Champion huskies are so cool
A programme of free summer activities for families of school-age children in Blairgowrie and Rattray has got off to a fantastic start.
Nearly 80 people enjoyed the opportunity to meet some of the huskies from Bowland Trails with championship dog-sledders Mary and John Carter (pictured) in bright sunshine in Rattray’s Davie Park last week.
The weekly sessions, which take place every Wednesday during the school holidays, have been organised by the town’s Proactive Communities group working with Perth and Kinross Council (PKC).
A programme of free summer activities for families of school-age children in Blairgowrie and Rattray got off to a fantastic start last week.
Nearly 80 people enjoyed the opportunity to meet some of the huskies from Bowland Trails with championship dog-sledders Mary and John Carter in bright sunshine in Rattray’s Davie Park.
And after they had met the dogs, everyone there was given a free packed lunch.
The weekly sessions, which take place every Wednesday during the school holidays, have been organised by the town’s Proactive Communities group working with Perth and Kinross Council (PKC).
The free sessions are part of Proactive Communities’ Blairgowrie and Rattray Independent (BaRI) Food Project which aims to tackle food poverty, food waste and food education in the town.
The BaRI Food Project, working with PKC and Tesco and the Cooperative’s Fareshare scheme, offers a range of different subsidised services available to everyone in the town.
These include a weekly lunch club, prepared meals, ‘give and take’ community larders and a twiceweekly subsidised food store.
Lesley McDonald from Proactive Communities said: “The summer activities programme got off to a great start last week with just under 80 people coming to see the huskies throughout the day.
“Covid guidelines were followed and it was a really nice day.
“Many of the people who came to visit the huskies stayed on in Davie Park to enjoy their picnic lunch in the sunshine.
“Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we have had lots of positive feedback, both in person and on social media.
“The rest of the programme of activities is also proving to be very popular with two or three of the evets nearly fully booked already so we would encourage people to get in touch to secure their places as soon as possible.”
The next sessions take place on Wednesday, July 7, at 10.30am at Davie Park in Rattray and 1.30pm in Lochy Park in Blairgowrie and are two fun sports activity sessions run in conjunction with Active Schools coordinator Caroline Lawrie.
Next week, on Wednesday, July 14, families will be able to enjoy crafting sessions with volunteers from the Nest Creative Spaces team. These will take place in the garden at Rattray Hall on Balmoral Road at 10.30am and 1.30pm.
Volunteers from Blairgowrie and District Hillwalking Club will lead two groups up Knockie Hill in Blairgowrie at 10.30am and 11.30am on Wednesday, July 21. Those taking part will be able to enjoy spectacular views of the town from the top of Knockie where they will stop for a picnic lunch at the recently revamped viewing point.
On Wednesday, July 28, again working in collaboration with the team from Nest, there will be an opportunity to make name signs for a new bird box trail which is being created as part of the town’s efforts to become the first biodiversity town in Scotland. There will be two sessions, one at 10.30am and one at 1.30pm, both of which will be held in the garden at Rattray Hall on Balmoral Road.
Rattray Tennis Club is hosting two tennis sessions for families to try their hand at the sport on Wednesday, August 4, at 9.30am and 10.30am.
And then on August 11, the bird boxes with their name signs will be hung in Davie Park and Lochy Park creating the new trail, and those taking part will be able to enjoy a special picnic to mark the end of the programme of events.
To book a space on any of the free activities this summer, email barifood@discoverblairgowrie.co.uk