THE BUGLE Spring 2015 Newsletter of Ballogie Community Association (BCA)

Marywell Community Path Project

Hooray!! Our long-awaited path project in Marywell reached

another milestone in February when BCA received a grant of £10,000

from Awards for All Scotland towards the cost of the path. The

Awards for All grant means that all the funding is in place and

construction of the 650 metre path can begin. Apart from the Awards

for All grant, funding has come from Aberdeenshire Council, Teekay

Petrojarl, British Polar Engines Ltd, BCA itself and in-kind contributions

from Ballogie Estate Enterprises (BEE).

Hope you like the photograph below of the path construction team

holding a planning meeting recently!

A huge thank you to David Younie for driving this project forward

through many meetings and application forms!!

BEE staff have already started work clearing shrubs and branches along the path

route. Contractor and local resident James Reid will start work on constructing the

path in late April/May so hopefully the path will be complete by early summer.

As a community what we need to do now is start thinking about path maintenance.

We have undertaken that the community will maintain the path in a safe condition.

The project group has already established a path maintenance protocol. This is

necessary in order to satisfy public liability insurance requirements. Essentially the

protocol specifies the frequency of monitoring the path for litter, dog fouling,

overgrown branches, etc and of weed control on path edges, etc. We shall establish

a Path Maintenance Group and are looking for volunteers to join this group and help

with path maintenance. This should not be an onerous task and since most residents

will make use of the path, we hope you will be willing to help. Please get in touch with

me if you are willing to join this group and help out.

Dawn Gibbs, Secretary, BCA

013398 87227

dbseaman@hotmail.co.uk

Dear All,

A very warm welcome to the Spring 2015 edition of The Bugle.

Didn’t we do well? A grant for £10,000 from Awards for All towards the footpath!!

Please let us know if you have any ideas for future activities, events or projects, contact details

of committee members of the Ballogie Community Association (BCA) are listed. We hope you are

able to join us at some of the events highlighted in this newsletter! Or even join the committee

!!

From the BCA Committee

Ann Fletcher, Chair (86099)

Dawn Gibbs, Secretary (87227)

Dorothy Dinnie , Treasurer (86339)

Stewart Adams (85517)

Fiona Carter (85699)

Polly Tandy (85381)

Just a few Dates for your diary

Thursday 2nd April, 6.30 pm Film Show at Finzean Hall Thursday 9th April, 6.30 pm Puppet Show at Finzean Hall

Sunday 19th April BCA Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic

Meet at Ballogie Nursery Car Park at 11am. Walk up the forest trail to Marywell for a

picnic and Easter egg hunt in the field where we have the bonfire.

Saturday 25th April BCT Visit to Slewdrum Forest

Saturday 2nd May Strictly Come Prancing with David Younie at British Legion, Banchory

Sunday 3rd

May BCT Visit to Soutar Shop

Saturday 30th

May Open Day at the Seedbox, Ballogie 11am til 4pm

31 May – Mar Orienteering Club MAROC Junior Event – Carlogie/Potarch

07 June – Kiltwalk along Deeside Way – Aberdeen to Ballater

Saturday June 13th BCA Ruby Summer BBQ And AGM

Come and celebrate the 40th anniversary of BCA and our successful bid to Awards for All for

£10,000 for our community path. See you at 3pm on the Green at Marywell

14 June – Brookes Horse Trek – Finzean/Ballogie

28 June – MAROC – Senior Event – Potarch Woods

19 July – Sheepdog Trials – Carlogie

ALL BCA EVENTS THIS YEAR ARE TO RAISE FUNDS FOR OUR PUBLIC ACCESS DEFIBRILLATOR PROJECT.

PLEASE COME ALONG AND SUPPORT THIS WORTHY CAUSE…..IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.

READ ALL ABOUT IT INSIDE.

Join me for the Ballogie

Community Association

Easter Egg hunt on

Sunday April 19th.

Meet at the nursery car

park at 11 am.

We’ll hop up to

Marywell and see what

we find when we get

there!

BYO Picnic and

Drinks

Please give

generously

for our

defibrillator

project

Keeeep Dancing!!

