Kingswells NewsLetter JUNE'04originalcms.kingswells.com/.../KingswellsNewsLetter_Dec06.pdf · 11 Coldstone Avenue, Kingswells Tel/Fax 01224 744607 ... project, for the ... ed final

1

Keep in the know with www.kingswells.com and Kingswells News Email: [email protected]

NEWSLETTER FOR THE COMMUNITY OF KINGSWELLS DECEMBER 2006

‘Supported by SHELL and the ABERDEEN CITY ALLIANCE’

Kingswells News andKingswells.com are delightedto be the sponsors of the com-munities very first Christmastree.Congratulation to theKingswellsCommunityCouncil fororganisingthe erectionof the treeand to thevolunteerswho dug thebaserequired tosupport the20ft fir.

The sparkleon the treeis all thanksto the FourMile Housewho spon-sered thelights. Itlooks justgreat. Thanks also

to Absign for providing ban-ners allowing us all to proclaimour sponsorship. Let’s hope this is the start of aregular Christmas tree forKingswells.

Well doneKingswellCommunityCouncil, itsa great con-tirbution tothe ‘village’ofKingswells. It certainlycheers youup when yougo past it.

As one localresidentsaid, “Weare veryproud tohave thetree at thebegining ofour road, it’sjust beautiful”.

KINGSWELLS NEWS

CONTENTSP2: ContactsP3: Local Councillor -

UpdateP4: Kingswells ForumP5: Kingswells ForumP6: Cycle LanesP7: AdvertsP8: Tar Drive

Christmas Boxes

Our Very OwnChristmas Tree...

JESUS IS THE REASONFOR THIS SEASON

Christmas Workshopat Kingswells ParishChurchSunday 17th December11:00am Family NativityServicet’was the time of the census Sunday 24th December11:00am Lessons and Carols forChristmas.Sunday 24th December11:30pm Watchnight ServiceCarol singing from 11:15pmChristmas Day 11:00amFamily Gift ServiceSunday 31st December11:00am Morning WorshipJesus ChristThe same yesterday, todayand forever.Rev Dolly Purnell ; 01224740229 or email:[email protected] orvisit our website:www.kingswellschurch.co.uk



KINGSWELLS NEWSYour community newsletter ismade possible by the contri-butions of a network of local

volunteers.It is also now ‘Supported bySHELL and the ABERDEENCITY ALLIANCE’ who areproviding some funding for

the newsletter.Please get involved with theKingswells News. Why notcontribute an advert or a

donation? Write a letter to theeditor, or offer a news articlePlease get in contact with us

now on 749178.

Contact details:Claire Burt (Chairwoman)KINGSWELLS COMMUNITY NEWS,21 Wellside Avenue, Kingswells,AB15 8EFEmail: [email protected] Tel: 01224 746859

Bert Noble (Treasurer)Tel: 01224 744888

Fiona Bakke (Secretary)Tel: 01224 749133

COPY DEADLINES:Last Thursday of the precedingmonth.

Advertising Rates:6cm by 1 column (6cm) £359cm by 1 column (6cm) £556cm by 3 column (18cm) £100More information visitwww.kingswells.com.

Useful ContactNumbersKingswells Medical Practice

745800 Kingswells Pharmacy 749495 Community Centre 741806 Kingwells Primary School

740262 Kingswells Church Hall

Update from Cllr. PeterStephen Liberal Democrat(Kingswells & Newhills)11 Coldstone Avenue,KingswellsTel/Fax 01224 744607

Hi all,With the approach ofChristmas and another yearend, one realises how quicklytime passes and how neces-sary it is to attempt to planwhat we do. For me thisinevitably includes preparationfor the May 2007 election. Iwill, over the next fewmonths, in my separatepolitical communications, bepushing election papersthrough your letter boxes. Happy Days!!!

