braemar buzzard · the season just past 2009/2010 has been the most successful since the takeover -...

Braemar Buzzard Informing the Community Issue 18 - Oct 2010

1

INSIDE page

2 Editorial

Community update

3 Focus on Glenshee

Scout News

4 Who do you think you are? Chapel Brae Bowling News

5 Estate News

Summer at the Castle

6 Wasps In Remembrance

7 Junior Buzzard

Braemar BuzzardBraemar BuzzardBraemar Buzzard Compiled by David Sherrard & Liz Robertson

Bikers benefit from last of the Summer Sunshine

Something new for Braemar, the village hosted a Norton Bike Rally weekend of 10-12 September. Doug Bruce reports that bikers trav-elled from as far afield as Ire-land, Southern England and even Denmark to take part. On Saturday participants en-joyed a 65 mile run encom-passing Donside, lunch at Ballater, trip up to Glen Muick, and culminating with a photo shoot stop at the main entrance gates of Balmoral Castle. Many of the partici-

pants expressed their amazement at the roads and the stunning scenery. George Peddie, events organiser for the Tay Valley branch of the Norton Owners Club said ‘We would like to thank the following: everyone in Braemar who turned up to see and chat about the bikes; the Highland Society for allowing us to camp in the Games grounds; the Guides for the use of the Shieling; and a special mention to Ian Hair at the Moorfield House Hotel who looked after us, fed us and supplied several beverages of liquid!’ All in all, it has been a busy summer in and around Braemar. Braemar Castle has had plenty of visitors (page 5); the Braemar

Bowling Club hosted the Dee Don League Cham-pion of Champions (page 4); the salmon fishing has been good on the River Dee (page 5); the mountain bike track opened up at Glenshee (page 3); and the wasps have had a bumper year in the gardens (page 6). Autumn is now upon us

as described in the words of Irene Fyfe, winner of the SWRI poetry competition:

The Summer gone, the Games are past The Winter looms - but not so fast

We still have Autumn to enjoy Though shorter days some might annoy

Lovely colours, falling leaves This surely everyone will please And that is not the only reason

To look forward to our third season

Ailsa Lawrence and Marie Marsden with bouquets to present to the

Queen at the Braemar Gathering in September


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Callater car park

Invercauld Estate has upgraded the car park for Loch Callater with a new charge for parking. Those wishing to purchase season tickets can do so - season tickets cost £20/year and cover both the Keiloch and Callater car parks.

Church Clock

The clock is now mended and ready to be rein-stalled once the internal timberwork is replaced (estimated to be by the end of November). The masonry work will be left until next year when the days are longer and the danger of frost has past.

Deeside Donside Development Pro-

ject (DDDP) Nick Mardell has been ap-

pointed as Development Manager of the DDDP. Nick’s role is to help identify community projects and to provide such projects with impe-tus and support. He is keen that people con-tact him with their ideas 013397 53775 Email: [email protected] Information on the project, formulated for communities in the Upper Deeside and Donside areas within the Cairngorms National Park, can be found at www.deedondev.org

St Margaret’s Episcopal Church

The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, the Churches Conservation Trust and the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust are working together to try and find a way forward for the church, sadly much underused and in deteriorating condition. The three trusts are seeking to assemble a funding package of £54k over 3 years to secure a fu-ture for the church. Robert Gillies, Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, would be glad to hear views on future use of the church or on sugges-tions for potential funders. 01224 662247 Email: [email protected]

Christmas Musical

Rehearsals are now underway. Performances are scheduled for Dec 16, 17, 18 and 26 in the village hall. Contact John Macpherson for more information or to volunteer your help 013397 41439

Cairngorms National Park Consul-

tation A report on the recent community con-

sultation by CNP is expected by the end of No-vember.

Evening Classes Various classes are un-

derway at Aboyne Community Centre. A be-ginners computer course is due to start in Bal-later in October. Look out for Business start-up training sessions in Ballater in November.

