BLACK MOUNT BUGLE

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN – CHARLES RITCHIE

It is a great honour to have been elected as the Chairman of the Black Mount Community Council, and thought I would take the opportunity to introduce myself. Firstly though, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Joan Highton, who was Chairperson for seven years. She worked tirelessly as the Chairperson, serving the best interests of the residents who live in the Black Mount area and we all owe her a great debt of gratitude. She will though be staying on the Community Council and I will be glad of her support and advice.

My parents moved to Dolphinton in 1960 when my Father retired from the Army, having served in The Royal Scots for some 35 years. I was actually born in Inverness, and lived in Tain where I attended Tain Primary School before my parents moved to Trieste in Italy, where I went to an Italian School and can still converse reasonably fluently in Italian. After completing secondary education in England, I too joined The Royal Scots, and retired in 1997 after having served in Libya, Yemen, Australia, Germany (both in West and East Germany before The Wall came down), Belgium and France. Together with my wife Araminta, who is currently the President of the Dolphinton Women’s Rural Institute, and my son Paul who is at University, we moved into my Parents’ home in Dolphinton in 1998. I continue to work in Edinburgh but try and take the excellent number 100 McEwan’s Bus when I can, to reduce the number of commuters on the A702!

As your Chairman, I shall strive to serve the best interests of the Community and listen to your concerns and any recommendations for improvements to enhance your quality of life. A big concern remains the state of the side roads off the A702 and the A721 in the Community Council area. In return, what I do ask of those who reside in the Black Mount Community area is to please come and support local events that are taking place in the community as well as to support our advertisers, without whom the Black Mount Bugle would find it difficult to meet the costs of publishing. I also wish to thank our small team of volunteers who use their own cars to distribute the Bugle to all the households in the area.

When the weather improves I hope to get to meet as many of you as possible.

With belated wishes for a very Happy New Year.
Charles Ritchie
Chairman Black Mount Community Council

BLACK MOUNT COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

Charles Ritchie Chairperson - 01968 682639
ritchiecdm@hotmail.com

Ian Kerry Treasurer - 01968 682239
iankerry@tiscali.co.uk

Craig Allardice Secretary - 01968 682349
craig@merklands.com

Anne Hutchison - 01968 682256
anne@robertonmains.freeserve.co.uk

Joan Stephenson - 01899 810272

Joan Highton - 01899 810378
joanhighton@tiscali.co.uk

Margaret Grice - 01899 810373

The Minister – Jim Cutler

Jim sends his apologies to all in the Black Mount area. His current workload is such that he is unable to contribute to this edition of the Bugle.

Dolphinton Church Services – Sundays 12 noon

Blackmount Social Group

The Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner was held on Fri. 8th Dec in Elsrickle Hall, and a good time was reportedly had by all.

We were delighted to be able to congratulate Mr. And Mrs. Hinks on their diamond wedding…a very unique occasion!

Our thanks must go firstly to South Lanarkshire Council for giving us £7.00 per head towards this occasion. Thanks too to everyone who provided and cooked the food, our waitresses who served it so efficiently (next year I think that they will also be able to entertain us with Strictly Come Dancing) and to all those who supplied raffle prizes.

City Bypass again provided excellent musical entertainment,despite the lead singer having “a bit of a throat.”
Now that we are back into “auld claes an’ parrich” it would be worth discussing if there are other ways that we could help people to enjoy the festive season…not everyone wants to, or can, come to the dinner…ideas to Anne Hutchison or Joan Stephenson, our treasurer.

Next event on our calendar is the Sports Night on the last Friday in May.

Anne Hutchison

So far this year we have had some of the most interesting and unusual meetings …eating chocolate, 10-pin bowling, painting landscapes, learning about sheep milking in 18th century Scotland….who said the Rural was all Jam and Jerusalem?

A very successful Bowling Tournament was held on Saturday in Elsrickle Hall. 14 rinks of enthusiastic ladies took part, resulting in semi-finals between Anne Brownlee’s rink and Whitebridge, and Biggar versus Newlands. Anne Brownlee’s rink defeated Biggar in the final. Our thanks go to Elsrickle Bowling Club and WRI for the use of their boards and kitchen equipment.

Still to come are a First Aid Demonstration and a talk about the Marie Curie charity. On 10th March, Peeblesshire Federation holds their annual Bulb and Craft Show in the Drill Hall in Peebles, and we do compete in the Community Effort and in the Bulb competitions. Our last meeting of the season will be on 18th April, when we will have a night of fun and games open to anyone who would like to join us.

