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LEUCHARS AND DISTRICT GARDENING AND CRAFTS CLUB
BILL DUFF
The Club held its AGM in November with sufficient attendance to carry on its activities for another year having a full complement of officers and committee. There were positive reports from the President, Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary with the Club continuing to be in a healthy financial state.
over the festive period and of course the lucky raffle prize winners left with the arrangements kindly donated by Andy.
The Club's activities entail the organisation and running of two flower shows and a series of winter talks. Our next committee meetings will be to select judges for the shows, who we change every 3 years then revise the show schedule and think about speakers for next winter's talks. This autumn we have already had Jess Smith giving an informative and enlightening talk on the life and history of travelling people, Janice Dewar showing us how to best capture memorable sights and scenes on film.
Finally if anyone wishes to get involved with the running of the Club which can be very interesting and rewarding get in touch with either myself or a member of the committee. Bill Duff Secretary. 1B Smithy Road Balmullo Tel: 870787.
All in all a very pleasant evening enjoyed by everyone as shown by the warm- hearted applause after the vote of thanks and we are all It has just been announced that the Kingskettle looking forward to having Andy back next year. Flower Show has been disbanded due to lack of Although there is no talk in January we are back in personnel to run the show and sadly this is February with Gardeners’ Question Time, when a something which may threaten many small shows panel of experienced gardeners will be there to including our own. Although the club has a healthy answer queries and give advice. This will again be bank balance and there are always sufficient in the Burnside Hall on Thursday 13 February, at helpers to assist at the flower shows some of us 7.30. Then on Thursday 13 March a talk on the have been involved for a good number of years work of the Guide Dog Association and on and cannot go on forever so we are always hoping Thursday 10 April a Quiz Night both at 7.30 in the for younger, fresher blood to maintain the club in Burnside Hall. Entrance to each £2.50 which the future. includes a refreshment.
Last Thursday 12 December Andy Smith gave a floral art demonstration. The floral art demonstration has been the highlight of our talks season for a good number of years and is always well attended. Balmullo has a rich talent of floral art exhibitors as can be seen at the shows and local exhibitors compete around the country right up to national level. This year Andy gave a very interesting and informative display of his talents with interaction from the audience, answering questions on why and how he started, plant and flower names and where to procure them whether it be local supermarkets, flower wholesalers or judicial pruning around the countryside. Although admitting Christmas was not the most exciting time of the year for him, his displays had a distinctive festive feel about them with a lot of red and white flowers and a few baubles and cones. I would think a lot of the audience went home with a few tips on how to brighten up the home with flowers
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
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THE BALMULLO COMMUNITY COUNCIL Members Chairman: Zoë Sanders 1zoesanders@gmail.com Vice-Chairman: Alison Jeffrey 870674 alison@balmullo.net Treasurer & Newsletter: Andrew Falconer 870496 anfalconer@tiscali.co.uk
Secretary: Sue Smith 870221 secretary@balmullo.net Minute-Secretary: Ann Falconer 870496 anfalconer@tiscali.co.uk Councillors: Ina Cameron 870253 twaauldgoats@btinternet.com John Normand janormand1@gmail.com Gwenyth Mitchell 870010 gwenyth@balmullo.net Raymond Crush Peter Lomas pil7@talktalk.net
Fife Councillors Maggie Taylor 01382 552718 cllr.margaret.taylor@fife.gov.uk
Statements made or opinions expressed in this Newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the Balmullo Community Council or any of its officers.
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Advert Prices - Small £5, Half Page £10, Full Page £20. You can rent advertising space on a month by month basis or on a longer term basis. The Balmullo Newsletter has a circulation of 700 and is hand delivered FREE of charge. TO ALL ADVERTISERS – Please check your advert. If you would like to remove it or change it in any way, please let us know.
Tim Brett 01382 330905 cllr.tim.brett@fife.gov.uk Bill Connor 077 1866 8792 cllr.bill.connor@fife.gov.uk Useful Contacts Burnside Hall Keeper Lynn Murphy
870466
The Minister Rev. Caroline Taylor caro234@btinternet.com Dog Warden
870038
0845 155 0022
Non Emergency Police Contact 101 Community Police Officer P.C. Gavin Rae 0845 600 5702 RAF Aircraft Noise
839471
GALA Committee: 077 8033 5250 http://balmullogala.weebly.com M.P. Sir Menzies Campbell
656361
M.S.P. Rod Campbell
844971
Next Balmullo Community Council meeting is JANUARY 13th @ 7.30pm in the Burnside Hall. Play outdoors in summer Indoors in winter Variety of competitions and friendly matches every week No experience required. All welcome to join. Call John on 01334 870196
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BALMULLO COMPUTER HELP PC ¦ MAC ¦ WIFI
ALL TECHNOLOGY ISSUES SORTED CALL MIKE ON 078 8865 6065 mike@balmullo.net
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ANNOUNCEMENTS As noted last month, many of those attending our December meeting were concerned with Fife Thistle AFC’s planning application for a new building to replace the dilapidated Portacabin in the Park. Representatives of the Football Club and the Park Committee, nearby residents and other knowledgeable attendees were able to explain the background to the application, some of the details of the sale of the Park to the community and some of the concerns around this proposal. The Park Committee is meeting early in January to discuss legal advice sought on the conditions of sale regarding possible development in the Park. Details of this public meeting should be made available soon. The planning application is likely to be considered by the Fife Council Planning Committee in January and this topic will again be on the agenda for our next meeting.
