St Andrews in Focus March / April 2004

St Andrews in focus •• shopping shopping •• eating eating •• events events •• town/gown town/gown •• people people and and more more

March / April 2004 £1.50

Gavin Irvine at the Menin Gate Families First The Gateway – resolved www.standrewsinfocus.co.uk

the magazine for St Andrews

St Andrews in focus • shopping • eating • events • town/gown • people and more

From the Editor “I’m not sure where you’re coming from?” How often do you hear that phrase today? It irritates a lot of people. However, although it’s taken to be a question about what someone is saying, it should make us think of something wider. Henry Ford famously said that history is bunk. Others have pointed out that if you know nothing of the past you’re condemned to make the same mistakes over and over. We owe it to our young people to encourage them to explore that “foreign country”, the past, in order to understand, and know, “where they’re coming from” in the literal sense. We ought surely to be striving to be “of cheerful yesterdays/And confident tomorrows”, as Wordsworth would have it. I’m grateful to Gavin Irvine and Eddy Lane for sharing their memories – just as I’m grateful to all our wonderful, wide-ranging contributors.

Flora Selwyn

Contents ST ANDREANS • Eddy Lane in thoughtful mood • Keith Morris writes • Gavin Irvine at the Menin Gate SHOPS AND SERVICES • Charity shops revisited • Jannetta’s tell their story and make an offer • The humble herb, and what a story!

• Support tradition, don’t let it fade away • Find refreshment for your soul at Psyche’s Garden • Roving Reporter • Dun Greetin • Service with a smile

MARCH/APRIL 2004

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FEATURES • Our precious coasts and what they can tell us • Families First • Dunino Primary, our neighbouring Eco School • Marathon • St Andrews’ Pilgrim Foundation • A new book of poetry by Lyn Moir • Welcome to The Scottish Information Centre • Fife Folk Museum

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SELECTED EVENTS • March / April • Easter • StAnza

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COMPETITION

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TOWN/GOWN • The Kate Kennedy Procession • The Gateway, resolved

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OUT AND ABOUT • Springtime in the Botanic Gardens • Conserving apples – The Newburgh Orchard Group • ScotWays – The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society

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Cover photograph by R. M. Cormack

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EDITOR Flora Selwyn Tel/fax: 01334 472375 Email: editor@standrewsinfocus.co.uk DESIGNER University of St Andrews Reprographics Unit PRINTER Tayport Printers Ltd. DISTRIBUTER B & S Distribution, Dundee THE PAPER USED IS 75% RECYCLED POST-CONSUMER WASTE PUBLISHER Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd. PO Box 29210 St. Andrews Fife, KY16 9YZ Tel/fax: 01334 472375 Email: enquiries@standrewsinfocus.co.uk ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS £9.00 in the UK or £25.00 abroad, includes post & packing. Please write to the above address, enclosing a cheque payable to Local Publishing (Fife) Ltd. Registered in Scotland: 255564 149 Market Street, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9PF.

COPY DEADLINE for issue 4: Strictly 28th March

ST ANDREANS

What will today’s generation remember about today?

Here is one St. Andrean who remembers yesterday, and draws his own conclusions.

A sign writer to trade, Eddy Lane wrote his copy by hand in beautiful characters on parchment.

It begins:-

Keith Morris writes As a resident in the centre of St. Andrews (North Street) for 14 years, and with family connections going back many years, some of the proposals in your magazine look good, like seeing the possible pedestrianisation of Market Street.

I would also like to see reduced traffic in the centre of town, we have to try to keep some of ye olde worlde charm of St. Andrews, but we also need some up-to-date facilities and entertainment.

“Some also think the Old Course is called St. Andrews, and they ask what the name of the town is!”

and continues:“. . . We suffered cuts, and broken bones and teeth, but there were no lawsuits – there were accidents, and no-one was to blame except us. Remember accidents?

We had fights, punched each other black and blue, and learned to get over it.

We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight. We were always outside, playing. We shared a drink between four friends from one bottle and no-one died as a result. We did not have Play Stations, or X-boxes, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape films, DVDs, mobile phones, personal computers, Internet chat rooms – we had friends. We went outside and found them.

We cycled or walked to a friend’s home and rang the doorbell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Imagine such a thing! Without asking a parent! By ourselves. Out there in the cold, cruel world. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks, and ate worms and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Football, rugby, hockey, netball – they all had their trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

We walked or cycled to school and the country ones used the school bus, whatever the weather.

There was no school run. Our male teachers wore smart clothes and the females wore tidy suits or

dresses. They all looked like teachers, and could silence a corridor of riotous children with a single, icy stare. We were belted, or given lines if we misbehaved in school, and never complained.

We deserved it, and never mentioned it at home in case we got more of the same. Assault on our teachers was unheard of. They taught us respect and discipline, which would stay with us forever.

Our actions were our own. No-one to hide behind.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was all but unknown. They actually sided with the law – imagine that! If we got up to mischief the local Bobby would cuff the side of our heads, and that would be that – till the next time.

This generation produced some of the best risktakers, problem-solvers, and inventors ever. The past 50 years has seen an explosion of innovation.

We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility, and we learned how to cope with it all.

Somehow, through the passing years, things have gone wrong. Sadly, the old values seem to have vanished amid the smoky folds of time. The fashionable liberal attitudes of today make the wrong people right and the right people wrong.

In those far-off days, the sun came up, the clouds rolled by, and the sun went down. Everything was black and white, there were no grey areas then. We can only hope that the world will turn full circle and that common sense and decency will once more prevail. I hope we may live to see it.”

A lot of the present facilities are geared towards golfers, but there are hardly any family facilities – hubby may be on the golf course, but there’s nothing for mummy and the kids on a wet day.

At work we come into contact with a lot of visitors to St. Andrews ( I am one of the toilet attendants in Church Square and the Bruce Embankment during the summer months). I hear a lot of views from the tourists and day visitors; quite often at the Bruce Embankment we are asked where the Old Course is. Many people don’t recognise it as they normally only see it on TV when the Open is on, or the Dunhill. Some also think the Old Course is called St. Andrews, and they ask what the name of the town is!

Another thing I would like to see is more local residents in the centre of St. Andrews, as every year there are more students and fewer local people. It will not be long before the centre of the town becomes a student campus. There has to be a balance between the students and the local people.

As I said, I live in the centre of town, and I hear and see more of what’s going on than people who live outside the centre (Bogward, and such).

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ST ANDREANS

The Last Post

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by Gavin Irvine

ST ANDREANS On first appearance, the town of Ypres, in Belgium, looks very similar to most Medieval cities and towns, and is very similar in size to St. Andrews.

It has a beautiful cathedral, a market square, with many interesting buildings surrounding the square, including the rebuilt “Cloth Hall”. This was a meeting and bargaining point for all the merchants, who traded in fine clothes, which they would purchase and take back to towns and hamlets throughout Europe, and then make into suits, dresses, curtains, furniture fabrics etc. The original Hall was founded circa 1257. Within part of this great building is the Flanders Field Museum, with a magnificent display, and a most moving experience. For those who visit, it gives an inkling that is as much as we can take, of the drama and horror of the First World War, seen in the audio-visuals, and artefacts, that depict the trenches, and the historical story of combat and trench warfare. There is one photograph in which the lens of the camera has captured the sheer destructive forces of war. It shows the town, completely flattened, a pile of rubble, where once stood centuries old buildings – except for the Cathedral which was, however, badly damaged.

Ypres suffered again during the Second World War,and given that the politicians had proclaimed that the 1914-18 conflict was of course “the war to end all wars”, that’s one lesson learned to start with.

So where does the Last Post feature? Well, the Belgium Government decided, as a debt of gratitude after the First World War, to build a monument, as well as rebuild the town. All this work was completed in 1929.

This great monument is known as the Menin Gate, and etched on a headstone high above one of its arches, are the words, “To the armies of the British Empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of their Dead who had no known grave.”

The Gate was built on the site of the Medieval Hangoart Poorte, but there was no actual gate at the time of the Great War, although through this cutting, the British troops marched to the front line to defend the Salient. The Salient bulged out of the straight front line, to follow the rough semi-circle of low ridges around Ypres.

Within the great walls of the twin arches of the Menin Gate, the walls bear the names of 54,896 officers and men who died between 1914 and the 15th August 1917, and a further 34,984 soldiers, who died between 16th August 1917 and the Armistice.

Also around Ypres are 170 war-grave cemeteries, and the estimated deaths on both sides was 500,000, with injuries to a further 1,200,000.

Sir Reginald Blomfield designed the Gate, and in addition to funding

this project, the Belgium Government rebuilt the town, to as nearly possible a match with the original layout and style of buildings, including St. Martin’s Cathedral.

In addition to the rebuilding of the town, and the Menin Gate, the Government decided that at 8 o’clock every evening a short Service of Remembrance would be held at the Menin Gate, and this Service should be carried out for all time, which in fact, apart from a short period during the Second World War when the German forces occupied Ypres, still continues. The Service consists of a Call to Order, played by buglars of the Belgium Fire Service, then the Town Clerk, or official reads a Proclamation, and invites any members of the public to lay wreaths. This is followed by two minutes silence, then the Last Post and Reveille is sounded by bugle.

Every evening draws large crowds to the Menin Gate, people from all walks of life, and nationality, to pay their own respects to the sacrifice made so long ago, by so many.

When I was 11 years old I was presented with my first trumpet. It cost my father £11.7s. 9d and I paid part of this back, from my meagre earnings from a milk round, but then as a child, I did not begin to imagine that one day my playing skills, which took years of hard work to develop, would be used to sound the bugle at the Menin Gate.

During my year as President of St. Andrews Kilrymont Rotary Club 2000 – 2001, I decided that my personal project would be to raise money for the Earl Haig fund, and the War Graves Commission, so I wrote a letter to Mr. Guy Gruwez OBE AOM President of the Last Post Committee in Ypres, requesting that I be allowed to play at the Menin Gate. Following much correspondence, and recordings which I sent to him, I was accepted to play on 5th April 2001.

My wife, Mattie, and I, George Donaldson, Past President of Rotary, and his wife Joyce, decided to take a week’s holiday in Belgium, staying in Bruges then Ypres, then Brussels. George laid a wreath on behalf of the Kilrymont Rotary Club, and I played on the evening of the 5th April 2001. After the service, Mr. Gruwez and his wife invited us to dinner, and he explained his work in connection with the Last Post Committee.

Our Rotary Club, through sponsorship, and much hard work, had raised almost £2000, so we presented a cheque to the Last Post and War Graves Committee, which was well received, also a cheque to Earl Haig, and Rotary Foundation.

It was a great honour to visit, and take part in the Menin Gate Service, humbling, sad, knowing that there is no way we can repay the debt of that sacrifice.

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SHOPS & SERVICES

CHARITY SHOPS – STOP PRESS The question of rates has been brought to our attention, and a Fife Council spokesperson has confirmed, that charity shops

The Story Of Our Family Business

by Nicola Hazel

This article first appeared in the programme for Tally’s Blood at the Byre Theatre in July 2003

“…get an 80% discount and can apply for funding to cover the other 20%. I checked out the Council Tax.” This should help to clear any misunderstanding.

JANNETTA’S IS OFFERING A PRIZE OF 10, YES, 10 SINGLE CONES OF ICE CREAM to the person who correctly answers the following question, and also gives the best ending to the half sentence below.

1. How many generations of the Jannetta family are connected with Jannetta’s in South Street? ............................................

2. “I like Jannetta’s ices because .............................. ............................................ ............................................ ............................................”

Entries to Jannetta’s, please, by 28th March, and the lucky winner’s name will appear in the May/June St. Andrews in Focus.

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The story of our family business is typical of many set up by Italian immigrants who came to Scotland from the 1880s onwards, spreading throughout the country especially to big urban centres like Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen and to many east coast towns, like St. Andrews.

