Cousland Courier No11colour

Contributions by 31/05/15 for next newsletter to :- [email protected]

Or 19 Hillside Cottages /1 Hadfast Road or put in red post box in Village Hall

Wednesday 25th March

was Jennifer McDougall’s

last evening after 15 plus

years helping/running

Cousland Youth Club.

Unbeknown to Jennifer

current members and

parent helpers organised

a small celebration to

show our appreciation for

all her hard work. We are

sure you will join us in

thanking Jennifer and

wishing her all the best.

Youth Club has now

finished for the Easter

break and the past term

has proved to be as busy

as ever. From making

(and enjoying!) pancakes

to sport and craft activities

the young people who

attend Youth Club have

tried it all! As the summer

term starts again on

the 22nd April there are

plans for more outdoor

activities and being

involved in Village Open

Day.

On the last Youth Club

session the plans for an

Easter egg hunt were

hijacked as the parents

and children threw a

surprise leaving party for

Jennifer McDougall who is

finally hanging up her

Youth Club pinny! Jennifer

would like to thank all the

parents and children both

past and present for all

their support over the

years and despite not

being there on

a Wednesday she'll still

pop in to say hello! Youth

Club will now be run by

Tracy Yoxall, Jude

Hawthorne, Eileen Busson

and Marianne Freeman.

A special thanks also goes

to Callan MacGregor and

Cameron McDonald, two

of our senior members

who help out each week as

well.

Youth Club News

and a Fond Farewell

Village Spring Clean

Wonderful volunteers of

Cousland, in their 19th

year of doing a Big Spring

Clean, spent 40 man

hours on Saturday 28th

March cleaning up the

village and surrounding

roadsides.

This picture shows their

collection pile at the half-

way point. All looking

lovely in the countryside

now!

We also have to thank all

those unsung litter pickers

Cousland Courier the CVHA newsletter

Issue No 11 April 15

Dawn Chorus Walk 2

Road Closure

Broadband Update

3

Cousland School Site

CVHA AGM Minutes

4

Cousland Smiddy Trust

Heritage Hub

5

Directory 6

Dates for Your Diary 7

Inside this issue:

who regularly clear up after

others throughout the year,

for everyone’s benefit.

Welcome to the Spring

Edition of the Courier.

As always there is a lot

happening over the next

few months. Thanks to all

our contributors for this

edition, and to

Midlothian Council for

printing and collating.

We can only print the

news that we receive, so

please continue to send

in your contributions -

details at the bottom of

every page.

Kathleen, Lesley, Jean,

Karen & Fiona.

Check out the daffodils

at the A68 end of South-

field Road.

Planted by villagers a

few years back, and

now blooming beauti-

fully.



very few in the country to have

continuous records for over 40 years.

The ringers will be undertaking the

Constant Effort Site recording at

Hadfast from May - September The

Constant Effort Sites (CES) scheme is

the first national standardised

ringing programme and has been

running since 1983. Ringers operate

the same nets in the same locations

over the same time period at regular

intervals through the breeding

season at over 120 sites throughout

Britain and Ireland. There are only 14

sites in Scotland.

The Scheme provides valuable trend

information on abundance of adults

and juveniles, productivity and also

adult survival rates for 25 species of

common songbird.

black and yellow stripe on their

heads, which has an orange centre in

males. Their thin beak is ideally

suited for picking insects

out from between pine needles.

We have all this fascinating

information because of the dedicated

teams of ringers all over the world

who spend their time recording

registering all the information.

Hadfast Valley has been a ringing

site since the early 1970s, was one of

the first in Scotland, and is one of

Always wanted to know which birds

are singing when you hear a dawn

chorus?

Sunday 3rd May will be the

opportunity to find out.

Hadfast is one of the most special

places for migratory warblers in

Scotland and they start singing very

early in the morning in the Spring

when establishing their territories.

Our experienced bird ringers will

guide this walk to raise some funds

for essential repairs

There will also be an opportunity to

observe bird ringing in action.

Meet there at 5.30am – limited

parking so walking from the village

is recommended.

Cost £5.00 per person includes

refreshments

Please book

with [email protected]

or 663 2730

Limited to 20 places. Weather

permitting!

CLHP would be really grateful if

some of our local photographers

would keep an image record of this

significant building development in

the life of the village for the archives

please! Hang on to files & prints until

the Heritage Hub opens as we cur-

Work has started on 13 new houses

(storey and a half) off Southfield Road

in the field behind the Nunnery. Full

details and plans can be seen on the

Midlothian Council Website under

Planning Applications.

rently have no digital storage. Much

appreciated.

