used. Each van carries two members of staff.

Details of Bank of Scotland timetables are at: https://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/ accessibility/banking-options/mobile-branch.

RBS services are at: http://personal.rbs. co.uk/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/ mobile-branch/perth.html

‘The Fish Man’

For a place so far from the coast, Pitlochry and its surrounding areas are particularly wellYes, as long ago as 1921 a large Ford served with fresh fish, with Karl Young from van with sides that opened to reveal wooden Pittenweem coming by with his van on a oes the ‘man with the van’ still shelves of books trundled its way on solidWednesday, George from Arbroath on operate in Highland Perthshire? looking tyres through the cobbled streets and Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Some of us who are old enough up the glens of Highland Perthshire, carrying another fish van from Buckie on a Friday. can still recall the era when the some 900 titles.

Karl’s been in the business for 20 years butcher, baker and candlestick-maker all beat a The present mobile library service covers and sells shellfish and eggs as well as all kinds path to our doors. of fish, and will fulfil most requests if he can Not to mention the knife and scissor grinder 50,000 miles a year in rural Perthshire and Kinross and boasts no less than four specially – he’s even supplied shark steaks and frogs’ who showed up every so often with his wheel, designed and stylishly painted vehicles, legs on occasion! However he comments sadly and the travelling folk who sold heather each covering a different day and on the demise of the Scottish fishing fleet over pot scrubbers and simple turned route, and carrying not only books the last 30 years, and that few young people articles of wood. There was the but also CDs and DVDs. nowadays buy fresh fish. famous travelling bookseller, All Fish man David the ‘Speirin’ Scot, Alastair have Kirkwood from Anstruther Stevens, who in the 1950s “SOME OF US CAN STILL covers an area of Highland disabled toured to the remotest glens RECALL THE ERA WHEN Perthshire on a Friday, ramp from his base in Strathtay with THE BUTCHER, BAKER access, calling at Ballinluig, a parcel of volumes strapped AND CANDLESTICKoffer Aberfeldy, Kenmore, on the carrier at the back of his ish Ma extended Acharn, Fearnan, bicycle. His memory lives on in MAKER ALL BEAT A n, Pitlochry services to Fortingall, Keltneyburn, our house in the number of books PATH TO OUR DOORS.” people in Camserney and Dunkeld. on our shelves acquired from him by residential my father-in-law in Glen Lyon. homes and sheltered housing as Alas, those days are ‘The Lady Butcher’ well as schools, and 3G Wi-Fi is long gone.

The well-kent ‘lady butcher’ Ann Davidson currently being installed so Nowadays, those of us who operates a mobile sales service, calling every customers can access online live in remoter areas, or don’t Tuesday at Scone, Stormontfield, Ballinluig, services. Books, CDs and DVDs drive, are grateful for the Grandtully, Kenmore, Aberfeldy, Tummel can be borrowed from the van delivery services provided by Bridge and Kinloch Rannoch, and on and returned to one of the the main supermarkets in Perth Wednesdays at Bankfoot, Dunkeld, regular libraries and vice-versa. and also the Co-op. However, Pitlochry and Bridgend.

-A r e Full schedules of weekly or strictly speaking these are delivery Besides a range of meat and her own Butch fortnightly services are available on services, and very much not just the famous meat pies, Ann’s van carries eggs, the Council’s website: http://www.pkc. ‘man with the van’. bakery items, ready meals, juice and milk. gov.uk/mobilelibrary.

More details are available on http:// anndavidsonbutchers.co.uk but a word of Mobile Library advice: As with the fish vans, information on Scotland has a reputation as a seat of learning Travelling banks exact times and stopping places seems to and literacy, but nevertheless it comes as Both the Bank of Scotland and The Royal Bank be passed along by word of mouth. So if something of a surprise to discover that our of Scotland provide mobile branch services for you want to know how and where to track much-loved mobile library service will soon the more remote communities. them down, try asking a neighbour! celebrate its centenary – in 2021 to be exact!

A spokesperson for the Royal Bank of

F the Karl

nn Da vidson

Photo of Karl: Kate West; Photo of old 1921 library van: Local and Family History at the AK Bell Library; Photo of new library van: courtesy of Perth and Kinross Mobile Library Service

D

www.heartlander.org.uk • December 2015 63

SPORTS TALK

Send your team news and activities to admin@heartlander.org.uk or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 5BX

RUGBY FUN IN THE SUN

Hamish McBride is lyrical about a recent win It is midday on the first of November. Sun had dispelled mist and colours of autumn glow around the park.

