Fearnan Village Association

Fearnan Village Association

Minutes of the AGM and Business Meeting,

4.30 pm on the 23rd March 2013

Welcome

The Chair, Sue Gardener, opened the meeting by welcoming members and particularly the new members.  She explained that the format of the afternoon would be: the FVA Annual General Meeting, followed by the Business Meeting.

Annual General Meeting

Apologies

Apologies were received from Cath McGregor, Sheila Watt, Keith Brockie and Hazel Brockie.

Minutes of the AGM 2012

The minutes of the AGM in 2012 were adopted by the meeting and signed by the Chair.

Chair’s Report on the Year’s Activity

 Membership– we have been very pleased to welcome several new members during the year and have around 57 members, pending renewals being completed.

Planning and Development – this has dominated our work over the last year. PKC held their final public consultation on their proposed Local Development Plan. We produced information to help people understand the document, along with advice on how to make a representation and gave support to those most immediately affected by the proposals.

There were also 2 Community Consultations (rare in a small village) on Shoreside and on Boreland Farm. We attended both, following up with information, and answering questions from those concerned about the plans.

Broadband – we continue to attend meetings and lobby for an improved service.

Christmas Card – This year we produced our own Christmas card from an original picture kindly donated by Keith Brockie. Producing a quality card meant that printing costs were high, so profits from sales were reduced, as was the uptake compared to previous calendar sales.

Fearnan History – Ian McGregor and Peter MacKenzie have produced a sixth board of pictures on Fearnan’s history for the Hall, and a photographic record of chairmen of the Hall Committee. Ian McGregor has also produced a book on Fearnan’s history and generously gave us a small commission on those that we sold on his behalf.

Social Events – we ran a reduced number of events this year because of the refurbishment to the village hall, and this in turn reduced our income. However, the village is now enjoying a much more comfortable hall. Before Christmas, we ran a joint event with the Village Hall Committee, in aid of Aberfeldy Hospital. “Mulled Wine & Mince Pies” was very successful, and in March the FVA Chair accompanied Jim Herd to present a cheque to the hospital from Fearnan Village.

FVA Blog – The FVA blog has gone from strength to strength and continues to be one of our main means of communication with members.

The Chair finished her report with a tribute to John Thomas who passed away last year. John was involved in the formation of the FVA, he chaired our first public meeting and supported us wholeheartedly to the end of his days.

She also thanked the FVA Committee, Laurie and Julia Lane, Neil and Fiona Ballantyne and Peter MacKenzie, for all their diligent efforts; Keith Brockie and Ian McGregor for contributing their individual expertise; and all those who have supported the association throughout the year.

Key points from the Treasurer’s Report

A table setting out Income and Expenditure for the last year was presented to the meeting.

• Funds carried forward at the end of the year amounted to £3137.02.
• Donations to good causes during the year amounted to £172.27, and the use of funds had included a free Members’ Night.
• It was noted that Fearnan was one of the most active communities in the PKC area in terms of responding to the Local Plan consultations and that this was facilitated by the existence of the FVA.

In response to a question about the Food Hygiene Course that appeared in the accounts, it was explained that Sue Gardener and Julia Lane (who do most of the cooking for FVA events) now have certificates in Food Hygiene, and this was felt to be appropriate given the number of events that are undertaken.

A question was also asked about public liability insurance for our events, and it was confirmed that the Hall itself is covered for public liability.

Committee Changes – there are no changes to the committee, but we are in need of a Secretary and the Chair asked anybody who was interested and able to help to contact her separately.

There were no further questions and the Chair declared the AGM closed and moved on to the Business Meeting.

FVA Business Meeting

 Local Development Plan – a letter was recently sent by PKC to those who made representation about the Plan.  The main concern has been Site H41, on the Fortingall road at the edge of the village. The Development Plan is behind schedule and the Council did not bring out a modification of the initial Plan for comment.  It has now gone to The Reporter, who will review all the representations that have been made in response to the Council’s Plan and determine which representations should be upheld, before it goes to Scottish Ministers.

Thanks to the Community Council and Councillor Ian Campbell, it has been possible to insert a wording to the effect that if The Reporter agrees to our representations to take Site H41 out of the Plan, then PKC will not object.

The outcome will not be known until August this year, but the fact that we have been able to influence the proposals in the Plan shows that writing letters does have an effect!