From the start these immigrants seemed to have a focus and sense of purpose. They acquired property and, with a keen enterprising eye, realised the potential market that lay in the Scottish sweet tooth and the Victorian fondness for ice cream. In this field they rapidly carved a virtual monopoly for themselves, combining it with the sale of confectionery, tobacco, and frequently incorporating also a billiard saloon as part of the premises as an added lure to potential customers.

This is exactly what my great grandfather Bennett Jannetta did when he came to St. Andrews in 1908 and took over the premises at 31 South Street.

Bennett came from Belmonte Castello in the province of Frosinone. From this area many immigrants came to Fife. And to this day they return there to properties they have either restored or built from their earnings here. Bennett’s villa was

destroyed during World War II during the vicious Cassino campaign in which the Germans halted the Allied advance towards Rome for four months.

In St. Andrews, Bennett with his wife, two daughters, Louisa and Mary and two sons Charlie and Bennett jnr, built up a highly successful business specialising in ice cream manufacture which was carried out in a specially designed and tiled room, sold from the shop or taken out by motorbike and side car to be retailed on a ‘stop me and buy one’ basis. Like many of these immigrants Bennett quickly integrated with the local community. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and took a keen interest in the St. Andrews football club. He identified himself very closely with Scotland and when he died while on a visit to his home in Italy, his request that he be buried in St. Andrews was honoured.

The business passed into the hands of Charlie and Bennett jnr, but, following the untimely death of the latter, was run by Charlie and his wife Mary who subsequently handed it to their daughter, Fiona and her husband David De Angelis.

My parents carried out extensive renovations and vastly increased the quality and range of ice creams to an award winning standard. During the summer months we have a choice of 52 different varieties, still made on the premises, but using faster machines than the old hand stirred methods!

On David’s retirement, the business is now run by me and my husband Owen Hazel. We are the fourth generation.

We are striving to maintain the quality and reputation of the business as well as expanding. In the last two years we have opened ‘Café Jannetta’, which was originally the site of the fish and chip shop initially developed by my grandfather. This has proved to be a great success and hopefully the B Jannetta name may even continue to the fifth generation.

SHOPS & SERVICES

Medieval Magic: Medicine and Manna

by June Riches & Elizabeth Riches of Strathkinness Herbs, (01334) 850638 given as a talk to the Friends of the Botanic Garden in January 2004 Most plants grown in our gardens today are not chosen for their ability to ward off evil spirits or for their efficacy in treating illness. We have the luxury of selecting plants for their scent , their flower colour and their leaf structures, and maybe because parts of them are edible. In medieval times there would have been no such luxury: plants were more important for the practical benefits they could offer, and certainly they must have been viewed as magical if they could kill, cure and feed according to how they were used.

An example is holly, one of the more colourful trees at this time of year, with its evergreen leaves and red berries. It was venerated by the Druids before it became a Christian symbol, because it kept its leaves over winter, a time when most plants have shed their leaves or disappeared under the soil. It was therefore considered to be magical, with its red berries acting to deter witches and evil. It was considered to be particularly lucky if you had a self sown plant near your home as it gave protection from storm, lightning and fire. Medicinally, chilblains were supposed to be relieved by beating them with a spray of Holly to let the blood out – perhaps a case of the cure being worse than the ailment!

In medieval times a plant’s value was inextricably linked with superstition. Like the holly, plants were thought to have both useful and mystical properties. Herbs were widely collected by the Medieval housewife as she had to make everything needed to run the home from the basic ingredient : plants. The range of plant use was enormous : from food to first aid, from scenting linen to deterring fleas, from strewing on the floor, to killing smells and soaking up spills, from dyeing wool to flavouring ales and wines.

Many of our common plant names today reveal their former uses – bedstraw, eyebright, self heal, soapwort and fleabane.

The monasteries and the physic gardens were the pharmacies of their time growing the herbs to be used medicinally. In the archaeological excavation of the medieval monastery at Soutra seeds have been found indicating plants used to treat wounded soldiers passing by. Plants were the only source of medicines, and medical problems were many, including contagious illnesses, falling sickness (epilepsy), ague, malaria , and even the bites of serpents and mad dogs. All these afflictions had plants that alleviated symptoms, or sometimes, if the dose was too strong, killed the patient.

In the sixteenth century it was believed that the physical properties of a plant gave a clue to its medicinal use. For example lungwort, also known as Jacob’s Coat or Pulmanaria, has spotted leaves and was thought to represent a diseased lung and therefore used for chest complaints.

Comfrey, today revered by organic gardeners as a fertiliser, was commonly known as knitbone, and the mascerated leaves, root, and stem would be moulded round a sprain or broken bone much like plaster of Paris. The plant is high in protein, though unfortunately not in a form that is easily used by humans, and has been used as a fodder crop for pigs and cattle. Hyssop, a flowering shrub from Mediterranean countries, will sometimes have a mould growing on the underside of its leaves.

In Biblical times lepers were encouraged to bathe in Hyssop water as this acted as an antibiotic similar to penicillin. If Hyssop is grown next to cabbages its scent deters the cabbage white butterfly and the leaves can be used as a flavouring in casseroles and stews. St. Johnswort (Hypericum) has been used by many people as an anti-depressant.

St. Columba was reported to have used it and today it is an alternative to Prozac. The plant gets its name from John the Baptist as it flowers near the Saint’s day. A red dye can be obtained from the flowers that have also been used in skin lotions, often in conjunction with marigold (Calendula). Calendula Sage

Sweet Briar and Hypericum cream is still available from pharmacies and used for chapped and sore skin conditions. Woad, mainly used as a dye plant, made an effective blue war paint, terrifying the enemy but also containing a coagulant to staunch bleeding.

Plants that we know today to be toxic were used medicinally. Foxglove treated heart complaints but if too large a dose was given death resulted.

However it is from this plant that our heart drugs, digitalis and digoxin, have been developed. Monkshood, a member of the aconite family, is a common perennial garden plant and was used to stop the pain of neuralgia, lumbago and rheumatism. It is however extremely poisonous, and can be used on the tips of arrows and spears for destroying animals, and no doubt one’s enemies.

Soapwort as its name suggests was used for washing textiles, in a soapy solution which could be made from the stem and root. The plant’s other name is Bouncing Bet as the plant can spread throughout the garden and can be difficult to eradicate. Flax is another ancient, useful plant providing fibres for linen. It was believed to have formed the clothing for Jesus when he was laid in the tomb. Flax was also an important crop in this area. In Medieval times, the flower was believed to protect against sorcery. The seeds were added to cough medicines and laxatives and could be used externally for burns and scalds. Linseed oil, pressed from the seed, has also been used in the paint industry.

In our title the word manna has been used to mean food from plants that was freely available. However the manna, the bread of heaven, which sustained the Israelites on their trek through the desert is believed to have come from a small sap sucking insect that fed on tamarisk juices converting them into a sweet honey-like substance. Many edible herbs were used as vegetables, and also as flavouring to add taste to bland cooking, and to disguise the taste of rank meat.

One of our favourite culinary plants is thyme, used over the centuries for flavouring, and included in stuffings to accompany pork and chicken.

It was made into a tea and drunk by the Highlanders before going into battle to give them courage. Way back, the Egyptians used thyme in embalming, and the plant was also used in paper making to inhibit the growth of mould. Another culinary plant from the past is sage, its leaves used to counteract fatty foods and added to stuffings, sausages and cheese. The Chinese believed that the eating and drinking of sage prolonged life and aided memory, and also kept grey hair at bay – this is definitely a plant for everyone’s garden.

Lovage, a plant thought to have been introduced by the Romans, has a celery like flavour and its leaves can be added to soups, stocks and salads. Winter Savory, a pretty shrubby plant that flowers in late summer has also been used as flavouring for beans, dried pulses and root vegetables. It was thought to be an aphrodisiac and used in love potions! Another plant with romantic connotations is the sweet briar, which is similar in habit to a wild rose, but it has scented leaves that smell of apples after a shower of rain. The petals were made into rose petal jam and the hips, pureed and sweetened, used to make a drink full of Vitamin C. This is very nice poured on ice-cream today. The plaster ceiling rose has developed from the custom of suspending a rose over the table as a sign that all confidences were to be held sacred.

Sweet Cicely was also a plant with many different uses. Today it can be found around local hedgerows for it will grow in shade. The roots were used as a vegetable, cooked like parsnip and served with a sauce.

The leaves, which have an aniseed scent, were cooked with tart fruits to remove acidity, and were particularly useful to diabetics. The aromatic flowers were used in decorations to make the home smell sweet (the original room freshener), and the large seed heads eaten by children as sweets were also ground into powder to scent beeswax furniture polish.

In the ninth century, Charlemagne called herbs “the friend of physicians and the praise of cooks”. This is even so today. Not only are plants useful in so many ways but I’m sure that anyone who watches a plant grow after popping a tiny seed into the ground knows that there is a touch of magic about it.

“The friend of physicians & the praise of cooks”

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SHOPS & SERVICES

Bluenote Music Bluenote Music has been open for just over a year now and specializes in the sale of quality music, whether it be on cd or vinyl. It also has a large collection of videos to suit all tastes. The stock ranges from children’s titles through a wide selection of contemporary releases to a ‘classic’ section of some of the Hollywood greats.

If you are searching for that hard to find cd or video, we offer a NO commission service to help you track it down.

The store has a ‘try it before you buy it’ policy so you can listen to any cd rather than purchasing it ‘blind’ and operates a no-quibble return system.

We also stock a small range of posters and books and various ‘pop’ memorabilia and collectables.

If you are a vinyl collector then here is where you may find that unusual or long-forgotten Lp. Or just come in for a chat.

BLUENOTE MUSIC WE SELL CD’S, VIDEOS, DVD’S AND VINYL AND POSTERS 1000’S IN STOCK WE BUY VINYL LPS 1960’S – 1980’S AND VIDEOS OPEN MON-SAT 10 AM – 5.15 PM SUNDAY 12 – 3 PM 24 ARGYLE STREET, ST ANDREWS 01334 472564

2 MINUTES FROM THE WEST PORT IN SOUTH STREET EVERYTHING WE SELL IS GUARANTEED

Keiron Baillie Keiron Baillie is currently celebrating his 10th year of trading. From his early beginnings in the Nissen hut erected for his grandfather’s stonemason business in 1906, Keiron is going from strength to strength in a purpose-built joinery workshop with a wide range of woodworking machines. 2004 sees major new investment, with the addition of a second machine to be imported from Italy in order to comply with the latest safety regulations. Keiron employs an apprentice at college and a part-time joiner. Hard working and enthusiastic, Keiron makes teak tee boxes for the Links Trust, as well as specialist hand-made doors, stairs for attic conversions and many other high quality bespoke joinery items.

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SHOPS & SERVICES

Murray Mitchell, St. Andrews’ last Butcher In this day of mass marketing and money-driven economy, St. Andrews is really lucky to have one truly traditional butcher’s shop, the last of the many.

The shop in Market Street was opened in 1928 by his father, and today Mr. Mitchell still carries on in the old, well-proven ways. He makes his own pies, bridies, puddings, haggis, boiled hams, and other cooked meats. He says that he tries to keep as near as possible to the way his father worked, and “doesn’t feel young enough” to change to modern methods. So his meat is hung properly for 14 days, and can be seen to be hung through the ample shop windows.

There used to be 9 butcher’s shops in St. Andrews. Murray started out running messages when he was twelve. At 17 he was taken into the business. “We’re almost self-sufficient,” he explains, as the family have their own farm at Fernie Castle, by Cupar, with 200 cows and 700 ewes.

