Issue 28, July 2014

USE IT OR LOSE IT: SALINE GOLF CLUB

An extremely well-attended open meeting was held on the evening of Monday 16 June in Saline Golf Club. The Club Committee called the meeting in order to bring the club's financial situation to the attention of members. The Committee had called on the services of a professional auditor who had analysed the club’s statement of accounts that had been compiled by Alan Monk, the club's treasurer. Copies of this statement, itemising the income and expenditure of the club over a nine-month period, were passed out to those in attendance.

The auditor stated that, although the club was solvent at the present time, it was clear to him that if the club continued to operate in its normal habitual way, in a relatively short space of time the club's income would fall below expenditure. The net profit over the period of the statement of accounts was only £2,581.96 on a total turnover of over £200,000.

The auditor was at pains to highlight the fact that Saline Golf Club was in a far better financial position than some other clubs in the area whose debts could be measured in hundreds of thousands of pounds. Saline Golf Club members own the club house and the course, and there was time to take

Action to safeguard against a slide into insolvency.

Alan Monk asked those present for their views on the situation described. A general discussion followed and some realistic methods of cutting back on expenditure and increasing income were put forward. In the main, the suggestions and comments from the members present were positive and encouraging. Following a suggestion from the committee, six of the members volunteered to form a small advisory group to assist the committee in their review of the financial situation and current practices.

One suggestion that had the full agreement of those in attendance was that social membership of the club should be encouraged. Unfortunately a lot of members, who reside in communities outside of Saline, play the course but do not use the facilities in the Club House. The reasons for this are understood. We should, however, encourage non-golf playing folk who reside in Saline parish to join the club as social members. For a very small annual fee of £10 (£4 for OAPs), they and their guests could enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the bar and dining area. Simply call in to the club and any of the staff will be only too happy to enrol you as a social member and provide details of the bar and catering facilities.

A few years ago we lost the Saline Hotel. Could we, as a community, have done more to save it? It is inconceivable that we should lose Saline Golf Club but, to maintain the club house facilities, Saline folk should think on and help to retain this one remaining venue for social life within the village.

The Saline & Steelend Community Council will provide as much help and assistance to Saline Golf Club as possible.

John Crane

Chair, Saline & Steelend Community Council

116th FIFE SCOUT GROUP

The Group held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 19 June. Highlights of the reports by the various Sections are summarized as follows.

The Beaver Colony numbers have continued to grow over the past year and have enjoyed various activities such as a visit to the Life Boat Centre in Kinghorn. Their summer outing was a trip to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The Christmas outing to Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime was greatly enjoyed by all.

The Cub Pack numbers have dwindled this past year, mainly due to the fact that the Beaver Colony numbers were low a couple of years ago. A recruitment campaign is underway to raise the numbers. The Cubs enjoyed a visit to Dunfermline Fire Station and several trips to Fordell Firs, taking part in caving and on the climbing wall. They have also been active in exploring the local woods during the lighter evenings.

The Scout Section numbers have also been steadily growing as some of the older Cubs have moved up to Scouts. During the year the Troop took part in the District’s Camping Competition, Scout /Guide Quiz, General Scouting Competition and Swimming Gala. Also the Scouts participated in several one-night camps over the year.

The Explorer Section, though small in numbers, has worked well towards their awards. As part of their service element of the awards, they helped at Carnock Gala, on our Hot Dog Stall at Saline Bonfire Night and with the Scout Christmas Post. They also enjoyed trips to the 10-Pin Bowling and crazy golf at Fife Leisure Park.

The Cubs, Scouts and Explorers went 10-Pin Bowling for their Christmas Outing.

All Sections of the Group will restart after the summer break on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 August.

Are you between 6 and 18 years old, looking for fun, friendship, activities, earning badges and lots more? Then Scouting is for You!!

For further details see notices section of Bulletin.

Peter Philp (Group Scout Leader).

Something to promote?

Don’t forget – if you have things you want to promote on the community website, contact Ian Holmes-Lewis on 851855 or

SALINE AND BLAIRINGONE PARISH CHURCH EVENTS

The Family Fun Day and BBQ was extremely successful and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves very much.

Church Services

Every Sunday at 10.30am (Children leave after the first part of the service for their own group in the Hall.)

Other Events

Garden Party, Saturday 9 August, 2.00 -4.00pm, Carradale Oakley Road.

Afternoon Tea, Games on the Lawn, Raffle.

