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Braemar Buzzard Informing the Community Issue 23 - Dec 2011

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INSIDE page 2 Editorial

2-3 Community Update

4 Braemar Folk - Iain Ged-des

5 Christmas clear up

6/7 Braemar Community Ltd - reports

8 Braemar to Banjul by bus

9 Club news & Bookcorner

10 50 years of skiing

11 Junior Buzzard

Braemar BuzzardBraemar BuzzardBraemar Buzzard www.braemarbuzzard.org.uk

FREE but

donations appreciated!

Braemar prepares for Christmas Locals will have noticed that Braemar looks a little different this Christmas... The old lamp post Xmas lights had had a good life but fewer and fewer of them were working. Selena Hill (one of our new-est community councillors) decided to see what could be done about it. Selena, enlisted the sup-port of the book group and raised £1500 for new lights with the charity shop in Strachans earlier this year. More funding is however still needed, the estimated amount required being £4,600. Fur-ther fund raising is planned starting with a Fashion Show in May and an application for funding is also being made to Aberdeenshire Council. Mean-while, for Christmas 2011 Michel Brat has been busy making brackets for mini Christmas trees for buildings in the village centre, Mar Estate has agreed to supply the trees and David Geddes has volunteered to put them up - a great community effort!

Wishing all our readers a

very Merry Christmas

and a Happy and

Peaceful New Year

graphed in the 1960s by Bob Benzies of Coupar Angus. The season of 2011/12 celebrates 50 years of commercial skiing in the Cairngorm National Park. Article inside on page 10.

The Braemar News Group


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Braemar News Group

Some of you may know that the Buzzard has its own website at www.braemarbuzzard.org.uk The site holds all past Buzzard editions on-line, as well as an up-to-date events listing for activities

the past couple of months and our site gets up to ten visits a day, not bad for a site with no advertis-ing. We post the Buzzard on the web so that

village and feel a part of things despite the dis-tance. It keeps past residents in touch and encour-ages visitors to come again, or to visit us for the first time. cess our site. Our web advisor suggests, for exam-ple, that local businesses add our address to their own web sites. It could be a win-win;; good for their business and good for Braemar.

village events and link back to the newsletter. Have a look. - please check with him if you want more information 41516)

There has been a change to the Buzzard - where extra copies of the Buzzard are left

together with Donation tins (every little helps!) Out-lets are now: the Fife Hotel (at reception) and the Braemar Garage. Finally a reminder - if you are running an event, do send the details to the Buzzard [email protected] and it will be included in the events listing (even if the event happens

f you want to know visit the web page and look at the event

listing www.braemarbuzzard.org.uk In consultation with the Tourism group, the Buzzard has agreed (on a trial basis) to print off a monthly events listing and post this onto the Community Notice board by

useful means of keeping local and visitors alike

Community Update:

Braemar - Planning for the Future On November 1st Cairngorms National Park Au-thority (CNPA) representatives held a meeting with local residents in the Village Hall. The draft local plan for 2012 to 2017 was presented and discussed by all those present. Many issues were considered including housing, public trans-port, communication and tourism. The commu-nity is being encouraged to read the proposal and make comments. Visit www.cairngorms.co.uk/park-authority/national-park-plan/cairngorms-national-park-plan-2012-2017/ to read the main points arising at the meeting. The Community Council will set up a meeting to discuss the proposal in more detail (after Christmas).

Demise of the Library Service: For all book readers it is sad to report that our Mo-bile Library Van service has now been reduced to one visit a month on a Tuesday (Nov 29th and 4 weekly thereafter, 11.30 am at Kindrochit Court then in and around the village until 1.15 pm.) Even worse, where a scheduled visit oc-curs on a bank holiday (as on 27th December 2011) or if bad weather prevails, then it will be 2 months between visits. Is it surprising that such an infrequent service is being used less and less? The cynics amongst us can spot a very effective strategy on the part of Aberdeenshire Library Service to lead to the eventual with-drawal of the mobile library services to commu-nities such as ourselves. For those unhappy about the reduction in service, outreach librar-ian, Pearl Morrison, invites us to fill out a Com-ments, Compliments and Complaints form and send it to Aberdeenshire Council. (This form

the Aberdeenshire Council website www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk) or write to Pearl direct at Aberdeenshire Library Services, Mead-ows Industrial Estate, Meldrum Meg Way, Old-meldrum AB51 0GN. If you would like to try and

van visit, then phone the outreach librarian on 01651 872707 for details.

