BAILIES OF BENNACHIE COUNCIL MEETING 25 May 2015
[post meeting notes are in square brackets and # is used to highlight action points]
WELCOME & APOLOGIES
Held at the Bennachie Centre 19h-21h and chaired by Jackie Cumberbirch. She welcomed Ann
Baillie, Brian Cornock, Michael Coutts, Emily Holmes, Harry Leil, Jill Mathews, Donna Taylor and
Steve Wright to the meeting. Apologies received from Fiona Banks, John Nicol, Rosemary
Sievewright.
MATTERS ARISING FROM LAST MEETING (27 Apr 2015)
Some spelling corrections to minutes were noted eg Jane Miloy rather than Jane Lemoy and Piers
Blaxter rather than Peirs Blaxster. Minutes then proposed by JM and seconded by AB.
Action points from previous minutes carried forward:
# DT check answers to Discover Bennachie Quiz from JC put onto website
# DT create email address for AB to use for publications communications
# HL check status of bench in Widdie
# JC get example of table stand for advertisement of books/leaflets at the Bennachie Centre
# DT discuss competition to advertise Ramshackle puppet theatre with Warden Jan
# JC write letter of objection about the procedure followed by Cornabo wind turbine application
# FB send link to details about FCS art competition (ref archaeology sites) to DT
# JN correct Guides at Bennachie Centre with revised grid reference
AB has booked Acorn Centre for AGM on 17 Sep, cost to be confirmed (expecting about £3 for
tea/coffee/shortbread per person for up to 30 people)
TREASURERS REPORT (SW)
Last of £3000 payments to Aberdeen University for Colin Shepherd's work has been paid
£2374 in the current account
£439 cheque being issued to DT for PO box & labels & envelopes & website domain name
Still to catch up on Gift Aid retrieval but should not be a problem
# SW take to bank £50 per year standing order (£5 membership & £45 donation) received from
relative of MC at Doric night and send scan of form to DT
Some blank cheques given to DT in case SW away, JC & HL & SW can sign
PUBLICATIONS AND PLANNING APPLICATIONS REPORT (AB and JM)
calendars (AB)
£2286 needed by end June to pay for the 2016 calendar
1500 calendars planned, cost price £1.53 each
Retail at £4 (£5.20 with pp) gives £2.47 per calendar to Bailies if sold directly
Wholesale at £2.50 gives £0.97 per calendar to Bailies if sold to retail outlets
Back of calendar left as last year with 12 photos (too late for other info to be incorporated)
Proposing a "dogs & Bennachie" series of photos for 2017 calendar: will advertise in newsletter
planning applications: A96 (JM)
see website: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/a96-dualling-inverness-aberdeen
JM, HL, Colin Miller & David Baillie attended display of A96 dualling proposals
Option C of the A96 dualling proposals seen as threat to NE flank of Bennachie
Comments required by 22 June 2015, final decision 2018
Designation of Bennachie required to help protect the hill
# AB ask if David Baillie willing to draft some comments for the Bailies to submit
# JC send marked-up pdf map and some comments to DT to upload onto website
# JM highlight A96 threat in newsletter with link to map on website and ask for members' views
Could in future seek members' views using eg 5 questions on "surveymonkey" website
MEMBERSHIP, WEBSITE AND CORRESPONDENCE REPORT (DT)
Membership
No changes to membership
Website
Subscription for website domain name now changed from original webmasters to DT: £5.99 a year
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Have thanked original webmasters who did not want any refund
Correspondence
Enquiry received from "IDEA project" who seek possible volunteer work for people with learning
difficulties: EH already in touch with similar charities and happy to follow up with this contact
# EH contact IDEA project to discuss volunteering possibilities for people with learning disabilities
Info on Colonists sought by a Ms Grainne from Stonehaven - Jennifer Fagen's book sent by AB
# SW enquire at bank about possibility of credit or debit card for DT to use for Bailies affairs, maybe
with transaction limit
Have advertised Aberdeen Mountain Rescue sponsored walk on facebook
MORAY AND ABERDEENSHIRE FOREST DISTRICT UPDATE (EH)
