New train timetable for Milngavie

Scotrail has now published the new train timetable which runs from 12th December 2010 to 21st May 2011.

The general timetable for North Clyde including trains to and from Milngavie is at
http://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/documents/North_Clyde.pdf

The timetables for the new Bathgate line are at
http://www.scotrail.co.uk/a-b

Note that the new timetable includes a train running directly from Milngavie to Edinburgh on Mondays to Fridays, leaving Milngavie at 8.18am and getting to Edinburgh at 9.43am. At other times it is possible to change at Partick and pick up an Edinburgh train.

In the present weather conditions, it is worth checking first to see if the trains are running.
See http://www.journeycheck.com/firstscotrail/

Waste Collection during severe weather - update

The following has been posted on the council website:

"CONTINGENCY WASTE COLLECTION ARRANGEMENTS FOR FRIDAY 10, SATURDAY 11 and SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER

"Conditions on the roads will not enable the refuse collection vehicles to begin normal waste collection on Friday and over the weekend. As a contingency measure, residents can place tied and sealed black refuse bags, with refuse only, on the footways of the main gritted roads in the area by 9.30am on Friday morning, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. The refuse collection vehicles will collect this waste from the main gritted routes from 9.30am on each of these three days. Please ensure that the refuse bags do not block the main roads.

"This is a contingency arrangement to help residents who cannot wait until the collection vehicles are able to access residential areas."

Further information at
http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/news/latest_news/waste_collection_suspended_for.aspx

Park project update

We hope to have the first phase of the park project completed by Spring.

This first phase will include improvements to the play equipment area. The ground will be prepared and drainage put in place. A further three items of play equipment will be installed which will include a roundabout for children in wheelchairs and/or buggies which can also take able-bodied children. The area will be fenced off and a hedge will be planted. It is anticipated that the work should be completed in time for Spring next year, although with the current weather it is hard to imagine.

It has taken a long time to have this first phase completed, but securing funding is difficult in the current climate. We have also been working closely with East Dunbartonshire Council's Greenspace Department who have been extremely helpful. It is also with thanks to all the organisations who have given us grants to reach this stage and would not have been possible without their generosity. There are many people to thank to just get to this stage and they include local residents and our three local councillors along with those who gave us grants - Tarmac, Milngavie Community Council, Awards for All, WREN, East Dunbartonshire Community Grants Scheme, and funds should be forthcoming from our Councillors' Ward fund. We shall continue to update as the project nears completion.

Waste Collection during severe weather

East Dunbartonshire Council have issued the following notice:

"Refuse / Recycling Collections Waste collections continue to be suspended owing to the severe weather and access difficulties in residential areas. This service will resume as soon as possible and residents are advised to keep their bins ready for collection as planned. Bins will be emptied as soon as it is safe to do so, however if current conditions prevail, it is unlikely that collections will not resume until next week. When service resumes, excess waste will be collected as additional resources will be deployed to assist with the heavier loads. Contingency plans are currently being developed should these conditions remain beyond Monday of next week."

Local Plan 2 Guidance Notes Consultation

Some residents may have received a letter from East Dunbartonshire Council regarding the Local Plan 2 Guidance Notes Consultation. Most likely it will be those residents who wrote commenting on Craigton Woods.

For those who were in favour of Craigton Woods remaining the same you will recall that the Woods were given three designations:

• Green Belt


• Tree Preservation Area


• Ancient Woodland with reference to being a Special Wildlife Corridor

However, on the Guidance Notes Consultation it only shows the Woods as Green Belt, and those residents may wish to comment that they wish all three designations to remain.

Further news on the proposed new Tesco store

There is a great deal of information about the proposals for the new store on the website of "We like Milngavie," so you are advised to visit this site if you wish for further information.

To view the full documentation about the proposals, go to the website of DPEA (The Scottish Government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals) at www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/, agree to the terms and conditions, go to the simple search and type case reference PPA-200-2008 in the box.

EDC Budget Consultation

The EDC Budget Consultation document is now available for completion on the web at
www.surveymonkey.com/edcbudgetconsultation.

