tttthehheehe b bb b lether -...
TRANSCRIPT
the blether [ˈblɛðə] – the newsletter of the community of Hoy and Walls
DECEMBER 2012 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
TTTTHEHEHEHE B B B BLETHERLETHERLETHERLETHER
Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year
To everyone on
Hoy and South Walls
WELCOME!
Welcome to the sixth issue of THE BLETHER.
The December issue features an interview with Santa Claus, and update on the Hoy Dancers. There is also news from Hoy Kirk Archive and from North Walls School and the Ladies Lifeboat Guild. A spotlight on the first climb of the Old Man and photographs of the pantomime.
The usual round-up of events and meetings but please check dates and times nearer the event as some things can change.
Thank you once again to all of the contributors to the sixth issue and for the use of their photographs.
Contact details for further information or for contribu-tions can be found on the back page.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE :
SANTA
HOY DANCERS
2
AFFORDABLE WARMTH 3
HOY K IRK NEWS 4
NORTH WALLS
SCHOOL
5
SPOTLIGHT ON….. . 6
RNLI NEWS 7
PANTOMIME 8
GABLE END EVENTS 9
NOTICEBOARD 10
On Sunday December 9th, Santa Claus took time out from his very busy schedule and dropped in to The Royal to switch on the
Christmas Tree lights and give out presents to all the island children who were waiting to see him inside the hotel. In an exclusive in-terview with The Blether, Santa said “I always look for-ward to visiting The Royal at this very special time of year and seeing the
children looking so happy. I would like to thank all the people who made my visit so enjoyable and those who provided the beauti-ful Christmas Tree. In my opinion, it’s the best in Orkney.” Being so busy, Santa had to leave but left The Blether his list of people to thank. As he left,
he added “I hope I’ve remembered everyone but I do have a lot to think about at the mo-ment so if I’ve missed anyone, thank you as well.” On Santa’s Christmas thank you list are: His helper, Teresa; Alan, for letting him give out presents in The Royal and for having the Christmas Tree in the garden; Eddie, for providing the tree and Rob, for transporting the tree; Alex, Matt and Alan for putting the tree up and making sure it didn’t blow away; Ian, for sorting things out, including the lights, and Frank and co. for putting the lights on the tree; All those people who made mince pies, cakes and other nibbles: and all the children and adults who came along. A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.
like a mini ban-q u e t t e ! Unfortu-n a t e l y t h e wea ther put many members of the public off coming and a great deal of folk were poorly with the bug of that moment so there were only in the teens of people there to deal with the mulled wine, dancing, food, raffles and tidying up. An absolutely super after-noon was enjoyed by every-one.
SANTA COMES TO TOWN…….WELL TO LONGHOPE !
HOY DANCERS CHRISTMAS TEA DANCE
PAGE 2 THE BLETHER
It was very festive on the morning of 2nd of December, with snow and ice making going out a bit hazardous BUT go ahead with our planned Christmas Tea Dance we did. A good num-
ber of dancers ‘worked their socks off’ to make the YM festive and provide the after-noon tea which was more
Hopefully there will be an-other Tea Dance on 3333
rdrdrdrd March 2013March 2013March 2013March 2013 if the weather is kind to us. Remember - any-one can come along and en-joy the music, food and com-pany - you don’t have to dance as it is a social after-noon with a bit of dancing. Many thanks to all who made the day such a success against all odds. We are now on our Decem-ber break from dancing - back on 7th January 2013. Prize Bingo on 20th January 2013. Mabel j Besant
AFFORDABLE WARMTH AND SERVICE SUPPORT SCHEME—IOHDT
Following discussions
with the Big Lottery
Funding Officers it was
concluded that, whilst
fuel poverty may be eas-
ily defined and quick fix
schemes such as ‘loft
insulation top ups’ are generally available, there
are many core issues related to affordable
warmth that currently are not being addressed.