Work for designing new interpretation boards for car parks starts in couple of weeks: no photos
planned this time
New waymarking signs not yet planned
First aid course planned Sat 30 May, Gary from work parties may attend
Care needed when saying "yes" to requests to hold parties - near miss at Back o' Bennachie
Golden Olympics for over 65s - eg walking & birdwatching - week after next
Continuing battle with dog poo, highlighting can work, more campaigns needed
New sign needed at dog poo bin at Bennachie Centre
No update on Back o' Bennachie toilets
FCS consultation on forest management in Bennachie Area delayed until next Spring
New FCS warden Fiona will be checking parking is being paid for
WORK PARTY UPDATE (HL)
Visitors from the Landscape Project in Sheffield helped at work party 02 May
Planted some wild flowers & cleared growth from pond and cutback vegetation at some Colony
houses
Boxer dogs owned by one participant proved to be major nuisance and a potential danger: intend to
start a "no dog" policy on future workparties
Next workparty will be mainly working on water bars & drains on Rowantree path
EH left mtg at this time 20h17
BLP (BENNACHIE LANDSCAPES PROJECT) UPDATE (BC)
Report distributed before mtg: attached as appendix
Main discussion centred on planned BLP book 3
Colin Shepherd does not wish to use website like "Blurb" and prefers to publish a traditional book
Quote from printers MMSalmac in Keith was £2982 for 250 or £3199 for 500 books
Cost & storage major issues after lack of sales of BLP books 1 & 2
Strong preference to have e-book in future but felt too far "down the line" this time
Possible better business model might be to make book available as downloadable pdf and ask for
donations
Possibility of using some of Gordon Ingram's legacy for the book and dedicating it to him
Plan to subsidise books and sell at £10 each
# BC get quote for 150 books, expecting not much difference from quote for 250
[quote for 150 books received 26 May 2015 was £2747]
# BC email name recommended for book by Colin Shepherd to JM for info in newsletter
[checked to be "Bennachie Landscapes Series: 3. Bennachie and the Garioch: Society and Ecology in
the History of North-east Scotland."]
# AB send to BC suggested wording for possible dedication of book to Gordon Ingram
[sent 27 May 2015]
# BC let Colin Shepherd know outcome of above
[email sent to Colin on 29 May 2015 and cc'd to Bailes Council members]
SENIOR BAILIES REPORT (JC)
General
BOG (Bennachie Operation Group) meeting expected tomorrow 26 May
Pat Oddie has put forward Bailies for a possible award by the Council
Colin Miller has advised that under Land Reform Regulations, Community Groups could buy Esson's
croft (Boghead of Tullos) because of its long period of disuse
Bailies administration
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New chairperson needed before AGM in September
Development Officer for the Bailies discussed: need job description, maybe 2 or 3 days/week, maybe
job sharing, might be able to get grant for this
General agreement that this should be progressed
# ALL gather input for possible "development officer" role as agenda item for next mtg
# JC seek advice from Anne Simpson of the Garioch Area Partnership about this
NEWSLETTER 2015
# JM check jill.bailies email inbox for newsletter contribution from Ken Ledingham
Printing expected to cost £188.91 for 850 hard copies, need a week's notice
May print 100 extra copies for advertisements/new member packs etc
About 200 further copies will be emailed
DT preparing envelopes and address labels, 2nd class postage 54p needed
Target 08 Jun for getting newsletter to printer
# SW get eg 800 2nd class stamps, maybe from Costco
# JM seek other email addresses in newsletter for potentially replacing hard copies by e-copies
Filling of envelopes planned from 19h on Wed 17 Jun at the Bennachie Centre
EVENTS
Doric evening (08 May)
44 tickets sold at £7 giving £308 and raffle gave £149
Paid £80 to performers, £75 to Garioch Fiddlers, £23.40 to Ross the bakers
Good atmosphere although reduced numbers this year (cf 83 tickets sold at £5 in 2014)