Broadband – there have been a lot of meetings about the slow broadband speeds that we experience, but no-one seems to be nearer solving the problem.  There is concern that communities such as ours will be marginalized as others move towards superfast broadband. Community Broadband Scotland has a fund of £5m to help small communities, and it was suggested that they should start with the communities least likely to be reached by commercial provision of superfast broadband, rather than prioritising their funds according to population.  Linking Highland Perthshire with the Highlands and Islands was also seen as a more constructive way forward, as the problems are similar. A question was asked about moving straight to 4G, but the problem is that this is a commercial market, and the broadband providers are only interested in the large conurbations, not small, unprofitable communities.

FVA Blog – the FVA blog has now been running for 2 years, and we get about 400 page views a month from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and Germany.  It has connected us with a number of former residents, and also with people who are researching their family histories. Its main purpose is to provide a communication forum for FVA members, and Fiona is always pleased to receive ideas for articles that would be if interest to members.

Business Carried Forward from Last Year

Roadway Mirror for the junction on the lochside road – we were advised that if we put up our own mirror, we could incur a liability if there was an accident at the junction and the mirror happened not to be properly aligned. The Roads Department have said in the past that there is nothing wrong with the line of sight, but there was a strong feeling that this is not the case and there have been a number of near-misses recently. It was agreed to ask the Community Council to have another attempt at approaching the Roads Department in order to resolve the matter satisfactorily.                                                                         Action: FVA Committee

Freshly Made Pancakes for the Coffee Morning – Sue and Julia will have a look at Trish’s pancake maker to see if a similar one could be bought.

Fearnan History – Ian McGregor has proposed some signage for key features of old Fearnan.  Only the Baptismal Font has a sign describing its significance. Ian agreed to talk to PKC and some of the historical organisations and will try to get an estimate of the cost.                                                                                        Action: Ian McGregor

Social Events – Dates for Coffee Mornings are 9^th April, 7^th May, 4^th June, 10^th September, and 8^th October. We will run a ‘Strawberry Teaz’ event on the 13^th July, and will repeat the Mince Pies and Mulled Wine event towards the end of November.

AOCB – Ian McGregor reported that he now has photographs of 5 out of the 8 men commemorated on the War Memorial, and is hoping to get pictures of them all in time for the 100^th anniversary of the start of WW1. It was also felt by members that the steps up to the Memorial need to be sorted out and that the yew trees on each side have got too big and are restricting the view of the memorial.  The view was expressed that, as they are yews, they could be successfully trimmed which would be better than removing them completely.  There are funds available for refurbishing memorials in advance of the WW1 Anniversary, and the possibility of securing some funds will be explored through the Community Council.

The meeting was reminded that Andy Burt’s 90^th birthday is coming up shortly, and Sue and Julia undertook to find out how the FVA might mark this appropriately.

Action Sue Gardener & Julia Lane

Fraser MacLean proposed a Vote of Thanks to the Chair, and the meeting was closed.

The FVA Coffee Mornings resumed in the village hall last week with a very friendly and chatty event – and some delicious cakes, biscuits and savouries that disappeared pretty quickly.

There was also good news to announce.  This included the McLean Hall Committee’s Perthshire Active Action Award from the Gannochy Trust, under the category ‘Community Asset’. The Award brought with it a cheque for £250, which will be donated to the Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital as explained below.

On display, as well, was the crystal trophy awarded to the Big Shed for winning the national new-build category in the Low Carbon Buildings Awards 2013.

The third announcement was that the impressive sum of £1,188.94 has been raised for Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital by events organised in the Hall!  This sum includes the takings from both the recent, highly successful, Mid-Atholl Strings and Things evening organised by the Hall Committee and the Mulled Wine & Mince Pies event held before Christmas, which will be added to the £250 award to the McLean Hall mentioned above.

FVA Membership Subscriptions are now due for 2013, and many thanks to those who have already paid. The next event is the FVA AGM on the 23rd March at 4.30pm in the Hall, and the next Coffee Morning is on Tuesday April 9th.

And finally – nothing to do with Coffee Mornings – a little picture of a regular, but non-feathered, visitor to our bird table!

Here they are at last – the missing photos!

Who’s going to be first!

Only 27 puddings to choose from………..

