One of my regular and usually uncompleted New Year Resolutions is to organise my photos. I love taking photos but am not very good at getting them into albums. However, I want to do it because I think having memories well organised is great, as it helps keep me straight on what happened when and reduces the chances of revisionism!
Likewise, it is wonderful to have our collective memory taken care of by the Community Archive. It is a wonderful place down in The Cross which looks after our corporate memory much better than I look after my photos. Like so much of the village, it runs on volunteer steam. Therefore, is was particularly welcome news to hear that it is opening for an extra session every week on a Monday from 7-9pm. Perhaps this offers an opportunity for people who are tied up during day-time hours to browse the collections.
A couple of years back I was in a local quiz team and we got asked the question ‘When did the new A9 go through Dunkeld & Birnam?’ It set my husband off down memory lane, reminiscing about driving the old A9 up to Inverness. That decision, which resulted in dividing the station from the village and in splitting off Inver in order to build the new road has become part of our history and collective memory. Now, the next chapter in the life of the A9 is upon us, and the archives will once again be busy collecting all the information that is being circulated concerning route options. What will be decided? It won’t be long before we know at least what is planned.
Part of that process will be the ‘Dunkeld Decides’ meeting on Saturday 23rd June. Please go along and add your vote and views into what will, no doubt. become another piece of our local history.

Sally Robertson

This week the Laing household welcomed its latest rescue animal, unbelievably a turkey called Vincent, when told he was of a rare breed variety I wondered if that was because he was over one year old.
As Convenor of the Scrutiny Committee at PKC it is interesting to look at the inner workings of various Policies and along with my fellow Committee Members of all political hues to decide which subjects we wish to tackle. At the moment we are looking at the Developer Contributions Policy along with PKC’s policy on trees and high hedges. We intend to look at further areas within the planning process and some parts of the Social Work Teams remit in the near future.
We regularly invite our ALEO’S (Arms Length Organisations) to appear before the Scrutiny Committee to examine the way they are using the money provided by the Council as part of their SLA (Service Level Agreement). The ALEO’S within PKC are Live Active Leisure (LAL) which provide sport and leisure. Horsecross responsible for Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre and Culture Perth & Kinross (CPK) who are responsible for our Libraries and Museum’s.
My inbox this year has been inundated with complaints about the state of the roads network mainly concerned with the proliferation of potholes. I asked for a survey of a 1.4 mile section of road near my residence and it was found to have 51 notifiable category 2 and 3 potholes. This situation is prevalent throughout Perth and Kinross.
Whilst the winter conditions have been a contributory factor in this situation the major problem is the new road maintenance policy brought forward by the current Administration in September, various flaws in the policy were pointed out at the E & I Committee where it was debated, unfortunately it was forced through unchanged.
This policy needs to be revisited urgently as does the administration’s decision to put no extra money in the Budget towards pothole repairs. The first time this has happened for many years. If you are aware of any road repairs that need addressed in your locality do not hesitate to call 01738 475000 to report them. You can ask for an incident number and check the timescale of the repair.
The next major day at PKC will be the Capital Budget update and setting in June this year. I will be pressing the Administration to live up to the late Leader of the Council, Ian Campbell’s assertion that his vision for Perth & Kinross that projects already within the Capital Budget “would be delivered on time and on budget”. This is very important as regards projects such as the upgrade of the Stewart Tower road near Murthly and the renewal of the Blairgowrie Recreation Centre.
When asked if the Council could help with insurance cover regarding Dunkeld & Birnam Recreation Club I expressed by doubts but looked into this and managed to put the Committee in touch with the relevant Council Officers. I was surprised, but very pleased, to hear that being covered under a Council umbrella insurance led to the Recreation Club saving around £1100.00 per year on their insurance premium, money which can now be put to a more beneficial use for the club.
When I received the call at my office at 2 High Street, telling me that we were taking on Vincent the turkey, I asked how long turkeys can live for. My colleague Councillor Bob Band looked up from his computer and said “normally until three weeks before Christmas”! The dogs, cat, hens and to some extent humans have no wish to argue with the very large bird who has come to stay!

Councillor Grant Laing
Local SNP Councillor, Strathtay Ward 5
glaing@pkc.gov.uk or Tel: 07557 732080, 07881 500501 or 01738 475023

Poor old Facebook has taken a bit of a hammering of late with all the trouble about use and abuse of personal data. I am one of those insufferable people who resolutely stood against the trend of having a Facebook page who can now smugly say ‘I told you so, I never liked the idea!’ when in truth I just couldn’t be bothered (and was maybe a bit afraid that no one would be my friend!)
Apparently, though, that is no protection because they can build a profile of me regardless by using information people I know have put on their page about me. It is all a bit scary.
This month sees the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR for a short, catchy title) which is also a bit scary. Charities and organisations have to comply by deciding what information they hold about people is necessary and sensitive; decide how it should be held and what should happen to it when they are done with it. You will probably have had letters from organisations asking you if it is all right that they continue to contact you and if you don’t reply they won’t be able to do it anymore.
This is all about privacy, controlling what people know about us and what they do with that information. It is quite right in one sense because there is a lot of abuse of information such as when people cold-call you in the middle of your tea trying to sell you double glazing.
What, though, does all this do to us on a different level? Because the flip side is that it all tends to make us more suspicious or others, building virtual walls around us to hide ourselves from others, or at least control what they know.
There is nothing new under the sun as they say. In those ancient tales in Genesis when Adam and Eve break the one rule they are given by eating the apple, their immediate response is to hide themselves. When God comes looking for them, they are hiding in the undergrowth because they know they are naked, exposed, caught out. The human story ever since has been one of hiding.
We don’t give away much to strangers until we are sure we can trust them, that is only sensible. But we don’t half do a lot of pretending. We carefully build an image to present to the world and hide the true person behind a protective firewall. Do we never hide from the truth about ourselves? And we bring that into a relationship with God too by pretending to be something we are not.
Jesus said ‘the truth shall set you free.’ I find that a very rich thought. When I face up to the truth about myself I can begin again. When I know that God knows the truth about me, but it doesn’t stop him wanting me, that is such a liberation. I don’t need to pretend any longer or hide what I am because God already knows.
While I wouldn’t want the full truth about myself spread all over Facebook and I’m quite pleased the law guards against that, it is a liberation to know that God knows all my data and yet he still sent a ‘friend request’ that he wants to be my friend!


Fraser Penny