On Saturday 1st October, the Fearnan Village Hall Committee took part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning by hosting a local coffee morning in support of the MacMillan cancer support charity.

There was a relaxed atmosphere and, as always, a great range of cakes, scones etc. and fun competitions. Around 40 people attended, including 5 children.

The lucky winner of the Colin the Caterpillar Conundrum Competition was Guy Hickman whose guess was the nearest to the number of sprinkles on the caterpillar cake. 

Guy got to take Colin home (presumably for more sprinkles counting), while Judy Proudfoot won the hamper generously donated by Kenmore Bakery.

The event generated a fantastic £512.42, including donations handed in, on-line contributions as well as money collected on the day and the Hall Committee would like to thank all those who supported the event and donated so generously.

More Events to Come …….

Diaries out, folks, we have quite a number of upcoming events and here they are, in chronological order:

11th October 10.30 – 12.00: The Pop-Up Coffee Shop opens its door again: Join us for coffee and cake and a chance to catch up with friends and acquaintances from the Fearnan area.

11th October 7pm: Improving our Recycling Locally. The Hall Committee has some suggestions for improving access to recycling items that the Council is unable to collect. They propose to do this via the TerraCycle programme which focuses on hard to recycle items (https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB )

Please join the meeting on Tuesday evening 11 October 2022 at 7pm in the McLean Hall to hear about these ideas and for a discussion on local recycling. Topics include:

•  Additional recycling opportunities with TerraCycle – Jenny Penfold
  • Proposals to improve the Recycling Facility outside the Hall entrance – Karen Bennett
    • Council Recycling – PKC Waste Minimisation Officer – Ana De Miguel
•  Q&A session / Community Discussion to share comments, thoughts and ideas

18th October 7.00pm: Fearnan Book Club Hosts an Evening with Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves OBE is a British mystery crime writer. She wrote the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez, and Matthew Venn series, all three of which have been adapted into TV shows. In 2006, she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her novel Raven Black, the first novel in the Jimmy Perez series.

Fearnan Book Club has staged something of a coup and is delighted to be welcoming her to the village for what will be a very interesting and enjoyable evening.

The event is likely to be very popular, so booking is essential as numbers are limited. Please email Linda on ellemilne@hotmail.com to reserve your place.

The session starts at 7.00pm in the McLean Hall. There will be an opportunity to purchase a signed copy of Ann’s latest book The Rising Tide as well as a selection of her previous books. Tea and coffee will also be available. 

Sunday 13^th November: A short Remembrance Service will be held at the War Memorial, starting at approximately 10.55. Afterwards, the FVA will serve tea and coffee in the village hall.

Saturday 10^th December: Mulled Wine and Mince Pies:

Join the FVA for mulled wine, mince pies and good company from 4 – 6pm in Fearnan Hall. The cost is £6 pp.

Christmas jumpers may be worn along with other Christmas adornments.

(If you’re more of a Bah Humbug sort of person, just come and enjoy the wine and pies.)

Carpet Bowls Club: On Monday evenings there’s an open invitation to everyone to come and play Carpet Bowls in the Hall from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm. The cost is £3 per person.  Contact Angela on 830619, or at a.kininmonth@outlook.com if you would like more information.

Fearnan Book Club Review

Linda writes:

 “When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…”

We recently reviewed Survivors by Jane Harper, an author of international bestsellers,  whose books we’ve previously enjoyed. Opinions were mixed. Some found it less gripping than earlier books, some liked it better. Some felt it was slow and heavy going at times but full of suspense and tension. However it speeded up as the story progressed. 

It had many of the usual themes of relationships, family, loss etc. Feelings of sadness, guilt, remorse, injustice and regret were all woven into the story set in a Tasmanian seaside town. This town held many long buried secrets held by its troubled inhabitants causing social tensions. Eventually the secrets came to light with a few twists and red herrings along the way. 

All of her books have a distinct landscape that plays a central part in creating the atmosphere of the book and influencing and impacting on the lives of  characters. In this case there was the beach, the cliffs with deep caves and an off shore shipwreck.

A few found this setting less compelling than the descriptive bush and outback of previous novels.

The book to be reviewed in October is The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, whose previous book was a hit with the group. This is a multi-generational story set in Cyprus and London.

A fig tree was witness to many events, love, war, relationships, death and sadness. The tree acts as a narrator in the story, so if a talking tree is your thing – read on! 

FVA Extra Ordinary General Meeting

On 17^th September, Fearnan Village Association held an EGM for the sole purpose of approving the organisation’s accounts for the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.  Normally, each of these would have been approved at the end-of-year AGM, but no meetings were held due to the pandemic.

All sets of accounts were approved by the members present, and a Vote of Thanks to Jim Fair was recorded for providing an independent examination of each set of the accounts.

And Finally …..

We love it when people with Fearnan connections get in touch with the Blog, and last month we heard from Joni Braham in Australia. Joni is of Scottish/Australian descent and, going through papers and photos in her parent’s estate, she found this picture of her father on the day he purchased a shepherd’s crook from Cameron Thomson, the Horn Carver (and man of many other talents). The crook is now a treasured family memento. Some years ago we wrote a profile of Cameron for this Blog which can be read here