Furniture Lodge Opening Again

Community
By bellmannews / May 20, 2022
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view up beach lane to lodge

From Lenny Lawrence, trustee

We would like to thank all who visited us at the Furniture Lodge on Cowie Lane last weekend and those who bought items.

We have decided due to demand we are open again this coming weekend, on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd May from 10am to 3pm.

We have a good selection of new 4-metre carpets, dining and kitchen tables, sets of chairs, easy chairs, leather sofas, beds, books, a full drum kit plus, ceramics, glassware, cutlery, bric-a-brac and more.

Come along, browse and get a bargain. If you need new carpets please measure your room’s prior to your visit.

The trustees will be happy to assist. 

Furniture Lodge Sale

Coastal Path Vision for Jubilee

News
By Jane Cruickshank / May 20, 2022
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old photo showing path in good condition

A coastal path leading from the sweeping bay of St Cyrus in the Mearns past clifftops and stunning natural features to the sandy beach at Cullen in Banffshire – such is the vision of the Lord
Lieutenants of Banffshire, Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire

Last night, (Thursday) the Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire, Alastair Macphie, hosted a launch event for Kincardineshire’s role in the creation of this new walking route as a legacy project to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Mr Macphie said there was a host of wonderful sights along the way – rock stacks, waterfalls and first class beaches. So the coastal path, he said, could become one of the top five walking routes in the United Kingdom.

Lord Lieutenant Alastair Macphie

The Kincardineshire Development Partnership helped facilitate the evening which saw representatives from volunteer groups, officers of Aberdeenshire Council and councillors in attendance along with MSP Mairi Gougeon who is Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands.

Landowners, whose co-operation will be vital to the project, were also present and highlighted some of issues they feel will have to be addressed such as litter and impact on habitats and livestock.

Many sections have already been completed, so the challenge is to join these sections. The creation of the Jubilee path will be volunteer-led, but a project manager, James Ferrier, has been appointed and was introduced to the meeting.

And Caspar Lampkin of the Mearns Coastal Heritage Trail group – MERCHAT – described their work between Johnshaven and St Cyrus. The group have been innovative in their approach to both path building and measures to counter erosion, such as living willow walls.

Stunning waterfalls such as this one at Crawton would feature on the path

Coastal gems

Officers of Aberdeenshire Council described their current role in maintaining our path network and gave an overview of the local authority’s role in supporting the Jubilee project.

Alison Simpson described projects she had already supported, especially along the Banff coastline. In completing the path, she said, there would be some easy wins but other sections would take longer.

But the end result could be a route incorporating both local heritage and stunning landscape features.

”The coastline of Aberdeenshire is like a string of pearls,” she said.

”And the path is just the string joining them.”

Feature image – the project would see paths restored to good condition and heritage features such as the Cowie Battery highlighted

Previously in The Bellman

Jubilee Tree Planting

‘Weel kent’ Stonehaven woman dies aged 91

Community
By bellmannews / May 19, 2022
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Margaret Simpson, a well-known and popular face in Stonehaven and the wider Mearns community, has died at the age of 91.

Mrs Simpson passed away peacefully at Castle Lodge Care Home in Inverbervie on Saturday, May 14. Joe, her husband of almost 68 years, who also resides at Castle Lodge, was by her side.

The Simpsons had lived in Stonehaven since 1968, most recently at 16 Mearns Drive. The couple were also prominent in the communities of Catterline and St.Cyrus in the 1950s and 1960s, where Mr Simpson was headmaster of the local primary schools and Mrs Simpson travelled widely around the county primary and secondary schools as a Physical Education teacher. Mr Simpson was headmaster at the now defunct Fetteresso Primary then Arduthie Primary before his retirement in 1981.

Originally from Hawick, Mrs Simpson taught at several rural schools over many decades and her last teaching position was at Carronhill School, where she gained considerable enjoyment and satisfaction from teaching children with special needs.

She was closely associated with the Brownies and Girl Guides, becoming Commissioner of the latter organisation in Stonehaven. Mrs Simpson was an accomplished Scottish country dancer and enjoyed teaching that skill regularly in the Town Hall.

A talented sportsperson, who graduated from Dunfermline College of Physical Education, Mrs Simpson was active in Stonehaven Bowling Club and had played in the National Finals in Ayr. She was also a keen golfer, taking on the role of Match Secretary at Stonehaven Golf Club and was a member of the Friends of Stonehaven Outdoor Swimming Pool.

She is survived by Joe, who celebrated his 101st birthday last month; sons Gordon, Alistair, Keith and daughter Jacki; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Soaring Success for Dancers

Community
By bellmannews / May 17, 2022
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From Allison McIntyre –

Rhythm Nation Dance again had great success competing in the SOAR Scottish Street Dance in Stirling.
Divas we’re up against some really good teams this time. They are still very young for their category but they did not disappoint. 