Most purchases, such as pigs, are local, but the bulls are Aberdeen Angus. “You have to provide the best quality you can, and the best prices you can” – in spite of all the many rules and regulations that people have to abide by these days, which turn the young ones away from going into the trade.

When asked for a story about haggis, since Burn’s Night was quite recent, Mr. Mitchell’s eyes twinkled. “They used to say that the haggis has one short leg and one long one so it can run around mountains!”

In the office there’s a poster,

“ Another day ends All targets met All systems working All customers satisfied All staff eager and enthusiastic All pigs fed and ready to fly” Long may Murray Mitchell be there to go on meeting all those targets!

A ‘weel kent’ resident sings some well-earned praises, and quite by chance, underlines what appeared previously.

St. Andrews’ Treasures

by Chris Lesurf

Having lived in St. Andrews for 20 years I have certainly been aware of our treasures. I don’t mean historic or artistic wonders, but the real people, those who have been in business for years and/or continue to offer services that are only found rarely elsewhere.

I shall start rolling my ball :Every few weeks the Health Food Store in Market Street accepts my request for a kilogram of pecan nuts and supplies them at a very reasonable price. On one occasion when a larger amount was delivered by mistake they said it was my good luck, without charging me extra!

“ I would like to know more about builders . . .”

Nuts wouldn’t be the same without dates so a large bag of dried dates from the Meal Shop in South St. goes down well, too. The birds in my garden benefit from the peanuts I also buy there. The shop has such an unusual range of groceries that it no doubt existed when there would have been sawdust on the floor. I’m tempted to use the phrase ‘well before the war’, but my hesitation comes from ‘the war’ being the Second World one that was often used as a time mark by my parents’ generation. ‘Before the Beatles’ might be a more modem one. What would you regard as the equivalent for today’s undergraduates?

One of my favourite English Sunday dinners was the aitchbone beef joints that my mother cooked with much more flavour than most

sirloins. In Scotland it seems that aitchbone is only sold as steaks, so I just ask the butchers in Murray Mitchell’s to provide one four inch thick and cut it into a couple of joints to roast and the rest for a luxurious Casserole. Another advantage here is that one is still allowed to feel in lbs and ozs – concerning food, not just rugby players!

When I first came to St. Andrews I regarded Fisher and Donaldson as the posh, and therefore expensive, shop. Crawford’s, the “other one”, then closed, and for years I have appreciated the friendly and quality service at F&D’s. If you want a particular type of loaf you may ring up and ask them to save one for you.

This means you can have a lie-in on Saturday morning, but still have a poppy-seed bloomer for lunch.

I’m lucky to live next door to Joe the Plumber, and I keep meaning to make good use of the service of Steve, the tiler who lives opposite.

Both ancient and modem shoes are repaired as good as new by George Ferguson, and just opposite his shop Musicmongers was originally set up by ex-students. The tiny premises belie the scope of their trade, which is in musical scores, CDs to order, and lots of small ads. for piano teaching, instruments for sale etc.

Perhaps small ads. may be accepted for St Andrews in Focus (they are indeed! Editor). I

would like to know more about builders, with the possibility of removing an observatory and/or turning an old garage into a waterproof office, garden designers, interior designers, upholstery and carpet cleaners, and quite a few others.

“ . . . garden designers, interior designers, upholstery and carpet cleaners, and quite a few others.”

If you have an interesting history as a trader, resident or visitor, then an article might be equally appealing. Sir John Barbirolli came here in the 1930s and not only conducted the music but cooked spaghetti for all the players!

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SHOPS & SERVICES In need of refreshment for your soul? Then come to South Street, to

Psyche’s Garden Psyche’s Garden has for several years added a tranquil and healing experience to the attractions of St. Andrews. Due to its mystique as a town St. Andrews has always attracted a variety of spiritual travellers from many faiths and this vibrant and inspiring shop now gives visitors of all ages a chance to wonder at some of the finest healing systems from around the globe.

Central to this concept, Psyche’s Garden specialises in the finest crystals and minerals sourced from all corners of the planet. With almost 250 different gemstones on display amid relaxing music and running waters, the knowledgeable and friendly staff welcome you to browse and share these marvels of nature, from gigantic 5 million year old crystal formations to beautiful carved and polished pieces. It is an experience for everyone from small children to senior citizens, to enjoy crystals rarer than gold, platinum or diamonds. Volcanic glass, natural magnets, fire opals and 4 billion year old meteorites are just some of the incredible items you can see and touch.

But the greatest find to date for Psyche’s Garden has just arrived.

Sought for more than a year, the shop has just taken delivery of what is believed to be the largest amethyst geode pair in Scotland. Weighing in at a mammoth 353 kilograms, they stand almost 7 feet tall and are possibly the most outstanding mineral samples to be seen in this country. Over 5 million years in the formation, these AA grade behemoths were extracted from Brazil and are much sought after the world over. With perfect crystal formations these huge caverns have a very high resonant frequency that gives off a calming energy. Used for thousands of years by shamans, healers and lay-persons for its healing properties, amethyst is one of the most highly regarded of crystals in many cultures and faiths. Believed to aid sleep and soothe headaches, it is also used in many shrines as an aid to meditation and prayer.

Apart from being able to see such a fantastic range of beautiful crystals, you can also receive all the information you could possibly want about the properties and formations of the mineral kingdom. The staff have a vast knowledge that can be expended in a friendly and informative way to children and adults alike. With beautifully formed pieces in jewellery, palm stones, spheres, wands and animals there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

Psyche’s Garden also caters for those interested in spirituality with a wide range of spiritual books on philosophies and healing techniques. A huge array of divination material will also intrigue the novice and delight the more experienced practitioner. Tarot cards, angel oracles, pendulums, runes and other devices for developing psychic abilities can offer great insight to many people. The beautiful range of healing, Reiki and chant music that has been pieced together over many years research into the holistic world gives people the opportunity to investigate every aspect of healing and spirituality through all the senses. A large range of pure, cold pressed aromatherapy oils and the finest long burning incenses from India and Tibet create a magical environment for Mind, Body and Spirit.

Psyche’s Garden attracts people from all over Scotland and abroad to its unique and tranquil atmosphere. Now in its seventh year, it is owned and run by local residents John Ferguson and his father. John’s knowledge of crystals and gemstones dates back to his grandfather and

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has been passed down the generations. His father is happy to share almost 50 years of yoga and meditation practice, his mother is training in counselling skills, and his sister is a clinical hypnotherapist, thus his knowledge of holistic concepts is well formed. John’s rapport with customers, old and new, is well known in St. Andrews and visitors to the town will find the shop as warm and friendly as it is breathtaking and educational.

Equally at home with the geologists as the crystal healers, John loves the eclectic nature of his clientele and hopes to expand the business beyond St. Andrews to other parts of Scotland in the years to come.

SHOPS & SERVICES

Roving Reporter – stopped for a chat at Rowans Coffee Shop, 203 South Street, near the West Port. Tel: (01334) 479289.

Under new ownership, this airy, spacious Coffee Shop has a very welcoming atmosphere. Phyllis, the manageress, greets customers with a cheery smile that instantly makes you feel at home. Our Reporter had a most satisfying cappuccino.

The menu on offer is wide-ranging, catering for every kind of taste and appetite. Indeed, there is a section entitled Bigger Appetites, which Phyllis told our Reporter will shortly be “improved” (go and find out for yourselves, said Reporter, with a grin). Vegetarians have plenty to choose from as well.

Responsible for the menu is Nicky, the chef, while Rebecca and Fiona, the other permanent members of staff, make sure all the customers are properly served.

The food is traditional, appealing locally, but also good for visitors to sample. Homemade scones, fruities, shortbread, apple pie, etc. can accompany the wide varieties of coffees and teas, as well as many kinds of soft drinks. Or you can indulge in Rowans Special Breakfast – why not? In addition, there are Lite Bites, Cold Filled Rolls, Sandwiches and Baguettes, Hot Filled Rolls, Toasties, Oven Baked Potatoes, Paninis, and a long list of fillings to choose from besides. Every meal is individually

prepared, and customers are asked to be patient at very busy times.

Rowans Coffee Shop operates a strictly No Smoking policy.

Wheelchair customers are welcome. And so are children, who have a menu to themselves.

Next, our intrepid Man on the Move dropped into Bella Italia in Bell Street, and spoke to the manager, Nick Melville. Roving Reporter was particularly intrigued because not so long ago he knew this place as Bella Pasta, and he wanted to find out about the transformation.

Nick told him that he had joined Bella Italia to oversee the refurbishment of the premises early last December.

St. Andrews is one of the first Bella Pasta restaurants to be rebranded to Bella Italia, the plan being to change the other 5 restaurants in Scotland, and the 58 in the rest of the UK, by May 2004.

Exciting things are happening since the rebranding: there are regular offers for students, including half price food nights: a magician performs amazing tricks to amuse the customers – Nick said he’s a University student called Thomas d’Ardenne, and that he has a real talent. There is a large upstairs area in the restaurant that has been home to many a student party, and shortly will be a venue for Salsa dancing.

Nick is open to ideas for other uses for the room too..

The extensive menu is similar to Bella Pasta, but the mouthwatering pizza and pasta dishes are now complemented with a new ‘Casa Speciali’ section that includes Chicken in rich tomato and tarragon sauce with rosemary potatoes and seasoned spinach, and wild mushroom risotto, and a range of ‘Panini’ – Italian sandwiches that are available as a lunchtime snack. Nicki stresses that this is not fast food. To lend authenticity, Italian is used on the menu, with English descriptions underneath. So, under Insalata you will find, for example, Vegetali Arrosto, warm roasted vegetables

in a balsamic and olive oil dressing served on a bed of mixed leaves (for £3.55 as a starter, or £6.95 as a main course). Vegetarians are well catered for ( a V marks items that are suitable), and children have a separate menu.

As for the service, Reporter was looked after by a charming, cheery, and attentive waitress, the music was Italian (and not so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think!), and he noticed to his surprise that the Scottish staff called to each other in Italian – a nice touch to add to the atmosphere (quite deliberate, said Nick). Lighted candles on the tables add a welcoming glow to the warm wooden ambience.

39 Bell Street St Andrews 01334 476268

FREE Glass of Wine or Beer* when up to 4 people each buy a main course Simply present this voucher the next time you dine at Bella Italia, before 30th April 2004. *Valid Until 30/04/04. Not valid between 09/04/04 and 12/04/04 inclusive.

Not valid with any other offer. No cash alternative. Normal licensing laws apply. Valid for up to 4 people. Wine is 175ml Trevini wine and beer is 330ml Peroni.

** Wheesht! Roving Reporter has heard that there’s soon to be a Turkish restaurant in St. Andrews! Watch this space!.

On the subject of good workmanship, Dun Greeting’s chimney stack got into a dangerous condition a year ago. He phoned around.

One contractor said he had too much work to do. The second one came out and looked important. This was before Christmas 2002.

“Can’t promise anything till sometime after January,” he said ominously. The third contractor was F. A. Sweeney, Seggiehill, by Guardbridge, Fife, KY16 9YG. Very positive, he said he could start the work immediately after the New Year. He answered all my questions, explained in detail what would be involved, how the scaffolding would be erected and for how long.

When the quotations arrived, Mr. Sweeney’s was the more reasonable one, and I and my neighbour, whose house shares the stack, agreed. True to his word, Mr. Sweeney had the scaffolding erected and the work completed within the time he estimated. Great care was taken to protect the buildings underneath. The men on the job were courteous, good-natured,

and efficient. The result is stunning. The large stone that replaced the worn one has been matched perfectly in colour and style, and the coping stones above, which had threatened to fall down and crush the roof below, are nicely

“The men on the job were courteous, good-natured, and efficient” aligned, as they should be. I positively glow every time I come down the street and glance at my nice, now safe, chimney stack, and as I walk

around I realise how important that standard of workmanship is for the appearance of the town.

