BLACK MOUNT BUGLE

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

I hope you all enjoyed a good Easter. I was going to comment on the warmer weather than usual at Easter until it was pointed out to me that it was much later this year. I am not forecasting a miserable, damp, wet summer to ensure we have the sizzling barbecue summer we were forecast for the last two years that never materialised, but instead hope we all enjoy a good summer, with occasional periods of heavy rain as the farmers and gardens need it. In England they appear to be heading for a serious drought!

As reported in the February Bugle, Dolphinton Markets are no longer being held on a monthly basis and instead there will be 4 Seasonal Fairs, the next one being the Summer Fair to be held in the Village Hall on Saturday 25th June from 2.00 pm to 4.30 pm. Do please come and lend your support. For more information or to offer assistance please contact either Pam Taylor on 01968 682203 or Lesley Kerr on 01968 682331.

The next date for your diary is the Social Group’s Annual Sports Evening to be held on Thursday 26th May at Newbigging. Further details appear in this edition of The Bugle. Let us hope we have good weather for the evening for you all to come along and participate or support this highly enjoyable annual event.

I make my usual plea for people to come and attend the Black Mount Community Council’s (BMCC) first Monday of the Month Meetings, normally held in Elsrickle Village Hall starting at 7.30 p.m. But do check the Notice Boards outside the Dolphinton and Elsrickle Halls for when they are held in Newbigging and Dolphinton. The last Meeting was held on Monday the 2nd of May in Elsrickle Hall.

Staying on the subject of the BMCC, this year (2011) is Election Year for Community Councils, so I do invite residents who want to get involved and support community affairs to please consider putting yourselves forward for election. New rules no longer allow organisations within the Black Mount Community Council area to put forward Nominated Members to sit on the BMCC. Everyone now has to be elected. So please let me or The Secretary - Barry Rosindale - know if you would like to become a Member of the BMCC. Essentially you are committing yourself to attend 10 meetings a year, normally on the 1st Monday of the month, that usually last no more than one hour.

As I have said, I wish you all a really great summer in the hope that we might actually have one this year!

Charles Ritchie - Chairman

BMCC MEETINGS

Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month, except Public Holidays. A warm welcome is extended to everyone.

Dates and venues are posted outside Dolphinton, Elsrickle and Newbigging Village Halls.

SUNDAY WORSHIP

Church of Scotland, Dolphinton
Morning Service – Sundays 10.45am

St Isadore's Roman Catholic Church, Biggar
Holy Mass Sundays 12 noon
Weekdays (Mon, Tues-Thurs, Fri) 9.30 am

St Mungo's Scottish Episcopal Church, West Linton
Sung Communion Sundays 10.00 am
Said Communion Wednesdays 10.30 am

COUNCILLOR HAMISH STEWART

By the time this Bugle appears we will no doubt have had the Scottish Parliament election and know who is in power for the next five years. One thing we can be sure of is that whoever is in power, the Council finances will still be squeezed.

The squeeze has not affected the roads budget and at the time of writing work is due to commence at Gilburn resurfacing the A721 on 3rd May for a period of up to 14 days. This is part of the ongoing improvement works that have seen SLC’s position on the national league table rise to number 18 from 31 three years ago. Bottom of the heap at 32 sits Argyll and Bute. We should continue to see a steady rise in the league position over the next few years. The aim is for SLC to sit in the top three within the next five years.

Still on a roads theme I am pleased to say that following representations made to me by residents in Dunsyre the 30 mph limit on Newbigging Road will be extended so that the first property will fall within the limited area.
The police have been very active with the speed camera over the past couple of months and many speeding drivers have been fined or warned throughout the ward. This activity is set to continue – you have been warned!

The introduction of charges for special uplifts of bulky waste by the council has received some adverse publicity. To clarify the position I would like to make clear that every household will still be entitled to one free uplift – of whatever size- per year. Special uplifts of garden waste will still take place on request free of charge. Experience in other authorities that have introduced charges suggests that charging did not lead to an increase in fly tipping. Waste can still be taken to the Waste Transfer Station in Carluke and disposed of free of charge.

I will be holding surgeries as normal in Newbigging, Dunsyre and Dolphinton on Monday 6th June but owing to the Council’s cost saving measures I am not allowed to hold them in July and August. However I will be available most of the time on 07748 114 582 or at Hamish.stewart@southlanarkshire.gov.uk or by writing to me at SLC’s head office in Almada St Hamilton.

