Heartlander Pilot Issue

INSIDE »

The hills are alive! Fast internet is coming our way p36

Heartlander The

News & Views of Highland Perthshire

BEAVERS! SHOULD WE WELCOME THESE LITTLE FELLERS?

www.heartlander.org.uk

Summer 2015

YO MAGUR NE FRE AZIN W E E ISSUPILOT : E!

BUNGEE MAN Makes business an elastic success

HIGHLANDS OF OPPORTUNITY

John Swinney on our local economy

TAYMOUTH’S NEW MAN Can he bring the castle to life?

A NICE LITTLE EARNER? What councillors cost our community

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 1

WHY DOUGIE MACLEAN IS PASSIONATE ABOUT FOLK HIGHWAY HEADACHES – £3BN DUALLING OF A9 IS TOUGH TASK 19/06/2015 14:47

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 2

19/06/2015 14:47

WELCOME

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Highland Perthshire Media Limited, 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry, PH16 2BX Tel: 01796 470222 admin@heartlander.org.uk The Heartlander is published by Highland Perthshire Media Limited, a not-for-profit Registered Society.

Highland Perthshire Media Limited is a 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 2BX 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: £250 A4 half page: £200 A4 quarter page: £120 A4 eighth page: £75 Designed by Lucy Reid www.lucyreid.co.uk Printed by Warners Midlands plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs, PE10 9PH

Cindy Brook

Chairman, Highland Perthshire Media Ltd

Welcome aboard elcome to this special pilot issue of The Heartlander, a new magazine intended to champion news and views for the people of Highland Perthshire. We are supplying this introductory issue free of charge, to whet your appetite for what is to come, and also to gauge feedback.

We need to know what you’d like to see in future and welcome your opinion on how the magazine could be developed. In time, we plan to incorporate the magazine into a greater media hub, through which we can all share news, views, and ideas, and interact with each other, as well as with all tiers of government.

The Heartlander is produced by Highland Perthshire Media Ltd., a not for profit organisation. It is a social enterprise, meaning that any profits made will be used to enhance the quality of the magazine. It is supported by Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP), which encompasses the ten community councils, larger voluntary organisations and also businesses of Highland Perthshire. The HPCP offices in Pitlochry house The Heartlander, as well as the pioneering project to bring high speed broadband to Highland Perthshire.

Highland Perthshire owes much to the late Brendan Murphy MBE, a key figure responsible

W

for promoting its identity. For more than 30 years, Brendan published Comment magazine, and was one of the initial founders of Heartland FM, the longest running community radio station in the United Kingdom. When Comment ceased production last year, the area was left without an alternative to this widely read source of news, analysis and opinion.

Brendan’s achievements served to strengthen our sense of community in Highland Perthshire, and it is now important to build on that legacy. The aim of The Heartlander is to uplift everyone with the realisation that something CAN be done about local problems.

As one founding member put it: “The common, and usually despairing, cry of ‘Someone ought to do something’ should disappear, because we all, as individuals, can now take responsibility into our own hands.”

The Heartlander will provide the means to explore and explain the area’s social and economic potential.

Regular production will start this autumn, incorporating any changes highlighted from the pilot. This is a mark of our commitment to quality through continuous improvement.

Please let us know what you think of this pilot issue. You can email us, or write to us at the addresses listed here.

A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME Peter Hounam, Acting Editor The Heartlander is a news magazine with a kaleidoscope of aims. We would like it to do all the worthwhile things a good community magazine should – bringing people together, helping them understand what is happening around them, calling authority to account, and informing everyone of events and activities that enrich us all.

But, it has to be fun! It has to be entertaining and, now and again, it has to be controversial.

Visitors to the area may view our patch as a tranquil backwater. The reality though, is quite different; life here can be complex, and at times stressful. On occasion, issues and incidents can arise with the potential for aggravation, which, The Heartlander believes, are not in our common interest to ignore.

Feelings about issues are relieved when aired, and where better than in an open forum?

That said, it will always endeavour to be fair, airing all views, but also – crucially – avoiding any complaints or attacks of a personal nature.

This pilot issue gives a taste of the monthly magazine we intend to publish soon. It highlights the production standards we intend to set ourselves – lots of colour, great layouts, and good readability.

And it is deliberately interspersed with plentiful information about this project, and for a very good reason. This publication is our prime means of promoting The Heartlander as something really fresh and new. That’s why this issue is free – all 9,000 copies.

We hope it will inspire you to give us a helping hand – as a volunteer, as an over-thecounter buyer, as a regular subscriber to the print or digital editions, or as an advertiser.

Heartlanders! It can only be done with your support.

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 1

1

19/06/2015 14:47

CONTENTS

Send your news to editor@heartlander.org.uk

SUMMER 2015

or by mail to: The Editor, The Heartlander

IN THIS ISSUE 05 REACHING EVERY NOOK AND CRANNOG…

The Heartlander explains its vision to serve every corner of Highland Perthshire, and those elsewhere who love this area.

23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry PH16 2BX

32 BEAVERS AWAY!

09 ARISE TAYMOUTH CASTLE!

35 DEBATING POINT: A NICE LITTLE EARNER?

Open soon? We quiz the man who says it will, and examine some of the estate’s chequered story that has, so far, left some local people out of pocket.

13 SYMBOLS OF SUPPORT

A novel type of membership plan will help to fund The Heartlander and ensure it achieves a very high readership.

14 HIGHLANDS OF OPPORTUNITY

John Swinney looks at the economic prospects and opportunities for Highland Perthshire and the boost that new technology including broadband can provide.

Dougie MacLean and his wife Jenny on their ambitious plan to bring music to the mountains with their Perthshire Amber Festival.

Upheaval for Highland Perthshire lies ahead with multi-million pound improvements to the A9. Maxine Perella delves into the issues.

Driving a wider road through the Dunkeld and Birnam area is particularly tricky. We try to explain what answers are being looked at.

The unusual story of ‘Muzza’ Murray Trail, lover of the outdoor life, who helps people plummet for pleasure into the Garry Gorge.

26 DRIVING OVER HISTORY

Is a team armed with metal detectors enough if widening the A9 obliterates an ancient battleground?

27 CASTING FOR DRAMATIC EFFECTS

James Rattray tells the story of a famous local battle and how it is being vividly commemorated 326 years on.

Renowned singer-song writer Dougie MacLean and his wife and manager Jenny are to be patrons of The Heartlander and its umbrella organisation Highland Perthshire Media Ltd. They were invited to lend their support because of their close connections with this area, demonstrated by their successful staging of the Perthshire Amber Festival, now in its eleventh year. See page 16.

Dougie said, “I am delighted to support The Heartlander project as this area needs a strong, independent publication to address issues and encourage communities to work together, something our Festival also aims to do. I was impressed that people from all parts of its circulation area are being enthusiastically encouraged to get involved in its development – I think that will be crucial to its success.”

Jenny added: “A great deal of thought and effort has been put into the planning of this magazine in the hope that it can eventually be self-sustaining. As well as being inclusive this type of project has to be business-like, as that is how the world now works.”

Fiona Somerled celebrates the joys of our unique environment where outdoor activities know no bounds.

42 RETURN OF AN ANCIENT HEIRLOOM

Neil Hooper tells how the Glen Lyon’s Brooch, the size of a dinner plate, has returned to Perthshire.

43 FEEL GOOD FACTOR

Peter Hounam and Fiona Somerled explain the wide range of topics The Heartlander will be covering when it begins publishing regularly this autumn.

45 WHY THE HEARTLANDER MEANS BUSINESS

How our carefully formulated business plan shows we can, and will, break even in three years and thereafter become self-sustaining.

46 THE HEARTLANDER NEEDS HELP

This year the Festival Theatre in Pitlochry has a dazzling line-up of new and old talent. We look behind the scenes at what they’re planning.

30 KILLIECRANKIE TRAVELS BACK IN TIME

Jason O’Flynn charts the success of Heartland FM and explains how small is beautiful in local radio.

41 WILD ABOUT THE GREAT OUTDOORS

24 BUNGEE MAN

The section where readers air their point of view on hot topics, burning questions, thorny problems and tell us quirky stories.

50 TUNE IN – AND BE TURNED ON

22 HIGHWAY HEADACHES

Fast internet is coming to our area thanks to an ambitious local initiative.

Kate MacRitchie describes how it will transform our digital lives.

39 HEARTLAND VIEWS

20 FOUR LANES GOOD?

Should our councillors be paid to represent us? We look at what they cost us.

36 THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!

16 PASSIONATE ABOUT FOLK

2

Fran Gillespie charts the extraordinary growth in beaver numbers and argues we should welcome these little fellers.

Dougie and Jenny MacLean back The Heartlander

We can only succeed if the publication attracts wide support, and money is only part of the equation. We lay out how you can assist in this highly enjoyable enterprise.

48 SPORTS TALK

Our regular run-down on what sporting groups are doing in and around Highland Perthshire.

CHOCOLATE AWARD SUCCESS Iain Burnett – the Highland Chocolatier, which is based in Grandtully, has won four top accolades at the International Chocolate Awards in York. The company scooped two Golds for their Dark Velvet Truffle and their new Passion Fruit & Mango Velvet Truffle, and a silver award for the Raspberry & Black Pepper Velvet Truffle.

They now go forward to compete in the World Finals this autumn. The firm was also presented with a crystal trophy in the White Truffle Category for The Passion Fruit & Mango Velvet Truffle. Iain said, “This truffle is the result of a long search through 80 different fruits and recipes for the ultimate natural tang.”

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 2

19/06/2015 14:47

NEWS

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

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

NEWS in brief

SCREW ENERGY FROM THE TAY

Launch of New Museum

Work is due to start this summer in Strathtay on a pacesetting technique for extracting energy from fast flowing rivers.

An Archimedean screw turbine design will utilise the flow and power of water from a lade that is fed upstream from the River Tay. The weight of water will turn a turbine mechanism attached to a screw that is nearly two metres in diameter and deliver 250kW of power into the grid.

Unlike many other types of run-of-the-water turbines, fish can negotiate their way down the torrent without coming to harm.

The system is being built by Pitcastle Estate on the north bank of the river, opposite Grandtully’s Inn on the Tay hotel and restaurant, and close to the bridge joining the two villages. It will replace an old and unsightly concrete powerhouse that has long been derelict.

This was once fed by a lade flowing from quarter of a mile upstream but this will not be used for the new installation, which has already been granted permission for a new and larger waterway.

This is being dug out across a field and through woodland, requiring the demolition of a Victorian boathouse.

To access the site, permission has been sought to build a temporary road through fields from Strathtay village. One of the first tasks is for the old lade to be coffer-dammed to allow excavation work to begin immediately.

A new powerhouse, clad in wood, is to be built close to the turbine mechanism with tree planting.

Castle’s celebrity visit:

TV frontman Ant, on crutches because of a leg injury, his partner Dec, and their pal and fellow presenter Jonny Wilkes, recently visited Taymouth Castle at the invitation of the new operator Robin Barrasford, seen right. It was part of a major marketing drive to sell luxury bedroom suites in the castle’s east wing using a business model called fractional ownership – see lead story P9.

Mr Barrasford said finishing work on the east wing was going well: “We expect to begin events

CREATIVE SUCCESS: A team recently represented Aberfeldy’s bid for a Creative Places award at the 2015 national finals hosted by Creative Scotland in Falkirk on June 10. Their submission – combining a year-long programme of multi-faceted arts events in and around the town was ranked by Creative Scotland as being in the top three across Scotland in its category.

The ambitious proposal for Aberfeldy was highly praised by Creative Scotland as it “demonstrated a clear ambition to deliver a strong and diverse arts programme which was truly driven by the community,” and “a particular strength was the clear, collaborative approach to local community arts delivery.”

Pictured at the finals are the Aberfeldy submission’s co-ordinator Muriel Dunbar (right) and Anna Hepburn representing the Aberfeldy Drama Group.

in August with the reception rooms open. The first bedrooms will be completed in September and we should start wedding adverts next week.”

He said he also expected to open the golf course “relatively soon”: “Locals will definitely be able to play, although there may be restricted tee times when the hotel is fully open.”

He added, ”To be honest, I am torn regarding opening the golf course (too soon). It is stunning but needs a bit more time to be at a standard we will all be happy with. It now has sufficient funds being spent on it. The problem is, many people want it open yesterday!”

Aberfeldy marked the first step in creating a local museum when a First World War exhibition was officially opened in the library at Breadalbane Academy on June 11. Its theme was how the Great War deeply affected several local families. The ribbon was cut by Perthshire’s Provost Liz Grant, and pupils from the school provided appropriate music and poetry readings. The Aberfeldy Museum Group is now looking for permanent accommodation in the town.

Hi-tech Search For Treasure

The Scottish government is hiring a team with metal detectors to search for precious, historical artefacts before an area in Killecrankie is destroyed by the widening of the A9.

There is local disquiet that the new road will cut through the site of a famous Jacobite battle, and at the lack of consultation on details. See story p26.

Wifi For All

Parts of Highland Perthshire will no longer have to rely on connecting to the internet via their telephone lines when the initial phase of a pioneering new radio-based system is introduced this summer. It will deliver high speed broadband by area-wide wi-fi, transmitted from masts on hilltops. It is the first step in a project organized and run by Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership. It has negotiated funding for a network covering the whole of Highland Perthshire in due course. See p36.

Station Parking Saved?

The elimination of almost all car parking outside Dunkeld and Birnam Station when the A9 is widened may now be partially avoided if new plans currently being drawn up are adopted. The design contractor Jacobs told The Heartlander that one option would allow access to some spaces west of the tracks from the A822 via a proposed new junction. Another much more expensive option involves lowering the A9 carriageway and building a structure at ground level to link Station Road, with the station, as it did before the previous Birnam bypass was built. See story on A9 widening plans in that area, p22

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 3

3

19/06/2015 14:47

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 4

19/06/2015 14:47

Reaching every NOOKand CRANNOG The Heartlander will entertain and inform all of

us

Highland Perthshire is a colourful cobweb of scattered communities with many common interests, shared problems and an abundance of social and economic potential. It needs and deserves a vibrant, truthful and inclusive source of news, views, analysis and information. ut another way, we all need a lively and entertaining monthly news magazine that after a while is economically self-sustaining.

We need The Heartlander!

The community group behind this project – Highland Perthshire Media Limited (HPM) – set out last year with lofty but realistic goals to create something that would connect with everyone in this truly special part of Northern Perthshire.

We also wanted to engage with those who have moved away but who are still eager to keep in touch.

And, very importantly, we wanted to inform and entertain the many tourists and day-trippers who love to visit this wonderful area.

The Heartlander will be a glossy, A4-sized, full-colour publication available in traditional print format and – just as commercially significant – in digital format. People will be able to buy it in the shops – for about £1.25 – and they will be able to take out a subscription and read it on their smart phones, tablets or PCs on Zinio, the leading web portal for reproducing magazines exactly as they look in print.

P

It will be a distinct and independent voice for an area often overlooked by the mainstream media and other institutions in the rest of Perth and Kinross. And it is being set up on a business-like basis with a small, core staff of professionals supported by a team of volunteers.

This issue of The Heartlander is designed to demonstrate as vividly as possible to our 12,000-plus population what we will be producing on a regular basis in a few months’ time, and thereby to galvanise as many people as possible into helping make it a success.

Our business plan takes account of the need for The Heartlander to compete in a market where there are several free giveaways. HPM believes it will be able to attract a significant amount of support from advertisers.

It is emphatically not an ‘advertising freesheet’ – those publications where often editorial content is ‘the bit between the ads’.

We are confident it will be the only publication dedicated to providing a professionally researched and written mix of editorial material, with the resources to ensure it can comprehensively cover the entire Highland Perthshire area.

It will therefore be read, and valued, and supported by a large segment of the community, serving as the perfect complement to our local radio station Heartland FM.

Bold and ambitious

Dr Cindy Brook, chair of the Highland Perthshire Media board, said the project was bold and ambitious but was founded on careful research into what would make it economically sustainable.

“We decided from the beginning that this area needed a publication that would inform, enliven and entertain everyone living here, and further afield,” she said. “The beauty of this magazine is that local people will have the opportunity to generate the kind of content they wish to read.

“The Heartlander will therefore be ideally placed to address the common interests and challenges facing the community, preserving the sense of belonging shared by so many people living here.

“Highland Perthshire is a goldmine of social and economic potential, and local people will now have the opportunity to shape the kind of community they wish to live in by contributing their views and stories to www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 5

5

19/06/2015 14:47

Illustration: Dylan Gibson

OUR AIMS

the new magazine. We hope, as it becomes established, it will become an inspiration to other parts of Scotland to develop something equally innovative.”

Great support

Initially, HPM explored the possibility of taking over the local news magazine Comment but no agreement proved possible. Nevertheless, the group behind The Heartlander remains inspired by the values evolved by Comment and its founder and editor Brendan Murphy over 32 years of continuous publication.

Without doubt it showed that this area has a need for an open-access publication through which the people, groups and enterprises of Scotland’s heartland can share their news, views and ideas.

The Heartlander will, therefore, be about the community, for the community, by the community – and it must appeal to all age and interest groups.

Our financial plan is founded on the principle that the publication will become self-funding in three years after a run-in period, a development phase and a consolidation phase. It has required some launch funding and working capital but after Year Three it moves as planned into surplus.

HPM is set up as a not-for-profit, community-focussed organisation dedicated solely to the launch and continuing publication of The Heartlander. Any surpluses will be dedicated to improving its content and its reach, and gradually creating a multifaceted media hub of which a revised and rejuvenated news magazine will be only one, but essential, element.

The plan has evolved over the past year and follows extensive research. In aiding this, we are indebted to the Carnegie Foundation and Co-operatives UK, and in particular to the expertise of their consultant Dave Boyle. They have a mission to encourage local publications providing a forum for citizen journalism.

Regular monthly publication of The Heartlander is now set to begin this autumn.

We would never have reached this point without a very generous loan from the Ellis Campbell Charitable Foundation. Its early commitment to the aims of Highland Perthshire Media Ltd was crucial.

More recently we have had excellent help and encouragement from Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP), the umbrella body for the area’s ten

community councils “THIS AREA NEEDED A and its larger PUBLICATION THAT WOULD voluntary INFORM, ENLIVEN AND organisations. “We are happy to back this ENTERTAIN EVERYONE LIVING important project,” HERE, AND FURTHER AFIELD.” said Graham Huggins, chair of HPCP. “A thriving local source of news and analysis will strengthen togetherness and promote Highland Perthshire to the wider world.” Also thanks to HPCP, The Heartlander will be based at excellently equipped shop premises rented by them at 23, Atholl Road, Pitlochry.