Another thing to crow about – the low emissivity glass on my extensive newish conservatory. The double glazed units have an almost invisible coating, and argon gas fills the space between the panes. After two seasons I can testify to the efficiency of the heat control, both in and out. Summer’s sun doesn’t frizzle me (and I don’t need blinds!) and winter’s cold is kept at bay (there is central heating to help).

The glass for the shop-sized single window, double door, and roof, and a smaller glassroofed area on the other side of the house, plus double door, were supplied and fitted by Leuchars Glazing, 79 Main Street, Leuchars, (01334) 838815. They did a grand job!

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SHOPS & SERVICES

Service with a smile – Explorer roamed down more wynds and found more treasures.

1. A.M. Nicholson & Son, Service Centre, was in the middle of moving from 205b South Street to The Malt Barn, across the road behind Susan Sloan at West Port. Derek stopped just long enough to tell Explorer that it was his father who had started the business in 1933 as a radio and cycle shop, which today would make an unusual combination. Derek moved to Bell Street in 1970 as a regular radio and TV business. He gave that up in 2002 to concentrate on repair work. Explorer can vouch personally for the excellence of Derek’s service, and also for the good advice he will give his customers. Long may he flourish!

2. Ian Ferrier, Upholsterer, also at The Malt Barn, West Port, can be found on the top floor.

A member of the Association of Master Upholsterers, Ian bought the former furniture store in 1980 as an empty shell. He put in the stairs and made the place useable. Today, Ian is the only upholsterer in the whole of St. Andrews.

He related that he was once given a settee to re-cover that belonged to a seamstress. After he had picked out numberless pins, Ian found 12 pairs of scissors within the upholstery.

“Oh, I wondered where those had gone!” said his grateful customer. Another time, Ian was mystified by beeps issuing from inside a settee. It turned out to be a lost kiddie’s watch. So, if you have any soft furniture in need of Ian’s tender loving care, make sure you have a good look first, in case you’ve left something behind!

3. St. Andrews Osteopaths, and a clutch of alternative therapists, operate on the other side of South Street at number 136, down another wee wynd (01334) 477000.

Explorer is a firm believer in properly qualified osteopaths, ever since his elderly mother was given a new lease of life after she had been written off, aged 84, by two London teaching hospitals – just before she died at 91 she was lifting weights at the local gym!

Explorer’s son is a London GP who works closely with alternative practioners, to the benefit of all his patients.

At No.136 South Street, St. Andrews, you will find professional help and good advice given courteously in pleasant, well kept premises.

And Ladies... Explorer had a wicked thought – now that Monsoon has brought a double dose of glamour to Market Street why don’t you get in trim for their wares by taking a course of Body Control Pilates (South Street, 01334 478835), then a visit next door to the St. Andrews Beauty Salon (01334 476723) where you can have a manicure and a bronzing session on their sunbed, capping that nice ‘feel-good’ bit by treating yourself to a little something at the new Gift Gallery back in Market Street.

The Natural Therapy Clinic offers a broad spectrum of complementary therapies

Information is available at 43a Argyle Street, St Andrews

BASSAGUARD GARAGE LTD 68b LARGO ROAD MOT TESTING CLASS 4 AND 7 • ALL MAKES OF CARS AND LCVS SERVICED • • TYRES AND EXHAUSTS • ENGINE DIAGNOSTICS • • AIR CONDITIONING SERVICING • TELEPHONE (01334 474187)

HYPNOTHERAPY can help with issues such as

Consultations in: The Natural Therapy Clinic, Argyle Street, St. Andrews.

For further information, contact Connie on: 0777 618 3695

STOP SMOKING USUALLY IN 1 SESSION

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Connie Weir BA(hons) Psy. DHyp

FEATURES

Coastal erosion and archaeology in Scotland

by Tom Dawson, Centre for Environmental History, University of St Andrews Scotland has a long and beautiful coast, over twice the length of England’s. It is famous for its sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, caves and sea lochs. There are also hundreds of islands, the remains of a landscape drowned by rising sea levels.

Where sea meets land can be a wild and dramatic place, especially when fierce winds push huge waves against the shore. The results can be spectacular, helping to make much of the coast beautiful and untamed.

Most of Scotland’s population lives near to the sea, with 74% living within 10 kilometres.

This is not a coincidence. The sea and coastline have played a major part in the development of the nation, providing food and other resources, defence from enemies, and a highway to be crossed on boats. People have been drawn to the coast since the country was first settled; this is why there are so many archaeological sites buried in sand dunes or sitting on cliff edges.

These sites are at risk from erosion, and much has already been lost to the sea.

Unfortunately, the problem seems to be getting worse. Predicted rises in sea level around Scotland are set to coincide with increased storminess. Not only will the tide be coming up higher, we may suffer from wilder and more frequent storms, smashing waves against the coast edge with increased vigour. The result will be that more land will collapse, threatening the archaeological sites that it holds.

How can we preserve sites before they are lost to erosion? One option is to defend the coastline in front of the site. By building stone or concrete walls, the tide can be kept at bay, albeit for only a few decades before the defences need rebuilding. St. Andrews was one of the first places in Scotland to have defences erected for its archaeological monuments, and

sea walls were built to defend St. Andrews Cathedral and Castle in the nineteenth century.

There are, however, problems with coastal defences. Not only are they costly to build and maintain, they can lead to the power of the waves being transferred further down the coast.

One monument may be saved at the expense of several others. It is only in exceptional cases that defences are constructed for archaeological sites.

What can we do if the sites can’t be protected behind a sea wall? The excavation of any archaeological site leads to a certain amount of it being destroyed. By removing the various layers deposited over time, the site is changed forever. Archaeologists therefore make very detailed records of everything they dig. The ultimate aim is to gather enough

A local Shorewatch group records the eroding coast edge in front of the St Monans saltpans.

A prehistoric burnt mound with structures inside it, collapsing on the coast of Bressay, Shetland.

information to be able to hypothetically recreate the site elsewhere, (even if only in the minds of the reader of an archaeological report). They call this process, ‘preservation by record’.

Although a few sites can be saved for the future by building defences, many others need to be ‘preserved by record’ before they disappear. The solution sounds simple, but the problem is that there are thousands of sites potentially at risk, but only enough funds to dig a handful each year. To add to the problem, archaeologists don’t even know where all the remains are. Recent surveys of the coast have increased the number of recorded sites by up to four times in some areas. Some of these are new exposures in recently collapsed cliffs and dunes. Hidden for hundreds or thousands of years, coastal erosion both reveals and threatens to destroy them.

Archaeologists need information on which sites are currently most at risk and the Centre for Environmental History at the University of St. Andrews is working with others to help tackle this problem. Together with Historic Scotland, they have published a book on the state of Scotland’s coastal archaeology. This is available to download from the archaeology pages of the Historic Scotland website (http: //www.historic-scotland.gov.uk). They are also setting up practical projects, including managing new coastal surveys of the Clyde Estuary and parts of the Inner Hebrides.

Another project is the expansion of Shorewatch. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland, this project invites people from local communities throughout Scotland to record the archaeological sites on stretches of coast near to them. Shorewatch groups are working around the country, from Unst in Shetland down to the Solway. One local group has been recording the receding coast in front of the St. Monans saltpans.

The groups use forms to standardise the information they collect, which is then added to local and national records. By revisiting sites, the groups can monitor progress to see if the sites are stable or are deteriorating.

The groups are ideally placed to report new discoveries exposed after a storm and their local knowledge helps with the interpretation of some of the remains. Archaeologists use this information to obtain a picture of the state of eroding sites around the country.

Some groups are taking the work further and are getting involved in more detailed recording projects. There are plans to excavate some of the places that they have recorded and monitored. The excavations will bring together professional archaeologists and local group members to dig sites before they are lost forever.

If you are interested in learning more about Shorewatch, please contact: Tom Dawson, St. Katherine’s Lodge, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, or email: tcd@st-andrews.ac.uk

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FEATURES

Families First From: Gina Prokopchuk (Project Administrator), and the Staff: Bryn Richardson (Project Manager), Vikki Calder (Family Support Worker), Laura Klink (Children’s Club Worker).

“There is no other project of this nature in the area. While St Andrews and its environment present itself as a relatively well-off area in terms of deprivation indices, there are many areas of need both in terms of young people and families.” (Manager of Volunteering Fife) From a busy little office in Rose Lane off South Street, a local charity, Families First – St Andrews runs its various projects and support services. By working with other agencies, the two full-time and two part-time staff members — and around 100 volunteers(!) — of Families First aim to fill some of the gaps in services supporting those in need in the St Andrews area.

Practical Care “The Enquiry and Information Team (Social Work) in Cupar have been referring families to the Families First Service for approximately a year now. We have found this service to be invaluable.”

Families First provides a wide spectrum of services to children and families who are either referred by other agencies (e.g. Social Work Service, Education, Health Visitors) or who utilise the school based clubs set up by Families First.

Home Decorating and Laura Kirk (Children’s Club Improvement Service Worker) with some of the children Volunteers have helped make at Edinburgh Zoo for a Summer a house a home for many lone Kidzone outing parent families in the area. It can be so difficult for a parent to find the time and energy to make home improvements, so this service has become a very important point of contact for Families First.

Clubs for Kids “The Breakfast Club has proved to be extremely beneficial to the children and their families in our local community. On average around twenty children use this facility enjoying the attention and activities provided by the volunteers while also having a healthful breakfast. The children come into school ready to learn, and relaxed.” (Local Head Teacher) Staff and volunteers provide Breakfast and After School Clubs to cater to the needs of primary school children and their families at Langlands and Lawhead Primary Schools. Appropriate food is provided in the form of wholesome breakfast or snack options depending on the timing and duration of the club.

Holiday Clubs are provided for selected groups of primary age children during school holiday times. The aim is to provide children with fun, social activities and to give parents a bit of a break during holiday time. The clubs have all been extremely well received and successful, with up to 80 children attending any one club.

In December a Christmas party was held for 60 kids who have ties with Families First. St Leonards School offered its main hall, volunteer cooks provided mountains of wonderful food, and other volunteers along with staff led the children in activities and games. A dance competition capped off the party with each child taking away a donated prize.

Befriending “The support families have received has been of tremendous benefit to not only the women affected by domestic abuse but also their children.

Families First have been able to provide both emotional and practical support.” (East Fife Women’s Aid) Many individuals or families who may be struggling with difficult circumstances or are simply needing a helping hand have benefited from volunteer befrienders. Befrienders visit children or families at least once per fortnight for 1 to 3 hours, playing, reading, chatting, going on outings or providing homework help. Alternatively, the children meet their befrienders in the Rose Lane Centre.

Fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons, volunteers meet with children one to one in a group setting for crafts, activities or homework help in the Rose Lane Centre.

Family Provisions Bank Families First receives donations of clothes, food, toys, and equipment in new or very good condition. These are made available and distributed to families in the area.

Families First Project Manager, Bryn Richardson, with children from a Holiday Club

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Toddler Group A drop-in group is held one morning each week providing parents, carers and toddlers with a safe and pleasant environment for socialising, play, and support. (Wednesdays from 10-11:30 at St Andrews Baptist Church, South Street) Bridging “Town and Gown” “St Andrews is a relatively small town with quite an extensive student population. Families First have managed to capitalise on this, offering much needed experience for the students and also helping to break down the barriers between ‘Town and Gown’. Generally St Andrews is thought to be a place of affluence with many high achievers. However this is but a surface view and can make the situation for those less well off even more difficult.” (a Local Health Visitor) One of the most exciting by-products of the work of Families First has been a bridging of the “town and gown” divide. Volunteers with Families First are mostly students or retired individuals who desire to make a contribution in their community.

