THE SOUTH DEESIDE VIEW Spring 2013 CONTENTS This year March came in like a lamb but as we go to press it looks set to go out like a lion. In stark contrast to last year, easterly winds, almost Siberian-like at times, seem to have 1 Plant Sale & Daffodil Tea dominated most of the winter but undeterred, the snowdrops 2 Youth activities adorn our landscape, albeit camouflaged amongst the 3 Youth activities snowflakes. A sure sign that spring is upon us. 4 Lairhillock School Thanks to our many contributors and organisations across the 5 Banchory-Devenick School area for helping to once again make this a packed issue. Also Red squirrel conservation to our faithful advertisers and band of ‘deliverers’. Together you make South Deeside View possible...you should be very 6 Clubs and Societies proud. 7 Leisure activities 8 Community Halls All phone numbers are Aberdeen listed (01224) unless otherwise indicated. The back page, with its Events Calendar Community Woodland and list of useful contacts, is arranged for handy reference. 9 Driving for the Disabled Other contact information is at the end of each section. 10 Maryculter-Cookney Church We look forward to seeing you all at our Annual Plant Sale 11 St Ternan’s Church and Coffee Morning on May 18 (see below for more details). St Mary’s Chapel, Blairs As always, please feel free to contact Hazel or Pam at any time Solstice Plant Sale with your ideas for new material for the newsletter (contact 12 News from Blairs Museum details on the back page). Your suggestions are always The Muckle Spate welcome. 13 Nature Notes Till autumn... Home deliveries 14 Grampian Police ANNUAL PLANT SALE 15 Representation MP/MSP and 16 Community Council COFFEE MORNING 17 Community Council Saturday May 18, from 10.30am till noon 18 Councillors at Corbie Hall, Maryculter 19 Advertisements We are holding a sale of garden plants: herbaceous, 20 Handy contacts and Events rockery, herbs, salad vegetables, annuals and bushes - all grown by enthusiastic local amateur gardeners. Friends of Guiding Coffee, tea, juice and home baking will also be Maryculter available. Please let us know if you can offer any donations or Annual Daffodil Tea assistance on the day - all contributions welcome! Saturday 11th May 10.30 to 12.30 Corbie Hall, Maryculter If you can help with supplies, contact Rob Winmill (plants), Tel: 01569 730308 or Pam Robertson (coffee Adults £3, children/concessions £1.50 morning), Tel: 863887. Cake & candy, books & toys, lucky dip, chocolate/bottle tombola, raffle YOUTH ACTIVITIES Maryculter Babies and Toddlers Maryculter Rainbows We meet in Maryculter Church Hall on Thursday mornings all Rainbows meet in the Corbie Hall between 4.15 and 5.15pm year from 9.30-11.30am. Anyone looking after children on Thursday afternoons. We are currently at full capacity with between birth and 3 years is very welcome to join us for a nineteen girls aged between five and seven. cuppa and chat, whilst the tots play with our stock of toys and games. We’re always on the lookout for new members so During the pre-Christmas term we enjoyed two circus-themed please tell friends, neighbours and those new to the area. afternoons when we practised circus games and were lucky to Julie Currie, Tel: 862200, E-mail: [email protected] have a face painter visit. We also made Christmas decorations Lee Ross, Tel: 07929 071182, E-mail: [email protected] for the foyer of Tesco, Banchory along with Maryculter Brownies and Guides. The highlight was a trip to the South Deeside Under Fives pantomime - “It wasn’t me it was Goldilocks” - at the Lemon We are a community-led Tree. charity providing independent childcare for In January we met in the Maryculter Church Hall until the children from birth to five bridge at Corbie Hall, which had been washed away by years, meeting at floods, was replaced. We went for a walk in the woods near Maryculter Community the church and did some ‘star gazing’. Fortunately and with Hall (next to the Old Mill thanks to all involved, the bridge was repaired quickly and Inn). Our experienced now we are back to normal. We have been working towards play leaders prepare an exciting array of activities for our Seasons Badge by celebrating Burns Night, Chinese New youngsters, from crafts, construction games and imaginative Year and Mothers Day and also had a seasonal fashion show. play inside to gardening, active games and country walks We are now hoping the snow stays away for our Easter Egg outside. Beyond the fun for children, the group aims to be a Hunt at the end of March! focus for local parents to meet and make new friends. We offer three groups: If you would like your child to join our Rainbows, please register on