Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine Winter 2023

Community Groups
Blairgowrie & Rattray Community Council
At the recent BRCC AGM, the Chair reported on
our work during the past year, ranging from
the Children at Christmas Wish Tree project
to town resilience, via traffic and planning
matters, improving maintenance in the town
and communication with Perth & Kinross
Council, as well as nuturing relationships with
our twin towns, and, most importantly, giving
residents a place to voice their concerns and
raise matters they feel are important.
One of the benefits of attending BRCC monthly
meetings is that you are in the same room
as local councillors, so can directly hear their
views and engage with them on the matters
raised. Another benefit is that you will hear
about some of what is going on in town, make
your voice heard and find out how you can be
involved, should you want to.
The BRCC Resilience Team regularly works
with the police, fire and ambulance services,
and PKC, not only to support them when there
are major incidents in the town, but also on,
for example, training for young members of
our community to create a better working
relationship between us all.
BRCC are looking for volunteers to join the
Resilience Team. The main issue we have is
flooding, but we have also assisted at other
incidents, such as the fire at the laundry
in Emma Street last year. If you have any
experience, skills or are just keen to get
involved, it would be great to hear from you.
Please email: sec@brcommunitycouncil.org.uk
There will be a meeting for prospective
volunteers at Blairgowrie Fire station in early
November.
In July, a Pipe Major of the Blairgowrie, Rattray
& District Pipe Band, a local teacher, the BRCC
Secretary and Chair paid an official visit to our
twin town of Brebières, France, to celebrate
Bastille Day with them. There was also
ceremony to reconfirm the declaration of the
twinning between our two towns. We attended
the Bastille Day ceremony, laid a wreath
on behalf of Blairgowrie & Rattray, and the
bagpipes were played. We were taken on a tour
of the town, attended the Bastille Day concert
and fireworks. In September, the BRCC Chair
accompanied the Pipe Band itself to Brebières,
where they were invited to the “Braderie” (a
bit like Braemar Day!) to play alongside Le
Réveil Musical, the town’s brass band. There
were rehearsals, parades through the town,
tours of the war memorials in neighbouring
towns, all topped off with a joint concert, which
was very emotional. The hospitality we were
shown on both these visits was amazing. As
the relationship with Brebières develops, there
will be more and more opportunities of various
sorts. We are currently exploring crafting
exchanges and a virtual Burns Night Supper!
As always, BRCC is here to listen to the people
of Blairgowrie & Rattray and support the views
of the people of our community. If you would
like to help, don’t hesitate to get in touch,
and we can give examples of how you can get
involved. Check out our website for news items,
details of our meetings and current Planning
Applications in Ward 3 -
brcommunitycouncil.org.uk
and our Facebook page -
facebook.com/blairgowrierattraycommunitycouncil
Email: sec@brcommunitycouncil.org.uk
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