New Pocket Garden competition at Dundee Flower & Food Festival

From Keep Scotland Beautiful :

We are delighted to be working with Dundee Flower and Food Festival 2018 to promote a One Planet Picnic competition to design the most exciting and unusual pocket garden, using plants that can be eaten, attract wildlife and celebrate 30 years of the Festival in Camperdown Park.

The competition is for groups to design a pocket garden, sized 120cm x 100cm, to mark this 30th year of the Dundee Flower and Food Festival and celebrate sustainable growing and gardening.  

Twelve winning designs will be selected and these groups invited to construct their pocket garden for display at the Festival, which runs from 31 August to 2 September.  The pocket gardens will form a ‘Celebration Garden’ located in the Floral Marquee adjacent to our Keep Scotland Beautiful stand.

Entries are invited from all organisations, including schools, nurseries, horticultural societies, friends’ groups, It’s Your Neighbourhood and Beautiful Scotland Groups, allotments and community allotment groups.  

Interested groups are asked to provide a sketch of the proposed pocket garden design, annotated or with explanatory notes.

A fact sheet providing competition details, a design brief and inspiration for your design ideas and how to stage your exhibit is available here.

The twelve winners invited to display their gardens in the ‘Celebration Garden’ will receive two free tickets to the Festival and will receive a commemorative certificate.  They will also be judged and overall winners announced in early September.

All entries must be submitted electronically by 5pm on Friday 15th June 2018 to bookings.flowershow@dundeecity.gov.uk.

D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum summer season

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :

The D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum will re-open for its summer season this Friday (1st June) and will be open every Friday 2pm-4.30pm until 31st August. 

As always the museum showcases D’Arcy’s amazing collection of animals from around the world, as well as stunning models, charts and artworks inspired by D’Arcy’s ideas and specimens. 

Newly added to the museum are stunning images taken from some of D’Arcy’s original microscope slides.

The museum is in the Carnelley Building, just behind the University Tower on Park Place. 

Please enter by the main front door, not the glass entrance to the side.

WestFest Big Sunday 2018 - don't miss it! @LoveWestfest

Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 28 MAY 2018

South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for 5 weeks for footway works.

Please also note that, in addition to the scheduled road report, Guthrie Street has been closed at its most westerly section, in recent days.   The council has advised me :

"The works and road closure are due to a SSE cable fault.   They contacted me last Tuesday to advise me of the problem.    I would hope the work to be completed in the next few days."

No surgeries tomorrow - Victoria Day! #dundeewestend

As tomorrow is the Victoria Day holiday, my Monday surgeries will not run as normal.

However, I can be contacted at any time on 459378 or at esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk.

My Thursday evening surgery at Blackness Primary School this week takes place as usual - details here.

Bash Street’s back at The McMenace!

From 2nd June until 21st October :

This summer, join some of the city’s funniest and most loved characters as The Bash Street Kids take over the museum as part of a brilliant new exhibition!

First published in 1938, Beano has continued to entertain children and adults alike for 80 years. From Lord Snooty, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and of course The Bash Street Kids, DC Thomson have created some of the most iconic characters in comic history. This exhibition will look at DC Thomson’s early beginnings in the 19th century to their domination of the printing presses by the early 20th century.

But just how was a comic put together? We will look at the development of the machines that produced the publications and the people of the kids of the High School of Dundee, to the artists such as Dave Sutherland, who has drawn the Bash Street

Kids since 1962.

McManus Galleries opening times: Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm; Sunday, 12.30pm – 4.30pm.

West End Community Police Surgeries #dundeewestend

The next West End community police surgeries take place next Monday - details below and all residents welcome :

Friends of Balgay Spring litter pick #dundeewestend

The Friends of Balgay Spring 2018 litter pick takes place on Sunday 27th May.

If you can lend a hand, please meet at the Balgay Bridge at 2pm - many thanks.

Harris Education and Recreation Association AGM #dundeewestend

Dundee Design Parade

Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 21 MAY 2018

South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for 6 weeks for footway works.

