Ballroom to be restored

PLANS for a renovation of a 15th-Century Perthshire castle have been lodged with the local authority.

The A-listed Megginch Castle in Errol’s disused ballroom is the focus of the application, and the castle’s owners hope the “sympathetic restoration” will give “new life” to a currently unused building.

The Carse of Gowrie castle was purchased in 1661 by ancestors of the present owners, who welcome public visitors by appointment.

The historic ballroom is linked to the main castle by a passageway and is located between t he formal front garden and the cobbled courtyard. THE Overgate has launched a children’s bedroom appeal in partnership with Help for Kids.

The appeal will run throughout August and aims to help support local families by providing children’s bedroom items such as pillows, duvets, bed linen, mattress covers, bedside lamps, blankets, cushions, curtains and more.

Any donations, including children’s bedroom furniture, can be left at the centre’s customer service desk.

Morag Dennis, operations manager at the Overgate, said: “Overgate is delighted to launch BOOZE-RELATED admissions to Ninewells Hospital have risen by almost 20% in three years.

Figures obtained by the Tele revealed a sharp increase in alcohol-related injuries and admissions.

Statistics have shown alcoholrelated admissions to the hospital have soared by 19% in the past two years, from 1,506 to 1,787.

Meanwhile, the figures also reveal that drink-related visits to A&E at the hospital have increased by 17% during that same period, though the health board has said there could be cross-over between both sets of people.

Kathryn Baker, chief executive of Tayside Council on Alcohol, said the reason for the jump could be down to changing drinking habits among younger people.

She said: “If that’s the case then one of the reasons could be what we have seen as a real trend in ‘pre-loading’. That is home drinking by a lot of young people before they go out to clubs.

“They are much less likely to be going to pubs nowadays and more