Braemar News Group (BNG)

Management Committee: Liz Robertson (chair), Dorothy Ramsay (treasurer), Margaret Palmer (secretary), Pete Mulvey Editorial Group: Marilyn Baker, Richard Baker, Doug Bruce, Susie Farquharson, Selena Hill, Maggie MacAl-pine, Pamela McAree, Dave Sherrard, Pat Thomson

Copies of the local telephone directory are now available at usual Buzzard outlets (newsagent and garage), donations of £1 towards cost per copy are sought. If the directory is popular then it will be up-dated and re-printed in due course - any amend-ments/additions should be emailed to the Newsgroup [email protected] or passed direct to Pete Mulvey. The News Group is always keen to welcome involvement with production of the Buzzard or in other BNG projects from members of the community. There are many ways to get involved from chasing up copy, putting forward ideas, paying for an ad., posting Buzzards through letter boxes! etc. Please contact Liz Robertson if you would like to be more actively involved or to submit an article for considera-tion email [email protected] Thank you to those who have contributed copy to this edition. Perhaps the article on houses (page 4) may inspire you to write something about the history of your house... or the article from Findlay (page 7) inspire you to describe your hobby or pastime - there may be lots of others interested in taking them up. I would like to invite the local dogs (via their owners!) to send us a photo and brief cv (age, breed, owners, likes/dislikes) for possible inclusion in the Buzzard.

Community Update:

Farewell to Alice Cumming

Alice will be moving out of the area in the near future. She has ably served as the local registrar for many years. Aberdeenshire Council are not re-appointing a registrar to Braemar, services have been trans-ferred to Aboyne. There will be a meeting in the near future to discuss how this new system will work.

Medical Matters

Happy retirement to Dr Thomson who is leaving the Braemar medical practice after more than 8 years. His replacement can’t start immediately but will be in place shortly. The winter flu vaccination programme will commence within the next few weeks for those eligible.


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Glenshee Ltd.

The Ski Centre was bought from the receiv-ers on 2nd September 2004 after the old company had gone into receivership. It was purchased by 17 shareholders who consisted of 7 staff from the old Company plus 10 local individuals. The season just past 2009/2010 has been the most successful since the takeover - 116,000 skier days with 110 days open for skiing. This has allowed funds to be spent during the summer on replacing and renewing a lot of the snow fencing, upgrading and maintaining the current lift system, and, subject to final approval from the Depart-ment of Transport, a new Chairlift is to be built from the main buildings up to Cairnwell Café, giv-ing more access onto the Cairnwell side of the hill. A new piste groomer is on order from Kass-bohrer in Germany which will be delivered before the start of the new season. During the summer the Mountain biking track was opened on the Cairnwell with access from the Chairlift. The track has proved very popular and it is hoped that as it becomes better known, the mountain biking will develop more in the future. The company has also had a busy summer with its outside catering. Glenshee Ltd is now gearing up for the coming winter season and, if purchased before 1st November, season tickets can be bought at a big discount : Adult – £270 before 1st November (price after 1st Nov £350); Junior/Senior £170 (£230); Student £200 (£250). Application forms for pur-chase of tickets can be found on the website www.ski-glenshee.co.uk Email; [email protected] or 013397 41320

Scout Group News

Duncan Robertson The Scout Group got into stride again with lots of good news after the summer break (during which there was plenty of international camping). The Beaver section (6-8 yr old) has re-started under the capable leadership of Lorraine McLaren as Leader; currently 8 Beavers are at-tending. The Group received a very kind grant of £480 from the organizers of the ‘Heart of Park’ challenge race towards outdoor activities or events. The award was in recognition of the as-sistance by members of the Group with the mar-shalling of the race. The grant cheque was pre-

sented by Ali Hubbard and Jim Wood. Six of the oldest Scouts were presented with their ‘Chief Scout Gold Award’ on 26th Au-gust. The Gold Award is the highest award in the Scout section and recognizes three years’ of ex-cellent work on their skills and challenges.

