Parking problems tackled

COUNCILLORS i n t he Carse of Gowrie are working to tackle the problem parking that has been blighting the village of St Madoes.

The pledge comes after pedestrians claimed they were being forced to brave busy roads due to impassable pavements.

The issue is at its height on days when the village’s football pitch is in use, with buses using pavements as parking spaces.

Perthshire North MSP John Swinney has already spoken to some bus companies, while SNP councillor Beth Pover has called on motorists to respect road safety.

Fellow Carse councillors, Conservative Angus Forbes and Labour’s Alasdair Bailey, say they are working on solutions.

Mr Forbes said: “The reality is that vehicles will continue to deliver players to St Madoes, so we need to find some place for them to go.”

Mr Bailey said he would be meeting the Glencarse Playing Fields Association, which owns the playing fields, to discuss what can be done.

Linden Forster, 25, started writing his book Divine Invention while still at school in 2010, and is preparing for its official publication next month.

Now he’s hoping the release paves the way for a career as a novelist.

Divine Invention follows the residents of the island of Krank.

The islanders have for centuries lived on the animals and plants that are found there.

But life on the island is disrupted when the population starts to grow and the people discover the quantity of plants and animals has not.

The king of Krank assigns the two resident self-proclaimed geniuses, the Creators, to find a solution.

The dynamic duo invent the first boat to search for resources away from the island, before an unforeseen turn of events.

Linden said he had “really enjoyed” the process of creating the book from start to finish.

Although the project was started more than eight years ago, the young author said the book was shelved while he focused on his marine biology studies at Stirling University.

But his dyslexia, a common learning difficulty which makes it hard to read, write and spell, was seldom a hindrance thanks to modern technology.

He said: “I was at school when I started writing the book, so it has been a long road.

“The first draft was completed in about four months and since then I’ve been making tweaks to it.

“Having dyslexia in this day and age did not affect the writing of the book — computers have spell-checkers so it wasn’t an issue.”

A FORMER Harris Academy pupil who has dyslexia and disliked studying English has become an unlikely children’s author.