Category: Community Affairs

P7 Leavers’ Ceremony

The Kippen P7 Class celebrated their Leavers’ Ceremony on the 21st June. They worked hard over many weeks to produce a wonderful afternoon of entertainment for the gathered parents, teachers and school community. The class had worked with the BBC and Sky throughout the year, to develop their skills in front of and behind the camera, so they decided to bring their skills to the forefront when presenting their Leavers’ Assembly.

The theme decided on this year was ‘The Oscars’, so each group produced films, trailers and adverts that reflected on their time at Kippen. They used the iPads and green screen apps to really bring their experiences to life. We even managed to create our own ABBA music video filmed in the halls of Kippen! The final assembly performance was a great hit with all the parents and friends that were invited, giving the P7 class time to reflect on the amazing journey they had taken during their years at Kippen. During the slideshow cataloguing their years at Kippen, as well as the heartfelt thank-your letters read out to the parents gathered, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! We wish them all the best in the next step of their learning journey!

The class reflected on their experience said:

‘It was very emotional but so uplifting!’ Charis P7

‘I was so happy looking back on all my experiences at Kippen’ Ava P7

‘Everybody worked hard!’ Ewan P7

‘It was very emotional, but amazing!’ Kherys P7

As part of the Kippen Street Fayre, T & R Skinner, the local butchers, ran an Invent a Sausage Competition.

Charlie Sullivan in P3 won the Invent A Sausage Competition with her pork, rhubarb and lime sausage. Runners Up were Niamh Fenwick P1 and her sister Muireann who invented a breakfast banger with egg, beans and bacon.

Charlie’s sausage recipe was made by the butchers and she had a chance to taste it. She says it tasted delicious. P5 pupils Fyndlay Skinner and Calum Beeley had the chance to taste Charlie’s recipe and they both agreed that it was very nice. Thank you to everyone who supported the competition.

Pupils from P5-7 at Kippen Primary entered the Stirling Smith Poetry Competition.

Several of our pupils were awarded rosettes in the Gargunnock Show Art competition. The themes for this year’s paintings were:

P1-3 – Starfish

P4 and P5 – Shells

P6 and P7 -???

Well done to all our pupils who entered the competition and to this year’s rosette winners.

I love gardening, but probably more the idea of it than the sweaty, dirty reality. I love the fruits of the labour, rather than the labour of love itself. I’m not the best gardener or overzealous about garden perfection. I simply enjoy being outdoors and being a part of the wonders of the fragile, yet fierce, flourishing of the natural world.

Some of my favourite stories of Jesus about God, and God’s ways, were about seeds, planting, growing and harvesting. Mustard seeds growing into large plants, seeds growing or not in various types of soil, and the mystery of seeds growing bit by bit are all in Mark chapter 4. One of my favourite hymns from childhood is “This is My Father’s World”, that has the line ‘All nature sings…the music of the spheres.’ And while I love the music of nature, I do NOT appreciate the buzz of the midge. I’m sure they have a place in the balance of life, but I fail to understand it, yet.

I enjoy conversations with keen gardeners about the delicate balance of nutrients and water that help grow giant onions or bounteous tomatoes or the sweetest ever strawberries.  Humans have taken such an interest and endeavour in being fruitful and providing an abundance in what we produce. We are not just consumers at our heart but are co-creators within our environment.

Yet, we cannot control everything. We cannot make the rains come in the exact amount we want. We cannot climate control the heat of summer or the humidity or the wind. There are times and places (indoors) where we seek to climate control, nutrient control, and sunlight control the growing. Most of our food is still grown by ways and means of a delicate balance of what we can control and what we cannot. While we understand so much nowadays, there is just as much we do not know. Creation causes me to pause and wonder at how everything is so intricately woven and balanced together.

God bless the farmers and producers who work tirelessly and faithfully all around the world to provide nourishment and tasty delights amid the unpredictability of nature.

As we move through the days of summer and the year cycles on, I am ever grateful for the labours of others for my benefit. I am thankful for the fragile flourishing that provides for our life. I am mindful of the dangers of greed, injustice, and careless pollution. May we in awe and wonder be good stewards of what is ours to do and share in this precious world where we live. May we all flourish where we are planted or transplanted.  – Ellen

Summer Worship in Kippen Kirk is at 11 am most weeks in July and August. Joint services with Norrieston Church are on last Sunday in July at 10 am in Kippen Kirk and last Sunday of August at 10 am in Norrieston Church in Thornhill.