The Scout Group have re-furbished the old shed at the back of Castleton Hall to store their camping and outdoor equipment. The Shed was officially opened by John Macpherson and by Susie Farquharson on behalf of the Community Council and the Castleton Dancers, who both pro-vided a generous grant towards the costs. Nineteen Scouts and 5 Leaders enjoyed a weekend ‘Survival Camp’ on 25/26 Sept at Mar Lodge Estate. The Scouts did a hike, built their own survival shelters, and cooked their own food ‘backwoods style’ without pots or utensils - the spit roast rabbit was excellent. The night was one of the coldest on record for September (- 4°C!) but everyone was cosy in their shelters.

Susie cuts the tape at the official opening of the re-furbished shed at the back of Castleton Hall

BBQ & Safari 12th

Sept

Braemar Local History Group (BLHG)

A lively group of about 50 were transported via four wheeled drive to Allanaquoich where Peter Holden gave an illustrated presentation about the rich history of his home and the historical build-ings in the near vicinity. Peter was joined by Ed Martin and together with the group they all visited Princess Louise’s Tearoom, The Punch Bowl, the site of the Old Sawmills and Quoich cottage. Many stories, some long forgotten, were shared. A BBQ in the grounds of Allanaquoich House rounded off the afternoon. BLHG thanks Peter and Ed and all the drivers of 4 by 4’s who will-ingly transported the group from Braemar.

http://www.ski-glenshee.co.uk/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Mayfield and The Old School stand opposite each other on Chapel Brae and have an intertwined history stretching back 200 years. The school building is now a family home fol-lowing a period as the abode of Father James Mor-row, the former parish priest of St. Andrew’s RC Church, who passed away recently. The building was erected in 1795 as the original St. Andrew’s Church. It served that purpose until replaced by the current St. Andrew’s in 1839. From that point it became the home of Auchendryne School, educating the Catholic children in the village. Sixteen teachers taught there, starting with Alexander Mcintosh and ending with Miss Hepburn who was the final teacher when the school closed in 1976. One of the longest serving was John Morgan who took up the post in 1855 at the age of 18 and held it for 28 years. He was also the builder of Mayfield and the grandfather of the current John Morgan, who still resides there with his wife Mary. Interestingly John Morgan the teacher was the son of yet another John Morgan, the first teacher at an Auchendryne School from 1820 to 1822, long before the school moved to the Chapel Brae site.

Mayfield was built by John in 1848 and was rented on long lease and run as a boarding house under a succession of tenants. Some boarding house residents stayed as long as 5 years! The house became a family home for another John and family in 1958, when they moved from the historic family croft in Inverey, and it has remained a family home ever since. The current Morgans moved in during the early 1980s. Over all those years the house has offered B&B to visitors to Braemar, some of whom returned every year for 35 years. It also of-fered winter accommodation to the elderly from out-lying areas in years gone by. Thanks to John and Mary for contributing to this short history.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Two Houses on Chapel Brae and Four

John Morgans

David Sherrard

The Old School

Mayfield

Have you an interesting story that you would like to share about your house? Please contact a mem-ber of the Buzzard team.

Summertime News From Braemar Bowling Club Pamela McAree, President

There have been both highlights and lowlights during this year at the Club! Junior bowls were purchased and being bright red, yellow and blue went down well with the children of all ages who came along to Liz’s fun Sunday afternoons. Danish Scouts and also our own Braemar Scouts have enjoyed themselves on the green.

We hosted the Dee Don League Champion of Champions matches in August. These took place over two weekends and during the early part of the summer, the ladies worked hard both in the garden and the bowling club getting things tidied up in preparation. We did not win the League but our ladies and gents pairs got through to their respective semi-finals. The only glitch came when a sharp-eared player said he could hear running water in the gents’ toilets! Yes, we had a leak! How-ever all was sorted the following week by a speedy plumber and we were back in business. The sea-son closed on October 10th but we look forward to welcoming members, old and new, next Spring.


