Forthcoming Events

12^th April between 15.00 – 17.00: The FVA will be serving an Easter-themed Afternoon Tea in the village hall. Join us for some traditional bakes, freshly made tea and coffee, and hopefully some Spring weather. £6pp at the door, £3 for school age children.

Thursday 8th May: VE Day Tea 3 – 5pm in the McLean Hall. On 8 May 1945, the nation united to celebrate the end of World War Two in Europe.  

To celebrate VE Day eighty years later, the FVA will be serving tea and home baking in the Hall. The tea is free and all we ask is that you make a donation to our collection for Help for Heroes. Do join us for the celebration and a little nostalgia.

Please note that the VE Tea replaces the Pop-Up cafe that was planned for the 13th May.

Saturday 12th July: Strawberry Tea 3 – 5 pm in the Hall. The return of an old favourite   – a delicious afternoon tea, featuring Scottish Strawberries – and lots of them.

It’s strawberries every which way – from strawberry sandwiches to strawberry cakes and tray bakes, bowls of strawberries and cream, strawberry meringues, chocolate dipped strawberries and much more.

Recent Events

Pancake Pop-Up

Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day, marks the day before Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and reflection in the Christian calendar that leads up to Easter.

Traditionally, pancakes were eaten as a way to use up rich foods like eggs, milk, and butter before the start of this fasting period.

We are glad to report that the tradition is alive and well in Fearnan and plenty of rich ingredients were used up, as well as liberal amounts of jam, maple syrup and other toppings that were consumed by the attendees at the Fearnan Pancake Pop-Up.

On the menu were drop scones, beautifully dropped by Karen at the griddle, and there were also crepe-style pancakes with a range of toppings and smoked trout and cream cheese blinis for those who prefer their pancakes with a more savoury flavour.

.

Fearnan Spring Quiz

Elaine writes:

This year’s Spring Quiz Night was held on Saturday 22^nd March from 7 – 9pm.

Despite good publicity by Linda, we were disappointed to have only three Teams once again.  Quizzes seem popular around the area with some happening regularly in the Kenmore Reading Rooms, Hotels and the Birks Cinema.

Despite low numbers, the dozen or so people who came had an enjoyable evening, including newcomers to the village.

And a very big ‘thank you’ from everyone to Elaine who researched and compiled the questions and ran the Quiz!

Another highly enjoyable Bowls season draws to a close

Lesely writes:

Fearnan Carpet Bowling Club has a winning recipe: friendly, competitive Bowls with plenty of laughter added along the way, and a big helping of good company!

This season’s winners were:

Singles trophy winners-Alastair Kininmonth

Doubles Trophy Winners-Alistair Stalker and Lesley Raeburn.  

Our new season begins on Monday Oct 6th at 7.30 and new members are always welcome!

Warm Welcome Games Morning

Lesley and Frances write:

There was a great turnout for our last Warm Welcome Games morning. As pictured below you can see how much everyone enjoyed the relaxed, friendly atmosphere and the home bakes! 

We also welcomed Mark Westwood from SSE (top right) who chatted with us and gave valuable advice 
in coping with cold weather and power cuts, and emergency contact details. He even provided backpacks with free torches and battery packs!

A big thank you to everyone who supported our sessions. Due to your wonderful generosity our raffles raised £238 for SCAA. 

The Big Hoof’s Sleep Over in Fearnan in aid of Alzheimer’s Reseach

 Louis Dalton Hall of The Big Hoof writes:

The Big Hoof is a Scottish registered charity that creates long distance journeys with horses. Wherever we go we raise funds for local causes and aim to create a sense of community through our horse-led adventures around the UK. To date, we have raised over £97,000 for causes surrounding mental health, well-being and child welfare.

From 27-31 March, we travelled from Tombreck Community Farm to Ardtalnaig estate to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK. As we set off, the group consisted of 6 horses, 2 dogs and 16 humans – quite a gang! After a gruelling first day of snow, bogs and wind, we slept in the tranquil Glen Lyon Church.

After breakfast at the Glen Lyon Tea Rooms, we made our way along the banks of the river Lyon to Fearnan. Exhausted and wet, we found a field for the horses before Olive and Ronnie Munro provided us with a huge feast in the village hall: Spaghetti Bolognese and ice cream!

We would like to say a huge thank you to the McLean Hall Committee for allowing us to stay overnight in the Mclean Hall; warm, cosy and with everything we needed, the hall was more than perfect. All 16 of us bedded down on the floor with mats kindly provided by members of the community. With food in our bellies and after a long night’s sleep, we continued on our way through Kenmore and finally to Ardtalnaig where we had a swim in the loch and a wee ceilidh! 

