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1 www.crabpublishing.co.uk CRAIL MATTERS W/C 3 July No 21 Free - Donation welcome Saturday 8 July, 10am-12pm Red Cross Coffee Morning, British Legion Hall. Usual stalls - home baking, raffle, garden produce. Funding Crail Matters We depend on your support to keep producing Crail Matters. If you enjoy reading what we produce and wish to make a donation, then please contact [email protected] for de- tails of our account for bank transfers, or contact a member of the Editorial Team The North East Fife Superfast Broadband website is now live at: http://www.nefifesuperfast.org.uk/ CAN YOU HELP? Crail Museum needs someone to translate the descriptions of our Exhibition Rooms into Spanish and Italian. The descrip- tions enable visitors who only speak those languages to get much more out of their visit. Please leave contact details at the Museum. Crail Festival 2017 It is very encouraging, but not surprising, to report that tickets are selling very well for both Horse McDonald and Edwina Hayes our superb headline acts on the open- ing night and last night of the Festival respectively. The Archery Sessions on Sunday 23 July are also selling out very quickly, with Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 already Sold Out, and Session 6 will soon be in that category with only 1 ticket left! The Fused Glass Workshop for Adults on Saturday 29 July is already Sold Out! Superb entertainment is on your doorstep 19 July – 29 July! To avoid disappointment get your tickets now online at www.crailfestival.com and click on 'Tickets'. Or phone 0333 666 3366. Crail Matters Short Story Competition We are very pleased to announce the verdict of the Judges on the stories submitted to the Short Story competition. Crail Matters want to thank the principle judge, Francesca Kay, who fitted reading our stories into her very busy schedule. Francesca complimented the authors, and said how much she had enjoyed reading them. The unanimous decision was to award the prize to the story ‘Cafedral’ written by Joy Deacon. Joy retired about 2 years ago, having worked in education for 30 years, latterly as a Head Teacher, and has been living in Cellardyke for the last 3 years. She has 2 grown up children, who with her hus- band, encourage her to write short stories. She enjoys writing and living in the East Neuk community. The comments from our Judges were very positive, and the feeling is that the standard of the work submitted was very high. Stories were interesting, well constructed and generally well written. Crail Matters are also very pleased to announce that the prize has been funded by an anonymous donor. The winning entry ‘The Cafedral’ is printed overleaf - other entries will be published over the next weeks, and all entries will be made available in another format. Fife Council have now received a direction letter giving clear- ance to adopt FIFEplan Local Development Plan, subject to satisfying Scottish Ministers that modifications will be made to the Plan to conform to the direction to modify the Plan in respect of proposals at Rosyth and Cupar North respectively.

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Page 1: CRAIL MATTERS - Microsoftbtckstorage.blob.core.windows.net/site15347/3 July.pdf · Free - Donation welcome Saturday 8 July, 10am-12pm Red Cross Coffee Morning, British Legion Hall

1

www.crabpublishing.co.uk

CRAIL MATTERSW/C 3 July No 21

Free - Donation welcome

Saturday 8 July, 10am-12pm Red Cross Coffee Morning,

British Legion Hall. Usual stalls - home baking, raffle, garden produce.

Funding Crail MattersWe depend on your support to keep producing Crail Matters.If you enjoy reading what we produce and wish to make adonation, then please contact [email protected] for de-tails of our account for bank transfers, or contact a memberof the Editorial Team

The North East Fife Superfast Broadband website is nowlive at:

http://www.nefifesuperfast.org.uk/

CAN YOU HELP?Crail Museum needs someone to translate the descriptions ofour Exhibition Rooms into Spanish and Italian. The descrip-tions enable visitors who only speak those languages to getmuch more out of their visit.

Please leave contact details at the Museum.

Crail Festival 2017It is very encouraging, but not surprising, to report thattickets are selling very well for both Horse McDonaldand Edwina Hayes our superb headline acts on the open-ing night and last night of the Festival respectively.The Archery Sessions on Sunday 23 July are also sellingout very quickly, with Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 alreadySold Out, and Session 6 will soon be in that categorywith only 1 ticket left!The Fused Glass Workshop for Adults on Saturday 29July is already Sold Out!Superb entertainment is on your doorstep 19 July – 29July!

To avoid disappointment get your tickets now online at www.crailfestival.com and click on 'Tickets'. Or phone 0333 666 3366.

