As I write, the sun is shining and spring has well and truly sprung. The hedgerows and gardens are bursting into life and new life is evident all around us. It is my favourite time of the year.
The administration at Perth and Kinross Council came in for some criticism recently when it was discovered that the fees for the instrumental Music service (IMS) were to increase despite the fees being frozen at the annual budget setting. The reason for this was that these fees were set to be increased for 2019/2020 as a result of the budget setting process last year and this oversight only came to light after this year’s budget had been set. The easy option would have been to accept the increase and make excuses but unusually the administration held their hands up and admitted that this was a genuine mistake and took measures to put it right at the earliest opportunity. Sometimes it is good to admit that you are wrong. If only all politicians both locally and nationally took this approach then I am sure the world would be a better place!
As Councillors for Strathtay, Cllrs Jarvis, Laing and myself attend around six Community council meetings each month. Community Councils are a vital part of the democratic process. They are representative of the community that they live in and are important consultees on important issues such as roads, waste, planning matters and just about anything that affects their community.
At the last Spittalfield and District Community Council AGM, Roddie McInnes decided that after more than eight years’ service that he was going to stand down to concentrate on other things. I would personally like to thank Roddie for his sterling service to the community and his involvement and invaluable input over the years, he will be sorely missed.
Roddie’s resignation has now left the Community Council short of a representative for Clunie and more importantly a Chair person. Unless new members can be found and a new Chairperson elected then Spittalfield and District Community Council is in danger of being disbanded and your collective community voice not being represented on important local issues.
If you live in the Community Council area then please consider standing as a representative. Details can be found on the PKC website.
One of my pet hates is the littering of our beautiful countryside. We are privileged to be able to call Perthshire our home yet we are blighted by the anti-social habit of the unnecessary dumping of rubbish. I was therefore delighted to see that Piotr at Outdoor Explore has arranged Litter Free Paddles. The latest event was at Clunie Loch where around 200kg of rubbish was collected. These are popular events and I would encourage you all to get involved, you will be made to feel very welcome.
Those of you who know me will know of my love of animals and animal welfare. Alison and I have five French bulldogs who pretty much run our lives.
Going on holiday is a mammoth task and finding accommodation and venues that will allow man’s best friend to accompany their owners is very hard to come by. I was particularly delighted to see that The Atholl Arms in Dunkeld were awarded the “Pet friendly Hotel of the Year” at the 2019 Scottish Hotel awards recently. This award recognises the treatment of the visiting pets and speaks volumes about the owners. My huge respect and congratulations go to Zsolt and Edit.

You will be aware that I do not hold regular scheduled surgeries as I prefer to react to any request for help on an ad hoc basis. I can be contacted on my mobile: 07557815546 or email ijames@pkc.gov.uk.

