The dust has settled on the election. The politicians say they are going to listen more – and so they should. The electorate has wisely decided that thumping majorities are not good for democracy. Perhaps the people have remembered the old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

So with the main parties suitably chastened, perhaps the message will percolate down to the Scottish Executive and we might see more progress before these worthies stand for re-election. Which brings me to the next subject - the current hot topic in these parts.

Editor

A New School for Drumoak ?

The Education Department’s long awaited consultation meeting with representatives of the Crathes and Drumoak school boards and CDDCC was held on 7th of March, and chaired by Cllr Peter Argyle, Aboyne. Both our local councillors, Cllr Sandy Wallace and Cllr Jenny Watson, were present.

Education Department officials told the meeting that :-

  • Under the Councils 21st Century Schools Improvement Programme, some 24 projects effecting 50 schools are proposed.
  • The financing of the projects has not yet been identified and will depend not only on when the Scottish Executive releases school building funds, but also how high Aberdeenshire Council ranks in the funding priority and, by extension, where Drumoak School ranks within Aberdeenshire Council’s own internal priorities.
  • Both schools and their grounds were not fit for purpose in terms of security, health and safety, and facilities, - particularly with respect to the Drumoak School.
  • The Education Department’s strategy is to pre-plan their proposals ahead of the Scottish Executive so that they will be well placed in the funding bid when the Scottish Executive release funds.

In the discussions, it was pointed out that both communities face increased housing development. In the case of Crathes School no recognition appears to have been taken of the 45 additional houses in the Local Plan, and the additional 69 houses in Drumoak can only exacerbate the already overcrowded conditions in the Drumoak Primary. The Drumoak School Board (DSB) tabled a number of short term

measures to alleviate the situation, and the officials undertook to examine these expeditiously.

“So where do we go now?” was the question from Cllr. Wallace. The answer was more consultation. The Education Department will produce a report on the initial responses from the consultative groups for all the schools in Aberdeenshire, including Crathes and Drumoak, and present these to the Education and Recreation Committee on the 26th May.

CDDCC and the DSB have already discussed the issues, but have not had time to organise public consultation. They presented interim comments to the department to meet the 28th May. deadline for consultative comments from the meeting. In summary these comments conclude that a new school located on Keithmuir Park would be the best long term solution to Drumoak’s primary schooling problems for the following reasons.

1)Siting the school on the existing Keithmuir Park owned by Aberdeenshire Council eliminates costly land negotiations and potential delays thereby enabling an early start to construction. This avoids the disruption to the school from the extension alternative to the existing school.

2)The level nature of the site (a football pitch) and the mature nature of the remainder of the park will minimise levelling and site clearance costs and facilitate speedy construction.

3)Not all the site will be required for the school, and retaining the existing children’s playground areas will provide recreational facilities for the pupils.

4)The location is very secure as it is sited in the heart of the community, and any further housing developments will enhance this sense of community.

The majority of the children attending school will be able to walk through residential areas to gain access thereby reducing their presence on the busy A93 and Sunnyside Drive.

Both CDDCC and DSB recognise that the rest of the community needs to discuss the issues and have arranged for a public meeting to be held to examine all the issues. If you want to have your say come along.

CDDCC & DSB Public Meeting

Location of a New Primary School for Drumoak

Tuesday, 14th June 2005 at 7.15 p.m.

In Drumoak Church Hall

Westward Ho! - on the Deeside Way

Contractors are now at work building the path through the Park Estate, following the line of the old railway. The path has now reached the Nether Park Quarry entrance, and the first of two timber bridges has recently been installed.

A grant has been obtained from CERS, an organisation which redistributes funds from the agregate levy to projects located within 5 miles of a working quarry. Other funding has been obtained from SNH, Grampian Enterprise, and Aberdeenshire Council. It is intended that a further contract will be awarded to complete the path as far as Crathes, during the current year.

The support of the landowners is evidently an important element in enabling this important recreational development to take place. Park Estate, Dunecht Estate and the Leys Estate have all given their support to the project in this area.

During construction, users are asked to keep away from the parts of the path that are being worked on, for safety reasons. Once new stretches of path are opened to the public, as previoulsly, horse-riders are kindly requested not to use the path for the first three months, to allow the surface to consolidate.

This new section of the Deeside Way promises to be a very pleasant walk when completed and the views, to the south, which we never see as we drive along the A93,will be very rewarding.