Andrew & Katie provided the music.

Here’s one I made earlier!

Every man and his dog was there………..

…………… but all good things must come to an end.

If you noticed the warm smell of baking wafting through Fearnan last Saturday, it was a sign of the preparations for the 2013 Pudding Night.  A record number of 27 puddings were being prepared, baked and decorated before being delivered the village hall.

Syrup Sponge, Jam Roly Poly, Cranachan Trifle, Banoffee Pie, Rice Pudding, Cheesecake, and many, many more. All the old favourites were there, and a few new ones besides.

And the number of puddings wasn’t the only record for the night – over 50 people came this year.  Sue set the proceedings in motion with an Address to the Cloutie Dumpling – the true chieftain o’ the puddin’ race – and we were off!

Katie and Andrew provided the live music, and we also enjoyed short pieces on the piano from both Bea and Jay.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from these youngsters in the future.

And 2 hours later, the puddings were all gone and it was over for another year.  Roll on 2014!

(I’m really sorry that there are so few photos this time, but thanks to Julia for providing the ones we have.  I’m afraid I had one of those computer moments that cause much gnashing of teeth, stamping of feet and a strong desire to dump the computer into its own trashcan.  One minute I had a screen full of colourful pics of lovely puddings and happy people – the next I had nothing but a blank screen!  A corrupt file, I’m afraid, and not a photo from the evening was left. Next time, I won’t delete them from the camera until I’ve got them on the website……..)

Here is an update on forthcoming events:

Sat 9^th Feb – Don’t forget the FVA Pudding Night for members and their guests this Saturday.  It starts at 6pm, and costs £7.00 for as much as you can eat of the 20+ puddings on offer.

Tuesday 5^th March – first Coffee Morning of the year at 10.30am.

Sat 23^rd March – Please note that the date of the FVA Annual General Meeting has changed to 23rd March at 4.30 pm for 1 hour, in the village hall.

Sue and Fiona have been engaged in a little trans-Atlantic recipe development with a former resident of Fearnan!

Alastair Barnett, who spent much of his childhood in Fearnan, got in touch through the website to say that he was planning to serve some of his Canadian friends with Haggis – in the form of Haggis Stuffed Mushrooms with Drambuie Sauce – on the 25th January. However, he was not going to tell them the main ingredient until afterwards!

Alastair was seeking advice about his Drambuie Sauce recipe which he felt was too rich.  Suggestions were duly made and Alastair went off to test the revised version.  Last week he got back in touch to say:

“I made the dish and it was truly delicious. I loved the sauce which was I think, a perfect compliment to the spicy haggis and Portobello mushrooms. Now I’ve tested the recipe, I feel confident in presenting it to some friends on the 25th.

All the best to everyone in Fearnan. Here is the link to “our” dish: http://www.thewritingbutler.com/its-rabbie-burns-birthday-time-for-haggis

Hope your Burns Supper was a great success, Alastair, and that your friends enjoyed their introduction to Haggis!

A Happy New Year to one and all, and may it be a good one for you!

This little website has been running for almost 2 years now.  In the last year, we have posted 31 articles and 135 photos, and have regular readers in the US, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Australia as well as in other parts of the UK.

The site was viewed more than 4,000 times – twice as many times as last year – and Fearnan Weather Station was the most viewed post.

The coming year looks like it will be a busy one as well, and here are some early dates for your diary:

Sat 9^th Feb – FVA Pudding Night for members and their guests.  It starts at 6pm, and costs £7.00 for as much as you can eat of the 20+ puddings on offer.

Sat 2^nd March – FVA Annual General Meeting at 4.30pm.

Tuesday 5^th March – first Coffee Morning of the year at 10.30am.

Hope to see you at one or all of these events, and don’t forget to let me know if you have any ideas for articles or have some interesting photos to share.  And if you are one of our regular readers from outside the village, we love hearing from you as well!

What with recent snowfalls, and mulled wine and mince pies being served in the village hall last Saturday, Christmas suddenly seems to be just around the corner.

Saturday’s event in the Hall was well attended, and raised a fantastic £145.90 for Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital.

Thanks to everyone for their generosity – many donated over and above the charge for the mulled wine and goodies – and many thanks as well to those who baked and donated the food.