Contact the Buzzard: [email protected] Editor: Liz Robertson 013397 41030 Advertising: Maggie MacAlpine 013397 41245 Adverts cost £15 per eighth of a page Website: www.braemarbuzzard.org.uk


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Zumba Exercise Classes: Will resume in the New Year if there is de-mand. Contact Mike Recomio thehot-[email protected] to register in-terest.

Creative Arts Festival: The Tourism Group is looking at the possi-bility of attracting more visitors to Brae-mar in the quiet season by hosting a

the actual date is still to be decided. The idea of the project, which is in the very early stages of development, is to offer 3 day residential courses in a vari-

be sought to teach the courses which could include painting, sketching, pho-tography, writing, cooking, craft, etc. The products of these courses would be brought together on the final day and an exhibition opened to the wider public. If you have any ideas that you might like to add regarding this project, or if you would like to offer classes, or be part of the steering committee, then do get in touch. Please email the Buz-zard and we will pass on your com-ments to the Tourism Group.

Police News: Winter is now upon us, with its dark nights and frosty mornings. Accordingly it is time to ensure our vehicles are up to the job. Tyres up to pressure with sufficient tread, lights working and clean;; windscreen wipers and washers in good working order. Also adjust your speed to the conditions you face. Recently it has been brought to my attention that a number of you have received spam emails, some of which are very authentic. If you receive such emails delete them and delete them from your trash bin. If the suspect email is from a company you deal with, contact the company to verify its au-thenticity. If you receive a number of spam emails, contact your Internet Ser-vice Provider (ISP) who may be able to block the source.

PC Jeff Hall [email protected]

Braemar School has a new head teacher at its helm. Richard Teall took over the school after the October break having previously worked at Glasgow Academy. His main reason for applying was that he had always wanted to work in a small community. In the short time he has been in the post he has found the staff very supportive and the children and parents most welcoming. At the moment he is living just outside Blairgowrie with his family and when asked what he would do if heavy snow was forecast this winter he re-plied that he would stay in the village so as to avoid any dif-ficult road conditions or closures. The Buzzard wishes him well and hopes he enjoys working in this lovely part of the world. Susie Farquharson

Scottish Championships come to Braemar The Scottish Orienteering Championships are taking place in Upper Deeside over the Diamond Jubilee weekend, 2nd - 5th June 2012. The event is being organised by the Mar Orienteering Club (MAROC) and is expected to attract between 600-700 people ranging from elite interna-tional athletes from overseas to begin-ners wanting to have a go. Locals are especially encour-aged to come along and there will be help available for new-comers to the sport. Braemar will be the event centre with a campsite in the Games Park, competitors staying in local accommodation and various social events in and around the village. The individual championship on Saturday 2nd June will be in Glen Feardar and the relays on Sunday will be at Creag Choinnich. The competition on Monday will be in Banchory and the events will finish on Tuesday near Bal-later. Planning is already well underway and a meeting was held in the village in early November to outline plans to local businesses. Any businesses or members of the local com-munity wanting more information should contact the organ-iser, Jon Musgrave from MAROC 013398 84447 or jon@big-jon.demon.co.uk or Sue Walker 41619.

mailto:[email protected]


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Braemar Folk by Selena Hill Iain Geddes Co-owner and Chef, The Gathering Place Bistro Iain, the talented chef and co-owner of the Gathering Place Bistro, was born in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore, to a Scottish father and Irish mother. His father was the Batman to Colonel Grant of Rothiemur-chus who, after the war, gave him a job for life on the Rothiemurchus

pastry chef. She became the personal pastry chef to Charlie Chaplin during the 2 months he spent in Scotland every year. Iain went to Pri-mary school in Aviemore but, due to the untimely early death of his par-ents, he finished his High School years in Inverness. Iain joined the military as a young 16yr old and trained as a mili-tary chef. When his 4 years training was up he was sent to the Falk-lands for his first stint abroad, right in the middle of the war. After the conflict and having completed his service, Iain was offered 8 times his army salary to work for a civilian catering company in the Falklands - ing conditions were hellish. They had to sleep in huge sea containers wearing wellies due to the con-tainers sinking into the peat bogs. Iain lasted 14 months and then headed back to London. In 1984 the MOD contacted Iain to ask if he would be interested in going to Algeria. His re-

