Building plans and cleaning-up

THE unsightly and dangerous dumping site at Glendoe Terrace could soon become a thing of the past. For at the February meeting of Merkinch Community Council, members heard that the site's owners, the Macmillan Brothers, say they are doing a deal with a housing association to build houses and a leisure park which will include facilities for football.

• ACTRA, the residents' association covering from Abbey Court to Cameron Square held a week-long clean-up at the end of January. Vodka and cider bottles, car batteries, supermarket trolleys, numerous used condoms and one syringe needle were collected. An old garage at the top of Birnie Terrace is to be demolished.
  The official Spring Clean-up throughout the Merkinch area is to be held on 7th April and it is hoped that people will join in and make a concerted effort to improve the environment.

 

• Tenants of the three blocks of flats at Coronation Park are unhappy at the concierge unit there being closed down and fear the return of the conditions of the past. So they have formed a new tenants' association. Community Council members heard at their February meeting that a site meeting was to be held to discuss the situation.

 

• Work on the extension to Grant Street car park is to start this spring. Issues surrounding the running of homeless facilities in the area-at Huntly House and No.40 Telford Road-will need to be discussed and sorted out, Councillor Peter Corbett told members. Since changes to the Homelessness laws came in in 2003 the situation had changed and these changes had to be addressed.

 

• A car had entered the West Field and knocked down the goalposts, it was reported. Boulders blocking the entrance had been moved. It was remarked that these cost £90 each to install.

 

• One application of pesticide was insufficient to control weeds, members agreed. While appreciating that lack of weed control was a city-wide problem, members agreed to write to the Highland Council regarding the matter.

 

• There is £1000 available to MCC if members can come up with a suitable project, members were told. They agreed to come up with some ideas and get the ball rolling before the new Highland Council was voted in come May.

 

• South Kessock Residents Association (SKRA) are planning to hold a garden competition this summer. SKRA's successful Santa's Grotto at Christmas brought delight to 110 children and their Fun Day is pencilled in for 6th July.

 

• Consultation for the new Waterfront Centre has been going ahead. Some feel that the new wind turbine should be further away from the building. A start has been made to pack up the contents of the old centre.

 

• The next meeting of MCC will be on Thursday 15th March.

African drumming (pic below) was just one of the lively multi-cultural musical items at the "Scot-ish Night" in Merkinch Community Council last month.

Ness Soaps plans for the year ahead

NESS Soaps had a very successful Christmas trading period as a result of their five-week shop project in Church Street.
Their main partners were L'Arche Community who make candles, the Training and Guidance Unit (TAG) from Craig Dunain who make wood crafts, Brian MacLeod with his Iberialba olive oils. There were also handmade cards by two Merkinch ladies, Eileen Smillie and Sandra MacGregor as well as Eileen's superb range of needlework and jewellery.

Ness Soaps will be having a three-day Enterprise Fair at the Spectrum Centre, Margaret Street on Thursday/Friday/ Saturday 29/30/31 March. Entry is free and there is much to see and buy.

Ness Soaps is looking forward to a very busy Spring and Summer and forward sales of our glycerine-based soap Nessies and Dolphins are sure to be a winner with tourists and locals alike.

Visitors are welcome to see the soap being made and our range of products at the Soap Workshop located in the Corbett Centre.

Merkinch ladies have been stitching away for months to create a wall hanging for the Community Centre under the tutelage of leading fabric artist Sheena Norquoy. Pictured left is Anne McCreadie from the Community Centre who displays the completed hanging which is to be hung in the Disco Room on 6th March. Pictured right is a detail from the hanging. Those taking part in the project included: Margaret Garrick, Margaret MacKenzie, Lynn Fraser, Marion Nelson, Mairi MacDougall, and Maggie Healy.

briefs.

• THE Trinity Church is holding its Spring Fayre and Coffee Morning on Saturday 3rd March from 10am to 12 noon. All the usual stalls will be there, admission is 25p and if you want a cup of coffee it is £1 for adults and 25p for children.

 

• THE future of Merkinch Post Office -one of 17 in the city - will not be known until May, it was reported last month.

 

• MERKINCH Development Ventures has been successful in gaining £21,950 from Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland to employ a project manager.

 

• A MOBILE CCTV Unit is to be deployed in trouble spots, Northern Constabulary has announced. Vandals and those exhibiting anti-social behaviour can be spotted by seven cameras from half a mile away.
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• THE Community Warden is looking into the possibility of having the West Field designated as a Local Nature Reserve. Deer and pheasant are among the fauna of the area.