Soup and Pudding Lunch next Saturday #dundeewestend

Friends of Magdalen Green AGM #dundeewestend

Design Heritage Walk

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :

Sunday 20th May, 3pm

Design Heritage Walk

Meet outside Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (Matthew Building)

Dundee is now a UNESCO City of Design but how much do you know about the history of design in the city?  

This informal guided tour by Matthew Jarron as part of Dundee Design Month will explore some design highlights in and around the city centre, past and present. We will find out about some of Dundee’s most important design-related companies, discover the stories of exceptional designers and see some amazing examples of design that you may never have noticed before.

The event is free but places should be booked here.

Please wear appropriate footwear and contact us in advance if you have any special access requirements.

Blackness Post Office - electronic door entry #dundeewestend

Residents have reported concerns that the electronic door entry button at Blackness Post Office, to assist customers with mobility difficulties, is still not working and so I again took this up with Post Office Limited.

The company's External Affairs Manager has responded positively as follows 

"Thank you for getting in touch in relation to the door entry button at Blackness Road Post Office. 

I have asked the field team to raise this issue with the postmaster. You may know that the vast majority of our post offices are operated by independent agents. As such Post Office ltd is not responsible for the building. 

Before we issue a contact which allows agents to provide services, we do insist on certain things such as the building being accessible for people with disabilities. This usually means that the branch needs to be DDA compliant. I don't believe such a button comes under this legislation. 

Therefore whilst we can ask and encourage the postmaster to take action, we unfortunately cannot insist on such action being taken as it doesn't breach any contractual issues. 

That said we will impress on the postmaster the importance of getting this fixed and the inconvenience it is causing customers."

Halliday & Sesar at the Wighton!

From Sheena Wellington :

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library 

Saturday 19th May at 11am (doors open 10.30am) 

Cappuccino Concert with Chris Sesar and Gill Halliday

Singer song-writers, Chris Sesar and Gill Halliday have gained recognition for their genre defying repertoire, effortlessly blending Celtic folk and roots, country music & Americana with a brush of gypsy jazz.

Chris Sesar's songs paint the landscape of human relationships with gentle colours and delicate detail, sometimes bitter sweet, sometimes dark and with a comic twist.

Since March 2016 Chris has been touring Scottish & European Venues with Angus based singer songwriter Gill Halliday. Her intuitive use of wind instruments adds a layer of depth and versatility to the performance whilst her powerful voice delivers her songs with heartfelt honesty.

Individually, Sesar & Halliday are both brilliant vocal performers. Their harmonies, however, are nothing short of mesmerising.

Arrive at 10.30am to grab a coffee and a newspaper, then sit back and relax from 11am-12 noon to enjoy the concert.

£5 Tickets on the door and a suggested donation of £1 for coffee and newspaper.

A Legacy of Art & Design in Dundee - Meet the Artists

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :

Saturday 19th May at 3pm

A Legacy of Art & Design in Dundee - Meet the Artists 

- as part of the annual Festival of Museums 

D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, Tower Building

To accompany our current exhibition in the Lamb Gallery, this event provides a unique opportunity to meet and hear the stories of some of the artists who have contributed to the exhibition. Find out what part their time at DJCAD played in their lives and what career paths their work has taken them since graduating. Speakers will be: Aileen Stackhouse, Emma Cooper, Lesley Kamel, Jonathan Milburn, Kam Chan, Janey Muir, Anna Orton.

The event is free but places should be booked here.

Special extra!  After the event, Emma Cooper has kindly offered to lead a walk to Peacehill (weather permitting), the location of her two landscape paintings in the exhibition. This is an informal event not organised by the University and transport across the Tay is not provided, but there is a 77 bus at 4.30pm which those wishing to take part can catch.

Find out more about the exhibition here.

Repair work at Victoria Park #dundeewestend

From the council's Neighbourhood Services Area manager for the west of the city :

"As you may have noticed that there is an area of grass that has been killed off in the middle of the park - this is due to a damaged underground cable.  

SSE will be carrying out extensive repair works to this on the 28th May

This will comprise of large excavations for around 5/6 weeks.  

