The Wee Vine

Primary Seven have been very busy during Book Week! Following on from their outdoor learning, working towards their John Muir award, the class decided to choose ‘Light on Dumyat’ by Rennie McOwan as their class focus during Book Week. They enjoyed reading and discussing the many adventures of Gavin and Clan Stewart, especially as the book features a number of local spots that the children have visited themselves. We also spent some time researching the author, Rennie McOwan – creating fact files on his fascinating life and career. As he is a locally based author, we were able to contact him directly by email and we received a wonderful reply, full of interesting advice and inspiration. We hope that he will be able to visit us at Kippen in the near future. We also had great fun designing and creating our very own interactive book T-shirts. Each Primary 7 selected a favourite book and designed their own ‘interactive’ T-shirt with extra information concealed inside pockets and flaps. They are looking forward to sharing these with the other children of the School when we return in the New Year.

 

Kippen Primary pupils from Primary 3, 4 and 5 had a great treat in November in the form of a day out at a ‘Heroes and Villains’ musical concert. As part of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s schools outreach programme, staff attended a training session and followed this up with a series of lessons centred on the musical programme they were to experience on the visit day. This included the popular Faure’s Pavanne, The Overture to The Magic Flute, A Night on Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky and some pieces by Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. To top the excitement, the audience had a visit from ‘Darth Vader’ himself, as the John Williams theme music from Star Wars played. We were also lucky to have a visit from two local professional musicians prior to the concert; Helen, a flautist and Duncan, a clarinet player with the R.S.N.O., came to demonstrate the range and tone of their instruments and to set the scene for the concert. As we have many talented musicians on our school roll, the duo were impressed by the children’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. Maybe we shall see a few of them in the RSNO ‘pit’ in years to come. Many thanks to Annabel Gaywood, our parent helper and a violinist herself, for enhancing our musical tour bus experience on the day.

“Be Bold, Be Strong”  –  “Go in Love”

All men and women are welcome to attend

Guild meetings held in Kippen Church House:-               

13^th February               7.30 p.m.

“Wigtown Book Festival”

Mrs Anne Brown

27^th February               2.00 p.m.

“Buddhism”

Sarah Hill

2^nd March                    Time TBA

“World Day of Prayer”

Aberfoyle Parish Church

13^th March                   7.30 p.m.

“Rock Gardens”

Mr Sandy Leven

Saturday 17th March     Coffee Morning/

10.30 a.m. to 12 noon    Gift Day

Guild Projects:  This year Kippen Guild is supporting two

Projects – “Street Pastors” and “Breaking the Cycle of FGM”

 

Further information is available from

Joanna M. McPhail 870681 or

joanna.mcphail@btinternet.com

 

Building works at Kippen Surgery are now finished and we are delighted with the results. Please note that there is now a joint Reception window for both Surgery and Pharmacy.

Dr Annette Schmauz

 

Since moving to Kippen some 19 years ago, we have thoroughly enjoyed all the amenities this village has to offer, but perhaps one of the most beneficial to life here has been the tremendous service we receive from the Surgery and all its staff. Today, it seems to be the norm for the media to decry the NHS, although everyone else who has had call to use the service normally has nothing but praise for the treatment received, and for the dedication of all the staff.

 

Whilst it appears that some people will complain about anything, everyone we have spoken to has had nothing but praise for our Surgery. To be able to guarantee that you can see a doctor on the day needed seems to be a rarity today, with tales of having to wait days for an appointment in other practices. Also, to have access to all the other services provided at the Surgery is greatly appreciated. Finally, to have a Pharmacy on site is such a benefit, rather than having to go into Stirling when, in all probability, you are not feeling on top form or may not have transport readily available.

 

We await with interest to see the new improved Surgery, but we have no doubt we will still greatly benefit from an excellent service.

 

On behalf of two frequent flyers of Scott Brae.

 

The February meeting on the 21^st is a Travel Night, and the competition is a holiday photograph.

Everyone is welcome to come along to our meetings.

Kippen Heritage plans to produce a Calendar for 2019 comprising photographs of areas of the Village (or views therefrom), both past and present.

If you have a photo or photos you feel would be appropriate for possible selection for the calendar, we would be delighted if you could forward it, or them, to us via the Wee Vine –

enquiries@theweevine.org (minimum size 2 Mb if possible) Or hard copies to Stuart Thomson, Margaret Oswald or myself.

12 will be selected from those submitted, and all hard copies will be returned to their owner.

It is our intention to have the Calendar available for sale by the Summer to give visitors the chance to take one home as a souvenir so, if you would like to participate, it would be great if you could let us have your photo(s) by 1st April 2018.

Margaret Diamond

 

The annual Whist will be held at 7 p.m. Friday evening, the 2nd February in the Village Hall.

Please put this date in your diary and come along and support this fun Village occasion which raises in excess of £5000 annually for this worthwhile charity.

Anyone wishing to book a table should contact Stuart Thomson on 01786 870529, 07736 362011, or stuartsthomson@aol.com.

In January there will be some brush-up lessons in the Reading Rooms. This will be on 30^th January at 7:30 p.m.