port Systems in Hostile Environments and moved to Algeria as camp boss. This entailed supplying, sourcing and bartering for food with local tribes. The first 2 years were fine, with London calling every 6 months, then he had no contact for 2 years. He eventually contacted them in his 5th year and asked when he could go home. Even the Foreign Legion only had to serve a maximum of 2 years! He was then being sent to the Gulf of Mexico, or so Iain believed. It transpired it was to Bah-rain in the Persian Gulf! He arrived in 1990 on the last scheduled flight from London as all airspace in the area was then closed. Iain was now under the Official Secrets Act on Operation Granby. His job was to find accommodation for 4,000 troops by Thursday - it was Monday! and he was in the war torn Gulf of Persia! As luck would have it (and very bizarrely), a brand new hotel was found. Unfor-tunately for Iain 14,000 troops actually arrived and most ended up having to sleep in tents on the verge of the runway. Iain was still chef-

After Operation Granby, Iain moved to Kuwait to set up camps. His time here can only be de-scribed as hell on earth! The ground shook from the burning oil wells, there were mines all around and they did not see the sun for 14 months. Whilst there, he was approached by an oil company to make a very special birthday cake, it had to be 3 foot high, red and in the shape of an oilrig. It tran-spires the cake was for Red Adair! He also catered for the Emir of Kuwait and very reluctantly Carlos Menim, President of Argentina. In 1994, he returned to London. Then followed a brief spell in Algeria which was now more dangerous than Afghanistan. Next it was off to Saudi Arabia as Executive Chef in the royal families private hospital. It was here he met his future wife, Sandie, a dental hygienist with the Ministry of Health. They married 6 months later in the British Embassy. In 1996 they relocated to Dubai as Saudi was getting too dangerous for western families. Here Iain helped to open a private hospital for

and Sandie could not get work, so they decided to come back to Britain. They settled in North Somerset, a beautiful, quiet part of the country. Iain became Head Chef for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. This involved 6am starts and 2am finishes, along with trav-

much and took matters into her own hands. She arranged an interview for him in Bristol with a com-pany specialising in pastry. When Iain turned up for the interview he thought it was a joke. He was

years there until the convent was bought over by a private health care institution. In 2006, Iain and Sandie decided the time was right to invest in their own restaurant and to move back to their roots in Scotland. The Bistro was up for sale and Iain brought his flair and pas-sion for cooking to Braemar. They have now been in Braemar for 5 years and hopefully will be cook-ing up a storm for a many more years to come!


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Too far to travel to the Dentist? Why not have the dentist come to you in the

comfort of your own home? We are a private practice and also offer plans for

Denplan - please enquire. We offer a unique dental service, providing a range of treatments

including dentures, extractions and fillings.

STRUGGLING WITH CHRISTMAS PRESENTS?

Indian Head Massage, Hot Stone Massage Lava Shells Massage, Holistic Massage Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Ear Candling and more in Braemar & Aberdeen Practice

For a GIFT CARD contact Kat 07798 557454

www.ainetherapies.co.uk info@ ainetherapies.co.uk

For more information please contact 01467 651623 or check out our website: www.doc-mobile.co.uk

Christmas Clear Up After all the celebrations are over, the last of the turkey has been consumed, twelfth night and decorations down - the big clear up... There are no kerb-side collections of Christ-mas trees in Aberdeen-shire this year although you can recycle trees free of charge by taking them to your nearest House-hold Waste & Recycling Centre i.e. Banchory, Crows Nest, Upper Lochton Road or, rather closer but operates on Saturdays only from 9am - 3 pm, Ballater Church Street Car Park. You can now recycle Christmas cards with the rest of your paper recycling provided that they

Likewise, include wrapping paper in with the pa-per recycling provided that it is printed on white paper and has no foil or plastic or brown paper. Brown cardboard can be taken to a recycling cen-tre. For more details on recycling visit Aberdeen-

- lots of useful information including

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/waste/recycling

Simple recipes: Christmas Coconut-Ice Cake

A special family recipe, always made in our household at Christmas

Line a tin (approx 20x20cm) with foil and melt 4oz plain chocolate;; spread over foil and put in fridge whilst preparing mixture.

Mixture: 2oz (60g) margarine 4 oz (120g)caster sugar 4 oz (120g) desiccated coconut 1 egg 2 oz (60g) glace cherries, sliced

Beat margarine and sugar, add other ingredi-ents and then spread mixture over chocolate. Cook for 20 mins at 180 °C until golden. Cut whilst slightly warm.