Crail Matters Short Story CompetitionWe are very pleased to announce the verdict of the Judges on the stories submitted to the Short Storycompetition. Crail Matters want to thank the principle judge, Francesca Kay, who fitted reading ourstories into her very busy schedule. Francesca complimented the authors, and said how much shehad enjoyed reading them.

The unanimous decision was to award the prize to the story ‘Cafedral’ written by Joy Deacon. Joyretired about 2 years ago, having worked in education for 30 years, latterly as a Head Teacher, andhas been living in Cellardyke for the last 3 years. She has 2 grown up children, who with her hus-band, encourage her to write short stories. She enjoys writing and living in the East Neuk community.

The comments from our Judges were very positive, and the feeling is that the standard of the worksubmitted was very high. Stories were interesting, well constructed and generally well written.Crail Matters are also very pleased to announce that the prize has been funded by an anonymousdonor. The winning entry ‘The Cafedral’ is printed overleaf - other entries will be published overthe next weeks, and all entries will be made available in another format.

Fife Council have now received a direction letter giving clear-ance to adopt FIFEplan Local Development Plan, subject tosatisfying Scottish Ministers that modifications will be madeto the Plan to conform to the direction to modify the Plan inrespect of proposals at Rosyth and Cupar North respectively.

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The CafedralThe winning entry to ‘Crail Matters’ Short Story Competition

Time and time again George told his parents that he was fed up waving at strangers. He didn’t see how he could make ispoint any clearer: everyone knew children shouldn’t talk to strangers so he didn’t see why he should wave and smile at them.He’d also asked why they had so many security people and explained quite patiently, that if he didn’t go with them, some ofthem wouldn’t be needed. But it was no use. He had to do as he was told. Apparently there was a lot more of this kind of stuffto do when he got older. His mum even told him that he was really good at the waving and smiling. People loved it. They lovedit so much that his picture was all over the papers the day after he did it. The worst time was when they made him wear the awfulgrey coat with the frill. A frill! And long socks. He really wished he could wear something from Next or Debenhams, somewherelike that, just like his friends at prep school. Even his friend , Tristram Barron Coleridge wore clothes from Next, so Georgedidn’t see why he couldn’t either. What he really wanted was a pair of long trousers. It would make him a bit more like otherboys.

He’d realized that his family was going to be visiting somewhere, like a ‘Cafedral’ or a nursery or an army thing, whenhe saw the secretary go into his dad’s office to speak to his parents. It was always the same; once they’d finished, someone calleda designer would turn up with piles of clothes for him to try on. Once she’d made a mistake and given him a pair of shorts witha label on them. It said something like ‘Mothercare’. They were his favourite pair, but he wasn’t allowed to wear them becauseof the label. Another thing, a jumper this time, was quite good, but again because it said something about China on it, he couldn’twear it. He’d tried hard that time, had a bit of a tantrum on the floor, kicking, yelling, stamping but it was no use. He got quitetired and his dad looked at him angrily so he knew the game was up.

The morning began as usual, with George waiting in the main hall of Great Granny’s palace; he was wearing a navy coatthis time. It had a kind of dark scratchy frill around the collar, but he wasn’t allowed to touch it or his neck which was gettinghotter and hotter. His nanny kept flicking his hand away and talking in that strange way. Underneath he was wearing navy shortsand a white jumper, and sandals. Sandals! He hated them, and they made his white socks stand out. He jumped around for a bit,then his mum and dad arrived with their security men. George wondered who he had today. Oh good it was Alfred. He was quiteyoung, with a nice smile, but he really held on tight to George when they moved around. With Alfred, George climbed into thecar behind his parents and they sped off to the Cafedral. As usual, when they arrived, there was a big red carpet going rightacross the ground, up the stairs and inside. Alfred walked beside George, encouraging him to take his time because his parentshad to be first. George had thought, if he hurried, it would be over quicker and they could all go home and get some peace. Butno, as usual they all moved as slowly as possible, shaking hands, smiling, whilst he, George walked behind, trying not to lookat the cameras too much because before, he’d got really sore eyes and saw stars for hours afterwards. Some men and women,some of them with ladders, shouted his name, but George remembered what he had to do; smile, wave, then look straight aheadand ignore them all. His dad took his hand for a bit and he felt better, standing between him and Alfred. George couldn’t helpbut think he had been right all along; it was more fuss when he was there. He’d told them, but they just didn’t listen. Andcafedrals were so boring.

