THE MONQUHITTER MESSENGER Fyvie Rothienorman and Monquhitter Community Council May Edition 2021 Contact [email protected] with news, stories & views Thoughts from Monquhitter Primary School As the school year draws to an end, everyone's already excited about moving on to a new adventure in a new class after summer. Primary 7 Nursery Our upcoming P1’s are feeling very happy and excited about moving up. When asked, they said that they are most looking forward to:- 1. meeting Mrs. Walker (the P1 teacher) 2. eating lunch in the canteen 3. playing in the p1 area 4. having buddies! Our current P1s wanted to offer you all some advice for the move. We’re feeling a rollercoaster of emotions from nervous to really excited. Having lots of different teachers throughout the day will be a new experience but a good one. We're also looking forward to meeting new friends, leaving school for lunch, home economics and lots more! Primary 7 has been an amazing year even though we were in lockdown we still had plenty time to do lots of stuff like..........our activities week when instead of going to Loch Insh, we were writing our own ghost stories and making them into books, also being house captains and buddies to our current primary 1’s and so much more! Finally, we just want to say good luck to all children moving The biggest things to remember are:- to make lots of up to a new class after summer and remember – friends, be nice to everyone, listen well and have fun! do your very best, to be your very best! What have these P1’s loved most?They say:- learning to read and write, helping teachers do jobs, Ella, Kelsey and Louise (P7 Monquhitter School) playing with and making new friends, and lots more! I have been part of the Monquhitter Community for over 20 years now. It all started when Myself, a Turra Quine met my Monquhitter Man at the last Cuminestown Marquee in the glebe! I married Andrew in 2005 and became a proper Cuminestown Quine living on the family farm “Millfield” just outside Cuminestown. We have 2 kids Abi 14 years old and Jamie 11 years old and there’s our fur baby Millie a black lab! Due to my love of animals, I worked at Turriff vets from when I left school, becoming a vet nurse until I had my daughter. Once both kids were at nursery\ school it was time to do something a bit different, so I tried my hand at Pupil Support Assistant in Fyvie Primary School, where I have been ever since. A wee bit of a change from animals to children! I absolutely love my job. I have always been involved in Groups and committees, I suppose I am a bit nosey and love to know what’s going on, also being able to have a say in what’s happening especially if it involves my family or community is a good thing too. After thinking about it carefully I decided to give the position of Community Councillor for Monquhitter a go as I feel I can help make our community the best it can be and learn about what’s going on and help out on the way. Meet Ashley Strachan I hope I can help in a small way to grow and support our community. The Monquhitter Messenger cont’d cont’dcont’d CYAFC – Back to Training & Playing First we had our coaches and parent helpers update their first aid skills …great use of Cuminestown Hall. (and we all learnt how to use the defib equipment as well) All the teams are now back to training, getting their physical fitness and teamwork back is as important as their skills with the ball. We trained firstly at Turriff Astro and now we are training at Donating to help the Tennis Courts is… New Byth, New Deer, Fyvie, Monqhitter Primary and Cuminestown. as 1-2-3 The James Tennant Playing Field has launched a Cuminestown hosted a local festival for younger teams and fundraising campaign towards refurbishment of the Tennis the park looked great (Thanks to all who helped make it so) Courts. The next one is in August and we hope to be able to have “Donations of any size welcomed” said Petra Quirie who spectators again………watch this space for an update! has given details of where to donate. Steve Harrison 1. On the JT Playing Field Facebook page there is a direct link to Justgiving.com Just click the picture! 2. The QR code will be available next to the Tennis Courts (where you can also donate). 3. Small donations may be given to the shop Playing tennis is completely FREE so giving a little will help ensure the courts are playable and enjoyable for the whole community to use. Fingers crossed for some great weather to play! Petra Quirie Next Time: An update on how our 2007 Team is performing in the Cup and League. ‘LINE OF DUTY’ Scriptwriters to Investigate Missing Barrow! It definately wasn’t us! The Monquhitter Messenger cont’d We asked for your opinion on a few issues that had been raised in the community. It is important that we know what is good, bad and plain ugly in Monquhitter. We have 47 completed entries submitted for the anonymous survey so far. Here are the preliminary results. We will be studying the feedback in more depth to identify the best way to resolve the most pressing matters…. Q 1. Where do you live within the Monquhitter Q 2. How long have you lived here? Community area boundary? Q 3. Do you feel that dog fouling is a problem in the area? Q 5. Have you noticed any ‘Fly Tipping’ in the area? NOTE- most of the comments mentioned the ‘Low Road’ as a problem Q 9. Do you use the local bus service? Q 8. If you have noticed a litter problem in the area, please give more details..(a selection of comments received) *Yes, in the park during Summer. Bins not emptied enough *There is lots of rubbish along the Low Road, Kirk Brae & Chapel Brae *On the Cuminestown to Fyvie Road I often have to collect rubbish….I walk my dog on the road and the problem is getting worse *Sides of Roads are a mess!....as if thrown out of a car! *I see lots when I am out running NOTE- split almost 50/50 on this one as to whether it is a problem or not…. Q 11. Which phrase best describes your opinion on the public toilets in Cuminestown? THANK YOU! We received 11 suggestions of ‘other issues’ of concern and we are looking at these closely… They include: *Whether/when the Cuminestown Health Centre will reopen? *A lollipop person *Lack of facilities for youth/children *Speeding, revving, potholes and lots of parking issues *More village activities eg Galas PLEASE NOTE- The survey will stay open on Facebook until 31/05/21, so there is still time to take part The Monquhitter Messenger Cont’d APPLY BEFORE 1ST JUNE TO Garden Greetings from Jean BECOME A COMMUNITY COUNCILLOR- we need more people just like YOU With summer around the corner (maybe?), we tracked down local gardener extraordinaire Jean to see if she might have a few tips for us newbies and she has kindly obliged. The good news is, if you’ve not yet put out your tomatoes or cucumbers, you are not alone. According to Jean, there’s been a hard chill feeling to the air in the evening, so her happy plants are still living on the living room window sill. If you see this monstrous growth on your rhubarb (see picture on right), fear not! That’s just the plant trying to go to seed. Go ahead and cut off the flower so the plant puts more time into growing tasty stalks. Thank You Jean! -These new robot lawn mowers are awfully fine for keeping a garden tidy. Help Needed to Water Hanging Baskets BUSINESS SUPPORT NEEDED TO RESCUE FOOTBALL PITCHES As Chairperson of The James Tennant Playing Field Committee, I would like to ask for your help to improve our facilities. The football pitch, which is used by one adult team and five kids teams, is extremely wet in places which then negatively impacts the bowling green and croquet green. The pitch is overly compact which causes flooding as the water cannot drain away properly. This results in the pitch often Hanging Baskets of flowers will again adorn our being unusable for training and games. We have Verti drained the streets thanks to the Amenities Committee, and they pitch which has helped slightly, however the problem is still are looking for volunteers to go round once a week to ongoing. After recommendations we are looking into purchasing a water them. Mole plough and installing a French drain to catch the surface The Amenities Committee fund the compost and have water. This will hopefully rectify the problem and improve the grounds. a group who all help with the planting, barrels are As you can imagine this will cost a substantial amount of money watered by village resident volunteers and the shop and we would like to ask for financial support to maintain and looks after flower displays in the square. improve our facility for the community. BARROW MYSTERY SOLVED! If there are any businesses that would like to kindly support us in Yes, the Kart/Barrow next to the Cuminestown sign is reaching our goal, please contact me on [email protected] getting a ‘revamp’ and will be returning to it’s usual spot soon.