In remote/rural communities such as on Hoy
many homes are old and do not benefit from be-
ing constructed to current building regulations or
the inclusion of modern building methods and
materials. Improving thermal performance of
such homes can be achieved through various
means such as improved glazing and the applica-
tion of wall insulation, (internal, cavity or exter-
nal). Studies show that general maintenance/
repair to properties can also make a significant
difference to the energy consumption/costs –
sounds obvious but nonetheless most homes
have a list of ‘jobs to be done’ that for whatever
reason have not been completed and many of
these items could bring comfort benefits and or
reduced energy bills.
Some progress has been made by central govern-
ment in trying to address the issues of energy
efficiency on a national basis by creating a myr-
iad of publicly funded options available from
various agencies, however statistics show that
implementation in remote rural areas, where
need is often greatest, is much lower than in the
more central areas. Analysis indicates that this is
due to several factors, with one common thread
which adversely affects the ability of the various
schemes to succeed in areas of most need. This
is often due to the low number/lack of certified
skilled tradesmen and contractors in the remote
regions.
Invariably grant schemes specify ‘certified con-
tractors’ for installation work, and for electrical
work or plumbing of pressurised heating sys-
PAGE 3 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 6
tems, use of a ‘certified contractor’ is now a
statutory legal requirement.
The active tradesmen and contractors who are
capable of carrying out this type of work are of-
ten not formally certified to the latest and rele-
vant regulations. Obtaining certification, whilst
for most not technically difficult, is cost prohibi-
tive i.e. the cost of attending the relevant indus-
try training course/exam; purchase of certified
test equipment; annual costs related to equip-
ment calibration and certification; etc – all gen-
erally higher costs because of remote location
coupled with reduced opportunities to recover
these costs due to general economic parameters
associated with lower income levels in rural
communities.
Taking the above into account, along with rising
energy bills and costs for maintenance of heat-
ing systems etc, the Trust is currently developing
an Affordable Warmth and Service Support
Scheme for the community of Hoy. The budg-
eted development and set-up costs are being
100% funded by the Lottery Growing Commu-
nity Assets fund, thereafter the scheme should
be self funding with a small administrative over-
head that would be supported by the Trust.
The development stage has just begun with dia-
logue having been opened with national organi-
sations such as SSE, Community Energy Scot-
land, Energy Saving Trust Scotland along with
Bruce Stevenson Risk Management to assess
potential indemnity and insurance needs.
Following the Christmas period wider input will
be required and welcomed – if you are a trades-
man/contractor on Hoy wanting to participate,
or a practical person with ideas or possibly time
to get involved please let us know.
Targeted Outcomes:
To have an operational system that enables/
supports local trades people to efficiently, le-
gally and cost effectively give service and sup-
(Continued on page 4)
NEWS FROM THE HOY ARCHIVE AT HOY K IRK
PAGE 4 THE BLETHER
Karl Reid has been awarded a Saltire Award from Voluntary Action Orkney in recognition of his 100 hours work at the archive. Karl works voluntarily as archivist, scanning and tagging the images that are handed in to the project. Jeff Clark of the Friends of Hoy Kirk presented the certificate to Karl at Hoy Kirk on the 7th Decem-ber.
During the day visitors were treated to a show of nearly 700 images projected on the wall – photo-graphs handed in on the last Heritage Night at Hoy Kirk showing Hoy people and places in the years between 1960 and 2000. The mammoth task of digitising these photographs, and input-ting all the names, was undertaken by Karl. As Jeff said in his presentation speech, ‘Karl’s skills have been invaluable, he has made a real differ-ence’. The Saltire Award is for young volunteers, but there are many other volunteers on the Hoy heritage project who deserve an award – they are just all over 25! The display of images will be on show on de-mand – so just come by the Kirk any Friday and ask to see them projected. Enjoy such gems as the Hoy Darts Team, postman Jimmy Moar’s
retirement do at Hoy Inn, parties at Bunertoon - home of Peter Maxwelll Davies, various performances in-cluding Mabel Be-sant as Red Riding
Hood and power cables being laid in Rackwick bay to mention a few.