BALMULLO COMMUNITY COUNCIL We have been given a contribution, from the Locality Fund controlled by our local Fife Councillors, to purchase a new multi-tier floral planter for the Main Road. The defibrillator machine and display case for Balmullo, supplied by Heart Start, is now likely to be installed at the Doctors’ Surgery in Pitcairn Drive next to the roundabout, which has a car park allowing rapid access. Although the machine “talks” any user through the correct procedure, a training and awareness session will be organised in due course. The next meeting is in Burnside Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 13th January. A copy of the Minutes will be available on the shelves at the Post Office.
EDITORIAL Hopefully you will have received this issue of the Newsletter before Christmas as we’re doing our best to complete all the writing and collation in good time. We expect to have colour covers for all future issues and will produce a full colour edition if we receive enough photographs to justify the extra cost. The real point here is that the standard of Newsletter depends entirely on the articles and material received for publishing. We encourage anyone to have a go at writing an article – if the subject is of interest to you, it could be of interest to
ANDREW FALCONER many readers. No special skill is needed as we can tidy up the presentation for you if necessary. We need the income from lots of adverts to help with the cost of printing 700 copies for distribution, so don’t complain about the number of adverts if you’re not prepared to help us with an article. We will be particularly pleased to receive photographs of local interest for possible use on the front cover. The Editorial team would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
ROAD CLOSURE A914 24 DECEMBER 2013 – 6 JANUARY 2014 Fife Council has made an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 prohibiting the use by vehicular traffic of a section of the A914 at the Railway Bridge adjacent to St. Michaels Inn and Carrick Cottage. The Order is to allow steel work strengthening and repairs to the Railway Bridge to be carried out in safety and will be operational
FAREWELL
from 24/12/13 until 06/01/14 or until earlier completion of the works. The alternative route for through traffic will be via the A919, A91 and A914. i.e. no through road from Balmullo north towards Dundee – divert via Leuchars
HANNAH GOLDSACK
I would like to take this opportunity firstly to wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year, but also to tell you that by the time you read this I will have left the village. I was recently offered the role of Assistant Branch Manager at the Post Office in Fort William and I took up the position on 16th December. I would like to thank all of you for making my time in Balmullo so enjoyable and I wish everyone all the very best for the future. Kind regards to all.
MAKE YOUR LAPTOP FLY WITH A SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE CALL MIKE ON 078 8865 6065
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THE 200 CLUB DRAW - DECEMBER’S WINNERS £50 £20 £20 £20 £20 £20 £10 £10 £10 £10 £10
Mr Taylor, David Wilson Park Mr & Mrs Fernie, School Road Mr Diggle, Pitcairn Drive Mr Hain, David Wilson Park Mrs Wilson, School Road Ms Chalmers, Smithy Road Mrs Kirk, Lucklaw Road Mr Thomney, Summerhill Ms McCallum, The Mount Mrs McNair, Pitcairn Drive Mrs Wilson, Smithy Road
How to Join Our 200 Club? - It's easy to join the 2 0 0 Club . Ca ll o r ema il I n a a t twaauldgoats@btinternet.com or call 870253. It only costs £1 per entry per month, and you can enter as many times as you like. We are currently trying to raise money for various Balmullo community activities and projects.
GOOD LUCK!
WHAT’S ON? DECEMBER 21st Silbermann Ensemble Concert St Leonard's Chapel, St Andrews @ 7:30 PM 31st Family New Year Party. Burnside Hall. 8pm – late. - SOLD OUT JANUARY 2014 9th WRI Meeting. Members’ Fun Night. Burnside Hall 7.15 pm. All welcome 12th Bowling Club AGM. 2.30pm. All welcome 13th Community Council meeting. Burnside Hall 7.30pm. All welcome 17th Prize Bingo in Bowling Club Eyes Down 7.30pm. All welcome 25th Burns Club - Burns Supper in Balmullo Inn. See article for details.