There was a lot of interest in the latest batch of photos of Fearnan in years gone by that Ian McGregor has assembled, and in identifying some of the people in the pictures.

Copies of Ian’s book on the history of Fearnan (see website article on 12th November Fearnan: the story of a village of northern Perthshire), along with Keith Brockie’s latest book “Return to One Man’s Island” and, of course, the FVA Christmas card were all on sale.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and we’d like to know if you think this should be a regular event and if so, do you have any suggestions for improving the next one?

You can use the ‘Comment’ link at the end of this article to give feedback and make suggestions for next time.

The first event in the new year will be Fearnan’s World Famous (well, almost!) Pudding Night on Saturday 9^th February when the Glitter Ball will once again be spinning in the Hall.

Several people asked for the mulled wine recipe. It involves making a thick, blended syrup with the sugar and spices, which is then added to the wine. This means that the wine only needs to be heated gently at the end of the process, rather than boiled, as the sugar has already dissolved.

Mulling the Wine

 Ingredients: 2 clementines (juice and strips of peel); the peel from one lemon and one lime, cut in broad strips; 150g caster sugar; 6 cloves; 1 cinnamon stick; 3 bay leaves; 1 whole nutmeg; 1 whole vanilla pod, halved; 2 star anise; 2 bottles of Chianti or similar.

Put sugar in a large pan over a medium heat and add the strips of peel and the clementine juice.  Add cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, about 10 gratings of nutmeg, the halved vanilla pod and enough wine to cover the sugar. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and then bring to the boil.  Keep on a rolling boil for 4-5 mins until you have a thick syrup. Turn heat down to low and add the star anise and the rest of the wine and heat gently. Pour into glass and enjoy!

Please join the FVA and the Village Hall Committees

for Mince Pies and Mulled Wine  on Sat 8^th December

from 3.30pm – 5.30 at Fearnan Village Hall.

Cost: £3.00

All proceeds to Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital

Two interesting snapshots of Fearnan’s past have come to light in the last week or so, and both have come from overseas.

The first came via Valarie McDonald from New Zealand.  Valarie’s great, great uncle, Peter McEwan, lived in Fearnan in Lawers View (now Andy Burt’s house and Pottery) early in the last century.

Valarie’s branch of the family came from Brechin and her grandfather (Neil McDonald) emigrated to New Zealand in 1909 where he worked as a gardener.

The family kept in touch by post and Valarie has an old postcard sent to her grandfather by his sister, following a visit to Fearnan.

The postcard reads:

“Just a pc of Uncle Peter’s house.  It is bigger than it looks there. I was there for the last weekend. I thought I would like to see him once again for he is over 70 now. But he does not look it, he is as straight in the Back as a young man, the only thing he is very deaf.

I hope you folks are all well.  I got the papers all right. You will be missing the stir of the Exhibition. The place will be very quiet without the hurry of it. You will be quite delighted with the account of the Brechin C. Club for the last 50 years. You will know a few of the later names. It Brought Back memories when you read of them.

With love to you all from your loving sister Kate.

The second contact was, in fact, an overseas order for Ian McGregor’s book from Jim Barnett in the USA, sent along with some thoughts on Fearnan. (Jim’s brother Alistair sent the website some memories of his childhood in Fearnan in July of this year).

Jim wrote:

“I have been following the goings on at the FVA (through the web site) for some time now. I enjoyed the article on the golden eagle ‘Fearnan’.

I was a wartime evacuee from Glasgow who adopted Perthshire as my home. We lived at Thistle Cottage from 1940-46 then at Balnearn. We were there over the blizzard of 1947. In the summers, I worked at Drumglass with Callum McDiarmid, went on to Lawers School of Agriculture at Comrie, then worked at Culdaremore with Jack Fisher. Sandy Butters was my mentor and surrogate father, mine being off to Dunkirk and subsequently killed in Greece.

I have a very strong attachment for Fearnan in spite of Miss Purves*; stayed at Tigh-an-Loan on one of my return trips, then later at Letterellen.

One of my companies is Crannog Holdings LLC, and you can guess where that came from! Duncan MacLaren was one of my close boyhood friends.

Best wishes on your project.

Jim Barnett

*Miss Purves was a teacher at Fearnan primary school whose strictness is not-so-fondly recalled by a number of her former pupils who have been in touch with us!

Can anybody build on these connections?