Have you seen the new display cabinets at Hoy Kirk? We are delighted to be able to exhibit the Hoy Kirk pewter com-munion plates and the lovely christening bowl gifted to the Kirk by the Groat family. We have also started a collection of books about Hoy in-cluding a donation of the new Hoy & Walls pho-tographic book as well as George Mackay Brown poetry and the art retrospective on Sylvia Wishart. Photo 1: Leslie Sinclair Photo 2: St Magnus Festival party at Bunertoon, Rackwick Photo 3: The Old Post Office
The next event at Hoy Kirk will be a New Year gathering on Friday 11th January 7pm – 9pm when we will take the opportunity to hear about some of the submissions to the archive and hear about some particular aspects of Hoy heritage. Please look out for further details. Check out www.hoyheritage.co.uk for updates. Text and photos provided by Rebecca Marr.
AFFORDABLE WARMTH SCHEME
port to Hoy residents and their
properties – ranging from sim-
ple repair or maintenance tasks
around the home to boilers;
property infrastructure; to ma-
jor property refurbishment
(thermal); heating system ser-
vice, upgrade or replacement.
It is hoped that the scheme will
also facilitate guidance/
(Continued from page 3) assistance for residents at-
tempting single grant applica-
tions, as well as applying for
wider ranging community grant
schemes that would normally
only be awarded/handled by
larger accredited contractors
from south.
To document the final devel-
oped scheme, along with any
options and variations identi-
fied as possible/applicable, in a
form that could be adapted and
or adopted by organisations in
other remote communities -
effectively creating a transport-
able model. (Big Lottery Fund
requirement for funding).
Contact: Brian Clegg 701816
or 07968 427172
North Walls Community School hosted an enterprise day on Wednesday 6th December, to raise money for two charities chosen by the pupils. We raised around £300 for Guinea Pig Rescue and the World Wildlife Fund, and would like to thank everybody who made donations and came to the event. A report about the event will be in the next issue.
NEWS FROM NORTH WALLS SCHOOL
ENTERPRISE DAY
One of our focus areas in the School Improve-ment Plan is 'community values' so we are trying to promote connections between us, the pupils, and the wider community. We recently had a visit to the Haey Hope Club after their lunch in the Community Room at the North Walls Centre.
We began by explaining that we are involved with an eco project. That means we are learn-ing about how our activities have an effect on the environment, like recycling used paper, turn-ing off taps when we’re finished using them as well as saving energy and other resources. We are aiming to achieve our Silver Award by the summer holidays.
The main thing we told the Haey Hope Club about our eco project was making the raised beds in the school garden. First, we wrote to builders in Orkney to see whether they had any spare scaffolding boards they would be willing to donate to the project. We are very grateful that we got enough to build two raised beds, one for Class One and another for Class Two.
We really appreciated Kevin Kirkpatrick deliver-ing soil for us to fill up the raised beds. We
PAGE 5 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 6
worked really hard taking the earth in wheel-barrows from the pile to the raised beds and then we filled them up. Once we had them up to the top, we organised what to plant. We planted beetroot, carrots, onions, and peas and we planted tatties in different tubs at the other side of the garden.
When the tatties were ready to lift, some peo-ple got awards for their crop. Daniel got the heaviest tattie, Martin got the ugliest tattie, Fergus got the tattie that looked most like a face, Adele got the heaviest crop, Molly got the most tatties, Stella got the tattie that looked most like an animal, and Archie’s was the fun-niest looking!
The other vegetables were quite successful, although our carrots grew too close together and some of them wrapped round each other. We’ve learnt that next time we’ll have to thin them out a bit.
We gave Karen in the kitchen some tatties and onions; she made delicious little tattie and on-ion cakes with them. Class One made carrot cookies and Class Two made beetroot muffins. It helped us to learn about food miles when we compared them to blueberry muffins.
The Haey Hope Club asked us several ques-tions about our project, including trying other vegetables so we will find out about what we can plant next year. Sorry we don’t have any of our vegetables left for your Christmas din-ner!