Admission £5

Dress for the occasion!

Holiday Club, Monday 11-Friday 15 August, 10.00 -12.30pm, Church Hall, children P1-P7.

(See posters for further information.)

HELLO GARDENERS

We hope that you have now received your copy of the 2014 Flower Show Schedule which came with delivery of the monthly Saline Bulletin. If you mislay your schedule, don’t worry as a copy of it can be found on the Saline/Steelend website. There is lots in it for everyone, whether a gardener or not, with extensive baking, floral art, craftwork, photography and most importantly lots for children to do. The whole Flower Show weekend of 6/7 September is a fun community event for all to participate and enjoy.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL MATTERS

Another lively Community Council meeting managed to provoke considerable debate ranging from Main Street parking to a clean-up of Saline Glen.

Main Street Parking

The meeting heard from some of the businesses and those affected. The conclusion was that thought should be given measures that would increase parking and improve visibility at the Oakley Road junction. This would involve some form of traffic management and sketch proposals would be prepared for discussion with Fife Council.

Ongoing Issues

Progress has been made on a number of issues important to the community:

Overgrown Garden, Upper Kinneddar: This has now been resolved although there are still concerns over the safety of the high hedge. Unfortunately, there seems to be no easy solution to this problem.

Oakley Road Traffic Problems: A meeting has been arranged with Transportation. As this will now be in the school holidays, a photographic record of the problem parking will be prepared.

Play Facilities: David Chisholm has spoken to a number of parents but has no volunteers yet. Several options were discussed at the meeting but involvement by volunteers is essential if funding bids are to be successful. Following the meeting, an “activist” asked to attend the next Community Development Trust meeting. Hopefully, this will lead to progress on an important issue

Disabled Access to Saline Cemetery: The meeting with Fife Council attracted a good attendance and outcomes that will lead to better access for disabled people, provision of water and larger waste bins. Thanks are due to Fife Council for the resolution of these issues

Japanese Knotweed: A local business has provided an estimate of cost that is very reasonable and the Community Council will be looking for ways to fund removal of this invasive species

Submissions

All contributions for inclusion in the Bulletin are welcome and should be submitted to

Jacquie Clapperton on salineandsteelend@btinternet.com

or by telephoning 852367.

Blair House Opencast Site Restoration

The Community Council has contacted the Health and Safety Executive who have confirmed that the administrators are responsible for security. David Chisholm contacted the administrators who consider that their arrangements are adequate despite local and police concerns about young people being able to easily enter the site. The open letter that the Community Council had sent to the Chief Executive of Fife Council has been acknowledged but not answered.

Fife Council has had meetings with the administrators but details are not yet available. Watch this space.

Bus Subsidies

People are reminded of the importance of feeding comments back to Fife Council. The valuable 28 service is up for debate and it is vital that we press for it to be retained. The consultation forms can be obtained from Dunfermline Bus Station or completed on-line at Fife Direct.

Post Office

The existing post office on North Road will close on 17 July and will be moved to the Village Store on the same day.

Saline Heritage Society Exhibition

Cllr Bobby Clelland praised the Society for its excellent WW1 exhibition and had noted the large number of local people who had served.

Saline Glen Tidy Up

Saline Environmental Group is organising a clean-up of Saline Glen on Saturday 26 July. Please come along to the Glen entrance at 10.30 am to help make this initiative successful. More details will be available on the community web site or from Joe Crawford.

Community Council Constitution

The constitution needs refreshing to take account of developments since it was prepared. Alan Fowler from Fife Voluntary Action has agreed to prepare a draft for discussion at the next meeting.

Saline Golf Club

The Community Council acknowledged the club’s importance as a community asset and felt that it was important that more use was made of facilities to ensure that these remained available to residents.

The popular Quiz Nights on Thursdays at 8.30 pm continue to be well patronised but there is still scope for more people to participate either by forming a new team or joining an existing one. All are welcome. The most recent winners were The Golfers while Joyce Kenney won the 50p question.

Next Community Council Meeting

Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in discussions. The next meeting is at 7.30pm in Saline Community Centre on Tuesday 26 August 2014. Why not come along?

FREE TREASURE!

There really is treasure in them thar hills. I wanted to let you know about an organisation called www.freecycle.org

It is an entirely non-profit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

What prompted me to write this is that I was at the tip last week and managed to salvage a perfectly good garden chair.

