COUNCIL VACANCIES ARE EQUAL TO NOMINATIONS
THE Annual General Meeting of the Benholm and Johnshaven Community Council will be held in the Village Hall on Wednesday, March 31 at 7pm and more than likely it will be a douce affair, especially when it comes to the election of councillors as it is understood that the number of vacancies to be filled on the Council equals the number of nominations.
It was very different 21 years ago when there was a total of ten candidates seeking four seats, election fever hit the parish and an unprecedented 147 voters turned out in the Village Hall to put their crosses on the ballot paper.
The previous year the A.G.M. had produced an election for the first time since the formation of the Community Council in 1975 and, although there was an astonishing number of nine candidates vying for five seats and a reasonable turnout in the Primary School there was nothing like the swell in public interest which took place the following year.
While it is not absolutely clear why this was so the most likely reason is likely to date back to a meeting of the Community Council in September 1990 when a "developer" outlined his company's proposals to build a ten-house development to the rear of the Haughs of Benholm and sheltered housing on land behind the high dykes adjacent to Lathallan School, all to finance an equestrian centre at the Whitehouse Farm.
After a full and sometimes heated discussion, the Community Council affirmed an earlier decision that the coastal strip between Gourdon and Johnshaven should be preserved as a natural amenity, free of housing, and the District Council was informed accordingly.
Then when councillors met in February, although they were told that the proposals had been reduced to the conversion of part of the farm steading into houses they stuck to their original decision to oppose any additional housing along the coastal strip and when the date of the AGM was announced there seems to have been a concern locally that the composition of the Community Council might be unfavourably altered.
Whatever the reason it was clear that, as the hall gradually filled to overflowing it, was to be an exceptional A.G.M. Around 7.45 p.m. the all-male Council, dark-suited for the occasion, concluded their formal business and then the secret ballot took place and with the result to be announced the same evening, the tension was palpable, especially among the candidates, none of whom had experienced anything like this before.
Then, approaching 10 o'clock an expectant hush fell on the hall as Returning Officer, Mr Duncan Mathieson, secretary of Gourdon Community Council, stood up to declare the result. Retiring Community Councillors, David Brown and Clark Simpson were re-elected along with newcomers Andrew Dundas and Magnus Taylor and half an hour later, as the crowd drifted slowly homewards, the doors closed on Benholm and Johnshaven Community Council's most exhilarating annual general meeting ever.
On Wednesday there are four nominations for four vacancies so there will be no need for an election. However, the new Community Council will have to elect from themselves a secretary, the present holder of the post, Mrs Gerry McGuiness, having earlier decided to stand down.
Ceilidh for Kirk
A crowd of around 70 in the Village Hall on Friday night enjoyed an excellent ceilidh which was held in aid of the general funds of Mearns Coastal Parish Church.
Providing the music for the evening were 16 members of the Scottish Accordion Music Group who, although based in Durris, come from different part of the country, and their foot-tapping tunes ensured that there were always lots of dancers on the floor.
Solo singers added to the enjoyment as did compere, Don Fraser, who kept the programme flowing with a wealth of jokes, Aberdeen Football Club being the butt of many of them, while stovies, dumpling and shortbread at half time maintained the Scottish theme.
The ceilidh was organised by Mrs Jean Cook who expressed her thanks to all, including the young badminton players who had laid the tables out the night before, who had contributed in so many ways to the success of a wonderful evening which had raised approximately 650. This was the third successive ceilidh which Mrs Cook has organised in aid of Church funds raising a sum approaching 2,000 in the process.
In the weeks up to the ceilidh Mrs Cook had not been in the best of health. However, she was delighted to be able to be present on the night and takes this opportunity of thanking all the very many people who had wished her a speedy recovery.
Bowling Club
In their last match in the Kincardineshire Indoor League the Bowling Club suffered another defeat, this time by 19 shots to 5 at the hands of Stonehaven B.C. who finished the season as league winners.
Johnshaven used only five players throughout the campaign, Ann Aitken, Alan Black, Alan Robbie, Bryan Duff and Margaret Hann and, while consistency of selection is often seen as the key to success in any team sport, somehow this theory did not seem quite to have worked out in the case of the Johnshaven Bowling Club!
However, just as the political spinners can find something positive to say even in the most desperate of situations, President Alan Robbie was able to point to an improvement in the performance of his rink. "At least we didn't get the wooden spoon this year." Just.
Mearns Coastal Parish
This Sunday the only service in the parish will be in St Cyrus Church at 10 a.m. when the Sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated and it will be followed immediately by the Stated Annual Meeting.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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