Laurie Skeodas from Newtonmore turns up; he is the referee provided by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Aberfeldy team are out on the pitch warming up.

The crowd of local spectators come in dribbles, adding up to nearly a hundred. The committee of rugby has-beens (otherwise known as rugger-b.....s) are at the bar.

Bill Bruce is photographer and drags the players off for the team photo. All warmed up, the game starts.

Immediately Aberfeldy put in a skirmishing run with the back row and the backs linking to let Duncan Menzies score the first try.

The home team impress with their fitness and their improved rugby minds and positional play. Kintyre are unfortunately no match for them, and several tries are run in.

Lachlan Menzies scores twice, with others from Lewis Lambie, Hamish Brown, Bruce Blackley, Angus Broad, and a second from Duncan Menzies. Half time score is 54-0.

The second half is similar; another four tries to Aberfeldy and a consolation score for Kintyre. Full time showed 92-5.

The Aberfeldy team deserved the win; they did give away too many penalties though, in part due to over keenness and to steal ball in the scrum. Kintyre couldn’t capitalise on this; a better team might have made a lot of points!

HORSES FOR COURSES – AT DORCHESTER Yvonne Smith, of Aberfeldy, relives an equestrian triumph Two months ago an email arrived saying I had been nominated to be one of three candidates for the British Eventing Award at the Animal Health Trust’s Equestrian Awards in London on October 29th. I was very surprised partly because I had to quickly check what the awards actually meant.

The Animal Health Trust (AHT) promotes the science behind animal welfare, and runs these awards annually. They cover most equestrian disciplines – racing, dressage, eventing and show jumping, honouring and celebrating the very best in the horse world, and recognizing the highest equestrian achievements.

The Eventing Award went to Zara Phillips in 2005-6, Mary King in 2008, the GB gold medal eventing team in 2009, Mitsubishi Motors in 2011 for sponsorship, and the Olympic Eventing team in 2012.

It was quite a mixed bunch of riders and others connected with the sport, all recognised for their remarkable achievements in the sport. In my case, hard work! Not quite sure where I fitted into that picture, I accepted the nomination and headed to London in late October. The reception and dinner was at The Dorchester and it was an incredible night, black tie, a glamorous crowd of guests, champagne and a wonderful dinner with impeccable service. Wow, it didn’t matter if I won – the whole experience was fantastic.

I found I had been nominated by Alec Lochore, the Director of Blair Castle who said I was one of eventing’s hardest working and longest serving volunteers, running dressage phases, cross country timing, scoring and jump judging. I was gobsmacked! Was that really me?

To my huge surprise, I was announced as the winner. I really wondered what on earth a wee pensioner from Aberfeldy was doing walking across the floor of the ballroom to be presented with a silver salver.

All this was for doing a job I love, for a sport I love. Believe me, you can have a lot of fun volunteering, and you might end up at The Dorchester!

A marathon cheque presentation

A MARATHON ACHIEVEMENT The annual Highland Perthshire Run or Bike Marathon brought visitors from round the UK and further afield, and in its fourth year it now generates significant trade for accommodation providers and other Aberfeldy businesses.

Many competitors run to raise funds for their own charities. The marathon organisers, Aberfeldy Rotary, retain only the entry fees.

However, overheads are kept very low because this is truly a community event, with help and donations from numerous local organisations and individuals. This year a total of £13,500 was netted for the Club’s Charity Account.

64

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

This has enabled Rotary to donate £1000 to each of the following charities, all of whom manned water stations along the route: CRY, Maggies, CHAS and Air Ambulance – and to the Army Veterans and Inner Wheel who also helped to run the event.

Smaller cheques were given to the local Scouts, Breathe, Locus Breadalbane and Breadalbane Football Club. Remaining funds will be distributed to local and other charities during the course of the year.

Event Director Stuart Mcneish said, “This event could not possibly be mounted by the Rotary Club alone. We would like to extend

our heartfelt thanks to all in the community who so willingly contributed their time to make this event a success. And of course we thank our sponsors, whose generosity enables us to pass on so much to deserving causes.”

The organisers say now is the time to start training for next September’s marathon. highlandperthshiremarathon.co.uk.

OWN A SUITE INSIDE

TAYMOUTH CASTLE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY Now you can be one of a selected few to purchase a property inside the historic walls of Taymouth Castle.

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Contact us today for more information or to arrange your personal viewing trip.

T: 01887 830546

E: sales@taymouthcastlescotland.com A: Taymouth Castle, Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross PH15 2NT

SHOW SUITE NOW OPEN