BALMULLO S.W.R.I. President Ann Falconer welcomed members to the annual Christmas party on Thursday 5th December. Everyone enjoyed an excellent Christmas buffet with a wide variety of festive dishes provided by many volunteer members. Thank you to everyone involved for their efforts in making the meal so enjoyable. Mary Reilly acted as caller for a hilarious festive game of Bingo. Prizes were won by Etta Rennie, Evelyn Erskine and Frances Herd, who was first with a “full house”. Grace Steven then brought some order to proceedings by reading a most appropriate poem “The Legend of the Christmas Robin”, published in the latest issue of the SWRI magazine. There was some concern when it was announced that Santa had been delayed by an altercation with the Reindeer, when Rudolph stepped on his foot. However, much to everyone’s relief, Santa limped into the hall to the usual accompaniment of everyone singing “Jingle Bells”. Members were surprised and greatly amused to see that Santa had brought along a little helper – a mischievous and spritely little elf in traditional red and green
FEBRUARY 6th WRI Meeting. Burnside Hall 7.15 pm. All welcome 10th Community Council meeting. Burnside Hall 7.30pm. All welcome 13th Gardening Club. Gardeners Question Time. Burnside Hall 7.30 pm
Running an event? Email anfalconer@tiscali.co.uk ANN FALCONER costume, who proceeded to skip around the tables, handing out Christmas gifts with Santa. Any resemblance between the elf and our President was purely coincidental. The last party game was a novel version of “Pass the Parcel” devised and supervised by Jacqueline Stockton assisted by Wilma Mackie. Forfeits took the form of dressing up with a variety of wigs, hats and fancy hairbands but the eventual winner of the main prize was Doreen Hopkins. Mary Reilly ended the evening with a vote of thanks to everyone who had helped make the evening such a success. The first meeting of 2014 will be on Thursday 9th January at 7.15 pm in Burnside Hall. The evening will be a Members’ Fun Night. Please remember that subscriptions are due to be paid to the Treasurer. Competitions will be a favourite Christmas Card, 2 Shortbread Fingers and Flower of the Month. We look forward to welcoming any new members.
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
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POINTS FROM THE SECRETARY’S MAIL The consultation on the FIFEplan Development Strategy, Preferred and Reasonable Alternatives, Strategy and Sites is taking place until 5 th February. During January the Council are holding 3 Exhibition events, where we can see the information and talk to officers. The local one is on Thursday the 16th January 2014, 3.00pm to 7.30pm at the County Hall, County Buildings, Catherine Street, Cupar. We have a copies of the Development Strategy Consultation document and the Supplementary Planning Guidance for Affordable Housing. These will be available in the Spar on the Community Council shelf.
The Council have put their draft budget out for consultation. You can access this on www.fifedirect.org.uk/bigchange or visit the local council offices. We have a link is to a new, short video-clip, made with the community of Hutton and Paxton in the Scottish Borders, and featuring their first live-play community resilience exercise. It shows how volunteers, led by the area’s Community Council, worked with the emergency services to respond in an exercise scenario in which 2 local teenagers had gone missing. The video-clip can be found at: http://youtu.be/gWYtuhLsZbg
BALMULLO BURNS CLUB
ANN FALCONER
At the 2013 AGM of the Burns Club, we did not have enough volunteers to form a new Committee, so we could not hold any functions during the year. However, members of the previous Committee offered to do enough preparation to allow us to hold a Burns Supper on Saturday 25 th January at Balmullo Inn, at 6 pm for 6.30 pm start. There were will be the traditional meal served with the usual toasts and speeches, followed by dancing to the John White Sound. Tickets are £15 each and previous members of the club will be contacted by their usual committee member to see if they wish to attend. Tickets will also be available to non-members up to the limit of numbers allowed at this venue.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH - CHRISTMAS BARS Ingredients Method Base
3 oz butter 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 cup plain flour
Base
Beat butter & sugar until light and creamy. Stir in flour and mix well. Press into 11in x 7in greased baking tray. Bake in moderate oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
Topping
Beat eggs, sugar & vanilla until thick and creamy. Fold in flour, baking powder, coconut & mincemeat. Spread over base.
Topping
2 eggs ½ cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon plain flour 1 tablespoon plain flour 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon baking powder 1½ cups coconut 1 cup mincemeat
FRANCES HERD
Bake in moderate oven for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool in tray. When cold, dust with icing sugar and cut into slices.