Funding Issues “All [at the school] value the contribution that Families First has made to enhance the opportunities for our children and we would be devastated if it were to go.” (Local Head Teacher) The second year in the life of Families First was as exciting as the first! Its rapid growth and popularity testifies to the needs that exist in the community but are often overlooked because of the town’s image as a holiday destination and a university town. Consequently a paradox exists where on one hand, the work is vibrant, rewarding, and growing, while on the other hand, a continual battle to secure funding is apparent. Keep your eyes open around town as Families First strives to increase public awareness of its financial needs and to continue in this very important work. If you desire to contribute to its work in any way, please contact Families First – St Andrews, Rose Lane Centre, 132 South Street, St Andrews, KY16 9BJ 01334 473259.

FEATURES

Families First After School Clubs inspired these poems: After School Club is the best Better than all the rest All the staff are really kind Whatever you do they do not mind.

All the staff are the best Better than all the rest They’re generous and polite Friendly, funny and very bright.

After School Club is such fun There are books and games for everyone, Arts and crafts You won’t have to do any maths.

You’ll be glad you came.

You will be entertained.

So come to the After School Club!

By Samantha Staig P7, Langlands Primary School

By Lauren Reilly P7, Langlands Primary School

Student Volunteer, Mickey Klink, with a child on a club outing.

Children at clubs and outings have said: “This was a great day for me!”

“That was the BEST!” “When’s our next outing?!”

Local children go for golf Over 400 local youngsters aged between 6 and 18 will be looking forward to the Spring so they can get back onto the Links. The coaching sessions organised by St Andrews Links Junior Golf Association (SALJGA) start in early May interspersed with competitions, challenges and lots of fun lined up for the season.

Coaching for the majority of the members of SALJGA is delivered by trained volunteers from the town – around 70 in total. The volunteers are the lifeblood of SALJGA giving up their time and sharing their enthusiasm for golf with the children of St Andrews.

Some of the young golfers did not hang up their golf clubs over the winter. Whatever the weather, the most promising teenagers and younger ones received regular tuition at the Golf Practice Centre from David Scott from Kingsbarns, and Brian Ewing and his staff from the University of Abertay. The highlight this winter was a clinic with the new Honorary president of SALJGA, Paul Lawrie, former Open Champion and Dunhill Links Winner in 2001.

Between 60 and 80 children also took part in three winter competitions on the nine hole Balgove Course. Designed to encourage the kids to enjoy themselves, these events were not the usual format. Each child has 36 shots and has to see how far they can get round the course – some make it to the 9th and beyond, while others may just get to the 4th hole.

Parents and volunteers turned up to help with the scoring with guidance from Junior Co-ordinator, John Matheson, from St Andrews Links Trust.

“It’s great to see so many parents and volunteers encouraging their children to play golf even in the wet and windy weather,” said John. “We are, after all, at the Home of Golf and it’s good to see local children making the most of the facilities and benefiting from the commitment of local golfers. It also gets them out in the open air with friends for a few hours a week.”

To find out more about SALJGA, please phone 01334 466666.

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FEATURES Three cheers for enterprise, enthusiasm, and results!!

Dunino – Green and Keen Mrs. Morris, Head of Dunino Primary School Dunino Primary School is a small rural school on the main road from St. Andrews to Anstruther. At present there are 24 primary, and 10 nursery pupils. The main claim to fame for the school is that it was the first on the Scottish mainland to gain the European Eco Schools Award for environmental education. Three schools in the Shetalnd Islands were flying the flag before Dunino as they had heard of the scheme from their Council some two years before Fife schools had any knowledge of it.

Schools must apply for the Award every two years and must be assessed each time so as to prove that their actions have been sustained. When a fourth Award is given, the school gains permanent Eco Status. The pupils at Dunino have recently sent in their fourth application and await their assessment in March.

The scheme encourages schools to take action on the environment and improve the school grounds by involving the pupils and consulting them in every decision that is made. The school has an Eco Committee of pupils, staff, parents, and members of the community and is run by a pupil Chairperson and a Minute Secretary. The Committee reports to and asks for suggestions from the whole school. There is always a large group of pupils keen to take on the tasks of the Committee when older pupils move on to Madras College.

Some of the initiatives the children have been involved in over the 7 years they have taken part are : 1. Action on litter to ensure that the school grounds are as litter-free as possible, and they arrange litter picks along the verges around the village.

2. They have set up a Recycling Centre for the school and local community. Some of the items currently recycled are paper, aluminium foil and dishes, stamps, aluminium and steel drinks cans, white plastic (not polystyrene) cups – these are sent to be recycled and turned into pencils, pens and rulers by a company called Remarkable Products – computer ink jet and laser cartridges, old household and hearing aid batteries, Ringos – the plastic hoops that hold cans together – plastic bottles and all colours of glass.

3. They operate a Recycler of the Week and Recycler of the Month Scheme where pupils are given points for bringing in items for recycling. Pupils with most points are awarded a certificate. At the end of the session a small prize is given to the overall winner.

4. They have developed a wildlife garden on school grounds in which they have installed a pond, a herb garden, a border with insect-loving plants and shrubs, a bird table, bird boxes, flower borders, a log pile and a compost heap. All these things have greatly increased the number and variety of wildlife that visits or lives in the garden and provides an ideal opportunity for firsthand studies of living things.

5. An Energy Team has been established to monitor the use of electricity.

The team is responsible for ensuring that electrical goods and lights are switched off when not needed. One team member each week is responsible for recording the daily meter reading. The school has seen a marked decrease in the number of units used per week and this, in turn, helps reduce pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

6. The pupils also take action on the amount of water used in the school.

The children acquired push-down taps in the toilets to prevent water being wasted by any youngster absent-mindedly leaving the tap running. They also put bricks in all the cisterns in the school to save water when flushing the toilets.

7. They have taken action on wasting food at lunch time. Pupils set up a compost heap for garden waste and now add leftover salads, fruit peelings and cores. Other suitable leftovers are put on the bird table.

The school’s curriculum has been greatly enhanced thanks to the Eco Schools Scheme. Studies include the recycling process, the water cycle, minibeasts, energy, endangered species, the rainforest, the seaside, and conservation, among others. The pupils have discovered that many areas and species in the world are in danger. They have decided that in their annual fundraising activities they would like to raise money to help in any way they can.. Currently, they ‘adopt’ an area of South American Rainforest, a red squirrel, and six marine turtles. They have also ‘adopted’ Billowness Beach near Pittenweem where they do three or four cleanups each session. Items they collect are recorded and they send the information to the Marine Conservation Society who use it to monitor the litter around our coasts. It is hoped that in the near future the school will participate in the Save the North Sea Project, currently being set up.

This entails contact with other schools on North Sea coasts in Scotland, England and Europe to share experiences.

The present big project for the children is to collect one thousand or more 2 litre plastic drinks bottles to use to build a greenhouse / shelter in the school grounds. It will be used to play in during the cold winter months, and then to bring on tomatoes, cucumbers and seedlings for the playground planters.

One of the most important parts of the education of young people today is to produce good citizens for an ever-changing world, and the school staff feel that being involved in the Eco Schools programme helps children develop their ideas, encourages them to become involved in all aspects of the life of the school and to make links with their parents and the wider community.

If you would like further information, please feel free to contact the school at any time

Left: Beach clean and survey at Billowness Beach.

Right: The Eco Schools flag proudly flying above the school.

When the pupils were awarded their first Eco Schools Certificate and Flag in 1998, this song was sung to the invited guests. Imagine if you will 20 or so sweet little voices singing these words and please take them to heart.

Look after the world, it’s in our hands And we must be the teachers.

Look after the world, this precious land For people plants and creatures.

Keep the air pure and the water clean We’ve got to make sure that the land stays green for the future Look after the world.

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Look after the world, both land and sea.

No smoke or fumes to spoil them.

If people pollute unthinkingly We’ll think of ways to foil them.

Keep the air pure and the water clean We’ve got to make sure that the land stays green for the future Look after the world.

We don’t want to leave a wilderness For children of tomorrow.

This earth can provide such happiness.

It must not end in sorrow.

Keep the air pure and the water clean We’ve got to make sure that the land stays green for the future Look after the world.

For the future ………………

LOOK AFTER THE WORLD!

FEATURES

Marathon

Andrew Wright asks, “why not stay in Bed?”

What is it that motivates you to get up at 6.00 in the morning and go on a 3 mile run? why not stay in bed and enjoy a lie-in after a hard week’s work?

Of course, I have asked myself this question many times over my sporting career and never found a convincing answer. Is it the need for self-esteem, or an antidote to a boring life, or my physiological make-up, or the sense of achievement in completing something you thought was beyond you?

I have run 3 marathons; in Dublin in 1994, London 1995 and London 2000. Dublin was the hardest, partly because I set myself a stiff target (3hrs 30mins at age 53), partly because it was my first and partly because there is a steep hill after 18 miles. I found the last 8 miles very painful and it was all I could do to continue running. My time was 3hrs 48 and I was unable to eat the lovely meal my hostess placed before me later that evening. The two London races seemed easier, possibly because there was a large crowd urging you on – I have always fancied a

bit part in a large play! The crowd was formed all along the route, in some places 5 deep and they were there to enjoy themselves. I was wearing a vest with “CHAS” emblazoned across the front ( the charity I was raising sponsorship for) and the crowd were yelling “come on Chas”.

I suppose it is true that the fun stopped in the last quarter of the race but it was never again as hard as Dublin.The finishing line is wonderful; there is a crescendo of cheering from the crowd and you make one last effort to speed up a bit. Then your medal, drinks and some carbohydrate (even though you have to force it down, it helps you last the evening.

The most difficult part of running a marathon is not the race itself but the 3 months of training preceding it (the second most difficult thing is asking for and subsequently collecting sponsorship money).

I stopped running marathons because I was worried about damage to my joints and I love my hillwalking too much to risk that. How do I get my kicks now? I have joined the Triathlon club and am loving it! It is every bit as exhausting, technically more difficult and you meet some great people.

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FEATURES

The St. Andrews Pilgrim Foundation The main objective of the St. Andrews Pilgrim Foundation is to preserve and restore the historic core of St. Andrews for the benefit of the whole community.

The Pilgrim Foundation was established in 1998 by the late councillor Patrick Cassells who was deeply concerned about the conservation area in St Andrews and the obvious decline of an outstanding international attraction known and loved throughout the world, particularly within golf communities and those with Scottish connections.

Sir Michael Bonallack, past secretary and captain of the R & A, is the Hon. President of the Trust and the patrons who have agreed to support the Foundation include Peter Alliss, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Sean Connery, Jack Nicklaus and many others who have a strong St. Andrews connection.

In the past three years considerable funds have been raised by placing exceptional golf packages on the eBay auction.

7 Days in Golf Heaven attracts great interest and the Foundation has enjoyed considerable success bringing parties of mainly Americans to St. Andrews to enjoy accommodation in specially selected Scottish five star hotels.

The Americans are attracted to the package because of the guaranteed tee times on the Old Course, golf on the world renowned Kingsbarns and other links courses. These packages have been possible through generous local sponsorship.

Additional funds have been raised through the opportunity for an

Lyn Moir: Breakers’ Yard

amateur golfer to bid for a slot via QXL, in the annual Dunhill Links Championship.

Work to raise funds for the Foundation is carried out by an Executive Working Group comprising Isla Ashcroft, Sylvia Donaldson, Mary Freeborn and Graham Smith, chaired by Patrick Cassell’s widow Maries, with a Board of Trustees appointed to oversee the charity.

