HVeoaicdeeor fhtehre People
RSVP WALKING GROUP
Walk leaders with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme organise and lead three walks every week, starting at various places across Stirling and Clackmannanshire on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get extra exercise and have a chat along the way, contact Anne Marie on 07935 911156 for more details.
HANDYPERSON SERVICE
Handyperson volunteers carry out small/minor maintenance jobs in older people’s homes in the Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, Callander and Clackmannanshire areas. The service is co-ordinated by registered charity Volunteering Matters. There is no charge and donations are gratefully accepted. Volunteers welcome. For details during the current climate call 01259 928088.
COUNCIL ON DISABILITY STIRLING
The office in Cameronian Street is open and available for all disability related work or enquiries. During the pandemic, CoD continues to operate successfully by phone for all types of benefit form completion and follow up work to tribunal if required. Whilst CoD is not yet offering face to face appointments, the situation is monitored continually and staff look forward to re-introducing this as soon as it is practicable. A wealth of information on services can be found on the website at www.councilondisability. org . All updates on face to face reopening will also appear here. Please phone 01786 462178 or 07521 186159 or email advisor@ councilondisability.org.
ROCKTALK
Stirling’s talking newspaper for the blind is free to visually impaired members of the community. Contact Mike Milne at enquiries@rocktalk.org.uk or 01786 816673.
NEURO CENTRAL
Neuro Central aims to ensure that people in Scotland who live with neurological conditions, as well as their carers and families, have access to high quality services, therapies, information and support in a friendly, relaxed environment so nobody has to feel alone. Meetings are held on the first and third Monday of the month at Stirling County Cricket Club from 11am-1pm. Precautions will be taken to ensure, as far as possible, the safety of our members, volunteers and therapists. Further information is on the Facebook page, by calling 07526 281747 or on the website ‘neurocentral.org.uk.’ As usual, everyone welcome. If you would like a cuppa, please bring your own cup.
ALZHEIMER SCOTLAND
Contact dementia advisor Donna Paterson at dpaterson@alzscot.org, 01786 8311 or 07733 302772.
TOWN BREAK
The charity group supports people with early to moderate stage dementia to live well. For more information in the current climate, contact 01786 641841 or email admin@townbreakstirling.org.
ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION (STIRLING BRANCH)
Face to face monthly meetings are held at the King Robert Hotel, Glasgow Road, Whins of Milton on the first Wednesday in the month. All regiments welcome. If you would like any further information please contact by emailing the secretary at secretary.aashstirlingbranch@ btinternet.com or by contacting the chairman by phone 07940 828434 email: james21healy@outlook.com.
STIRLING CITY CHOIR
Weekly rehearsals have resumed on Tuesdays from 7.30-8.30pm in Park
Church (former St Columba’s). The Spring Concert which will take place on the evening of Sunday, April 10 in the Church of the Holy Rude will be a performance of Karl Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace’. Further details available via our website at www.stirlingchoir.org.uk or through the Facebook page.”
FORTH VALLEY TOP TOES
Part of the Braveheart Association non-profit charity providing personal footcare service to adults who are unable to cut their own toenails. Cost is £15 per session which covers overheads and the customers’ nail care kit. It offers basic nail clipping and filing every six-10 weeks by a team of trained NHS approved volunteers but do not provide other podiatric treatments. The clinic meets at the Bellfield Centre, Stirling Community Hospital, Livilands Gate, Stirling on Thursdays from 9am-12.30pm. To book an appointment contact the Forth Valley Top Toes team on 07596 375674/01324 633505 or email louise.bleazard@nhs.scot.
STIRLING LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
The 2021/22 season meetings are being held online, via Zoom. Meetings are held on the last Thursday of each month at 7pm. Registration details can be found on the current season section on the webpage. Online tutorials are available on the Zoom website. For more details on the society, please visit the About Us page.
STIRLING AND DISTRICT FLORAL ART CLUB
The club is returning to in-person meetings after two years of lockdown restrictions. Meetings have been organised on April 12 and May 10 - at 2.30pm. Please note the club is moving to a new venue - Park Church Main Hall, Park Terrace, Stirling. The entrance is from the side door. Visitors and new members are always welcome. Meetings cost £7 for visitors. Contact honorary secretary Mrs Sarah Murdoch fore more information on murdochsarah@btinternet.com
DUNBLANE ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
The next club meeting is tonight (Wednesday) in the Victoria Halls, Dunblane at 7.30pm (doors open 7.15pm), with guest artistes the Neil Hardie Scottish Dance Band. All players (any instruments) and listeners are welcome. The meeting on April 20 features guest artistes the Susan McFadyen Scottish Dance Band.
CARSE OF STIRLING ROTARY
Last week members gathered at the Golden Lion Hotel for a social meeting to enjoy a meal. President Gordon decided to spice up the evening by passing round a hat with folded-up pieces of paper in it. Everyone had to take a piece, which contained the topic for a one-minute talk and do their best! The winner, by popular vote, was David Brydie who won a bottle of Stirling Gin for his efforts. Members are still working hard on the preparation needed for events like the annual Kids Out Day. Whilst the future can’t be predicted, it is hoped that events like these can go ahead and the club is optimistically forging ahead with the planning. Anyone who would like more information on helping their community and beyond, can either pay a visit to the Giolden Lion Hotel on a Wednesday at 6,30pm or get in touch through social media channels, by searching for ‘@carserotary’.