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News from Invercauld Estate Simon Blackett

We all remember the long hard winter past. Snow and frost are just round the corner again. The wildlife on the Estate seems to have survived the winter and flourished this summer. A few deer and some birds starved to death, but on the whole nature is very robust and life goes on. The deep snow protected the heather from frost so we had a very good flowering this year. The grouse did well where tick is not a major problem and we organised 16 driven shooting days, which is more than for some years. No records were broken, but particularly on Corndavon, we had a good year. It was nice to see some familiar faces from the village out beating. Red deer are counted by helicopter most years and we counted the whole Estate in January this year, counting just under 5,000 red deer. It would be impossible to count roe deer. Despite what sounds like a large num-ber of deer, the stalkers are finding it difficult to find shootable stags for the guests. We aim to shoot around 200 stags this year, which is greatly down from around 600 stags 5 years ago. The deer reduction policies adopted by Mar Lodge have also affected our numbers, as any deer wandering into the regeneration zone tend to get shot. Deer being wild animals move where they want and if it is onto NTS ground, they might not come back. The salmon fishing on the upper reaches of the Dee starts around April and fin-ishes at the end of September. For some years the river has adopted a policy of releasing all caught fish back into the river, because fish in the freezer do not breed! This policy seems to have paid dividends as we had our best year on the Crathie Beat since the 1960`s, catching over 300 salmon. Invercauld House is now back under the control of the Estate as Mr Pennell has left. We will be looking for another long term tenant for the House and adjacent moors. Camping by the Clunie has been less problematical this year, but we still collected a trailer load of tents, sleeping bags and other rubbish abandoned by visitors. We welcome Carol Cormack who has taken over the former Capercaillie Shop in the village and wish her a long a prosperous stay. Ian Hill has been busy with firewood orders so if you want to stock up for winter, ring Freda at the Estate Office 013397 41224.

Summer season at

Braemar Castle

Doreen Wood

Against a general downturn in tourism this season, it looks a though the castle is going to show a slight increase in visitors The May fete, Jacobite Day, Doors Open Day and our smart new brochure have all helped boost num-bers and we had a visit from 80 international mem-bers of Clan Grant in Au-gust. The continued suc-cess is down to the hard work and commitment of the volunteers. 328 half day Guiding shifts are needed across the season and with 14 Guides that’s a lot of slots to cover. We would appreciate any help

you can offer, even if it’s only an occasional half-day or assistance behind the scenes with admin jobs etc. Two major pieces of work are in progress at the moment. We have received a report from the Conservation engineers who in June checked over the exterior of the castle. The good news is that the harling is sound for an-other 5 to 10 years and will require patching rather than complete renewal. The bad news is that the roof does need to be completely re-newed at an estimated cost of £300,000. We are currently pursuing funding with the hope that the work may begin next autumn. We are also in the process of commissioning, with community input, a long term Development and Business plan for the operation of the Castle. This got un-derway on the 23rd September and will continue with the enclosure in the Buzzard. We plan to consolidate responses and have a public meet-ing sometime in Oct/Nov before the Consultants set to work on preparing options. Back at the castle, our antique clocks, the 1790 John Gartly long clock and the 1740 ebon-ised sideboard clock, have been re-furbished by our benefactor and are once more ticking and chiming away somehow bringing into sharp fo-cus the value of preserving the castle for future generations. E-mail: [email protected]

1790 John Gartly long clock

Home-Start Deeside are looking for par-

ents or grandparents with 2 hours spare a week to support parents with young children at home. The next volunteer preparation course starts in Ballater on Oct 27th. For more information 01330 824443


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Professional Hairdressing Services

By Rae Stanford

In the comfort of your own home at very competitive prices

Cutting ~~ Colouring ~~ Perming ~~ Concessions

Bridal/Special Occasions

To book an appointment or for a free consultation

Telephone: 07824 338 767

Ballater ~~ Crathie ~~ Braemar

New for Autumn and Winter

Anna Scott & Solo Labels

We stock “Amazing Woman Jeans”

Carol is now accepting alterations and repairs.

Please call in to discuss your requirements

Tel: 013397 41000

Do you have any odd jobs needing

done?

Cleaning gutters, splitting logs, painting, rubbish removal, garden

maintenance, raking leaves etc....

