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CRAIL MATTERSW/C 12 June No 18

Free - Donation welcome

Beautiful weather at the Denburn today (Saturday 3 June)but a pity that so few folk came along to help!June has fairly brought the growth on and a great variety ofboth wild-flowers and those we have planted out are at theirbest now. Walking through, one can hardly miss the sea ofwhite cow parsley but looking a little closer there are brilliantyellow creeping buttercups and slender wood avens; pretty

pinks red campion and pink purslane; deep blue columbinesand paler blue forget-me-nots abounding. In the planted beds

the purple cornflow-ers are doing verywell and are usuallybuzzing with beeswith other shades ofblue, lilac and purplepredominating whilevarious coloured fox-

gloves are in bud and will soon burst forth. This Saturday’s work group concentrated on raking up spentelm flowers and other debris from the paths, pulling cleavers

(“sticky-willie”) out from among the other plants it was indanger of strangling, a little more planting and clearing moresilt from the burn. We were also very kindly offered somemore gardening tools and another wheelbarrow so there willbe no shortage of implements should our work-force in-crease.For the foragers there is still plenty of cleavers left to pull –it is very palatable when juiced but needs to be picked soonbefore the sticky seed pods develop when it becomes tougherand more bitter (it is related to coffee so perhaps the bitter-ness is to be expected). Elderflowers are starting to emergefor making cordial or drying for teas (elderflowers are often

combined withdried nettle leafand mint to allevi-ate hayfever symp-toms). The wildstrawberries are inflower so keepyour eyes out forthe sweet littlefruits coming soon.Your friendly Den-burn diggers willbe back clearing,raking, pruningand planting on thefirst Saturday ofJuly at 10am, docome and join us ifyou like a spot ofgardening or just

like to get involved with looking after our community spaces.

Denburn dispatches

URGENT APPEALCrail Matters understands that donations to the Anstruther FoodBank from the East Neuk community are in such short supplythat frequently food has to be bought to replenish their store.This is an awful situation, and one which could be remediedvery easily by our actions.

Food can be donated by means of the box that Crispin andVanessa have kindly placed on the floor in front of the counterin the Smoke Fired Wholefoods shop in the High Street just afew doors away from the Coop. Richard and his volunteers willthen collect the box when it is full.

PLEASE HELP

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Doocot Archeological DigLast week the long awaited Doocot project got underway. On Thursday a team from Addyman archaeology in Edinburgh joinedour local archaeologists Tom Dawson and Jo Hambly to explore the ground around the Doocot looking for artefacts and cluesregarding its construction. They were joined by the children from Crail Primary School who set about their task with enormousenthusiasm, finding lots of “treasures” including pieces of medieval and later pottery, old bottles, marbles, pigeon bones, claypipes and the top of a bottle of MacDonald and Muir whisky, which, sadly, had long since parted company with its bottle andcontents, but still caused some excitement with its local connections. The children obviously enjoyed their day and it was grat-ifying to see that many of them brought their parents to the dig over the weekend to continue their investigations. We may wellhave a young Indiana Jones in our midst!The work continued over the next three days and several volunteers, both residents and tourists helped with the dig. The topsoilon the north side of the Doocot was removed and revealed that the bedrock had been levelled prior to the building of the Doocotand a drainage trench had been excavated two feet back from the wall of the Doocot which was found to continue around thewest side, presumably for drainage during construction. It is of interest that in their plans for the Doocot restoration, our architectshave included a drainage channel in exactly the same position! They knew a thing or two 500 years ago! The other interestingfind was a circular hole cut into the centre of the floor of the Doocot which is almost certainly the foundation for a potenceladder – a rotating ladder from which chicks and eggs could be collected. There had been some dispute about whether the PrioryDoocot had ever had such a ladder, but this finding appears to prove that it did.The ground has all been refilled now as we await final confirmation from our main funders Historic Environment Scotland andThe Heritage Lottery Fund that we can start work on the main project. Hopefully that will be before the end of June. SY

Include MeInclude Me is a unique North East Fife charityseeking kind-hearted volunteers to help give avoice to some of the area’s most vulnerable peo-ple.Include Me matches volunteers with people who

have a learning or physical disability, chronic illness, or men-tal health issues so that they can play as full a part as possiblein the life of their local community. Volunteers don’t need any formal qualifications, just a mini-mum of two to three hours a month to spare and a belief in so-cial justice and equality.If you are interested in finding out more please have a lookat our website www.includeme.orgTel: 01334 656242 or email: contact@includeme.org.uk

Crail Primary SchoolAnnual Summer Fair

Crail School Parent Council fundraising group are holdingthe annual school summer fair on 17th June in Beechwalkpark from 2-4pm. There will be lots of exciting stalls, fan-tastic raffle prizes, refreshments and games to keep all en-tertained! We will also be having a performance from ourschool Glee club who last week came first in the Fife finalin the Alhambra theatre! Not to be missed!The school King And Queen will also be crowned. Ofcourse, holding the event in the park is weather permittingand if conditions are poor we will be in the CommunityHall.