Also, lessons for those interested in either learning the game, or dusting off rustiness, will be available any Thursday evening in January at 8:00 in the Cross Keys, where the Bridge Club will be happy to help.

Naomi Hirst

The Trustees of the Mitchell Trust met recently, having reviewed the activities of The Reading Rooms

The Trustees of the Mitchell Trust met recently, having reviewed the activities of The Reading Rooms and of those two activities in the village, The Woodland Group, which manages the Burnside Wood, and Kippen Sports Development, which holds a lease granted by the Trust.

The Mitchell Trust was established under a deed recorded in 1934, to hold premises known today as Kippen Reading Rooms, and land, then known as The Games Field, now used for the football pitch and extending up the Burnside Wood to the road beyond.

All this property was effectively bequeathed by the family of Stephen Mitchell, former owner of the Boquhan Estate, to the village for the benefit of ‘the subjects’ of the village of Kippen.

Continuing Trustees of the Trust were specified to be the successors of the offices of The Minister of the Old Parish Church, The Doctor and two other successors.

Today, the composition of the Trust is:

Reverend Ellen Larson-Davidson                Minister of the Parish of Kippen

Dr Annett Schmautz                                        Doctor

Ms Carole Logan                                               Head teacher, Kippen School

Mr Jeremy Gaywood

Mrs Moira Turner

Jeremy Gaywood is also Secretary to the Trust

The property of the trust, being now managed either by the Committee of The Reading Rooms or by by Kippen Sports Development or The Woodland Trust, allows the Mitchell Trustees to take a passive, supervisory role, and to be on hand for consultation by those bodies.

Such consultation might involve Planning Permissions regarding changes to the fabric or land constituting its property. Another function is to receive planning applications initiated by neighbours which may be sent for review from Stirling Council.

Any enquiries regarding The Mitchell Trust may be made to any of the Trustees.

Despite the passage of time, it remains a remarkable fact that the assets owned by the Mitchell Trust continue to be as relevant to the life of the village as they were more than eighty years ago.

Finally, it would not be appropriate to conclude without recognising the role of Winnie Dunlop who has faithfully monitored and maintained the records of the Trust since 1985 or when current records commenced.

and of those two activities in the village, The Woodland Group, which manages the Burnside Wood, and Kippen Sports Development, which holds a lease granted by the Trust.

The Mitchell Trust was established under a deed recorded in 1934, to hold premises known today as Kippen Reading Rooms, and land, then known as The Games Field, now used for the football pitch and extending up the Burnside Wood to the road beyond.

All this property was effectively bequeathed by the family of Stephen Mitchell, former owner of the Boquhan Estate, to the village for the benefit of ‘the subjects’ of the village of Kippen.

Continuing Trustees of the Trust were specified to be the successors of the offices of The Minister of the Old Parish Church, The Doctor and two other successors.

Today, the composition of the Trust is:

Reverend Ellen Larson-Davidson                Minister of the Parish of Kippen

Dr Annett Schmautz                                        Doctor

Ms Carole Logan                                               Head teacher, Kippen School

Mr Jeremy Gaywood

Mrs Moira Turner

Jeremy Gaywood is also Secretary to the Trust

The property of the trust, being now managed either by the Committee of The Reading Rooms or by by Kippen Sports Development or The Woodland Trust, allows the Mitchell Trustees to take a passive, supervisory role, and to be on hand for consultation by those bodies.

Such consultation might involve Planning Permissions regarding changes to the fabric or land constituting its property. Another function is to receive planning applications initiated by neighbours which may be sent for review from Stirling Council.

Any enquiries regarding The Mitchell Trust may be made to any of the Trustees.

Despite the passage of time, it remains a remarkable fact that the assets owned by the Mitchell Trust continue to be as relevant to the life of the village as they were more than eighty years ago.

Finally, it would not be appropriate to conclude without recognising the role of Winnie Dunlop who has faithfully monitored and maintained the records of the Trust since 1985 or when current records commenced.

Dear All,

One of my priorities is working to reduce the burden of unfair energy bills. Recently, I spoke in the parliamentary debate for the proposed Energy Price Cap, something I strongly support. During the debate, I asked the Sec. of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to acknowledge that it would take far more than just making switching between suppliers easier, to ensure a fairer energy market in the UK.

According to a Price of Power survey, people across the Stirling constituency are overpaying for energy by over £7 million per year- an average of £257 per family. The reason for this is largely due to the nature of the energy market. While there are six companies supposedly in competition with each other, they are clearly not doing so and there appears to be a lack of competitive pressure to push down prices.

Smaller energy businesses are hamstrung by the difficulty of changing suppliers, so as a result many small energy companies do not survive, leaving the whole sector unbalanced as smaller businesses are strangled out of the market.

I was very pleased to be able to sign the open letter calling for an effective price cap and calling for the Government to act, ensuring we see a reformed energy market. This letter helped encourage the recent announcement from the Government, which I welcome.

However, there is far more to do. As your MP and as a member of the committee which scrutinises the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Department, I will continue to campaign for real reform to this sector to ensure it operates in the best interest of the consumer.

 

-Stephen Kerr MP for Stirling