Fearnan Village Association

A Service of Remembrance will take place this Sunday, 10th November, at the Fearnan War Memorial. The short service of prayer, the two minute silence, and laying of the wreath starts at 11.00. Everyone is welcome and please gather at about 10.50 am.

As we’ve noted before, for a small village, Fearnan lost a disproportionately high number of men during the First World War.  Over the last year, Ian McGregor has been researching the names of the Fearnan men who died in the Great War and in particular has been trying to find photographs of them. With the help of Mike Haig of the Scottish War Memorial Project, Kenmore, he now has obtained pictures of 6 of the 8 men who are named on the memorial.

They are:

Left:Peter Mathieson (Black Watch);

Right:Duncan Mathieson (Highland Light Infantry), son of William and Christina Mathieson of Rock Cottage.

Left:Duncan Fraser (Scots Guards) and right: Malcolm Fraser (Scots Greys) sons of James and Jessie Fraser of Rosebank.

Below Left: Hugh Cowan (R.S. Fusiliers);    Below Right: John Laughlan Fraser (R.F. Artillery), son of Donald and Kate Fraser.

Ian is still looking for information and photographs of James Dewar of the Scots Guards and Duncan McPhail, also of the Scots Guards. We hope to have photographs and information on all 8 men in time for the 100 year anniversary of the Great War next year. If you think you can help, he would be delighted to hear from you at ison06@btinternet.com

Another month and another successful coffee morning! Some 30 people came to the village hall last Tuesday morning to enjoy coffee, cake and chat.  This included 4 holiday visitors to the area who called in for morning coffee on their way to play golf at Strathtay.

As ever, there was plenty of fresh home baking on offer and the made-on-the-spot pancakes are proving a great hit.

A get-well card for Andy Burt was signed by all, and the latest news is that Andy has been moved to Aberfeldy Hospital to continue his recovery.

The next get-together is the Mince Pies and Mulled Wine on Saturday 7^th December.

Towards the end of the week we received some welcome news about the Local Development Plan.  You will recall that there was considerable concern in the village when Perth & Kinross Council published the draft Local Development Plan some months ago.  It proposed 2 significant sites for housing development on the edges of the village along with the designation of the old quarry “for industrial use”.

The Community Council and the FVA campaigned against these proposals, which were felt to be inappropriate, and enlisted the support of some of our local councillors. Early on, PKC agreed to drop one of the housing sites and we were very pleased to learn on Friday that the other proposed housing site (the first field on the left as you leave Fearnan on the Fortingall Road) will also be dropped from the Plan along with the proposed change to the designation of the quarry.

Many thanks to all who helped to achieve this result – in particular Councillor Ian Campbell, the Community Council, and those of you who wrote to the Council expressing your views.

The next Coffee Morning will be on Tuesday 8th October at 10.30 am in the Village Hall.  As ever, there’ll be delicious home baking on offer, fresh filter coffee, a choice of teas and a friendly buzz about the place.

There isn’t a Coffee Morning in November, but don’t forget that the Service of Remembrance takes place on Sunday 10th November at the War Memorial. The short service of prayer, the two minute silence, and laying of the wreath starts at 11.00. Everyone is welcome and please gather at about 10.50 am.

The final event of the year will be Mince Pies and Mulled Wine on Saturday 7th December at 3.30pm in the Village Hall. A good warm-up for Christmas!

It’s a sure sign that Autumn is with us when the FVA Coffee Mornings resume after the summer break.

And a busy and lively affair it was, too, with a number of new faces and lots of regulars – all keen to catch up with everyone’s news.

It was good to welcome our latest new member, Pippa MacLeod, who came with her mother to meet some of her neighbours in the village. 

Sheila, a regular at Pudding Nights and BBQ’s, made it to her first day-time event while an (anonymous) male visitor, attending his first ever coffee-morning in all his 46 years, confessed to finding it a convivial and enjoyable event!

Freshly made warm pancakes were on offer, carefully hand-crafted by Sue, and courtesy of the new pancake-maker we acquired over the summer. Even the Hall was getting in on the act and looking good with its newly sanded and polished floor.

The next coffee morning is on Tuesday 8th October – don’t miss it!

Earlier in the year, there was a discussion at the Fearnan Village Association AGM about the possibility of getting some signs for the important registered monuments in the village, along with a centrally-placed orientation board showing visitors where to find them.

The monuments are:

• the Baptismal Font from the Celtic Church built by Ciaran around 500AD;

• the Market Cross in Boreland Wood, which appears on a map produced as far back as 1769;

• the Measles Stone, an example of a Healing Stone which were common until around the 17th century;

• the Boar Stone which features in one of the Lady of Lawers prophesies, and may have been associated with the Ring Stone on Lawers as a signpost for journeys east and west.

At the moment, only the Baptismal Font has a sign explaining its significance.

Our plan for signs received a boost recently, when the Community Council were advised of the availability of grants for signs and pathways from the Countryside Trust.  There has since been a meeting between the Community Council, the FVA and the person responsible for preparing the requests for grants, and we have agreed to provide information to support an application for a grant towards the cost of signs for Fearnan’s monuments. Nothing is certain and it may take some time, but we have our fingers crossed!

Coffee Mornings resume after the summer on Tuesday 10th September, and the one after that is Tuesday 8th October.

