As the world starts slowing down to a bump at the end of the year, I like to peep ahead into the glimmers of light of the New Year to help get, it and, me whirring again. So, it was very cheering to read that the In Bloom team have been out planting hundreds of spring bulbs to bring us joy in the dark time of year. Many thanks to all involved – I am already looking forward to seeing the fabulous early spring colour – well at least from the bulbs that haven’t got eaten by the rabbits and deer. Their mention of a race against time however fills me with fear as I have a pile of plants still to get in before the ground hardens – not to mention all the leaves to rake before they turn into a soggy mass.
Thinking of endings and new beginnings – many congratulations to Michael and Luna on their immense walk across Canada raising money for Trees for Life. It has been an incredible journey and we are privileged to have shared their story over the past months. There is a final fundraising push at journeys end. If you can afford to buy one or both £5 raffle tickets on offer, then you will be supporting a great rewilding project as well cheering man and dog along the home straight. Why not walk the one mile from the Birnam Gallery to Going Pottie and as you do so will Michael and Luna along to their final destination of the most easterly point of Canada, Cape Spear.
It was lovely to end the year with a contribution from our Friends over in Asheville. Although they may be a much larger community than us there is so much we have in common. One of these is that we are both communities that seem to rise to ‘doable’ action on a local level and believing that is important. Let us hope we can find ways to work jointly on some environmental initiative in the coming years as they propose. It only seems appropriate after COP26 that we work to ensure we are not ‘green washing’ but making a serious commitment to reducing our carbon emission. Maybe set at target to one of Scotland’s first ‘net zero emissions’ communities or similarly ambitious target. Please send in your suggestions.
As this edition covers both December and January, we will have had Burns night before we catch up again. A couple of days after this there is another opportunity to brush up on your Scots language with a talk by Alan Riach on 27th January celebrating the poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid.
There’s a lovely quote in the notice on page 3 which I think I will repeat. It is a positive reminder at end of the year that all we can do is to turn up as our best selves – whatever that might be – and with all those varied and wonderful people that make this great community.
A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
‘And let the lesson be - to be yersel’s,
Ye needna fash gin it’s to be ocht else.
To be yersel’s - and to mak’ that worth bein’,
Nae harder job to mortals has been gi’en.’
On behalf of Kirsty, John and myself, thank you for all your support and encouragement over the last year. May we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2022. Looking forward to catching up again when the snowdrops are popping their pretty heads through the spring soil.

Sally Robertson

As I write this article to close 2021, I am awaiting the outcome of a COVID PCR test, the track and trace system notifying me that I have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. This situation unfortunately sums up the uncertainty that the last two years have been typified by the affects of the corona virus.
I think this is a poignant time for us all to remember loved ones who have suffered and some who have ultimately lost their lives in the battle against this virus. It is also a time to remember and thank our wonderful Scottish National Health Service for their dedication, work, and unrelenting commitment to saving lives. We can never reward them enough in a purely monetary fashion.
We also have to thank the wonderful community organisations and bodies that have stepped up to the plate and ensured that their local community and the most vulnerable within were taken care of. However, I think that this community endeavour will be required throughout 2022 as well or until our communities are safe again.
As we head towards Council elections in 2022, we face a difficult budget setting position where each of the political parties will be expected to set out their vision for the people of Perth and Kinross and will be expected to deliver on whatever election promises they make. As I am part of the SNP budget review group, I am aware of the many difficult choices to be made and I have made my group aware that when the current Council talks about savings, they are actually talking about cutting vital services. All elected members must be aware of the difficult choices they make, that they affect everyone within the community but especially the most vulnerable and many of those who feel that their voice is not heard.
Most of you who know me, know that although that this article started with ‘doom and gloom’ I am always as most of you reading this article are looking for the positives in life and there are many of those to be found within our local communities. Working together and communication being the key to bringing all parts of the local community together, the numerous organisations within Strathtay Ward have proved their worth throughout the COVID pandemic. As the delivery of Council services changes to be more community led the Council itself and officers within the council would be instructed to be more accessible and engaging with the needs and aspirations expressed by community led groups. Dunkeld along with other areas hold a wealth of local knowledge, insight, and desire to deliver what their own community needs are.
I would like to wish everyone within Strathtay Ward, Perth and Kinross, Scotland and the World a really happy festive time and that together we can move forward into 2022 showing real progress against the global pandemic and against the climate change emergency which has been highlighted at Glasgow this year which have produced eyewatering figures of what must be achieved, though this looks unsurmountable as a whole, it like the Covid pandemic will have to be fought at a local level where individuals actions multiplied will make the difference required.
Best wishes and a Happy New Year to each and everyone of you.
Councillor Grant Laing

Grant Laing
Councillor Grant Laing
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Ward 5 – Strathtay
Perth & Kinross Council
glaing@pkc.gov.uk or Tel: 07881 500501 or 01738 475023

People are often quite disappointed when it is pointed out to them that there is no ‘little donkey’ mentioned in Bible’s Christmas story. What about the ox and the ass; the carols singing about the animals? Sorry, but they are not there. No camels, no oxen, no donkeys and sundry beasts of burden are mentioned. Anyway, it takes a bit of imagination to picture a heavily pregnant woman getting on a donkey and being comfortable with the experience of riding from Nazareth to Bethlehem!
Many imagined elements have crept into the Christmas story over the years, lots of them through Christmas carols, and my fear is that they can have the effect of giving the whole thing the air of a fairy tale. After all, Christmas is really (or just) for the children so let’s go to town on the imagination and keep it that way.
The two accounts we have in the Bible are a very small part of the whole Gospel story. Only Matthew and Luke tell us anything about the birth and the elements they include are all there to point to the most important element of the Christian faith; that, as St. Paul put it ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.’
Whatever aspects of the story we like, imagined or otherwise, that is what it is all there to tell. God has come amongst us, seen in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is the best of all good news for a broken world.
Celebrating Christmas, last year was very different and in some respects, is still not going to be the same this year because of covid. However, nothing can stop us from celebrating the love of God come in the baby at Bethlehem.
Have a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Fraser Penny