 

• THE former Highland Fishing Tackle shop at the corner of Grant Street and Lower Kessock Street is to open in April as a charity shop called "Another Helping Hand". The profits from the shop will go towards funding The Ferry Support Project, discreet counselling for those coming off heroin and other addictions. Manager of the shop will be Merkincher Geoffrey Gibson and a prime mover in the project is Rev Richard Burkitt.

 

• THE Corbett Centre Garden, the subject of a major clean-up and refurbishment last year, has been designated a "Green Gym" area and the garden is to be maintained with help from local volunteers.

 

• WORK is on-going with the reminiscence-based drama project planned for this summer's Merkinch Festival, working title "Silver Tides". The festival is set to take place 12th to 21st July.

Monday cookery challenge

FANCY a challenge on a Monday Morning? We are looking for contestants to take part in our new cookery group, TV Dinners. Each week we will be playing a different cookery show. So you don't need to be a good cook! Just come along and have some fun with your very own game show! We will supply the ingredients. Please book in advance.

Tuesday training
We have a suicide prevention talk on 27th February. If you are interested just come along at 9.30am. Alternatively drop in for a cuppa beforehand at 9am.

Wednesday Babes
We have just started a new mum & baby group on a Wednesday 1.30 - 3pm. Come along and meet other mums, enjoy a tea/coffee and blether.
If your children are a bit older we have parent & tots on a Tuesday afternoon between 1.30 - 3.30pm. There will be activities and snacks for the children each week.

Friday mornings Are you interested in belly dancing! We are hoping to start a new group on Friday mornings. It 's a great way to exercise and have some fun! If you are interested and want more information please contact the Janny's Hoose.

Jean Mackay
Janny's Hoose Healthy Living Centre
Merkinch Primary School
Telford Road
Inverness IV3 8HY
01463 226348

Merkinch pipers are pictured above in front of the much-awaited staging currently being installed at Merkinch Community Centre. It is anticipated that the new staging, lighting and seating facility will be ready for the annual Easter Extravaganza.

New era for Highland Council as wards amalgamate

MOST people are aware that there are to be elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Highland Council in May, but perhaps not so many realise the complete reorganisation of the HC's various wards that amounts to a revolution in how Local Government is operated.

For no longer will Merkinch have its own ward and its own councillor as at present. Instead there is to be a much larger ward, almost four times the size with four councillors to share the workload amongst themselves.

The new Ward 15, Central Ward, in which Merkinchers will find themselves, includes not only the entire Merkinch area but also Dalneigh, and up Glenurquhart Road as far as the Highland Council HQ buildings. More surprisingly it also takes in a considerable area east of the River Ness including, for instance, the Spectrum Centre, the Haugh and Island Bank Road and even parts of the Crown.

In regard to the Highland Council election, a new voting system called "Single Transferable Vote" (STV) is being used. Voters in each ward will indicate their preference of first, second, etc candidates. A quota and formulae system will then decide who is elected, based on the preferences as indicated by the voters.

On the Council Ballot Paper, voters will be able to express preferences for UP TO FOUR candidates by writing numbers i.e. 1,2 3 and 4.

However, it is stressed that there is no need to "dilute" your vote by voting for more than one or two if you so desire. A list of all persons nominated for election will be published on Wednesday 11th April 2007.

The Central Ward will have four councilors and it is unclear how the responsibility for the near-10,000 residents of the Ward will be divided. The impression is that councillors will be left to organise themselves as to which voters they will be answerable to.

However, HC officials do not see the new arrangement as the break up of local communities. "It is more a question of uniting them," one told Merkinch News & Views.

The HC website says: "The Combined Scottish Parliamentary and Highland Council Elections will give voters the opportunity to elect their Constituency and Regional MSPs and local council representatives for the next four years.

"There are three voting systems in operation at the elections being held on Thursday 3rd May 2007 from 7am to 10pm. "Electors' Regional votes are used to elect 56 regional MSPs - seven MSPs from each of the electoral regions via the Additional Member System (AMS). Voters will have two ballot papers. On the Parliamentary Ballot Paper, voters will cast a vote in the traditional manner (i.e. a "X") for one Regional Party and one Constituency Candidate.