An open door policy will be adopted so everyone is welcome to call in and find out how they might be able to use their energies and skills to make it an even greater success.

“The Heartlander will be about the community, for the community, by the community.”

6

Crucial roles

We have been greatly assisted in producing this pilot issue by Lucy Reid, a professional magazine designer. She is working alongside the editorial team that has produced this pilot and which is now operating from the Pitlochry premises.

Part of their initial preparations has been to develop a distinctive format for The Heartlander and the sectional structure of the magazine. This creates a set of templates by which it will be possible to streamline layout each month, and to facilitate distribution of the digital edition.

Funding is in place for recruiting an editor aided by ancillary professional help initially employed on a part-time basis.

This core team cannot on its own produce the type of news magazine that HPM has always envisaged.

We explain later in this pilot issue how we will need and depend on local volunteers with specialist skills and also to form a network of local representatives covering every corner of Highland Perthshire. These volunteer reps will play crucial roles. They will help us fundraise, help to supply editorial material, help us build circulation, and help to encourage local businesses to advertise.

The Heartlander’s business model depends on this voluntary effort but that alone is not the reason for making volunteers a key part of this project. It will only succeed if folk in every village and glen feel they are all truly part of The Heartlander’s compass.

er group The Heartland erfeldy Ab in ts ee m

Our new office in Pit lochry

One of our founding members put it this way: “I believe we need to look collectively at solutions to problems, share ideas on how to be more innovative, and tap into latent creativity. People CAN make a difference, both to their own lives and to those around them.

“We would like to open people’s hearts and minds to new possibilities and promote openness to new ideas, while encouraging

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 6

19/06/2015 14:47

OUR AIMS

THE SOCIAL CASE We have prepared a strong business case for The Heartlander being a success but that is not its raison d’être. Our business plan promoted the important notion that there is a strong social need, as expressed in the accompanying article, and this is how the plan explained our thinking: “Although people travel to Perth to shop, there is widespread use of local shops and services. In a nutshell, there is a widespread feeling of belonging to Highland Perthshire.

Without the strong focus of a new magazine, this feeling of belonging, and of social cohesion, will be damaged.

“Notionally the area can obtain some local news from The Courier and the Perthshire Advertiser but neither has an editorial office or reporter in the area and the news coverage is sporadic.

“There are three monthly A5 advertising publications and an A4 one sent by post or dropped off on shop counters but these contain minimal news material, mainly press releases and they employ no reporters to gather pertinent stories.

“There is a need for a news magazine with the resources to provide people with unbiased news and analyses and there is an opportunity to set it up on a sustainable basis by involving the community extensively in its production and distribution.”

in-depth analysis and critical thinking. Our vision is to help establish this area as ‘the place to be’ for its unique creativity, its productivity and its culture.”

A media hub?

The launch of The Heartlander comes at just the right time to exploit a revolution in the way people are now able to link up. We believe a printed publication will be popular for many years to come. The magazine industry has not been as badly afflicted by the advent of the Internet as newspapers and is booming in some areas.

But the digital edition of The Heartlander will have enormous potential.

Being able to read this magazine online anywhere in the world, as if you were holding it in your hand, expands our market hugely.

It is reckoned the diaspora of people living elsewhere is ten times the number here in Highland Perthshire – which means a figure of 120,000 or more.

It will be available online with a click of a mouse thanks to Zinio (see gb.zinio.com for examples of how it works). This is a state of

the art website that hosts the digital editions of the major and minor magazines in this country via what is called a pay-wall, a system that will manage our subscriptions in the most user-friendly fashion.

Unlike a printed publication, the digital version of The Heartlander is effectively free to distribute and so we can charge a lower price and achieve a higher readership.

So, for example, families might want to take out subscriptions for several of their members.

What better way to get their youngsters into the habit of reading than a publication covering things that are of direct interest to everyone around them?

“We would like to open people’s hearts and minds to new possibilities.”

Website

We are also developing a website to provide added value to what The Heartlander provides. In contrast with some newspapers and magazines, this will not provide free access to the editorial material appearing in our print and digital editions.

But it will be a very useful add-on for our subscribers to The Heartlander, a great place for us to publish supplementary material, links

providing useful follow-up information, routine local news, lists of activities and events, and an archive of past issues.

The website will also promote our ‘brand’ and what The Heartlander has a mission to provide to a much wider audience – indeed to anywhere in the world. Therefore, at least at first, it will not be marketed as a separate advertising medium.

Through the ether

It is also the right time because thanks to an extraordinary initiative by Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership, we should soon be getting fast broadband through our own local Wi-Fi network that will reach literally into every nook and cranny of this mountainous region.

The implications for everyone in this area, not least local businesses and social enterprises, are immense. Through the ether we will be able to communicate and compete with people elsewhere in towns and cities where snail-pace connection speeds are a thing of the past.

Equally important to the media hub idea, is the potential for linking up with Heartland FM and sharing resources both editorially and commercially. We hope in future to be able to cross-promote both enterprises. The synergies between the two can open up great opportunities for expanding both.

Of course we need to walk before we jog and maybe break into a run. But Highland Perthshire Media believes that having a vision of where things might lead is a good thing.

One day this area may become a forerunner in the creation of a communication superhighway bringing together residents, social groups, businesses and visitors in a way that was never before possible. www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 7

7

19/06/2015 14:47

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 8

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

The dream of turning the seat of the Earls of Breadalbane at Kenmore into a super-luxury hotel is being revived. The Heartlander investigates whether its new promoters really do mean business after so many past hiccups.

ARISE TAYMOUTH CASTLE Can Resurrection Man Robin Barrasford rescue a castle in distress?

obin Barrasford, the 45-year-old former policeman now breathing new life into Taymouth Castle Estate, is no ordinary property tycoon. He has packed into his life more than people twice his age, and only latterly discovered a special talent for making money in the luxury holiday industry.

When we met last month at Taymouth Castle he was casually dressed in T-shirt, jeans and a zip-up hoodie, but his charm, enthusiasm and candidness are obvious from the outset.

Sitting in the plushly refurbished ‘Spikes Bar’ with views over the golf course, I want to know whether he may have bitten off more than he can chew in trying to revive a seemingly moribund monument to a long-lost era.

Taymouth Castle has been so beset by stops and starts, who would think there is money to be made from turning this vast building and equally vast estate into a five-star resort? But Mr Barrasford is utterly confident it can be done and was prepared to explain at great length exactly how.

He told The Heartlander that he has done it with great success already in other tourism hot spots. His skill, he said, has been in acquiring and applying a forensic knowledge of how the industry ticks – and using this to understand exactly why some businesses in this sector work and why so many others hit the buffers.

R

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 9

9

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

“Lots of well-intentioned people have got involved in it in the past that didn’t have the funds to create what they needed to.”

ROBIN BARRASFORD

Mr Barrasford and his partner Alan Bird own three successful five-star resorts in Florida, Greece and France. Their Halcyon Retreat Resort near Limoges features as its centrepiece the luxuriously converted Château de la Cazine, an opulent hotel complex set in 220 acres.

‘I Said No’

It is there a year ago that Mr Barrasford’s connection with Taymouth was kindled.

He explained: “To cut a long story short, the trust that is involved in this project contacted me and said they had stayed in my hotel and had seen all its facilities. They asked if I would like to come and look at their castle here, and I said absolutely not.

Because the reason I build and control my own properties is so I can control the quality of the product.

“So I kept saying ‘No’ to the guys here.

Eventually I came and saw it for myself, met with a representative of the trust, and I fell in love with this building. I thought it was amazing. At this point I said ‘OK, I get it now, I’d love to get involved.’”

But why is he so confident he can make it work when Meteor Asset Management, the big city investment firm behind the previous attempt, could not?

“Lots of well-intentioned people have got

involved in it in the past that didn’t have the funds to create what they needed to do,” he said. He stressed, however, that Meteor was different. It had put in £29 million and done a wonderful job of renovating and restoring large parts of the Castle, notably the principal rooms.

But previous Taymouth attempts had mistakenly focused on selling luxury houses scattered throughout the grounds (permission was granted for more than 160) to fund the completion of the hotel side of the development.

In his experience this was the wrong way round.

The hotel needed to be completed first.

He went on: “I have to be careful what I say, but in the past the people haven’t been hoteliers.

I’m only going to do this if we are going to make it financially viable… realised to operate it as a hotel it needed some changes. It needed to be a resort.

“Nowadays the lady wants a spa, the gentleman wants a golf course. They want to go fishing or horse riding. It’s not just the tweed set any more, taking people out for a day’s shooting; the world has moved on. You can have a magnificent showpiece like this place, but it has to cater for the whole holiday experience.”

He was also critical of the place becoming too exclusive. “Local people have to be able to

“This isn’t going to be cheap...but it has to be a resource for the whole community.”

use everything on site,” he said. “I would be mad to say I don’t want local people coming in to have a pint in the bar or afternoon tea.

“Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t going to be cheap. To maintain this building isn’t cheap.

There will be high prices. But it has to be a resource for the whole community.” He said the same applied to the golf course, which is due to open again this summer.

Matters of trust

Mr Barrasford said the Cameron Jack Fraser Trust that owns the estate was no longer in partnership with Meteor Asset Management.

“Meteor is no longer involved,” he said. “All I know is I’ve been shown clean, legal title that only one entity owns the whole of the castle and estate and that is the trust.”

He added that the trust’s UK representative was Clynt Wellington and this was the person who had visited Château de la Cazine last year and then made huge efforts to attract Mr Barrasford’s interest in Taymouth.

I pointed out that Mr Wellington, and his partner and second cousin John French, were not popular with some people in the area because of unpaid bills when the previous project ground to a halt in 2011 (see accompanying article).

“I’ve heard stories but I can’t talk about what’s happened in the past because it was before my time,” Mr Barrasford said. The trust was putting money in again and so was he, but the bulk of the funding will be coming from the sale of fractional ownerships (explained further on).

He promised that there would be tangible The Chinese Drawing Room

Fireplace in the magnificent Banner Hall

10

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 10

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

Mr Barrasford said it was unbelievably successful, not only making big profits from the student rentals, but also from the escalating value of the properties they had acquired. It was a factor he had not paid much attention to, but after four or five years, and still in his thirties, he had enough money to retire.

“We moved to Cornwall with the idea of writing books and building stone walls. We didn’t have enough money for a life of fast cars, but enough for a normal life which I was very happy with. But then I got bored very, very quickly.”

At the same time he was irked that he had made money through luck without any calculation on his part. He had done a degree in computers and then studied maths for a while at postgrad level, and wanted to understand in greater depth how his good fortune had come about.

“I REALISED TO OPERATE IT AS A HOTEL IT NEEDED SOME CHANGES. IT NEEDED TO BE A RESORT.”

Eastern Europe beckons evidence of progress very soon, with the golf course nearly ready now: “This building will be open in three months’ time. We’ve sold all of our first phase of eight suites… The way my company makes money is that I sell the rooms in the castle to bring in the money to build the resort. The money to finish this part of the castle - £3.2 million – is all there now. In the east wing there are a total of 52 suites, all of them will be sold to finance the resort, not just the castle but the whole resort.”

He said they had now released another 11 suites for sale and in his whole career he had never seen a project selling so fast. “The next thing to be financed is the north wing, then the spa (due to be built beside a waterfall on the driveway leading down to the castle from the east gate), then the new golf club house, and then it’s the equestrian centre.”

people. It is not just for one fat cat with £30 million to spend.”

‘Give up the Drug Squad!’

Robin Barrasford never set out to be a hotshot entrepreneur. He was originally a maths teacher and then a policeman in the Brighton area with the rank of acting inspector running a squad tracking down and arresting drug dealers.

“I absolutely adored it,” he said, “and I would be a policeman today if it hadn’t been for my wife. We had four children at that point (he has since adopted two more) and she said you are either going to be a policeman or a husband but you’re not going to be both.

“So I chose my wife! She had no idea what she wanted me to do – she just wanted me to stop running around after drug dealers.” He took a five-year career break from the force – to leave open the option of returning – and turned for ideas to his wife’s uncle, Alan Bird.

Mr Bird, now his partner, had made “a fortune” in the early 1980s from property development and lost much of it later when interest rates went sky high. Undeterred by his uncle’s setback, Mr Barrasford decided this was an area where money could be made if the right idea came to mind.

“I came up with this concept of offering very high-end student accommodation on the South Coast. It was high-end in the sense that it was all-inclusive – electricity, gas, Sky TV, dishwashers and a 24hr concierge service, and we would let not to students but to their parents… My parents had been worried stiff about me when I went to uni’.”

“You’re either going to be a policeman or a husband but you’re not going to be both.”

Socialist model

Mr Barrasford has an interesting take on the value of what his business concept offers: “I explain this thing as a socialist model, which is very risky when you speak to some people.

Bear in mind I’m a businessman but castles like this used to be owned by people with a fat cigar and a glass of champagne, and no one else got to own or enjoy it.

“What we are doing with 52 rooms and 13 memberships for each room is allowing 600 lots of people who have bought suites to own this castle.”

He said this was the great thing about fractional ownership. With the year split into thirteen periods of four weeks, people were buying part of a wonderful Scottish castle for £30,000 to £40,000. “It is a lot of money but it is achievable for a lot more

Robin Barrasford spent months in the library studying the cyclical movement of property prices in different countries, calculating which were the top ten in terms of the greatest capital appreciation, and working out why.

Surprisingly, the template he had constructed pointed to Bulgaria as being the best place in which to sell property, not to the Brits but to the Russians.

So now he was on a plane to Eastern Europe bent on building a second property empire, using some of his capital to start a business buying and constructing holiday property to let and later sell to the Russians.

When this project was established, his Bulgarian business partner began to ask why they were not marketing holiday property to people back home in the UK. Mr Barrasford thought it was worth investigating: “I went back to Britain and visited all the property shows. The big companies I approached to sell my properties in Bulgaria just laughed at me.” Rather than walk away, he took up the challenge and decided to find out how these firms operated in places like the Costa del Sol. After lengthy encounters with “spiky-haired salesmen in second hand BMWs” he decided much of the industry was “totally dishonest”.

“I said to Alan, look, just as a joke, let’s create a company selling overseas property ethically. We are not going to call it Homes Overseas or anything like that; we are going to call it by our surnames.”

Barrasford and Bird Worldwide, the company now marketing the Taymouth estate, was therefore born. They launched in Eastern Europe and, “It went mad”, he said. “We ended up selling 1,500 properties. We built our own marina. We had 13 restaurants within the resort… But I started to have a problem, in that I felt my business was unethical.”

Mr Barrasford explained he was proud to have been involved in selling 3,000 properties with just one Google complaint. But people he had sold to with individual holiday homes were finding it difficult to let their properties: “The reason they failed, and I know this www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 11

11

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

Mysteries and rumours…

Taymouth has had a sorry history of stop and go. For local tradespeople the summer of 2011 proved calamitous when the company in charge of the building works – Farnham Development Ltd – ran out of money and work came to a total halt.

Martin Mortimer, spokesman for the main developers, City investment firm Meteor Asset Management, tried to be optimistic. He issued a statement saying, “We remain fully committed to the project, and to further investment going forward with the development. We also fully understand the project’s importance in the context of the local community and Perthshire, and we are confident that the progress achieved in 2011 will continue in 2012.”

Then there was silence. It became a matter of mystery and rumour for a long time quite why the people behind Farnham – Hampshire based property developer Clynt Wellington and his second cousin John French – had run into difficulties leading to the company being wound up in 2013. Reports from Farnham’s administrators and then the company’s liquidators can now answer some of these questions.

The degree to which Farnham’s demise affected local businesses is dramatic. In a report dated September 2014, the liquidator refers to a sum of £977,080 owed to 73 creditors, many of them Highland Perthshire firms, some of whom had difficulty surviving the blow.

John Nevin, boss of Mackay Decorators of Perth, says he is still owed nearly £40,000. The other biggest losers were Aberfeldy architects McKenzie Strickland who were owed £109,832, the Ballinluig ground-works firm RA Laird were owed £39,585, and Easy Heat Systems of Perth who were owed £50,300.

Clynt Wellington and John French clearly wanted to keep the Taymouth development going but the liquidators concluded they had been let down by the failure of Meteor to come up with further funding.

According to the official documentation, over £1.5 million was owed to Farnham by Taymouth Estates Ltd, then owner of much of the Taymouth land, and controlled by Meteor. Hopes of that sum being repaid were dashed when a secured investor, the Cameron Jack Frazer Trust took possession, “as a result of sums due to them”.

now, is that 87% of the UK population go on holiday to a hotel where there’ll be a bar, a restaurant, and the kids have a club to play in. They want ‘easy’. They didn’t want one of my villas half way up a mountain side where the nearest shop might be seven miles away.“ “I nearly went out of the business but instead I flew to America and spent months studying how they did things. I loved what they were doing. They would build a very sexy hotel where people wanted to go on holiday. And then they would build and market homes around the hotel so people going to stay in their holiday home get all the experience of a four or five star hotel.

“And when they are not using it, they hand over the property back to the hotelier to market it so they actually make money out of their holiday home. No worries about security or maintenance, or paying the bills.

That’s all paid for them.

“I thought that was an amazing model, so we brought it to Europe.”

‘Greed killed’ timeshare

The concept that so amazed Mr Barrasford was ‘fractional ownership’ – where people purchase a villa or hotel suite for a month, or even for the whole year round, and have a legal stake in its tenure. He emphasised that this is emphatically not the same as timeshare, which he calls a tainted idea.

With timeshare, he said, people are only buying the right to stay in a property for a period, without any legal freehold rights. This and management fees make them difficult to sell.

“With timeshare you only buy weeks, you never own anything; then they got greedy and inflated the price of a week by three or four times what the property was worth. After that, the only way they could make money was by inflating maintenance payments. So human greed killed the industry.

“With us, with fractional ownership, we take the annual cost of a suite, divide it by thirteen and charge exactly that, in other words a fair share.”

So if the all-year-round market price of a suite is £390,000, which is the minimum on offer, then a four-week ‘fraction’ will cost £30,000.

He said purchasers were completely secure because a limited-by-guarantee company (LBG), registered in the UK, will own each property in which people buy a share: “An LBG is a company that can only ever do one thing, in this case to own a 12

property. You are not allowed to mortgage it and it doesn’t matter how many shares you own, you have no more rights than people with just one share.

“If you are a member who owns four weeks you can sell it, and it makes you a profit when it goes up in value. And when you are not using it, you give it to us to let.

We share the profit 50-50 with them, which will pay their running costs.”

Celebrity playground?

And what of the most controversial aspect of previous development efforts – the huge number of luxury homes that could be constructed about the estate thanks to Perth

Despite this blow the liquidator is still trying to recover money that could help pay off creditors but little hope is being expressed of a positive outcome.

