Puzzled villagers in strange noise riddle
Mystery surrounds low-pitched hum in Comrie
Culture Perth and Kinross has asked people to help name its three mobile library vans to mark the 100th anniversary of the service.
A century on from when the service first took to the region’s roads, vehicles continue to bring books and more to local communities – with three vans making over 100 stops across the region every two weeks and travelling tens of thousands of miles each year.
The service has been operating since 1921, with the original mobile library being a converted Ford van.
The first library van, which held between 800 and 900 books, visited towns and villages across the region.
The modern-day drivers are familiar faces to many, having brought books to more than one generation.
And now, as part of a competition to celebrate the centenary milestone, Culture Perth and Kinross is asking the public to come up with “creative and fun suggestions”for the vans, adding that‘Booky McBookface’– a reference to‘Boaty McBoatface’topping a nationwide poll to name a vessel which was eventually named the Sir David Attenborough in recent years – is “too obvious”.
Helen Smout is chief executive of Culture Perth and Kinross.
She said:“Our mobile library service has been a much-loved feature of rural life in the region for a century now.
“It is a success thanks to the customers who use it and the communities that support it.
“For the 100th year of the service, the oldest and first in the UK, we’re delighted to be giving our customers the chance to have some fun and share their creative ideas of more fitting names for our three current vehicles, currently only known as mobiles one, two and three.
“The three individuals that come up with the new names for our vans will be rewarded some fantastic prizes.”
More information is available at local libraries and on the Culture Perth and Kinross website.
It can be accessed via www. culturepk.org.uk.
A nuisance noise in Comrie has left residents scratching their heads as to the source.
The low- pitched hum has been reverberating in homes and is most noticeable at night when there are no other sounds.
The bothersome buzzing has left residents, in Tay Place in particular, puzzled as to the cause.
Veronica Doyle first heard the noise last summer.
She told the Herald: “I thought I was going doolally at first.
“It was keeping me awake at night. I could hear it even with the television on. I hear it all the time in the sitting room and sometimes in the kitchen.
“At first I thought it was a neighbour’s appliance.
“I was out at all hours of the night to try to find out where the noise was coming from and it definitely seems like it is coming from the area of the sewage works.
“Then I discovered other people in the street were hearing it too.
“Sometimes there’s a vibration. My neighbour drinks bottled water and it ripples when the vibration is strong.
“At one point I thought it was an impending earthquake.
“The noise varies - sometimes it’s louder than others and sometimes it goes off for a short period but then it goes on again.
“It is similar to a fire roaring up the chimney. You can’t always hear it outside but I always hear it in the house.
“I’m beginning to adjust to it. It seems that older people can hear lower frequency sounds that younger people can’t hear.
“I was glad to find out that other people were hearing it as well and it wasn’t just me.”
The nuisance noise has been reported to Perth and Kinross Council and Scottish Water.
Council officers have been out twice with recording equipment.
Veronica added: “The noise wasn’t considered loud enough to be able to do anything about it.
“It’s annoying but you can’t report it as a nuisance unless it’s louder, according to the lady who came out.”
Scottish Water said it has carried out significant investigations but none have suggested that the sewage works is the likely source of the reported sound.
The waste water treatment site is over 700 metres away from residents.
As well as the treatment site, Scottish Water has also checked other infrastructure in the area and a spokesperson said everything appeared to be operating normally with no significant noise or vibration.
The spokesperson for Scottish Water told the Herald: “We’re sorry that customers have been experiencing disturbance and have been making efforts to investigate.
“There was a temporary generator in use at Comrie Waste Water Treatment Works until around mid-August to power an extra part of the treatment process over the summer.
“This was needed to enable the site to continue serving customers and protecting the local environment during a period of dry weather and peak population within the local area.
“All of our investigations have suggested that this temporary equipment was not the cause of the noise experienced at a distance of over 700 metres from our site.
“However, the extra equipment has not needed to operate in recent weeks, following some wetter weather, and a permanent power supply is being installed in case it is needed again in the future.
“We u n d e r s t a n d t hat the environmental health team at Perth and Kinross Council is continuing to investigate to see if the cause of the reported noise can be identified.”
Perth and Kinross Council confirmed it had received a small number of complaints from residents alleging noise disturbance from Comrie Wastewater Treatment Works, and as a result its environmental health team began monitoring the noise.
A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that our investigations into noise complaints associated with the waste water treatment plant in Comrie have concluded.
“From the noise monitoring we carried out, no unacceptable noise levels or continuous intrusive noise were found, nor was it possible to identify the source of the noise complaints residents reported.
“As these findings do not constitute a statutory nuisance under the relevant legislation, we are not in a position to take further action at this time.
“Residents who made complaints have however been advised to contact our environmental health team again should noise levels increase and if it is possible to identify the source.
“We have also advised them that they can take their own private action under the relevant section of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, although they would, as with a statutory nuisance, require to identify the source of the noise to take this forward.”
It was keeping me awake at night. Then I discovered other people in the street were hearing it too Veronica Doyle