Local Brown Owl Susan Jeffrey will receive the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at next week’s Drylaw Telford Community Council meeting.
The Tierney Award was launched both to remember local activist Tam Tierney and to celebrate the work carried out by volunteers to improve life in the local community -and with thirty years service with the Brownies at Drylaw Parish Church Susan fits the bill admirably!
Community council chairman Alex Dale said: “We had four very worthy nominations for the Award this time round but Susan was the stand-out choice. To have volunteered with the local Brownies for thirty years shows incredible commitment and dedication. People like Susan help make communities better places to be and we are looking forward to presenting the award next week.”
The community council’s monthly business meeting will be held in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on Wednesday 25 March at 6.30pm and will be followed by the Award presentation and reception.
Brown Owl Susan (seated) is pictured with her current Brownie pack
Measures to introduce priority parking measures to the streets of Telford could be agreed by councillors at next Tuesday’s Transport & Environment committee meeting. Local campaigners are pleased that traffic and parking problems that have beset the area for years could at last be resolved.
Drylaw Telford Community Council has been seeking solutions to irresponsible parking in the area, and last year initiatived a survey of the area to gauge residents views on introducing priority parking measures. That October consultation was inconclusive, but the community council gave it another go and organised a public meeting in March.
The meeting was well-attended and there was sufficient support on the night to justify a second consultation in June.
This proved more decisive: 156 residents responded – and of these 154 were in favour of introducing a Priority Parking scheme!
Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale chairs the sub-group set up to address Telford’s traffic problems. He said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of recent consultation letter which resulted in a overwhelming favour for the scheme and I’d like to thank our members for all their hard work in advising the residents of the merits for introducing the scheme.”
He went on: “The sub group met last night to discuss this report and next stages. If the scheme gets the go-ahead next week Parking Operations will produce a detailed map of the area, showing where priority parking bays will be located and non legislated free bay and highlighting the single/double yellow lines propoals. The transport officials will be invited to this meeting to fully explain the proposals and our sub-group will then agree or amend. Clearly we won’t do anything until we know the result of Tuesday’s meeting but we are very hopeful that things will get moving in Telford soon.”
The long-running saga of the Groathill Road North roundabout is over. Contractors MW Groundworks laid the last turf and put the finishing touches to the roundabout earlier this week.
“It’s good news”, said Alex Dale, chair of Drylaw Telford Community Council. “We were delighted when the city council agreed to ‘re-adopt’ the roundabout and it’s good to see the work now completed. I think the landscaping team have done a fine job and the roundabout’s looking really great.”
Community councillors spent have spent many hours discussing the controversial roundabout upgrade over the last two years, so Alex is pleased that there’s a happy ending at last.
“It will be a relief to drop the roundabout from community council agendas – it’s been a regular discussion item for such a long time and it will be good to cross it off the list and move on to new issues.”
Archaeological dig unearths ‘treasures’ at heart of housing estate
World Heritage Site status following Drylaw discovery?
The ring of Brodgar, the standing stones of Callanish, Stonehenge – these world famous ancient sites have aroused wonder and speculation for centuries. Why were they built? Were they religious temples, astronomical navigation sites, burial grounds or even fantastic art creations by intelligent creatures from another world?
Channel Four’s ‘Time Team’ believe they may have unearthed some answers following an archaeological dig in North Edinburgh.
Late last year, scientists were alerted to some unusual ground activity following a prolonged period of torrential rain in the Drylaw housing estate in North Edinburgh.
Historic Scotland’s Barnaby Welton-Trowell explained: “The heavy rain had washed away layers of topsoil on a small roundabout, revealing a primitive stone circle which we believe may be thousands of years old. It’s a remarkable find, and it appears that the stone structure was built as a repository for important relics that span the ages. Drylaw’s standing stones will undoubtedly become as well known as any of the world’s most famous sites”.
A preliminary examination unearthed some fascinating artefacts.
Mr Welton-Trowell continued: “We first came upon ancient plans for a tram network, which we believe could date back to Roman times. Etched on a stone tablet, they were drafted by a man called David the Begg – we are currently researching him and believe he may have been one of a group of wise seers who once lived in the Lothians. The Begg’s blueprint even included a cost – five magic beans, which must be around £25 billion in today’s money – so you can see that transport and infrastructure schemes were just as expensive way back in antiquity. However the stone tablet was only the beginning – you can imagine our excitement as we had literally only really scratched the surface. What other treasures could we find?”