"Each elector votes for a political party, or individual candidate, with party candidates elected in order from the top of the party list. The political parties decide the order in which their candidates are ordered on their own party's list. Regional seats are allocated proportionally according to the number of votes cast for each party and individual candidate across the region, and the number of constituency seats won by each party in the region.

"The elector's Constituency vote is used to elect one of the 73 constituency MSPs using the First Past The Post (FPTP) system. Each elector votes for a candidate in the constituency where they live. The candidate who receives the most votes wins the contest."

You do not have to vote in person at the polling station. You can apply to vote by post or proxy. Any elector can apply to vote by post. You do not have to give a reason and you can apply now. If you are an existing Postal Voter and you wish the ballot paper to be sent to an address other than your home, you do have to give a reason for this.

If you wish to vote by proxy (this means appointing someone to vote on your behalf) you will need to give a valid reason as to why you cannot get to your polling station.

For further information on how to get postal application forms, please contact the Electoral Registration Office either by phone on Freefone 0800 393783 or email ero@highland. gov.uk . Completed postal or proxy vote application forms for this election must be with the ERO by 18 April to apply for a new, or to change an existing postal or proxy vote or 25 April 2007 by 5 pm to apply for a new application to vote by proxy.

JOHN Bruce of the Highland Council has been invited to attend the meeting of Merkinch Community Council on 15th March. If you have any queries about the new system that you want to put before Mr Bruce, either contact a community councillor or write them down and deliver to the News & Views at 14 Grant Street and we will pass them on.

The new HC system will not affect the network of community councils and Merkinch Community Council will still represent the interests of all people in the area.

A night to celebrate Scots old and new

The Community Centre was packed when the highly successful Scot-ish Night was held last month. Organised by community arts worker Annie Marrs, assisted by members of Arts in Merkinch. The mix of music and grub from various cultures, from Polish to Pakistani, was much enjoyed by all.

Pictured are some of those who participated in the multi-cultural evening at Merkinch Community Centre.
Photographs courtesy of Phil Downie.

Art group learn about print techniques

NINE members of the regular Thursday night art class at Merkinch Community Centre visited Highland Print Studio (HPS) on Saturday 27th January.

The visit provided the opportunity for the group to see different printing methods, demonstrated by tutor Brian MacBeath, including etching, screen printing, lino and woodcut.

Everyone was amazed at the range of work that can be done using different print-making methods and especially enjoyed the hands-on experience of creating their own woodcut in the afternoon. The group experimented with different cutting techniques and would like to return to the printmakers to try etching and screen printing.

"We are hoping to purchase tools that will enable us to prepare images for printing in the studio and expand what can be done in regular painting and drawing classes," said the group's regular tutor Georgina Coburn. "The group would like to thank AiM for their support of the workshop which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended." Pictured is one of the woodcuts created at the group's day out at HPS.

Dad's Army comes to the big screen

THE Silver Cinema offering for March is an old favourite from "the box". "The Day the Balloon Went Up" features all the Dad's Army crowd in a full-length feature film. The show is on 12th March from 2pm to 4pm and there is the opportunity to have a cuppa and a chat afterwards.

Meanwhile the Friendship Club were set to enjoy a talk on birds at their meeting on 28th February. A programme of interesting events is planned for the spring but was not available at time of going to press.

SPRING is just around the corner, but Cllr Christine Cummings and members of ACTRA couldn't wait to get going and had a clean-up at the end of January! There will be another environmental clean-up event in April - see the report on the front page.

Sporting Nooz

Troubled times return to Grant Street Park

THE Lilywhites once again are deep in debt it emerged last month, making the Highland League club's future uncertain. The running of the social club - whose fortunes are closely linked to the side-has been taken over by the brewers' Carlsberg Tetley following the revelation that the club recorded a loss of almost £43,000 last year. The current level of debt is felt by many fans to be only too reminiscent of the situation the club was in in 1990 when it went into liquidation and was only saved at the 11th hour by a local consortium.
However, club chairman David Dowling is cautiously optimistic that the day can yet be saved. The club's AGM was to be held on 26th February, after we went to press.