In the meantime, Clynt Wellington, aided

by John French, has bounced back. With Farnham wound up, Mr Wellington started a new company in March this year called Global Technical Solutions, based in Hook, Hampshire, which now appears to working on behalf of the trust controlling the Taymouth property.

Global’s name appears as ‘applicant’ on plans lodged with Perth and Kinross Council this April seeking permission for more hotel suites in the castle’s east wing. Another Clynt Wellington Company called Rebus Construction is also said to be involved.

Clynt Wellington has also been identified by Robin Barrasford as the lead figure in the trust which is now said to be the ultimate owner of the entire estate; apparently he holds the position of its ‘UK representative’.

Mr Barrasford said a company called Taymouth Castle Ltd directly owns the castle with the exception of the east wing. It is an offshore Mauritian company that does not have to disclose its beneficial owners.

Presumably, the trust represented by Mr Wellington owns Taymouth Castle Ltd but there appears to be no way of verifying this. It is this company from which Mr Barrasford will be leasing the castle once the first eight hotel suites are finished in the next few weeks.

The east wing is owned by Kenmore Land Limited based in the British Virgin Islands. Mr Barrasford says this is the entity on behalf of which he sells fractional ownerships in the hotel suites. He says that those buying suites in Taymouth Castle will acquire a proportional stake in their freehold title, which will be held by a UK, limited-by-guarantee, company.

He added: “Just to confirm, Barrasford and Bird Worldwide is purely owned by me and my wife’s uncle, Alan Bird. We have no connection to the trust and they do not own any of our company. “

and Council granting the previous regime more than 160 planning permissions?

One of these was built beside the eleventh hole five years ago and now lies empty and forlorn, a monument to false hopes that Taymouth would become a celebrity playground.

Mr Barrasford’s answer is a surprise.

“The houses in the grounds will be the last things to be built and sold. My focus is solely on getting this hotel operating.” He is not even sure the houses will ever be built but, if they are, he is sure fractional ownership – that ‘amazing business idea’ – will be the magic ingredient in quickly selling them.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 12

19/06/2015 14:47

MEMBERSHIP

SYMBOLS OF SUPPORT

fund The Heartlander Our membership plans help

A central aim of The Heartlander project is to attract the involvement of people living and working in every corner of Highland Perthshire. Rather than launching a general appeal for funds or local crowdfunding, our preference is for a concerted campaign to sign up members to our own unique trio of membership clubs.

Being a member will entail paying an annual subscription to receive regular copies of our publications, receive an invitation to an annual social gathering and having an input – although not voting rights – to the development of the publication as new elements are launched. When we start publishing regularly later this year, The Heartlander will be available to read in two ways: • As a glossy printed magazine delivered by post or bought across the counter in local shops,

❤

N GREEBER MEM • Annual digital edition subscription, £15.

• Annual print edition subscription, £30.

• This is for local individuals and families wishing to receive regular monthly editions of The Heartlander, and at the same time support the project on a continuing basis.

• We hope to attract thousands in our area to receive The Heartlander regularly – and also many of the 120,000 with local connections living elsewhere.

Annual Benefits for Green Members: • 12 monthly digital issues of The Heartlander for £15 or, for £30, the print version posted to individual addresses.

• A discount of 10% on advertising in our publications .

• A weekly email newsletter with events information, and stop-press news.

• An invitation to an annual social event to review progress, discuss new ideas and have fun.

• The opportunity to comment on The Heartlander project as it develops and to become part of its business and editorial advice network. There will also be a special welcome if any member wishes to play a role in helping to develop The Heartlander.

• As a digital download through the website Zinio – which will reproduce an exact replica of the printed publication that can be read with ease on computers, smart phones or tablets.

We not only want to involve local people living here and those who keep in touch with the area, but also include local businesses for whom The Heartlandercould provide attractive perks for their customers and workforce.

Colours help to illustrate how these three categories would aim to attract the support from a substantial proportion of our communities and farther afield. The exact details are still being worked on, and we would welcome ideas, but here is how it is planned at present.

❤

RED ER B E M M • Annual digital edition subscription, £125.

• Annual print subscription, £200.

• This category is for local businesses, voluntary organisations and large landowners wanting to support the project. They would receive a set quantity of printed copies of The Heartlander or digital editions, for their customers or their staff.

Annual Benefits for Red Members: • Bulk copies each month (optionally, the print version or the digital download despatched by email) of the magazine.

• A discount of 15% on advertising in our publications.

• Weekly email newsletter with events information, and stop-press news.

• Ticket to our annual social event.

• Regular opportunities to comment on The Heartlander as it develops and to become part of its business and editorial advice network. Plus a warm welcome if the member or their employees wish to play a role in helping to develop The Heartlander media hub.

❤

BLUEER B MEM • Annual digital edition subscription, £225.

• Annual print subscription, £300.

• We believe our many hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, visitor attractions and selfcatering businesses in Highland Perthshire will wish to support this project and receive copies of our publication for free distribution to their guests.

Annual Benefits include: • Bulk monthly copies (optionally, the print version or the digital edition download) of the News Magazine and special issues.

• Further copies of The Heartlander print version at £30 p.a. for every 10 copies for distribution to their guests.

• A discount of 20% on advertising in our publications.

• Weekly email newsletter with events information, and stop-press news.

• Ticket to our annual social event.

• The regular opportunity to comment on The Heartlander as it develops and to become part of its business and editorial advice network, and a warm welcome if the member wishes to play a role in helping to develop The Heartlander media hub.

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 13

13

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

John Swinney

is MSP for Perthshire North and Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and the Economy in the Scottish Government.

Highlands of opportunity

Agriculture, forestry, and tourism have long been mainstays of our local economy but what of the future? JOHN SWINNEY looks at this area’s post-recession potential ighland Perthshire has a vibrancy that comes from the people that live and work here and the many dynamic communities that constantly evolve over time. An expanding and diverse range of businesses, trusts, and public or private service providers work to identify demand and deliver local services accordingly.

A key element of this process is developing new economic opportunities that capitalise on the unique location and topography of Highland Perthshire, illustrated by the success in taking forward a number of micro-hydro schemes that generate power locally and contribute significantly to the strength of the local economy.

There remains great sustainability in the traditional industries of agriculture, forestry, and tourism and the opportunities for growth in these sectors must be fully exploited. Our agricultural and food offering in Scotland has an exceptional reputation globally and is synonymous with the highest quality.

H

There is a range of food producing companies in the area who develop local produce and sell this around the world. This reputation for provenance is well-deserved and demonstrates the potential for companies based in rural Perthshire to make a significant economic contribution. Scotland produces some of the finest food anywhere in the world and Highland Perthshire produces some of the best in Scotland.

This export drive continues as a priority.

Wildlife attractions

Our combination and blend of wildlife is an established source of employment and revenue for a range of businesses both directly and indirectly as wildlife tourists are drawn in increasing numbers to locations like Highland Perthshire. For a long time the recovery of the ospreys in Scotland has been characterised in the fortunes of Lady, and her

“HIGHLAND PERTHSHIRE HAS A VIBRANCY THAT COMES FROM THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE AND WORK HERE.”

chicks at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes centre near Dunkeld and this has proved a great attraction for the area.

Highland Safaris’ new Red Deer Centre in Aberfeldy, which I was fortunate enough to open last year, plays an essential role in captivating visitors with the majesty of Britain’s largest land mammal and connects the experience with the Highland Perthshire locality.

The traditional opening of the Tay Salmon season is an event of international acclaim which is growing in prominence with each passing season. This vital wildlife tourism market could not be considered saturated however and I look forward to seeing new opportunities for local businesses over time.

So it is important to get people to come here but how do we get them to come back themselves and recommend Highland Perthshire as a destination to their friends and family?

Much of this repeat business is about the other key sector which makes up our traditional economy – hospitality and events. In mirroring our food producers’ adherence to quality, many of our local pubs, cafes and restaurants set out exceptional menus focusing on quality and locallysourced produce.

In addition we have award winning hotels and guesthouses which are recognised nationally as the very best in service and quality. Again this speaks to an individuality that thrives in Highland Perthshire and which remains an essential component in helping visitors to select our destination as the one to visit and to return to.

People with vision

Chocolate making in Grandtully

14

Over the last ten years the events calendar has become an increasing pull element to the towns and villages of Highland Perthshire.

These invariably draw on either our rich cultural history in events such as the Blair Atholl Horse Trials or the assemblage of first class Highland Games – or our unique topography which facilitates the Highland Perthshire Marathon, the Etape Caledonia or

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 14

19/06/2015 14:47

LOCAL ECONOMY

the ever more successful Enchanted Forest.

These attractions have one thing in common and that is that not too long ago they simply didn’t happen. People with vision, determination and passion for our area have made them a reality and there’s plenty more room on the calendar, and around Highland Perthshire, for other events of this nature.

The Highland Perthshire cultural offering should never be overlooked either as it lends significantly to the list of attractions and reasons to visit or live here. The Pitlochry Festival Theatre is an amazing venue with production and economic spin off which cannot be underestimated. The Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy – an Art Deco cinema nestled amongst the Scottish hills – is a truly unique proposition. But hidden gems like the Atholl Country Life Museum in Blair Atholl also present a very special and distinct insight into our area and its past.

markets and consumer preferences at both home and abroad.

It is essential that all of these businesses, and also local residents, are able to operate fully and effectively in the 21st century. To do so, that means the area must have access to quality telecommunications including mobile and broadband services. This is one of my

Quality connections

These assets, and I should be very clear many more besides, are the backbone of our Highland Perthshire economy and many of these enterprises have resulted from the need to adapt to changing

John Swinney at Aberfeldy Show

highest priorities as your local Member of the Scottish Parliament but also as a Minister in the Scottish Government.

It is absolutely vital that these services are able to keep people connected and I am involved in putting active pressure on BT, other telecom companies and mobile providers to ensure the services we have available locally are credible for the local and the visiting population.

The Scottish Government is investing over £400 million in supporting the roll-out of Superfast Broadband. We are also committed to supporting those who will not benefit from the roll-out proposed

by BT because they live in more remote locations. This work takes time and I will continue to keep members of the public updated on the progress made.

My other top priority is to ensure we have the effective delivery of quality public services. The need to ensure we have good and accessible health, social care and education services is fundamental to the quality of life of people in the area.

Maintaining that dialogue with public authorities to ensure the needs of local people are addressed is the day-to-day work that I take forward.

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 15

15

19/06/2015 14:47

MUSIC

Passionate about

FOLK

ie MacLean No place like home says Doug e has performed at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and the closing ceremony of last year’s Commonwealth Games, but Dougie MacLean is as much a local lad from Butterstone and the area around as he is an internationally renowned performer.

His work as a singer, songwriter and musician is rooted in the hills, lochs and glens of this area, and he is inspired by the lives of its people with whom he grew up.

When I meet Dougie with his wife and business manager Jenny in Grandtully, their feelings of warmth and commitment to Perthshire and the rural communities in and around Highland Perthshire are self-evident.

No greater proof of that is their Perthshire Amber Festival centred on Dunkeld that by this autumn will have been running for nine years. For ten days in disparate venues around the area he offers a wonderful mix of Scottish folk and many other types of music.

It brightens up a dreich time of year, and now makes a considerable contribution to the local economy.

And it all began with a commission to write Perthshire Amber – his best selling album that combines traditional Scottish folk, contemporary rhythms and orchestral arrangements. The idea was born of a local Perthshire Amber shindig representing a wide range of music and run from Dougie’s and Jenny’s home and studios at Butterstone.

H

leaves start to turn – it’s my favourite time of year and Perthshire always looks stunning in the autumn. Somehow we’ve managed to do it every year and once again I have that feeling that 2015 will be the best Perthshire Amber yet!”

As it has grown, the Festival brings together more and more musicians and entertainers from different parts of the world that have been involved with Dougie over the years. It also provides an opportunity for him to perform the many songs he has few opportunities to perform on tour.

This autumn’s festival begins on 30 October and runs until the 8 November.

Headliners will include ‘home grown’ talent Dallahan, Emily Smith, Rura, Ross Ainslie, Dougie was closing act at the Commonwealth Games concert last year

Celebrating 40 years

Getting it all organised is a labour of love but tiring. Dougie said: “It was such a busy year in 2014 with the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, my collaboration with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and celebrating 40 years as a touring musician.

“We’re keen to build on that success for 2015. I am delighted with the line-up for this year’s Festival; it offers a great mix of exciting new talent with traditional folk and well-known names.

“Though I’m looking forward to the summer I always love that time when the 16

Dougie with his wife and manager Jenny

Blazin’ Fiddles, Karine Polwart, Benny Gallagher and The Wrigley Sisters, all playing alongside Dougie.

The festival will feature 25 venues throughout the region including historic castles, Dunkeld Cathedral, village halls, the Crannog on Loch Tay and the prestigious Perth Concert Hall.

The Barn at Inchyra, dating from 1877 and formerly home to the cattle from the Inchyra Estate, is a new venue for 2015. It fell into ruin but has now been beautifully restored over the past couple of years.

International talent

The festival has always had a strong representation of talent from both within the UK and internationally, and this year is no exception: Bella Hardy, Elliott Morris and Jess Morgan hail from different parts of England.

The Mae Trio are from Australia; Jessie Will is from New Zealand, Stanley Samuelson is from the Faroe Islands. There will also be a welcome return for Buddy MacDonald from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Last year the festival broke records by bringing here 10,000 visitors. The MacLeans reckon its economic impact is worth well over £1 million.

The Festival’s fringe programme ‘Amber Discoveries’ will continue to support and promote new music and up-and-coming talent through Open Mic afternoons and early evening Cabaret Amber, which are both free admission.

The popular Decorated Wheelbarrow Procession will return to the streets of Dunkeld to mark the first Sunday of the festival – processing to Stanley Hill where there will be a Clanranald Medieval Village, the Antonine Guard, great music and crazy games for all the family to enjoy!

As usual throughout the 10 days there will be guided walks, talks and demonstrations, which will be announced later this summer.

The ‘always sold out’ SongBus will return, and the Festival is introducing new ‘Morning Minibus Trips’ taking visitors to explore special parts of Perthshire, off the tourist trail, to give them a real flavour of Perthshire’s undiscovered hidden gems.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 16

19/06/2015 14:48

MUSIC

Painter Nicole Murray said this about this 2012 portrait: “Very excited to have just finished Dougie Maclean’s portrait, down to the last glaze, the ribbon of his OBE and the Celtic knotwork in the background.

“Dougie has played fiddle since his youth, but is best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist with an intimate manner that reaches the hearts of his audience. When I interviewed him, he didn’t bring a fiddle, but as he talked about playing and writing music on the fiddle, his hands naturally described the shape of fiddle playing with long-accustomed grace. He said he plays fiddle the way he sings, playing the airs of songs, and filling his playing with emotion.

“I have painted him in a characteristically relaxed and casual pose, but surrounded him with the trappings of formality which also characterise his life. And he is truly an air-fiddler...”

Scattered like gold, from Dunkeld to Aberfeldy The seasons unfold, that’s the things we love Walk through the field, in the frost of a winter morning Nature revealed, that’s the things we love (From Dougie’s Perthshire Amber album)

Photo: Rob McDougall

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 17

17

19/06/2015 14:48

GETTING AROUND

shire lies ahead with Upheaval for Highland Perth ents to the A9 but is there em ov pr im d un po on illi -m lti mu communities and damaging a danger of further dividing PERELLA investigates. the environment? MAXINE

Maxine Perella

is an environmental journalist and copywriter working in the field of corporate sustainability, circular economy and resource risk

inevitable upheaval that lies ahead.

Developments are underway along the southern stretch of the A9, from Luncarty to Pass of Birnam and Birnam to Tay Crossing, to finalise the designs of the first new road sections, but the consultation process has already hit obstacles in Perth where there is active opposition.

Objections

FOUR LANES GOOD? he mesmerising views gleaned from driving along the scenic spine of Scotland, the A9 Highland Highway, have sadly been overshadowed over the years by its notorious reputation. The 273-mile corridor is considered one of Scotland’s deadliest roads due to its confusing layout, poor markings and long stretches of single carriageway. Traffic congestion and driver frustration have led to some dangerous vehicle manoeuvres as a result.

Addressing these safety concerns is one of the main arguments behind Transport Scotland’s push to dual the 80 miles of A9 single carriageway that run between Perth and Inverness. This £3 billion upgrade project, which aims to complete by 2025, is also widely expected to deliver additional benefits to the regions it serves along its route – regions such as Highland Perthshire.

Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser,

T

18

who publicly fronts the ‘Dual the A9’ campaign, is confident this will happen.

“A fully dualled road will cut journey times between Perth and Inverness, which is good news for hauliers, tourists and commuters.

With journey times becoming more consistent, Highland Perthshire towns will be more attractive for starting new businesses and for those looking to settle in the area and commute to Perth,” he says.

He adds that improving the A9’s safety record will only enhance this. “When there is an accident on a single carriageway section, lengthy diversions disproportionately impact the communities in Highland Perthshire and the resulting effect on their economy is severe. Faster, more consistent, but ultimately safer, journeys between Perth and Inverness have the potential to unlock growth for businesses in Highland Perthshire.”

Right now, however, those communities most affected are bracing themselves for the

According to local media reports, a number of objections have been lodged by residents and businesses, including Network Rail, against the planned use of compulsory purchase orders and related road orders to secure the additional land needed to widen the A9 corridor. Concerns raised include issues relating to potential access, privacy and increased noise/air pollution.

While some of the initial objections have since been withdrawn, a public local inquiry in Bankfoot is trying to resolve these grievances.

Roger Humphry, a member of the Perth Green party, has had experience of the A90 being dualled close to where he lives in the village of Errol, just outside of Perth. He says it took many years of campaigning after the initial upgrade work was done to get grade-separated junctions installed along the A90 so that communities across the corridor could be better connected to one another by road. He fears a similar scenario may happen with the A9.

“I’m not sure that the actual dualling itself [of the A9] is a very good thing to do,” he says. “One of the consequences when you dual a road is that it becomes either more difficult to cross or there’s a perception that it’s more dangerous to cross. You’re having to deal with faster traffic, and also more lanes of traffic.”

Humphry feels that the needs of nonmotorised users (NMUs) such as pedestrians and cyclists, who might need to cross the road or access services along it, are rarely given enough consideration. “If they are going to do it, make sure that communities can get up and down it by bike and by foot, and make sure that communities can get across it by bike and by foot.”

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 18

19/06/2015 14:48

GETTING AROUND

Sustrans Scotland says it has been keeping a watchful eye on events to ensure that NMU needs are represented, particularly those of cyclists. “We have two national cycle network routes that run parallel to the A9 and a regional route to the east of the A9, so we oversee quite a bit of infrastructure that is likely to be impacted,” says Philip Kearney, the charity’s national cycle network development officer.

