News February 2010

A £1 million project to enhance access to Cupar railway station finally seem to be track.

TV viewers across north east Fife are being prepared for the big digital switchover.

Fans of Falkland's Big Tent festival can look forward to an even bigger line-up of musical acts than ever before — and more time to enjoy them — with the popular eco event now running for three days.

Strathmiglo's post office is to move into the David Sands convenience store for a 12-month trial period.

On Friday 19 Feb 2010, a sparsely attended drop-in consultation was held in Falkland Library on the Draft Falkland Conservation Area: appraisal and management plan (January 2010). Download the plan here.

Zoie Interiors invites you to our historic Letham premises to celebrate the opening of our new and extended showroom from 5 to 7 March 2010.

The latest People's Panel survey is being posted out to members over the next few days, but the online version is available now.

The Met Office has issued an early warning of drifting and heavy snow from 00.01 Thursday, 25th February to 23.59 Thursday, 25th February, 2010.

The Peat Inn restaurant in north-east Fife has picked up two high-profile awards only a month after securing a Michelin star.

Anger over cuts to Fife’s extra curricular music service appears to be growing after it emerged over 1000 people joined a Facebook campaign against the move in a weekend.

Dundee Heroes The View have been given their first main stage slot at this year’s T in the Park, The Courier can exclusively reveal.

The big chill may return to Tayside and Fife over the next few days as the region braces itself for more Arctic weather.

The next Giffordtown & District Community Council meeting will be on 1 Mar 2010, at the Giffordtown Village Hall. Start time: 7.30pm

The Stagecoach service 67 restarted from the village of Kingskettle to Glenrothes last week.

Strathmiglo Primary School has been rewarded for its efforts to help the environment.

We celebrated Pancake day at Rainbows and we had 'Shrove Thursday' instead.

Wee Fit for Wee Folk active play sessions for two - five year olds are running weekly.

Rehearsals are well underway for our next drama productions to be performed in the Victoria Hall, Auchtermuchty on Friday 5 and Sat 6 March.

Planned road and street light improvements in Strathmiglo have been welcomed.

Shoppers in north east Fife are being urged to swap their usual brands for Fairtrade products as the annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign gets under way.

Plans to build a seven-turbine windfarm on a controversial site near Cupar are set to move forward.

He's cycled some 13,000 miles through 12 countries and reached the summits of the highest mountains in north and South America ... and now the epic challenge is all but over.

Fife Council has defended its position regarding executive pay rises at a time when budgets and services are facing major cuts.

Following on from last weeks exit from the Scottish Cup Strath did not fare any better in this game.

The APPROVED minutes of the 21 Sep 09 and the 16 Nov 09 Collessie Community Council meetings are now available for you to read.

Gaddon has been a refuge for many species during this cold spell. In fact we had highest count of mute swans ever (74) there in the new year! Widgeon, a kingfisher, even a red kite have been making their presence known too.

Fife Council is dedicating 2010 as a celebration of Fife's culture and wants your event or project to be part of it.

We are delighted to announce the opening of eden therapies, Fife's newest complementary health centre in Pitscottie, just outside Cupar.

Great news...with 4 weeks to go until Letham Nights #11 - The Bevvy Sisters & Kirsty Keatch there are already over 50 tickets sold.

The Rotary Club of the Howe of Fife has recently made donations to various organisations from their charities funds.

Members of the Giffordtown Book Club agreed that Stieg Larsson's crime thriller, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' was a real page-turner, despite an intricate plot that required a map to follow its connecting strands.

Due to popular demand the Auchtermuchty Community Centre has organised an arts and crafts club for school children from P1-P4.

Howe of Fife and Tay Coast councillor Donald Lothian has described the first police community engagement meeting in Auchtermuchty as "postive".

As part of the Snowdrops Festival, Falkland Centre for Stewardship is hosting two evening concerts with traditional songs and music.

The stage is set for the debut performance by north east Fife's newest amateur theatre group.

We'd be delighted if anyone and everyone in NE Fife, that's interested in composting, could please complete the short survey below

Mary could hardly believe her luck when she found out that her name had been drawn from hundreds of Slimming World members nationally to win £1000. "I never win anything, not even a wee raffle prize!" said Mary at the class on Wednesday night. "I have to keep pinching myself!"

A recent donation from the Rotary Club of the Howe of Fife has brought help and comfort to some of the world's poorest children at the Chimwemwe Children's Centre in Blantyre, Malawi.

The minutes of the February 10 Burgh of Falkland and Newton of Falkland Community Council meeting are now available for you to read.

The Big Tent eco festival has released early bird tickets with 10 per cent off for advance bookings for this year's event, which takes place from 23-15 July.

The company whose plans to extend its quarrying operation near Ladybank were rejected amid fears for the local red squirrel population has criticised Fife Council for its 'inconsistent' and 'unreasonable' decision-making.

People in Collessie have been given the opportunity to find out how to reduce energy waste in their homes.

Cupar's historic town centre is blighted by crumbling buildings, traffic congestion and ugly modern architecture, according to a damning new report by Fife Council.

Council tax in Fife will be frozen for the third year in succession after councillors rubber-stamped spending plans for the coming year.

Police in Fife have appealed for a midwife to contact them after she helped at the scene of a road crash where a man died.

Cupar could be faced with traffic chaos towards the end of next month after Fife Council yesterday announced a road running through the heart of town is to close for up to six weeks.

‘Events, dear boy, events', is what, according to a past well-known politician, presents the greatest challenge to a statesman.