Down to business: The Airport 300 metre exten-sion was dealt with at thePlanning Committee on the 16November and voted throughby 12 votes to 2. The two vot-ing against it, plus one whohad originally voted for it,chose, as is their right, tobring the matter to a FullCouncil Meeting on 13December for further debate.The issue is a sensitive one,and climate change is animportant issue, but a goodcase was made after an hour’s

Dear All,Wishing you all a very MerryChristmas and a happy New Year.From Claire

YOUR LETTERSDear Kingswells News,I would be grateful if it could bebrought to the attention of theKingswells Newsletter that duringschool pick up time the parking ofvehicles is causing a lot ofobstruction for the residents ofBethlin Mews as well as a causefor concern on KingswellsAvenue. Each day I have greatdifficulty during the time of 3pmand 3.30pm gaining access to myown street or vice versa trying toget out of my street during thesetimes. As I appreciate parents doneed to collect their childrenthere must be some alternativefor parking arrangements close toKingswells Primary. I would begrateful if this could be broughtto the attention of the committee.With cars parking at corners thisis an obstruction and an accidentwaiting to happen. Thank you foryour time and look forward tohearing from you.Kings Regards,Jill RobertonBethlin Mews

Dear Kingswells News,May I express my thanks toClaire Burt for her unceasingefforts on producing theKingswells News. I wonder if wehave been taking it for grantednow, without recognising theefforts of the contributors, butespecially Claire’s work in pullingit all together. Thank you Claire.Dave McGrath.

debate, for this modest runwayextension. If this wereapproved at Full Council, theextension would be dealt withas three separate phasedincreases of 100 metres, thefirst as soon as possible, withthe others before 2015. Ishould add that recent reportson climate change send out asombre warning. The CityCouncil agreed to signal theirconcerns to central govern-ment with a request forgreater action.

The winter programmeat Provost Skene’sHouse: One of the exhibitions current-ly running, is the EarlyGlimpses featuring manyitems from the St Nicholas digwhich takes the tangible histo-ry of Aberdeen back into the11th century. We are alsoprivileged to have such rareand significant documents onloan which are only going tobe on show for a few weeksbecause they are so fragile.It is anticipated the dig will fin-ish at the end of December.

Mini Moto Facility:I have been reminded that aKarting and Mini-moto centrehas been opened at 17Broadfold Road, Bridge of Don.This facility will be run byCraig Lockhart of Kartstart .Grampian Police and AberdeenCity Council are also workingin partnership to identify asuitable site in which to devel-op an indoor/outdoor motorcycle facility within North ofthe City where motorbikes andmini-motos can be used in acontrolled enviromennt. It ishoped that this will go some-

way to help reduce illegal useof motorbikes within the neigh-bourhoods and reduce distur-bance and annoyance previ-ously suffered by local resi-dents.

Road widening atNewhills Cemetry:The continuation of the widen-ing will continue early in 2007when land ownership formali-ties are dealt with.

Vandalism:If you have information aboutany crimes and wish to reportin ANONYMOUSLY - Pleasetelephone Crimestoppers on0800 555 111 otherwise con-tact Grampian Police on 0845600 5 700. I may say moreabout Crimestoppers in afuture article.

WesthillCycleway:Faber Mausell is cur-rently designing anOff-Road cyclewayfrom Hazlehead round-about to Westhill. Theproject, for theKingswells section,could conceivable be atconstruction stage byMarch 2007. I wouldbe happy to pass onany helpful commentor question.

Broadband:I am pleased to saythat the press releasefrom BT in the Press &Journal of 15November brings to aclose, the long await-ed final part of theKingswells hook-up.

Finally - ConcraigGardens area:Well done, your Resident sAssociation is now up and run-ning following your PublicMeeting in August.

Have a lovely Christmas Best regards, PETER. Liberal Democrat Councillor

3




Wish you all a very

MerryChristmas.

Sign the guest book at www.kingswells.com



By Graeme CouttsOur community website athttp://www.kingswells.com continues to be verypopular with well over 100,000 hits each month.This month I would like to explain the use of thekingswells.com forum - the online meeting place forall Kingswells residents.

What is the forum?The community forum was established to provideresidents with a place where they can come toshare their ideas, ask for and give advice, and holddiscussions on a wide range of topics.