Disappointingly, our January Bowling Tournament will have to be held in Elsrickle Hall, since the “annexe” in our Hall is unfit for use due to serious water damage. South Lanarkshire Council have been told about this many times by various people, and still we wait for a solution!

Dolphinton WRI meet in Dolphinton Hall beginning at 7.15pm with business, followed at 7.45pm with Speaker or Demonstrator

Our secretary is Carol Elsip, who can be contacted at 01968 682647.

Anne Hutchison

Our Post Office - postmistress Isa Halley (Ramsay) – was voted runner-up in the best Branch Awards 2006.
But as you will probably have read in the newspapers, there is a big question mark about the future of Rural Post Offices. Many are to close, leaving more and more miles between one post office and the next one. The Community Council has written to the Department of Trade and Industry, and to Postwatch Scotland about this, pointing out how far we would have to travel to our next post office, and that our Post Office is an important centre in the area of Black Mount.

The Post office is open from 9am till 1pm, Monday to Thursday. As well as getting stamps and sending parcels, you can get your state pension, pay bills, get your holiday currency within a day, buy newspapers, ice cream, greetings cards, meet the neighbours and so much more!

Go and see!

Joan Stephenson

ELSRICKLE NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

There has been little activity to report for some time. However, Strathclyde Police have re-launched the initiative by holding a conference at the Police College, Tulliallen, on Saturday 26 August 2006. There will be a fuller report of the conclusions of those deliberations once the output of the various discussion groups has been collated and circulated to the attendees. Hopefully that report will be précised and included in the next edition of The Bugle.

Since the replacement of the streetlights in Elsrickle, the Neighbourhood Watch signs disappeared by courtesy of S.L.C. along with the former poles, and sadly they have not been replaced to date.

Our scheme was launched from an initiative of then resident Ted Pettinger, and upon leaving the village for pastures new he asked me to take over the maintenance of the scheme, which I was happy to do. Any action that I have sought to take on behalf of the community has been done through contact with official bodies i.e. the police or the appropriate department of the S.L.C., as their Community Safety Initiative runs concurrently with Neighbourhood Watch. Not all of those actions have always found favour and those in question have sought to take action into their own hands. My dictionary definition of the word “Community” states: - Joint ownership or common position. If we each decide on a course of action with any selfish intent to the detriment of the COMMUNITY that is no less than anarchy - rather we should be working together with one aim: that being a happy and productive community.

With the new initiative being taken by Strathclyde Police I have suggested to B.C.C. that they appoint a new convener for these duties, an appointment by the B.C.C. hopefully giving more support to that role. One common feature running through these initiatives is that the local police force relies on US to be their eyes and their ears within the local community.

May be this is a new opportunity for other areas covered by B.C.C. to establish their own schemes for their own protection.

David J. Taylor,
Neighbourhood Watch Convener (retired)

Councillor Hamish Stewart

I am very pleased to be contributing to the first Bugle of 2007, and wish the new editor all the very best in the role.

One of the most contentious issues affecting the Blackmount area over recent months has been the prospect of a windfarm at Harrows Hill. The position currently is that South Lanarkshire, in common with the neighbouring authorities, voiced their objections to the plans. So far, the Scottish Executive have not announced a ruling on the issue, but I am aware that the applicant has approached the Local Authorities informally with a view to submitting a plan for a scaled down version of the scheme if that would be more acceptable. I understand that all the local authorities have been less than enthusiastic about that idea as well.

Road problems continue to cause people concerns. Once again, I have been assured that proper resurfacing and drainage works will be undertaken in the next financial year on some of the worst roads – we will wait and see if that happens. Problems have of course been worsened in recent months by the exceptional amount of rain that has fallen, meaning that water is running off saturated fields onto the roads and then assisting in creating more potholes.

One good news story is that the flashing speed signs that have been erected at a couple of locations seem to be having an effect. Anything that slows traffic down coming through the villages can only be a good thing. The police in Biggar are well aware of the problems but are severely constrained by manning levels. I had a meeting recently with Supt Buchanan who has promised to do whatever he can to get more officers into the area.

The other big on-going item is the Draft Local Plan. We were originally told that the reporters would meet in the spring to hold hearings into the representations made by the public. The latest news is that the hearings will now take place in June and that the report will be published late in 2007. This then will form the basis of how all planning applications will be dealt with in future until the next plan is produced.