Latest Darts Results

Results from 15th February

A League: Portland A 7 Portland B 5, Portland E 5 Tarradale 7, Fluke 2 Uncle Bob's 10, Oscar's 4 City Taxis 8.
B League: Culloden Moor Inn 11 Legion A 1, Brockie's Lodge 4 Deeno's 8, Smithton 6 Keppoch 6.
C League: Mojo's 9 The Drover 3, Finlay's 7 Raigmore 5, Portland X 4 Thistle 8.
180s were scored by Tommy MacDonald (Fluke), Steve Falconer (Portland A), James MacMillan (Portland E), and Barrie MacKay (Culloden Moor Inn). The top check-outs were Jim Hunter (Portland A) 138 and Keith Lambert (Uncle Bob's) 110. Gordy Redmond (Culloden Moor Inn) hit a 13-dart leg and Shane Wharton (Portland B) and Tommy MacDonald (Fluke) had 14-darters. The first round qualifiers for the Inverness fours were due to take place on Thursday 22nd after we went to press-results next month.

Results from 8th February

THE City Taxis trio of Alan Mackinnon, Steve Mitchell and Ally McGinely won the John Price Threes at the Clach Club. In the final they beat the Portland A team of Jim Hunter, Richie Devlin and Peter MacDonald. The losing semi-finalists were both from Oscars.

Last year's John Price champions Steve Falconer, Barry Maclean and Eddie Edwards of Portland A went out of this year's event in the qualifying rounds and so were eligible for the Smith Shield which they not surprisingly went on to win. However in the final the Keppoch triple of Jim McNeil, Billy Palmer and David Hyslop pushed them all the way and it took the roll-up to settle matters.

Lynn Woolley (The Drover) and Billy Sweeney (Legion A) both scored 180s and Davey Morrison (Raigmore) checked out on 101. But the best finishes were reserved for the final when Jim McNeil finished his single on 122 and Eddie Edwards clinched his with a 167 which is the highest of the season so far. The losing semi finalists in the Smith were Legion A and Portland E.

The final of the Consolation Shield between Portland B and Keppoch was due to be played on Tuesday 20th February at the Legion.

Results from 1st February

Portland B beat third-placed City Taxis to maintain their challenge in the A League just three points behind the leaders Portland A.

Deeno's and Legion A both won to retain joint second place in the B League the latter at the expense of Keppoch who fall three points behind but they had a game in hand over the other two and were still very much in the hunt for second place. The leaders, Culloden Moor Inn, required three points from the last four games to be sure of the title. Mojo's were still four points behind Finlay's in the C league but they had second place to themselves as Raig-more were idle after their game had to be re scheduled.

Results from 25th January

City Taxis, Culloden Moor Inn and Oscars all had two of their three-somes qualify for the John Price Finals. The teams providing one each are Caley Club, Legion A, Portland A, and Uncle Bob's. There was also one unknown qualifier as the winners from Deeno's did not return their score card.

Earlier in the week the two Consolation Shield semi-finals took place with Portland B beating Legion A 7-2 the other match was a much closer affair which went to the last double before Keppoch edged out Portland E.

Death of 1970s darts champion

INVERNESS darts players were saddened to hear of the death last month of Kenny MacKenzie.
Kenny's darts career was short - just four seasons - due to failing eyesight, but extremely successful. He won the Inverness Supreme Cup, the Inverness Fours, the 1975 Singles and helped take the Hayloft from the D League to the A, winning all four division titles on the way. He won two North of Scotland Supreme Cups and one NoS Cup. He also won the Summer League and the Summer Singles in its inaugural year.

Kenny made a brief comeback in 1981 and won his second Summer Singles title but never played competitively again. He nevertheless was a regular spectator and was at the Smith Shield finals days before he died. He will be remembered with much affection.

Out of school

Pupils plan upgrade for High School Hall

THE Columba 1400 at Inverness High has ambitious plans to transform the school hall. At one time, prior to Eden Court being built, the hall was a leading performance venue in Inverness and pupils would like to see it returned to its role as a facility for the entire local community.

This year the C1400 pupils will be surveying pupils opinions and visiting local arts centres as well as conducting fund-raising events.

C1400 aims to foster integrity, perseverance, service, creativity, focus and awareness.

Plea for waste plastic

IHS pupils aim to build a greenhouse out of empty 2-litre plastic bottles. So everyone is being asked to save their 2-litre water and fizzy drink bottles and ask their child (or neighbour's child) to bring it to the Guidance Base. Hundreds of bottles will be required, so get cracking!

New faces at REAL

THE new REAL Organics Farm Manager is Iain Findlay who comes from a varied horticultural background. He aims to bring into use the disused training garden behind Hawthorn Garden where there are still compost heaps from years ago. Kirsty Main-Ellen has been very active since joining the team last October as the REAL youth worker.