Ferry News - Spring 2013
Ferry News - Spring 2013
Ferry News - Spring 2013
SPRING 2013
So if you want to take part in the Buskers Banquet, please email Creetown@btconnect.com or phone the office 01671 820654. Remember you must book if you want to take part. The event will judged and the winner will be offered a slot at the Eden Festival. In the evening the Buskers who take part will be invited to a get-together where they will be fed. On 2 June musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra will give a performance in the evening at the Gem Rock Museum. The event will be free, but people must apply for a ticket on a first come first served basis, as there are a limited number of seats. If you want to attend the Sunday concert at the Gem Rock, though its free, you must book your place. Bulk bookings will not be accepted, the maximum number you can book for is four people. This will be popular so if you want to attend, book now at Creetown@btconnect.com, phone 01671 820654 or call into the Creetown Initiative office.
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April 14th May 12th June 9th July 14th Aug 11th Sept 8th Oct 13th
Froglife is a national amphibian and reptile charity which works to conserve frogs, toads, newts, lizards, snakes and the habitats they depend on. Froglife is currently developing a new project thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Dumfries and Galloway provides excellent habitat for amphibians and reptiles and is home to the only known populations of grass snake and Natterjack toad in the whole of Scotland. Running an amphibian and reptile event in Balloch Wood will allow local people to get to know these interesting animals more and to get involved with their conservation. We look forward to seeing you at the Balloch Wood amphibian and reptile event next year!
7th February 2013 Electorate Total Votes Cast Percentage Poll 754 300 39.8%
Here is the result of the Referendum on the possible lease of land for Balloch Burn Hydro Electricity Scheme: umber of Votes I FAVOUR of the lease by Creetown Initiative 243 OT I FAVOUR of the lease by Creetown Initiative 57 The number of rejected ballot papers was TOTAL The majority was 186 IL 300 Proposition
Wheels4Creetown
is here for the whole community to use* offering cars from 2.95 per hour, to as little as 130 for 7 days plus the cost of actual fuel used**. So whether you want a car for 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, a weekend, a week or anything in-between, why not join the scheme and start to save yourself money. The Renault Clio estate and Grand Scenic 7 seat car are located in Adamson Square Car Park to view.
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THERE ARE NO OTHER HIDDEN COSTS, NO MEMBERSHIP COST, NO INSURANCE COST, NOTHING
*a minimum age of 22 and subject to insurance acceptance ** fuel is charged at cost price based on 50mpg (Grand Scenic) or 60mpg (Clio)
A big thank you to all the businesses and individuals who contributed towards the Hogmanay celebrations in Adamson Square. Their generosity ensured we were able to provide free food and entertainment to the many who braved the weather.
Creetown Service Station, Creetown Stores, Fire Protection (Mark & Sharon Kelly), William Lindsay, Ellangowan Hotel, Howden Skimming, Gem Rock Museum, Solway Solutions, Motorwise, Creetown Initiative, Janet Howie and all those who asked not to be named. And finally to the many helpers who ensured the celebrations went smoothly.
** THANK YOU**
Creetown Football Pavilion The latest instalment is that Sportscotland are considering a request for funding sometime over the next few weeks. This funding, if successful will pay for the materials needed to complete the interior. Castle Cary Holiday Park has kindly offered to pay the labour costs. The project has become a saga stretching over seven years. Hopefully we are nearing the end.
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If everything goes to plan, the community will have an amazing park play space, complete with picnic benches ready for the summer holidays!!
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Junior Band on Monday 11th March 6.30pm in Newton Stewart Cinema. Senior Band on Wednesday 13th March 6.30pm in Newton Stewart Cinema. Brass at the Bard: Junior Band on Sunday 24th March at Burns Museum, Alloway. Fife Brass Band Festival: Senior Band on Saturday 20th April starts 9.30am at Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline. Long term we are hoping to be able to compete in the Scottish Championships in 2014.
As well as these contests, the band will have its usual summer programme which, of course, will include the summer concert in the bandroom. If interest and support in the band continues, we may well be offering membership of the Friends of Creetown Silver Band which is a wonderful way to show support. More on this will be in the next Newsletter. If you are interested, curious or just nosy (thats great!) why not call into the bandroom on a Tuesday or Thursday and see how the band works. Its great fun (and the TVs rubbish those nights anyway.)
An unexpected sight!
(by Pete Robinson)
As our house overlooks Wigtown Bay, binoculars are always at the ready to spot the many bird species which utilise the Bay, especially in winter. On Sunday 17th February a large gathering of Oystercatchers caught my eye, feeding in the mud and following the receding tide. However nothing could have prepared me for the sight which distracted me from the birdlife that day. There in the water, close to the shore was the large flailing figure of a whale. The animal was obviously in difficulty and seemed disorientated as it kept trying to swim towards or parallel with the shore. The tide was also carrying the unfortunate creature closer and closer to the Kirkbryde salmon nets. As it lashed about in the water, a regular, tall spout of water could be seen coming from its blow-hole. The distance from the blow-hole to the small, backward pointing dorsal fin of this whale seemed enormous and indeed the whale turned out to be around 17m (57 feet) in length. My little used Britains Sea Mammals book indicated that this whale was a Fin Whale, the second largest whale in the world after the Blue Whale. Adults of this species can grow to 26m (85 feet).