As always I will be holding surgeries on the first Monday of each month in Newbigging, Dolphinton and Elsrickle and can be contacted at other times on 07748 114 582 or at hamish.stewart@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

ELSRICKLE WRI

In September, forty seven members and friends visited Mold in North Wales for 4 days, and had two trips to Llandudno and Chester

At our October meeting, Mrs Jennifer Baillie, Physiotherapist at Biggar Health Centre had us all doing gentle exercises, sitting down.

At our November meeting, Margaret Yule demonstrated ‘Hamma Beads’. Then we all made a decorated mat.

In December, Barbara Robertson demonstrated how to make mouth watering tray bakes.

First meeting of 2007 was our Scotch Night. We had a lovely meal and entertainment was provided by Andrew Gibb and Carol Anne Barrie and friends.

Anne Moffat

DOLPHINTON VILLAGE HALL

As winter progresses, there are opportunities to stretch those muscles which have been curled up on the sofa for too long. Yoga and Pilates, and of course Carpet Bowling, all offer opportunities for blowing the cobwebs away. The contacts for these activities are:

Yoga - Julie Anderson - 01721 661204
Pilates - Keeley Craigie - 01721 752746
Carpet Bowling - Ann Ross - 01968 682227

The Hall is of course available for hire should you wish to arrange an event or activity of your own. The rates are very reasonable and it's an ideal venue for children's parties as many of you know. Phone me if you need more information, or want to enquire about availability.

As those who use the hall regularly will know, we have an ongoing problem with the storage area, which has been particularly bad during the recent stormy weather, where we have had water entering the store both from below, as usual, and above. The powers that be will not take our requests for assistance/maintenance etc. seriously. If anyone would like to join the campaign to replace the store with a weather-tight edifice, please let me know. Although we do not provide the Council with a large income from the hall, the rate of use is very high for such a tiny community and we deserve to be taken seriously.

Pam Taylor

01968 682203

WALSTON PRE-5 GROUP

The Walston Pre-5 Group meets at Walston Primary School on a Wednesday morning, for children from 2½ years up to school age. Each session runs from 9.15am until 11.30am.

We would welcome children of this age to come and join our group and if you would like to register them, please telephone Danielle Campbell or Beth Macdonald at the numbers below or call in on a Wednesday morning.

We enjoyed a fun filled Autumn term with some exciting events for the children, including two visits from SPELL (Support for Play & Early Learning in Lanarkshire) and we hope to organise more events for the next few months.

If you want to contact the playgroup, please call either
• Donna Gray 01899 221 811 (Playgroup Leader)
• Danielle Campbell 01899 810237
• Beth Macdonald 01968 682259

I would like to thank all of you who generously donated money to mark my recent retrial. As you will know, I requested that any money raised should be used to benefit pupils at Walston Primary, and I understand discussions are underway to decide on the best use of the money.

I also want to thank all of you who sent cards and comments which were included in the book of memories collated by Mrs Ramsay.I enjoy reading this and remembering you all. Thanks again for your generosity and kindness.

It’s been good to meet up with some of you at recent events - the bonfire at Dunsyre for instance – and I know there will be many future occasions when I will catch up with everyone’s news.

Loraine Stewart

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY (Spring 2007)

February 14th
Elsrickle WRI
Venison Cooking Demonstration and Visit
Carmichael Estate
7pm

February 21st

Dolphinton WRI First Aid Evening - Gerry Kelly
Dolphinton Hall
7.15pm

March
5th
Community Council Meeting
Elsrickle Hall
7.30pm

March 7th
Dolphinton WRI
Talk – Marie Curie Charity
Dolphiinton Hall
7.15 pm

March 10th
Dolphinton WRI
Bulb and Craft Show
Peebles
Drill Hall

March 14th
Elsrickle WRI
Talk - ‘My Work’ – Dr A Cook
Elsrickle Hall
7.30 pm

Alternate Wednesdays
( 5th Feb onwards )
Black Mount Church
Coffee Mornings
Dolphinton Church Hall
10.30am

Last Date for Contributions to the next Bugle is April 6th.

Please send your articles, dates, reports, news and advertisements to:
Norma Love : Tel: 01899 810285 e.mail norma.love@btinternet.com

The Bugle is published by the Black Mount Community Council, but the views expressed therein are not necessarily those of the Council