Funding Crail MattersWe depend on your support to keep producing Crail Matters. If you enjoy reading what we produce and wish to make a dona-tion, then please contact crailmatters@gmail.com for details of our account for bank transfers, or contact a member of the Ed-itorial Team

Crail History Society7.30pm, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 British Legion Hall, Nethergate.

A talk will be given by Dr Kelsey Williams from Stirling Univer-sity. He will be talking about the Mural Monuments in Crail Kirkyard, which are in a very poor condition, in serious danger of col-lapse and what will happen to them if they are allowed to deterio-rate any further. He will emphasise their importance, history andhistorical value. The aim is to raise awareness in the community ofthe monuments as not many people will know about them, and tofind some way of saving them.Hopefully we will have a really good turnout as they are such animportant part of Crail's history.

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WILD CRAILWill Cresswell,

with Photographs by John AndersonI spent an hour on the 3rd sat on the edge of the wheat fieldlooking to confirm whether the yellow wagtails were breed-ing successfully. It wassurreal just looking outover the uniform sea ofgreen punctuated by onlya couple of bright redpoppies, particularlywhen the haar rolled inand left nothing else visi-ble. It focussed me on thefield. And what do yousee in an hour of just watching an intensive wheat field in theEast Neuk? Not a great deal – a few bumble bees, the occa-sional swallow passing over and a few nesting pairs of sky-larks and meadow pipits launching themselves up for songflights or hovering over the wheat briefly before descendingto their nests. I also had a corn bunting, a pair of linnets, aherring gull and an oystercatcher fly over. Just three speciesin an hour using the field (four if you count the wagtails –but I will come to them). Not a lot to distract me as I lookedfor the wagtails. After about 20 minutes I heard one flying into the bit of field where I think they are nesting, it circledaround and then came closer to perch on the wheat about 50meters from me – the male, checking me out I think – beforereturning to the likely nest site much further in the field(about 100 meters away from where I was sitting). Thenevery 10 minutes or so I would hear a bird flying over eitheraway or to this bit of field, occasionally I would glimpse thembut even without the haar the trips in and out were inconspic-uous and quick. I saw the pair come up together from theplace where they were flying to on one occasion and followedthe female a bit along the adjacent mud track as it collectedfood (although I couldn’t clinch a good view of a beakful offood being carried to really confirm it had a nest full ofchicks). But they must be breeding and likely have chicks.The next day I was emailed by another birder who had defi-nitely seen the male carrying food. The first yellow wagtailnest in Fife for many years. I hope the very heavy rain of theend of last week didn’t affect its continued success.

The shore north of Balcomie Beach still has lots of waders

coming and going.On the 4th there were35 sanderling, 20dunlin, 15 turnstoneand a couple ofwhimbrel. Some ofthe sanderling anddunlin were barelyout of winter plumageand must be non-breeders this year butmost looked like they were going to the party rather thanstaying at home. Again all ridiculously tame, landing on thehigh tideline to feed only 15 meters away from me. Sander-ling make a soft “zwick” call which doesn’t carry far but theywere so close and calling constantly that the main back-ground sound on the beach was a gentle clicking. That andthe disgruntled churring of the juvenile starlings trying tocoax another meal from the parents they are still chasing.They are forming juvenile flocks now, probably to their par-ent’s great relief, and are heading off independently along theshore to feed among the rich piles of rotting seaweed.

The rainy season in Crail seems to have started with as muchrain at the end of last week as we had in the whole of April.It has made the sea watching much better though with no heathaze and clear visibility all the way to the Lothians. Lots ofpuffins are coming past Crail now. They will be chick feedingnow and very busyfor the next twomonths. I saw myfirst great skua of theyear passing the MayIsland last Wednesdayevening, heading outof the Forth: a longway out but distinc-tive nonetheless –huge, dark and heavy.A reminder that thesummer is progress-ing.