The stone tablet – an early forerunner of today’s hi-tech iPad – was sent for carbon dating, but Channel Four’s Time Team got wind of the discovery and rushed to Edinburgh. Now working with Historic Scotland and the local city council, the TV archaeologists have already made some startling discoveries on the Drylaw dig – and expect many more.
Tony ‘Baldrick’ Robinson (pictured above) said: “We are always amazed at the things our investigations can throw up and our Edinburgh visit has been particularly rewarding. Among the artefacts unearthed so far are an antiquated scrap of parchment which we believe may be Saxon or even earlier – clearly it is very difficult to decipher the hieroglyphics on the ancient manuscript, but one of our experts believes it may refer to the victory of ancient Hibernians in a battle in the West, where they won a momentous victory at something called the Scottish Cup. It is clearly very old and may well be very significant – it was always believed that this was the stuff of legend, a fairy tale, but it may actually have really happened after all”.
A tray of modern-day bridies
Also discovered was a fossilised piece of foodstuff. Tony Baldrick continued: “We had always imagined our forefathers were farmers, living on a fairly basic diet of grain and vegetables. However we have dug up what we believe may be an early Pictish bridie. If it really is – and we are very hopeful, as it was placed in a Gregg’s bag, perhaps as part of a religious ceremony as an offering to the gods – we may have to rethink the diets of our ancestors. Perhaps the pie, bridie and sausage roll were just as popular with the Stone Age Scot as they remain today. Carbon dating will reveal all – it will certainly give the scientists something to get their teeth into!”
VisitScotland senior marketing executive Ruaridh Culloden said the find offers a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for the area. He said: “After a series of top level brainstorm and focus group sessions our team has come up with some wonderful ideas to really put the site on the tourist map.
RING of Brodgar: ‘No Drylaw’
“We’ve yet to visit the site, but we would envisage a Visitor Centre – probably on the site of one of the local pubs, either the Dew Pot or the Furry Boat, and a gift shop on the site of the current Drylaw church. We’d also like to flatten Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and use the space to develop a fun theme park there.
Mr Culloden added: “It’s also very important that the Standing Stones are easily accessible so we would like to establish a big coach and car park where Ferryhill School is currently located, perhaps with any overspill directed to Easter Drylaw Park, where was also plan to build a hotel. So as you can see, we’re certainly not short of great ideas on how we can build on Drylaw’s heritage – quite literally”.
A spokesperson for Drylaw Telford Community Council said: “The interest generated has been amazing – we’ve had communications and inquiries from as far away as Trinity and Cramond. The roundabout was really just a bit of an eyesore, to be honest, so the events of recent weeks have taken us all completely by surprise. The stones have certainly put Drylaw on the map and it seems that our neighbourhood is going to be transformed. It’s simply unbelievable.”
A reminder that Drylaw Telford Community Council is holding a meeting to discuss a proposal for a Priority Parking Scheme for Telford tonight (Monday 31 March) at 7.15pm in the Telford Arms.
Councillors and transport officials will be in attendance – all local residents welcome.
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow’s meeting of Drylaw Telford Community Council will start at the earlier time of 6.30pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.
Easter Drylaw’s Mhairi Curran will be presented with the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at an informal reception following the conclusion of the normal monthly business meeting.
Mhairi Curran is Drylaw’s Citizen of the Year. Drylaw Telford Community Council agreed that Mhairi should receive the annual Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at last week’s regular monthly meeting.
Community worker Mhairi has lived in Easter Drylaw all her life and has been actively involved in her own community for many years – firstly through the Drylaw Telford Action Group, North Edinburgh Social Reserach Group’s fuel poverty campaign and more recently as both an office bearer with Easter Drylaw Residents Association and a member of Drylaw Telford Community Council.
Community Council chairman Alex Dale nominated Mhairi. He explained: “I nominated Mhairi because she has been involved in many of the positive things that have been happening in the area over recent years. It’s recognition of her commitment to her community – her work with the community council on the open space sub group, her early contribution on the skatepark and her work with EDRA, especially last year’s campaign against dog fouling. I’m pleased that the community council supported Mhairi’s nomination.”
It’s likely that Mhairi will receive her award at a reception in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on 26 March. Congratulations, Mhairi!