Some of you may receive a written questionnaire through the post but, if not, you can complete it at the above link. Please ask as many people as possible to complete it in order to influence what is important to you.

The closing date is 15 November 2010.

Build a Scarecrow Competition results

Below are some of the entries for the Build a Scarecrow Competition.

And the winner? ... Neville, built by our own MERA team!

Congratulations to the winners!

A big "thank you" to Jean and family for so quickly getting such a terrific entry together.

Thanks also to Milngavie in Bloom for running this competition, and for our prize of a £10 voucher for Dobbie's and some seeds which we can use for our park project.

Build a Scarecrow Competition

OPEN TO ALL AGES

You are invited to build a scarecrow, any shape, any size,
and the best-looking one will win a prize.

Bring your scarecrow along on Saturday 11th of September.

The event will be held outside the Fraser Centre in Milngavie.
Starts at 10.00am.

£2 entry with all proceeds go to Milngavie In Bloom.

Name needed for the Mains Park footpath

We are looking for a name for the path which runs up the side of Mains Park.

Giving this path a name will help when the police or local services need to locate it and we need to act quickly on this, now that we have been given the opportunity. We would like the name to reflect the history or use of the area. Several suggestions have already been made but we would welcome more.

Please send your suggestions as soon as possible to either the webmaster or secretary (see our contacts page) or post as a comment below.

Hunter Road realignment

We now have the plan for the proposed realignment of Hunter Road. Please click on the image below to view it at a readable size. (You will probably need to click on the large version of the image to see it full size as it is too big to fit on the screen).

Alternatively, view as a pdf file.

Please note that some detail may change as the project progresses, but funding and a project management team are in place.

Douglas Academy closure 20th-21st May

Douglas Academy has been closed for the past two days due to flooding, but is due to re-open again on Monday 24th May. Further information can be obtained from the EDC website.

Milngavie Information Point

The new Milngavie Information Point in the precinct will be opening on Saturday 22nd May at 11 am.

There will be a range of activities associated with this including a guest visit from Tom Hunter, who was the first person to walk the West Highland Way, and a guided walk.

The Information Point will give advice on local walks, tourist attractions and other matters of interest to tourists.

For more information, see the Milngavie Herald

Milngavie Heritage Committee AGM

A new group, the Milngavie Heritage Committee, has been set up for the purpose of creating a heritage centre in Milngavie. They will be holding their AGM in Milngavie Community Centre on Tuesday 25th May at 7:30pm. All are welcome, so please come along and show your interest in their project.

This group, operating within the East Dunbartonshire Tourism Partnership, is working in conjunction with the Milngavie Heritage and History Group and is supported by Milngavie Community Council. You can read more about the group in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald for 14th May.

The Cowboy Trap

The MERA committee has been contacted by Mentorn TV who have been commissioned by the BBC to make a TV programme called The Cowboy Trap. The programme sets out to fix shoddy work done by cowboy builders.

They are currently looking for contributors who have been ripped off by builders to join the show.

Anyone interested in taking part should e-mail builders@mentorn.tv or phone 0207 258 6724 and leave a message so someone can contact you.

Further details at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/beonashow/cowboy_trap

Two items of news

The West Highland Way Tourist Information Centre should be opening in May. This will be attached to the Fraser Centre in Milngavie and is at the site of the former beer store for the Black Bull Hotel which was where Marks and Spencer is now located. This Information Centre will be very small, but work has been carried out and it is now taking shape with signage.

Please note that most of the shops have a petition that can be signed to save the public toilets from closing later in the year.

MERA AGM

The Mains Estate Residents' Association AGM will take place at 7.30pm on 27th May 2010 at Clober Primary Main Hall.

If you are a resident, you will be very welcome. Please come along if you can.

Bird lists, January to March 2010

Birds seen in the Mains Estate during January to March 2010

There were more unusual visitors in the early part of this year including Bramblings and large flocks of Redpolls. The largest number of Redpolls was seen on 5th February, when 84 were counted.