And on the subject of food...

Who is never hungry at Christmas ? The turkey - he's always stuffed! What's the most common wine at Xmas? Do I have to have the brussel sprouts! What's brown and creeps around the house? Mince spies!

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/waste/recycling


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be a £10 season ticket available next year for those of you who would like to come along with visitors more than once a season.

Corriemulzie A grant of £60k has been received from Commu-nity Energy Scotland to take the redevelopment of the Hydro Electric scheme forward to planning application stage. If successful, the eventual out-come will be an electricity generation scheme producing revenue for village projects via Brae-mar Community Ltd.

Braemar Local History Group Doug Bruce

winter open meeting will have taken place on No-vember 20th in the Village Hall - a talk by Alastair Cassie on the local celebrity Rab Bain. Progress is being made towards locating and identifying notable historical locations in and around Braemar. This is being undertaken with the help of Cairngorm National Park who might be in the position of supplying information pointer and indicator stands and leaflets. If anyone has information about such sites, the group would be delighted to document this for posterity. For ex-ample, who hung a horse shoe on a tree branch years ago? The tree, located close to the village car park, has now grown round about the horse-shoe and only the two ends are visible. Does anyone have tales about the WW2 Home Guard exploits from their shelter overlooking Invercauld House? or indeed stories about their adventures from the underground Bunker located beside the Duck Pond? During the summer, come rain or sunshine, group members have taken visitors and locals on

presenters and audience benefited considerably from the experience and it is planned to continue the walks next year. We would like to add to the growing wealth of local stories and to encourage anyone to join us and be a tour guide next sum-mer. The Group made a successful application for funding to the Marr Area Committee to help with storing and documenting historical items. Braemar Parish church has provided storage ac-commodation. Please get in touch if you have historical documents for photocopying (Ration Books etc.) to help create a detailed historical re-cord of Braemar and the surrounding area. Meetings during the winter months will be held monthly on Sunday evenings in the village hall on Jan 22, Feb 19, Mar 18 and Apr 22;; look out for details nearer the time.

Braemar Community Ltd projects was given at the AGM at the Invercauld Arms Hotel on 14th Novem-

ber followed by a report from the History Group. Special reports have been written for the Buzzard by Doreen Wood (Castle), Doug Bruce (History Group) and Pete Mulvey

Braemar Castle - Doreen Wood

As we closed the door on the castle for a final time this year on the 30th October, we were celebrat-ing our most successful sea-son yet with 5,800 visitors. Numbers were up almost 9% on last year and paid admissions double the total from our opening 4 years ago (you can do anything with statistics, we did have 1500 free visitors that year!) Not only has it been a busy season in terms

The most excellent Britta Kobus, our German stu-dent volunteer, arrived in July and exceeded every expectation in terms of commitment, enthu-siasm and language skills. In August, it was a joy to welcome Captain Farquharson to hand over a Farquharson Pipe Banner which had been re-stored by the Clan Association. He was full of

stories for us to use in our tours. Historic Scotland has now promised £144,600 to help with the urgent roof repairs but that must be match funded before any work can begin. The consultant who prepared the Devel-opment Plan is now working away to find the bal-ance and prepare an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to finance the proposed Visitor Cen-tre. The total we need to bring the castle up to standard for visitors is around £1 million. To show our commitment to the project, Braemar Community Ltd has pledged to raise £20k over the next year. Already we bring in a considerable amount of money through extra events such as the Jacobite Day (£3,500 July 2011) and Halloween (£500 Oct 2011). If you have any fund raising ideas, little or large, please do get in touch. The castle may be closed for the winter but planning continues for next season and we have decided to extend our opening hours, opening at


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- Pete Mulvey

A small group from the village, un-der the auspices of the Local History Group, recently de-cided to try once more to find a new and sustainable use

church which would not only save an iconic building from terminal decline but would also create an additional and signifi-cant reason for people to visit and spend time in Braemar - bringing with them revitalisation and economic benefit to the village. Pre-requisites for the project were that it would not compete with any existing interests in the village, that it would not require financial con-tribution from the community and that it would complement other attractions such as The Gath-ering and The Castle. After consideration of a number of possibili-ties, including those previously suggested at open days on the church, it was decided to work to-wards establishing a multi-use Arts centre in the building which would draw inspiration from the natural and cultural heritage for which this area is renowned. The concept would be modelled on a number of existing and successful centres al-ready operating in this country and abroad and would provide workspaces and a retail outlet for all types of artists and craftspeople. The vision would also extend to providing a learning facility for schools, colleges and the wider community together with an exhibition and performance space for the widest possible range of talents. Under the chairmanship of the Bishop, and with