Strictly Come Prancing is a dance extravaganza involving local people on

Deeside who are prepared to put on their dancing shoes, cast aside their dignity, apply a fixed grin and hope for the best on the dance floor. I have foolishly agreed to participate this year. I shall be cha-cha-cha-ing the night away on Saturday 2nd May at the British Legion, Banchory. Have pity on this silly old fool and please consider sponsoring me. It is all in aid of the Forget Me Not Club, which as you probably know is a wonderful local charity which provides opportunities daily for dementia sufferers to enjoy social interaction, therapies, art and craft activities and music. If you would like to sponsor me, please visit my Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/david-younie. Alternatively, I am happy to accept donations in person. Many thanks. David Younie 013398 87049

davidyounie@fsmail.net

Ballogie Community Defibrillator

It was Ken Taylor who suggested to B2C2 that we should look into obtaining a community

defibrillator (defib) for Ballogie. We were initially sceptical because of issues of where to locate it,

security of the device, etc. However, Tarland First Responders Linda Cunningham and David

Souter visited our November B2C2 meeting and demonstrated how easy it was to operate. It

should be emphasised that defibrillators are entirely safe and can detect if the casualty’s heart

requires a shock, and will not provide a shock if it detects a heartbeat. Linda and David informed

us that in order to ensure quick and easy access, most defibs now being installed are public

access, i.e. they are installed on the outside wall of a building and are not locked. You may have

seen recent press reports about the project to install eight Public Access Defibrillators (PADs)

along the A93 corridor between Kincardine O’Neil, through Aboyne to Dinnet.

Thus B2C2 and BCA intend to install a PAD in Marywell, although we still have to decide on the

location. Our first choice, on the wall of the Butterworth Gallery, beside the phone box, may not

be suitable because it is a south facing wall and may be too warm in summer. We will

investigate the possibility of putting it on the wall of the Nursery.

In addition to this issue, we have two challenges to face - firstly raising the funds to pay for the

PAD and the cabinet in which it is stored, and secondly training as many residents as possible in

its operation and in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which has to be used in conjunction

with using the defibrillator.

CAN YOU HELP? ARE YOU WILLING TO GET INVOLVED? GET IN TOUCH ASAP, PLEASE!

B2C2 submitted an application in November to the Scottish Ambulance Service which had

£100,000 available to provide PADs free to communities. We have not heard yet whether this

application has been successful, but since it was vastly oversubscribed, I am not over-optimistic,

so we need to start thinking about raising the funds ourselves. Purchase and installation of a

defibrillator and cabinet will cost approximately £2000 to £2250. Rob Walker of Marywell has

recently secured a donation of £900 from his employer Teekay Petrojarl towards the cost of a

community defibrillator, which is fantastic news. Well done, Rob. B2C2 may be able to contribute

towards the cost, and BCA is holding fund-raising events towards the cost. However, since this

is for the benefit of everybody in the community, we are hoping that local residents and

businesses will also be willing to make donations towards the cost. Please get in touch with me if

you are willing to do so.

Defibrillators have the best chance of success if members of the public are also able to provide

effective CPR to the casualty. Dr Jack Taylor and Tarland First Responders will provide training,

free of charge, in CPR and the use of defibs, etc, through the British Heart Foundation Heart

Start course. This is a two-hour course. We are looking for as many local residents as possible

to undertake this training. If you are willing to do this please get in touch with me as soon as

possible.

David Younie Bealltainn, Marywell 013398 87049 davidyounie@fsmail.net

POOT – Portrait of Our Time Family Shows @ Finzean Hall this April Animated Short Films: Family Treats Thursday 2nd April, 6.30pm A programme of seven funny, delightful short animated films for children and their families (PG). Tickets £9 / £7 conc / £28 family of four) from Mel Shand on 01330 850674 or melshand.artist@gmail.com

1. AIN'T NO FISH – A short, funny stop motion animated film featuring singing seals in the Arctic performing a Hoagy Carmichael song. A vivid and charming environmental message about the protection of our oceans.

2. RABBIT AND DEER – The friendship of Rabbit and Deer is put to the test by Deer's new obsession to find the formula for the third dimension...A beautiful mixed-media film which has won over 50 major awards at film festivals around the world.

3. A CHRISTMAS WISH – Christmas is a rough time when nobody will play with you in the snow...but if you wish hard enough, anything is possible...

4. FRENEMY – Normally they argue tooth and nail like cats and dogs always do. But what happens if they swap voices?

5. THE LOST WORLD – Bob is a stressed executive who heads to a deserted island for a much-needed vacation. It's a perfect place to relax, with sandy beaches and coconut trees... until his paradise turns out to be home to a lost world of prehistoric dinosaurs!

6. CARTOON AWAY – An animated character, tired of being tortured by his creator, escapes from the drawing table. The human manages to bring the character back, only to find out that he can no longer control his creation.

7. THE DAM KEEPER – This short film tells the tale of a young pig with an important job, and a new friend who changes everything...blending traditional hand-drawn animation with digital painting techniques this film brings Kondo and Tsutsumi's celebrated paintings to life. Oscar nominated and multi-award winning animated short.