According to Kearney, Sustrans has agreed a series of principles with Transport Scotland to take account of any NMU issues that might arise. “How that will be translated into the designs we don’t know at this stage, because most of the designs haven’t been done yet. I would hope as the designs progress, we’ll be updated more regularly,” he says.

Poor maintenance

Kearney points out that some of the existing cycle routes north of Highland Perthshire are of varying quality and poorly maintained, so many cyclists don’t tend to use them. “What we would like to see is not only higher quality route between Perth and Inverness, but one that has far greater permeability and improved access so that local communities can get on and off the route as and when they need to.”

“We are looking to have these routes upgraded,” he continues. “A lot of them run very close to the carriageway itself and because most of the dualling is going to be online, many of these routes will disappear.

We have a commitment that anything that is lost as part of the dualling will be replaced to a far higher quality. The key things will be the alignment of it, where it’s going to be in relation to the road and the communities, and how the communities can access it.”

Kearney and his colleague Daisy Narayanan, deputy director for built environment at Sustrans Scotland, both stress the need for strategically linking these routes not just along the A9 corridor, but branching outwards from it so that wider connections can be made to ensure seamless travel. “The A9 upgrade needs to be integrated with all modes of transport – there has to be a holistic approach,” says Narayanan.

Cycle groups within Highland also likely to result in increased traffic flow Perthshire itself are keen to see any upgrade that, over time, could present diversion work improve both access and safety for problems if an accident should occur. cyclists, particularly along the Luncarty to Huggins says this could impact on the side Birnam Glen section. Katharine Melville, roads used by the farming communities. secretary at the Perth & Kinross Cycle “The farm vehicles that are used are fairly Campaign (Bycycle), says she has been large, going along fairly narrow roads and pleased with how inclusive the consultation while the traffic is very light, that’s not an process has been so far. “We’ve had some issue. So if there is something disrupting the good meetings where we’ve drawn on routes flow [on the A9], where do you divert the and ideas for traffic to? What lanes consideration, and side roads are you “FASTER MORE CONSISTENT, going to be using?” so we are glad BUT ULTIMATELY SAFER, to be invited to Overall, Huggins the table.” remains positive about JOURNEYS BETWEEN PERTH “Bycycle are the upgrade. “I think AND INVERNESS HAVE THE happy with the most people in POTENTIAL TO UNLOCK junctions, Highland Perthshire GROWTH FOR BUSINESSES overbridges and accept the need for IN HIGHLAND PERTHSHIRE.” underpasses dualling the A9, it’s which have been been a very dangerous provided, and if anything will make it safer road over the years. The speed of getting for cyclists,” Meville adds. “We have never here is going to improve access for liked the bit of the road going between the tourists, particularly when Luncarty and Stanley and now there will be you are talking about the conurbations routes going through the Barns and I think of Glasgow and Edinburgh. I think people there’s going to be a cycle path up the A9 at see it as an artery to improve the that point as well. From our point of view, commercial activity across Highland the links are going to be improved on both Perthshire in general.” sides of the road.”

Further north, just beyond Pitlochry, lies the southerly aspect of the Cairngorms National Park, which represents one of the Lack of crossings most environmentally constrained areas of Graham Huggins, chairman at Highland the A9 upgrade. Detailed road widening Perthshire Communities Partnership, agrees proposals for this section haven’t been that the consultation process is working drawn up yet, but Grant Moir, chief executive quite well, but says concerns remain about at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, the possibility of communities being cut off from each other once the corridor is widened says his organisation sits on the environmental steering group for the due to a lack of safe crossing points. “At the A9 and has been taking an active role in moment there are quite a few crossing the consultation process. points, especially where you’ve got a single “The historic design landscape of Blair carriageway. Obviously not every one of Atholl, Killiecrankie Battlefield and the those can be turned into a flyover type ancient woodland around it are probably the connection, so there has to be some biggest things for us in terms of things to compromise. And of course, every time you want to do something like this, there’s a cost consideration.”

Improving the A9 is

“THE UPGRADE NEEDS TO INTEGRATE WITH ALL MODES OF TRANSPORT – THERE HAS TO BE A HOLISTIC APPROACH.”

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 19

19

19/06/2015 14:48

GETTING AROUND

flag up – there’s even issues like where the snow gates should be for Drumochter. And it’s a minor thing, but the National Park entry point marker will have to move as it’s at the side of the road at the moment,” he says.

More lay-bys

Moir is also keen to see access improved into the Park, both for motorists and NMUs. “From a NMU point of view, we’re wanting to make sure that there are the right lay-bys in places for when people want to climb the Munroes from the side of the A9 round Drumochter. We’re also looking at the A9 being part of the Scottish Scenic Routes Initiative – which is something ourselves and Loch Lomond and others are piloting at the moment.”

Building in such considerations should enhance the visitor experience of the Park and the surrounding area, and hopefully make the Highlands feel closer to the central belt of Scotland, Moir adds. “I think in the long run the A9 will be very positive for the economy of the Park. I would hope that in the long term what would be put in place is a road that lives up to the landscape, because it’s a key tourism route.”

On a wider level, some question whether some of the money being pumped into the

20

A9 project could have been better spent on improving public transport such as the Highland Mainline, which is mostly single track between Perth and Inverness. Humphry feels there is a lack of joined-up thinking in this respect. “The Government subscribe to encouraging people to use public transport in terms of their aims, but their actions show their priorities – and their priorities in this case on the A9 corridor have been on the road,” he says.

According to Fraser, dualling the A9 and “IT’S HIGH TIME RURAL upgrading the COMMUNITIES BEGAN Mainline are TO SEE MONEY BEING “completely SPENT IN THEIR separate issues” COMMUNITIES.” in terms of government commitment. people being able to make choices. When That said, he sympathises with the need for you’re dealing with larger rural areas like better rail links. “For too long there has been Highland Perthshire, getting most people to a central belt focus when it comes to big commute 25 miles by bike every day isn’t a infrastructure projects and it is high time rural communities began to see money being realistic possibility. But integrating that with railways stations and bus stops is very spent in their communities.” realistic. Having the opportunity to have Kearney says it’s ultimately about these multi-modal journeys is the best encouraging sustainable travel through way forward.” having the freedom to choose. “It’s about

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 20

19/06/2015 14:48

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 21

19/06/2015 14:48

GETTING AROUND

Highway

HEADACHES! rnam is fraught with Widening the A9 through Bi some second thoughts. ing us ca s, em se it d, an s lem prob

ulldozing a wider highway through the Birnam and Dunkeld area will be a tough assignment. Since ancient times, Dunkeld’s position guarding one of the main passes from Lowland into Highland Scotland made it an attractive strategic location.

But the flip side is that its narrowness, the River Tay, and the main Inverness rail line, will create many construction problems. And the solutions will inevitably impact on the area’s spectacular landscape, and the amenities enjoyed by the people who live there.

Three years ago detailed plans of the main options began to emerge showing the route of the widened road and how traffic might flow on and off it from the busy side roads. But in the process of querying details to clarify these options to our readers, and attempting to obtain copies of ‘visualisations’ shown on Transport Scotland’s website, we discovered all is not quite so cut and dried.

Jacobs, the new company contracted to spearhead the design and management of the project through Highland Perthshire, said they were not yet, “at the requisite level of design to provide the answers to the questions.”

It added: “The images on the website belong to the previous consultancy company, and neither Jacobs nor Transport Scotland have the originals, which were also used in the 2012 public exhibition. The images are now dated, and nothing new has yet been

B

22

published; release of the ‘old data’ might cause confusion in the community.”

Jacobs did not attempt to explain why these ‘dated’ illustrations, and detailed maps, had not been removed from the website of its employer – the Scottish Government. The reason, we surmise, is that though they may be amended, they still give a good idea of official thinking.

“Perth and Kinross Council has been unable to secure any information relating to environmental assessment work...”

Most of the plans are likely to be altered only in detail. The main exception is access to Dunkeld and Birnam railway station for which new ideas are being drawn up.

Most difficult

Some of this change of thinking is due to the intervention of Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) which carried out a study of the Holyrood proposals and expressed strong

views on the Birnam and Dunkeld stretch.

It was, it said, “the most difficult section of upgrade… due to existing topography and the restricted width between existing buildings and infrastructure such as the railway and station buildings.”

The council complained there was very little detail about the environmental and ecological impact, adding: “To date, Perth & Kinross Council has been unable to secure any information relating to environmental assessment work carried out relating to this section of the upgrade in Perth & Kinross and therefore will have to reserve judgment on impact on both the natural and historic environment at this stage.”

It said it was therefore unclear whether the plans would adversely impact on the core path network and national cycle routes which were due to be improved. And very little attention appeared to have been given to the provision of lay-bys and rest areas.

The Council went on: “In the vicinity of Dunkeld and Birnam, the A9 route passes through a highly valued landscape containing a number of landscape and conservation designations within close proximity of the existing A9.

“They include: a national scenic area, several garden and designed landscapes, several ancient woodlands and the River Tay Special Area of Conservation. Additionally the works are (to be) undertaken in a Conservation Area and therefore will have an impact on the townscape.”

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 22

19/06/2015 14:48

GETTING AROUND

DALGUISE JUNCTION

DUNKELD JUNCTION

BIRNAM JUNCTION

Travelling south, the A9 crosses the Tay at the Jubilee Bridge or ‘Tay Crossing’ which will almost certainly be replaced.

Immediately afterwards, access to the B898, signposted to Dalguise, Kinnaird and Balnaguard, will be one of the first to be remodelled. Option one maintains full connectivity in both directions; a slip road would emerge to the left, leading to an underpass. And there would be a slip road back on to the A9 for those coming from Dalguise and journeying south. It would also involve the expensive widening of the railway tunnel close to where the slip road begins.

Option two, which PKC prefers because of the engineering difficulties of altering the rail line, has restricted local access with no slip road at all for those travelling from the north wishing to join the B898. However, a proposed underpass would allow full access to the A9 in both directions for those coming from Dalguise, and there would be a slip road for A9 traffic travelling north.

Option one involves an overbridge, and is PKC’s preference. Travelling south, a slip road leads off near the existing junction, rising up to meet a roundabout.

From there traffic could go left into Dunkeld, go straight on to re-enter the A9, or turn right over the bridge to link with existing roads on the west side.

The roundabout would be surrounded by trees to minimise environmental impact. To reach Dunkeld travelling from the south, traffic would go under the bridge and immediately take a slip road left, which, turning back on itself, rises up to a junction from which traffic can cross the bridge to Dunkeld, connect with existing roads on that side, or re-enter the A9.

Option two proposes a large roundabout on the level of the existing road, providing for all the present accesses and exits. And option three suggests an underpass, requiring the level of the A9 to be raised with regular slip roads descending in each direction.

Option one offers full connection to Birnam with slip roads in both directions via an underpass. Option two proposes no access at all for traffic heading to Birnam from the A9 in either direction, obliging vehicles to travel there via the Dunkeld junction. However it proposes an underpass connecting the southern end of Birnam to the B867 to Bankfoot.

PKC is strongly in favour of the first option, “as this maintains the access to the A9 through Birnam and therefore maintains the economic and practical benefit to that community.”

DUNKELD AND BIRNAM STATION ACCESS

It also pointed out that Dunkeld and Birnam railway station is a grade ‘A’ listed building of note and the setting of such cannot be adversely compromised.

Since these official comments were made public in March 2012, it is understood further information is being gathered, with discussions behind the scenes.

However, despite PKC’s concerns, it has declared its preferred option for the various proposed junctions.

There is still much to be decided but Dunkeld and Birnam Community Council is broadly in favour of the idea that improvements are needed. Alan Wylie, its treasurer, was asked to comment after a terrible head-on smash in February on the two-way Birnam section in which two men died.

Mr Wylie said he used the road a lot: “…I have to say I think the average speed cameras have calmed things down, but it hasn’t stopped people from overtaking.

At the end of the day, it’s still a very dangerous road.

“The sooner they get the road dualled around here the better. Unfortunately, there

is a train line on one side of the road and houses on the other, so this will probably be one of the last places to be dualled.”

Inviting local views

Jacobs told The Heartlander: “Over the next 12 to 18 months, we will be assessing matters that will affect the design of the five projects we are progressing, including environmental sensitivities, engineering design options, assessment of junction and access arrangements and priorities for noncar users. We aim to hold public exhibitions to show our design options later this year.”

Plans for A9 dualling, from the new Tay crossing north of the Dalguise junction to Blair Atholl and Calvine, will be discussed in future issues of The Heartlander.

Under the published plans, this would be accessed only from the northbound carriageway, with a single ‘left-in, leftout’ junction.

Widening the A9 would remove almost all of the station car park, leaving a drop off point and a couple of small parking areas only just within easy walking distance. A pedestrian subway to Station Road would be retained.

PKC criticized the plans, regretting, “the disconnection of the railway station from the community,” and raised concern about the poor car parking and the potential threat to the station’s category ‘A’ listing.

Jacobs has now told The Heartlander: “The original options presented for Dunkeld and Birnam involved widening the road to the west, to avoid impact on residential and commercial properties to the east. As this option removed the car park from the station, and altered the access arrangements, a further two options were presented.

“The first offers access to the west of the tracks, from the A822 via a proposed junction at Dunkeld. This would provide a limited number of car parking spaces. The second option involves alterations at the station, where the A9 dual carriageway is lowered and a structure proposed over the A9 at ground level, to link Station Road with the railway station.

“This option has construction complexities being in such close proximity to the station, the Highland Main Line Railway and commercial and residential properties on Station Road. However, it does allow direct access to the station and a car parking facility.”

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 23

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 23

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL ENTERPRISE

Perthshire’s

BUNGEE MAN

moved to Scotland in 2003 with his Scottish-born wife Donna. He talked about how he first became interested in this relatively new sport: “I recall reading about it a long time ago…the first jumps were done by the Oxford Extreme Sports Club in 1979 from the 75-metre- high Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

“Then a few years later I heard about a New Zealander, A J Hackett, who did a jump from the Eiffel Tower. I thought, “Wow, I’d love to have a go at that!” Not too long after that I got my wish and did my first jump in New Zealand … that was over 25 years ago.”

The most terrifying thing I’ve Some years after leaving school Muzza ever done in my life,” said one went travelling and ended up in South jumper. “I felt I was falling to Africa. In 1990 he was working at a boatyard my death. But I’m glad I did it,” when two of the staff noticed he was she adds as an afterthought. wearing a T-shirt with a bungee-jumping Other jumpers are more enthusiastic logo and invited him to and rave about their “EXHILARATING… go jumping with them bungee jumps: “Exhilarating…amazing… AMAZING…INCREDIBLE… that weekend.

It turned out that the incredible…the most THE MOST FABULOUS embryo jumping business fabulous experience of EXPERIENCE OF MY was run by some Kiwis. my whole life…can’t wait WHOLE LIFE…CAN’T knew people I knew… to do another.”

WAIT TO DO ANOTHER.” “They I started working for them.

Just what makes The jumps were from a 60-metre-high people want to fall a long distance from a bridge above a dry river bed.” height, head down, with a length of elastic The next move was to start jumping from tied to their ankles? The Heartlander went Bloukrans Bridge in the Western Cape along to talk to the man who started it all province of S. Africa which, at 215 metres here in Highland Perthshire. high, is still the site of the world’s highest New Zealander Murray Trail, known as bungee jumping business.

‘Muzza’ to his friends, is the founder and managing director of Highland Fling, a bungee jumping company based at Demo jumps Killiecrankie on the River Garry, where it “The business was called Kiwi Extreme boasts the first permanent bungee jumping (now re-named Face Adrenalin) and at that platform in Britain. time they were organising permission to An all-round sports enthusiast (he’s also a jump at Victoria Falls. We went there to do rugby coach and a coastal yacht-master) he some demo jumps and also went white-

stic success la e n a s s e in Making bus ‘Muzza’ Murray Trail of Little Ballinluig enjoys plummeting for pleasure into the Garry Gorge at Killiecrankie, and has turned it into a profitable business.

24

“

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 24

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL ENTERPRISE

“...ANYONE CAN JUMP, NO MATTER THEIR AGE. THE OLDEST GUY WE’VE HAD SO FAR WAS 90! I BELIEVE THAT THE OLDEST BUNGEE JUMPER IN THE WORLD WAS 96.”

water rafting and I learned how to be a rafting guide.”

Muzza decided on settling in Highland Perthshire after he and his wife visited the area and realized its potential for a variety of exhilarating sports including bungee jumping. “I strongly believe this region has huge possibilities which are not yet fully exploited,” he says. He set up Highland Fling almost four years ago, jumping from a bridge standing 40 metres high over the spectacular scenery of the River Garry gorge downstream from the National Trust Visitors’ Centre at Killiecrankie.

What sort of folk come along to hurl themselves into dizzying space at Killiecrankie? “Our business is web-driven and our target market is people between the ages of 20 and 35, but anyone can jump, no matter their age. The oldest guy we’ve had so far was 90! I believe that the oldest bungee jumper in the world was 96, a man, and the oldest lady was 92.

“There’s no reason why anyone shouldn’t jump provided they don’t have pre-existing neck or back injuries or a heart condition, obvious things like that. Look at me, my body’s pretty battered after years of kayaking and rugby, I’m full of aches and pains, but I jump all the time! I actually think jumping is good for the spine because you’re falling in a vertical line and it stretches your back.”

Highland Fling has now clocked up over 2000 jumps. “Obviously our busiest times of the year are in summer when we get people jumping every day, seven days a week, with rather fewer days in spring and autumn. Last summer we had a record number of people at the weekends.

“And we even had people jumping mid-week in January!

Growing business

“We’re taking on more full-time staff this year. The jumpmasters do a thorough training with us before they are considered competent. We’re very, very safetyconscious; there are strict procedures in place so that it is just not possible for anything to go wrong.”

Muzza was born in Wellington, New Zealand but within a few months of his birth his family moved to one of the southernmost cities in the world – Invercargill on the coast of South Island – and this is where he grew up. “Not unlike the north coast of Scotland,” he says.

Would he ever think of returning to New Zealand? He ponders the question. “New Zealanders are used to an outdoor life; it’s very much an outdoor culture. Every boy plays rugby and I find the winters here very hard from that point of view.

“There was a ten year gap after I set off travelling before I visited New Zealand again in 1999, but my family and I now visit regularly. My wife would move there tomorrow!

“A little while ago I was tempted to go back and take over a business there, but it needed a lot of money and time put into it and I would have had to give up Highland |Fling. The permission from the council to operate from the |bridge over the Garry is for myself only. I can’t pass it on to anyone else.