Merry Christmas & have a Happy New Year From All at the Balmullo Community Council
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INTERNET BROWSING TIPS
MIKE WITHERS
There are dozens of different shortcut keys that can be used with Internet browsers. Below are a few top Internet browser shortcuts. Pressing Alt + D in any major Internet browser will move the cursor into the address bar. This is a great way to quickly enter an Internet address without having to click the mouse cursor in the address bar. - Hold down the Ctrl key and press the + or - to increase and decrease the size of text. - Press the backspace key or hold down the Alt key + left arrow to go back a page. - Press F5 to refresh or reload a web page. - Press F11 to make the Internet browser screen full screen. Press F11 again to return back to the normal view. - Press Ctrl + B to open your Internet bookmarks. - Press Ctrl + F to open the find box in the browser to search for text within the web page you're looking at. When typing an Internet address you do not need to type http:// or even www. in the address. For example, if you wanted to visit Balmullo Community Council you could just type balmullo.com and press enter. To make things even quicker, if you're visiting a .com or .co.uk address you can type balmullo and then press Ctrl + Enter to automatically type out the full http://www.balmullo.com address. If you use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer to browse the internet, and are bothered by adverts (particularly if you use youtube) then consider installing an Ad Blocker. One of the best is Adblock Plus. Download it for free from www.adblockplus.org. Have a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year
ď Š
- Mike
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What do you call a kid that doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus. What do you call an elf who sings? A wrapper! Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve? Because it soot's him Why are Christmas trees so fond of the past?
Because the present's beneath them. What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? Tinselitis! Why was Santa's little helper depressed? Because he had low elf esteem. What is the popular Christmas carol in Desert? Camel ye Faithful.
What part of the body do you only see during Christmas? Mistletoe. What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic. What does Santa bring naughty boys and girls on Christmas Eve? A pack of batteries which at the bottom says "toy not included".
A J INNES
Pains Of Labour
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Colin Finlay Qualified Electrician Any jobs large or small Discounts for OAPs
Balmullo 870578 Mobile 07828 547395
DEREK B CAMPBELL Motor Engineer SERVICING & M.O.T. REPAIRS Tel 870328 ‘Loanhead’ Balmullo St. Andrews KY16 0BQ
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DazLyn Motorshine Mobile Valeting We come to you whether it’s the Home Workplace or even the Golf Course, All water and electrics are on board our vehicle.
Cars Vans Caravans Conservatories From a Mini Valet to a Full Showroom Finish including Sanitisation, Bacteria, and Virus Elimination system. (Certificate can be provided to confirm this treatment).
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JOHNSTONE PLUMBING, HEATING & GAS SERVICES www.johnstoneplumbers.co.uk
Fast and reliable service Emergency Call-Outs 207782
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See In store For Special OFFERS!!!
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LEUCHARS QUALITY MEATS 24 Main Street, Leuchars Quality Scotch Beef Pork : Chicken : Lamb Also a selection of Steak Pies Individual Pies : Cold Meats : Eggs & Bacon Orders will be made up on request for collection: at 24 Main Street Leuchars KY16 0HN Tel: 01334 839213 Email: wmcgreg@hotmail.co.uk
Pitcairn Plumbing Services Plumbing, Installations. Maintenance and Repairs Bathrooms and Kitchens etc.
No job too small Competitive prices and Free Estimates
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KEVIN MALONEY
W&J HORSBURGH
FOR ALL YOUR DECORATION NEEDS 01334 870241 OR 07941 545052
FRESH Pittenweem Fish In Balmullo every
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PROFESSIONAL SEAMSTRESS Dressmaking Alterations Repairs Lucklawhill Balmullo Call Enza on
077 7068 5159
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MONDAY – FRIDAY 8am to 5.30pm Saturday 9am – 3pm – Sales MOT’s until 1pm
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M B C T
MARK BAYNE
M B C T
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WINTER THRUSHES
ANDREW FALCONER
Every winter flocks of thrushes migrate to the UK from Scandinavia, looking to escape the weather which is even colder and harsher than here. Many of these are Blackbirds, which add to the Blackbirds resident here all year. However, their more colourful cousins, Redwings and F ie ld f a r e s, are winter visitors in very variable numbers. They are often to be seen feeding in large flocks in fields or berry bushes such as rowan, hawthorn and cotoneaster. The Redwing (Turdus iliacus - bottom left) is the smallest member of the Thrush family, slightly smaller than our resident Song Thrush. It is named after the rusty-red patches on the flanks under the wing but the white stripe above its eye is another obvious feature. The Fieldfare (Turdus pilarus – top right) is close in size to the Blackbird and the slightly larger Mistle Thrush. It has a grey head, dark brown back and a pale grey rump which shows well in flight. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is conducting a survey of all members of the thrush family, also waxwings and starlings, from September 2013 to April 2014 (and previously winter 2012-13). Location, number of each species and food sources are mapped over selected 1 km squares. I’m doing this survey monthly for Balmullo (south s id e ) a n d S e g g ie h il l (between Balmullo and Guardbridge) where I found a flock of over 100 fieldfares and redwings earlier this month. I’ll be looking into gardens but strictly to find and count thrushes, so please be understanding.
Photographs courtesy John Anderson, Crail.
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