We cannot thank the Fearnan Community enough for their generosity. With your help in providing us with a space to eat, clean and sleep for the night, we have managed to raise over £4,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK. 

(If anyone would like to support Big Hoof’s efforts and make a donation to Alzheimer’s Research UK, it can be done through this link https://giving.give-star.com/online/the-big-hoof/the-journey-for-alzheimer-s-research-uk)

VE Day 80^th Anniversary

Cath is planning to decorate the war memorial to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of VE Day.  She is looking for some helping hands to create the memorial display on either the 6^th or 7^th May, and also for some contributions of garden greenery and red, blue  and white bunting. Oh, and she needs some extra poppies knitted! Purple (any shade of) this time for VE Day. There are copies of the knitting pattern in the McLean Hall.

If you can help with any of the above, please get in touch with Cath .(If you don’t have her number or email, you can contact her via the Blog’s email address (fiona@fearnanvillageassociation.com and the message will be passed on.)

As detailed above in the Forthcoming Events section, the FVA will host a VE Day Tea in the Hall on the 8^th May. The theme will be 1940s and we plan to have a small exhibition of memorabilia. If you have any WW2 memorabilia that you would like to add to the exhibition, please contact either Linda or fiona@fearnanvillageassociation.com . We are thinking about things like ration books, gas masks, insignia, clothing etc.

 Wheely Bin Straps

Sue writes:

Does the wind blow open your wheely bin lids with the result that the contents get soaked by rain, or blown all over the neighbourhood? If so, help is at hand!

Free Bin Straps for securing the lids on PKC wheely bins are available.

They are particularly effective on grey-lidded bins as their contents are the most susceptible to being blow all over the neighbourhood.

The Community Council had a small supply which was snapped up very quickly but a larger batch is expected, and it is hoped that a supply can be kept in the McLean Hall, Fearnan.

In the meantime, straps are available from the Public Library in Aberfeldy.

Looking for Fearnan McEwens

The Blog has been contacted by Rupert Willoughby who would like to be put in touch with descendants of Peter McEwen who lived at Lawers View in Fearnan a century ago. Rupert’s grandmother was a Lochtayside McEwen and related to Peter McEwen.

If any of the McEwens read this blog or if you can help put Rupert in touch with them, please contact Rupert here. He will be delighted to hear from you!

Fearnan Book Club Review

Linda Writes:

At our March meeting, we reviewed The Sealwoman’s Gift written in 2018 by well-known broadcaster and journalist Sally Magnusson. 

Although a work of historical fiction, the book is based on real life events from 1627 when Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted around 400 people. This was an event that appeared to have escaped the history books although it was considered to be the most traumatic in Icelandic history. The helpful notes at the end of the book explained what was fact and what was fiction.

Among the captives who were sold into slavery in Algiers, were the pastor Olafur, his wife Asta and their three children whose progress we followed throughout the book.

The theme of sagas, folk tales and oral storytelling, a strong Icelandic tradition, was woven through the book and enjoyed by the group. The stories were a source of comfort to Asta as she shared her own or listened to Arabian tales.

The group were impressed by the plot and appreciated the detailed historical and geographical research which had gone into this well written book. The research was based on Dutch, English, Icelandic and Danish records. We felt it was a book of three parts. Iceland, then the journey to Algiers and the life there in slavery. Prior to the arrival in Algiers, the story had been gritty and violent but then some felt it calmed down took on an almost dreamlike quality in the bright sunny and colourful background of the city.

The contrasting descriptions of both locations were evocative. The choice of vocabulary created the realistic smells and images of the landscapes, colours, plants and people etc. The descriptions of life on the ship and the long sea journey were convincing and vivid as was Asta’s traumatic labour!

The characters were well portrayed especially, the feisty and intelligent Asta, who in slavery skilfully handled her slave master’s advances and had her eyes opened to life in other cultures. Asta’s relationship with him was described by one as resembling a “Mills and Boon” story. We shared the sadness of Asta parting from her children and relationship with her master, to return after ten years to her husband in Iceland. Most of us would have liked her to stay in Algiers with the comforts of life with her slave master, perhaps as one of his wives. However, a ransom secured by her husband meant that she felt obliged to return, and it was an unhappy time for her. We empathised with the characters and their various fates in their lives as slaves but was this a better option than life in Iceland at that time.

We felt that Asta’s final years, being cared for by her stepdaughter, were as peaceful as they could have been after all the love, loss and survival she had experienced.

Most agreed that it was an unusual but enjoyable book and provided a range of themes for us to explore.

In April, we will review The Women at Hitler’s Table by Rosella Postorino.

This is a novel based on the true story of the women who tasted Hitler’s food to ensure it wasn’t poisoned.