All welcome at CLHP’s next meeting:

Saturday 6th June - Cousland Local

History Project AGM

9.30am Village Hall

Från Sverige till Hadfast i 40 dyas! [From Sweden to Hadfast in 40 days]

Hadfast Valley Wildlife Reserve SSSI Guided Dawn Chorus Walk

Housing Development

At 7am on 1st October 2013, this little

chap, a Goldcrest, was first ringed at

the island bird observatory of Stora

Fjaderagg, (appropriate translation

of the name is Big Feather Egg) at

Holmon, Västerbotten in the north of

Sweden.

http://www.kvarkenguide.org/

fjaderaggen.html

40 days later he was re-trapped at

Hadfast Valley, Cousland having

flown over 1595Km!

Statistics from the bird ringers here

show that he weighed in at 5.5grams

and had a wing length of 55mm.

With the Firecrest, the Goldcrest is

the UK's smallest bird. They're dull

greyish-green with a pale belly and a

How tiny?

At 5.5 grams the Hadfast Goldcrest was

heavier than a 20p coin (5.0g), but lighter

than a 10p piece (6.5g)


Cousland Local History Project



There will be a road closure in

Cousland from Monday 20 April

2015 for about four weeks. This is to

allow installation of cables to link the

wind turbines north of the village to a

transformer in the village centre.

Closure will take place in three

phases as follows. Note that the exact

date of moving from one phase to the

next is not known in advance – just

be aware that the situation will

change twice in the course of the

works.

Phase One – Musselburgh Road

to Beech Grove

Road closed from the A6124

Musselburgh Road (past the traffic

lights that limit traffic to one way

round the bend on the hill) as far as

the junction with Beech Grove /

Quarrybank House. Access will be

maintained to these properties from

Hadfast Road at the Village Hall

junction.

Phase Two – Beech Grove to

Hadfast Road

Road closed from the junction with

Beech Grove / Quarrybank House to

Hadfast Road at the Village Hall

junction. Access to Beech Grove/

Quarrybank House will be from the

A6124 Musselburgh Road [not from

the village]. Local access to the

cottages between Hadfast Road and

Beech Grove will be maintained on a

day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis by the

contractors. If the Ring and Go taxi

cannot reach these cottages because

the roadworks are at a critical stage,

it will park near the Village Hall and

passengers should walk to/from

home from there.

Phase Three - Crossing Hadfast

Road

The transformer is on the opposite

side of Hadfast Road from Kilns Road.

Hadfast Road will not be closed

totally during these works. This final

Phase will involve signal-controlled

alternate single lane working. There

should be no restrictions to access,

although there may be minor delays.

possible. Please note, this is just an

expression of interest only and not

binding, but it is essential to

understand numbers if we are to

encourage a rapid roll out.

Further details:

Hillhead farm can be seen on the

other side of the valley beside the

road to Elphinstone – those with line

of sight in the village will be covered

in the first phase but surrounding

areas and other houses in the village

will require relay sites to be installed

which will take longer.

There will also be an option for

businesses to have an enhanced

service. This will be at an initial

installation cost of £2K which can be

fully funded using the business

broadband voucher

scheme. Business monthly fees will

also be higher (TBD) for an enhanced

higher speed service.

There are potential cost savings, for

Lothian Broadband is proposing to

offer a wireless broadband service

within a few months. Initially this will

be restricted to homes in the village

which have line of sight (perhaps

from their chimney) to an installation

at Hillhead Farm.

This will cost an initial £150 for

installation, then a monthly

subscription of £25 for download

speeds of 10Mbps with an initial two

year contract term (most Cousland

homes currently receive less than

2Mbps via the ADSL service). Other

levels of service and monthly cost for

lighter or heavier users may also be

offered.

In order to proceed, Lothian

Broadband require confidence of a

certain uptake level. If you are

interested we strongly encourage /

ask you to let us know by email to

[email protected] with your

name and address as soon as

instance a traditional landline rental

will not be required to support the

broadband. A telephone service can

be supported using the broadband

for a small monthly fee.

Other alternatives, such as an

bringing fibre to the village via a BT

Openreach cabinet, and both public

and private funding solutions

continue to be investigated but

remain much longer term.

Broadband Update - Delivery of a Wireless Solution

Road Closure from 20th April


IT Surgery/Course

I am planning to offer computer/IT

support (including mobile phones,

tablets, iPads etc), making good use

of the Village Hall high speed

broadband facility. My thought is to

hold 'surgeries' from time to time,

depending on interest. I am trying

to work out the best day and time

that suit people. If you are interest-

ed please email me

on [email protected]

or text/call on 07884125126.



McGovern, Stewart Buchan, Caroline

Pearson, Alison Vickis, Darren

Sweeney, Tom Morrow.

