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24/11/2015

Final Count Down to Broughty Ferry Christmas Lights Night Thursday 26 November 2015

Broughty Ferry Christmas Lights Night is this Thursday, 26 November 2015. It will be taking place in Brook Street and Gray Street which will be traffic free for the night.

A great turn out from children with their parents and carers, young people and those that are young at heart is anticipated. 

The event kicks off at 6pm on the Radio Tay stage with this running order:


  • 6pm The Eastern Primary School Choir
  • 6.10pm Christmas Poster Competition presentation to the winners
  • 6.20pm Downfield Musical Society
  • 6.35pm Tribute to Frozen
  • 6.50pm Broughty Ferry Traders' Association cheque presentation to local good causes
  • 7pm Lights switch on with the Festive Ferry Minions

Entertainment will also be provided by Radio Tay and family friendly headliners with the whole event ending at 9pm.

There will be street food from local traders including Scott Brothers Butchers, all the fun of the fair with rides for young and old and a stall where people can purchase the new Broughty Shopper Bag and the beautifully illustrated Broughty Ferry 2016 Calendar.

Please note that the middle section of Brook Street between its junction with Fort Street and the junction with Gray Street will be closed from mid afternoon, although all the shops will remain open as usual.

Enjoy!

23/11/2015

Grove Academy Nineteenth in Sunday Times League Table of Top Fifty State Secondary Schools in Scotland

Grove Academy, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, 19th in Sunday Times top 50 State Secondary Schools in Scotland
Yesterday, as part of their Parent Power supplement, the Sunday Times published their list of the Top Fifty State Secondary Schools in Scotland. 

Grove came in joint nineteenth place (17th in 2014).

Congratulations to the pupils and staff at Grove for maintaining the school in the top twenty at a time of profound changes to the curriculum and SQA examinations. Of course the results at Grove also reflect positively on the support of parents and carers and the excellent groundwork provided by the pupils' Nursery and Primary Schools.

The Sunday Times table was calculated with reference to the 2014 National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher examination results with Highers and Advanced Highers double weighted.

A much wider range of measures about the Grove 'results' is available on the Education Scotland website - follow this link. The latest 'Insight' tool provides comparisons between the performance of Grove school leavers with a sample of pupils with similar backgrounds.

16/11/2015

Events in Dundee Today in the Wake of the Paris Terror Attacks

In the wake of the Paris terror attacks on Friday evening a number of events have been arranged in City Square today.

A one minute silence for the victims will take place at 11am in City Square. The event is part of a Europe-wide act of remembrance to those murdered in the atrocitiesThe council is asking anyone wishing to show their respects to be in the City Square by 10.50am.

This morning the Lord Provost Office in the City Council confirmed that a book of Condolences has been opened This will be available in the City Chambers main reception at 20 City Square so that people in Dundee can express their solidarity, write a word or sign the book of condolences.

Dundee Solidarity with Paris, Beirut, Iraq and Syria are holding a vigil in City Square in Dundee beginning at 17:30. They write:
This is not a protest but a solidarity candle light Vigil. There will be speakers and prayers.
Participating organisations: Tayside Action for Refugees, DUSA (Dundee university Student association), UNISON (trade Union), Yusuf Youth Initiative
More details on their Facebook link below
https://www.facebook.com/events/1667672750177417

14/11/2015

Vote for Dawson Park in UK Best Parks Awards 2015

Logo UK Best Parks Awards 2015
Dawson Park has been nominated in the UK Best Parks Awards 2015.

Online voting runs until 5pm on Wednesday 25th November 2015. The winning park will be announced at the Fields in Trust Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 2nd December.

You can find the link to vote for Dawson Park at:
http://www.fieldsintrust.org/bestpark/nominations

Dawson Park was funded by a bequest in 1940 from Mr William Dawson of Broughty Ferry, 'for the purpose of providing playing fields, sports ground and other recreational facilities'. The ground was purchased from the Douglas and Angus Estate in 1949, and the park was opened in the mid 1950's.

As well been a very well used public park, Dawson Park hosts Grove Academy for its outdoor PE; providing a running track for athletics, hockey and football pitches, tennis courts and changing rooms.

09/11/2015

More businesses in Dundee … but fewer workers

Map of Dundee
"Statistics released by the Scottish Government have shown that there are now 310 more businesses in Dundee than five years ago, generating a £586m rise in annual turnover. However, the number of people employed by Dundee businesses has dropped by 680 in those five years. 

The breakdown of figures shows that the two sectors that have lost the most jobs are construction and manufacturing, with 640 and 680 fewer jobs respectively over the five-year period."

Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph

05/11/2015

My Submission to LGBCS About Proposed Boundary Changes for Ward 8 - The Ferry - in Dundee












Dear LGBCS,

I am writing to add my weight to many hundreds of my constituents who attended a public meeting on Tuesday 1st September and the regular October meeting of The Broughty Ferry Community Council as well as those that have already submitted written representations. The former meeting was the largest about a local issue in The Ferry during my eight years as a City Councillor. The latter meeting was the largest public attendance at an ordinary meeting of the Community Council for many years.

Almost without exception residents from West Ferry were hostile to your proposals. Almost without exception residents from other parts of The Ferry were supportive of retaining the entire Ferry ward and not having West Ferry pruned off or any other part of their ward subsumed into another ward. I understand that this has been reflected in the written representations you have already received.

As an opposition Councillor, I regret that I did not take the opportunity to move against what became the LGBCS proposal when the Council discussed this. At that meeting, the tabled proposal from the majority SNP group on the Council was obviously going to be voted through.

The case for retention of the current boundary for Ward 8 does not however wholly depend on the number of objectors but also the following arguments:

Parity.
Using the LGBCS figures, not unreasonable parity, would be achieved by retaining the existing ward boundary.

Community/Local Ties. 
The Ferry Ward is effectively identical with the long established community of Broughty Ferry. The electoral boundary currently adequately defines what is essentially the eastern suburb of Dundee. This arrangement will be disrupted by the proposed boundary change. This moves the western boundary eastwards so that the West Ferry part of Broughty Ferry will, to a great extent, be merged into the adjoining East End Ward. The western boundary of the historic (independent and electorally separate) Police Burgh of Broughty  Ferry is identical to the current western boundary of West Ferry/Broughty Ferry (this has been confirmed to the Community Council by Ian Flett, the City Archivist). After Broughty Ferry was subsumed into Dundee in 1913, this electoral boundary was retained and exists to this day. Not only is the existing Ward 8 boundary historically significant, but the identity of The Ferry is strongly felt not only by residents born and bred in The Ferry but also by those residents like me that have moved to the city and made their home in Broughty Ferry. The strength and prevalence of these ties are also evidenced by the volume of objections you have already received.

Local services. 
There is a complex web of local statutory and voluntary organisations that serve people in the ward; for example the Broughty Ferry Community Council and Grove Academy. Significantly, while much of the current West Ferry lies outside the current catchment area of Grove Academy, through placing requests and the increased capacity of the new Grove Academy, many children from West Ferry attend Grove Academy along with their counterparts from other neighbourhoods in The Ferry ward.

In conclusion
I think there is now overwhelming evidence of a strongly held held consensus amongst my constituents that The Ferry ward should retain its existing boundaries. It is now the responsibility of the Commission, not the electors of The Ferry ward, to decide the potential alternative changes that might be required in adjoining wards to make this aspiration a reality.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Laurie Bidwell

Submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (LGBCS) 22 October 2015