“So in the end I decided against it, things are going pretty well here and I’m still convinced that Highland Perthshire has a whole lot going for it.” www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 25

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 25

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL ISSUES

DRIVING OVER HISTORY

Metal detectors might rescue precious artefacts

The historic battleground at Killiecrankie where government forces were routed by Jacobite troops in 1689 may be threatened by the A9 widening plans, and it is causing concern to people in the area.

Mr Mackay launched a series of he Holyrood administration exhibitions of the road plans, which have believes the problem can be been drawn up by Jacobs U.K. Ltd, the overcome by enlisting a team developers for the section through the armed with metal detectors to battlefield. He said the search would not sweep up objects before they are lost delay the overall project, even if items of beneath the new road’s foundations. major significance were uncovered.

The archaeological survey is expected to “It shouldn’t impact… because we have start by early July, scouring around 200m on given ourselves the time to do this properly. either side of a mile-long stretch, with any It won’t derail the investment work.” He said finds to be displayed at the Pass of they were consulting on two options for the Killiecrankie visitor centre. route of the Killiecrankie to Pitagowan section.

However, there has been little Iain Reid, interim consultation on the chief executive of the plans and very little “THEY APPEAR TO BE National Trust for detail issued on how HOLDING US AT ARM’S echoed much of the battlefield LENGTH, AS IF WE WANT Scotland, the minister’s will be obliterated if it TO UNDERMINE WHAT IS enthusiasm for the follows the routes now BEING DONE WHEN metal detector survey. being proposed.

CERTAINLY IN MY CASE I He said, “This is a AM NOT.” fantastic opportunity New Light as, hopefully, the survey Transport minister, will uncover artefacts and new information Derek Mackay, was upbeat recently about that will allow us to understand more about the use of new technology to scour for the events of 27 July 1689.” treasures, despite the fact that metal detectors, by definition, are unable to unearth stone or wooden objects.

Hesitation He said on a visit, “Previous finds here at James Rattray, author of our article on page Killiecrankie include the first grenades used 30, lives close to the site and is Chairman of on a battlefield in the UK. There is every Soldiers of Killiecrankie and the local chance of more of these types of finds, member for the Scottish Battlefield Trust which could shed new light on the battle.” with a specific remit from them to keep an “Whilst creating a better understanding eye on the field. “We invited Jacobs Ltd to of the past, we are investing in our future as come and tell us all what is going on at this part of this A9 dualling work. This is year’s Soldiers of Killiecrankie event on 25th obviously a sensitive site because it is a and 26th July,“ he said. “We have seen press historic battlefield and therefore we will be releases and TV coverage by the Scottish taking extra care and time to understand the Government minister telling the world site more clearly.” they are going to carry out metal detector

T

26

surveys, but there is a marked hesitation to directly involve us locally with any specific details on what they are doing.

“Jacobs have as yet to even acknowledge my request sent three days ago. I suggest they may be running round consulting government officials and bodies behind the scenes on how they handle this request.”

Mr Rattray accepted consultations on more general aspects had been extensive: “I am sure they have also been expensive (for us tax payers); I think it is excellent that they are being so thorough, but do they actually listen?

“My experiences so far with the battlefield, are they are being less than open and honest with those of us, individual locals, who are showing a direct interest. In an age when the population of Scotland is welleducated, often well informed, many a time with good local knowledge, one has to question why they do not embrace those who come forward with constructive ideas and suggestions.

Arms Length

“They appear to be holding us at arm’s length, as if we want to undermine what is being done when certainly in my case I am not. Along with others, I just want to understand what is being done and make sure, together with our elected bodies, officials and the A9 Developers, that we all openly reach properly considered conclusions, before we stamp our big feet on important historic scenes that we should be retained for future generations.

“Surely this is what ‘consultation’ is all about?”

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 26

19/06/2015 14:48

THEATRE

Casting for

DRAMATIC EFFECTS The Festival Theatre in Pitlochry has a dazzling lineup of new and not-so-new talent this year. Here is their behind-the-scenes story of who will be featuring this summer season. itlochry Festival Theatre is a unique theatrical phenomenon which offers the audience the opportunity to see a different show every day and two on matinee days!

There’s no other place like it and it’s part of the attraction – and challenge – for PFT’s actors, to simultaneously rehearse and then play multiple roles, in a daily repertoire system.

Every year, PFT receives many thousands of applications from a wide spectrum of talent – from seasoned veterans of the stage to the latest bunch of bright young things fresh from drama schools – and those that make the short list are auditioned in London or Edinburgh, every autumn.

The chosen few then duly arrive in March of the following year, to begin rehearsals of the first four shows.

In a break from rehearsals, we caught up with Company Manager Ruth Alexander and Pitlochry based actress Helen Logan to get a view from the rehearsal room: Helen said rehearsing four plays at the same time can be difficult for the first time: “It can be a bit overwhelming but you pick it up. This style of theatre means you never get bored, you’re always playing something different each day and you can’t get

P

Ruth Alexander, Company Manager

“Lots appreciate our high production standards and West End values, yet on your day off you can go hike a mountain!”

Margaret Preece, Basienka Blake and ensemble in A Little Night Music

complacent. I think that makes better viewing for the audiences, too.”

A large proportion of the acting company is unfamiliar with Highland Perthshire – most have heard of the Festival Theatre, but many never visited! Change is perhaps the only constant in many actors lives, however transitioning from a life in the Big Smoke to Big Tree country can be a challenge.

Whatever the circumstances, Ruth Alexander is on hand to ensure them a smooth relocation. She said, “A large part of my job is to manage actors’ expectations – and try to give them as much information as possible prior to their arrival. It can be a difficult transition for some, especially those used to living in cities or coming straight off a busy tour.”

After working in London, Helen confessed her move to Pitlochry was barely noticeable: “Some actors do find the transition difficult, and I’ve had actors ask me why I would want to live here and my answer is always why on earth would I choose not to?! I love the countryside here, and it’s a great place to raise children. My daughter is loves it, it’s a friendly, personable town.

“In London, people often don’t even smile at you, where as in Pitlochry you can walk to work and strangers smile and say hello. I love that!”

Expansion plans

Pitlochry Festival Theatre opened in 1951 and Summer Season of Six has been running in repertoire ever since, beginning with Mary Of Scotland, Brief Glory, Macbeth, Comrade The www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 27

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 27

19/06/2015 14:48

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 28

19/06/2015 14:48

THEATRE

Kirsty MacMaren, Estrid Barton and Karen Fishwick in The Admirable Crichton in 2013

King, Mary Rose and Susannah And The Elders. Originally housed in a tent, the theatre now occupies a beautiful modern building on the banks of the Tummel River with a view to expansion and modernisation in 2021 to become a major producing theatre offering improved and enlarged capital facilities. You can read more about Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Vision 2021 on their website.

The popular Perthshire theatre continues to produce shows of remarkably high (West End) standards. Ruth adds: “I think that’s often what brings actors back to Pitlochry – lots appreciate our high production standards and West End values, yet on your day off you can go hike a mountain!

Everyone here at PFT wants to make the shows as good as they can be because we have loyal customers who travel substantial distances to see us.”

Many great actors have made an annual excursion to perform at Summer Season over the years. Dougal Lee – who chalks ups his 60th production this year when he plays romantically entangled Fredrik Egerman in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music – is one of them.

Ruth Alexander said of the returning actors, “They already know the ins and outs of Pitlochry, and the acting company tend to bond quite quickly so they take the new faces under their wing, so to speak! That really helps. Also – we’re incredibly well connected. Edinburgh is about an hour and a half away so the acting company still experiences things like the Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.”

Unique opportunities

Helen Logan marks her 10th Season this Summer. “Working at Pitlochry Festival Theatre gives actors a fairly unique

Gavin Swift and Ceri-lyn Cissone in A Little Night Music

“Working at Pitlochry Festival Theatre gives actors a fairly unique opportunity to play roles they otherwise wouldn’t get cast in.”

Helen Logan

opportunity to play roles they otherwise wouldn’t get cast in,” she said. As we have a main role in one play and some smaller roles in others, for an actor, that’s what makes life interesting.”

This year, her roles include playing the sophisticated Countess Charlotte in A Little Night Music, aspiring children’s author Grace in Improbable Fiction, and Miss Pogson in Home And Beauty.

Among the 17-strong Summer Season ensemble, there are 9 new faces, including Gavin Swift who arrives in Highland Perthshire fresh from a lead role in a touring performance of War Horse. Another new face is Thomas Heard, a graduate of the Royal College of Music; he will be playing the rare – and beautiful – cor anglais, borrowed from Cheshire Youth Orchestra, in A Little Night Music.

Helen commented, “Most of the acting company that work here embrace Pitlochry wholeheartedly and love the lifestyle. Young actors know its such a unique opportunity to work in repertoire theatre – and you can climb Ben Vrackie on your day off!”

This year, PFT’s Summer Season is a showcase of the work of some of the very best writers of comedy, drama and musical theatre from the theatre traditions of England, Scotland, Ireland and the USA; beginning with the 2015 flagship musical, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music opening on May 22nd.

Summer Season continues until October with Alan Ayckbourn’s Improbable Fiction, Alan Bennett’s The Lady In The Van, W. Somerset Maugham’s Home And Beauty, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest and David Greig’s Pyrenees.

More information on the Summer Season – and the ensemble – can be found on www.

PitlochryFestivalTheatre.com www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 29

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 29

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL HISTORY

KILLIECRANKIE Travels a long way back in time

James Rattray tells the story of a famous local battle and how it is being vividly commemorated 326 years later. t the time of the Battle of Killiecrankie, the United Kingdom didn’t exist. England and Scotland were separate countries, each with their own parliaments but with the same monarch.

When Elizabeth I of England died in 1603, her successor was James I of England, the great great grandson of Henry VII, who was also proclaimed King James VI of Scotland.

(It was not until 1707, eighteen years after the Battle of Killiecrankie, that the United Kingdom was created.)

In 1688, the year before the battle, King James VII of Scotland/James II of England gave birth to a son, also called James. It became obvious that a Roman Catholic succession to the throne was now more than likely.

Many people, especially in England, were disturbed by this prospect and a swelling of opinion against the king led to openlycanvassed support for a Protestant, Prince William of Orange, son-in-law to King James, to succeed him as king. Under pressure, King James fled to France and William took the kingship. The considerable numbers of

A

30

supporters of James (and, later, of his son) were known as Jacobites.

In March 1689 King James went to Ireland, where there was strong Jacobite support, and took part in the long and unsuccessful Siege of Derry, and in the following month William and his wife Mary Stuart, the daughter of King James, were proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland and England.

King James’ Scottish supporters formed an army under the leadership of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who led the Jacobites to victory over the Williamite army led by General Hugh Mackay (also a Scot) on 27 July 1689 at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

However, the Jacobite victory at Killiecrankie was short-lived, as the death in the battle of their brilliant commander Viscount Dundee effectively meant they were leaderless. Shortly afterwards the Jacobite army was defeated by a much smaller force of Cameronians at the Battle of Dunkeld.

The Jacobite uprising was thus effectively over in Scotland, and in 1690 William established the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Spectacular location

As I write we’re preparing for the second Soldiers of Killiecrankie event on Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26. It will take place on the actual site of the battlefield, the Haugh of Killiecrankie. This, a spectacular location – the flat fields on the right as you drive out of Killiecrankie towards Blair Atholl.

Last year saw the arrival of the Jacobite cavalry, fully equipped in 17th century saddle gear, supported by a fine display of costumed Government troops, a living history camp and Jacobite Highlanders. In addition there were stalls, talks, a Saturday night traditional ceilidh on the Battlefield, and Battlefield tours, all of which were very popular.

We received lots of enthusiastic feedback from all those who attended, both locals and visitors and 2015 is shaping up to be an even bigger weekend! The word we’re getting from the re-enactor world is that even more re-enactors from all over the UK are planning to attend and are busy making their costumes. There are plans for the Irish Dragoons to be present with at least 13 guns.

The Irish did indeed play a part in the Battle, and we very much look forward to their arrival, with their story as to why the Irish were here in 1689.

We are very keen for Soldiers of Killiecrankie to be more than just about the 17th century battle, by including other ‘period sensitive’ activities such as traditional

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 30

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL HISTORY

“Last year saw the arrival of the Jacobite cavalry, fully equipped in 17th century saddle gear.”

crafts and skills, highland culture, food, and sport. We hope to have two activity venues and two arenas this year where displays, talks, plays, storytelling and singing will take place. Special events for children will include target and sword making, storytelling, and an interactive Battle of Killiecrankie play.

The Saturday night ‘Battlefield Ceilidh’ was a huge success last year which we plan to repeat. It’s a traditional ceilidh where we encourage those who have stories, or can play music or sing a song, to take part, supported by a ceilidh band with lots of dancing in the marquee.

Period dress

Those attending the ceilidh will be allowed in free provided they are in period dress.

Ceilidh tickets are £7 from Dorothy Bancroft (07522 279167) or at Killiecrankie Village Hall (from Amanda and Kirsty McWilliams) or on the day at the event.

The event will come to an end at 4.00pm on Sunday, with everyone following the pipers and infantry up to the War Memorial on the Battle site, and a short service of remembrance for all those who fell that day 326 years ago.

Event Entry is £6 adult, £5 concession, children under 16 years £3 (under 3 free), family of four £16. Battlefield Tours are £1, free car parking.

You can follow us on Face Book, and on www.SoldiersOfKilliecrankie.co.uk

journey from Dunkeld and why they wanted to get to Blair Castle. How the Jacobite Commander, Viscount Dundee, chose the battle site.

You’ll see Jacobite cavalry (something that you will not see anywhere else), and attend the Williamite army’ living history’ camp, where you can watch a soldier making musket balls, and learn what the army ate and how it lived while on the march.

This year the ladies of Killiecrankie are hard at work enhancing one of the most popular activities from 2014: dressing up of members of the public, in belted plaids (men) and arisaigs (women), by making

Why come to soldiers of Killiecrankie?

The Killiecrankie battlefield site is on private ground, and not readily accessible to the general public all year round. We are very fortunate that the owners and the family who farm the land have been most supportive.

You’ll hear about the Williamite army’s

James Rattray, the author, in battle gear

more costumes and producing various sizes for children too.

The battlefield tours should not be forgotten, they can only be enjoyed over this weekend each year. Your chance to stand along the Williamite army lines and visualise the different highland clans that stood against you.

One member of the public commented last year, ‘It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.’

We’ll have even more stalls this year, from food to all kinds of items and appropriate activities. The Saturday night ceilidh with the costumed re-enactors is being held in an even larger marquee this year to accommodate the numbers, with songs, storytelling, music and of course an excellent ceilidh band.

I ‘m particularly looking forward to hearing the stories being told by Jess Smith, a traditional storyteller, who is in great demand throughout Scotland for her live performances. Stories about Killiecrankie and the surrounding area that have been passed down through generations in the travellers’ community. Jess told me that travellers took part in all these battles. As an ancestor of mine also took part in this battle on the side of the Jacobites, I am very keen to hear these accounts to get a better understanding of what it must have been like 326 years ago. www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 31

31

19/06/2015 14:48

WILDLIFE

BEAVERS AWAY!

extraordinary growth in FRAN GILLESPIE charts the ment since a few were tch ca y Ta e th in s er mb nu er beav s ago. She argues we accidentally released ten year s. ler should welcome these little fel eelings are running high about the reintroduction of beavers into the Scottish landscape, and yet until a few years ago the average citizen knew hardly anything about these engaging but elusive animals. Wiped out by human activity about 500 years ago, it seems the beavers are back, and most probably they’re here to stay!

The first most of us heard about beavers arriving back on Scottish soil was via media reports on the official five-year Scottish Beaver Trial in Knapdale, Argyll, licensed by the Scottish Government and run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in partnership with three other organizations.

The trial began in 2008 and is now completed and reported on. We await the Government’s decision on the future of beavers in Scotland. However, unknown to almost everyone, beavers had already taken

F

32

things into their own hands, or rather paws.

As early as 2001, a beaver was seen in the lower Earn. This had perhaps escaped from captivity further up the river.

Move on to 2012, and with more escapes a Scottish National Heritage report found an estimated 150 beavers, most born in the wild, flourishing in the Tay catchment. As well as the Earn and the Tay itself, beavers were along the Almond, the Ericht, the Isla and the Tummel.

Although there have been accusations of illegal release, this is denied by organisations involved with the welfare of beavers, and indeed these animals can travel a long way by water and spread quickly. The River Tay has the largest river catchment system in Scotland, the tributaries are heavily wooded, making ideal beaver habitat.

In addition to the trial, and the wild beavers around us locally, the owners of Bamff Estate near Blairgowrie began in 2002

to bring in beavers from Norway, Poland and Bavaria [where 16000 wild beavers now live]. After some initial setbacks, Bamff now has two resident populations breeding in very large enclosures. Over the years the gradual modification of the natural landscape by these beavers has proved a constant source of interest to visitors.

Are they really native to Scotland?

‘Beavers are known to have existed in Scotland in the earliest Mesolithic times,’ says Dr Nick Dixon of the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology. ‘There are references in the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) of ancient beaver bones turning up in peat workings.’ A few years ago, his team found evidence in Loch Tay of timbers cut by beavers, and when carbon dated they proved to date back over 4000 years.

What exactly are beavers?

Here are a few beavery facts: They are large, furry, semi-aquatic rodents, about the size of an average dog. There are two species, the Eurasian beaver we have here in Scotland, and the North American beaver, which is similar but cannot interbreed. They have chunky, robust bodies, round heads with prominent incisor teeth which keep on growing like those of other rodents, and paddle-shaped scaly tails. Adults can weigh up to 38 kg and live around 12 years.

Being nocturnal, beavers are not often

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 32

19/06/2015 14:48

WILDLIFE

“Every water-associated creature from water beetles and dragonflies to fish, otters and birds benefits from watercourses being modified by beavers.” seen – the best time is early evening when they come out of their lodges to socialize and feed before starting on the night’s engineering projects. Once you know what to look for, however, the signs of the presence of beavers are unmistakable.

Gnawing leaving wide flat tooth marks on the base of trees, piles of large wood chips and flakes, stumps of trees and saplings with a typical ‘pencil point’ base – you just can’t miss ‘em!

What do beavers eat?

A remark sometimes heard in these parts is, ‘No wonder fishermen don’t like beavers, they’re competing for fish.’ Nothing could be further from the truth – the speakers are confusing beavers with otters, another large aquatic animal which is also making a comeback.

Beavers are strictly herbivorous. In late spring and early summer they eat a variety of herbaceous plants on land and in the water (they’re partial to the stems of water lilies and yellow flag irises), and in autumn and winter they feed on the bark of trees, caching food to have available when weather is bad.