Illumination absolutely smashed it!! BEST THEY HAVE EVER DANCED AS A TEAM! They worked hard for this and really believed in themselves. They got their 1st place!!! 

HOOLIES – absolutely smashed it yesterday, I couldn’t ask for anymore. Such hardworking, polite and grateful kids that are hungry for more! 

Unified – already down a few team members and we lost another one the day with a wee scary trip to the hospital (she’s ok). We didn’t have anyone to compete against this time, however, as always we still went out there, did our thing professionally and pushed hard. 

⭐️8U Newcomer4th – Diva Nation, 
⭐️12U Newcomer 1st – ILLUMINATION 
⭐️14U newcomer/novice 2nd – Hip Hop Hoolies 
⭐️17+ Advance  1st –  Unified 
Lots more trophies won in solos, duos and hip hop battles.

Stonehaven Golf Club this week

Community
Sports
Stoney Golf
By Alex Russon / May 16, 2022
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Over £200 was raised for the Marie Curie charity this weekend as SGC members competed in Saturday’s Stableford event. The weather was superb leaving early starters to rue their selection of long legged breeks over shorts, cool air giving way to warm sunshine not long after breakfast time had passed. 

Impressive scoring matched the impressive weather, the top two competitors amassing 44 points apiece. John Neal pipped John McMenemy to the post thanks to a better back nine, the latter having slightly sullied his card on the 16th hole. Spare a thought for Simon Mitchell who’s PB (a round of 71), containing no fewer than three birdie 2s, earned him merely a bronze medal. He can be consoled at least by the trousering of a healthy proportion of the 2s pot.

The midweek Stroke also yielded strong performances, Mike Hampton victorious with a nett 60 including an early barrage of birdies. Andrew Stewart’s dogged display earned him second place and David Cruickshank’s entertaining bogey/birdie routine over the last few holes saw him finish third.

Performance of the week though must go to the splendid quartet who represented the club with distinction in the prestigious inter-club Maitland Shield knockout competition. They came agonisingly close to winning the tournament, defeated only in the grand final by the hosts, Newmacher, who made the most of home advantage. Hats off to Kevin Murdoch, Ian Taylor, Kiefer Brown & Fraser Stark for a splendid achievement given the quality of the opposition throughout the event.

The Junior coaching continues apace on Sunday afternoons, it’s always good to see youngsters getting into the sport. We hope they follow up by joining existing members of our Junior Section, some of whom competed in their weekend Medal with Alana Henderson triumphing by a stroke over Thomas Dingwall.

The Ladies section have been busy with several events contested lately in a number of formats. Fiona Sim can claim Ladies player of the week status having won Division 1 of the individual Medal and partnered Jayne Thurlow to secure the Coronation Foursomes. And with Alana Henderson winning the Junior Medal, the Ladies section can look forward with anticipation at the next potential starlet to join their ranks. 

Results

Marie Curie Stableford

J Neal 44; J McMenemy 44; S Mitchell 42.

Midweek Stroke

M Hampton 60; A Stewart 60; D Cruickshank 61.

Junior Medal 

A Henderson 64; T Dingwall 66; M Skidmore 67.

Ladies Medal 

Div 1 – F Sim 69; Y Scott 70; C Duncan 70.

Div 2 – S Calder 66; M Duncan 66; J Needham 67.

Ladies Coronation Foursomes 

F Sim / J Thurlow 39; E Gilmour/ B Kakebeeke 36; J Hunt / J Needham 35.

Ladies Fourball Swap

P Parker / J Morrison 62; J Owen / F Armstrong 65.5; E Gilmour / Y Scott 66.