Mark Hagger

Crathes Drumoak & Durris
Commmunity Council

The past few months have been a relatively quiet period, and the main focus of attention has shifted to Crathes where 45 additional houses included in the local plan are progressing towards being granted planning permission.

Crathes Housing

CDDCC have learned a few lessons from their experience with the 69 (or was it 60) Drumoak houses, and have been instrumental in having a debate between the community, the developers and the planning officers on the Crathes development. This debate covered

  • roads and access
  • Utilities (gas, water and sewerage)
  • Other infrastructure (e.g. shop)
  • Planning
  • Environment

It is hoped that under the auspices of CDDCC, the Crathes community will be able to form small working groups to cover these subjects.

Currently there are high hopes that the community’s input will be adopted into the Development Brief prepared between the Developer, Dunecht Estates and Planning Services. This spirit of co-operation with the community represents a change of heart from the arms length stance formerly adopted by Planning Services and is a very welcome move towards openness and transparency of the planning system.

Drumoak Housing

Stewart Milne Homes are fair cracking on with the first section of houses. The first street, called School Lane, has 14 houses and all have been sold. The next phase of the development has yet to be released. The second development, on the south side of the A93 is believed to be scheduled to commence in May next year.

As many people have commented, the large embankments, generated by the construction method adopted, have left the School Lane houses sticking up like a sore thumb and their elevations at odds with the gently sloping site and the rest of the Sunnyside development. Hopefully landscaping will soften this anomaly.

A number of people have been asking about the planning gain items which will provide some benefit to the community infrastructure from these houses, such as traffic islands bus shelters recreational facilities and such like. CDDCC have written to Planning Services to request a copy of the Section 75 Agreement (the legal document between SMH and the Council on planning gains) to check on the agreed gains.

At the time of granting outline planning permission, the main items of planning gain stood at

  • Contribution to sustainable houses in the Drumoak catchment area (6) £72,000
  • A93 Traffic Island £12,000
  • 2 Bus shelters £ 5,000
  • Sports facilities £19,000
  • Drumoak Primary School connection to the sewerage system.
It is understood that payments of the agreed tarrifs are made quarterly against completed houses into a fund for the council to arrange for the provision of the agreed facilities, so it might not be too long before the community at large sees some tangible benefit from the new development.
The DYP03 Youth Project

Sunday 17 April 2005 was the Official Opening of the Drumoak Youth Shelter in Keithmuir Park.

In 2003 three Banchory Academy students, Philippa Bramley, Donna Duguid and Charles Tait helped launch the Drumoak Youth Project, and it is fitting that they were there to open it. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the community, the sterling work of Eric Clark, Duncan Wight, Garry Wood and Derek Anderson, and the planning skills of Sarah Hopkins, a much needed Youth Shelter is now established in Drumoak Public Park. It took a bit longer to get there than we thought, but its amasing what the community can do when it puts its mind to it.

The Project continues. Planning permission has been granted and work in the park is now starting on the construction of an all-weather multi-sport court, financed by a grant from Aberdeenshire council, local fundraising and contributions. At the time of writing site clearance work should commence within a few days.

For the latest news on this, browse the Crathes, Drumoak and Durris Community Council website:

Local News on the Internet

If you have access to the internet there are many sites available where you can find out what is going on, and Crathes Drumoak & Durris is no exception.

Do you want to know more about your local area? Then browse the local website , which covers Drumoak, Durris, Crathes and immediate surroundings.

For each of the three main locations, describes shops, halls, churches, castles, pubs, sports clubs, schools and local businesses. Information is presented in various forms, including present day and historical maps.

Up-to-date information is provided about current developments such as the Drumoak Youth Project, the Deeside Way and new housing developments. A list of local current events is also provided.

As well as current developments, provides a wealth of detail about the rich history of the area, including its listed buildings. The “Statistical Accounts” also give detailed snapshots of local life in the 1790s and 1840s.

The website also describes the work of the Crathes, Drumoak & Durris Community Council (CDDCC), including minutes and contact details.

If you would like automatic notification of updates to the website, please simply send an empty email to

John Hopkins

web site manager

Nature’s Calendar

A neighbour of mine – a very keen gardener and botanist, recently gave me a 25 year record of spring “firsts”. He observes four key items that he considers mark the start of spring

  • The first oyster-catcher
  • The first daffodil to flower
  • The first tree to open its new leaves
  • The first beech hedge to produce new leaves.