Eventually they got into the Cafedral, walking slowly down a bright blue carpet this time, and took their seats. Apparentlyhis Great Granny was going to sit in front of them, so they had to wait. She turned up eventually, and, as usual they had to standuntil she walked to her seat and sat down. George was at the end of his row, near the wall, but he could just see her hat. It wasgreen, with a funny feather. Alfred was behind him and his mum was beside him. George was feeling a bit tired, but he perkedup when his dad got up to say something. He knew this could take a while so he let his eyes wander around. He studied GreatGranny’s hat again, then he noticed something. On the wall beside him there was a button. It was green, the same as GreatGranny’s hat, on the outside, white in the middle and it had a silver button, standing out against the grey stone of the Cafedral.It had some words he couldn’t read yet. He’d seen these things before, but they usually had glass in them. This one didn’t.George kept looking at it, desperate to press the button, just to see what would happen. Maybe it was a magic button. Maybe ifhe wished hard enough, then pressed it, he would be magicked out of the Cafedral, back to the palace in time for tea. Everyonestood up to sing a song. George stood up too, and noticed that he would be able to press the button quite easily, without evenstanding on his tiptoes. So he did. He pressed it, just as he heard Alfred cry out and his mum turn around.

It was the noise that made him cry. It was louder than a police car or an ambulance. He was holding his ears when Alfredpicked him up and ran with him, out of the Cafedral. All he could see was blue then red carpet whizzing by. He tried to look be-hind but he couldn’t see his parents or his Great Granny, because of all the men in suits surrounding them. Once he was in thecar he felt better. His parents were bundled in too and they were back at the palace in no time. The driver must’ve thought hewas driving a sports car. His Great Granny appeared a little bit later, and she was wheeled in and went straight into the lift whichled to her bedroom. He’d never seen her in a wheel chair before. Maybe she was out of breath with all that running. Soon theywere in his dad’s office; Alfred’s face was white and he wasn’t smiling. Maybe he thought he was in trouble. Then George no-ticed something. His mum and dad were looking out of the windows, laughing, but it was as if they didn’t want anyone to knowwhat they were doing. He tried to talk to them and then it seemed like his mum was crying. She had tears running down her facebut her shoulders were jumping up and down as she tried to breath. His dad was bent down, his hand over his mouth as if it wasrude to be laughing. George started to laugh too. Alfred tried to smile and George smiled back. Maybe the visit hadn’t been sobad. After all, George had got his wish. He’d pressed the button and here he was. He decided that he’d try that again. It seemedto make everyone really happy. If only it was as easy to get long trousers.By J. Deacon

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Launching on Friday 30th June, FifeTrading Standards and Citizens Ad-vice will be supporting the campaignlocally to give consumers the skillsand confidence to identify scams,share experiences and take action byreporting their suspicions.

Scams are simply ways to con you outof your money. Fake lotteries, boguspsychic predictions, get-rich-quick in-vestments and alleged miracle healthcures are just some of the tricks thatscammers try. Many of the scammerstarget the elderly, socially isolated andvulnerable who once they reply, aresent numerous offers and marketingmail, basically anything to try to makethem part with their money. Namesand addresses can be added to “suck-ers” lists, followed by repeated victim-isation through the mail and in manyinstances, follow up with menacingand frequent telephone calls.Using email and text messages, it’spossible to send unsolicited offers tothousands of people quickly and rela-tively cheaply. If only a tiny fractionof people reply, huge profits can stillbe made by these criminals. This typeof crime is often not reported out ofembarrassment or because there is stilla belief the scam is genuine. It’s beenknown for this type of crime to remainhidden until a victim dies, and onlythen do their relatives realise thou-sands of pounds have been paid intothese criminal accounts, normally out-with the UK.We should all be scam aware and wewould also urge carers, relatives andpeople in contact with elderly, sociallyisolated or vulnerable to be on theirguard.Launching on Friday 30th June, FifeTrading Standards and Citizens Ad-

vice will be supporting the campaignlocally to give consumers the skillsand confidence to identify scams,share experiences and take action byreporting their suspicions.