Donations have so far been made to the Madras College Quad Fund and the Harbour Bridge, and the Foundation would welcome suggestions for future projects. To learn more about The Foundation please access our website www.pilgrimfoundation.org

(Arrowhead Press 2003, £7)

Reviewed by Anna Crowe, StAnza’s Artistic Director This is Lyn Moir’s second collection, which builds on some of the themes of her first—Me and Galileo—with greater confidence and technical skill. What strikes the reader at once is how thoroughly at home she is in her use of iambic pentameter, which she wears as a gardener wears a comfortable old coat—working away, and pulling something particular out of its roomy pockets to dig, tie up, allow a flower space to open and unfold.

The mainstay—to borrow the apt image her publishers have used—of Breakers’ Yard is the sequence of poems about her travels in Eastern Europe between 1984 and 2000.

Poems fashioned from travel can suffer from a voyeuristic slant, but not these. Lyn Moir writes about what she sees and remembers as though from the inside, from the standpoint of someone who has not only thought about and understood the complex and unhappy history of these countries, but who also has suffered in imagination with them. These poems convince us with their alert intelligence and keen observations, especially of the enormous changes—not always for the better—that have followed in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet bloc.

In ‘The Glass Xylophonist’, the frail Budapest musician—once ‘the toast/of countless concert halls’, and who has ‘rifled shattered windows for the slabs/ of textured glass’—becomes a symbol of endurance and truth, ‘a masterclass/ in ingenuity, survival’, a man whose ‘makeshift mallets/struck precisely so the notes rang true.’ The poet and her lover see him as ‘summer’s harbinger’, but when he disappears, there is more than a hint of the Mob moving in, as we know it has:

‘…buskers, dressed to kill in peasant costume, took his place, smarming fake gypsy music at the passers-by.’

Lyn Moir’s sense of time and its way of looping and re-running like film is very acute. Other times, especially the pre-war period and the Second World War, keep breaking into her poems, haunting them with flashbacks and informing the present. Titles, too, play tricks, suggesting layers of past literature or film that are part of western culture’s collective subconscious: ‘Zeppelin Market’ hints at ‘Goblin Market’, ‘Coast of Bohemia’ has us revisiting ‘The Winter’s Tale’ and, of course that very Russian bear, while ‘Et in Illyria Ego’ is anything but Arcadian and ‘Disneytime’ more like a

18

child’s nightmare. ‘Last Train to Marienbad’ borrows something of the atmosphere of ‘Last Year in Marienbad’, and in the night-time railway station whose ‘silent clock moves backwards’, Lyn Moir has found the quintessential image of menace as Europe slides into war:

‘…When its hands clap midnight, raindrops glisten, passengers appear and stand on slickened platforms, waiting for moonlight expresses and the wagons-lits which cross, recross the frontiers of the night.’

Time, in the poem, gathers speed, like a train that’s out of control, and the poem ends with images of deportation. A poem like ‘Auschwitz-Birkenau, December 27th, 1992’, treats a visit to the former concentration camp with great sensitivity and that necessary distance. There is an echo of the frozen landscape of Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ in the opening lines, whose deliberately casual tone brings the horror of the camp even closer :

Now that you mention it, I cannot say for certain no birds sing. The air was cold, too cold for song, for breath.

Time once again is skilfully blurred, taking the reader inside the room, in lines like

‘Frost flowers spread, thin-bladed, over window-glass, filling their frames with unaccustomed privacy.’

These poems (and I could find other felicities in poems like ‘The PuppetMaster’s Return’, with its echoes of that classic of early cinema, ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’) are sharply-etched, memorable and strong. The Eastern European locations give place, over halfway through the book, in the poem, ‘Border Crossing’, to inner landscapes of memory, to ‘the territories of your heart and mine’. Lyn Moir could well be described as a metaphysical poet, and the love poems she has written about the Galileo figure of her previous collection, with their imagery borrowed from astrophysics, are as sensuous as the metaphysical poets were four hundred years ago. Here she is, registering shock at the size of her old lover’s ears, but with what tenderness underneath the sharp observation does she convey how remote he is now:

Very little appears to have changed: …but your ears— huge gaping saucers, holy water stoups, satellite dishes trained on distant galaxies.

FEATURES Keen-eyed St Andreans may have noticed some changes taking place on Doubledykes Road in recent months, which have seen the former Parklands Hotel opposite the St Andrews Museum transformed into modern offices. In August last year the building became home to the

Scottish Information Commissioner one of Scotland’s newest public figures.

The title of Scottish Information Commissioner has led to some misunderstanding that the office has been set up as a general information service – in fact, the Commissioner is the person responsible for the promotion and enforcement of Scotland’s new Freedom of Information Act. Kevin Dunion was appointed as the first Scottish Information Commissioner in February 2003, and his first year in the post has been hectic. He recruited a team of 13 staff who were all in place by the end of September.

Given the choice of where to establish his office, he decided on St. Andrews, gained access to the building in June, and by October the newly renovated office was ready for its official opening.

The legislation that the Commissioner will enforce, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, comes into force on 1st January 2005, and gives everyone the right to access information held by Scotland’s public authorities. Over 10,000 authorities in Scotland are covered by the Act, including the Scottish Executive, local government and the police, as well as individual schools, colleges, doctor’s surgeries and hospitals.

Under the Act anybody can ask to see any piece of information held by these authorities, from overall corporate strategies right down to specific letters and e-mails.

For example, under the Act a school pupil could request information on the school’s anti-bullying strategy, or minutes of a meeting relating to the closure of an after-school club.

Victims of medical negligence would be able to request information about the incidence of similar cases, or community groups could request planning information relating to the decision to site a mobile phone mast in their area. Applicants don’t have to give a reason for requesting the information, and public authorities must respond to requests within twenty working days.

Public authorities can withhold certain information, but only in limited circumstances, which are set out in the Act. These exemptions include information which would threaten national security, or prejudice ongoing investigations. Even if information is subject to an exemption it might still be released if it is in the public interest to do so.

As Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion’s role is to enforce and promote the Act. Once the legislation is in force, anyone can ask the Commissioner to investigate if they believe that a public authority has wrongly withheld information which they have requested. The Commissioner will issue his decision on whether the disputed information should be released, and, ultimately, he has

the power to force public authorities to release information if he finds they are in breach of the Act. Said the Commissioner, “The Act aims to make Scotland’s public authorities more open and accountable to the people they serve. I will be working to ensure that public authorities fulfil that obligation. I know from my own experience how frustrating it is when requests for information are mislaid, ignored or unreasonably refused. My role as Commissioner is to provide the public with someone to turn to for redress.”

“Over the next 12 months, every authority covered by the Act must submit a publication scheme to the Commissioner for approval.”

There won’t be a period of calm to settle in before 2005 though. Over the next 12 months, every authority covered by the Act must submit a publication scheme to the Commissioner for approval. These schemes are designed to encourage the authorities covered by the Act to publish more information as a matter of course. They will list what information each public authority publishes and how people can access it.

You can find out more about the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act and the work of the Scottish Information Commissioner by accessing his website at:

About the Commissioner Kevin Dunion graduated from St. Andrews University in the seventies, and has since gone on to spend over 20 years working in the voluntary sector, including time with both Oxfam and Friends of the Earth. Prior to taking up the role of Scottish Information Commissioner, he was Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland and chaired Friends of the Earth International, heading delegations to the United Nations and European Commission.

He has been a prominent campaigner for freedom of information for many years, and was closely involved in the shaping of Scotland’s Freedom of Information Act.

www.itspublicknowledge.info

Roses are red Violets are blue . . .

The winner of last month’s competition and the recipient of a romantic Red Rose from Jamie’s The Florist is Kitty Macintyre of Crail. Her romantic concluding lines are:

. . . If life is a garden, Then love is the dew.

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FEATURES

The Fife Folk Museum Dr. Paula Martin asks – “When did you last visit the Fife Folk Museum in Ceres?”

Perhaps now is the time to get round to going, or to pay a return visit. There is far more to the collections than agriculture and cottage life, important as these are. We have paintings, furniture, china, tradesmen’s tools, early trades banners, textiles of all descriptions and, for the children, relics of earlier school days, dolls and other toys. And of course the buildings themselves.

The Museum opened in 1968, in premises given to the Central and North Fife Preservation Society by the Mitchell family of Ceres in 1964, and subsequently added to by purchase. The oldest building is the tolbooth.

Ceres was created a burgh of barony by the Hopes of Craighall in 1620, and they built a tolbooth in the High Street in 1673 at a cost of £1,036 Scots (about £86 sterling). Above the door is a carving of scales, with the inscription ‘God Bless the Just’, and beside the door hang the ‘jougs’, an iron collar in which minor offenders would be displayed to the public.

One of the main functions of the tolbooth was to store the burgh’s weights and measures, which were used to check goods brought to the market, and to weigh rents which were paid in kind. The main room within the tolbooth has therefore been used for a display of weights and measures, including one steelyard found during the original restoration work. The basement contains further displays, and a prisoner in the dungeon. The room you enter first is one of two weaver’s cottages. Its displays are mainly paintings, china and furniture.

Beyond that is the ‘Cottage Room’, complete with granny in her rocking chair, her woollen drawers hanging to dry above the fireplace, and grandpa in a box bed. Beyond that is the ‘Costume Room’, designed to display costume, and other textiles, dolls, toys and dress accessories. Stairs lead down to a basement with displays on laundry, and a door leads out from there to an outdoor area with various agricultural implements and garden tools.

Across the road is a modern extension, which houses objects relating to transport, including horse harness and decorations, bicycles, a board with toll charges from a turnpike road, and a little steam engine. There is also a small display of old school furniture and books, including a tawse and a gymslip.

Very important as well is the Museum Shop.

Here are sold home-made jams, marmalade and chutney, souvenirs, books and postcards.

The shop is an essential part of our income generation.

2003 saw a major restoration project, funded mainly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, the Fife Environment Trust and Fife Council. This involved rebuilding the retaining wall at the bottom of the garden, re-roofing the old buildings, and sorting out drainage problems. There were also a number of internal alterations. We now have improved disabled access, though the nature of the buildings precludes full access, unfortunately.

We have enhanced security, and the opportunity to redesign some of the displays.

We re-open to the public on Good Friday, 9th April, and will be open until Sunday 18th. We will then be open for the summer from Saturday 8th May to Sunday 3rd October, every afternoon between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

There is so much in the collection that every visitor comes away with different recollections, and different objects which have caught their imagination. Sometimes it is just everyday items which trigger memories of a grandparent’s house. One of the Friends of the Museum always remembers a red flannel petticoat, a reminder that however smart dresses might have appeared, their wearers knew how to keep warm. Some remember our two early bicycles, or the gaudy horse decorations, or one of our varied collection of paintings. My personal favourite is a doll’s corset. Today’s parents may spend more money on their children, but few can devote so much time and skill.

We rely wholly on a loyal band of volunteers, and more help would always be appreciated.

Some mind the Museum during opening hours, while others use their skills behind the scenes, cleaning, cataloguing and, at the moment, unpacking and sorting. Everything had to be put into storage during the restoration work, and there is now a lot of work getting everything back into its right place, and setting up permanent displays and temporary exhibitions.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about the Museum, its collections, disabled access or volunteering, please contact the Curator, Mrs Helen Armitage, on 01334 828180.

Back view of the Museum, from the public Car Park, showing the range of old buildings and the outdoor display area.

The building to the left is the Mill House Coffee Shop.

The front of the Museum, with the old tolbooth on the right. Above the door is a carving of scales – referring to the building, for justice and as a weigh-house.

A sampler, part of the Fife Folk Museum’s fine collection of textiles, lace, costume, dress accessories and dolls’ clothes.

The Fife Folk Museum

Opening times 2004 9th to 18th April 8th May to 3rd October 2pm to 5pm daily Admission Charges Adults: £2.50 Concessions: £2.00 Booked Parties: £1.50 Accompanied children under 16: free

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SELECTED EVENTS

Selected Events Every Wednesday in March and April, The Fife Walking Initiative, Bums off Seats, will lead morning and evening walks in St. Andrews.