Merry Christmas from us all at North
Walls Community School
SPOTLIGHT ON THE F IRST CLIMB OF THE OLD MAN OF HOY
Over three days in 1966, Chris Bonnington, Tom Patey and Rusty Baillie set about to climb the Old Man. I heard about it, but thought they would not be successful; however, on the eve-ning of the third day, I learned that they were nearly at the top. My son, Richard, my brother in
law, Jimmy Kerr, and myself set out in my car to have a look. When coming over the hill on first sight of the Old Man, we thought someone was on the
top, coming nearer we real-ised it was just a cairn of stones. The climbers had been at the top and gone.
On the way back we met Leslie Sinclair from Lythe in Hoy, who was going to see if the Old Man had been con-quered, he told us the climbers were staying in Mucklehouse at Rackwick. We all went along there to meet them. Chris Bonnington was sleeping, being very tired after the climb. I took some photographs (see within this text) and asked for their signatures, which they were pleased to give. I regret not getting the names of the two ladies accompanying the climbers. It was a privilege to meet them, to listen to
their recollection of the difficult climb, loose rocks, vomiting fulmars, explor-ing a route up, etc. This was an exciting and historic occasion. Text and photographs very kindly supplied by Jimmy Groat [Tom Patey regretfully, was killed coming down from climbing the Maiden, over in Caith-ness in 1970]
PAGE 6 THE BLETHER
Jimmy Groat, Leslie Sinclair, Chris Bonnington, Rusty Baillie, Richard Groat, Jimmy Kerr and Tom Patey
Chris Bonnington, Tom Patey and Rusty Baillie
Rusty Baillie, Chris Bonnington, and Tom Patey
LONGHOPE RNLI L IFEBOAT NEWS
RNLI LONGHOPE L IFEBOAT GUILD CHRISTMAS BAZAAR A GREAT SUCCESS
PAGE 7 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 6
On Friday 9 November the lifeboat guild
raised £2061.42 for the RNLI.
This event was once again well attended and guild members were kept busy selling a very varied selection of items from beauti-fully knitted baby clothes to a karaoke/entertainment centre. There were books, toys, clothes, raffles and bric-a -brac. Tea and delicious home bakes were also served as a light refreshment. The Bazaar was opened by Angus Budge, Deputy Coxswain of the lifeboat, who also proved to be an amusing and successful auctioneer of donated items. The auction managed to raise £298 and quite a few laughs.
During the evening good old Santa made an appearance and excited children were de-lighted to receive an early Christmas pre-sent. The following morning people were in-vited to have a fumble and rumble in the jumble. An extra £100 was collected. On behalf of RNLI Longhope I would like to
thank all those who so generously sup-ported this event, both local folk who donated items for sale and local busi-nesses of the island and Orkney mainland who donated raffle prizes. Also thanks to the lifeboat crew and the mysterious man who nicked my
clothes pegs to hold up the RNLI flag! Fi-nally many thanks to the guild for all their time and amazing effort. On Saturday 17 November the guild took the Christmas Bazaar to the Flotta Community Centre. The very charitable folk who came and supported it managed to contribute a further £355.50. We had a good time and met some great people. Its remarkable when many people are feel-ing the pinch that so much was raised for the charity that saves lives at sea. Photographs by Mary Harris and more can be seen on the Longhope Lifeboat facebook page Mary Harris, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer for Longhope, 07709 692811, 01856 701 924 [email protected]
ORKLAHOYMA
PAGE 8 THE BLETHER
This year, being the Gable End Theatre's 10th year anniversary, Hoy and Walls Entertainment Group (HAWEG) staged a repeat of the first pantomime performed in the theatre “Orklahoyma”. As the name suggests “Orklahoyma” was a spoof set in the wild west. The pantomime told the story of a frontier town founded by some pioneering folks who set out from Hoy to the County Show. A storm struck and the towns people were blown off course and instead of ending up in
“Houton” they found themselves in “Houston”. “Orklahoyma” told us the story of “Old Timer”, one of the last of the Hoy pioneers, played by Lindsay Hall and his daughter “Tangerine” played by Mary Phillips. The pair crossed paths with two desperate Mexican bandits “El Vis”, the bandit king (Amy Kinsey), and “El Bow”, his less glamorous assistant (Lee Shields). Tangerine is kidnapped and held for r a n s o m .