Hamish Stewart

BLACK MOUNT SPORTS NIGHT

The Black Mount Social Group is proposing to hold The Sports Night on Thursday 26th May at 6.30pm at Newbigging Playing Fields. This will leave the holiday weekend free for other plans.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas they would like to see included, or anyone who would like to volunteer to help on the night, please contact Mara Orr : 01899 810219

Let’s just hope for better weather this year!

Mara Orr

CONGRATULATIONS!

On Saturday 16th April the Lanarkshire Federation SWRI took part in the small singing group competition held at Culloden Academy, Inverness. Taking part were Heather Gibson, Gillian Coulter and Susan Crosby, accompanied on piano by Ann McLeod. Their chosen pieces were The Slumber Song and Three Little Maids at School. The Adjudicator was Heather Grimmer and Lanarkshire went on to win, receiving the Auldhouse Trophy, presented by national chairwoman Marion Davidson. The other choir members who were able to go to Inverness, sang on a non-competitive basis to fill the programme,
Extract from Lanark Gazette

Congratulations to all who took part!

COUNCILLOR REV BEV GAULD

Biggar High School

In February I attended the opening of the new Biggar High School. Aided by two High School pupils Councillor Hamish Stewart performed the official opening ceremony. Guests were entertained by pupils who performed a variety of acts: dancing, singing, reciting poetry and a fashion parade. I especially enjoyed the interpretation of their music of the rock band Queen by two senior pupils, dancing to the tune ‘We will rock you’ and the beautiful violin music played by Hannah when she accompanied the school junior choir to the moving words of ‘Caledonia’……which includes the words:
‘…let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time, Caledonia you’re calling and I’m going home.
If I should become a stranger, know that it would make me more than sad….Caledonia’s been everything I ever had’

Nuclear Fallout

There’s an old story told by a kirk minister of the condemned people at the Day of Judgment saying, ‘Lord! Lord! We dinnae ken’ ……and the Lord will reply……’Weel ye ken noo!’

In March this year I became ‘a convert’! To what did I convert you may ask?

Read on…..
Well, ‘I ken noo’ about the real costs of nuclear energy: the huge dangers and risks that this form of energy production brings to us all. I was one of those in the SNP who argued the case for the cheap, clean efficient form of energy that is produced by nuclear power plants like Torness in the Lothians and Hunterston B on the Ayrshire coast. You know that it is the SNP policy that we in Scotland do not renew or replace nuclear power stations.

Despite the history of radiation leaks reported at Sellafield in Cumbria, or at Dounray, or the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island, USA, or the meltdown and nuclear explosion at Chernobyl, Russia, I was not persuaded to change my view. I held firm to my belief in the advantages of nuclear power. Not any more!

Far away from where we live an earthquake in the ocean off Japan, a terrifying, devastating tsunami that followed, and then the nuclear explosion at three or more nuclear power stations at Fukushima, together with the radiation fall-out that now follows, have combined to persuade me to ‘convert’ my point of view. The SNP policy decision not to renew or replace, or have any nuclear power plants on Scottish soil, is the right one. The welfare and safety of the people come first.

Today in 2011, (25 years after the Chernobyl nuclear power station explosion and the disaster that followed) at the start of this year, the ‘all clear’ has at last been sounded for farmers and shepherds in parts of Clydesdale East Ward that they can at long, long last send their sheep for sale at the markets - the restrictions of the last 25 years on the movement of their livestock in parts of our Council Ward have been lifted by the government.

25 years ago Black Mount and surrounding areas were affected by radiation fall-out from Chernobyl. At the manse in Carnwath we had 10 hives (skeps) of bees in the garden. At Weston the late Jim Ballantyne had over 620 hives based in his Pentland Bee Farm. The radiation fall-out that prevented farmers and shepherds from being able to sell sheep at the markets also irradiated the pollen from plants and trees. Back in 1986 the 6 mature sycamore trees in our large garden at the manse ceased producing their tens of thousands of ‘sycamore helicopters’ and produced just 5! I searched and searched but that was the total of all I could find that year!
Irradiation! Irradiation means no pollen. No pollen means that the bees cannot feed and raise their young. I lost all ten of my beehives that year - but at Weston Jim Ballantyne’s Pentland Bee Farm lost over 600 hives! After Chernobyl Jim was left with a total of just 18 bee colonies.