Please phone 01577 861222 for details, 6 March – 25 April, Crawford Centre, North Street, St. Andrews – Susan Basham, exhibition of work inspired by Venice.

– Pressing Forward, printmaking, an exhibition organised by students of the University of St. Andrews Museum & Gallery Studies Course.

Saturday, 6 March, 8.00 p.m.

St. Leonard’s Music School, St. Andrews. Pupils of St. Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh, Scotland’s foremost specialist music school. Programme to be announced. Tickets at the door £8, concessions £7, students £4 Saturday, 6 March, 7.30 p.m. Younger Hall, St. Andrews. The Rotary Club of St. Andrews present a gala concert in aid of their chosen charities. Performers include The Heisenberg Ensemble and Celebration Chorus, the Younger Fiddle Group, Satravaganza, Children’s Choirs, and special guest artist Vladislav Steinberg, virtuoso Russian violinist. Enquiries at the Music Centre, Younger Hall (01334) 462226 Saturday, 20 March, 7.30 p.m.

Younger Hall, St. Andrews. The St. Andrews Chorus will perform the Mozart Requiem, and Lux Aeterna by Lauridsen. They will be accompanied by the Heisenberg Ensemble, conducted by Stephen Doughty. For further information, telephone (01334) 473648 Thursday, March 25, The Younger Hall, St. Andrews, 7.45p.m. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, playing Gade, Mendelssohn and Schuman. Tickets £6.50 – £17 either at the Byre Theatre (01334) 475000 or the Younger Hall (01334) 462226 Good Friday, 9 April – 18 April, Fife Folk Museum, Ceres, opens. For further information phone 01334 828180 Friday, 16th April, St. Leonards Music School, St. Andrews, 7.00 p.m.

A recital of songs by contemporary Scottish composers. William coleman, Baritone and Graeme McNaught, piano. Tickets £6 (£5 concessions). For further information, phone (01334) 473917

Great Easter Entertainment St. Andrews is looking forward to a wide variety of events, shows and exhibitions over the Easter Weekend for St. Andreans and visitors alike.

Music is heavily featured at The Byre Theatre, with “Singin’ and Swingin’” – featuring top crooner Craig McMurdo and sophisticated songstress Alyson Orr – on stage on Friday 9th April at 8.00pm. This exciting new show captures all the flavour of the Las Vegas Lounge and features songs by Cole Porter, Irvin Berlin and Rogers and Hart, as well as some made famous by Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. The following evening, at 8.00pm, Rhythm & Blues band “Lights Out by Nine” hit the stage with their unique sound.

For all the family, Virginia Radcliffe’s uproarious, musical, spellbinding experience, “Wee Witches”, will keep children of all ages enthralled on Saturday 10th April at 11.00am and 2.00pm.

For a chance to pick up a bargain, or to seek out that collectable that you’ve always wanted, come along to St. Andrews Town Hall for the Antique and Collectors Fair on Sunday 11th April.

The Crawford Arts Centre has gained a reputation for the very best of innovative visual arts – and the three exhibitions over Easter can only add to that reputation. Smiling at Shadows by Fife based artist Susan Basham shows work inspired by the architecture and atmosphere she experienced on a visit to Venice. Details such as unusual windows, the gondola poles, or a piece of faded damask in a museum have prompted ideas for works. She has created miniature installations using porcelain with silk and linen fibres, which explore light shadow in her personal response to a unique city.

Printmaking has a long and varied history but new techniques continue to be developed as the artform responds to current trends. The exhibition “Pressing Forward” focuses on printmaking activity on the east coast of Scotland where there are flourishing workshops in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

It has been selected and organised by students on the postgraduate Museum & Gallery Studies Course at the University of St Andrews.

Glasgow based Laura Murray exhibits her wire and bead jewellery and evening purses, Fife based Pauline Pert shows off her fabulous textile work and the Crawford boasts the Scottish premiere of delicately textural ceramics by Emer O’Sullivan.

News from St Andrews Museum Exhibition, 6 March to 25 April Experimental: Changing Beliefs in Alchemy, Astronomy and Anatomy An exhibition by students from the University of St Andrews postgraduate Museum and Galleries Studies course. This features scientific objects, from the gruesome to the awesome, some dating from the sixteenth century that come from the University’s scientific collections.

Activities and talks A programme of children’s workshops and lectures for adults on the theme of science will be held in the school holidays at Easter. Please contact the museum for further information.

Pilgrims wanted!

Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? If you have, then staff at St Andrews Museum would be very interested in hearing from you. In July and August the museum is hosting a new exhibition, “Sair Hearts, Sair Feet, Sair Heids – A Story of Pilgrims and Pilgrimage”, which is being created by the St Andrews Cathedral Project. This local group aims to promote and celebrate St Andrews as a centre of pilgrimage.

The exhibition will look at the history of pilgrimage to St Andrews and will also look at pilgrims from a variety of faiths nowadays.

The museum will be showing objects from its collection, such as medieval pilgrim badges.

We also hope to borrow items that people have brought back from pilgrimages in recent years.

Pilgrim Badge of St Andrew So, if you are a Catholic who has gone to Lourdes, a Muslim who has been on the hajj to Mecca or have been on any other religious pilgrimage then the museum would be very interested to hear from you. Please contact Gavin Grant at the museum if you think you can help.

St. Andrews Museum Kinburn Park Doubledykes Road St Andrews Tel: 01334 412690 Open daily 10.30am – 4pm (October – March) 10am – 5pm (April – September)

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SELECTED EVENTS AND COMPETITION

StAnza Our most exciting programme yet “Scotland’s poetry festival” is the title the first three organisers of StAnza rather brashly thought up at its inception, over six years ago.

But it is one that the festival wears more and more comfortably with each succeeding year, and this year we are putting on two events that will demonstrate the richness of Scotland’s linguistic heritage, with poets reading in Scots, Gaelic and Shetlandic. StAnza has a fine tradition of inviting poets from other countries to come and read, and of supporting writers from minority languages, with translations where appropriate. In March we have poets from no less than five countries, as well as from Scotland, Wales and England—poets from Canada, from Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

This is the most exciting and wide ranging StAnza festival yet. It covers more aspects of poetry than previously, and shows poetry interacting with other art forms and different environments in new and engaging ways. This year’s StAnza, the seventh, covers almost four days, offering 44 events in total, of which 10 are readings, 7 are exhibitions, 4 are ‘in conversations’, 4 are ‘meet the artist’ events, 4 are children’s events, 3 are discussions, 3 are ‘open mike’ events and 2 are workshops.

The idea of having over-arching themes is one that has come about gradually, and this year’s themes are Poetry & the Sea, and Poetry & Art. Of the seven exhibitions, two will feature work specially commissioned by StAnza. ‘The Meaning of Water’ is a meditative installation, a collaboration between artist Elizabeth Ogilvie and poet Douglas Dunn, while ‘Robert Burns—

Scotland’s Poetry Festival: 18-21 March 2004 A preview by StAnza’s Artistic Director, Anna Crowe

Out of his Box’ (a real box of tricks) brings together the Dundee poet John Glenday and Fife artist Reinhard Behrens. The Scottish artist, Will Maclean, will be talking about the coast where poetry and art meet, and Professor Peter Read will give the StAnza Lecture, exploring 20th century visual poetry of France, Italy and Scotland. Poet Ian Stephen will be sailing his converted fishing-boat, El Vigo, from Stornaway to St. Andrews, logging his voyage as a series of poems to be posted each day on a special website, and linked to the StAnza website.

Among the many fine poets reading their work will be stars like UA Fanthorpe, Kathleen Jamie, Pauline Stainer, Robert Crawford, Gillian Clarke, Jo Shapcott and Piotr Sommer.

A poet very much at home in the theatre is Tony Harrison, perhaps best known for his television works such as Prometheus and V, and his versions of the mediaeval mystery plays written for the National Theatre. His is a powerful, unforgettable voice, reminding us that language is a political force. Reading with him is the Canadian poet Anne Michaels, whose poetic holocaust novel, Fugitive Pieces, won the Orange Prize and the Guardian Fiction Award.

Our other Canadian visitor is poet and critic, Stephen Scobie, who was born in Scotland and is a St. Andrews graduate. As well as reading from his work, he will be discussing the lyrics of Bob Dylan with Professor Neil Corcoran.

Wendy Cope is one of the nation’s favourite poets. Once described as a “jet-age Tennyson”, she is that rare phenomenon—a poet who is both critically acclaimed, and whose poetry sells by the hundred thousand. Her first collection, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, went straight into the bestseller list, and in 1998 she was the listeners’ choice in a Radio 4 poll to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate. Dry and hilarious, her elegant poems will move you to tears and laughter.

In what is sure to prove a highly popular event, Louis de Bernières, who wrote the bestselling Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, will be talking about how poetry has influenced his life and writing. Reading a selection of his favourite poems, he’ll be talking about his writing, the poets who have influenced him and will perhaps share some of his own verse.

Our most exciting participant is undoubtedly Derek Walcott. We have at last persuaded the great Caribbean poet, playwright and Nobel prize-winner to forsake the warm shores of his native St. Lucia, and come to St. Andrews. The sound of the sea, the beat of the surf, is never far from his poetry, which addresses issues like slavery and colonialism as well as the personal dilemma of the exile, and in the most beautiful and resonant language.

Add to all this the children’s poet Kit Wright as StAnza’s Poet-in-Residence, kinetic poems

by Gael Turnbull, three ships in St. Andrews harbour where you can write on board, a masterclass with Jo Shapcott, a ‘poetry walk’ with Thomas Clark, a round-table discussion with editors on how to get your work published, and a Poetry Party for children, and it’s clear there is something in this year’s StAnza for everyone, and that StAnza 2004 will more than fulfil its claim to be a celebration of poetry.

Pick up a full programme from the Byre Theatre or the Crawford Arts Centre, get one post free from Fife Council Arts Development: Tel 01592 414714, or visit James Robertson the StAnza web site on – winner of the www.stanzapoetry.org 2004 Saltire Prize

COMPETITION – COMPETITION – COMPETITION As Issue 2 was unfortunately delayed, we decided to continue running the cat-on-thebird-table competition.

Mr. Ian Dickson, Manager of Bottoms-Up in Market Street, St. Andrews, is offering a bottle of wine for the best caption to this picture.

Ideas to St. Andrews in Focus by 28th March, and the winner will appear in the May/June magazine. Have fun!

Rachel Hazell – will take the children’s workshop

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TOWN/GOWN “It’s not easy trying to describe the

Kate Kennedy Procession to anyone new to St Andrews – it has to be seen to be believed” writes Giles Winn, Marshall of the Procession 2004.

Around 120 characters from the past 600 years of St Andrews’ history, parading through our streets on foot, on horseback and in carriages, accompanied by bagpipes and watched by thousands of spectators.

It is a tradition that dates back to the 1840’s when final year students used to dress up as members of the university staff and parade through the streets, although there are reports of a similar event as far back as 1432. The parade was banned in the nineteenth century for being too rowdy, but was later established officially in 1926. James Doak and Donald Kennedy (a direct descendant of Bishop James Kennedy, the founder of St. Salvators College) were inspired by a speech that the then Lord Rector J.M. Barrie had made entitled ‘Courage’ in which he imagined how great it would be if we were able to go back and meet the many famous people from the history of the town.

With the permission of the Principal, the two students formed the Kate Kennedy Club to organise the annual Procession. It took its name from the niece of Bishop James Kennedy and was seen as a way of celebrating the coming of Spring and honouring St. Andrews’ deep historical heritage.

The principal purpose of the Kate Kennedy Club today remains the Procession but it also organises a number of other events including the May Ball and Opening Ball, two Jazz Nights, a Charity Fun Run, and an Archery Competition, to name but a few. The Club also assists the town by helping to clear up on Raisin Monday. All the events organised by the Club are based around its’ three aims: to raise money for local Fife charities, to uphold the traditions of the University, and to promote and maintain town/gown relations.