Old Timer reaches town in time for his date with “Old Mrs Fluid” (Olivia Thomson); another relic who survived the crossing from Lyness to Houston, Mrs Fluid refused to give up her accent or attitude and was definitely not going to give into Old Timer's advances.
O r k l a -h o y m a ' s strong cast, made up of well known faces, introduced us to a range of colourful and unusual characters. Sinister baddies took the form of the Loan Arranger (Rachel Thomson) and his vulture sidekicks (Julie Thomson and Sue Whittingham) who, quite literally, swooped in on their unsuspecting victims. The town Sheriff (Ruairidh White), not helped by Dep-uty Firstminister (Dawn Clark), was the exception to the
rule of this pantomime in which the men were generally cowardly playing against forthright and feisty women. The Sheriff did attempt to lead a posse that might rescue Tangerine but, due to den-tal appointments, this was a posse of one, although Blanche, a saloon girl (Isabelle Chevalier) came to his aid. The saloon bar, run by Bart Ender (Ian Mcfedries), was the chosen hangout of the townspeople and a source of singing and hilarity. The audience joined the cast in renditions of well known numbers from the country and western genre. Four lovely can-can danc-ers popped in for a drink giving some unusual sus-pects the opportunity to don extravagant wigs and frocks.
GABLE END THEATRE EVENTS
PAGE 9 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 6
There were too many high points to mention them all. One thing that HAWEG did really well was to make sure that everyone had a part to play. Between scenes young cast members took centre stage in short comedy sketches. Little touches that are common place or tradi-tional at the Gable End, come into their own at an event like a pantomime. The christmassy décor tastefully com-plimented the theatre's recent refurbishment. Audience participation was expected rather than encouraged. A healthy amount
of well timed audience heckles were expected from the home crowd along with the usual closing night capers. The show ended with everything being banged to rights quite literally with the Judge’s gavel in the saloon court-room. There was something not quite about that judge from the start maybe he was on the pay roll of the rail road.
Text by Euphemia Matheson, with photos by Barry Jones
ORKLAHOYMA CONTINUED
FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER, 8PM
NO SOOND CD Launch Concert and Christmas party!
Supported by two additional up and coming Orkney Duos :
MAGGIE & JAMES NICOLSON AND GRAHAM RORIE & JACK KIRKPATRICK
Licensed Bar. Tickets £5 (accompanied under-16s £1).
Advanced booking advisable—TEL: 791200
***********************************************************************
FRIDAY 18 JANUARY, 7.30PM *** NOTE EARLIER STARTING TIME THAN USUAL***
THE COWBOY AND THE SPACEMAN by Colin Kirkpatrick
THE IMAGINARY WORLDS OF SCAPA FLOW by Mark Jenkins
A presentation by the Pier Arts Centre of two local films, with the filmmakers in discussion about
their craft.
ENTRANCE FREE
Chloe Jowett has a new website. It can be viewed at: www.orkneyelements.com
Hoy Centre
DO YOU NEED FAST BROADBAND?
If so: the Front Door Reception area
at the Hoy Centre will now be open
every Friday from 11am to 4pm
so you can access the
Centre's Wi-Fi system for free!
Password for access is hoycentre
(There is also a vending machine, phone & local in-
formation in the area)
When you've tried the free Wi-Fi system:
if you require access to office space
for a longer time, or for printing etc,
there is a facility at the Centre
available for a small charge.
For further details please contact
Fay 01856 791315
Rachel 01856 791208
Thought for the Day
for the month of December and especially the
Christmas period
HAPPINESS IS NOT HAVING EVERYTHING
YOU WANT
HAPPINESS IS WANTING EVERYTHING YOU HAVE
Hoy and Walls Health Centre
Telephone: 01856 701209
Changes to Surgery Times at Hoy and Walls Health Centre for Christmas and the New Year. The Surgery will be closed on December 25th and 26th and on the 1st and 2nd of January.