Attempts to find a suitable organisation to report the whale to were made, and a number was eventually found for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue. A local member of the group was called to assess the possibility of rescue, but with the tide going out and darkness approaching, little could be done. I was asked to report back to the group contact early the next morning and, unfortunately by then, the whale had died. A post-mortem was carried out on the Monday and the whale was buried deeply on the shore. The whale was identified as a sub-adult and was in poor condition. Therefore a rescue attempt even if it had been possible would have been futile. It is difficult to know why whales become beached, but illness and disorientation caused by man-made underwater sounds such as ship engines could be two possible causes. Fin whales are a baleen whale. Instead of teeth they have plates of keratin (our nails are made of this) edged with bristles which are used to strain out their food of plankton, krill, small squid and small fish from mouthfuls of water. Fin whales mainly occur in deeper waters but are seen in coastal waters, mainly in the summer. More commonly seen cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) occurring around our coasts including Wigtown Bay, are the significantly smaller Common Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise.
Youth Hood!
Following the popularity of the youth club trip to see the pantomime in Dumfries in 2011, we organised to take both the junior and senior youth clubs to DGOne again, this time to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in December 2012. All 29 young people who attended the trip loved it and it was a lovely, magical way to round off the year.
Winter Events
In Senior Youth club we have been celebrating Scottish culture and held a mini Burns Supper on 24 January. The young people made from scratch their own two course meal of Scotch broth followed by Cranachan and it was complemented with some of Scotlands finest Irn Bru! A couple of members also performed some Highland Dancing for the rest of the group. Both the Primary and Secondary schools were off on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 February, so I organised some activities for the local children and young people to participate in. On Monday 11, we took the senior youth club members horse riding at Calgow Equestrian, near Newton Stewart and the young people learned about stable management and horse care and rode out on a hack through Kirroughtree and Blackcraig. At the end of the morning, each young person was awarded with a rosette for taking part. On Tuesday 12, I organised for two Sound Engineers to teach three two hour workshops of computer music composition. They brought all the laptops, keyboards, microphones and editing software and set up a mini music recording studio in the Waverley hall. Over the course of the day we had 27 children and young people aged between 7 and 16 take part in the workshops. Each participant took home a CD with their own compositions on it and there were many very excited children who were proud of what they had achieved and wanted to play their music to their families as soon as they got home!!
Easter Activities
On 30th March we will be holding an Easter Egg Hunt around the village for any child or young person to come along and join in. Meet at the Square at 3pm! We are hoping to organise a trip for the junior youth club, a trip for the senior youth club and another activity during the Easter holidays (open to any child, youth club member or not), so please keep an eye out for posters, leaflets and on the Creetown Youth Club facebook page and Inspire Creetown facebook page!
For information or queries about Junior Youth Club please contact Eddie on 01671 820568. If you have any comments, ideas or questions about Senior Youth Club or about any events, issues or activities affecting young people, please contact me on 01671 820654 or amydeetighe@gmail.com
Amy-Dee Tighe
Barholm Arms
Last year we started looking at what could be done with the Barholm Arms.
The basic idea was to create a shop on the ground floor which would be run as a cooperative of craft makers. This would open during the summer season. The rest of the year it would become a charity shop, run by a cooperative of local groups, creating an opportunity for them to raise funds. The upper floors would become a bunk-house. This is cheap accommodation, very cheap, no frills, no food, just a bed. The idea being that people using the bunkhouse would use the local shops to buy food, meals and so on. Bunk houses are popular with walkers, bird watchers and the like; hopefully it will encourage new visitors to the village. To the rear of the building we would build work spaces. These would be low rent work spaces, hopefully attracting start up businesses or expanding home based businesses. The over-riding idea is to attract more visitors, support existing businesses and create some jobs. The good news is the Lottery like the idea and we have passed the stage one Growing Community Assets application.
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We now have 6-9 months to complete the stage two application. That sounds like a long-time, but it involves business plans, architects designs, financial projections and a whole lot more. During the process we will be consulting with a wide group of people and we invite anyone with ideas to get in touch. We have already had a lot of ideas sent to us, one being that we include a small laundry that the public can use. Which we think is an excellent idea. Overall we have been delighted with peoples response to the idea. There is great support and enthusiasm for the project. After all why shouldnt there be, its a positive step to create new and support existing jobs, whilst doing something with a boarded up building which if left, will decay and impact on the whole village. Andrew Ward Creetown Inititiave 01671 820654
T H E W AY W E W E R E . . .
THE BELLMAN . . . The recent competition to find a new Town Crier has no doubt brought back memories for some people of the last Creetown Bellman. It is generally thought that it was Mr James Blake and that Creetown was one of the last places in Scotland to have a Town Crier or Bellman. Mr Blake took up his duties around the end of the First World War and carried on until he had to stop for health reasons in the 1950s He had an exceptionally powerful voice and used to go round giving notices of meetings, football matches, whist drives, dances and so on. His was not a very well paid job; in 1840 the Bellman was paid 6d. per week (two and a half pence!), although this was raised in the 1920s to half a crown (twelve and a half pence!). The Bellmans bell is kept in the Heritage Museum, but it does make an annual appearance each Christmas Eve courtesy of Father Christmas who rings it as he arrives in Adamson Square during the carol singing.
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