AOCB If turbines are not used

within 12 months people can request

that they be removed

Dog Fouling – getting worse

Volunteers required for Dawn

Chorus in support of the Wildlife

Trust – information on CVHA website

Meeting closed at 8.35pm

refreshments followed.

process is being reconsidered by

the Scottish Government.

Coldhall Moor- Hargreaves has

planning application with

Midlothian Council and they are

minded to say yes and to support

the application. The Community

should write to Midlothian Council

to agree with Airfield not being

supported.

Broadband – Lothian Broadband

can install within 3-6 months – cost

for installation £150 and £170 and

£25 per month with 10Mb per

house.

Thank you extended to Jack Kirk who

has audited the CVHA accounts for

free for a number of years.

Election of Committee Members:

Chair: Dougie McKenzie

Treasurer: Claire Thomson

Secretary: Norrie Brown

Committee:

Brian Ellis, Fiona Dunn, Andrew

Midlothian Council have put the site

up for sale for the development of 6

houses.

90% of folk who replied to the recent

questionnaire, which will form the

Tynewater Neighbourhood Plan, said

they would use the proposed sports

centre in Cousland with all weather

tennis courts and with multisport

facilities.

Cousland local development plan set

as a priority the development of the

former school for the good of the

TYNEWATER community.

At the village AGM the Council

Planning Officer advised us that the

site would be put up for sale, but also

said not to abandon our plans for a

Sports Centre.

A group of young people have met

and sent a letter to key people in the

Council to advise them of the

Community’s wishes for this site.

A date has been set for a meeting

for all people interested in

progressing this idea. It is

important that people from the

Tynewater villages and area

attend.

7pm, Tuesday 14th April

Cousland Village Hall

Cousland Village Hall Association AGM Minutes in Brief

What do you want to happen at the Cousland School site?

41 Attendees

Peter Arnsdorff (Planning Manager,

Midlothian Council) gave a short

presentation on the Midlothian Local

Plan

No new housing or economic

development sites identified

13 houses south of nunnery – build

started

Hargreaves bought all Scottish Coal’s

interests and they are still interested

in some sites. This may include

Airfield – no interest so far

School site for sale – may be big

enough for 4- 6 houses

The following subjects were raised

by members of the community:

Fordel Development subject to

legal agreement between

Midlothian Council and developer.

Wind Turbines – between 30 and

40 metres generally supported by

Midlothian Council. The 20 metre

buffer zone between turbines and

the nearest neighbour notification


Village Party

Save the date The village party this year

will take place on the 13th

June from 5pm onwards at

the Village Hall.

BBQ and games for all the

family together with a

licensed bar.



The Smiddy Trust will be holding a

plant sale on Saturday 2nd May

during the Café in the Village Hall.

10.30am – 12.30pm

Donations of cuttings, divided

herbaceous plants etc are welcome.

Contact Sheena 663 0091, or drop in

at Hadfast House.

Next Trust meetings are:

Cousland Smiddy Trust Meetings: all

7.30pm, normally at the Smiddy

Cottage

Tuesday 9th June – this will follow the

AGM which starts at 7pm

Tuesday 11 August

As ever, we are very reliant on

donations to keep the smiddy

open and to top up grant funding

for these larger projects. There is

a page on the new site with infor-

mation about how to make a dona-

tion to the Trust ……………….

we’d be very pleased if you possi-

bly can!

A new website is being created (by

villager Tom Morrow – many thanks

Tom!) and will be online soon – it

will have dates of future open days

and opportunities for volunteering

with the Trust and History Project, as

well as detail of what will be availa-

ble to see and do at the Smiddy and

Heritage Hub.

Composting Area Would all residents who use the area at the west end of the village in the

old quarry please observe the notices which display to everyone that

ONLY garden weeds, grass cuttings, dead flowers, leaves and very small

twigs are to be dumped on the left hand side at the BOTTOM of the slope.

NO TREES or large bushes please and definitely NO FOOD, This includes

fruit or vegetables as these attract rats.

Thank you in anticipation of your continued support

Thank You

to all those who refrain from parking on the pavement so that pushchairs

and prams and pedestrians can safely

use the pavements in the village.

to the group of villagers who gave up their time to clear and tidy the old

quarry area (composting area)

Cousland Smiddy Trust


Pétanque League

Under the tireless energy of Norrie Brown 24 teams have signed

up to play in the 2015 league. The fixture list is now full, and

games will be played between 4th May and 20th July.

There are also two matches against Tweedbank, home at the

Cousland piste on 24th May from 1:30-4:30pm, and away at

Kailzie Gardens on 26th July.

Supporters are always welcome.

Cousland Heritage Hub

Check out another Cousland Celeb Featured in The Daily Mail on 19 February 2015 –

www.pressreader.com/uk/scottishdailymail

“Construction is not just a man’s game”

Cousland’s very own Fiona Dunn, Hadfast Road is featured wear-

ing her Civil Engineering Hat. In the article Fiona is promoting

women in the Engineering Industry.