That same year I was commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and I took the opportunity, on behalf of the Scottish bee-keepers, to request that the Assembly ask the UK government to help bee-keepers in their plight to recover their losses. I well remember the Convener’s response to this request - he said ‘Let the little bees look after themselves’. It got a laugh, but the Scots bee-keepers were not laughing. No little bees mean less pollination and less pollination means that less fruit and vegetables can be harvested, and less food means we can all go hungry.

It’s interlinked, and we are all in this together - it sometimes takes a major disaster in a place far away like Chernobyl or Fukushima to remind us just how fragile this world really is. Some might say ‘I dinnae ken’…’Weel, ye ken noo.’

My councilor’s surgeries continue as usual at NewbiggingHall at 6.30pm on the third Thursday of the month and at Elsrickle Hall at 7.45pm and Dolphinton Hall at 8.30pm, both on the fourth Thursday of the month.
Kindest Regards

Councillor Rev Bev Gauld

ELSRICKLE WRI

On the 2nd March, Marjory Tennant gave a talk and demonstration on hat making. Marjory told us how this very unusual hobby evolved from a chance suggestion at her Rural, to the production of hats and fascinators in a wide variety of styles and colours to suit everyone for a special occasion. Her obvious skill and enthusiasm couldn’t fail to fascinate even the least of the hat lovers amongst us.

The final meeting of the session on Wednesday 30th March was a potato ‘Taste and Try’. There was also a talk from Mr Dawney, Chairman of Biggar Museums Trust, appealing for financial help from the public to help buy new premises for the museum in Biggar.

Prize-giving followed with Ann Barrie receiving the Howieson Trophy for most first prizes during the year. Points prizes went to : 1st Ann Barrie, 2nd Harriet Tolson, 3rd Margaret Leiper. The Georgie Wallace Tray was shared between Margaret Leiper and Phyllis Tweedie. This year there was a new trophy, a crystal bowl donated by the family of the late Jessie Grossart, to be presented to the member with the most competition entries. This was won by Ann Barrie.

Lastly came the AGM and a new committee was chosen. A presentation was made to Mary Buchanan who retired from office after her years of service as Vice President and President of Elsrickle WRI. The new president is Alice Barrie and Vice President is Grace Allison.

We now look forward to the Flower Show on Saturday 27th August.

Pam Hart

DOLPHINTON WRI

In January the Rural had dinner at the Bakehouse in West Linton.

January 29th was our Bowling Tournament which was very successful and the winners were Ann Brownlee’s team and the runners up, Elsrickle. The charities who benefited were the Mountain Rescue and Lifeboats.

February 16th was a talk on the farming side of Garvald by Bridget Beagan.

On March 9th our speaker could not come owing to family circumstances, so we had a ‘hands on’ meeting making miniature gardens in seed trays for the Bulb Show at Peebles, where three won prizes!

Our AGM was on April 20th and after business was discussed and our votes counted by two ladies from Kirkurd WRI, we had tea and a short quiz. This was won by Cathie Brown.

We were delighted to come third for our Community Effort at the Bulb Show in Peebles.

Congratulations must go to Nan Reid, who won the Marion White Rosebowl for best housewife’s exhibit which was her pancakes in the Community Effort. The monthly competitions for the session were won by Jean Campbell.

In the bowling we qualified to represent Peeblesshire at Newcastleton. We were not so lucky but we enjoyed the day.
Jean Campbell

DIGITAL SWITCHOVER

I attended the Digital UK drop-in at West Linton recently to provide you with the following information:
TV signals in the area are changing from analogue to digital in two stages and you may well have to act, depending on what you currently have.
If you have Sky TV, Freesat from Sky, freesat Virgin Media or Smallworld then you won’t need to do anything!
If you have Freeview, BT Vision or Top Up TV then you will need to retune at each stage of the switchover.
If you have five channels or less (BBC1, BBC2, STV, 4 and perhaps Channel 5) then you will need to convert to digital or you will lose all the channels.

Stages
The two stages for switch over are 1st June and 15th June if you are being serviced by Craigkelly (West Linton local relay station) and 8th June and 11nd June if you are being serviced by Black Hill (Biggar local relay station). You can check the dates by visiting the website www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker or contact 08456 50 50 50.
If you notice BBC2 has gone then you are at stage one and will need to retune and then again two weeks later! www.digitaluk.co.uk/manualretune

Options
If you have five channels or less then there are a few options to consider receiving digital programs. Make a one-off payment for one of the following:
Freeview box (around 15 channels). Box from around £20.
Freesat dish (over 120 channels). Box from £30 and installation of
dish from £80, if required.
Freesat from Sky dish and box (more than 240 channels). £175
If you have an older TV make sure you have a scart socket to connect the equipment to or confirm the equipment has an RF output to plug into your aerial socket!
If you have a newer TV check that you don’t already have Freeview built in and you just haven’t been using it!
You can also obtain channels through the following monthly subscription methods:
Sky (240 channels with 160 subscription channels). £19.50-£52 per month. Installation from £30.