Be Scam Aware • Has the call, letter, email ortext arrived unexpectedly?• You’ve never heard of the lot-tery or competition and didn’t buy aticket.• They're asking you to sendmoney in advance or want your per-sonal or security details.• You’re being urged to respondquickly so you don’t get time to thinkabout it or talk to family and friends.• You or someone you know may havebeen targeted by a scam recently.Research shows the majority of ushave encountered a scam but not ev-eryone knows what to do. That’s whywe we’re urging everyone to play theirpart and act on scams in their commu-nity. Help to protect yourself and oth-ers by spreading the message aboutthese key steps in helping to preventand protect against scams.To protect yourself and others followthese key steps:

Get advice from the Citizens Adviceconsumer service 03454 04 05 06 whocan provide advice and pass details onto Trading Standards. Find further in-formation atcitizensadvice.org.uk/scotland.Report scams or suspected scams toAction Fraud at 0300 123 2040 or visitactionfraud.police.ukTell a friend, neighbour or relativeabout any scams you become awareof.

Spotting scamsLook out if:• you're contacted out of the blue• they make promises that soundtoo good to be true - it probably is!• they ask you to pay for some-thing in advance, e.g. you've to pay afee before claiming a prize• you're asked to make a quickdecision, adding ‘if you don’t act nowyou’ll miss out’. This puts you underpressure and doesn’t give you time tothink• they're over-familiar and over-friendly• the offer has to be kept secret• they ask for your bank accountdetails. Never give your bank detailsto anyone you don’t know, especiallyonline• the company's contact is a mo-bile number or PO Box number, theseare easy to close and difficult to trace.It may be a sign that the companydoesn’t exist or isn't legitimate. Checkout the company's details with Com-panies House or search online formore details about them.IMPORTANTLY: If you think some-thing might be a scam, don’t reply:throw it away, delete it or hang up andget further advice.

Action on Elder Abuse Scotland, a voluntary body challeng-ing harm and abuse of older people, is calling for the creationof anew aggravated offence of Elder Abuse. The CriminalJustice system is failing to protect older victims of abuse andneglect. Most cases are never prosecuted – and many shouldbe – and police cautions are used as a cheap and easy way ofavoiding the time and cost of prosecution (these are not crim-inal convictions). And even when cases are taken to court theresult is invariably a suspended sentence or community ser-vice. When is this going to end?

A so called ‘carer’ plied an old couple with cakes and sweet-ness to get their pin number and then regularly stole moneyfrom them. After 63 years of marriage they were so devas-tated by what she had done that they had to go into emer-gency care, where he died without ever seeing his wife again.And the thief? Our justice system gave her a six month sus-pended sentence and 200 hours of community service.

To find out more, go to: https://elderabuse.org.uk/scotland

Challenging harm and abuse of older people

July is Scams Awareness Month

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Crail Primary School NotesSPACE SCHOOL Two of our P6 pupils attended Space School at St Andrews University for two days. On their return they spoke confidently tothe whole school about their experience and what they had learnt. There were many highlights including meeting a ‘real’ astronautand working alongside children from other schools in Fife to complete STEAM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering,Art and Maths). Well done to you both!

KAYAKING Our P7s had a fantastic time at The East Neuk Outdoors Centre in Cellardyke and we would like to thank our School Councilfor supporting and funding this learning opportunity. Under the guidance of Niall and Hugo the children took to the water andlearnt to kayak. They also participated in a number of games which involved the children developing lots of different skills in-cluding: team work, communicating, problem solving and giving it a go! I’m sure the children will remember this experiencefor a long time!

P3-5 and P6/7 TRIPS Our P3-5 classes had a great time in St Andrews. The children took part in a Treasure Quest around St Andrews. Followingclues and using their positional language from Maths the children successfully learnt lots of information about St Andrews.They visited the War Memorial, St Mary’s on the Rock, The Cathedral and The Harbour to name but a few places. The childrenthen visited Jannetta’s Ice Cream shop and were very lucky to receive a free ice cream. We would like to thank Owen and Nicolafor their generosity. We all agreed that the ice cream was delicious! The children then took part in a workshop at MUSA withMatt and Laurie where we learnt about Light and Sound during The Victorian Era. The children learnt about how sound tech-nology had changed over the years. They then learnt about Magic Lanterns and each of them made a slide from a well-knownFairy Tale. They then worked together to retell their Fairy Tale, using a Magic Lantern, and entertained everyone with their pic-tures. Thank you to all of our volunteers who came along with us. We really appreciated your help. Everyone had a really en-joyable day!Our P6/7 class represented our school at The First Minister’s Reading Challenge Celebration in Edinburgh on 14th June at TheCorn Exchange. The children had the opportunity to take part in a treasure hunt around lots of different stalls and exhibits whowere all promoting reading. Solving the clues they then collected letters and once they had all of the letters they then unscrambledthem to spell ‘I love reading.’ There was also an Awards Ceremony where different schools and children who had taken part inthe Reading Challenge were presented with trophies from Nicola Sturgeon. After speaking to other schools our children cameback with lots of different ideas and suggestions for taking reading forward in our school next session. Our Literacy group can’twait to get started.