Like us, beavers have favourite foods, and it’s a curious fact that here in Perthshire they seem to go for non-native trees such as sycamore and beech, rather than native trees like ash. Possibly, suggests Victor Clements, an Aberfeldy-based adviser on native woodland. They like sycamores because sycamores are related to maples

and have a sugary sap.

Humans are not the only mammals with a sweet tooth! However, a beaver’s number one favourite snack is the bark of aspens, a tree which is rare in Perthshire.

But more of that later.

Do they eat anything else?

In the interests of accuracy one has to “MASTERS OF COMPLEX be truthful, but WATER MANAGEMENT, please, if you BEAVERS CAN CONSTRUCT happen to be eating A SMALL DAM LITERALLY while reading this, OVERNIGHT.” set this magazine aside until you finish your meal. supplies, beavers famously build dams.

Ready? Here goes: and don’t Not for nothing is ‘beavering’ a by-word for hard work! say you weren’t warned.

Along with some other species of Masters of complex water management, rodents, beavers practise coecotrophy beavers can construct a small dam literally overnight. The sound of rushing water – that’s poo-eating to you and me. Their inefficient system for digesting cellulose stimulates them to build, and they construct their dams from the trunks and branches means that they have to recycle their food of trees, felled and dragged into position to extract more nutrition. To do this they using their powerful teeth, and cemented produce a special kind of runny green poo with mud and stones which they carry in and they curl up and slurp it up noisily their forepaws. direct from their own anuses.

Right, that’s enough of the beavers’ An adult beaver can walk on its hind legs for short distances and carry a load of secret vice, they’re endearing creatures in building material wedged between its front every other way with, I’m assured, very paws and its chin. The material is then superior morals as regards mating. offloaded on the upstream side of the dam, where the flowing water helps to stabilise it.

Family life The size and height of some dams is truly Beavers are sociable animals and usually live astounding: the largest yet recorded, in in family groups. They build their homes, Alberta, Canada, is approximately 850 known as lodges, by felling saplings and metres in length! Here in Perthshire, beaver small trees which they pile up into large dams tend to be somewhat more modest in mounds, covered with mud which freezes scale, and are built on small tributaries with a when the frosty weather comes. The depth of no more than two feet or so, rather entrance of a lodge is underwater, meaning than main rivers. that baby beavers are safe from all possible predators except otters, which have been known to occasionally kill young animals.

Do beavers benefit the environment?

There are normally two chambers within The answers are yes, yes and yes! Many a lodge, one near the entrance where a ecosystem improvements result from beaver beaver can allow its fur to dry after leaving activity, and here are some for starters, all the water, and another one higher up where backed up by statistics from surveys. the family lives. The kits are born in April or Beaver-created environments show a marked May and a mother beaver can give birth to increase in the number of plant species – one up to four kits in each litter. survey recorded a 14% increase.

Every water-associated creature from water beetles and dragonflies to fish, otters The dam builders and birds benefits from watercourses being To keep the entrances of their lodges modified by beavers. Beaver structures are underwater, and also probably to encourage used by otters and water voles, both of the growth of their water-based food

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 33

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 33

19/06/2015 14:48

WILDLIFE

DAM OFFICIALS! Beavers in the States! Below is the text of an official letter sent last year by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality to a landowner regarding the construction of dams on his property, followed by the owner’s response.

Dear Sir, It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the abovereferenced property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/ or contractor who carried out the following: Construction of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of a spring pond.

A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department’s files shows that no permits have been issued. Therefore this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994.

We understand that one or both of the dams failed during recent rains, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. Dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to remove all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2015.

The landowner’s reply: Dear Sirs, I am the legal landowner but not the contractor at the address named in your letter. A couple of beavers are in the process of constructing and maintaining two wood ‘debris’ dams across the outlet stream of my spring pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skilful use of building materials ‘debris’. I

“BEAVERS DON’T VENTURE MORE THAN A FEW YARDS FROM A WATERCOURSE.”

which are protected species, and numbers of the endangered voles have increased in beaver-modified landscapes.

Numbers of frogs, toads and newts increase, providing food for predators such as herons. Salmonid fish stocks benefit from dammed pools.

I mentioned earlier that beavers like bark from aspens, rare in Perthshire. Aspens are uncommon partly because their seed production is not annual, but evidence from Scandinavia shows that beavers gnawing aspen bark ‘panics’ the trees into speeding up seeding.

‘Coppicing’ of saplings by beavers results in tree stumps putting out new growth, and clearance of riparian areas leaves more room for a diversity of plant species. Beaver dams slow down water flow, reducing soil loss, improving water retention in the aquifer, and so reducing the risk of downstream flooding.

So why do some people hate beavers?

It’s understandable that people are upset when they come across a favourite tree in a horizontal instead of vertical position.

‘They’ve chopped down four trees on our course!’ complained an aggrieved golfer recently. But solving this problem is straightforward – beavers don’t venture more than a few yards from a watercourse, and won’t chew a tree if you wrap a bit of wire netting around the base.

Some farmers, ploughing too close to a riverbank, have had machinery suddenly sink into beaver tunnels. Leaving a wider margin between ploughed land and the riverbank is the answer here — which also reduces the undesirable leaching of fertilizer into the watercourse.

34

Beaver deceivers!

Beaver deceivers, or flow devices, are simple, easy-to-install gadgets to control the level of water above beaver dams. Beavers respond to water flow in a dam by plugging the leaks, and they’d do just the same with a plastic drainage pipe inserted through the dam.

However, beaver deceivers slow down water flow through the pipe, which is caged at one end so that the beavers can’t get near enough to it to detect the flow. The pipe then controls the water level behind the dam and prevents flooding. Have a look at the US website Beaver Solutions to see how a flow device works.

At the end of March, the Scottish Wild Beaver Group organized a conference in Dunkeld, with speakers from Scotland,

would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time or place you choose. I believe there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and their dam work ethic.

As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.

My dam question to you is: Are you trying to discriminate against my particular beavers, or do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, then through the Freedom of Information Act I request copies of all those other beaver dam permits that have been issued.

My concern is: aren’t the beavers entitled to legal representation? My spring pond beavers are financially destitute and unable to pay for representation, so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer.

If you want the stream restored to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers. They did not pay any attention to your letter, being unable to read English. In my opinion, the beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy the spring pond.

As far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated action right now. Why wait until January 2015?

The beavers will be under the ice by then and there will be no way for your dam staff to contact/harass them.

England, Wales, the continent and the USA. At the end of the day the message was clear: with careful management and understanding, beavers and people can comfortably co-exist, and the long-term benefits to farming, forestry, fishing and the ecosystem in general are huge — not to mention the money to be made by eco-tourism.

Welcome back, beavers!

With thanks and acknowledgement to Dave Butcher, of the Wildwood Trust, for the photographs of beavers, and David Gillespie for the photographs of beaver activity.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 34

19/06/2015 14:48

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

Mike Williamson who claimed more expenses than any other P&KC councillor last year

A NICE LITTLE EARNER?

resent us?

Should our councillors be paid to rep

he world seems to be divided into those who think our councillors do a good job, those who think they are irrelevant, and those who think they are a necessary evil.

Anybody who follows what these people do on behalf of the community know it is no cushy number, and deriding all they do is surely unfair.

However, it is worth thinking what they cost us in cash terms, because few people realise that – in Scotland but not England – our councillors are paid a salary for working part-time on our behalf.

And it amounts quite a bit more than what many of their constituents take home after toiling for a full working week.

T

Called to account

We must recognise that councillors have a huge job – in a nutshell they are supposed to keep our bureaucracy in check. There is another key role – dealing with a variety of thorny issues on behalf of constituents.

But gradually over the years, what was once regarded as voluntary, a vocation, has become more and more a job.

The job description has become more onerous, as council business has become more complex. But should local politics become a career, even if it is notionally a part-time one?

Councillors frequently say they feel a great sense of satisfaction from helping the public.

So why should they be paid, and why so much?

Scotland goes its own way

Salaries on a national scale for elected members in Scotland were introduced in May 2007, while councils in England were left to choose their own scale of allowances.

Since that date, there has been a wide divergence between the two countries.

Councillors in many English areas get just a few thousand a year in allowances.

North Yorkshire, an area comparable to Perthshire, pays its councillors an allowance – not a salary – of £8,994. On the other

hand, the basic salary across Scotland for backbench councillors was set at £16,560 from 1 April 2014.

A few senior councillors with additional responsibilities receive enhancements, and there are also four different salary levels for council leaders according to the size of the local authority.

It can be as much as £49,683 if you are political head of Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Perth’s leader, Ian Miller, pockets £33,123.

Who really pulls the strings?

Ian Miller is, of course, not running the council on a day-to day basis. That job is held by Bernadette Malone, Perth and Kinross Council’s chief executive, who Highland Ward covers the bulk of Highland Perthshire north of the Jubilee Bridge across the Tay. Here CLLR IAN CAMPBELL, a Conservative who lives in Stanley, received a salary of £16,560 in 2014/15 and, with expenses totalling £2,786, he took home £19,508.

CLLR KATE HOWIE, SNP, who lives near Grandtully, received a salary of £16,560, expenses of £4,130, which totalled £20,852.

CLLR MIKE WILLIAMSON, SNP, of Aberfeldy, received a salary of £16,560 plus expenses of £5,448. This is the highest amount of any councillor including the leader. His total was £22,170.

received a salary of £122,898 in 2013/14, and which is almost certainly more now.

The cost of local bureaucracy, as we are seeing, is nowadays quite a lot.

Bernadette and 24 other department heads and ‘deputes’ were paid an aggregate of £1,862,911 in 2013/14.

With councillors collectively receiving £856,246 it means top tier expenditure totals over £2.7m.

More recent figures are available for councillors because they have to be disclosed on June 1 for the previous tax year. So with information hot off the press, we can focus on the six councillors representing The Heartlander’s rural catchment area.

Strathtay ward, which covers Dunkeld and Birnam and swathes of land south, east and west, is also represented by three councillors.

CLLR JOHN KELLAS, SNP, gets a higher salary for being Convenor of the Enterprise and Infrastructure Committee of £22,295. He claimed £2,169 in expenses and took home £24.683 in total.

CLLR GRANT LAING, SNP, was paid £16,560, which with £1,743 expenses added up to £18,465.

CLLR BARBARA VAUGHAN, Conservative, is Convenor of the Audit Committee and so was paid £22,295. She claimed only £909 in expenses, totalling £23,423.

Are they good value for money? The Heartlander would like to hear the opinion of readers, and also those councillors whose financial affairs we have discussed here.

In future issues, we’d like them to put into words the joys and drawbacks of being an elected representative, and why they believe they are worth paying at this level.

Perhaps some might even argue it is not enough.

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 35

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 35

19/06/2015 14:48

INNOVATION

Kate MacRitchie is PR and Admin Officer of HPCP

The hills are

ALIVE!

t gathers speed Local fast broadband projec

By Kate MacRitchie

magine being able to hike to the top of Schiehallion, HPCP is a local charity representing 25 Ben Vrackie or Birnam Hill different member organisations, including all and connecting to the rest ten of our Community Councils. Having spent of world via fast wi-fi on years agitating for BT to get its act together your laptop or smart phone. Or doing the to provide decent connection speeds, it same in the remotest straths and glens of decided the only way forward was to raise Highland Perthshire. the funding to go-it-alone.

The issue here is not whether you are the sort of geek who would want to, but that soon it really will be possible.

Essential Thanks to an innovative local initiative, It is plain that banking, shopping and the curse of snail-pace broadband is at last socialising online are now as essential to going to be eliminated for homes and modern living as heating and running water. businesses throughout our area. No single Yet for many residents in Highland innovation in recent Perthshire’s rural years will have a bigger communities – Struan, impact on our Amulree, Bridge of “THANKS TO AN community than the Gaur and Killiecrankie INNOVATIVE LOCAL plan now under way name but a few INITIATIVE, THE CURSE OF to for a new, superfast – the digital age is a SNAIL-PACE BROADBAND internet system distant dream.

IS AT LAST GOING TO BE beamed via wi-fi radio Despite paying ELIMINATED.” signals into every area for a broadband of Highland Perthshire. service, speeds It is being driven are not measuring forward, and will be operated by Highland up, forcing rural residents to either fork Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP), out on an expensive satellite service or and the first equipment is already being abandon hope of being connected to installed to serve three pilot areas in Struan, the web altogether.

Amulree and Trochry.

For some a virtually internet-free lifestyle

I

36

in the Scottish countryside may sound idyllic but when your closest neighbours live several miles down the road then even basic communication becomes that little bit more complicated.

Then there are the wider economic and social concerns – poor broadband provision can knock down house prices and deter families and new businesses from settling in the area. Failing to keep up to date with the latest technology could therefore spell the end for an area’s economic and social prosperity.

Disconnecting is simply not an option in 2015 and there is a real danger that Highland Perthshire is falling behind.

For many years it has seemed like there is no light at the end of the tunnel for our area’s broadband woes. BT’s promised roll-out has lapsed to 2017 and when it does arrive BT will only supply populations of over 1,000. With Highland Perthshire’s remote communities excluded from the roll-out, superfast speeds increasingly feel like an urban luxury.

However, help is at hand.

HPCP are undertaking their biggest project to date – bringing superfast

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 36

19/06/2015 14:48

INNOVATION

“No single innovation in recent years will have a bigger impact on our community than the plan now under way for a new, superfast internet system.” broadband to hard-to-reach areas of Highland Perthshire. With Phase 1 already under way and the recent announcement that Loch Tay and Bridge of Gaur will form subsequent phases, the local organisation is already making significant headway.

Proactive approach

HPCP is a registered Charity, inaugurated 16 years ago as an umbrella group to bring together groups and organisations working to a common theme in Highland Perthshire.

Its goal was to increase knowledge and improve communication, thus decreasing duplication of projects.

With a newly assembled team the organisation has been reinvigorated with a dynamic, proactive approach, leading the group to tackle vital issues from broadband to the A9 dualling and wind farms. Strong links with Perth & Kinross Council, Police Scotland and SEPA ideally position HPCP to take the lead on projects that will benefit the community.

The broadband project will directly employ up to 10 people in the beginning, with a training programme aimed at recruiting local technicians to be put in place. Admin, PR and project management roles will also be created.

The HPCP broadband project is of a scale and innovation unique in Scotland.

Its chair Graham Huggins said, “We’re on a steep learning curve with no road map to follow, but this is the kind of challenge HPCP relishes. Broadband is now seen as an essential utility so Highland Perthshire cannot afford to be left behind.

The BT roll-out in 2017 will come too late for some and for many not at all.

We realised that if we wanted better speeds the community would have to do it themselves.”

Using a line-of-sight system HPCP intends to relay the signal between a number of transmitters, erected at various locations, to reach remote habitations.

The project is based on the successful Badenoch Broadband model at Laggan and calls on the expertise of Monatech, the company behind Badenoch Broadband and winners of the Rural Innovators Award. Given the unique terrain of Highland Perthshire, much of the equipment has been custom built for the project.

Health risks?

low voltages over a long distance so there are no health worries.

The infrastructure is a wi-fi Next Generation Due to the bumps and hills of Able (NGA) system which connects rural Highland Perthshire HPCP cannot predict areas via a line of sight point-to-point how many transmitters will be needed distribution. The backhaul is connected from to supply the entire area with a broadband the BT exchange in Pitlochry to HPCP’s connection. However, it will likely be in Atholl Road office by fibre optic cable. The the 10s rather than 100s. If a building is connection is currently set at 100mbps but hidden by trees, rocks or some other can be increased to 1gbs (1000mbps) when large obstacle then a central decoder subscriber levels demand. can be used as a hub with fibre optic Equipment in HPCP’s office distributes cable being used for the signal across the network final connection. and also has the The charity’s ethos ability to monitor “IN MANY WAYS DECENT is that everyone will be the performance INTERNET IS MORE VITAL supplied if they wish, to repair any TO RURAL COMMUNITIES even if it means erecting THAN URBAN AREAS AS a transmitter for one A MEANS TO IMPROVE back-of-beyond house.

OVERALL RESILIENCE.” A far cry from BT’s like-itor-lump-it attitude to the digital exclusion faced by rural populations.

Once the signal reaches a building a decoder will be fixed at a suitable point, this will then be connected to a router inside the building, exactly the same as any other broadband provider. Signal strength can be maintained in one leap up to about 25 miles before any significant drop-off is encountered.

During the pilot project the initial speeds are expected to be 8–16 mbps. As the system grows, speeds in excess of 30 mbps can be achieved where requested, with a future aim of 50 mbps being the norm.

Importantly, this will be actual speeds, not an up-to service. “50 mbps may seem excessive now, but we don’t know what we’ll be doing in the future.”

Graham Huggins said. “Most households will already have several internet capable devices from phones and tablets to software problems remotely. Other than e-readers, laptops and Sky+ packages. If small wind powered generators to power everyone wants to stream music or films at the transmitters there are very few moving the same time then you’re talking about a parts and most failures are usually of a significant amount of bandwidth.” programming nature.

At present these glorious speeds seem Some have flagged up potential health unthinkable in rural parts of Highland risks by operating on a wi-fi based system.

Perthshire. HPCP told The Heartlander about However, though the signal is sometimes a recent meeting they spoke at in Bridge of referred to as micro-wave it should not be Gaur, where residents are regularly cut off confused with the household oven that from the internet altogether with speeds blasts your dinner with high intensity waves. averaging at .4 mbps.

In this instance micro-wave simply refers to “Most of the residents were upset that the size of the radio wave carrying the signal. they would not be able to watch ‘Outlander’, Wi-fi signal also broadcasts at extremely Continued on page 39 www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 37

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 37

19/06/2015 14:48

VIEWS News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Current mine at Foss

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

BANKING BUREAUCRACY GONE MAD Ursula Friede, Boat of Cluny

Mine’s a problem?

Helen Evans, Logierait

I am writing to express my deep concern at the proposed route from the new barite mine at Duntanlich to the A9.

I am not opposing the mine itself, as I fully realise that the barite is there in vast quantities and is important for the oil industry and other users.

The obvious (and, I am told, preferred route of the mining company) is on the north (Strathtummel) side of the ridge and out to the A9 in the Pitlochry, Fonab, Killiecrankie area. This is a much shorter distance to transport the ore so would cause much less noise, air and environmental pollution, and is surely possible within the A9 dualling work.

The proposed route involves more than nine miles of road across vulnerable and scenic hill ground causing irreparable damage, with a crushing plant in the Logierait wood where red squirrels, green woodpeckers, goldcrests and many more species are already fighting for survival, along with orchids and many species of fungi.