Work is moving on apace in the smith’s

cottage with gable wall pointing, damp

coursing, installation of new electrics

and flooring of the attic for storage all

completed. The cottage is drying out

nicely and we soon hope to have the

interior re-furbished and landscaping

underway, now that Spring has arrived!

There will be a volunteers call

…………..



Farewell As I move away to pastures new I would like to say a big

THANKS to all the nice people of Cousland who have

helped me understand village/country life over the past

10+ years,

A fond Mancunian farewell

‘TaRa Luv’ 2 all!

Sue


Congratulations The wedding took place on 28th February

in Gordon Parish Church

of Xander Donald and Jenny Fullerton.

A happy day for everyone!

Clubs and Societies Meeting Days

Majority Group 1st Mon in Month 2.00pm

Circuit Training Monday 7.30pm

Carpet Bowling Tuesday 7.00pm

SWRI (Rural) 3rd Tues in

Month 7.00pm

Parent & Tots Wednesday 9.15am

Youth Club Wednesday 6.30pm

Girl Guides Friday 6.30pm

History Group 1st Sat every 2nd

month 9.30am

Welcome To the Cochrane family, No 4 Beech Grove.

Village Trades and Services

B & B (Twin/Double Room) Kathleen & Robin Donald 0131 663 1821

Blacksmith

Jamie Fleming 07974 838 744

Builder & Plasterer

Clark Millar 07812 780 017

Child Minder

Carol McArthur 0131 660 2315

Computer Services & small DIY jobs Tom Morrow 07884 125126

Fencing, Railings & Metalworker

Steve Gilhooley 07702 188 692

Painter/Decorator

Stewart Naysmith 0131 454 9707

Personal Trainer

Phil Calvert 07525 046 436

Physiotherapist

Dougal Coward 07921 618 568

Plumber /Heating & Boiler Servicing

Gordon Dunn 07850 246 810

Vet

Beattie & John Buxton 0131 654 2266

CRAPS

Next outing is Friday 10th

April to Levenhall

Household Tips Clean your microwave by

putting a cup of water and half

a cup of lemon juice in a bowl

and pop it in the microwave

for 30 seconds. Then remove

the bowl and give the inside a

good wipe with a damp cloth.

A clean microwave in

seconds.

Cola – Use the fizzy drink on

limescale in your toilet. Pour

a one-litre bottle into the bowl

around the rim. Leave it for at

least an hour and most of the

limescale and dirt should have

dissolved, thanks to the

phosphoric acid in cola and

carbonic acid in the carbon

dioxide.




Dates for your diary

Apr

10 CRAPS – Levenhall Arms 7.30pm Bus Leaving Hall

14 Cousland School 7.00pm Village Hall

Proposed Sports Centre Meeting

18 CRAPS – Away Day - Northumberland 8.15am Meet Hall

21 SWRI - 96th Birthday Party 7.00pm Village Hall

End of Indoor Bowling Season – Start of Pétanque Season

May

2 Community Café 10.30am Village Hall

2 Cousland Smiddy Trust Plant Sale 10.30am Village Hall

3 Hadfast Valley Wildlife Reserve – Dawn Chorus 5.30am Hadfast Valley

4 Majority Group - Thirlestane Castle Meet1.00pm Village Hall

4 CVHA – Committee Meeting 7.00pm Village Hall

5 Smiddy Trust 7.30pm 21 Hadfast Rd

19 SWRI – AGM 7.00pm Village Hall

– Flower arrangement in small teacup

24 Pétanque Match Against Tweed Valley 1.30-4.30pm Petanque Piste

June


6 History Group AGM – All Welcome 9.30am Village Hall


9 Smiddy Trust AGM followed by meeting 7.00pm Smiddy Cottage

13 Village Party 5.00pm Village Hall

July



26 Pétanque – Away Match – Tweed Valley

Your CVHA

committee

Dougie MacKenzie (Chair)

Norrie Brown (Secretary)

Claire Thomson (Treasurer)

Brian Ellis

Andrew McGovern

Stuart Buchan

Caroline Pearson

Alison Vikis

Fiona Dunn

Darren Sweeney

Tom Morrow

The Village Committee

meet 1st Monday of each

month in the Village Hall.

Members of the community

are always welcome to

attend.

HEN and DUCK

EGGS FOR SALE

At the Kiln on

Quarrybank Road

SUNDAY

PAPERS

Anyone wanting a Sunday

paper

delivered,

Please contact

Jack on

0131 660 2315

Cousland Courier No11colour

Documents

Transcript of Cousland Courier No11colour