The Foggie Gossip
September 2011 Edition      

ABERCHIRDER SCHOOL BENEFITS

Earlier this year, Aberchirder mothers Fiona Forrest and Kelly Hay organised a charity dance which was held in the local bowling club. The event raised a total of £1700 and the proceeds were divided between three good causes.
 Presentation  Games

Pictured above are Lucy Forrest and Erin Hay showing the money donated to the Primary School. On the right, the organisers of the fund raising event, Kelly and Fiona, with equipment costing £550 that was purchased with the money. Items included a new Wii, a giant Connect Four game, giant Jenga blocks, giant Snakes & Ladders, giant Dominoes and Draughts, all for pupils to use during break and lunch times.

 Top right, Nursery Teacher Miss Reid is seen receiving a cheque for £350 from Brooke Hay and Abbie Forrest. The money is to be used for updating equipment in the Nursery.

The remaining £800 was donated to the Aberdeen Cancer Unit. 

 Presentation

NAMING CEREMONY

Alden Peden Alden John Peden

The naming ceremony for Alden John Peden, 8 month old son of John and Angela Peden, took place in the Council Chambers at Gordon House, Inverurie, on Saturday 27 August 2011.

Following the ceremony, a reception was held at the Broadstraik Inn, Westhill.

John and Angela's daughter Arwyn is also in the picture.  She will five years old in November and has started in Primary 1 at Elrick Primary School.

John Peden is formerly of Causewayend Crescent, Aberchirder.

   

        MORRISON / ROSS WEDDING

Helene Morrison and Stewart Ross were married at St Palladius Church, Drumtochty, on 2 September 2011. Their reception and celebrations were held at The Burn, Glenesk.  Helene, from Gourdon, is a Social Worker for Dundee City Council and Stewart, formerly of Causewayend Crescent, Aberchirder, is a Rugby Development Officer for Scottish Rugby.

Stewart & Helene


The couple's Best Man, second left, was Stewart's elder brother Paul, now a resident of Sydney, Australia. Groomsmen were Gordon Robertson (Foggie) far left, and Michael Mackie, right.


Rings      Rings      Rings      Rings      Rings
   MILNE / HEGGIE WEDDING
Sarah & Colin 

Sarah Anderson Milne (Whitehills) and Colin Douglas Heggie (Foggie), both now living in Edinburgh, were married on 10 September 2011 at St Brandon's Church Centre, Whitehills. 

The wedding reception was held in Hilton Hall, Boyndie.

Heggie family 

The couple have two children, Milo Marnan Heggie-Milne aged 3 years and Mac Ogilvie Heggie-Milne aged 9 months.

Colin is a Graphic Designer and Photographer and Sarah is Project Manager for Scottish Farmers' Markets. 

Attending the wedding was Paul Ross (Best Man at the Ross wedding above) from Sydney, Australia,  Others from far-off shores were Sarah's sister Fiona, also from Sydney, and Colin's brother Gordon from New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Rings      Rings      Rings      Rings      Rings
   PORTER / McRAE WEDDING

Coleen Porter and Raymond McRae of Hardie Court, Aberchirder were married on 1 October 2011. The ceremony took place at Turriff Registration Office and was followed by photographs inside Glendronach Distillery, a meal at the Bognie Arms Hotel and celebrations at Aberchirder Bowling Club.

Signing the Register

Raymond is employed by Highland Industrial Supplies in Turriff and Coleen is a part-time Bar Person.  The couple have two children - Mylee and Jaxon.

Raymond & Coleen

DOUBLE TROUBLE?

Primary School is soon to be home to five sets of twins.  Is there something in the water?
Twins
Picture courtesy of the Turriff Advertiser
From the left: P2 pupils: Alfie & Alana Donald - Nursery pupils: Aiden & Owen Hill, Naomi & Finlay Thomson and Abbie & Millie Brown. They will be joined in January by Katie & Charlie Calder.  Of the 38 pupils to attend the Nursery, there will be 4 sets of twins.

IN MEMORY OF ALEXANDER (SANDY) ROSS  BREMNER
1922 - 2011

It is with sadness that we mark the passing of another of Foggie’s weel kent characters, Sandy Bremner.

The following eulogy has been adapted from the words of Rev Cook at the funeral of Sandy Bremner on 16 September 2011.

Sandy was from a large family of seven children. Out of all his siblings, only his brother Robert (Bingo) remains. Sandy learned early in life that he loved working with mechanical things. He was very good with his hands. His first job was driving a taxi around the Foggie Area. He worked hard but he liked to play hard as well – after all he was just a young loon. The most popular form of entertainment in those days was the local dances and Sandy loved to dance. He was a good dancer and one night he met up with a young quine named Betty. Now Betty was a good dancer as well and so the two of them paired up and danced together at all the dances that Sandy could get to. Of course Sandy was a busy lad. He got himself an apprenticeship as a mechanic as well as driving the taxi. Meantime, Betty got herself another boyfriend who was in the military. Then she herself got called up.