Contact Iain Mackay

Tel:013397 41245

Mob: 07753278597

All Jobs Considered

Have you been bothered by

wasps this Summer? Liz Robertson

This summer seems to have been very bad in and around Braemar for wasps and yet the win-ter was so harsh, surely this should have killed off a lot of the over-wintering queens? I asked the Aberdeenshire Ranger service for an explanation... Ranger Helen Rowe said that the large number of wasps must be a fairly localised effect, wasp numbers weren’t noticeably greater everywhere. As to the harsh winter - she said that rather than killing off over wintering wasps, the cold often works to their benefit. In a mild winter wasps can succumb to fungal infections or suffer from en-ergy loss through waking in hibernation. So if you have been troubled by wasps this year - look on the bright side. Did you know that:

Wasps are important pollinators of many flowering plants Wasps spend most of the summer as carnivores, eating pests

like grubs and aphids Wasps do not sting easily, while they will defend their nests if

disturbed, they will only sting if stuck in clothing or hair It is only at the very end of summer when the colony is going

into decline that they can become a nuisance, seeking out sweet and sugary foods to replace the sweet secretions pro-duced by the larvae

Once a nest dies, the queen never uses it again the following year, she always starts a fresh nest- so the wasps won’t return to the same spot!

In Remembrance

by Jimmy Gill

In the far corner of the exten-sion to Braemar cemetery, a stone remembers an English-man, Ronald Joseph Moore. Jimmy Gill met Ron in an Ital-ian village on Hogmanay 1943 when both were es-caped Prisoners of War hav-ing been bombed out of a train in L’Aquila station. Jimmy was living in a cave with ten others but Ron was not too keen to accept his in-vitation to join them when in-formed they had piddochios (lice). However he did so. Both Ron and Jimmy eventu-ally scaled Monte Maiella(9,000 feet) and reached Brit-ish lines. Back home Jimmy introduced Ron to his sister-in-law whom he eventually mar-ried and they had two charm-ing daughters.


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Hi Buzzard Juniors

What is Halloween actually a celebration

of? The word itself has its origins in the Catholic

Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of

All Hallows Eve. One story

says that, on that day, the dis-

embodied spirits of all those

who had died throughout the

previous year would come back in search of living

bodies to possess for the next year. Naturally, the

still living did not want to be possessed. So on the

night of October 31, villagers would dress up in all

manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded

around the neighbourhood, being as destructive

as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking

for bodies to possess. So this year when you get

dressed up and go knocking on peole’s doors, re-

member there are spirits about, so be careful!

The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes

from Celtic folklore. A man named Jack, tricked

Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved a

cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the

tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he

would never tempt him again, he would promise to

let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was

denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil

ways, but he was also denied access to Hell be-

cause he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil

gave him a single ember to light his way through

the darkness. The ember was placed inside a hol-

lowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The Scottish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns"

originally. But when the immigrants went to Amer-

ica, they found that pumpkins were far more plen-

tiful than turnips and eas-

ier to carve. So the Jack-O

-Lantern in America was a

hollowed-out pumpkin, lit

with an ember.

Can you unscramble these Hallowe’en

characters, to see who might be wander-ing around Braemar on October 31st?

Army Cadets by

Cadet Findlay Farquhar-son

I joined the Army Ca-dets in April this year. I had to go every Mon-day for six weeks until they gave me my uni-form. It’s great, there is an older boy there called Sam he’s very nice. He is a Sergeant now and he teaches me field craft. Field craft is the best it is all about handling the weapon’s and tactics. I don’t really like doing

drill. I’m not very good at marching. I had a camp not long ago in Peterhead and I was very nervous because I didn’t know any one. The people that were in my dorm were really nice. I was so pleased when I passed my basic star. I can do lots of sports in the army cadets for Scotland if I’m good enough. I do Cadets every Monday from 7:00pm-9:30pm in the cadet hut in Aboyne so if you would like to join tell me. It is free and lots of fun.