Dunlin

Yellow Wagtail

Great Skua

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Crail KirkThank you to all who generously donated during Christian Aid Week. The sum of £454 was collected which has been forwardedto Christian Aid. Some of this came from the Christian Aid Quiz . Several correct papers were handed in and there had to be adraw. The winner of the draw was Mrs Mgt. Dobbie. Thank you to all who took part and if you are still struggling over ananswer get it touch and I (Diana Brown 451790) will put you out of your misery.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported Mandy Guthrie running the Edinburgh Half Marathon recently for Church funds.The total raised was £1160. If anyone has outstanding sponsor money to pay, please see Mandy Guthrie

Crail Museum and Heritage CentreCoffee MorningSaturday 24th June 201710amBritish Legion HallHome Baking, Preserves, RaffleAdmission £2

A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Charity No. SC023505)

Crail and Kingsbarns Branch RNLI Crail and Kingsbarns Branch RNLI

Coffee morning Saturday 17th June

10am Town hall. All usual stalls.Every one welcome

Crail Food Festival

Foot Stompin' SupperWe were fortunate this weekend to visit our family in time for the Crail Food Festival. As a familytreat on Saturday we decided to go to the Foot Stompin' Supper at the Crail Community Hall forwhat proved to be a delightful evening of food, music and entertainment.

When we arrived the Producer's Market had been replaced with shared tables set up around thehall. Wine was served while we waited for the event to begin. The meal started out with artisan bread from Barnett's Bakery, ac-companying vegetable chowder before a hearty buffet dinner of chilli pot and pulled pork burgers. The meal was finished offwith a delicious scoop of gin soaked icecream from Jannettas Gelateria.

The mealtime quiz was a great icebreaker for our table (though completely impossible for us - I still couldn't tell you what the"J B" in J B Penman Butchers stands for) but the six tables that tied for first place clearly didn't share our problems! My onlyregret is that we didn't buy more raffle tickets: the prizes including food hampers and meals out in the area really were exceptional.The absolute highlight of the evening was the music, starting with the artists who played throughout the meal and culminatingwith The Taysliders, whose music took over the hall with a combination of traditional songs and rhythm and blues. The danceswere the icing on the cake of what was already a really enjoyable night.

We had a fantastic time at the Foot Stompin' Supper, even if our group brought more enthusiasm than skill to the dances. Thefood was tasty, the music great and the Community Hall a perfect venue. It gave us an opportunity to meet some really interestingpeople and join in with everyone, and Crail Food Festival should be congratulated for putting together such a fun event. We lookforward to returning for dinner next year!

Cat Thomas

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Crail Food Festival

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ROYAL BURGH OF CRAIL AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL NOTES

Road RepairsIn response to the request for further information on poor road repairs, a number of readers have replied sending indetails including photographs. Thus far West Braes, Lamont Terrace, and the A917 between Crail and Kingsbarnshave been identified as areas of particular concern. The Community Council will compile these into a document tosend to Fife Council. Please continue to send details in (crailcommunitycouncil@gmail.com) so that we can presentas comprehensive a report as possible.

Crail Churchyard and the Mural MonumentsThe Community Council was informed that before any remedial action can be taken on the Mural Monuments, aConservation Statement is necessary. The Conservation statement is an important part of the process for developinga conservation plan and making submissions for funding. The statement should identify which aspects of the site andits setting are significant and why, and establish a set of rules or parameters for the project. This can then be carriedforward into The Conservation Management Plan, which provides greater detail on the significance of the MuralMonuments, assesses the impact of the proposed conversion project on its significance and explains how it will beprotected - both throughout the conversion process and after it is finished. Producing an effective Conservation State-ment will be costly, and the Community Council will fully support the Preservation Society to raise funds for this,and in the subsequent conservation project.

Tree Removal Roome Bay AvenueFurther to the recent footway works at Roome Bay Avenue, Fife Council Trans-portation were contacted by the owner of Avoncliffe, Roome Bay concerned thata tree within the footway was causing damage to the boundary wall of his prop-erty. As requested the owner submitted a report from a structural engineer sub-stantiating this claim. Fife Council have upheld the request to remove the tree(marked red on the map) within the footway on Roome Bay Avenue because rootsare causing damage to an adjacent property. Fife Council Tree Officer has offeredthe view the offending roots could not be removed without resulting in destabil-isation of the tree. It is also proposed the tree shown yellow (and marked) on theplan is re-shaped to improve the effectiveness of the street lamp within its canopy.If you have any views on this, please contact the Community Council at:crailcommunitycouncil@gmail.com

Benches at Roome BayIts very sad to see the deterioration of some of the commemorative benches at Roome Bay. These benches are popular withvisitors and very well used in summers. Two benches in particular are in a poor state - one is falling apart, and the other badlyneeds painting and maintenance, or it too may further deteriorate. It is not clear who has responsibility for their maintenance,but perhaps if there are any relatives of those commemorated in Crail, they could respond.