Sandy was driving a taxi one night and, as it was during the war years, the car headlights had to be dimmed with covers. Someone had broken down by the side of the road and in the darkness, Sandy did not see the car and ran right into it. He injured his leg badly and for the rest of his life, he walked with a limp. His injury prevented him from being in the military so he kept his job as a mechanic and he became a very good one.

Sandy Bremner
Sandy with his youngest great-grandchild, Alba Davidson.

As the war went on, Betty was stationed in Buckie and one night Sandy attended the dance there and so the two were reunited. That was it – they fell in love and decided to get married and at the time of Sandy’s passing, they had been married for sixty four years. Sadly, due to his poor health, Sandy spent the last four years of his life in Dawson Court, Turriff - a Sheltered Housing complex with specialised care.

Sandy and Betty had eight children – four girls and four boys: Winifred, Elaine, the late Sandy, Keith, Desmond, Pauline, Annette and Kevin. Young Sandy was tragically killed in the Piper Alpha accident in 1988 and the family never really got over that loss.

Having got married and started a family, Sandy opened up his own garage in North Street and bought the house next door for the family to live in. They also sold petrol and Betty ended up having to go out and tend the pumps as well as running the office while Sandy worked as a mechanic. Sandy was always saving every penny he made and then buying things. He bought a farm, lots of land and several buildings and houses around the Foggie area. That was fine, but he never kept any of them up! He let everything go to rack and ruin. He always thought that he could get at least what he paid for them and maybe a little bit extra – so he was happy.

At the time of his passing, Sandy had 21 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren with another 3 on the way.
Foggie Lad
Sandy with grand-daughter Kirsten Douglas on Foggie Lad.

Sandy very much enjoyed having the farm and working on it. He also bred horses and owned the locally well known ‘Foggie Lad’. He attended many of the roups (auction sales) in the area just in case he saw something he could use.

Sandy had a great sense of humour and loved a good laugh. He loved people, being around them and getting to know them and enjoyed and appreciated life itself. He was proud of his family and all they have accomplished in their lives.

He was also very fond of ‘good old Scottish music’. Other than dancing, Sandy liked sports – especially football, and two of his sons, Desmond and Kevin, played professional football. However, whenever Sandy went to a match, he was very vocal and disagreed with referees a lot!

Sandy Bremner was one of Foggie’s characters – a ‘Gadgie’ and a loveable rogue. He spent all his days living in Aberchirder and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.


LAPPING UP THE SUNSHINE

Cheers from Spain

These lovely ladies are enjoying a glass of vino in the Spanish sunshine. Seated (left) is Sonya Scarry from Blacklaw near Aberchirder and (right) Lynn Hall, Aberchirder, who were spending a week in Alhaurín El Grande, Andalucia, with Margaret Carter who is standing between them.  Margaret only recently moved to live in Spain from Aberchirder. Also in the picture (far left) is Ann-Maree Neave who is from Aberdeen but now lives in Mijas.

Logo     NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ~ Autumn Newsletter

A meeting was held after our very successful coffee morning and new coordinators were welcomed. The coffee morning raised £387 after all expenses were met. Above this a cheque to the value of £10 was received as a donation and a further donation of £50 was also received from the Community Association.  We thank them greatly for their support and hope to work closely with them to maintain a safe and close community to live in.

An account has since been opened at Clydesdale bank with Linda Farquhar and Cliff Gudgion agreeing to be signatories.  It was agreed that the money (as well as helping produce newsletters etc) would be used to purchase more signs in the first instance and also some marker pens. These can be expensive to buy if you are only marking one or two items so a pen will be bought for each coordinator and this can be borrowed for general use. More news on that to follow.

 We have been told by Grampian Police that we will receive a newsletter once a quarter updating us on local activity. It was decided that we would hold our meetings at the same interval to start with so that this information can be passed on and we would produce a newsletter at the same time. To be reviewed if felt the time scale needed to be changed.

 We have had a good response  to requests for coordinators but there is still room for more volunteers as, although you will see we are able to cover the whole village, some people do have a large area to cover.  

 The coordinators are as follows:

Linda Farquhar  (780512)    ---  Corskie Drive.
Janet George  (780579)  --- Hill View, West Way, Old Road, Smith Crescent, Meadow Court, Hardie Court.
Colin Grant (781915) --- Bronchal Place, Harris Way, Cornhill Road, Park View, Wellfield Terrace, Taylor Drive.
Amanda Maclean  (780032)  Southview Terrace.
Stuart & Beryl Law  (780176)  Cranna View.
John Fittall   (780234)   South Street.
Bill Legge  (780452)  The Square & up Main Street to the Bowling Club
Carolyn Hoss   ( 780594)  Main Street from the old jail to the Square
Brian King   (780796) Causewayend Crescent & Corskie
Cliff Gudgion   (780346) Causewayend Place & North Street

At the time of going to print, the coordinator for Murray Crescent has still to be confirmed.

Brenda King - Aberchirder Village Coordinator.


The Square c1912

William Auchinachie's shops at 6-9 The Square, Aberchirder c1912

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