Messy Church Summer BBQ at Gartmore Village Hall on Sunday 19^th August from 3pm to 5 pm. All welcome.

The first grant rounds have gone very well and Kippen Reading rooms, which are to be extensively upgraded, join Kippen Street Fayre (new gazebos), Kippen Playgroup and Toddlers (continuity of playleaders) and Kippen Elderly Folks Association (Diamond anniversary celebrations in December 2018) as recipients of Windfarm funding.

The deadline for applications for round 3 is 28^th September 2018.

Please contact Margaret Beaton on 870536 for application forms.

If you are interested in becoming involved in managing the distribution of the Kippen Community Fund, there are places available on the Board of the Kippen Community Trust.

To find out more about what the Board does
contact Martin on 871274, Margaret on 870536 or Jon on 870446”.

We on the panel and board all look forward to receiving your applications in round 3!

Caroline Thompson 03/07/18

British Curling in Pyeongchang provided lots of excitement and a degree of disappointment. But in Kippen the season closes after some needle matches; some despondency over unlucky stones and lost ends but satisfaction in pleasing results and trophies won. With 30 playing members participating in club and district matches there has been plenty action. Members have enjoyed playing on the new National training ice, although the noisy exuberance of the Peak ice still appeals. We offer a warm welcome to curlers who move into the village or to anyone who would like to try their hand at sliding a curling stone along the ice. There are also opportunities to help with wheelchair curling. Our new season starts in September and ends in March. For further information contact Kirsty Cuthbert, Secretary kirstycuthbert@outlook.com, 01786 870347

Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford has backed calls from members of the local community in Kippen to extend the 20mph zone outside the school on Main Street to the whole of the village.  

Individual members of the community as well as the Community Council contacted Mr Crawford with concerns over dangerous traffic speed coming into the village. Mr Crawford has written to the Chief Executive of Stirling Council to raise these concerns and to call for 20mph zones to be extended to the rest of the village.  

In this letter, Mr Crawford said: 

“I understand that Kippen currently has 20mph flashing signs outside the school on Main Street, which are utilised during school times. However, I am advised there is an increasing issue with traffic speed on Main Street, particularly with vehicles coming into the village from Fintry. I am told these are approaching dangerous speeds, and the local community are fearful of a serious incident taking place.” 

Commenting, Bruce Crawford said: 

“20mph zones have the capacity to greatly improve road safety for drivers and for pedestrians and I fully support what the local community in Kippen is trying to achieve.  

“20mph zones are rightly used around school areas as well as at designated times in areas where young children are likely to be crossing roads. However, we must look to protecting other vulnerable people in our communities as well and reducing speed limits on local village roads will certainly help to do this. 

“According to the Scottish Government’s in Town Slow Down campaign, someone is stopped for speeding in Scotland every 11 minutes. There is a worrying rate of people who admit to not giving the road their full attention when on their way to or from work and driving through built up areas. 

“We must raise awareness of these dangers, but we must also do what we can in built up areas to reduce the speeds that people are allowed to drive at, and I am grateful for members of the local community in Kippen for pushing for exactly this.” 

Naomi and Fiona would like to thank the Street Fayre Committee for their very generous donation to the upkeep of the tubs at the Cross.  We are very touched that local groups support us in this way and it allows us to keep the show going all year round.

The pansies are looking happier and the bulbs are emerging in this very welcome Spring sunshine. It’s been a long Winter so let’s look forward to a blazing Summer!
There is a box on the counter in McNicolls’s, so if anyone wants to know what to do with their loose change, pop it in the box please.

Many thanks to all who support us.
Naomi and Fiona

“Be Bold, Be Strong” – “Go in Love” 
The Stirling Presbyterial Council Annual Summer Rally will take place in the North Parish Church, 70 Springfield Road, Stirling FK7 7QW, on Thursday, 31st May at 7.00 p.m. 

Please contact Joanna 01786 870681 regarding  

transport. 

The Guild Annual Gathering will take place in Dundee on Saturday,
1st September.

This event is worth a visit.    

Further information and free tickets are available from  

Joanna M. McPhail 870681 or joanna.mcphail@btinternet.com