Councillor Ian James

We Christians are still in the Easter celebration time. For us, Easter is so special that we celebrate it for a longer time than any other celebration. While I suppose that most people know what we celebrate on Easter, that is the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord, very few would know what the meaning of the word Easter is and the connection between Easter and the Jewish Passover.
The word Easter comes from the names of different ancient deities, all of them connected with dawn. In fact, we can see the connection between Easter and East, that is the place where we see the first light appearing in the horizon every morning. This has a very powerful meaning that light is overcoming darkness. Jesus is the light of the world and in his resurrection, we celebrate the victory of good over evil, love over hatred and violence, grace over sin, life over death, God over Satan. So, the symbolism of dawn and light is very closely connected with our Easter Celebration.
What is the Celebration of the Passover then in the Jewish calendar and how does it relate to our Easter? In Chapter 12 of the Book of Exodus the Lord tells Moses and Aaron what the people should do to save themselves from the last one of the ten plagues by which the Lord had hit Egypt for not letting his people go free. The last plague was the death of every first born in Egypt, man and beast alike. To save themselves from this plague the Lord ordered Moses and Aaron to instruct the people to take a lamb, kill it and take some of its blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they were to eat. This was the sign for the angel of God to ‘Passover’ that house and not hit it with God’s punishment to Egypt, since the Jews were slaves there. This is what happened and while the Israelites were making their ritual meal of the lamb, God was working out their liberation from the hands of Egyptians.
The Jews continued to celebrate the Passover every year and for them it was sort of their birthday and hence the most important feast. It is the great celebration of the Passover of the Lord. The name Passover was given by the Lord himself: in the book of Exodus, Chapter 12, last part of line 11 he says, “This is the Passover of the Lord”. And so, it was named for all generations to come.
In some languages even today, the official name of Easter is “The Easter of the Passover of the Lord”, even though everyone still refers to it simply as Easter. So, what is the connection between the Jewish Passover and our Easter when we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus?
It is not a coincidence that the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord happened exactly around the Jewish Passover. On Maundy Thursday when Jesus gathered with his apostles to celebrate the Last Supper, he was in fact celebrating the Jewish Passover. Strictly speaking this meal had to be celebrated on the Friday night that is the eve of the Passover of the Lord which was on Holy Saturday. But since many visitors each year go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and their wish was to celebrate the ritual meal connected with it within the walls of the city, the pilgrims were given permission to celebrate it on any evening they find available in the whole week preceding Passover.
It is very significant that the following day, that is Good Friday, while in the temple of Jerusalem thousands of lambs were being slain for the Jews to celebrate their Passover, our dear Lord, the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was on the cross offering his life for the salvation of all.
How powerful this is! While the first Passover meant the freedom from and external slavery of Egypt, the true Passover of our Lord meant the freedom from the worst form of slavery that is our sin. Yes, sin makes us slaves of ourselves, and while externally we can be free and talking about the basic human right of freedom, on the inside we can be the worst slaves, being slaves of ourselves and our bad habits. This is what addictions are. They are a visible sign of the slavery of sin, that sin from which only God through Jesus Christ working in His Church can free us.
Jesus died on the cross to give us the true freedom, which is internal and external freedom.
Jesus is not just fully human he is also fully divine. For this reason, while as a human being while dying on the cross he was taking on himself our sins, our suffering, our cross, our weaknesses, accepting a death which is ours not His, as God he could not have stayed a slave of death or be suppressed by it. So, on Easter Sunday the victory of God was complete by his Resurrection from the dead. Only he, the Son of God, could accomplish such a victory for us. Without His resurrection we would have stayed slaves of our sins, suffering, cross and death, but He was the first one to PASSOVER from death to life for us. If we embrace him in our life, then we too will Passover through him from death to eternal life.
There is still to come the last stage of the Passover though.
The most important moment of our own existence is still to come. I am referring to the end of our earthly life, when we are to meet God face to face. He is a merciful Father, but his mercy is not to be abused that is to take the attitude “I do whatever I like and at the very end God will forgive me”. For those who through Baptism have united their life with the life of Jesus, they will be called to pass from an earthly life, tainted by sin, suffering and death to an eternal one similar to that of Jesus after his  Resurrection. Baptism is participating in the mystery of Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. This great gift has already been given to us; it is up to us now to put into practice in our everyday life. God loves us infinitely, but he wants us to be honest with him, others and ourselves. He wants us to take seriously our journey to eternal life because it is the most important thing we have; all the rest will fade away. Then when the end of our life on earth comes, we will Passover to be with him forever in a life full of joy and love, and he will wipe away all tears from our eyes.
As a conclusion: Easter is the Passover of the Lord from death to life. This great feast was prefigured in the Old Testament in the Jewish Passover, was accomplished in Jesus’ passion, death and Resurrection and will be completely fulfilled when we personally through Jesus pass over to eternal life in Him.

N.B. This will be my last contribution to The Bridge as on the 24th of June I will be moving back to Malta my country, as my Bishop has asked me to take a parish over there. Thanks very much for reading my articles and may the Lord bless you all.

Fr. Edward Vella

It is that time of year when everything is quite literally bursting into life. The leaves are back on the trees, the grass is growing, and village life is in full swing. It is quite amazing how much work goes on to keep the area as beautiful as it is. As usual the ‘In Bloomers’ are super-active at this point in the year planting and keeping borders and tubs looking fantastic. There are a couple of shout-outs in their article for any spare shade loving plants as well as for any excess spring bulbs. They are also needing some extra greenhouse space – so if you can spare them a shelf or two please get in contact with a member of the team.
Volunteers are also busy continuing to support the NTS work on Stanley Hill. I am delighted to hear about the new wildflower meadow by the Cathedral and look forward to hearing about how the pupils at the Royal School get on with helping with the planting. I’m sure it will be beautiful when it is in flower and will hopefully be enjoyed by lots of insects as well. People are also busy up on Brae Street ‘At the Field’ and down at the Orchard. All these groups welcome anyone willing to lend a hand – perhaps you are new to village and wondering how to meet new people. So, here’s your chance.
While on the subject of volunteers is there anyone who can help with the car lift being requested by Gien a Haund?. If you’re worried you might not be able to manage every month maybe you could take this on with a friend. Finally, a mention to those volunteers involved in the least glamorous of tasks – picking up other people’s litter for them. Well done to Gill McGregor and her team of volunteers who picked over 60 bin bags of litter and as well as a lot of broken car parts, wing mirrors, bumpers from the Amulree area and down the A822. It really beggars belief that people who are perfectly capable of walking and driving around our beautiful area are incapable of managing to carry their litter to a bin. However, don’t get me started on that subject as there will be no room left in The Bridge for anything else.

Sally Robertson