Recent successes on the forum have included assis-tance with Freeview reception in the area, finding areliable window cleaner, and updates to the on-going broadband saga.

Topics within the Forum are called posts - anyone can read any of these posts, but you need to be a reg-istered user to begin a new post. As a registered user you get your own username to identify yourselfwithin the forum. Registration is a very simple process and only takes a minute of your time.

How do I register?To the right of the web site navigation menu on anypage you will see two command links Register andLogin. Click on the Register command to navigateto the Registration page. Fields marked with anasterisk (*) are mandatory for the registrationprocess. Enter your first name and last name, andthen choose a username. The username must be atleast 6 characters and could be your name, or evena nickname. Choose a memorable word of at least6 characters for your password and repeat thispassword in the Confirm field. Finally enter youremail address. It’s important that you enter a validemail address as you will not be able to complete

the registration without a valid email. The other fields on the screen are optional and you may providethese only if you wish to provide these extra details. Please note that this information is kept privateand, other than your username, is not displayed on any screen within kingswells.com.Click on the Register command link to complete the process. You are now a registereduser within kingswells.com!

How do I Login?The Login command link is available from any page within kingswells.com. It is located tothe right of the web site navigation menu. Click on the Login command to navigate to theAccount Login page. Enter your username and password in the fields provided. Then click

Kingswells.com forum

5



on the Log In button. If this isyour first-time login then youwill be prompted for aVerification Code. This specialcode has been sent within anemail message to the emailaddress that you provided dur-ing the registration process.Enter the code and then clickon the Log In button oncemore. In today s internet worldit seems that every site youvisit needs a specific usernameand password to proceed. Ifyou are like me and find it dif-ficult to remember this never-ending list of usernames andpasswords then a simpleroption is to check theRemember Login prior toLogin. Next time you visitkingswells.com you will beautomatically logged-in (Note:it is not advisable to check thisoption on a public or sharedcomputer).

Your First Post to theForumNow that you arelogged-in and recognised with-in kingswells.com, you will seenew options for posting andreplying when you navigate tothe Forum page. You can navi-gate to the Forum by clickingon the Forum command on theweb site navigation menu. Theforum page is divided into fiveseparate discussion categoriesincluding Community Debate,General Banter, and Just forFun. Click on the categoryname that best fits the topicfor your post. You will now seethe Category page whichshows a list of the current top-ics. You may click on any ofthese topic subjects to readthe posts. However to com-mence a new post, you mustclick on the New Topic button.This navigates to the Post New

Topic page. Enter a subjectand a message for your newtopic, and then click on thePost button to submit yournew post. Your first post isnow submitted tokingswells.com and can beinstantly viewed. Now just sitback and wait for the topicreplies to appear from yourfellow Kingswells residents.

Replying to an existingpost.The forum process is not com-plete if no other registeredusers contribute in your posts.You can answer any questionsor join a debate by replying toan existing post. This is donevery simply by browsing to anexisting post and clicking onthe Reply button. You will thennavigate to a screen whichlooks very similar to the PostNew Topic page. Enter youreply message and click on thePost button to submit yourreply.

A Final Word.Now you know how simple aprocess it is to register andcontribute to thekingswells.com forum. I wouldexpect that you will be rushingto your computers soon after

you finish reading this article.There are many other moreadvanced forum topics which Iwill cover in a futurekingswells.com article. Manythanks to the residents thatcontinue to use the forum on aregular basis and I very muchlook forward to seeing a fewnew names posting in the nearfuture.


PUDSEY SUCCESS ATCOLDSTONEOn 10th November Ailsa, Fionaand Craig Shepherd (supportedby their Mum) held a SocialAfternoon at their house to raisemoney for Children In Need. Onthe morning in question Mumhad a very sore back and couldhardly walk so the children hadto swing into action. Theyhoovered, swept, washed thefloor, looked out mugs, juice etc.They finished the baking, icedthe Pudsey shortbread, organisedthe Lucky Dip and undertooknumerous other little tasks inorder to let the event happen.At 1.30 friends started arrivingand were quick to help as theyrealised Mum’s plight. We had agreat afternoon, my children andmy friends were all wonderfuland we raised over £120 forChildren In Need. Thank you toeveryone who came and con-tributed. Who’s turn is it nextyear?From Linda Shepherd, Coldstone Avenue.