Each of these botanical firsts occur on particular plants that consistently appear before any others, so the observations are very consistent. They reveal a six week spread between earliest and latest records. Not surprising then that we find climate a constant source of debate

Obser-vation / First Oyster-Catcher / First Daffodil / First leaves on tree / First leaves beech hedge
Earliest / 01 Feb. / 20 Feb. / 25 Mar. / 15 April
Latest / 25 Feb. / 08 April / 01 May / 09 May
Average / 15 Feb. / 21 Mar. / 12 April / 28 April

Editor

Pond life

At first glance ponds can seem like calm, tranquil places. But there is a lot going on below and above the surface.

A good clean pond is like another planet. Ponds are teeming with life just now with all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures. As well as the frogs, toads and newts there will be beetles, bugs and a variety of insect nymphs.

Diving beetle larva

Mayfly nymphs spend most of their time on the bottom of the pond trying to avoid being spotted by any predators. The nymphs grow by shedding their skin to reveal a new one inside. Some species do this up to 27 times before they turn into an adult. This can take years. When that time comes the nymph will crawl up a stem of a plant of even just rise to the water surface and split its skin to reveal the winged adult. However that’s not the end of the story. Mayflies are unique in the insect world as they have a second moult within minutes or hours of emerging to become the fully mature adults. They need to move fast as they are food for fish, bats, and birds such as swifts and swallows.

The great diving beetle is one of the biggest insects you’ll find in the pond. The larvae look ferocious – and are! The body can be 6cm long and the head bears an enormous pair of jaws. They will happily feast on young newts, tadpoles and careless peoples fingers. The adult can grow up to 4 cm long and swim well aided by long fringes of hairs on the back legs. The adults can fly well and use this ability to get them from one pond to another if they need to. They do get confused sometimes and can be found on the roofs of cars presumably mistaking the reflection for a pond.

Caddis fly larva

One of the most ingenious pond dwellers is the caddis fly larva. This little creature looks a bit like a caterpillar – and is just as juicy if you’re a fish. To avoid this the caddis builds a case around its body made from the materials found in the pond. Some cases are made out of beautifully cut leaves, others from grains of sand, others carefully made out of sticks. The case acts as both camouflage and physical protection against being eaten. Only its head and front legs can be seen when it’s moving. When ready to pupate the case is anchored to a stone or such like with silk and the open end of the case is sealed. The adult chews its way out of the cocoon when it’s ready to leave the pond and take flight.

Have you ever noticed small black beetles whizzing around on the surface of the pond. These great little guys are whirligig beetles. They are fascinating wee things whose bodies are half in and half out of the water. Their eyes are split horizontally so that they can see below and above all the time so they’re not caught out by predators above or below the water.

Their more sedentary neighbour the pond skater sits on the surface and waits for unfortunate flies to fall into the water or caddis or mayflies hatching out of the pond. Then they strike. They can propel themselves across the pond at speed using their long middle legs, steering with the back legs. They then grab their prey with their short front legs before piercing the skin and injecting toxic saliva to subdue their meal.

So life is not as peaceful in that tranquil pond after all!

Fiona Milne

NTS Senior Ranger

Crathes Castle

Summer Events at the Castles

Both Crathes and Drum castles have action packed summer events many of them for children and families. They range from falconry to Jaguar displays from concerts to plays.

You can see the event dates in the diary page of this newsletter , and the number to phone for more details

01330 811 204

Local Charity Events

D2C “Dee to Sea” Elsick Mounth walk

Sunday 26th June 10.00 a.m. at Park Bridge

Friends of Durris Forest have arranged a Sponsored Walk in aid of the British Heart Foundation. Bring along sponsorship of at least £10.00 and walk 20km along this ancient drove road to Stonehaven. See the FDF newsletter for further details.

Drumoak Fun Day

Sunday 3rd July 1.00 – 5.00 p.m.

Featuring

  • the ever popular It’s a Knock out!
  • lots of stalls
  • all kinds of kiddies races
  • Bar-B-Que and beer tent

Organ Recital

Thursday 1st September 8p.m.

Graham Scott from Durris is an international organist of renown, will be playing at St Machar’s Cathedral Aberdeen to raise funds for the Drumoak and Durris Church Malawi Project – see the Church Newsletter.