Pictures of past are reminder of our loss

Blairie reader Kenny Grant sent us this amazing photo of a beautiful long-eared owl. Kenny said that long-eared owls mainly hunt at night, eating small mammals, frogs and insects, and have a wingspan of nearly a metre long.

Why not send us your snaps and have your image appear as our Reader’s Picture of the Week? You can email photographs to news@ blairgowrieadvertiser.co.uk or pop in to our office at 58 Watergate, Perth, PH1 5TF. Include your name, address and contact details and a little piece of information about your snap and the location.

In last week’s Blairie we printed a lovely autumnal photograph taken on Balgersho Road, near Coupar Angus.

We would like to apologise for omitting to mention the picture was taken by Harry Greig from Coupar Angus. My mother Margaret Anton held a free community event on November 28 in a warm and welcoming St Catharine’s Hall for a transfixed capacity audience, some of whom had travelled from as far as Arbroath, Kirriemuir and Glasgow.

Mum took us on a poignant, evocative and, for some members of the audience, emotional journey into Blairgowrie and Rattray’s photographed past.

Although billed as a “slideshow”, my mother’s films are so much more than that dry title might indicate. The initiative, intelligence and imagination shown by my mother and father, George Anton, in collating this unique archive is quite overwhelming to behold, and to hear the excited chatter of the audience, as memories were stirred, forgotten faces and places were remembered, was humbling.

My mum and dad’s films always acknowledge the generous and indispensable contributions made by the many locals who donated their photographs.

The event was brought to an end by a vote of thanks by Sir William McPherson. Visibly moved, Sir William spoke to a hushed audience of the experience of seeing his father in one of the films.

How prescient therefore to read last week’s Blairie headline: “Number of New Homes May Rise”.

Thanks to Mum’s presentation I was reminded of the unique architecture and countryside lost to lazy and brutal town planning, aided by complacent councillors and, it must be said, our apathy as residents.

Our community should give pause that these ‘developers dreams’ over the decades do not become our future living nightmares.

Well done, Mum. Looking forward to the next one.