And finally, we have been asked by the Community Council to pass on a reminder to be vigilant about security on any outhouses, sheds or garages. There have been a number of thefts of equipment in recent days.

There was great excitement in the McGregor household recently, when Ian’s grandsons unearthed the remains of a traditional cast iron cooking pot at the Tominlyvoir  (Tommanlymore) croft to the west of present-day Fearnan.

Early records show that the original Barony of Fearnan was made up of a number of similar croft units situated along the loch-side and a copy of an old map showing the location of these crofts is included in the permanent exhibition in the village hall.

Ruins of Tominlyvoir

The pot was found in the ruins of what would have been the last occupied house in Tominlyvoir.  In 1755, there were 47 people living in seven dwellings in the croft unit, but the population of the whole area was declining and, by the 1841 census, there were only 3 people left in Tominlyvoir – Archibald and Elizabeth McLaren and their daughter, Jane .  No doubt, the pot would have been in use at that time.

A picture of the pot in its present state is shown here, and Ian is hopeful that the missing parts will also be found so that it can be reconstructed and conserved.

The pot may have been used on a traditional “hingin’ lum” such as the one in Moirlanich Longhouse in Killin. If you click this link, you can see a picture showing a similar pot in use in a hinging lum –

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=247928.0;attach=125491;image

Ian McGregor commented that although this is not of great archeological significance, it is part of Fearnan’s past and it underlines the importance of finding a secure place to keep this and the rest of Fearnan’s archive.

When the decision was taken (in the dark winter months) to run a Strawberry TeaZ event this summer, we never imagined that it would take place in the middle of a heat wave. The perfect weather proved to be the icing on the cake – or perhaps the strawberry on the pavlova – for a great afternoon.

The promise of a summer feast drew a large number of local, and not-so-local, visitors who tucked into a superb range of strawberry treats, from the more unusual strawberry and cream cheese sandwiches, to the more familiar scones and jam or strawberry cheesecakes and pavlovas.

In the heat, the most popular drink amongst the adults was ice cold strawberry and elderflower crush, whilst Laurie’s milkshakes went down very well with the younger contingent (and a few adults).

Sue’s freshly baked pancakes, just off the griddle and served with strawberries and cream were much in demand. We’re pleased to say that the pancake griddle will put in an appearance at future coffee mornings.

As for the rest, the photos tell the story.

All good things ……..

…….. come to an end!

When it was all over, and everything had been cleared up, washed up and put away until next year, the bakers, helpers and organisers enjoyed a little libation in the last of the day’s sunshine.

(Please note: there is no Coffee Morning in August. The next one is on Tuesday 10th September.)

What could be more appropriate in this fantastic summer weather than a Strawberry Tea? Fearnan Village Association will be serving Strawberry TeaZ in the village hall on:

     Saturday 13th July, from 3 – 5pm.

This is Afternoon Tea with a difference!  Lots of treats and everything’s home-baked, from scones with strawberry jam, to delicious strawberry-themed cakes and desserts, and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Freshly-brewed tea, strawberry fruit teas and coffee.

£4.50 pp for a strawberry feast. Pay at the door.

War Memorial before …….

You may have noticed that the yew trees at the War Memorial have been trimmed recently.

……and after.

The work was done by Perth and Kinross Council, and they have undertaken to clean the Memorial’s plaque inscribed with the names of those who fell in the Great War and to re-lead its lettering.

Subject to funding being available, the steps up to the Memorial will be improved and cut into the wall, rather than protrude. Many thanks to the Community Council who arranged for the work to be done.

It is hoped that all the refurbishments will have been completed in time for the 100th anniversary of World War I next year.

In this picture of the Memorial taken in the 1920’s, just after it was erected, you can just see the (much smaller!) yew trees on either side of the monument.

In September last year, we did an article on the War Memorial and mentioned that some research was being carried out to see if information about the Fearnan men who fell in the Great War could be found for next year’s anniversary. Ian McGregor now has photographs of 6 of the 8 men whose names are on the monument.  He is still trying to trace James Dewar of the Scots Greys and Duncan McPhail of the Scots Guards.  If you think you can help, or suggest possible family connections, Ian would be delighted to hear from you at ison06@btinternet.com

This FVA site now has a Gallery page which contains most of the photographs and images from the permanent exhibition in the village hall. To view the pictures, click on the link Gallery – Glimpses of Fearnan Past and Present at the top of this page.

We had a fine morning for the Coffee Morning last Tuesday and a lot of regular attenders came along to enjoy this  month’s fresh baking.

We also had 2 visitors this month, members of the Perth & Kinross Council’s Roads Department, who dropped in ahead of a meeting with members of the Local Community Council about the junction at the bottom of Fearnan Brae.

A number of FVA members have raised concerns about the sight-lines at the junction, and the difficulty of making a right-hand turn towards Killin. We understand that the meeting was very positive and a number of options were discussed with the Roads Department representatives.  They have undertaken to put some ideas together and to give these to the Community Council for further discussion.

We’d like say a big thank you to Elaine and Fran for their kind gift to the FVA of a heated trolley.  It will make a huge difference to our capacity for keeping food hot, particularly for our big events like the Pudding Night.

Don’t forget that our next date in the calendar is the Strawberry Teaz event on the 13th July at 3.30pm – it’s going to be Afternoon Tea with a difference!