ARTS SOCIETY STIRLING AND FORTH VALLEY
Due to coronavirus restrictions the lecture tomorrow (Thursday) will be held via Zoom. Anyone is welcome to join. For further information and link to the lecture please email: artssocsfvchair@ gmail.com. The lecture, by curator of the landmark National Galleries of Scotland exhibition ‘Modern Scottish Women’, Alice Strang, is ‘An (almost) A-Z of Modern Scottish Women Artists: Painters and Sculptors 1885-1965’, which will take us from Mary Armour to Anna Zinkeisen, based on works in UK public collections.
LODGE ABERCROMBY NO 531
A regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at the earlier time of 7.15pm. The business of the evening will be the Fellow Craft Degree. This will be the Annual Visitation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Stirlingshire hence the earlier time to allow us to complete Lodge business before their admission.
STIRLING ROTARY CLUB
President Robin Sutton welcomed members to the weekly lunch meeting at the Golden Lion Hotel. Thanks to the management of the Thistle Centre, members collected for Ukraine last Saturday raising £3000 so far and intend to repeat the collection on Saturday, March 19 between 10am and 3pm. Members of the public were very generous, with several large individual donations. In the present economic circumstances
Stirling Salvation Army have been feeding many extra customers and the club will make a contribution of vegetables for making soup for the next 10 weeks. Next week three flowering cherry trees will be planted at Riverside Primary School. Next Friday the club will hold itsr postponed Christmas lunch when everyone is looking forward to welcoming partners and other guests. Speaker was member David MacKay OBE, an environmental scientist. David had enjoyed working in Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East for two years but his return to work in Aberdeen left him rather restless. By chance he saw a small advert in the Press and Journal looking for a buyer for a small farm, 165 acres, rather remote, eight miles from Huntly and up a long single track road. After a visit, but having no previous experience, he and his wife decided to buy it. He still had a full time job. Having bought it ,what to do with it? Let the grazing and shooting rights to neighbours and plant something, and indeed over the years they did plant thousands of trees. This led to the need to fence it in against deer, rabbits, hares, particularly damaging voles, and mice. All the old rotten fencing had to be taken out, a difficult task. Their water came from a spring origin unknown, but after much looking he did find it by falling through the rotten wooden cover over its source. A Fergie tractor and a quad bike were needed just for the area round the house, but he did enjoy driving them. The work was very physical and days were long. After retirement he worked on but after 30 years and aged 80-plus it was time to sell up. The trees remain an asset to sell at some point, and the grazing and shooting rights provide ongoing income. He finds the current enthusiasm for rewilding a fantasy, as his experience tells him that unworked land rapidly reverts to an uninteresting and useless wilderness. His love for the farm remains but at his age he is not able to cope with the daily work involved.
BRIDGE OF ALLAN AND DUNBLANE ROTARY CLUB
As far back as the reign of Elizabeth I, there are records of a “Watch” - essentially a form of local peace keepers. Chairman of Neighbourhood Watch Scotland Stewart Prodger explained to club members that the contemporary idea of Neighbourhood Watch was a very different concept that had originated in the United States of America. Some 40 years ago, the American concept was imported to the United Kingdom. What then is the role of Neighbourhood Watch Scotland (NWS)? Fundamentally, it is to encourage and support people to come together to look out for each other; to build a partnership approach that offers an enabling structure to these groups; and to encourage relationships within and between communities that extend to engaging with the statutory authorities, particularly the police. Stewart surprised members by revealing that since 2008/9 there has been a 46 per cent decrease in crime. Nonetheless, some 563,000 crimes were committed in Scotland in 2019/20, so there is no room for complacency. Of these crimes 66 per cent were property-related, with the balance being violent crime. Perhaps not surprisingly, the crimes that people are now most commonly worried about relate to identity fraud and the fraudulent use of bank card details. NWS operates with a staff of only three, and is overseen by a representative board. It is fortunate in receiving some financial support from the Scottish Government, but, nonetheless, has to seek further financial support for its operation. In operational terms, there are currently 1944 Watches, with 7485 members who, together, help to provide support to 200,000 plus households. Particularly encouraging, there are between eight and ten new Watches established each month. In support of the Watches, NWS operates a Neighbourhood Alert website that sends out local and national messages related to security and other relevant issues. Encouragingly, the response to this messaging system has been very positive. And how to help NWS in its mission? Stewart encouraged Rotarians to speak positively about NWS and to encourage participation in its social media; to think about establishing a new Watch; and possibly to become a Neighbourhood Alert administrator. Speaker’s Host Graham Houston congratulated Stewart on an entertaining and enlightening talk which, he was sure, would encourage members to consider involvement with NWS. Club meetings are held in the Westlands Hotel, Dunblane at 6.15pm on Thursdays. It is also possible to attend by Zoom. Non–members are welcome; anyone wishing to attend should contact club secretary Stuart Brown at secretary@dunblanerotary.org. uk. The club’s programme can be found on the club website: www.dunblanerotary. org.uk or on Facebook: www.facebook. com/dunblanerotary.
STIRLING FOLK CLUB
The guest on Monday, March 21 is legendary singer, songwriter and social activist from County Down, Tommy Sands. His songwriting was much admired by Seamus Heaney and Pete Seeger and the US magazine “Sing Out” described him as “the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world”. His songs like “Bread and Roses” and “Daughters and Sons” have been recorded by famous artists and translated into many languages. As well as performing and recording, Tommy works with the underprivileged, and during the Good Friday Agreement Talks, his impromptu performance with a group of children was described by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon as “a defining moment in the Peace Process”. You can hear Tommy’s songs and stories at Stirling County RFC, Bridgehaugh at 7.30pm. Tickets are £12 on the door.