It would continue to the A827 across farmland and a flood plain, then through Ballinluig village where heavy lorries are already causing damage to the road, houses and drainage due to their weight and vibration.

I have attended the mining company’s presentation, the A9 dualling ‘drop in’ session and Community Council meetings where I have expressed my feelings.

This is my understanding of the situation so far.

38

After the 2008 crash the banking industry is understandably more cautious. But what if, like me, you don’t want to borrow money, just open a business bank account to deposit money at minimal interest rates?

I’ve had my private account with HSBC for eight years, and was a happy customer. I’ve started trading with my new business already and thought being an existing customer would speed up the process. Surely this would be a simple matter? No it isn’t.

My first hurdle was proof of identity. All companies ask you to be environmentally friendly and opt for statements online instead of on paper.

But though banks send their statements via email or online, they won’t accept a print off of an online statement.

On top of this HSBC cannot accept their own letters as proof of address. I eventually found a tax statement from HMRC. To my dismay they refused to accept this as although the document had my last name on it, my forenames were initialised and they reasoned that it might not be me. Could there really be

two people with the same initials and the same national insurance number? At the end I wasn’t able to open an account.

My next choice was Santander. After filling out an online application I received no confirmation email.

Thankfully I took a note of the reference number. After one week I phoned and was told proof of address takes at least three to four working days.

I phoned again one week later. Proof of address is confirmed, ‘my file is in the underwriting department’. I phoned again one week later. Nothing is happening and nobody knows why.

I phoned again one week later and was told nothing had been done to progress my application. I cancelled it.

My next choice was RBS. Not willing to go through another 20-page online application, I phoned. The business adviser was on holiday for four weeks.

They asked me if I minded waiting. I said surely another adviser could take it over?

I was told this person has so much to do it would take four weeks anyway.

Reasoning has gone out of the window.

BLOTS ON THE LANDSCAPE Roger West, Pitlochry Pitlochry is a beautiful town and it is a privilege to live here. Its economy relies on our keeping it beautiful and making sure it is not spoilt by graffiti, ugly developments and litter.

However, we have two undeveloped sites that are blots on the landscape.

One is land nearest to Bridge Road owned by Sainsbury’s, and on which they promised a few years ago to build a much-needed supermarket.

Not a brick has been laid which leads us to suspect that Sainsbury’s was merely ‘“land banking’,” and wanting to stop other supermarkets from acquiring a foothold in Pitlochry.

The other site is the former Bank House site right in the centre of town.

This was acquired by Uplands, a firm from Aviemore, who made development proposals that were totally unsuitable and faced overwhelming opposition from most of the local people.

It was claimed by planning officers and by some inhabitants that the town looked run down and needed new development in order to safeguard its future. In spite of huge opposition, the

application passed in September 2012, although few if any of the councillors visited the site.

Well, nearly three years later, what have we got? Pitlochry has, at its heart, a derelict site which makes one wonder why. Is it just land banking? It leaves the advocates of ‘any development is better than nothing’ with a lot of explaining to do.

Come on Sainsbury’s and Uplands, admit you have made a mistake, have no interest in Pitlochry, and sell the sites to developers prepared to work with local people to produce a scheme which actually benefits the town.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 38

19/06/2015 14:48

INNOVATION

“Ther no poveeris where th ty richnesesre is opinion”of YET MORE BLOTS… From Kinloch Rannoch (details provided) We are a very patient lot in Kinloch Rannoch, we must be. For 15 years we have lived with a derelict plot in the middle of the village where the Bunrannoch Hotel (no connection with Bunrannoch House) was demolished and a heap of rubble left in its place.

Recently the decommissioned and dangerous public conveniences were taken down and a badly cleared plot left.

Now it looks as if the stately Dunalastair Hotel is being left to decay in front of our eyes.

This is not a village that sits back and waits for others to do the work.

Many groups here are active in improving the facilities, environment and lives of those in the community.

Can we ask that the people who own these plots and buildings be made to assume their responsibilities and develop them?

We were told that the Dunalastair Hotel, in some guise, was to be up and running in April 2015. Are we to think that planning permission was granted to the new owners under a false premise?

MAKE LOWER BIRKS AN ASSET Jim Adams Move2Improve recently floated the idea of moving the Aberfeldy War Memorial to a more prominent site. Although it was clear there was no overwhelming support, the common thread of responses was that the Lower Birks has become an unloved and uncared for part of the town.

So the group looked at an outline improvement plan but the cost of detailed drawings and managing the scheme was beyond our capabilities.

The Council is, however, keen to support such local initiatives and we have held an exploratory meeting with council officers. The first step is to get the project accepted by Take a Pride in Perthshire and, if Move2Improve is successful in this, then assistance will be provided to develop detailed plans that can be costed.

We can now begin identifying sources of funding that will enable the project to commence. It will not happen overnight but, if we are successful, the Lower Birks will once again become an asset to the town for visitors and residents alike.

“The benefit could be as small as helping rurally isolated individuals feel less lonely.”

Continued from page 37

over the reins once the pilot has proven a television series which filmed at locations robust enough. around Rannoch. The series is available on “The name comes from local legend Amazon Prime Instant Video but even about a hermit, Ossian, who lived by sending a basic email is impossible with himself in a cave,” Bruce Patterson Bridge of Gaur’s poor connection. There explained. “On particularly slow internet was the general feeling that they are days I’m sure many Highland Perthshire missing out.” residents feel cut off from the rest of For most homeowners and businesses world but we’re here to drag the area already paying through the nose for a out of the technological Dark Ages.” satellite subscription the big question will Appointed trustees will be entrusted be cost. After an initial set up fee of £193, to uphold the constitution and ensure HPCP confirmed that their service will be the company’s community objectives comparable or cheaper than current are maintained. The setup of the business providers and there will be no need for a is financed by a number of private and landline or cable fee. For example the government funding organisations, put average BT connection in Pitlochry will cost in place to help communities such as ours around £50-55 per month for up to to achieve rural connectivity. Ossian 20mbps. The HPCP service will provide 20mbps guaranteed for much less than that Connected will have full asset ownership and profit retention, allowing continual if you can live without a landline reinvestment in new technology as it connection. Subscribers who wish to trial becomes available.

HPCP’s service can do so without switching Bruce Patterson stressed the provider, running HPCP’s broadband importance of community asset ownership: and their current provider side by side “When HPCP to test speeds. started looking Project Manager “THE AIM OF THE HPCP at what Highland Bruce Patterson PROJECT IS TO RAISE really explained, CONNECTIVITY ACROSS THE Perthshire needed the “Connectivity AREA IN AN ATTEMPT TO biggest issue has been a major CONNECT HIGHLAND by far was lack problem in Highland PERTHSHIRE’S DISPARATE, of broadband Perthshire for many RURAL COMMUNITIES.” provision in years. The aim of the our rural HPCP project is to communities. It raise connectivity became clear that BT were not going to across the area in an attempt to connect help so the project began out of necessity, Highland Perthshire’s disparate, rural driven by a group of like-minded communities. In many ways decent individuals determined to find a solution internet is more vital to rural communities to our community’s single most major than urban areas as a means to improve challenge. It would therefore be a overall resilience. disservice to hand the project over to a “The planned major works on the A9 company that did not have the will make parts of Highland Perthshire community’s interests at heart.” even more inaccessible so it’s vital the Assembly of the first transmitters community has a robust communication on Ben y Vrackie was completed without system in place to avoid being cut-off.” a hitch, despite an unexpected arrival of He said the arrival of superfast spring snow. The next step will be to broadband will be life-changing, bringing receive the signal from the exchange at incalculable benefits, “The benefit could HPCP’s Pitlochry offices. The signal is then be as small as helping rurally isolated sent up to the Ben Vrackie site where it is individuals feel less lonely or enabling then relayed to Struan and Amulree & people to buy their groceries online, to Trochry. For the first time residents in greater opportunities such as selfStruan will find themselves in the unique employment and business growth.” position of having faster broadband than Given the demand and competitive those in areas of Aberfeldy and Pitlochry. pricing, the project looks set to become a With an overall completion date for highly profitable business. To ensure these the project set for 2016 it looks like an profits benefit the community HPCP is end to Highland Perthshire’s connectivity putting in place a community-owned issues is finally in sight. business, Ossian Connected, which will take www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 39

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 39

19/06/2015 14:48

HEARTLAND FM

Jason O’Flynn

is Chair of the board of governors and lives in Glenlyon with his wife and two children. You can hear his show ‘Essential Classics’, showcasing classical and opera music on Sundays and Mondays.

TUNE IN...

and be turned on!

FM Electric times for Heartland

By Jason O’Flynn

n February 1992 our very own Highland Perthshire community radio station took to the airwaves. If people were lucky enough to get radio reception, they could tune in to Heartland FM and listen to local news and weather, hear local events being promoted and discussed, and listen to the musical enthusiasms of presenters from the local community.

There was a revolution in broadcasting during the 90s and Heartland FM was at the vanguard. Community radio is first and foremost about its local audience, broadcasting content that might be overlooked by commercial or mass media broadcasters. Heartland has excelled at this, and over the years the station has attracted local volunteers to produce first-rate programming.

In 23 years, some things at Heartland haven’t changed. From dance music to opera, politics to farming and wildlife, Heartland’s schedule is as diverse as the local community. People don’t need previous broadcasting experience to get involved – they just get in touch with our station manager, Bruce Patterson, for all the support and training needed to get on air.

I

Digital change

If there’s been change, it’s in the media landscape and what we call the ‘digital revolution.’ Heartland has embraced the opportunities this presents, and it now has its own website and broadcasts online. Almost

40

overnight, residents like myself who lived in remote parts of Perthshire and were out of range, could tune in to their community radio if they had internet access.

By improving accessibility and using social media, Heartland FM has found new ways to reach out to the community.

By taking the opportunity to broadcast on 106.6FM in Perth, residents of the Fair City can now conveniently tune into our awardwinning station.

The station welcomes the launch of The Heartlander and looks forward to exploring working closely together for the good of both, and the whole of Highland Perthshire.

We are rightfully proud of its achievements.

In the course of a year it: * Receives 12,000 hits on its website, * Supports over a hundred social, sport and cultural group activities by broadcasting news and interviews, * Provides a shop window for over one hundred and fifty locally-based businesses, * Records and promotes over thirty University of the Highlands Islands student live music sessions * Broadcasts four live events and over a hundred interviews with councillors, politicians, business leaders and cultural personalities. * Works with primary and secondary schools, providing the training needed for the pupils to produce short, self-produced pieces to broadcast standard.

Drawing more talent

In coming years, Heartland will consolidate its position and build its advertising and funding revenue base through the quality of its broadcasting. Plans for a growth in listening figures and drawing talent from our local area, as well as in Blairgowrie and Perth, will not dilute the station’s distinct voice.

On the contrary, this should be seen as a natural response to changing technologies, an opportunity to enhance and enrich a successful formula.

Heartland FM has an excellent team steering the station forward. Bruce Patterson, station manager, brings experience and boundless energy to the studio, and besides his own breakfast show he leads a great team of presenters, some of whom started broadcasting whilst still at school, while others have been with us since 1992.

At board level, Bill Robertson, Treasurer, is a Chartered Accountant with extensive audit experience, and he provides additional focus on business governance to the station.

Douglas Craik, Vice Chair, is a retired senior life assurance official who is still actively involved in business and the community, bringing much valued business acumen and experience to the governing body.

Councillor Kate Howie has also been reconfirmed as a governor. Bob McWilliam, a stalwart of the West of Scotland radio scene, is another governor, having extensive experience working with community radio stations. Robert Macduff-Duncan is a solicitor with Elliot & Co, Perth, and a director of Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre.

For anyone wanting to join Highland Perthshire’s award winning community radio station, there are opportunities from broadcasting to production, sales and PR. You can email mailbox@ heartlandfm.co.uk or write to: Bruce Patterson, Station Manager at 9, Alba Place Pitlochry, PH16 5BH.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 40

19/06/2015 14:48

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Photo: Dave Cameron Photogrpahy

Fiona Somerled

is a founder of Deeds for Needs, Aberfeldy

“HOW SWEET TO CRUISE DOWNHILL AT SPEED.”

WILD

about the great outdoors

We really must celebrate our wonderful location, location, loc...

Thursdays at 10:30am outside the Atholl Leisure Centre, and Aberfeldy, whose meeting point is outside the Birks Cinema, at 11am every Thursday. A Birnam group meets at 1:30pm every Wednesday, at the Servite Willowbank Lounge; and in Kinloch Rannoch, a group meets every Friday at 10:30am outside the local Riverside Café.

Walking and cycling Do give it a try!

For intrepid explorers, rambling groups are Cycling is another fantastic activity. I a great way to find the trails we never knew recently got back on my bike, and just love it. existed. As these walks are guided and How sweet to cruise downhill at speed. pre-vetted, there’s no danger of getting lost, Cycling can help you get fit and save fuel if and you can choose the type of walk that suits you trade your car for a bike. You might have you best. Strathtay Ramblers meet once a a bike sitting unused in your garage or shed, fortnight (Saturdays and Sundays alternately), so why not take some first steps towards traversing hills and glens all over Highland giving it a new lease of life? This might involve Perthshire – and sometimes beyond. basic bike checks, a maintenance class, If this all sounds a bit on the energetic side, training or advice on how to get an easier amble may be more appealing. roadworthy with some safety Stride for Life walks (by ‘Live pointers. A cycling buddy is also a Active’) are held y, rr e M h a

by Hann e great motivator to get out more. throughout the region; ‘Just Me’ y, celebrating th ll Contact Highland Perthshire’s very they are considerably Grandtu ll around her beauty a own cycling expert, Kat Brown to more relaxed, and a great get started. way to socialise in the great outdoors, get to know others in the Chill out or challenge? community, and enjoy a Highland Perthshire Cycling is an cuppa and a chat excellent resource of activities afterwards. and events for all ages and Local groups include capabilities. Coming up soon, Pitlochry who meet on for women only, is ‘Belles and e are so lucky to be living here in Highland Perthshire, amidst some of the most breathtaking scenery in Scotland. What better place to enjoy all the health benefits of clean, fresh air, while getting fit at the same time?

W

By Fiona Som

erled

Buns’, a road cycling event on Sunday 5th July in Kenmore.

The long-route option is 40 miles with a hill climb, and costs £25 to enter; the short-route option takes in 15 miles of rolling Perthshire countryside, with a £15 cost of entry. This promises to be a relaxed social event where participants can go at whatever pace suits – and what better way to finish than with tea, coffee and cake?

Prefer something more challenging? Then start training now to take part in the Highland Perthshire marathon or half-marathon. You can enter on foot, or bicycle.

These annual events will take place on Saturday 5th September, so entries need to be in early. Hot on their heels is the ‘10km Pitlochry’ on Sunday 20th September. This event celebrates its 10th anniversary, with both on and off road trails. It is run by Live Active and, with the addition of a 5km Jog Scotland Challenge, promises to be a true festival of running.

Tidy environment

The enjoyment of all these activities is much less fun if the environment is littered with rubbish. Why not help your community by engaging in a group litter pick? It’s a great way to meet different people and unite with a common goal – improving the environment.

Check out www.cleanupscotland.com FURTHER INFORMATION:

From left: Rannoch Walkers – Fiona, Elspeth, Richard, Margie, Joan, Alex and Jane enjoying the fresh air in Kinloch Rannoch

Rannoch Walkers: ‘Visit Rannoch’ Facebook page Strathtay Ramblers: www.ramblers.org.uk/strathtay Kat Brown: snowkat@hotmail.co.uk Highland Perthshire Cycling: www.highlandperthshirecycling.co.uk/events Pitlochry Litter Pick: meets last Thursday in month, 10am in Theatre Car Park Marathon: www.highlandperthshiremarathon.co.uk Stride for Life Walks, 10k Pitlochry: www.liveactive.co.uk Belles and Buns: http://highlandperthshirecycling.co.uk/ events/bellesandbuns

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 41

41

19/06/2015 14:48

LOCAL HISTORY

RETURN OF AN ANCIENT HEIRLOOM

Glenlyon brooch on public dis play

By Neil Hooper

t last the Glenlyon and Breadalbane brooches are back in Scotland! These two ancient brooches of local provenance were sold to the British Museum around a century ago, and have not returned here until the current ‘Breadalbane Bling’ exhibition in Perth.

The two brooches form the spectacular centrepiece of the exhibition which runs at the Perth Museum & Art Gallery until 16 August. And there are many other local finds on display alongside the brooches, including Roman, Viking and medieval artefacts, as well as pins from the Inchadney Holy Well near Kenmore.

The Glenlyon brooch formed part of an important collection of items owned by the Campbell Lairds of Glenlyon, and eighteenth century visitors to Glenlyon House in Fortingall remarked on being shown it. It came into the possession of Sir Donald Currie, millionaire ship owner and MP for Perthshire, when he bought the Glenlyon estate in 1885 from the heirs of the Campbells of Glenlyon.

Sir Donald put the brooch up for sale at Christies, along with a number of other local heirlooms, in 1897. It was acquired by the British Museum, where it is regarded as a good example of a late medieval talisman – the back is inscribed with the names of the Magi, the Three Wise Men or Kings, to whom Cologne Cathedral was dedicated.

These names for the visitors to the baby Jesus from the east – Caspar, Malchior and Balthazar – are not in the Bible and it has been suggested that they are associated

A

42

with the eastern Mithraic cult popular in Roman times. The inscription continues with a word translated as ‘consumatum’ – the Latin for Christ’s last words on the cross, ‘It is finished’.

The brooch was probably made in Scotland in the early sixteenth century, and is of silver gilt set with an amethyst, freshwater pearls and chalcedony. Measuring a surprisingly large 22 cm in diameter, it is three dimensional with little tower-like collets to hold stones, and small raised chambers – one of which would have contained a holy relic. It is difficult to see how it could be worn every day, so perhaps it was brought out to show to the clansmen before a battle to strengthen their faith. It is also said that before a fight the men would touch a special stone, perhaps the stone which is the centrepiece of the brooch?

The Glenlyon brooch is accompanied from the British Museum by another one with local provenance – the Breadalbane brooch. This is smaller and older, probably dating back to the eighth or ninth century. It was originally

Glenlyon Brooch, reverse side is shown inset above

Irish, or possibly from the Gaelic colony in Scotland, and took the form of a ring. Later it was made into a penannular brooch in Pictish style, perhaps when the original pin broke. It would have been kept in Balloch Castle at Kenmore, later rebuilt as Taymouth. When the Breadalbane family left Taymouth, it was sold to the British Museum by a descendant of the 1st Marquis of Breadalbane in 1917.