This is the 78th year of the Procession and preparation for the event is well under-way. We all hope it will be one of the best yet, with the Procession Committee, University and Town all working firmly together. Our aim is for everyone to have a memorable day and hopefully learn a little more about the history of St Andrews. It is I think, our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the people of the town who are so supportive of the club throughout the year.

Spectators can witness characters from as far back as Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, to John Cleese and Frank Muir, walking once again through the streets of St. Andrews. At the end of the Procession is Kate Kennedy herself, played by a first year club

member, travelling in one of two horse-drawn carriages.

The Procession begins at 2pm on Saturday 17th April from St Salvators College Quadrangle on North Street and returns there at 4pm. Over the two hours it winds its way round the town stopping on the Scores, St Mary’s College, and Holy Trinity Church on South Street. At each stop, ‘Kate’ is received by a different group associated with the town, and is presented with a gift.

The Kate Kennedy Procession has become an event integral to the character of St Andrews. It restores our faith in tradition – that whilst time marches on, we will continue to remember those who have walked these streets before us. There are those in the town who have been watching the Procession since its’ revival in 1926 and the Club continues to receive messages of support from them. An event like this can only work whilst this support and the help we receive from the University and local authorities continues.

So I hope you will join me, and around 15,000 others on Saturday 17th April as we step back in time to meet the characters that have helped make this town great.

The University Purchases the Gateway Gayle E. Cook, University Press Officer The University of St. Andrews has purchased the Gateway building on the North Haugh, St. Andrews from its current owners, Keiller Estates.

The University plans to use the Gateway primarily to provide first class research and teaching accommodation for the University’s internationally renowned undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in business and management. The ground floor will also serve as a high quality University orientation and information centre designed to encourage public access and use by local partners.

The University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Brian Lang, said, “This development is firmly in line with the University’s continued strategy

of investment in high quality facilities to support world class teaching and research. I am delighted that we have been able to achieve such a favourable outcome to what has been a complex, but ultimately rewarding process. The Gateway occupies one of the most prominent sites in St. Andrews and it is fitting that we should be able to put it to good use for the long-term benefit of the community and the University.”

Work to prepare the building for use by the University and visiting public will begin shortly and is expected to be complete by September 2004

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OUT & ABOUT

Spring in St. Andrews Botanic Garden Chairman of The Friends of the Botanic Garden, Dr. Edith Cormack asks,” When is spring?”

If you believe official recorders, spring has arrived when the shrub Forsythia is in full yellow flower and apples are in blossom. You should certainly see both of these now in the Botanic Garden, in addition to some of the winter-flowering shrubs still in bloom. Primulas and rhododendrons bring extra colour and delight to the peat garden. (Rhododendrons start flowering in January.). There is a big magnolia tree (Magnolia sargentea) growing on the southern bank of this area. Some years it is covered in flower and magnificent in April.

Some years the frost, wind, rain or hail ‘get’ it. What will it be this year? Will flowering be earlier or later than last? Regular visitors will be sure to comment!

Reach the peat garden by walking down by the Loches Pool (the large pond) and have a look at the ‘World Peace Pole’, presented last summer. The words ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth’ have been beautifully carved on it in

English, Gaelic, Vietnamese and Japanese by local craftsman Kenny Grieve.

Close by, there is the intriguing purple toothwort, a parasite on the willows, and if you are fortunate you may have the company of a heron or very occasionally a kingfisher. (Don’t touch the toothwort. Some people get a skin reaction from it).

If it gets chilly, take shelter in the Glasshouses where a warm climate is maintained for the sub-tropical plant collection, and for visitors!

The Botanic Garden is a public garden, managed by Fife Council, open all year. Around Easter, the season begins fully with the plant sales area at the main gate operating again.

(Organised by the Friends of the Botanic Garden, with all profits helping to maintain the Garden).

The Friends also arrange free informal guided walks in the Garden on the first Sunday

of each month, March-October inclusive, starting at the main gate at 2pm and lasting just over an hour. Everyone is welcome. (Watch the St Andrews Citizen for details of all special events).

Reach the Garden on foot (use Viaduct Walk from the Argyle Street Car Park, perhaps make a circuit to include the Lade Braes) or by car (plenty parking space). Nearest bus No 94A from town centre. (Walk from Nelson Street or Broomfaulds Avenue.).

St Andrews Botanic Garden, The Canongate, St Andrews.

Opening hours October – April daily 10am – 4pm May – September daily 10am – 7pm.

For an additional look at the garden, visit www.st-andrews-botanic.org

FRIENDS OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN

Invite you to visit a hidden treasure in the heart of St Andrews Forsythia (R.M. Cormack)

WOODLAND & WATERGARDENS HERBACEOUS & SCREE ALPINES & RHODODENDRONS GLORIOUS GLASSHOUSE COLLECTIONS OPEN DAILY ALL YEAR ROUND SPRING PLANT SALE IN THE GREENHOUSE SATURDAY 13 MARCH 10AM-12NOON CONDUCTED WALKS 1ST SUNDAY MARCH TO OCTOBER MEET AT GARDEN GATE 2PM Canongate, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8RT Tel: 01334 476452 www.st-andrews-botanic.org

Rhododendron (R.M. Cormack)

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OUT & ABOUT How about collaborating with Newburgh and doing the same in St. Andrews? Why should fruit be lost?

Counting up the Apples and Pears?

Peter Pearson, the Orchard Group in Newburgh

The first customer to arrive at Newburgh’s Plum Fayre in September 2003 had driven through from St. Andrews to be there for 9am. Seeing the event advertised to begin at 10am she had made plans to be there early and be able to make a good selection of plums, both for eating and for jam. She said that she had come to Newburgh for many years for the plums and had been sad to think that the tradition had stopped, till she heard about Newburgh Orchard Group reviving the street market.

Hundreds of bags of plums and jars of jam were sold that day to the many customers who had come to buy what some called “the best fruit in Fife”.

The history of growing fruit in the Newburgh area can probably be traced back to the monks of Lindores Abbey about 800 years ago. Their fruit-growing skills and traditions had come from France, and in the gardens around the Abbey it was pears they cultivated, possibly a very early version of the Williams’ Bon Chretien.

The monks used the pears to supplement their meagre diet, though the names given to the fruit would suggest it was not of the quality to be expected today – they had Deil Pear, the Soot Pear and even the Choke Pear.

In 1813 a local man, David Bell, presented a paper to the Caledonian Horticultural Society entitled “An Account of the Newburgh Orchards”. He describes the gardens on the North side of the High Street being almost wholly covered with fruit trees, growing in soil which he calls “a deep black mould”. He details how for centuries the fruit trees had been improved by careful selection and grafting, and that now the apples are “famous throughout the country for the fineness of their flavour”.

But times have changed and towns have changed, and North East Fife’s ancient burghs and market towns like St Andrews and Newburgh are no longer the same – or are they? What remains in this century of 800 years of the skills of fruit-growing?

even 1000? Are pears, apples or plums now predominant?

The town’s fruit-tree owners volunteered to be counted in for the survey and in a few weeks in the autumn a remarkable result emerged. A total of 840 fruiting trees was found and included in the survey’s database. Every tree was mapped, measured, details recorded and then each one was photographed. This information will be shared amongst the residents of Newburgh in 2004 to enable plans to be made for the future. In this way centuries of knowledge and skills will be continued, built on and improved. Can we revive old traditions, re-create old street markets, make the skills involved in growing and using the fruit appropriate to the 21st Century?

For the next generation has not been forgotten. Using funds from Fife Council, a large new orchard is being planted beside the Primary School. This will be a Community Orchard of about 70 trees where local families and visitors can learn about fruit-growing and the history, which for centuries made Newburgh “the Fruit Town of Fife”.

The local History Society discovered that the layout of the long strips of garden behind the houses and closes of Newburgh’s High Street is largely still the same as the riggs given out by the Abbot of Lindores, when he was trying to establish a new burgh centuries ago.

In 2003 the local Orchard Group, working through Fife Council, secured grants from the Local Venture Fund and the Leader Plus Fund.

This has enabled the Group to engage Dr Crispin Hayes, a consultant from Springfield, to work with them in surveying Newburgh’s fruit trees. How many would there be – 100, 500,

Further information about the History Society or the Orchard Group can be obtained from Peter Pearson on 01337 840410, or email – ppearson.newburgh@fsmail.net.

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OUT & ABOUT Alistair Lawson, Field Officer of The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society throws light on a topical subject.

“Vindicated in Law” No, the above title does not refer to some new form of social impediment, to add to the normal array of father-, mother-, son- and daughter-inlaw. We may continue on life’s way unfettered – or, at least, no more fettered than is the normal human condition.

Back in 1871, a St Andrews right of way was “vindicated in law”, when the status of the route along the coast, from the East Sands to Kinkell Harbour was in dispute. The case, Duncan v Lees, was a tricky one, in that it depended upon Kinkell Harbour – not so much a harbour as a creek – being proven to be a ‘public place’ in the particular sense required by law. The law on rights of way is two-handed in the matter of routes leading to points on the shore: on the one hand, the shore itself, being Crown property, is generally open to all; on the other hand, the law guards against the public walking down to the shore shoulder to shoulder, across a wide front, and claiming that every line so used may be used by right.

A right of way must lead from one ‘public place’ (defined as ‘a place where the public

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otherwise have a right to be’) to another, and that generally means from one public road to another or from one public right of way to another. The particular test to be applied to spots on the shore is that they must be used by the public in a way which sets them apart from every other point along the shore. In the case of Kinkell Creek, it was stated that local fishermen were in the habit of using the creek for mooring boats, and this was held to demonstrate that that point on the shore had a particular character which set it aside from the generality of the shore.

The case is written up in the Court of Session records and a précis of it is contained in a little book, ‘The Authority of Case Law’, published by the *Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society. This book contains almost 80 cases which have become standard references in situations where a lawyer may wish to reinforce a point which is not covered in statute law but on which a precedent has been established in a similar, earlier case.

The Society has been particularly vigilant along the Kinkell coast in recent years, arguing the case for the various rights of way which cut down from the Crail road to the Coastal Path.

The creation of the Kingask golf courses by the St Andrews Bay Development Company, plus the Links Trust’s current proposal to build the town’s ‘7th Course’, have required constant vigilance of varying degrees to ensure that, however attractive these new recreational facilities might be, the public lose nothing of what they had before.

In fact, the ‘7th Course’ will be managed on the same basis as the Links Trust’s ground at the west end of the town, where public access is guaranteed under the terms of the St Andrews Links Act (1894), further confirmed in 1974. It is interesting to note that this liberal piece of legislation foreshadowed in many ways the new rights given to the public under the Scottish Land Reform Act (2003). That Act is in a curious situation of limbo at the moment; it received Royal Assent in February 2003, but will not be implemented until the complementary Scottish Outdoor Access Code (likely to be known as ‘SOAC’) is finalised, probably later this year. It is something of a feather in St Andrews’ cap that it offered its citizens the use of the Links for purposes other than golf fully a century in advance of our new Act. The Scottish Parliament and its advisers in Scottish Natural Heritage agonized long and deeply over the correct balance between the rights of golfers (and other users of ‘ground laid out for sport) and the rights of the general, recreating public. It is interesting to speculate as to whether those who drew up the Links Act likewise agonized or whether they saw their way clearly without the need to agonize! Links historians will be quick to assure readers of ‘St. Andrews in Focus’ that the latter was assuredly the case. * The Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society may be contacted at 24 Annandale Street, Edinburgh EH7 4AN; phone 0131-558-1222; e-mail info@scotways.com

OUT & ABOUT

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