________________________________________________________________________________

Puppet show "Liang and the Magic Paintbrush" by the Crooked Timber Theatre. Ages 4+

Thursday 9th April, 6.30 pm

Tickets £9 / £7 conc / £28 family of four) from Mel Shand on 01330 850674 or melshand.artist@gmail.com

Liang dreams of being a painter but is too poor to buy himself a paintbrush. Join him on a magical adventure to find out if dreams really can come true.

This inventive and gentle show for all the family combines charming wooden puppets, shadow theatre, origami, live painting and video images to bring this well-loved Chinese tale to life.

Saturday June 13th

BCA’s Ruby Anniversary Summer BBQ

And AGM

Come and celebrate the 40th anniversary of BCA

and our successful bid to Awards for All

for £10,000 for our community path.

3pm on the Green at Marywell

*BYO drinks and food *BBQs provided

*Bouncy Castle *Roll £1 for bottle of whisky

*Boules *Celebration Punch

ALL PROFITS TO OUR DEFIBRILLATOR PROJECT

BIRSE COMMUNITY TRUST (BCT)

Visits for Local Residents to BCT Sites in Ballogie

Slewdrum Forest Saturday 25th April 2015 (2 – 4pm)

Come and enjoy a visit to Slewdrum Forest to learn more about BCT's current management of the Forest and its history as an ancient Crown Common. The guided visit for up to 10 people will involve a circular walk along surfaced paths and forest roads.

Ballogie Soutar's Shop Sunday 3rd May 2015 (2 - 4 pm)

Come and see inside this remarkable ‘time capsule’. While such rural soutar’s shops were widespread in Scotland until little over a hundred years ago, the Ballogie Soutar’s Shop appears to be the only one that still survives intact in rural Scotland. The maximum group size for this visit is 8 and booking is essential.

To book a place on either or both of these visits, please contact Aidan Bell Tel: 01330 850740 or email: aidan.d.bell@icloud.com

Further details about each visit will be sent to those who book a place

Birse Community Trust will hold it's AGM on

Tuesday 12th May 2015 at 7.30pm in Finzean Hall – All Welcome

Scottish Charity Number SC028220

Visit The Secret Garden

The Seed Box, a fledgling Social Enterprise company based in the Walled Garden on Ballogie

estate, is pleased to invite people from the surrounding area and beyond to join them for their

open day on Saturday, 30th May from 11am til 4pm.

The Seed Box opened early last year as a day service for adults with learning disabilities and

mental health problems, and its aim is to provide meaningful activity for its service users, along

with the therapeutic and physical health benefits associated with working outdoors in the

garden.

In association with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, it will offer the Grow & Learn

Award, a recognised measure of achievement for people with learning disability, and the

organisation has also built strong links with Aboyne Academy’s Support for Learning

Department, offering work experience to pupils with a disability who are approaching their

school-leaving date.

The walled garden itself, which had been left to its own devices for around 25 years, produced

great crops of lots of different vegetables last year, and this year, the enterprise is looking to

extend this and raise some much-needed funds by supplying veg boxes to the local area; a

project it hopes to have “live” by early summer, given that the survey responses from the local

community, parents of children at Ballogie Nursery and staff at Aboyne Academy were so

overwhelmingly positive!

Longer term aims include being able to offer sheltered employment to people with learning

disabilities and/ or mental health problems, in the form of gardening squads and so on.

So much has been achieved in little over a year, and The Seed Box would be delighted to

welcome people in to have a look around on Saturday May 30th, to see the progress, meet some

of the service users and find out more about all our plans. There’ll be teas and coffees and a

barbecue, along with fun activities for children and plants for sale from 11am til 4pm.

For more information, or to find out how to help out as a volunteer, please contact Belinda on 01330

828131 or 07796 125746.

www.theseedbox.org.uk

Different Spring Route ?? Fancy a longer walk from Marywell, Ballogie. Maybe even take the bike if you’re feeling really

fit?? Then follow the little red line on the map below. You could even combine this with the

woodland trail in the last issue of the Bugle.

Then try this route. It takes about 3 hours walking and is around 6 miles. Mainly good tracks and

takes in some of the Deeside Way. Why not stop off for a picnic on the green by Potarch Hotel or

down at the river? Need more information? Just contact Dawn Gibbs.

Taken from Explorer Map 395 Glen Esk and Glen Tanar

BREAKING NEWS

B2C2 AGM is on Monday 11th May, at 7.30pm in Birse Hall.

All residents are invited to come along to the AGM. Please also consider becoming a Community Councillor.

Currently we have seven members, but it would be good to

have another five because we can have a maximum of 12. We have six meetings per annum, with each meeting

lasting about one and a half hours so it is not an onerous

task. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in joining. David Younie, Chair, B2C2'