CycleLanesBy Dave McGrathWe are lectured greatly on theneed to get out of our cars andget on our bikes and busses.Rightly so I think. What is miss-ing is the authorities real commit-ment to providing SAFE cycleroutes. Lets test ACC real com-mitment.

Two communitiesBucksburn andKingswells, separatedby green fields andlinked via long and tor-tuous roads. The backroad via Newhills isvery dangerous, I knowI have cycled it on quite a fewoccasions. Soon (3 years or so),we will share a new 3Rs pro-gramme secondary school the newBankhead Academy. OurKingswells children have beenzoned to this new school. How are they to get there? Thecurrent plans are for busses - isthis enough, is this even appropri-ate?

How about a real test of commit-ment to local and national policieson sustainable transport, socialinclusion and improving healththrough active lifestyles.Providing a strategiccycle link by way ofa good metalledcycle path betweenKingswells andBucksburn, acrosscountry totally seg-regated from carsand lorries would doexactly this. It willaccommodate walk-ers, cyclists androller bladers. Thecycle path would act

as a major artery for the adultswho currently cycle to Bucksburnand Dyce and it would encouragesecondary school pupils to cyclefrom Kingswells to Bucksburnagain totally free of traffic. Suchpaths are routine on the conti-nent.

There is certainly a willingness toconsider it and to talk about it butcan the project be delivered?Peter Stephen Councillor forKingswells, has expressed supportfor the project, my he does agood job for our constituency.Rachel Sharp, Planner at the City

Council working onaccess to the outdoors,advises that theCouncil is aware of theneed for the projectthrough various consul-tations, and the projectcould be regarded as apriority due to the cleardemand for it and the

benefits it would bring. The pro-posal fits very well within the aimsand objectives of the Core PathsNetwork, which the Council isrequired to produce, providing abasic, safe framework of paths forrecreation and sustainable travel.Given there is so much supportand interest perhaps we couldrally all the interest groups to helpthis project happen.

How fast could this be done? Wellbuild would take no more than 3months but according to ACC itwould take at least 3 years to gothrough all the consultation, plan-

ning committees and publicenquiry.

I say if the city is real about theircommitment to sustainable trans-port what better an opportunity totest the publics reaction to theprovision of a dedicated andentirely segregated cycle pathbetween two thriving communitiesand provide a key artery to Dyce.Any one for forming a Cycle pathproject team, KingswellsCommunity Council Support?DaveMcGrath, Kingswells, with thanksto Rachel Green at ACC. [email protected],715568.

There is certainlya willness to

consider it andto talk

about it.


Need an Alternative Hi-Tech Christmas Present?

H-racer andHydrogenStation Kit -a workingmodel of21st Century hydrogen power vehicles.The H-racer is the smallest and coolesthydrogen fuel cell car in the world!Witness the power of new energy tech-nology in thepalm of your hand. That’sright - this car does not need batteries!The car uses a real fuel cell and its ownon-board hydrogen storage system. Thehydrogen station will provide your H-racer with an unlimited supply of cleanenergy. To create free hydrogen fuel atthe flick of a switch, just add water tothe station’s tank! Fueling is animated bya special blue light display.

Brought to you by Kingswells siGEN Ltd.Scotland’s leading Fuel Cell and hydro-gen company. They are in stock andcan be delivered on day of ordering.£65 Incl. VAT. Payment by cheque, cashor credit card. Delivered to your house.Contact Dave McGrath, siGEN Ltd01224 715568, [email protected] ‘Best Invention of the Year’ byTime magazine and featured on TV

gadget show.

Put some of your advertising budget in

the Kingswells News for2007.