Trust, a meeting was held recently in the village to present this idea to a wide range of influential

the idea to fruition and the group were taken aback by the level of encouragement and offers of support which they received. The group were told however that to achieve success with this venture they must think big and aim for a centre of national and international stature. All this will count for nothing however unless we can now deliver to these people a more devel-oped concept for the Centre and a credible busi-ness plan for its success. Andrew and Kirsty Braidwood are already actively helping to develop

the concept for the Centre but the group now need the support and assistance of the wider community in the village and would welcome ideas from anyone who wishes to contribute to this specific vision for the

It is proposed to make a fuller presen-tation of the propos-als to the village com-munity before the end of the year and to re-port our further pro-gress to the potential stakeholders as soon thereafter as possible in order to maintain the impetus which now exists.

possession was her Gospel Book which required the skills of many artists and craftspeople to create - peo-ple who would be most wel-come in the proposed new centre

An Evening of Christ-mas Carols & music by candlelight in St Marga-

rd De-cember Friday at 6.00 pm. Come and join the commu-nity in an unique Braemar experience. Warming fes-tive refreshments and candles will be available at the church. To raise funds for Braemar Castle.

Road information... With the onset of more wintry weather, where do you go to find out the most up to date information on road closures and conditions?

Traffic Scotland http://trafficscotland.org might seem the obvious place to start - but it can take a while for new incidents to be

flagged up (or old incidents to be removed. The site does however have the useful facility of being able to take an actual look at road conditions through its network of road cams http://trafficscotland.org/lev/#

BBC travel news is another useful web-site and it seems to be much quicker at posting up the latest road information

www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/scotland/


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Braemar to Banjul by bus!

Local resident Charlie Denny is getting ready to make a 5,000-mile journey to Banjul in The Gam-bia, Africa. Charlie works as a minibus driver for Ab-erdeenshire Council, so this journey is slightly longer than his usual trips up and down Deeside! The epic journey will start in 8th of March 2012 and will take a minibus, donated to Shine Africa by Stagecoach, through eight countries along its way. Travelling with the bus will be six Land Rovers, manned by a group of intrepid travellers calling themselves The Rainbow Run. Shine Africa is a charity dedicated to building

nursery schools and provides nursery education in the tiny country of The Gambia, which has very few resources of its own. In 2009 the Rainbow Run delivered two Land Rovers filled with medical and educational goods to the people of Banjul. Charlie helped to initiate the donation of the bus and will be delivering it to its new home in Af-rica. All the vehicles taking part in the run will be donated to Shine Africa, the charity will then use the vehicle as they see fit. The bus will be delivering kids to and from school. At the end of the run, estimated to take approximately 24 days, runners will fly home at their own expense. The main cost of getting the six Land Rovers and the bus from Great Britain to Africa is fuel. You can help by buy-ing shares in the journey which cost £4.50 and will each pay for one mile. If anyone has any educa-tional or medical goods they no longer need, please let the Rainbow Run know and they will trans-port it for you if they can.

If anyone wishes to join in the venture, in any way, please tell Charlie: Email: [email protected] The website is www.therainbowrun.org.uk

Do it before they fade away

Old Cine Film Reels & Slides to DVD

Excellent results

Reasonable cost and no VAT

Established 1969

Contact Bob Thomson 013397 41214

BRAEMAR WINDOW CLEANING & PAINTING

Gutters Cleared for the Winter

ALL PROJECTS CONSIDERED

ASK FOR A QUOTE

Tel Richard: 013397 41225 Mobile: 07890892664

http://www.therainbowrun.org.uk/


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Braemar Golf Club - Dave Chandler

The Braemar golf season closed for the winter on the 29 October with a well attended EGM followed by the traditional Captain v Vice Captain match. Apparently it was an honourable draw! At the EGM the club captain (Dave Donald) outlined the many aspects that had made the 2011 season so successful. Financially the club is now on target to cover all its expenditure, which is a significant improvement over prior years. Whilst fund raising events contributed to this success the major saving has been made by the continuing financial sacrifice of our long serving club officials. The captain specifically thanked this group for their dedication to the continuing success of the club. Over the winter the committee will be continuing to work on ideas to build on the improving trend in visitor numbers and on ways to attract more members to the club. The Captain closed the EGM by wishing all members and friends of Braemar Golf Club a healthy and enjoyable winter. He looks forward to welcoming all back to the course when it re-opens in the Spring.