HalloweenHalloweenHalloween

Not long after Hallowe’en we will start thinking about

Christmas! No doubt you will be writing to Santa, with

all the things you are hoping to find in your stocking on

Christmas morning. What about your

parents? Do you think they might also

want something special? In the next

Buzzard we would like to publish your

letters to Santa, not with what you want

but with what you would like Santa to

bring your Mum and Dad, or even your

Grandparents. Send in your letters be-

fore the end of November if you would

like them published in the Christmas

Buzzard.

Answers: ghost, vampire, witch, skeleton, mummy, frankenstein, werewolf, monster

Whats on in and around your village?

Date Event

Oct 15 Fri CLAN Quiz night Braemar Golf Club.

Oct 16 Sat Ghillies Ball, Mar Lodge 9 pm. Booking 0844 4932173

Oct 17 Sun History Group. Village Hall. Mark Nicholson on Mar estate.

Oct 18 Mon Community Council 7.30pm Braemar School.

Oct 21 Th SWRI 7.30 pm Kindrochit Court, Massage demonstration - open to all, male and female.

Oct 26-31 VENISON FESTIVAL Host of venison related events. More details www.discoverroyaldeeside.com/Venison-Festival/

Oct 28 Th Walking Group - Callater area 41225 for more details.

Oct 30 Sat Caledonian Forest Pine Walk with Balmoral Rangers. Meet Keiloch car park 10 am Free. Booking essential. 013397 55059

Oct 30 Sat Fancy Dress Quiz. Golf Club.

Nov 13 Sat Riverside Walk with Balmoral Rangers. Meet Mill of Sterin, Glen Muick 10.0 am Booking essential 013397 55059

Nov 15 Mon Community Council 7.30pm Braemar School.

Nov 18 Th SWRI 7.30 pm Kindrochit Court, Cake decoration demo.

Nov 19 Fri St Andrews Night Ceilidh 7-10 pm, Castleton Hall. £5 adults, £2.50 child inc. stovie supper. Fund raiser for Scout group.

Nov 21 Sun History Group - Sandy Reid speaks on local links to RAF.

Nov 26 Fri Golf Club Dinner Dance & Prize Giving, Fife Hotel.

Dec 9 Th SWRI Christmas Buffet.

Dec 11 Sat International Mountain Day Winter Ascent Guided Balmoral Ranger Walk 9.30 am Cost £5. Booking 013397 55059

Dec 18 Sat Village Senior Citizen’s Christmas Lunch.

Weekly Events

Wednes-days

Scottish Country Dancing. 7.30 - 9.00 pm. Castleton Hall. Open to all (adults). Beginners welcome. More info 013397 41225

Thursdays Braemar Fruit & Veg stall. 12.00 - 1.00 pm. Village Hall. Orders may be given in advance to Mary at the Health Centre (Tuesday for Thursday collection).

Thursdays Scout Group - Beavers, Cubs, Scouts. More information Duncan 013397 41030

Village Bin Collections -

Thursdays Wheelie Bins:

Oct: 21st

Nov: 4th, 18th

Recycling:

Oct: 14th, 28th,

Nov: 11th, 25th

Mobile Library Service

Wednesdays

On the following dates : Oct: 20th

Nov: 3rd ,17th

Dec: 1st Starting at the School (2.30 pm) and finish-ing at St An-drew’s Terrace (4.55 pm).

Please send news/articles for the Buzzard to:

[email protected]

Deadline for next edition: 28th November Compilers next edition: Pamela McAree and Doug Bruce

Adverts: Cost £15.00 per eighth of page Contact Maggie MacAlpine 013397 41245

How do you cook

your Haggis?

And do you have any favourite recipes featur-ing Haggis as one of the ingredients?

We are collecting to-gether Haggis-inspired recipes with the idea of producing a special rec-ipe leaflet. Help much appreciated! Send your

recipes to the Braemar newsgroup or contact Liz 41030

http://www.discoverroyaldeeside.com/Venison-Festival/

braemar buzzard · the season just past 2009/2010 has been the most successful since the takeover -...

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