Janet Wotherspoon of Glenlyon House, from where the Glenlyon brooch was sold in 1896, is the fortunate possessor of a replica.

This may be one of three that were reportedly made at the time of the brooch’s sale, although the stone of this replica is multifaceted in a Victorian cut, whereas the original talismanic stone was uncut.

The sale caused quite a stir in the world of antiquities at the time, as the British Museum outbid the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland to buy the brooch. Following this case, a Parliamentary Committee recommended in 1899 that where a museum in Scotland or Ireland wished to purchase an object of interest to their country, it should have the opportunity to do so without a counter-bid from another publically-funded institution.

Be sure not to miss these heirlooms before they leave Perthshire again.

Another famous brooch from a neighbouring district is the Brooch of Lorne, which was ripped from Robert the Bruce’s cloak at the battle of the Pass of Brander.Hear more of this fascinating story from Catherine Gillies, formerly the Clan Macdougall archivist, at 7.30pm on Friday 10 July at the Molteno Hall, Fortingall.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 42

19/06/2015 14:48

The feel good factor

“Is w you are that to say berying obfuscat ing too manyed by words?”big

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

The inside story of The Heartlander

By Peter Hounam and Fiona Somerled

A news magazine has to be agog; it has to be alert to local happenings. It has to keep an eye on trends, be wide-ranging… and entertaining. This pilot issue is a taster – a free sample – of the look, feel and approach of our new publication.

And it has another function. Throughout this issue, we have placed articles telling everyone about our project, and how we plan to make The Heartlander a success.

This self-promotion, which is very deliberate, is aimed at kick-starting what is in essence a new high-tech business, and to put it on a sound footing.

And that means this pilot issue is not an exact model of the real thing. When the regular monthly publication begins in a few months’ time, many exciting opportunities will open up to cover the life and times of this rural area.

HOT NEWS A central element will be news about all sorts of goings-on – from Killin to Kirkmichael, from Birnam to Blair. And for that, we need input from the community.

Some submissions (email is best) will be clear-cut accounts of interesting happenings that need a limited amount of editing – and the more of those we receive, the better.

Others will highlight important issues that merit being followed up and

properly researched. This is where our editor and small nucleus of paid helpers will get involved.

And just as important are photos, drawings and pictures – The Heartlander is a glossy news magazine for which visual material is a crucial component.

FUN FEATURES The Heartlander is serious about news but it is also enthusiastic about lighter things – features about life here in olden times, about the environment, about fun activities, about people, about…

Well, about anything interesting in our patch – and just occasionally things elsewhere too.

We do not rule out the occasional consumer feature, because they are one of the best-read parts of any magazine.

And we do not baulk at the idea they might bring in extra advertising.

What we will not include is advertorials – stuff written by a commercial firm that look like a regular editorial article.

WORK SCENE The graft, grind and enterprise of everyday life here is very important, and it is also very interesting. As John Swinney points out in this issue, this area has enormous business potential and The Heartlander would like to chart development of all the traditional commercial activities like farming, forestry, retailing, and tourism plus all the more recent arrivals – mining, home building, entertainments, and a galaxy of internet-based entrepreneurs.

The pages of The Heartlander are open to anyone with an interesting story – not just from employers, but from employees too.

LIFE AND EVERYTHING We are not trying to cover everything in every issue, but over the months and years The Heartlander will provide a fascinating record of the world we inhabit. However, we shall be watching month by month that we regularly cover key areas of activity – what’s on to instruct and entertain us, our health, growing things, mending things, buying things, news from faith groups, voluntary organisations, pressure groups plus other outfits of all descriptions.

And we want to involve young people, and ensure The Heartlander is relevant to that age group too.

The character of The Heartlander will develop due to the material and ideas people young or old furnish us. And out of this might come an idea for a regular opinion column, or maybe two.

JUST STUFF We’re not a poetry magazine, but why not the odd poem? We’re not an art journal, but examples of good local art should be worth a look. And we’re not a political periodical; nor are we party-political in any way.

However, we are not averse to sounding off about some hot topic, in the interests of sparking a constructive debate.

In that sense, we are open to all ideas – this is a magazine for all Heartlanders.

YOUR SAY The letters page will be a much-read section, but only if we receive plenty of letters!

Published letters will show the author’s name and location (not full address) however on occasion we may publish important ones anonymously – but only if the sender submits their full contact details.

If this inspires, we would love to hear your ideas and how you might be able to help. Over the summer we will start planning and collecting material for our regular publication, and it is no small task. To get in touch, and please do, our details are on Page One. www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 43

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 43

19/06/2015 14:48

“I have been a patient of the practice for over 30 years and it just keeps getting better.�

R FRASER

www.andersondentistry.co.uk

Tel: 01887 820 441 info@andersondentistry.co.uk Taybridge Terrace, Aberfeldy, Perthshire PH15 2BS THM_Pilot_June15.indd 44

19/06/2015 14:48

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

Why The Heartlander

MEANS BUSINESS nity initiative Making economic sense of a commu

reating a new magazine from scratch can be a daunting task. It normally starts with a feeling that there is a gap in the market that is not being addressed. However, in our case this was not so, as a magazine already existed that had filled the need for an investigative and independent news and views magazine addressing the issues facing Highland Perthshire called Highland Perthshire News & Comment known locally as ‘Comment’.

The need for a fresh magazine was driven by the declining health of the proprietor of Comment and the slow decline in the capacity of the magazine to innovate and develop.

Consequently interested parties were approached and after several tentative and wide-ranging discussions a group was formed determined to continue the service Comment had created but to do so in a much more proactive and progressive manner.

After several inconclusive discussions with the proprietor of Comment it was finally decided that a fresh approach was needed albeit strongly aligned to the ethos and fierce independence established by Comment which ceased publication in November 2014.

The first principle established by the Group, which now referred to themselves as the ‘Working Party’, was that the new magazine, unlike Comment, would be owned by the Highland Perthshire community.

Consequently a company that is not for profit but limited by guarantee was established called ‘Highland Perthshire Media Ltd.’ (HPM).

C

It was also agreed that the whole project would be handled in a strictly business-like manner.

The real work begins

The Working Party examined the skill sets and resources at its disposal. One member was a highly experienced journalist; two more were successful businessmen with a broad and varied knowledge of ‘Start-up’ business ventures. Another was a qualified medical doctor who had held very senior positions in the NHS. Three others were involved in several local groups and so were connected with grass roots opinion particularly in the Aberfeldy area.

Thus Cindy Brook, the doctor in the above group was elected Chair and tasks were allotted to various members according to their skill sets. The Working Party also set up weekly, minuted meetings where progress was monitored and new goals set.

Six main areas were addressed; • Market Research on the potential sales and distribution of the Magazine.

• Fundraising and revenue generation.

• Set-up, running costs and a P&L (profit and loss analysis) for the whole operation.

• Recruitment and training of staff for both the ‘Start-up’ and the on-going operation.

• Location of a base for the Magazine • Recruitment of Directors/Trustees for HPM. Working sub groups were established and further support was forthcoming from Highland Perthshire Communities

“The whole project is commercially viable and has huge potential.”

Partnership (HPCP) which provided secretarial and administration functions together with contacts and expertise in the areas of PR, Marketing and Fundraising.

The business group

One of the sub-groups was the Business Group. It quickly established the following business principles: • The magazine had to be profitable within a three-year period.

• An in-depth analysis of the current magazines and newspapers servicing Highland Perthshire must be made.

• The demographics of the area must be well understood.

• Advertising rates must be based on current practices.

• New sources of revenue and new areas of clients must be explored.

Over a six-month period the above tasks were completed and a comprehensive Business Plan formulated for presentation to prospective sources of funds. This clearly showed that the business was both viable and scalable.

The ability to significantly increase the reach of the publication would be based on a web-based version in collaboration with the local radio station ‘Heartland FM’ using the wi-fi system for Highland Perthshire being established by HPCP. In fact The Heartlander would be one leg of a complete Media Hub for the whole of Highland Perthshire.

The future

The whole project is commercially viable, has huge potential and when joined with partners to create the Highland Media Hub a service that will be of immense benefit to all who live in, work in or visit our beautiful Highland Home. www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 45

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 45

19/06/2015 14:48

THE HEARTLANDER NEEDS HELP

our success Volunteers are key to

Democratic element

One of our aims is to build bridges across communities, to unite us all in one voice, and to support each other by exchanging ur new publication will depend, information, ideas and local issues root and branch, on volunteers affecting this beautiful part of Scotland. providing help in a multitude Highland Perthshire is represented by ten of ways, and thereby making Community Council areas: Aberfeldy, Blair The Heartlander a truly communal Atholl, Dull & Weem, Dunkeld & Birnam, enterprise. We will have a core of paid Glen Lyon & Loch Tay, Kenmore, Killiecrankie people, an editor with part-time commercial & Fincastle, Mid Atholl, Strathtay & and administrative assistance, to keep us Grandtully, Pitlochry & Moulin, and on track. But we also have to harness the Rannoch & Tummel. power of community with all its wealth of We hope each CC will appoint a person untapped potential – that way we are to liaise with the Heartlander and thereby bound to remain sensitive and relevant greatly strengthen our coverage of an to the needs of this diverse area. important element of local democracy.

As outlined earlier, The Heartlander is set Our illustrated map to become one vital spoke (p7) provides an in the wheel of a greater “THE HEARTLANDER overview of the territory media hub. Highland IS SET TO BECOME we will be covering.

Perthshire is becoming ONE VITAL SPOKE IN However, if you live ‘connected,’ THE WHEEL OF A outside these areas, we and The Heartlander GREATER MEDIA HUB.” would still be happy to hear from you, because would Highland Perthshire therefore doesn’t suddenly stop at the boundary line! love to connect with as If you used to live in Highland Perthshire, many as people as possible have moved to another part of the globe but – including you the reader would love to keep in touch, we value your of this promotional issue. involvement just as much. What do you like So if you fancy best about our magazine, or like the least? becoming a Heartlander Is there anything missing? And what is going Helper, this is YOUR on in your part of the world that might be chance to help make a of interest here? little bit of history.

O

Who we need...

• artists • citizen reporters • columnists • guest editors/editorial review • events diary collators • graphic designers • historians • illustrators • photographers • proof readers • reporters / interviewers • researchers • sports reporters • sub-editors • web designers • writers • young contributors (children, teenagers, students) • youth editor

46

• mailing list admin & mailshots • media pack management & distribution • magazine delivery and distribution • processing grant and loan applications • campaign monitor (monitoring effectiveness of campaigns) • drivers • events coordinator • market researchers • membership promoters • monitor feedback of magazine • mystery shoppers • promoters • sending out bulk emails • social media management • sourcing web content and updating site • web assistant • video/audio producers, for podcasts and a YouTube channel

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 46

19/06/2015 14:48

News and Views of Highland Perthshire

And if you’re a visitor, you’re welcome too. TripAdvisor is great for individual reviews, but not for overall impressions.

A news magazine needs a constant feed of stories – amusing, sad, controversial or irksome – that’s how the world goes round.

we never miss anything vital. We need to collect a stockpile of material so that we are not rushing to fill space at the last minute. We need to maintain diaries of events for each area and keep tabs on what happens at them.

Perhaps you are good at admin with a fine eye for detail. If you have a car, Inside knowledge you might help distribute an issue in So what type of practical help is needed? your local area. We will need proof readers We need people ‘on the ground’ to help us and copy editors with an eye for flaws, connect with local events, tell us what’s in spelling and the pipeline, and highlight grammatical errors. anything that might be Every bustling considered newsworthy. As “IF YOU FANCY news magazine office we cover both news AND BECOMING A has to be a hive of views, it might just be a HEARTLANDER activity: answering particular opinion on a local HELPER, THIS IS phones, pulling issue. It might be an YOUR CHANCE TO from interesting photograph. It HELP MAKE A LITTLE information websites, organising might come to us by email, BIT OF HISTORY.” promotions, creating by post or by phone call. brochures, tapping into Where necessary, we sources of information, will provide training for meeting people at the front desk…. We will volunteers. You can do as much or as little be looking for help from graphic and web as you like. However, we will need regular designers, and people with social media contributors reporting what’s on in their skills – spreading the word on Facebook, particular patch.

Twitter etc.

Centrally, we need people It can be great fun and very satisfying. who can pull together each month’s Creative writers and journalists are publication, which means building up particularly welcome because The systems at our Pitlochry office that ensure

Heartlander must look beyond the parochial.

We need people who can spot and interpret the things happening behind the scenes, and further afield, that might soon impact on our way of life.

Was Pontius Pilate a Heartlander? No one is sure but a wide range of local history will be spotlighted, and the high print quality of The Heartlander will give full sway to locally researched and written features unearthing our turbulent past.

With full colour reproduction, photographs, illustrations, images and drawings will be of crucial appeal.

The Heartlander is all for ages. There is so much scope for creativity, we’re confident this project will unearth lots of local talent.

In that light, we are also looking for an enterprising ‘Youth Editor’ – a dynamic individual with their finger on the pulse – able to identify the issues facing young people right here.

Please drop in!

Our office, provided by HPCP at 23 Atholl Road, Pitlochry, will be the linchpin of all this activity. All the details of how to contact us are on Page 1.

Even if you haven’t yet decided to volunteer, please drop in and say hello – we are your community magazine.

VOLUNTEER WALK LEADER TRAINING COURSE Live Active Leisure are continuing to develop their health walk programmes and are looking to recruit new walk leader volunteers to lead the local health walks.

Becoming a volunteer walk leader is a great way to be active in your community, meet new people and enjoy the outdoors as well as helping others to become more active.

The course which is free will run in Perth at the Dewar’s Centre on Friday the 17th July 2015.

Aberfeldy Bowling Club Taybridge Terrace, Aberfeldy, PH15 2BS

The aim of the one day course is to help you gain the skills and confidence to lead safe, short, local health walks and is designed to establish a group of local people (over the age of 18) trained to promote and lead health walks on an on-going basis. A health walk is a short, local walk usually lasting between 30 and 60 minutes and ½ to 2½ miles long. Once trained, you will join a network of over 6000 volunteers throughout the UK and be able to.

Visitors and non-members welcome April - September 10am – dusk For full details, see club website

www.aberfeldybowlingclub.co.uk or email aberfeldybowlingclub@gmail.com

• lead safe and enjoyable walking sessions for people of all ages and abilities particularly those who are or have been inactive • promote the health benefits of walking and motivate people to take up walking as a form of physical recreation

Give bowls a shot!

• help people tailor health walking to meet their individual needs Interested? For further information and application forms please contact Colin Melville at Live Active Leisure on 01738 454628 email camelville@liveactive.co.uk

New members always welcome

BowlingClub-A4-2014.indd 1

23/04/2014 13:35

www.heartlander.org.uk • Summer 2015 47

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 47

19/06/2015 14:48

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 2BX

Above: Team outside Anderson Dental Practice, with dentists Deborah Hannigan and Morag Anderson and, right, team manager, Steve Brown

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SAFE!

By Morag Anderson

The Aberfeldy Rugby Football Club’s rugby sevens team is benefitting from a most vital piece of protective kit – custom-fitted mouth guards for every player – thanks to sponsorship from Anderson Dentistry.

The Scottish Rugby Union strongly recommends that all players wear custom-fitted mouth guards during training sessions as well as matches. As a result, all fifteen players put themselves into the hands of Anderson Dentistry to have individual moulds taken of their teeth.

Ironically, owing to an injury caused by playing rugby with his nine-year-old son, co-owner Ross was unable to assist with the evening's work.

With the choice of every conceivable colour to customise their mouth guards, the team all opted for jet black in a bid to further intimidate oncoming opponents in this fast paced game. These close fitting mouth guards not only protect the teeth and the surrounding soft tissues from trauma, but can also help prevent a broken jaw.

They are also crucial in the prevention of concussion and laceration of fellow players. Furthermore, they allow the players to communicate, as is vital in any team sport.

Whatever the future holds for the sevens team, they will now have happy smiles on their faces.

ABERFELDY CELEBRATES 120 YEARS OF GOLF In the early 1890s, the Marquis of Breadalbane feu’ed an area of land known as The Cour to the Burgh of Aberfeldy, “for the purposes of sporting activity”.

As a result, golf, cricket, tennis and bowling began in earnest.

Up until then, there had been a few small ‘gentlemen’s golf clubs’ in the area playing on private ground such as the land in front of Castle Menzies.

These were not ‘full’ golf courses, just a few holes laid out in the space available.

With a nine-hole course now available, these gentlemen’s clubs got together to form a local one. The original proposal was to call it the Breadalbane Golf Club in deference to the Marquis who had provided the ground.

However, he didn’t seem too keen, and in the end the club became the Aberfeldy Golf Club.

GOOD SEASON FOR VALE OF ATHOLL FC

By Chris Brown, team manager

The Vale of Atholl football team ended up within one point of the league target we set ourselves at the beginning of the 2014/15 season. So my assistant David Wright and I are pretty pleased with our performance as a whole.

We made nine new signings, including two re-signings, and six of the nine proved successful. Nathan Downs, Timmy Potter and Shane Fenwick were the standouts.

We made a good start in both the league cup and the league, while still trying to find

48

a settled eleven and the correct formation.

The winter break, which I am all for, probably came at the wrong time as the team had gained good momentum. The last game before the break was a resounding 6-1 defeat of Strathearn Grove.

After the break we lost consistency, not helped by losing a few players through injury or commitments. With a heavy defeat from Methven and a disappointing exit from the Ashleigh cup at the hands of Fair City after a replay, we did manage some decent

Lady Currie of Garth hit a ball from the first tee and declared it open on June 5 1895.

Nearly one hundred years later, the club decided to extend to 18 holes and ground on the north side of the river was purchased from a local farmer.

A river crossing had to be provided and a new bridge was opened in time for the centenary in 1995. It was unique in its time and won a Saltire Award for Civil Engineering.

On June 5, 2015, Aberfeldy Golf Club celebrated 120 years special invitation event. Fourteen clubs took part, with each team sending four players.

At the end of the afternoon, the scores were very close. The winning team, by a few shots, was Strathtay Golf Club while we were runners up.

1895 to 2015 – and we’re still hitting the wee white ball.

results, notably against Jeanfield in the league and in the consolation cup.

We welcomed a couple of wins in local derbies towards the end of the season, which showed we have improved, but we need to do more.

For next season, we will hopefully add new blood to the squad, including both experienced players as well as local youngsters who are making their mark.

The Vale’s current three leading goal scorers are all local teenagers: Sean McLauchlan, Blair Stephen and Matt Robertson. So the future looks promising.

The Heartlander • News & Views of Highland Perthshire

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 48

19/06/2015 14:48

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 49

19/06/2015 14:48

THM_Pilot_June15.indd 50

19/06/2015 14:48