Surgery time on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve will be one hour earlier, between 5pm and 6pm.
Patients are reminded to check any re-
peat prescription requirements and
plan accordingly.
Emergencies
In case of an emergency phone 01856
701209. When the surgery is closed call Bal-
four Hospital 01856 888000 who will con-
tact the doctor.
RNLI Shop
For anybody wanting last minute Christmas cards, calendars or gifts, please contact Trish 701498 and she
NOTICEBOARD
PAGE 10 THE BLETHER
North Walls Community School
Christmas Assembly
Wednesday 19th December 2012
PAGE 11 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 6
Christmas and New Year at the Stromabank Hotel
The hotel will be closed on Christ-mas Day and New Year’s Day but open as normal on all other days.
The traditional Boxing Day Music
Evening starts around 9pm.
Carnival Dance
At the YM
28th December 2012
Come along and join the seasonal celebrations
Date: 23rd January 2013
Time: 8 pm
Venue: North Walls Centre
Meeting of the Island of Hoy Development Trust
FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED AND WOULD LIKE
TO COME ALONG
If you have any queries or questions, please contact
Carol prior to the meeting
Carol 701760 [email protected]
This is a provisional date, so please check notices
GRAEMSAY, HOY & WALLS COMMUNITY COUNCIL
All meetings are open to the general public.
Friday 18th January 2013
6.45 pm at North Walls School
DATES FOR D IARIES
HOY CENTRE COMMITTEE MEETING AT HOY CENTRE 1ST FEBRUARY 2013, 2.30 PM
Groat’s Opening Times for Christmas and New Year
The shop will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and on January 1st and 2nd. The last delivery date be-fore Christmas for coal etc will be Wednesday December 19th.
**********************************
Anchor Bar Opening Times over the Festive Period
The Anchor Bar will be open as normal over Christmas and the New Year apart from Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, when the bar will open between 7pm and 9pm.
Contact email: [email protected]
Registered in Scotland as a charity
(SC038909)
Company Limited by guarantee
(SC306586)
Registered Office: 8 Albert Street,
Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1HP
We are looking for regular contributors. Do you have a burning desire to write a regular column, perhaps on gardening or farming or wildlife? Has your club/society or charity got an event planned that you’d like to pub-licise? Do you have items to sell or a business to advertise? If you have something to contribute or ideas for the newsletter then please contact Debs or Vincent: Phone: 01856 701444 Email: [email protected]; [email protected] Snail Mail: Loft, Longhope, KW16 3PQ Items for inclusion in the next (February) issue must be submitted by 6th February 2013
THE BLETHER
WWW .ORKNEYCOMMUNITIES .CO .UK/ IOHDT/
WEATHER ROUND UP FOR OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012
Everyone should have received a form from
the IoHDT giving you the opportunity to
show your support (or not) for the develop-
ment of the Community bus service and the
planned YM refurbishment.
Please return the forms in the envelopes
provided by 20-12-2012
For any queries, or if you have not
received a form, please contact
Jayne on 701266
October 2012 Total rainfall: 141.8 mm Highest rainfall in 24 hrs: 21.8 on 27th. Highest Max Temp.: 14.4c on 21st
Lowest Max. Temp.: 6.4c on 26th Highest Min. Temp.: 10.1c on 11th Lowest Min. Temp.: 0.6c on 16th and 26th Average Max. Temp.: 10.62c Average Min. Temp.: 4.90c Average Temp. for October: 7.76c
November 2012 Total rainfall: 122.2 mm Highest rainfall in 24hrs: 16.5mm on 5th Highest Max. Temp.: 12.0c on 13th Lowest Max. Temp.: 5.1c on 29th Highest Min. Temp.: 9.1c on 6th Lowest Min. Temp.: –0.4c on 1st Average. Max. Temp.: 8.96c Average Min. Temp.: 4.61c Average Temp. for November: 6.78c Thanks to Jeff Clark for this issue’s weather statistics