It is amazing what people will reuse and refurbish and it is amazing what people are giving away on Freecycle. I invite you to join this growing movement to reduce waste going to landfill.

Mark Baugh T: 851 059

[Editor’s Note: There is also Freegle as an organisation and, being where we are in Fife, it’s worth signing up to the Clackmannanshire groups as well as the West Fife groups.]

OUTH MUIR WIND FARM: THE DEVELOPER APPEALS

The Community Council were informed on 27 June that REG Windpower has submitted an appeal against the decision to refuse their application to build a wind farm at Outh Muir.

The developer had applied to erect five large wind turbines at Outh Muir close to Knockhill Race Circuit. One of the reasons why the application was refused was that the turbines would disrupt radar operating from Edinburgh Airport.

INVITATION TO WORLD WAR ONE DRUMHEAD SERVICE

10 AUGUST 2014, EDINBURGH CASTLE ESPLANADE

This multi-faith Drumhead Service will re-enact that which would have taken place 100 years ago, familiar to generations of Servicemen and women since. The Service will last for thirty minutes after which the Tri-Service contingents on Parade will "March as to War" down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Park.

Thereafter, the congregation in attendance will also have the opportunity to process down the Royal Mile and those choosing to do so will, upon arrival at Holyrood Park, join members of the public at a memorial at which all will be able to leave wreaths or commemorative markers.

Fife Council has offered our community two tickets for the service and we have to respond with names by Friday 11 July 2014. If you would like to attend this event please e-mail me at johnrobertcrane@ic24.net or pass a note to 17 Upper Kinneddar. In the event of more than two applications being received, we will make a draw. Obviously this will be of interest to service and ex-service personnel.

BOOZAH: PART 1

It is quite possible that barley was first introduced to Britain from Egypt and with it the term “booze”. The Egyptians had at least six types of beer thought to be in daily use called Boozah or Hequp, a popular drink back then. Archaeologists have found inscriptions listing qualities of ingredients as well as brewing instructions.

Our history determines that originally that these brewed drinks were called ale; ale was generally a malt liquor made without the use of hops. Hops appeared in the fifteenth century and from that point the words beer and ale start to mean almost the same thing. The additional of hops provide not only flavour and bitterness but also act as a preservative. Beer described as Mild is mild in bitterness and flavour because less hops are used and that’s the reason why Mild has a shorter shelf life.

On April 3 1963, when I was still at primary school, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer abolished Excise restrictions upon brewing beer at home. Up until that point, home brewed beer was subject to duty and one had to have a licence. That was the moment when the home brew industry was able to get going in earnest. There is now no restriction on the amount of beer you can brew at home, the only legal stipulation is that not a drop must be sold.

In my late teens and early twenties I tried to brew beer – home brew kits were the rage and although the result was passable it was clearly home brew – nothing like pub beer; that said, pub beer was also suffering from brewery consolidation and domination of the big chaps who thought they knew what beer should be like. Hence CAMRA (CAMpaign for Real Ale) got going and now we enjoy many good ales from breweries big and small.

Two years ago, I decided I would try brewing again, not using kits but a replication of the traditional brewing process using just malted barley, water, hops and yeast on a small scale. Home brewers are spoilt now with a huge range of hops, grains and yeasts to experiment with. The results after two years of practice are now pretty good (according to those who try it). It certainly is possible to brew beers that are just as good as those coming from established breweries – large or small.

I wrote this piece to introduce the subject of home brewing in order to determine perhaps who else is brewing at home or has thought about brewing at home. I’m interested to share experience, happy to offer someone the opportunity to try out home brewing and of course to share beer.

Part 2 will be in the August Bulletin; for now, happy and safe drinking and if you wish call me up on 852887.

Gareth T

Please Note:

The Editor reserves the right to refuse, edit or factually correct all items submitted for publication. All views expressed in this Bulletin are purely those of the author of the item concerned and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Communications Group as a whole.

SALINE'S SUPPLEMENTAL STANZAS ON SCOTTISH SUPERSTITIONS

William Erskine, Lord Kinneddar (1769-1822) who lived at Nether Kinneddar, was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott and encouraged Scott's early literary endeavors. In fact, at one time Erskine was suspected of being the author of the Waverley novels.

A poet in his own right, Erskine modestly provided three additional stanzas to Collins's Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands. One in particular, most probably penned in that lovely old house that nestles in that quiet corner of our parish, tells a ghostly tale:

Thy muse may tell, how, when at evening's close,