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The CrailSeagull

An eye on our world

What dreadful weather we have had. After all the sun, whenyou might be forgiven for thinking summer had arrived, weare back to rain, cold and winds. I went for a jaunt betweenthe showers to Kingsbarns to see what was happening. Signsare still up for the Women’s Golf competition, so it lookslike nothing has changed. To be expected really I suppose.Even my little friends there seem not to have heard anythingfurther about the road and coastal path closures. Have youheard anything?

One thing the rain does is to make the poor state of the roadseven more obvious. Coming back from Kingsbarns I sawwhat looked like flooding at a place where I’m sure I remem-ber Fife Council workmen digging up and repairing the road.Do you think making ineffective repairs is deliberate policyto keep the work flowing? I’m thankful I don’t pay CouncilTax on my nests.

Are you fed up with the all the elections, and the threats ofeven more referendums? Several of my small friends in Mar-ketgate and Nethergate (and even one in Bow Butts) saidthey wanted to establish a ‘Circle Poo Party’ to fight againstit all. Might just catch on. I’d let them use my nest at FlukeDub as a base if they get going.

I hear the Licence enforcement people went to the FestivalSupper. I wonder who sent them and why.

Material for inclusion in Crail Matters should be sent to crailmatters@gmail.com and received on Friday middaybefore publication. We reserve the right to edit copy for length and style. Submission does not guarantee inclusion.

© Crab Publishing 2017: Editorial Team this week: Graham Anderson, Julie Middleton, Isla Reid, ValenciaSowry, Max Taylor, John Wilson

Short Story CompetitionThe closing date for entries to the Short Story Competition is now over, and we have received 5 entries from our readers. Wethink this is a terrific response, especially given that this is a new venture; the quality is very high and we look forward to sharingthe stories with you. Entries will now be looked at by our judges, and we are delighted to announce that Francesca Kay hasagreed to join us as a judge. Francesca’s first novel, An Equal Stillness, won the Orange Award for New Writers, and her secondnovel, Translation of the Bones, was long-listed for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her new novel, The Long Room, waspublished by Faber in 2016. We are very fortunate in having Francesca as a judge.We are also delighted to note that Crail Primary School have also been involved in the development of creative writing skills inits pupils, and a member of Crail Matters Editorial Team was invited to help judge the School’s entry to the Microsoft FamousFive Sway competition. This competition is open to every UK Year 4 and Primary 5 Class, and is based on the Enid Blytonstories, but developed around a place of local interest. It uses Microsoft's SWAY software, that enables both written and visualmaterial to be combined. The quality of the work that was produced by the pupils was terrific, and the children should be enor-mously proud of what they have achieved; that quality is also a measure of highly effective teaching. Their stories were creativeand imaginative, and the children showed a real awareness of Crail and its environs. Only a single entry per school is allowed,so it was with great difficulty that one entry was eventually arrived at to submit. We wish the School, and the budding young au-thors, every success. Crail Matters hopes in the new academic year to develop a writing initiative with the School to help takeforward the very evident skills and talent there.

Crail Preservation Society-King Creosote Concert

Last Saturday, Kenny An-derson (AKA King Cre-osote) gave a great concertin the Town Hall, enjoyedby all. Thanks to his gen-erosity, £900 was raised forthe Doocot restoration fund.His recent albums ‘Astro-nauts Meets Appleman’ wasreleased by Domino inSeptember 2016, and “KingCreosote and the Queens ofBrush County’ was releasedby fence also in 2016.

Planning Applications- Display of one internally illuminated ATM fascia sign - 31Marketgate North Marketgate Crail Anstruther Fife KY10 3UG

- External alterations including installation of ATM - 31 Market-gate North Marketgate Crail Anstruther Fife KY10 3UG

NOTEThis is an application for Listed Building Consent for the RBSbranch at Marketgate, Crail. As this branch is currently closedRBS are retaining the existing ATM in the branch for public usein the community so that its customers can withdraw cash, checktheir balance and access other account services free of charge. Asthis unit will be a standalone ATM no longer inside the bank, theproposal is to install a Bastion unit around the ATM. This is thebest option as it will allow for the ATM to be serviced but willtake the minimum space as the unit is retractable.