Book a run of advertsfor the year and get a

discount.We help you and you

help us.Call Claire on 749178 or

[email protected]

7



ABSCO SERVICES LIMITEDPROPERTY MAINTENANCE SERVICES

UNIT 1, LINKS STREETABERDEEN, AB11 5EX

Office Tel: 01224 211711 or Fax: 01224 211690Email: [email protected]

Free Quotations, Estimates, Advice

We supply various trades, which include;Painters & Decorators,Joiners, Electricians,

Plumbers/Heating Engineer,Builder, Blacksmith/Welder

Work undertaken includes but not limited to; Kitchens,Bathrooms, Laminate Flooring, House Decoration, Lights,

Gates (steel or wood), Extensions, Conversions.No job too small - No job too large

ADVERTISING


Established for 14 Years

“Abacus have a New Edition to the Family”Nursery Now Open at Hazlehead

off Queens Road, Aberdeen.In partnership with the Local Authority.For Futher Information Please Contact

Lesley Daniel or Alison LauderTel: 324500

Gate House, Lodge West, Woodend,Aberdeen AB15 6YX

[email protected]

CUBS AND

BEAVERS NEED

YOUR SHOES.1st Kingswells

Cubs, Beavers Cubs andBeavers have agreed to sup-port the Blue Peter appeal thisyear. Blue Peter with UNICEFare collecting a target of 1/2million used but serviceableshoes. These will be sold toraise money for children inMalawi many of whom havelost both parents to AIDS.This appeal gathers shoesover 10 months to October2007, so ther need not be inany mad rush up toChristmas. We look for sup-port from parents and thecommunity of Kingswels in thecoming 10 months or so.




Give a gift to ahomeless person.

At this time of year,many of us are lookingforward to Christmaswith family and friends.However, for the manyhomeless people living inAberdeen andAberdeenshire,Christmas is often a par-ticularly difficult time,when they may feelespecially lonely and iso-lated. Many of them willspend Christmas andindeed the whole winterliving on the streets.

Each year, AberdeenCyrenians works withover 2,500 people whoare homeless. Many maynot have received a sin-gle gift at Christmas forseveral years. AberdeenCyrenians is therefore

asking people to fill ashoebox with some smallgifts that will be usefulto their clients this win-ter. Items you mightwish to include are warmclothing and toiletries.Perhaps you could alsoadd a bag of sweets, oreven just a card with afestive message.

Boxes should beunwrapped so staff canensure all clients receivesimilar gifts, and sent tothe charity’s head office- Simon House, 106Crown Street, Aberdeen- by Wednesday 20thDecember.

If you would like furtherinformation, AberdeenCyrenians can be con-tacted on 01224 572877or email [email protected]

Selling or leasing yourproperty?Advertise it for FREE onwww.kingswells.comThere is only one rule. The prop-erty must be in Kingswells. Sendus your details direct and we’lllink it to your estate agents siteor contact your estateagent/solicitor and ask them tosend the details to us at [email protected].

Breakdancing for7-16 year olds.There is a Breakdancing Club for 7-16 year olds at Webster Park (inassociation with the KingswellsCommunity Centre) on December15th. Depending on its success, theremay be an extenedbreakdancing/streedancing pro-gramme starting in next year. Contactthe Community Centre for more infor-mation.

Warning About Offers toTar DrivesAberdeen City Council Trading Standards Department have beenmade aware of recent incidents involving elderly residents beingapproached by two males offering to tar drives. A number of resi-dents agreed and have paid substantial costs for work to be done,only to find out the poor standard of workmanship has necessitatedthem to have the work re-done by an established firm.We are asking residents within their respective NeighbourhoodWatch Areas to be aware of this recurring trend and to advise thePolice of any suspicious persons or vehicles seen within their areas.Join Grampian Neighbourhood Watch at:www.grampiannwa.co.ukor [email protected] or 07971 309 830

Kingswells NewsLetter JUNE'04originalcms.kingswells.com/.../KingswellsNewsLetter_Dec06.pdf · 11 Coldstone Avenue, Kingswells Tel/Fax 01224 744607 ... project, for the ... ed final

Documents