SPORTS DAY We were very fortunate and thankful for the dry weather during our Sports Day. The children participated in lots of differentraces and the overall winners were Swift. I would like to thank all of our staff for organising our Sports Day and for making ev-erything run so smoothly. Thank you to our Fundraising Group for organising our refreshment stall and for raising £46.50. Thankyou to all of our families for coming along to support this event.

SUMMER FAIR

A huge thank you to our School Council who held another successful Summer Fair where £1301 was raised for school funds.We were blessed with fantastic sunny weather and this was a really fun day so thank you to everyone who came along and sup-ported this event. Our Glee Club gave a super performance. Well done to our Crail King and Queen, Finlay and Cora who werecrowned at the Summer Fair and opened the event. Well done also to our Crail Page Boy and Flower Girl, Jacob and Myla. Itwas a fantastic day and we are so proud of you all.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

We would like to wish all of our community a happy and safe summer holiday. We look forward to welcoming all of our childrenback to Nursery and school on WEDNESDAY 16th AUGUST.

GLEE CLUBOn Sunday 25th June, our Glee Club travelled to Perth to take part in The Scottish Glee Final at The Concert Hall along with 6other schools: Tulloch, Bannockburn, Glashieburn, Ratho, Sacred Heart and St Joseph’s. The Concert Hall in Perth was a fantasticsetting for our children to perform in and the event was a sell-out. 1700 people were in attendance with a further 1200 watchingthe live stream on-line. All of the school’s performed either One Republic’s ‘Counting Stars’ or Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stopthe Feeling’. Then each school performed a song of their own choice. There was a huge variety of songs and dances performedranging from The Lion King to Matilda The Musical to Jessie Jay to Hairspray. We performed ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’by Elton John and Kiki Dee.All of our children sang their heart out and performed to an extremely high standard. We were praised for many aspects of ourperformance, including our strong team work, involving P1-P7, our interpretation of Counting Stars and for our singing, includingour soloists. We were delighted to be awarded with a Certificate of Excellence for originality at The Scottish Final. This is a

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ROYAL BURGH OF CRAIL AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL NOTES

Bench Room BayPrevious Community Council Noteshave identified a bench in Roome Baythat is in a poor state of repair. It wasagreed at the last Community Councilmeeting that the bench should be dis-mantled - the commemorative plaquewill be retained. If any relatives of‘Cathie and Willie Turley’ (the nameson the commemorative plaque) wouldlike to take it, please contact [email protected]. FifeCouncil will be notified that the benchhas been removed, and it may then bemade available for another commem-orative bench.

Town Hall and Community HallFife Council have clarified their posi-tion about the Town Hall and theCommunity Hall. Below is an extractfrom a note from the newly appointedService Manager in the Communitiesdirectorate:Firstly can I reassure you that thereare no plans for Crail CommunityHall to close. As a result of the Com-munity Empowerment Act any com-munity organisation who meets thecriteria can request the communityasset transfer of a public building(lease or community ownership). FifeCouncil received such a request fromthe Management Committee of CrailTown Hall who expressed an interestin both the Town Hall and CommunityHall. Following the initial expressionof interest and informal discussion astage 2 application was sent to theCommittee; following a gap of severalmonths this was chased up but itwould appear that interest has waned.I think the reference to June belowmay relate to the final date when the

CAT group were prepared to hold ini-tial expressions of interest without re-ceipt of a formal application. As partof the CAT process any organisationinterested in taking on a building hasto undertake community consultation.To avoid uncertainty in future I willundertake to inform the CommunityCouncil of any interest expressed inCouncil facilities in the area.It is very reassuring to hear that thereare no plans to close the CommunityHall. The Community Council, how-ever, were unaware of the applicationreferred to - an extraordinary and re-grettable state of affairs which wasnoted at the Community Councilmeeting. It is particularly odd that thisapplication was made without publicknowledge given that community con-sultation is a requirement. However,it is encouraging to note that in the fu-ture the Crail community will be in-formed of any such approaches.Readers will recall that it was agreedthat the Community Council wouldhold a public meeting to explore thedevelopment of a broad based com-munity initiative to take on the devel-opment of the Town Hall. Fife Councilare to undertake an exercise to im-prove knowledge of roles and appro-priate points of contact, and it seemsprudent, given that there is no imme-diate threat to either building, to awaitthe outcome of this before holding apublic meeting. This was agreed at theCommunity Council meeting.

