What’s On

Fearnan Service of Remembrance: a Service of Remembrance will be held at the Fearnan War Memorial on Sunday November 9^th.  Please gather at the Memorial at 10.50.  The FVA will serve tea and coffee in the Hall immediately after the service.

McLean Hall 70th Anniversary Party: The hall celebrates its 70th birthday in November. To mark this significant anniversary, the Hall Committee are holding an afternoon tea on Saturday 15th November.

Mulled Wine & Mince Pies: Enjoy a pre-Christmas drink with friends and neighbours in the village hall from 4pm – 6pm on the 13^th Dec. There will be mulled wine, prepared to a tried and tested recipe, and this year we will have a non-alcoholic option and some unmulled wine. All this along with mince pies and lots of Christmas cheer.

So, do join us for the FVA’s last event of 2025. It’s £7.50pp at the door, and proceeds over and above costs, will be donated to the village hall as a contribution towards running costs.

PS We love Christmas jumpers!

Halloween Pop-Up

Our Halloween Pop-Up offered a great selection of seasonal baking, such as Pumpkin Cake, Dead Men’s Fingers, Gingerbread, Treacle Scones and other seasonal goodies. It was well attended, and some had dressed especially for the occasion. At first glance, Elanie’s hat looked like something suitable for a wedding – until you realised that it was actually a spider nestled on her head! Fran G went for some more traditional headgear.

Frances created a display for a Halloween Corner which added to the seasonal feel and good atmosphere.

Footsteps – a Boy’s Journey from a Highland Hotel

Alastair Barnett has been a regular contributor of stories about his boyhood in wartime Fearnan to this Blog. He has now re-edited some of those stories, combined them with tales from the rest of his life, and published a book which is part memoir and part reflection on the pivotal people, places and events that shaped his life.

As ever, Alastair’s stories capture the sense and atmosphere of the time in which they are set, and take him from his childhood in Fearnan, to his job as Boot Boy in the Fortingall Hotel in the early 1950s and from there to a lifetime’s career in the hospitality industry, in the UK, America and Canada.  The stories flow from one to the next, led by the subject rather than in a strict chronological order.

Alastair’s book, Footsteps, a Boy’s Journey from a Highland Hotel, is available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FX1G32DK

The McLean Hall, Fearnan 1955 – 2025 ….and beyond!

Fearnan Hall celebrates its 70^th birthday this month! Unlike many other village halls, the McLean Hall was not sponsored by a benefactor or gifted by a local landowner, and the fact that it exists at all was down to the considerable efforts of those who lived in the village some 70+ years ago.

The story behind the funding and building of the hall was researched and written up for this Blog in 2015, when the Hall celebrated its 60^th Birthday. The article is still available on our website and if you would like to read about how the hall came into being, from an initial donation of £6 in 1931, to a fully funded proposition in 1953 and finally built in 1955, you can find it here: 60th Anniversary of The McLean Hall, Fearnan

Perhaps that earlier generation of villagers would have been surprised to learn that 70 years later, the Mclean Hall would still be the centre of much activity in the village and continuing to offer local social, fitness and fun opportunities to villagers nearly three generations down the line.

Fearnan Book Club

This recent book review was written by Judith.  

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. 

All thought the book was too long and could have been split into 2, if not 3, separate books. The start was quite slow.  All really enjoyed Arthur as a character, although certain things about him were a bit fantastical, eg, tasting words. We did have a discussion afterwards about whether Arthur was autistic (probably not was the consensus). Most thought the water imagery was overdone as if Shafak had to find a link between characters and then overplayed it. There was clearly much research carried out which was appreciated and learning about such horrors as the plight of the Yazidis women was interesting and harrowing. Some thought the ending tied it together well whereas others deemed it too neat. Finally, it was thought Shafak has a certain distinctive style and some said reading this book would not make them want to read it again nor read others by her.