A lot of trouble arranging the performers: "maybe the evening has run its course"
Need to book the Garioch Fiddlers well ahead (by end summer) to be sure of getting them
Many thanks to MC for arranging the very enjoyable evening and to AB & Team for the fine victuals
Bird identification walk (12 May with Eric Meek)
Proved to be a very windy evening so stayed in the forest, about a dozen people
Advanced tracking course (was due 17 May with Willow Lohr)
Cancelled because of lack of numbers
Vegetation history of Bennachie (20 Jun with Ed Schofield)
"Looking back through time using peat from the hill", walk to Oxen Craig from Bennachie Centre
Ramshackle's puppet show (09 Aug)
see website for update
AGM (17 Sep at Acorn Centre from 19h30)
New Chairperson/Senior Bailie sought
Deputy Bailie position remains vacant
MC & JM & DT due for 3 year re-election to Council but MC does not wish to stand for another term
Non-officer, non-landowner Council members would then be 7
Bailies Constitution says there should be between 8 and 12 such Council members, so others sought
AB apologies - won't be able to attend AGM
AOB
# JC clarify with FB reason for internet connection problem in Bailies room
SUMMARY OF NEW ACTIONS
# SW take to bank £50/year standing order received from MC and send scan of form to DT
# AB ask if David Baillie willing to draft some comments on A96 dualling for the Bailies to submit
# JC send pdf map with marked-up A96 option C and some comments to DT to upload onto website
# JM highlight A96 threat in newsletter with link to map on website and ask for members' views
# EH contact IDEA project to discuss volunteering possibilities for people with learning disabilities
# SW enquire at bank about possibility of credit or debit card for DT to use for Bailies affairs
# BC get quote for 150 BLP books
# BC email to JM name recommended for BLP book by Colin Shepherd
# AB send to BC suggested wording for possible dedication of book to Gordon Ingram
# BC let Colin Shepherd know outcome of Bailies BLP book 3 debate at 25 May mtg
# ALL gather input for possible "development officer" role as agenda item for next mtg
# JC seek advice from Ann Simpson (Garioch Area Partnership) about Dev. Officer role
# JM check jill.bailies email inbox for newsletter contribution from Ken Ledingham
# SW get ~800 2nd class stamps for newsletter mailing
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# JM seek email addresses in newsletter for potentially replacing hard copies by e-copies
# JC clarify with FB reason for internet connection problems in the Bailies room
Next meeting = Monday 29 June @19h in the Bennachie Centre
APPENDIX
BENNACHIE LANDSCAPES PROJECT (BLP) : REPORT FOR BAILIES COUNCIL 25 MAY 2015
COMMUNITY HERITAGE EVENT (coordinated by Jo Vergunst)
An extended "lunch & learn" meeting of community heritage project groups took place in the
Bennachie Centre on Sunday 03 May 2015. These groups, like the BLP, have received some funding
via the 'Connected Communities' programme led by the Arts & Humanities Research Council. The
meeting was organised by Jo Vergunst (Aberdeen University Anthropology Dept and a Bailie of
Bennachie). A summary from Jo follows.
This event was intended to make connections between the Bennachie Landscapes Project and other
community heritage projects across the UK. What can we learn from each other? What could we do in
the future?
As well as our Bennachie participants, we invited a group of visitors from the Friends of Wincobank
Hill in Sheffield. Also present were Dr Helen Graham, part of York’s Alternative History and Dr Oliver
Davies from the Caerau and Ely Rediscovering Heritage project.
Jo introduced the event by talking about the AHRC ‘Heritage Legacies’ project. Its remit is to explore
the legacies of community heritage projects funded through Connected Communities. This event is
intended to allow more shared conversations between some of them.
Danny Allsebrook from the Friends of Wincobank Hill described the archaeology of the hillfort at
Wincobank Hill in Sheffield. He discussed the state of current knowledge and the hopes for a
community dig at the hill perhaps supported by the University of Sheffield and English Heritage.