Play areasAlthough a survey conducted a fewyears ago indicated considerable sup-port for upgrading the play facilities inCrail, there currently seems to be little

appetite to engage in planning or fundraising, and reservations have beenvoiced about the use of CommonGood funds to support any investmentnecessary. It would be very helpful ifparents and children could offer theirviews on what they felt was appropri-ate, because in the absence of clearsupport, this initiative will not be pro-gressed.

Crail Kirk Wall MuralsThe Council were informed that ef-forts were being made to identifyfunding to commission a ConservationStatement preparatory to planning arestoration programme; the Councilreiterated its support for the initiative.Reference was also made to the prob-lems of owners of properties adjacentto the walls. Attention to this wasdrawn by a letter to ‘Crail Matters’ 8May, which noted that gardens locatedon the other side of the wall sufferedsimilar problems. Fife Council still donot appear to have addressed the dif-ficulties this presents to these house-holders, where the poor state of thewall constitutes a danger when usingtheir gardens. It would be helpful ifFife Council could at least provideboth reassurance and information tothese householders about such plansthey have to enable safe use of theirgardens.

Dog foulingYet again, complaints have been re-ceived about dog fouling. It really isvery disappointing that some dogowners fail to take responsibility fortheir pets. We appeal to all dog ownersto act responsibly and clean up aftertheir dog.

huge achievement for us all! A big well done to Tulloch PS, who were the overall winners, Bannockburn and Sacred Heart, who were the runners up. We are so proud of all of our confident children for representing our school, their families, ourcommunity and Fife so well. We can’t stop smiling!I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Noble and Mrs Thomson for all of their dedication and creativity over the lastfew months. I’m sure you will agree that they and our children did an outstanding job.I would also like to thank all of our families and friends for coming along to support us yesterday. It was lovely to see so manyof you there and to know that you were all supporting and cheering us on meant a lot.I am sure that yesterday’s final and the other competitions leading up to it will stay with us for an extremely long time. I knowthat every time I think about what we have accomplished, I can’t help but smile!Best wishesLouise DonaldsonHead Teacher

Crail Primary School Notes continued

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Temporary Road ClosuresMon. 24/07/17 at 09.30hrs to Fri. 28/07/17 at 15.30hrs.

West Green, Crail From adj. to properties nos. 47/49 High Street to rear of East Neuk Hotel to allow replacement of defective sewer equipment in

the carriageway to be carried out in safety.There is no alternative route for vehicular traffic.

Access for emergency service vehicles and residents will be maintained. Access for pedestrians is unaffected.A Plant Lux are responsible for these works and can be contacted as follows:-

Contact Telephone No: 01698 745069

Between 9.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. on 22/07/17Rumford and Nethergate

Fife Council has made an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 prohibiting the use by vehiculartraffic of Rumford (from property no. 10 Rumford to property no. 70 Nethergate) and Nethergate (from its junction with CastleWalk to property no. 56 Nethergate).The alternative route for through traffic will be via Tolbooth Wynd, High Street and Castle Street, Crail.Access for emergency service vehicles and pedestrians will be maintained.The Order is to allow the Crail Festival Street Market to take place in safety.Crail Festival Society is responsible for this event and can be contacted on the telephone number shown below:-

Contact Telephone Number: 01333 451345

Planning Applications- Change of use of stable to childrens care home (Class 8)including external alterations and extensions to building anderection of storage building (Non-material variation to14/03982/FULL for amendments to finishing materials) -Ragfield House Chance Inn Crail Anstruther Fife KY103XG

Kingsbarns DistilleryKingsbarns 2 Year Old Spirit Drink is the first release fromKingsbarns to be matured in oak casks. However it cannotbe called a whisky as it has not been matured for 3 years.The release, available in a 200ml bottling, is a combinationof 2 casks that have matured single malt spirit, for over 2years, in 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels. It has been bottled nonchill-filtered and at the natural cask strength of 62.8%. Therelease is limited to 1,800 200ml bottles and is available forpurchase for £19.95, 1 bottle per person

