Founding editor, Mrs Nan Walker, MBE Kinross Newsletter Founded in 1977 by Kinross Community Council ISSN 1757-4781 Published by Kinross Newsletter Limited, Company No. SC374361 Issue No 428 www.kinrossnewsletter.org www.facebook.com/kinrossnewsletter April 2015 DEADLINE CONTENTS for the May Issue 5.00 pm, Friday From the Editor ..................................................................2 17 April 2015 Letters ................................................................................2 News and Articles ...............................................................4 for publication on Police Box ........................................................................14 Saturday 2 May 2015 Community Councils ........................................................15 Contributions for inclusion in the Club & Community Group News .....................................22 Newsletter Sport .................................................................................36 The Newsletter welcomes items from community News from the Rurals .......................................................44 organisations and individuals for publication. This Out & About. ....................................................................45 is free of charge (we only charge for business Gardens Open. ..................................................................48 advertising – see below right). All items may be Congratulations & Thanks ................................................49 subject to editing and we reserve the right not to publish an item. Please also see our Letters Policy Church Information ..........................................................50 and Notes on page 2. Submit your item (except Playgroups and Toddlers ..................................................53 adverts) in one of the following ways: Notices ..............................................................................54 Email: [email protected] Day Centre & Chemists ....................................................62 (all emails will be acknowledged) Classified Adverts, Situations Vacant ...............................63 Post or hand in to: Diary .................................................................................64 Eileen Thomas, Editor 50 Muirs Front Cover: Local farmer Iain Campbell and lambs, by Tracy Gow Photography Kinross KY13 8AU Commercial Advertising in the Newsletter Please do not send adverts to the Editor. Adverts should be sent to the Advertising Display Adverts Manager. For information on placing a Display Advert, please see our website www.kinrossnewsletter.org or contact our Advertising Manager. Editor Typed Adverts Eileen Thomas A typed advert may be placed for one or more months. These adverts are text only 50 Muirs (no graphics allowed). There are two rates: Kinross, KY13 8AU.................. 01577 863714 Up to NINE lines (including blank lines) £7.50 per insertion [email protected] TEN to FIFTEEN lines (including blank lines) £13.00 per insertion Advertising Manager As a guide, eight words is the maximum that can be fitted on a line. To place a Typed Advert, contact our Advertising Manager, Ann Harley (see left for contact Ann Harley details). You will need to send her: 2 Hatchbank Road, • Your name, address, telephone number and, optionally, email address. Kinross KY13 9JY .................... 01577 864512 • The wording of your advert. [email protected] • A note of the number of insertions required. Treasurer • Your remittance – cheques payable to “Kinross Newsletter Ltd”. Ross McConnell Send all this to the Advertising Manager by the normal monthly Newsletter 3 High Street deadline (see top of left-hand column for date). The Newsletter reserves the right to vary the physical size of these adverts from Kinross KY13 8AW .................. 01577 865885 issue to issue according to the space available. [email protected] If you wish to place a Typed Advert on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, Subscriptions contact the Advertising Manager to see if you can go on to our billing list. Ross McConnell (address as above) For full information on advertising in the Newsletter, please go to our website [email protected] www.kinrossnewsletter.org and click on 'Advertising'. Distribution The Newsletter reserves the right to refuse or amend any advertisement or Lee Scammacca (Cree8) submission and accepts no liability for any omission or inaccuracy. 62 Muirs, Kinross KY13 8AU .. 01577 863186 No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form without the [email protected] express written permission of the publishers. Editor Eileen Thomas Typesetting and Layout Tony Dyson Distribution Lee Scammacca Advertising Ann Harley Treasurer and Subscriptions Ross McConnell Letters Editorial Thanks to loyal customers I would like to thank customers who have struggled to get to Farming is a key part of Kinross-shire’s identity, so we are the Dog House in recent months when sections of the road delighted to feature a local farmer on our front cover this were coned off due to nearby building works. I do appreciate month. Many thanks to Iain Campbell for his time, to our the effort that customers made. Farming Correspondent Fiona Turnbull for the super article Unfortunately there will be further disruption when the (page 73) and to Tracy Gow for the lovely photographs. Council creates the “shared space” near the shop as part of Calling all club secretaries! We are planning to publish the High Street public realm works. I do hope customers will another ‘Yellow Pages’ Register of Local Organisations continue to try to use local shops. Thank you. with the Newsletter this summer. The Register is created Please remember I am happy to deliver items locally. Please from contact details listed on the kinross.cc website. We call (01577) 863063 or mobile 07814830547. are now asking secretaries or contact persons for all the Barbara Willey clubs, societies and other organisations in the area to check The Dog House their listing on the kinross.cc website to see if it is up-to- 118 High Street, Kinross date. Please email Pauline Watson, the kinross.cc website administrator, with any changes via: [email protected] or Budget comments telephone 01577 862685. If your club is not listed, Pauline As a former Councillor in Highland, I was surprised to read will be delighted to add it. The Register isn’t just for clubs; Councillor Barnacle’s apparent comments relating to the it covers hall bookings, schools, support groups and more. conduct of the Council’s budget meeting. He is reported to allege that the Provost, Liz Grant, was ‘instructed’ by her SNP We are delighted to see that our Facebook ‘Likes’ go up group to rule the Independent group motion as incompetent. each time a new issue of the Newsletter is published. Thank This allegation is as unlikely as it is unfounded and sounds you! Our next target is 500 likes. Please stop by our page very much like a bad case of ‘sour grapes’, nothing more. It is if you can! the job of the Provost to chair Council meetings and, as such, she must decide these matters as she sees fit, within the rules. The position of Provost is largely ceremonial and, although About the Kinross Newsletter she was elected on a political ticket, she oversees the conduct The Newsletter has been informing and supporting the of Council meetings in an unbiased and apolitical manner. community for over 37 years. Perhaps Councillor Barnacle, if the ‘Newsletter’ article is It began as a way of letting residents know what Kinross to be believed, is attempting to divert attention away from Community Council was saying and doing, but soon his Independent group’s shortcomings. Two of the four expanded to be so much more. independents, Councillors Jack and Barnacle, did not stay As well as keeping up to date via news and club reports, for the whole meeting. Councillor Barnacle walked out early readers use the Newsletter to find local trades and services, on in the meeting, while Councillor Jack left at halfway. Not and our loyal advertisers support the community by much commitment to their electorate there. enabling us to publish local clubs’ reports and essential Councillor Barnacle complains about the process of setting community information free of charge. Any profits made by the budget in that it lacks ‘consensus’, in his words. Very odd. the Newsletter are given away to local good causes. He never objected to the working of the system when he was a member of the Lib Dem/SNP administration, before walking Note to Contributors out to form his own Independent party! A great deal of the Newsletter comprises reports supplied by local Even more odd is the fact that the Independent group did not clubs and other organisations. These reports are accepted in good bring a budget of their own to the Council meeting! How faith. Clubs etc should ensure that reports are factually accurate is ‘consensus’ supposed to be achieved if the Independent and do not contain material which could cause legal proceedings group’s budget proposals are not brought before the Council? to be taken against the Newsletter. The budget was passed by 22 votes to 12, with the votes of Letters Policy Councillors representing the SNP, Labour and the Liberal Senders must supply their name and address, which will be Democrats. Councillor Barnacle sees this as a ‘flawed published with the letter. Letters should be truthful and not process’, but what alternative does he