Those busy folk from the North Howe Transition ‘Toun' have been analyzing the results of a recent energy survey completed by local householders.

Members of both the Howe of Fife and Cupar Rotary Clubs will jointly take part in the RIBI ‘Thanks for Life - End Polio Now' Project, from 22 to 26 February 2010, with a week of activities organised round Rotary Day 2010 on 23 February.

Residents in East Fife are invited to come along to a series of drop-in events to find out more about the Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan in their local area.

Are you looking for a job or thinking of doing a course? The Cupar Job Club can support you back into work or learning.

The Scottish Education Awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education. Make your nominations today.

Landbased Service Engineering students at Elmwood College are gearing up for an exciting exchange trip to France, this March, as part of the Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme.

Read the latest news from the Eden Estuary nature reserve.

United's interest in this season's Scottish Cup came to an end when they lost out to the hard working Hamilton based West of Scotland league club, Low Water MW.

The next Freuchie Community Council meeting will be on 10 Feb 2010, at the Lumsden Memorial Hall in Freuchie. Start time: 7.30pm

Auchtermuchty Parish Church: Feb 10 Newsletter is available to download.

Rainbows started the evening with chat and song and then the girls made a Valentine 'present' to take home.

Measures taken by organisers of T in the Park have helped ensure that the festival will remain in Kinross-shire for at least the next three years.

Residents in Collessie have a special reason to be looking forward to the Winter Olympics.

The DRAFT minutes of the 25 Jan 10 Kettle Community Council meeting are now available for all to read.

We need as many people within the NHTT area to take part in Carbon Footprint survey over the next month. It is simple to complete and only takes about 15 minutes.

Youngsters in P6/7 at Ladybank Primary School have raised more than £800 for the Haiti emergency appeal by holding two sponsored events.

Plans to build an affordable housing development in Freuchie have been given a major funding boost.

Falkland is to feature in a radio documentary about singing star Johnny Cash later this month.

The centre is pleased to confirm that Celia will be re-starting her second keep fit class on Tuesday 9 Feb from 8pm – 9pm.

Local newspapers are "central to the democratic process", the Scottish Parliament heard last week.

Some of the music industry's most legendary names will be heading for Fife soon to take part in Fifestock 2010, the world's most intimate rock festival.

Strathmiglo endangered post office has been thrown a potential lifeline.

Auchtermuchty fire station has made an emergency call to people in the village.

Can you spare a couple of hours tomorrow (Saturday) to come up to Muchty common to help clear plants?

Fife Council leader Peter Grant has warned the Kingdom must brace itself for difficult times, ahead of a budget meeting next week.

Those who keep reading pace with members of the Giffordtown Book Club have another week in which to finish January's tome - Stieg Larsson's ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

Another forthcoming literary event is a talk by Andrew Arbuckle in Ladybank Library on 15 February at 7.30pm., when he'll discuss his second foray into print, ‘We Waved to the Baker - Tales of a Rural Childhood'.

Falkland Golf Club is offering a fantastic opportunity for local primary school girls and boys to join the club FREE of charge and for P4 to P7 children to receive FREE COACHING and participation in junior competitions.

The busy Howe of Fife Health visiting team run a series of classes and activities for babies & toddlers.

Firstly, if you didn't already know, the wonderful Bevvy Sisters are coming to Letham Nights on 13th March..

There will be a number of changes to the Stagecoach bus services across Fife which will take effect from 15 February onwards..

People in north east Fife are being invited to have their say on the way the police do their job.

A vital new £30,000 service to help Fifers evacuate their homes in a flood or fire was launched recently.

Monday marked the opening day of the Scottish Snowdrop Festival, which celebrates the fragile flower.

The traditional January blues were swept away when The Black Cat Jook Band and Zander Duffy braved the elements and played for an equally brave audience.

Congratulations to the lucky prize winners in the January Draw:

Doctors' surgeries in North East Fife will be closed on Thursday afternoon, 4 February for 'protected learning time'.

Smart Community Fife are interested in hearing from any employers or organisations seeking staff or volunteers for jobs in central Fife.

Rainbows celebrated 'Burns Night' on Thursday.

A Fife man has spoken of his pride for the selfless courage displayed by his son who died on foot patrol in Afghanistan last year.

Elmwood College recently hosted an important Golf and Greenkeeping seminar that gave students a chance to see the benefits of studying abroad.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, we've got some great Valentines Day books especially for you!

The North Howe Transition Toun's CaRB team invite you to a public meeting to introduce their newly developed 'energy saving' toolkit and talk through the best way to improve the energy efficiency of your home.

Join Scottish National Heritage and RSPB staff on a guided walk in search of wetland birds on World Wetlands Day, on the anniversary of the Ramsar convention.

Fife Council’s Housing and Neighbourhood Services has, for a number of years, been fitting Solar Hot Water Panels with aim of improving the fuel costs and the carbon footprint of some of its own housing stock.

Fife Energy Park at Methil has received massive publicity this week and this looks set to continue.

The Fife Jazz Festival 2010 takes place from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 Feb in various venues around Fife including Strathmiglo and Freuchie.

Otherwise called "Opera Highlights, this is opera cabaret, a tour of operatic excerpts sung by 4 singers with piano accompaniment. The mood is informal and relaxed, with plenty of humour and simple staging.

Fife Council and its partners have secured funding for 238 new community based jobs as a result of their successful bid to the UK Government’s Future Jobs Fund. These jobs will be aimed at young people of 18–24 years.