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WILD CRAILWill Cresswell,

with Photographs by John AndersonThis year seems to have been a good one for commonwhitethroats. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere along thecoast path that hasn’t got a pair of whitethroats. They are very

territorial andcome back to de-fend their samebush and patch ofscrub every year,but each yearthere seem to bemore bushes witha singingwhitethroat. Theyhave been on theup, more or less,since their monu-

mental crash in the 1960’s when half the UK’s 5 millionbreeding pairs failed to come back one summer, probablyafter encountering the effects of a severe drought on theirway to fuel up before crossing the Sahara. Things have im-proved a bit in West Africa rainfall wise since the 1990s andthe whitethroats themselves have probably changed their mi-gration areas and routes. Most have fledged chicks now andso they are even more abundant; although they skulk a bit,whitethroats do pop up to check you out if you are in theirterritory and make a grumpy rattle to let you know they haveseen you. They are much more skulking on the winteringgrounds. Where I often go in central Nigeria there is awhitethroat in every bush but you only know this if you playback their song so they come out to defend their territory.They are every bit as territorial on the wintering ground asthey are in Crail. I think of whitethroats as very stay at homebirds – they just have two homes, each a small bush, but sep-arated by 6,000 km and on two different continents.

The end of last week was good for looking at seabirds passingCrail. There has been a north-easterly wind which strength-ened into a gale on the 29th (along with another bucketful ofrain). This has been pushing seabirds right against the Crailcoast as they fly in and out of the Forth to feed their chicks.Saucehope Caravan Park was great on last Wednesday after-noon, with puffins passing just a few tens of meters out. AtFife Ness I watched a feast of razorbills, guillemots, puffins,gannets, arctic, common and sandwich terns and kittiwakespassing just be-yond the lowtide rocks. Thatmorning it wasmanx shearwa-ters as wellpassing Crail,coming past at arate of 25 every10 minutes;s o m egoosanders and

surprisingly, quite a few large flocks of common scoters.There was great excitement on Thursday as a black-browedalbatross was reported flying up the coast from Durham tothe Farnes to St Abbs Head and as I write last reported fromnear North Berwick. I hope to have amazing news nextweek…

Balcomie Beach is at its quietest. Only a few oystercatchersand immature common gulls last week. The eider chicks

along the shore just to the north have got much fewer, but thesurvivors are now much bigger and should make it now.

Last Wednesday evening I did a circuit up to Troustie to lookfor barn owls. The rain the night before should have madehunting poor so I was hopeful they would be out before darkto catch up with feeding their chicks. My run of bad luck withbarn owls continued, still it was good to be out in the windand the gloaming – not very summery in feel perhaps – butbracing. At dusk you realise just how many hares there are.They were popping up everywhere, suddenly racing awayacross the tracks to disappear just as quickly into the potatoesor wheat.

Whitethroat

Razorbill

Eider Chicks

Brown Hare

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Crail Folk ClubIn 1987 the Reverend Paton placed a postcard in a shop inCrail asking if anyone was interested in starting a folk club.They were; so alongside the Reverend Paton, initially, theReverend Jill Saunderson and Bernie Precious started theclub in the Balcomie Links Hotel. Very quickly the Rev-erend Paton considered his work was done and left it toBernie and Jill. Bernie was involved until last year whenhe took himself off to the south of France; Jill is still themainstay of the committee. Despite not wishing to turn theclub into a pub crawl the venue changed to the MarineHotel, then the Golf Hotel and then, in 2012, to our currentvenue Crail Town Hall.The first booked and paid for guests were Sheena Welling-ton and John Watts with the club meeting on the 2nd and4th Thursdays of the month. Many of the people fromthose early days, both audience and artists, are still in-volved today. Some of the guest artists from those earlydays are appearing at our 30th Anniversary Party Night atthe Community Hall in Crail on 20th July which is formingpart of the Crail Festival.Those guests are SheenaWellington (who notonly was our first guestbut she also sang at theopening of the first Scot-tish Parliament) andEwan Sutherland, TheSangsters, Scalded Catsand Adam McNaughtan.In the early years the club also put on ceilidhs – maybe weshould do that again? We should not forget the regularSingers Nights which just get better and better due to theconsiderable talents of many local singers and musicians,as well as regular visitors from far and wide.Looking back over the list of guests over those 30 years itreads like something of a who’s who of folk music. TomPaxton, Eric Bogle, The Tannahill Weavers, The BattlefieldBand, The McCalmans, Richard Digance, Michael Marra,Rab Noakes, Vin Garbutt, Emily Smith and Archie Fisherand on it goes.Audiences are the biggest we’ve consistently had over thatperiod so we must be doing something right!!

