SEPTEMBER 2011 - EDITORIAL

I can hardly believe that the end of July is only a few days away. For me the year so far has been so different, having had to go through the process of selling and buying property. I guess one is never too old to have a new experience!

Having left Abernethy for Bridge of Earn, have I now become the FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT for The Crier? I wonder also if I will have a different perspective on both Abernethy and Bridge of Earn. The future will tell. May I take this opportunity to give my sincere thanks to all who sent me cards and good wishes. I will never forget all the support and help I have had over the last seven months. Struan House is now in the very good care of Alan and Doreen who are bringing the house and garden back to life, along with Jennifer, Rebecca, Jack and Sam, not forgetting Ozzie and Olly, the two black kittens. Doreen and Alan fell in love with Struan, as I did 43 years ago. Bobby, of course, was the great- er part of my attraction and things were never the same after his death.

I think on one occasion I started my contribution to The Crier when I was in Morar, looking out over the estuary of the Morar River towards Eigg, Rhum and Muck. I have just returned from there after the most amazing week of blue skies and hot temperatures; day after day with hardly a cloud to be seen.

By the time you receive The Crier the summer holidays will be just a memory and the autumn and winter activities will once again be picking up the threads; very much a time of transition for many – a new phase in life beginning; starting nursery, start- ing school, moving to a new school, going on to further education, taking up new jobs, interests, hobbies. In a way there is more “Newness” about this time of year than there is at New Year.

One very exciting event over the summer was the safe arrival of Flora, Bella’s daughter and what a delightful sight they made, the tiny foal and the caring mother. Kirsty, of course, was over the moon both with relief that all went well and pride and hap- piness at such a successful outcome of the long awaited event. Incidentally, mentioning our four-footed friends, my cat Caesar, has settled into his new home extremely well; thank goodness, as I was a bit concerned as to how he would take the change.

I am hoping that in this edition of The Crier that there may be some response to the queries I put in the last copy. It is only by getting some feedback that solutions may be found.

Hilda Clow.

THE EDITOR'S VIEW

As the Editor of the Village Crier I would like to thank everyone who has contributed articles to the newsletter since it’s inception. However, there is one organisation that does not regularly put a report in the Crier, the Community Council.

As we know the CC is the collective voice of the community but it is certainly not vocal when it comes to reporting on it’s meetings. As a past member of the council I think I am in a fairly good position to criticise the present workings of this organisation I feel that they have lost touch with the people of Abernethy and Aberargie and the bread and butter issues that affect these villages, the things that affect the people. These are issues like the state of the street drains, the erosion of the burnside path east of the Cree’s Inn to Back Dykes, general grounds maintenance in both villages and verge cutting to name but a few. The CC seem to be hell bent on giving the operations up at the Binn a hard time and their full attention, we know this is important but there are other very real every day problems that have a direct impact on the people.

The Crier looks forward to hearing from the Chairperson or Secretary of the Community Council with their views or even a meeting report. I know there are changes afoot with all PKC Community Councils, so a report on these changes would be interesting.

Do we ever hear from our Perth and Kinross Councillors? No article from them either. Newsletters in other towns and villages all have a contribution from their local Councillors. Not us.

Come on, lets hear from you.

The Ed.