Bland guests honoured with Dull party

THEY may be Dull and Bland, but neither can be said to be Boring when they come together this week.

Excitement is building ahead of the first ceremonial visit to the tiny Perthshire hamlet of Dull by an official delegation from the Australian outpost of Bland.

A civic reception is planned in honour of the Mayor of Bland on Friday, after he flies in to celebrate a partnership struck between the destinations as a light-hearted way to boost tourism. However, the American farming town of Boring will not be represented, even though it was twinned with Dull in 2012.

After they teamed up, Bland Shire Council Mayor Neil Pokoney persuaded locals to get in on the act in 2014.

The enterprise was grandly named the ‘League of Extraordinary Communities’, although some wags re-labelled it the ‘Trinity of Tedium’. Mr Pokoney said: ‘A few people were worried it was disrespectful to the Bland Shire name. But it is meant to be light-hearted and a promotional tool for the entire shire.

‘It’s good for us to be able to take a lighthearted look at a name that many would see as a weight around our necks.’

Iomhar Fletcher, chairman of Dull and Weem Community Council, has promised guests a warm welcome after their 10,000mile journey.

He said: ‘The partnership has done wonders for our small community. We are always meeting visitors who have heard about it and wanted to see the place.’

Dull, which has fewer than 100 residents, takes its name from the Pictish word for field. Bland is named after William Bland, a doctor transported to Australia as a convict after he killed a man in a duel in Bombay. He later helped to found the Australian Medical Association.

The Oregon town of Boring, named after a Civil War veteran, has a population of around 13,000 – who embrace the annual Boring and Dull Day held in August.