www.girlguiding.org.uk and complete the ‘Get Baby & Toddler Group Involved’ section. Meets on Monday mornings - £3.75 per session. From birth to 4-year-olds. Adults relax over a coffee whilst children make their first friends. An experienced play leader leads children Maryculter Brownies through active play, songs and stories. It has been a busy time for the Brownies again. They Two’s Group Meets on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings - £8 per collected together backpacks for the Mary’s Meals scheme so session. For children aged 2 years until they go to nursery. that children not as lucky as themselves in Malawi can go to Tots are left in the capable hands of experienced play leaders school. For this they got a special ‘Together We Can’ badge. who support the children in learning through play in a small, friendly group. Activities include crafts, bug hunting, bubbles At the end of last term they went to the Panto and saw Cinderella and there were great discussions about boys in the garden and walks around the local countryside. dressed as girls, also the fact that the main character was a Rising Fives Group Meets on Tuesdays, 11.45am to 1.45pm - £8 per session. girl dressed as a boy! For the end of term they enjoyed a trip For ante-pre and pre-school children. A gentle introduction to to Café O’ Clay and decorated some fabulous Christmas spending more time away from their adults prior to school. decorations. Children are provided with a healthy lunch as part of our This term they have been busy doing their Friends to Animals healthy living programme followed by fun activities including cooking, painting or sports. badge and the highlight so far was having George Masson come to visit and talk to us about Driving for the Disabled. It More information at mobile: 07966 163953 was great to hear about the work that they and the ponies do. or email: [email protected]. We loved all the photos that he brought to show us of the The South Deeside Under Fives is a member of the Scottish ponies in action. Pre-school Play Association. Charity no.SC017421. www.south-deeside-under-fives.co.uk. We have also just completed our special Rolls Royce- sponsored Science Explorer Badge and had great fun making Blairwood Garden, Blairs balloon-powered cars, compasses and a pin hole viewer. And just the other week we had a Brownie Bakeoff to raise money This is a 14-year-old garden of approx ½ acre designed to for Children In Need. sit easily in the surrounding countryside and to provide colour over a long season: herbaceous borders, a herb Currently there are a couple of spaces available for the first garden packed with medicinal and culinary herbs, pebble time in a good while, so if you are interested in joining please mosaics and sunken patio area. One garden 'room' has been get in touch. grown on a landfill site. River walk. The garden is open by arrangement to individuals and Contact Lynn Murphy, Tel: 01330 825936 or groups from mid June to early autumn. Admission is £4.00 e-mail [email protected] with all proceeds going to charity. No dogs please. Ilse Elders - T: 01224 868301 E: [email protected]. 2 YOUTH ACTIVITIES st Maryculter Guides 1 Maryculter Cubs This term we have been working We are so fortunate to have access to some wonderful on ‘Go For Its’, where the girls local terrain in which to keep the Cubs busy. With plan their own activities based on woodland, streams and the Glebe field on our doorstep a theme. So far we have made they have enjoyed many outdoor activities right through bath bombs and healthy the winter. sandwiches in funky shapes using We kicked off the new school year with a very sunny cookie cutters. We have been camp at Templars’ Park, with many of our Cubs completing the activities required for their Camper putting our artistic skills to the test making paint splatter handprint paintings. We are now working on the World badge – just a few more nights under canvas required to qualify. Since then we’ve tracked in the woods, Culture Badge and learning about the local area by making a leaflet all about local attractions. Also, part of navigated from point to point using simple maps, found our way using the stars, been night-time orienteering the badge is to use traditional henna designs to decorate hand and foot prints. We are working hard on this badge and even completed a stealth exercise during which all but still have some work to complete. Cubs succeeded in staying silent for a full fifteen To celebrate World Thinking Day the whole unit took minutes! We’ve made guys for Bonfire Night, stretchers part in a cowboy-themed sleepover in the White House out of rope and sticks, held our traditional at Templars Park.