Ladies Innes Majority Final Qualifiers

F Sim, Y Scott, C Duncan, M Duncan, J Needham, M Samuel, B Kakebeeke 

Funding Opportunities for Sports Clubs, Museums and more

Community
By bellmannews / May 16, 2022
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Logo of KDP
Welcome to the KDP Bulletin.
The Aldi Scottish Sport Fund is now open for the North East of Scotland.
If you run a sports club, this is your chance to apply for up to £2500 of funding from Aldi.
Submit your application form by Sunday 12th June for your chance to secure a donation from Aldi to help support the amazing work you do in your local community.
Click here for guidance and to apply. 
Business Gateway offers a plethora of free webinars, events and online tutorials to tackle topics from bookkeeping and finance, writing a business plan, e-commerce, social media, marketing on a budget, to video production for digital platforms and more. 
Visit their website for the current schedule.  
The Stand With Us Fund has been set up to support the many organisations run by and for women who stand up and take action every single day to address violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Through this fund, one-year grants of up to £25,000 will be offered to fund organisational development work.
More here.
The Poverty Alliance has recently launched a campaign to help people apply for the Scottish Child Payment.
The Payment from Social Security Scotland is worth £80 every four weeks for each eligible child aged under 6. For children aged between 6 and 16, you may be eligible for a bridging payment.
You can apply if you live in Scotland whether you are in work or not. You may be eligible if you are the parent or carer of the child and get certain benefits or tax credits.
You can find out more about the Scottish Child Payment by clicking here.
A number of grants of up to £2,000 each will be made available by the Jo Walters Trust to people or organisations with a strong link to Aberdeenshire, and who wish to provide educational opportunities to people in the outdoors.
They would love to hear from you if you have plans that could help more people get outside to learn something! Whether it’s for groups, families, individuals or schools, if you think a grant of up to £2,000 would help you achieve it, consider making an application. 
The deadline for applications is 30th June 2022
More information can be found here. 
Communities across the UK are facing fresh challenges and opportunities, and have new hopes and aspirations. Can you help the National Lottery (TNL) better understand what these are and how they might offer support?
TNL want to ensure they remain relevant, responsive, and supportive to the communities they serve. By sharing your thoughts and ideas you can help ensure they, and the support they provide, remain fit and future-focused. 
More here.
The Museums Galleries Scotland Small Grants Fund provides support for small scale project activity but it is also there to support any Accredited museums struggling to meet critical, non-project costs due to the depletion of reserves or budgets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It cannot support core-operating costs, but it can support essential repairs, maintenance, and resources. It can also support activity that is about recovering visitor numbers, management of collections, building resilience or reducing costs. 
To learn more visit the website. 
The Positive Action Grant scheme supported 28 local sports and cultural groups last year. These groups were able to deliver a range of great local opportunities which supported health and wellbeing.
LLA is the sports and culture service of Aberdeenshire Council, and the grants are open to eligible organisations based in and providing services in the area.
Groups can apply for between £200 and £5,000. This scheme offers a route to deliver innovative sporting and cultural projects and it is hoped it will encourage new community organisations to build their capacity. 
Have a great idea? Apply by the 31st May 2022. 
 
KDP is here to help in any way we can.  Please get in touch if we can assist you or your Community group.  
Mairi & Margo
Kincardineshire
Development
Partnership

www.kdp.scot
07903 156864  Should you wish to get in touch, our contact details are as follows:
Mairi Eddie             Development Officer               developmentofficer@kdp.scot
Margo Titmuss       Windfarm & Funding Officer    officesupport@kdp.scot   A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation – SC046327

Do You Have a Community Champion?

Community
By bellmannews / May 15, 2022
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IS there someone you know in Stonehaven who goes that extra mile for our community – or has worked hard and achieved success, or shown bravery – or sometimes all it takes is a cup of tea and a kind ear.

If so, then now is the time to think about nominating them for the 2022 Community Award which is made each year by Stonehaven and District Community Council, Stonehaven Business Association and our local churches.

Last year’s winner was Stevie, the local volunteer who walks miles every week, keeping Stonehaven’s streets free from litter.

This year’s award will be given to a person who is over 18 years of age and who has achieved outstanding achievement, excellence or merit in one of the following area

voluntary work in the community
academic or sporting success
an act of bravery
outstanding caring or community service
special achievement despite limitations imposed by hardship, disability or long term illness
enhancing the perceived image of our community
or any other appropriate kind of excellence.

The candidate must have a strong association with Stonehaven.

The nomination must be in writing or by e mail and must include a supporting statement explaining the reasons for nomination; it should be submitted by a person not related to the candidate. Submissions must be received by the secretary (including complete name, address and telephone number/e mail) by May 16th 2022.

The candidate must agree to being nominated and to the presentation and publicity that will be given to the award prior to nomination

Please email any nominations asap to stevenmcqueen2@hotmail.com

Stonehaven’s Community Man of the Year
Award Winning Caring and Good Humour

SWI Bowling Success

Community
By bellmannews / May 15, 2022
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From Shona Barclay –

Three ladies from Kincardineshire travelled to Falkirk Indoor Bowling Club to take part in the Scottish Women’s Institutes (SWI) Stadium Bowling National Finals Competition.

Some 12 teams from all over Scotland took part. After winning all five games in their Round Robin section, the ladies went on to win their semi final and subsequently the final. They were presented with certificates and the Bon Accord Shield by National President, Anne Kerr. It had been a long, but very exciting, day.

Feature image pictured from left are Shona Barclay, Anne Kerr, Jean Skinner and June Rattray.

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