Foggie Gossip Summer 2009 - News from in and around Aberchirder

Aberchirder Primary School's eco-group is headed by Primary 4 teacher Fiona Alexander and P5 probationary teacher Laura Cartney. The group comprises two pupils from each class in P4 - P7. Using funding the school received, they decided they wanted to construct a sensory garden within the school grounds. However, they also wanted to buy planters and plants for Walker Court Sheltered Housing complex.

The group meets every two weeks at lunchtime to discuss the progress of their projects. In March the group visited the Happy Plant Garden Centre and had a great time choosing planters, plants and accessories for both projects.

Pictured right, are some of the eco-group pupils after planting at Walker Court.

Primary 4
P4 class at Walker Court: Front L-R: Caitlin Horne, Euan Duncan, Robert Auchnie, Liam McNamee, Stacey Maclean and Liam Mackintosh
Back: Stuart Killoh, Robert Fowlie and Samantha Morrison.

The planting at Walker Court which was completed
during the last week of term.

Primary School achievers

Congratulations go to the Primary School achievers who received their trophies prior to the summer recess.

Back Row L-R: Matthew Ogden & Jay Inglis who shared the P7 Boys Trophy for Sports and Sportsmanship; Iona Gregor & Abbie Esslemont who shared the P7 Parent Support Group Cup for Sports and Sportsmanship; Russell Scott - Good Conduct Playground Award.

Front Row L-R: Aidan Stewart who Shared the P6 Endeavour Shield with Eliza Kaniowska who was unfortunately absent on the day, and who also shared the Elma Linklater Memorial Shield with Scott Duguid who was also absent on the day - (Aidan is pictured here with the Elma Linklater Shield); Emma Murray - P5 Chaplain's Cup for the most helpful pupil; Lisa MacDonald - Good Conduct Playground Award.

Scott Duguid also won the P6 Expressive Arts Trophy but, as stated, was unfortunately not in school for the picture.

Derek Gray, Foggie’s weel-kent street orderly, had a display of his art in the local Library throughout the month of July. This was Derek’s first exhibition and he says he was “fair chuffed” to be asked by Librarian Brenda King to put his work on show. The watercolours and acrylics feature mainly local landscapes including Marnoch New and Old churches as well as places further afield.
The day job.	Derek at his exhibition in Aberchirder Library.
Derek, aged 46, has spent all his life in Foggie apart from two years in Birmingham which, he recalls, didn’t impress him much. His enthusiasm for art started while at the Transition Department (Primary 7) at Macduff and continued at Banff Academy, where he regularly contributed strip cartoon stories to Vivat, the school magazine. At this stage, his work was inspired by the science fiction and supernatural books of authors such as Arthur C Clarke and Edgar Allan Poe.

After leaving school Derek had a couple of years studying art and design at college in Aberdeen, and he has been developing his skills in his spare time ever since. As well as creating the works on display in the Library he produced a portfolio of pen and ink drawings of which nine were included in the Book of Banff published by Banff Preservation and Heritage Society in October 2008. He also recently contributed murals, featuring his caricatures, to the Drop-In Centre in Banff.

The Committee of Marnoch Memorial Hall Ltd have launched details of their proposals to replace the former Aberchirder Memorial Hall in North Street. Declared to be a dangerous building, the hall was demolished in 2003.
Former Memorial Hall	Sketch proposal for new hall.
The new hall will be designed to cater for social events and will have meeting rooms and storage facilities to meet the needs of most of our local clubs and organisations.
The fundraising programme includes a 'Buy a Block' scheme whereby individuals can sponsor blocks and have their names added to a mural. To find out more and see plans and proposals for the new Memorial Hall, click here.

Deveronvale Girls FC attended the Aberdeen International Football Festival on 20 July, all kitted out and ready for action. Recent strip and track suit sponsorship along with a busy fund-raising period allowed the team, coaches and helpers to stay in the Halls of Residence at Seaton Park, the festival venue. Head coach Amanda Allan (Aberchirder) said she was absolutely delighted that they were in a position to meet the substantial costs involved in staying in Aberdeen, allowing the girls to benefit from the full tournament experience. Many thanks go to all supporters and sponsors for everything they have done for the club over the last couple of years. Special thanks went to recent kit sponsors, Keith Maclean (Aberchirder) of 'Kmac-services' who sponsored a complete kit, The Station Hotel Portsoy who sponsored special shirts with the girls names on the back of them and Morrison Motors of Turriff who during the club's ABBA night fundraiser, bought an AC Milan shirt at auction, the proceeds of which were used to pay for track suits for the girls.
Sponsors presentation: Back L-R:- Amanda Allan (Head coach), Leanne Findlay, Suzanne Cooper, Roseanne Borthwick, Sara Thompson, Chloey Slater, Sarah Watt (From Foggie), Shannon Thom (From Foggie), Sarah Allan (From Foggie), Keith Maclean (Kmac - Services) Front L-R: - Rebecca Reid, Rebecca Hendry, Jayde Henderson (From Foggie), Chloe Low, April Smith, Nikki Buskie, Zodie Wood. Missing from the picture: Vikki Riddell.
The girls performed brilliantly at the festival giving their all on and off the park, contributing to their growing reputation as a family club dedicated to commitment, hard work, fair play and above all else fun. They added to last years 'Fair Play' Award by winning the 'Five-a-Side' Competition together with a personal triumph by Vikki Riddell (Dyson) who ably won the 'Penalty kicks' competition.
Five-a-Side winners, L-R: April Smith, Nikki Buskie, Vikki Riddell (Dyson), Sarah Watt (From Foggie), Zodie Wood.	Far left: David Kirkwood (Head of youth development at Ross County FC) with some of his players and all the Deveronvale Girls and coaches.
Thanks to big hearted donations by local businesses, Brian Henderson - Plumber Aberchirder, Margaret Stewart from The Golden Fry Aberchirder, Gordon Taylor (Aberchirder) and Ria and Ian Esselemont (Aberchirder) - Funeral Directors Huntly, the girls were taken to the cinema, Jimmy Chungs, The Moscow State Circus and Codonas during the week. Coach Martin Allan (Aberchirder) said that the girls should be very proud of themselves as their behaviour was excellent and the coaches are very proud of them. The girls reinforced established friendships with Aberdeen Girls United, Regensburg of Germany and Old Ben's of South Africa, supporting each other throughout the week. Thanks go to David Kirkwood, a former Rangers player amongst other teams, who is head of youth development at Ross County FC. He very generously donated two hours of his time, on the day his team played in the U16's final, to take a training session with the Vale girls. It was an experience where the coaches and girls learnt a lot. David and his team were very supportive of the club and invited them to the excellent facilities at Ross County for a training day.
Opening ceremony with team mascot Lucky.	Vikki Riddell (Dyson) in the middle surrounded by her team mates after winning the penalty kick competition.


*"Good with Food"* The following Special Offers are available at your local Aberchirder Co-op Store from 19 August - 8 September (whilst stocks last)
	MEAL DEAL PRAWN STIR-FRY Co-op Prawns 200g - £2.74 Co-op Chinese Stir-Fry Veg Pk 300g - 90p Co-op Egg Noodles 300g - 90p Co-op Sweet Chilli & Garlic Stir-Fry Sauce 150g - 46p MEAL FOR TWO - £5
McVities Jaffa Cakes Half Price - 47p	Burtons Jammie Dodgers Half Price - 57p
6pk Pepsi Buy 1 Get 1 Free - £2.59	Daz Washing Powder 680g Only- £1.50
~ ~ ~ Lots more offers in-store ~ ~ ~