www.braemargolfclub.co.uk (a notable local winner being Willie Forbes). Draws will continue

posted here. For more information on the club visit the website or contact the Captain Dave Donald 41055 or Vice Captain Dave Chandler 41298 Walking for Health Sandra Stewart The group has started up again and everyone local to Braemar & Crathie is very welcome. Just what the doctor ordered, easy health walks in

doorstep and get fit, meet people and relax.

Monday morning at the Mews at 10.0 am. More information contact any of the following: Sandra & Derick Stewart 41426, Margaret Jolly 41281, Sheila Heyes 41357

Short, safe, social, local, low-level.

And for those interested in slightly more stretching walks, the Walking Group meets twice a month (generally alternating Thursdays and Saturdays). Contact Richard 41225 for details.

Book club visit to Wigtown Seven ladies from Braemar Book Club enjoyed a fabulous weekend of wine, wit and words at the annual Wigtown Book Festival. Highlights included meeting one of our recently read authors, Maggie

trip to Wigtown Jail, and chuckling at the memoirs of Edinburgh cabbie Douglas J Findlay. There was a huge variety of workshops and talks and everyone found something of interest. The area itself was new to most of us and we really enjoyed the sea-side scenery, some local characters (Tales of the Wigtown Cabbie!) and the food and wine as well as wandering round the many fascinating old bookshops in Wigtown. Roll on our next Book Festival Trip in 2013.

Marilyn Baker

Braemar now boasts two reading groups with the formation of Chapter Two which held its first meeting in October. Fourteen keen readers have signed up and plan to meet monthly for discussions on their latest choice of books. You can read more about this group on their blog at braemarchaptertwo.wordpress.com

*** SKYLIGHTS *** By Barclay Baker

A novel for 8-12 year olds, due out in time for Christmas, co-written by Shelia Barclay and local author, Marilyn

Baker.

When characters from a well loved book pop up in the real

site sparks a chain of events that sucks them into a plot in-volving celestial travel, blood-thirsty pirates bent on revenge,

a brilliant scientist who performs miracles, a man-eating crocodile under investigation, and a life and death kidnapping

situation. Add a touch of fairy dust and the merest trace of gunpowder for an explosive mix that will have you turning the

pages so fast that sparks will fly... To purchase... contact Marilyn for more info 41225

http://www.braemargolfclub.co.uk/


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Village Variety Show Marilyn Baker

It was standing room only in the Village Hall on October 6th -so-evening of comedy, music and dance. The newly formed choir, Voices of Deeside put on a very impressive first performance, while the re-born Dinner Theatre Group entertained with a few hilarious comedy sketches. We had real va-riety from the singers with Jade Carney giving us

in Gaelic, and Jessica on vocals with Ailsa on guitar doing a rock number. Pianists Hamish and Charlotte, and fiddler Ellie proved that there is indeed talent in Braemar. The Scouts opened the second half of the programme with a mini gang show, while the cubs were on and off stage right through the evening with some extremely funny and well acted skits. Dancing in the form

gina, and an equally lively Scottish Country

ers rounded out the programme of entertainment. John Macpherson, the M.C. for the show, was delighted to receive over £500 for hall funds. The night was such a success it looks like it will have to be an annual event.

Celebrating 50 years of skiing Kate Hunter

The season of 2011/2012 celebrates 50 years of commercial skiing in the Cairngorm Na-tional Park. Cairngorm opened their chairlift in De-cember 1961 and Glenshee opened the Cairnwell chair in De-cember 1962. Glenshee had in fact mechanised uplift before that oper-ated by Dundee ski club in the form of Meal Odhar

day. Celebrating the 50 years Glenshee is hosting a World Snow Day inviting families and children to

course permitting!) This is to take place on 22 Jan 2012 and will have a schools Dual slalom for all ages, disciplines and abilities, taster sessions, safety and rail park workshops, kit demos and a snowman/sculpture competition. There will also be

rd March 2012 on the weekend of the Skier/Boarder cross at Glenshee. Meanwhile, despite the poor summer weather, improvements have gone ahead at Glen-shee. The most obvious change is a new access chair to the skiing in the Cairnwell bowl and the Cairnwell Cafe. The new chair will be called the Baddoch Chair, after the Baddoch burn that runs from Loch Vrotican towards the Cluny and Brae-mar. Not only will the new chair be a big help to beginners, providing access to Claybokie poma and other lifts, but it will also be greatly appreci-ated by the Snowboarders who generally find the Plastic poma a bit of a challenge! The other addi-

been made a bit more user friendly. Large areas have also been re-fenced. Notable dates for the skiing diary this season at Glenshee are:

4/5th Feb 2012 Winter Race Series, Glenshee Open - run by Aberdeen Snowsport Club 4 Feb 2012 Highland freestyle series - run by Aberdeen Snowsport Club 10/11th March Scottish Masters - run by Ed Pirie

Explorer Scouts on Survival Camp Five explorer scouts from Braemar were joined by a group from Banchory for an outdoor survival camp 12/13 November at Keiloch. Not only did the scouts brave the November weather, they built their own bivvies, cooked their own food by camp fire and underwent a series of adventure challenges - -

walkway and getting themselves and baggage across it).


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Thankyou to the pupils of Braemar Primary both for the fantastic pictures and also

for interviewing their parents

To parents:

What was your favourite Christmas present?

A red Indian head dress that had lots of feathers on it A Doctor Who Dalek A new bike My Accordion A ball dress!

What was your worst Christmas present?

A hand bag A Michael Jackson CD - I really wanted one by Prince! A horrible jumper from my Mum

To parents:

What do you like about Christmas?

Chilling out and meet-ing family & friends All the excitement, getting presents and giving presents Seeing children smile

What do you most dis-like about Christmas?

Shopping & cooking The expense!

Christmas Post - the school is running the village post this year. Stamps are on sale at the pharmacy at 10p each and can be used on all cards to be distributed in the catchment area of the school. Thanks to Andrew at the gallery for judging the competition to design the stamps, Dave Torrance for printing them out and Greg Croft for agreeing to sell them. If you do buy a stamp, please put the address on the envelope to ensure that they arrive - just a name is

Seasonal Entertainment - Christmas & Beyond Christmas Services

18th December 6.00 pm Braemar Community Carol

Christmas Eve 5.00 pm carol singing followed by 5.30pm Mass Braemar and Crathie Parish Christmas Eve 9.00 pm Carol service Crathie Kirk 11.30 pm Watch night Service in Braemar Church Christmas Day Services in both churches at the usual times: 9.45 am Braemar;; 11.30 am Crathie

The Braemar Pantomime Beauty & the Beast A traditional story of jealousy, love and magic dat-ing back to circa 1740. The plot is played out in traditional Braemar Panto style - an enchanted Castle, a rose, handsome Prince, a love sick Witch with a couple of nasty helpers, a Good Fairy, some not-so-ugly Sisters, a cookery lesson from Jamie Oliver ?! plus a Beast who can walk and talk..!! Will the Prince marry the Witch? does the Beast die? Come along and find out...

Performances:

15th December Thurs 7.30 pm 16th December Fri 7.30 pm 17th December Sat 2.30 pm (matinee) & 7.30pm 26th December Mon 2.30 pm (matinee) & 7.30pm

Tickets: Adults £6, Concession £5, Children £4 available from: Braemar Pharmacy;; Davidson's the Chemist in Ballater;; Victoria Garage Ballater;; and Dave Torrance 41549

Cast in rehearsal

An Evening of Christ-mas Carols & music St

rd December Friday at 6.00 pm.

Music Night 23rd Decem-ber Moorfield Hotel from 7.30pm. Open session, bring an instrument if you wish - all welcome.

Carol Singing 24th December - Invercauld Arms Hotel 9.00 pm, followed by Fife Hotel. All welcome.

SWRI Scottish Night 19th Jan 7.30 pm Kin-drochit Court

Burns Supper 27th Jan 7.30 pm Village Hall. Run by the Scout Group. More information nearer the time.

3rd Age Lunch Club Christmas Party 21st December Fife Hotel 12.30 am

www.braemarbuzzard.org.uk for a full listing of events in and around

the village - this list is updated on a regu-lar basis. As well as occasional events

the listing includes information on clubs/groups.

SWRI Christmas Buffet 8th December, 7.30 pm, Kindrochit Court,

17th December, 12.00 am Fife Arms Hotel

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