Blackbird (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Black-headed gull (Jan, Feb)
Bluetit (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Brambling (Jan, Feb)
Bullfinch (Jan)
Buzzard (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Carrion crow (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Chaffinch (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Coal tit (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Common gull (Jan)
Curlew (Jan)
Dunnock (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Geese (unidentified species) (Jan, Feb)
Goldfinch (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Great spotted woodpecker (Feb, Mar)
Great tit (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Greenfinch (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Herring gull (Jan)
House sparrow (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Jackdaw (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Long-tailed tit (Jan, Feb)
Magpie (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Mallard (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Mistle thrush (Jan)
Redpoll (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Redwing (Jan)
Reed bunting (Jan, Feb)
Robin (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Rook (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Siskin (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Song thrush (Jan)
Starling (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Wood pigeon (Jan, Feb, Mar)
Woodcock (just outside the estate)
Wren (Jan, Feb, Mar)

Request from the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald

We have been contacted by the Milngavie & Bearsden Herald who are trying to trace a young couple who got married fairly recently, are aged about 21, originally met at a playgroup, and are understood to have set up home in the Mains Estate. The Milngavie & Bearsden Herald would like to do a human interest story on them and would be grateful if they could get in touch if they wish to do so. The staff member to contact is Julian at the Milngavie & Bearsden Herald.

The contact details are:
Milngavie & Bearsden Herald
27 Stewart Street
Milngavie
G62 6BW
Telephone : 0141-956 2314
Web: http://www.milngavieherald.co.uk/contactus.aspx

Bird list, January 2010

Birds seen in the Mains Estate during January

There have been more unusual visitors this month, including Bramblings and large flocks of Redpolls.

Blackbird Black-headed gull Bluetit Brambling Bullfinch Carrion crow Chaffinch Coal tit Common gull Curlew Dunnock Geese (unidentified species) Goldfinch Great tit Greenfinch Herring gull

House sparrow Jackdaw Long-tailed tit Magpie Mallard Redpoll Redwing Reed bunting Robin Rook Siskin Song thrush Starling Wood pigeon Wren

Redpoll

Clothing collections for charity

Residents may have received plastic bags through their doors recently with requests for donations of clothing.

Before donating clothing in this way, it is always best to check out the companies involved. Whilst they may not be acting illegally, many are profit-making businesses which donate a very small proportion of their profits to charity, and if this charity is based in a foreign country, there is no knowing what may happen to any money they receive.

You can also check these out very easily by typing the names of any or all of the companies named on the bag into Google or another search engine, making sure that any links you follow up are not to the websites of those companies themselves.

It is usually best to deal with a registered charity based in the UK, as your donations have a much better chance of being used for the purposes stated.

For more information, see such websites as
www.joswinson.org.uk/pages/boguscharities.html
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3430119.stm
www.charity-commission.gov.uk/news/bogus.asp

Unusual birds

If you are interested in birds, look out for some unusual visitors following the recent cold spell.

There has been a large flock of Redpolls this week, with up to 50 visiting nyger feeders along with Siskins.

Redpoll, Mains Estate, 18th Jan 2010

Watch out also for Bramblings. Several have been seen in the estate this week. They look rather like chaffinches and often mix with them, but are more orange, with a white rump, and with a pattern like scales on the back. The male has a darker head than the female.

Female Brambling, Mains Estate, 22nd Jan 2010

Fieldfares became frequent visitors to gardens all over the country, including the Mains Estate. These birds are quite common in the countryside, but do not usually visit gardens as much as in the recent cold spell. They may still be around.

Please let us know if you see any unusual birds in the Estate. We would love to know about them.

Bird list, December 2009

Birds seen in the Mains Estate during December

During the cold spell of weather we have had some more unusual visitors, including Redpolls and Fieldfares.

Blackbird Black-headed gull Bluetit Bullfinch Carrion crow Chaffinch Coal tit Common gull Dunnock Fieldfare Goldfinch Great tit Greenfinch House sparrow

Jackdaw Magpie Mallard Pied wagtail Redpoll Robin Rook Siskin Snipe Song thrush Starling Treecreeper Wood pigeon Wren