The area will be secured with Heras fencing each night and weekends.

Once repairs have been completed SSE sub contractors will repair the area."

Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD -  SUNDAY 13 MAY 2018

Riverside Drive (at Tesco) – eastbound convoy system on Sunday 13 May for Scottish Water manhole repair.

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 14 MAY 2018

South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for 7 weeks for footway works.

Lochee Road (at Polepark Road) – lane restrictions from Tuesday 15 May for up to one week for water main repair.

Lee Welsh Memorial Game

Please support the Lee Welsh Memorial Game - a charity game in the memory of Lee.    

All monies raised will be donated to DAMH, Dundee Association for Mental Health.

Poster below and more details available here :

D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum Birthday Blow Out!

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :

Residents are invited to join us at 6pm on Tuesday 15th May to celebrate the 10th and 125th anniversaries of the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum.

D'Arcy began building his collection in 1885 and opened his original museum 125 years ago in 1893. It was sadly dismantled in 1956 prior to the demolition of the building to make way for the new University Tower. 

The museum was later recreated in various dispersed displays around the Biological Sciences Institute, but only when it relocated to its current home in the Carnelley Building 10 years ago were we able to have a single dedicated space for the museum and thus open it regularly to the public.

Since then we have welcomed thousands of visitors and held dozens of events, as well as providing a unique learning and teaching environment for students from over 20 different undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

This special anniversary evening will feature short presentations by curator Matthew Jarron, honorary curators and volunteers Cathy Caudwell and Brian Eddy, Fine Art student Ray Byrne, Medical Art course director Caroline Erolin, Art & Design tutor Helen McCoig, Anatomy tutor Luke Reid and Creative Writing tutor Eddie Small.

The event is free but please book at here.   Please enter via the main front door of the Carnelley Building. Refreshments will be served afterwards.

We hope you can join us for this special occasion!

Litter pick at University of Dundee today - all welcome!

Bus stop east of Harris Academy moved - trial basis

For some considerable time, along with nearby residents, Harris Academy and its Parent Council, I have suggested to the City Council that the westbound public bus stop on Perth Road that lies just east of Harris Academy should be moved very slightly west to in front of the school.

This would have the following advantages :

+ Far better standing area for passengers waiting for a bus as the plaza in front of the school is spacious.

+ Less crowded situation than where the current bus stop is when passengers are waiting at the stop and school pupils are exiting the school at the end of the school day.

+ The existing bus stop is extremely close to the School Crossing Patroller;  in front of the school is not.

There has been a lengthy debate with council transportation officers about this but, at last, a trial move has been agreed to ascertain how well this works - this will commence today.

This update was sent by a City Council transportation officer to Harris Academy last week which fully explains the trial period arrangements :

"I refer to the Harris Academy Parent Council Meeting of 8th March 2018 where (we) agreed to investigate the possibility of moving the bus stop for a trial period to monitor the effect of the bus stop move especially at the end of the of the school day.     I am pleased to confirm that we have agreed to move the bus stop into the bus lay-by in front of the main school entrance for a trial period to commence from Wednesday 9th May until Friday 1st June inclusive. 

Discussion have been ongoing with the bus operators who have agreed to the trial period being put in place.    The parking team has also been informed of this change and the necessary changes to the plate will be carried out on Tuesday 8th May 2018.     During the trial period the bus stop will be enforceable between the normal times of 0700hrs - 2300hrs where only buses will be legally able to wait.      The parking team have agreed to be in attendance on occasion during the trial period.

Can you please notify staff and parents that the bus stop will now be out of action for general vehicles use during the trial period and that any misuse may result in the vehicle receiving a Parking Charge Notice (PCN).

The transport team will monitor the effect of the local bus services using the revised stop during the trial period with a view to making a decision about the trial period becoming the permanent stop location."

During this period, I would welcome any feedback from residents - many thanks.