David Darling

DOLPHINTON MARKET

We held a successful SPRING MARKET on the 16th April, raising over £260.00 for CHAS, Children's Hospice Association Scotland.Thank you to all those who attended and helped raise funds for such a worthy cause.

The Chinese food, prepared by staff from the Lychee in Peebles, was delicious; the Tombola yielded surprise gifts for almost all participants; we were serenaded for part of the time by members of Lasswade Session Collective, to whom many thanks; the children's corner was as lively as ever, with biscuit and egg decorating proving popular; and of course the cafe sustained us throughout the afternoon. We also had a variety of stalls selling everything from scallops to scenic cards.

We hope for a similar level of support for our
SUMMER MARKET
Saturday 25th June
2.00 - 4.30pm
Dolphinton Village Hall

The charity supported by our Summer Market will be Cancer Research UK. There will be several attractions to lure you along to the Hall:

* GARDENERS' QUESTION TIME with John Bracken, a leading light in the local gardening world, answering your garden queries.
* SIT & KNIT - a workshop, run by Jen Peacock, where you can learn to knit, or just sit and knit for a while, helping to produce squares for a charity blanket.
* A COOKERY DEMO by the Chef from 55 Restaurant in Biggar
* A HOME BAKING STALL run by the Dolphinton WRI
* A TOMBOLA and other games of chance to help raise funds for Cancer Research UK
* THE CAFE offering tasty treats.
* CHILDREN'S CORNER with crafty surprises.
* STALLS including Plants, local cheeses and bread
There will be a £1.00 entrance charge for all adults (children free) as part of the fundraising effort.
Any offers of help in running the market, either before-hand or on the day itself, would be most welcome. Call Pam on 01968 682203, or Lesley on 01968 682331.

WALSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Reports by pupils

Maths Challenge
On 25th March 2011, all the P7s in the cluster met at Biggar High School to participate in a maths challenge organised by Ms. McFarlane, head of Biggar High School’s maths department. We were put into groups with children from other schools. At first it was scary and we were a bit shy but the morning was packed with activities and soon we were talking together. We had three activities.

• There was model building.for which we had to use spaghetti and strips of tape to build the highest tower. The strips of tape were only allowed to be 5cm long each.

• The second activity was a speed contest. We had to go to each table to do a puzzle and an extra puzzle. It was 10 points for each puzzle.

• The last activity was a relay contest. Our team leader sat at the top of the hall and we had to run to them to get our questions, and then run back to them once we had answered them.

When it was finished everyone agreed that it was fun and that it was nice to see the High School. We had our packed lunches in the cafeteria after the challenge.

Hockey

On the 28th of March 2011, Primary 6/7 took part in a hockey tournament at Lanark racecourse against other schools. These were Lanark A, Lanark B, Lanark C, Rigside, Tinto, Underbank, Abington and us, Walston. Only 6 of us could play at a time so we got split up into 2 groups. The first group’s game ended 0-0, but the next group won 1-0. After that we won again 1-0. Then the next game was 1-0 AGAIN!!! But the final game we won 3-0.

After we played all the games everyone had to sit in the middle of the Astroturf and we got given pencils saying “Active Schools.” Then we all got on the bus and went back to school. When we got back to school we got an extra breaktime.

Submitted by D. Ramsay

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 Hannah or Hazel at the numbers below or call in on a Wednesday morning.

If you want to contact the playgroup, please call either

• Hannah Cairns 01968 682240
• Hazel Knight 01899 810348

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: May – Aug 2011

26th May
BMCC Sports Evening
Newbigging
6.30pm

6th June
BMCC Meeting
See Hall Noticeboard
7.30pm

25th June
Dolphinton Market
Dolphinton Hall
2-4.30pm

July 4th
BMCC Meeting
See Hall Noticeboard
7.30pm

27th Aug
Elsrickle WRI
Flower Show
Elsrickle Hall
2pm

Last Date for Contributions to the next Bugle is Friday 15th July

Please send your articles, dates, reports, news and advertisements to:
Norma Love : Tel: 01899 810285
email bugle@blackmount.org

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

The Community Council cannot accept responsibility for any errors printed in the Bugle.