Crail Parish Church of Scotland

(Charity registered in Scotland SC 001601)Intimations

Small Gardens Sunday 9th July there will be tea/coffee andhome baking served in the Kirk Hall from 2pm-5pm. Anydonations of baking would be welcomed.

The Guild Would any member of the Guild willing to bakeor to serve in the Tea Room at the Kirk Sale on Weds 19thJuly, please contact Janis on 451052 Many Thanks.The Guild hope to have a Committee Meeting on Thursday13 July at 2.30 pm

Well done to Crail Primary School Glee Choir who repre-sented Fife at the Scottish Final in Perth last Sunday. 81schools took part in the competition with 7 through to thefinal. Crail received a special certificate for originality.

Pulpit supply and emergency pastoral care for 9th & 16thJuly will be provided by Rev Peter Neilson (tel 01333310477).

Kirk Sale19 July 2017

Basket Tombola HelenArmitage & Nancy TurnerBooks PatrickGarrad & Catriona ShepherdBottle Tombola Eric De-whirst & Alan MenziesCake and Candy MandyGuthrieJewellery and Scarf’s PatriciaDewhirst & Joan ForrestProduce LizArnott & Marjorie RichardsonTeas TheGuild White Elephant RubyMackie & Linda Douglas.Raffle DavidClelland& Diana BrownChildren’s Stall JAMclub

Donations for the stalls will be greatly appreciated and canbe handed into the Community Hall on the evening of Tues-day 18th , 6.00 – 7.00pm and on the morning of the sale,10.00 – 12 noon. If you wish anything to be collected for thestalls please contact the stall holders.

Doors open at 2.00pm and more information can be hadfrom Helen Armitage 450516.

Dear Joe, Seagull and Wild Crail Man,Men are such blethers! But today I am announcing my sup-port for Joe Crow (see his letter from last week). I amBeaty the Bluetit and I live near the track. I am also deadagainst the racetrack and its thunderous noise level. My mistress emailed the police because we heard cars outthere on a Wednesday night (and other weekdays, too). Thecommunication was never acknowledged. I am speakingfor myself, my husband, my eight nestlings and all thewildlife in this area. We are simply going to up sticks andleave. I don’t want to. Crail is lovely at this time of year, but theJoe Crow, Joe Public and other interested bodies will haveto shut the racetrack down so we have peace.Beaty

Letter to the Editor

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The CrailSeagull

An eye on our world

Have you seen the Queen Elizabeth? I had a jaunt outto take a look. It was off May Island, and it is enor-mous. It’s very distinctive, so even on the horizon youcan recognise it. I don’t know how long it will be inand around the Firth of Forth, but it certainly is worthkeeping an eye out for it. But what a pity it has noplanes, and is unlikely to get any soon. I’m sure I couldrustle up a squadron of Seagulls though if that would

help.

In all the blowing rain, I had a trip to Kingsbarns, andsaw the signs warning vehicular traffic would not beallowed for a week into the Beach car park. Althoughits nothing to me, I assume people will still be able towalk down Back Stiles and get to the beach, but justnot in a car. Or maybe the Kingsbarns Securitate willstop you.

Glad to hear there is growing support to curb the noisemade at the Airfield Racetrack. Even my unruly rela-tives from Anstruther complained about it, and they canmake enough noise when they want to. Bluetit’s alwaystalk sense!

Material for inclusion in Crail Matters should be sent to [email protected] and received on Friday middaybefore publication. We reserve the right to edit copy for length and style. Submission does not guarantee inclusion.

© Crab Publishing 2017: Editorial Team this week: Graham Anderson, Julie Middleton, Isla Reid, ValenciaSowry, Max Taylor, John Wilson

Crail in BloomThe 'Small Gardens of the Burgh of Crail' will be on the8th and 9th July from 1.00p.m. to 5.00p.m. On Saturday8th July, 'Crail in Bloom' will be serving teas/coffees inthe Legion Hall, Nethergate from 2.00p.m. to 4.30p.m.Entry £2.00 This will be a fund raising event for Crail'sfloral enhancement. The 'In Bloom' group are very grate-ful for the continued support of so many local peopleand hope you can all continue as it is of great encour-agement to the Committee and all the volunteers.