Olly Davis from the University of Cardiff talked about the Caerau and Ely Rediscovering Heritage
project. There, archaeology has been the most successful part of a strategy to engage local people
with their past and contribute to their sense of identity in the present.
Helen Graham from the University of Leeds then led a discussion about ethics, politics and decisionmaking in community heritage projects. The session was recorded and notes made from the
recording, as well as presentation material, are available to anyone who may be interested (eg
contact Jo or bac13@hotmail.com).
PRODUCTION OF THIRD BOOK IN BENNACHIE LANDSCAPES SERIES (collated by Colin
Shepherd)
Material for this book has been assembled and Colin Millar has kindly agreed to proof read it.
An option to publish the book using the "blurb" website http://www.blurb.co.uk was looked into but
rejected on the grounds of poor quality and doubtful ethics.
Quotes for a traditional book from printers MMS Almac in Keith are £2982 for 250 or £3199 for 500
copies, before VAT, valid until 10 June 2015. Funding approval for one of these quotes is being
sought from the Bailies Council.
BLP BANNER DISPLAYS (Ken Ledingham)
Having been on display at Old Meldrum Library, beginning on the 20th of May it is planned to have the
banners at “Touched by Scotland” for four weeks and thereafter at the Kellockbank Emporium at
Culsalmond for a similar period. Other venues in the pipeline are Castle Fraser in August and the Sir
Duncan Rice library at Aberdeen University in September, where a talk by Project members has also
been requested.
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A talk is also scheduled at Alford on the 7th of October to the Alford Heritage Society, where the
banners will also be on display. Suggestions as to other venues are welcome. [Please advise Ken at
ken-ledingham@tiscali.co.uk.]
BENNACHIE LAND USE: QUARRIES, BOGS & TRACKS (Barry Foster)
Ed Schofield from Aberdeen University Geography Dept has carried out further peat coring with his
students at Moss Grieve.
BENNACHIE WILDLIFE & HABITATS
Nothing to report.
BENNACHIE ENVIRONS ARCHAEOLOGY (supervised by Colin Shepherd)
Tillymuick
A number of archaeological features have been encountered and some recording work using a plane
table took place on 25 April. Colin afterwards wrote "The results were good and seem to support the
survey carried out by the OS in 1957. At least, in the small area that we sampled. 2 hut circles were
found that appear to conform to the OS plan and further linear features, not noted by the OS, have
been recorded." Previously, Colin wrote "Owing to restrictions occasioned by the site being a
scheduled monument, this will be all that we can hope to achieve at the moment."
Schools work
No update received.
BENNACHIE COLONY ARCHAEOLOGY & ARCHIVES GROUP (Jeff Oliver)
Jeff from Aberdeen University Archaeology Dept has set up a google account for Bennachie
Landscapes to give access to Google Drive "cloud storage" to allow easy access to material
previously only available on the My Aberdeen website.
On 18 May, Jeff wrote:
"I have now created an umbrella folder, called ‘Bennachie Landscapes Archive Folder’ within the
drive. All MyAberdeen folders can now be transferred over to this. I have begun to populate the
umbrella folder with folders from MyAberdeen. The first one – ‘Research Guides and Overview’
should now be visible to you. If we could all lend a hand to transfer files over, that would be great. You
may need to copy files to your computer first and then recreate new folders in the drive and upload
content. It may take some time to familiarize yourself with this system, but I encourage you to do so.
There are lots of tutorials online if you have problems.
I have now invited you all to view and edit this umbrella folder (you should by now have received an
email). Hopefully you will be able to access this and maniple contents without a problem. As I am the
administrator, I suspect that if we want to add new people we will have to go through me. If you can’t,
it may be that you need to sign up for your own google account, which is very easy to do:
https://accounts.google.com/signup
In the longrun, it would be beneficial if everyone could have their own google accounts because then
everyone will have the same level of access rights, meaning that Bailies members won’t have to go
through me to add new members and change how the site is managed."
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