West End Community Council Update #dundeewestend

I have today launched my May 2018 Update to West End Community Council.    Subjects covered include:

•         Roads and pavements improvements 2018/19

•         Graffiti vandalism tackled

The Community Council meets this evening at Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall at 7pm - all residents welcome.      You can download my Update here.

The agenda for tonight’s meeting is as follows :

WEST END  COMMUNITY  COUNCIL  MEETING

TUESDAY 8th MAY  2018  AT  7.00PM

LOGIE  AND ST JOHN`S (CROSS)  PARISH  CHURCH  HALL

(ENTER FROM  SHAFTESBURY  TERRACE  -  OFF  BLACKNESS  AVENUE)

1. WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS AND APOLOGIES

2. MINUTE OF MEETING 10th APRIL 2018 AND  MATTERS  ARISING

3. CORRESPONDENCE

4. POLICE SCOTLAND UPDATE

5. PERTH ROAD UPDATE 

6. WECC HIT LIST

7. PLANNING  UPDATE

8. OTHER MEETINGS ATTENDED ON BEHALF OF WECC

9. AOCB – MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC INPUT

10. DATE  OF  NEXT  MEETING – Tuesday 12th June 2018

No ward surgeries today ...

As today is the May Day holiday and local schools are on holiday, my usual ward surgeries on a Monday at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre do not take place but I can be contacted at any time at home on 459378 or by e-mail at surgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk. 

My surgeries resume on Thursday of this week.      Details are available here.

Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 7 MAY 2018

South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for one week for footway works.

Perth Road (at West Park Road) – temporary traffic lights until mid week for gas main repair.

Lochee Road (at Tullideph Road) – temporary traffic lights until Monday 7 May for Scottish Water mains repair.

Blackness Road (at Bellfield Street) – off-peak temporary traffic lights on Friday 11 May for BT cabling works.

Riverside Drive (at Tesco) – eastbound convoy system on Sunday 13 May for Scottish Water manhole repair.

Event at Riverside Nature Park #dundeewestend

Plant Power Day at the Botanic Garden #dundeewestend

Out of our Minds

From the Curator of  Museum Services at the University of Dundee and as part of the "Face to Face - Stories from the Asylum" exhibition :

Saturday 26th May at 2pm

"Out of our Minds"

Meet in Tower Foyer Gallery, University of Dundee

A creative life writing workshop exploring memory and contemporary perspectives on mental health, led by award-winning teacher of memoir and creative non-fiction, Josie Jules Andrews (School of Humanities, University of Dundee).

Free but places are limited and must be booked in advance on Eventbrite here.

West End Police Scotland Community Surgery tomorrow

Take pride in your city events - May #takepridedundee #dundee

Friends of Wighton event

From Sheena Wellington :

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library - Wednesday 2nd May

Lunchtime Recital - 1.15pm – 1.45pm.   Admission free

Karen Hannah, fiddle & Lindsay Duncan, guitar

Music lovers are being thoroughly spoiled at the Wighton over the next week.   Saturday’s  Cappuccino Concert featured those lovely singers The Quiggs    Now Wednesday’s Lunchtime Recital stars another great tuneful duo, Karen Hannah and Lindsay Duncan.

A fine fiddle  player with an engaging personality, Karen is known to many as  “tunemonster” for her unrivalled knowledge of Scottish melodies. The wonderfully named Nifty Shades of Grey, Sporran Again and Ceilidh Minogue are among the many bands she has worked with!  She has taught fiddle at the Wighton Centre for many years and her performing career has seen representing Scotland across Europe and as far afield as New Zealand and South Korea.

Another musical globetrotter is Lindsay Duncan, one of the best known musicians on the Dundee scene.    Deeply into music since his schooldays, he is a compelling singer and plays the most beautiful acoustic guitar – check out his version of The Irish Girl on YouTube.   His band pedigree incudes The Mad Parrot Ceilidh Band and The Broon Troot Orchestra and he is an excellent and experienced guitar teacher.

Karen and Lindsay have worked together as a duo and in various line- ups for around ten years.  They promise us tunes, songs and a surprise or two.  I’m looking forward to it and I hope you are too.

Admission free, donations welcome.