Floodwarning Service Public Meeting in Huntly

Earlier this month a new £1 million Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) scheme to protect vulnerable communities from the threat of flooding in high-risk areas of the North East of Scotland was launched in Huntly by Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead. 

The River Deveron is part of this new system and one of the areas benefitting from flood warnings is Huntly.

To help Huntly people learn more about this, and how they can use the Floodline service, Huntly Community Council is hosting a public meeting with SEPA on Wednesday 17th March, 7.30pm at  The Stewart's Hall, Huntly.

Huntly Community Council's Dr Avril Morrison said:
"We welcome this new flood warning system and hope it will prevent the sort of damage and destruction that happened here iin November 2009 when in the space of just a few hours over a hundred people in our local community were affected by flooding"

SEPA's Stewart Prodger said:
"This event is to inform people in Huntly about how this new flood warning service works, where they can access information and, most importantly, how to use it. We would encourage those living in local areas at risk from river flooding, or anybody simply wishing to know more about what are providing, to come down to the meeting on Wed 17th."

He added, "The aim of this any SEPA flood warning scheme is to prevent loss of life and reduce the economic damage caused by floods. We achieve this through the ability to forecast likely flood conditions and provide interpretation and warnings to those at risk.

Rainfall and river level monitoring across the area will provide SEPA with improved information on conditions, which will then be used to provide advance warning of flooding. This early warning system is used to alert the police and local authorities to any potential flood threat so they can respond if necessary, but it also allows members of the public to access the information via SEPA's 24 hour Floodline information service, on  or online at sepa.org.uk/flooding, so local people can have crucial extra time to take action to protect themselves and their property."

Huntly Skiers Fine Olympic Performances

The three young Huntly cross-country skiers competing in Vancouver delivered excellent performances in their Winter Olympics debut today.

Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young, racing for Team GB, and PJ Barron (Ireland) were competing in the 15km free race at Whistler. Andrew Musgrave ended 55th in a time of 36:32.4 minutes. Andrew Young secured 74th spot in a time of 38:45.1. PJ Barron rounded off the fine performances by the Huntly trio, completing the course in 43:50.4 minutes for 91st place.

All learned and developed their skills and fitness at the Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre.

The race was won by Switzerland's Dario Cologna who raced round the 15km course in 33:36.3 minutes.

More information is available at: http://vancouver2010.teamgb.com/

Details of the BBC’s coverage of the event and a feature on Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre can be found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter_olympics/vancouver_2010/cross_country_skiing

Huntly congratulates Roy and our athletes on a fantastic performance!

Huntly Online - Facebook and Twitter now available!

Huntly Development Trust (HDT) has launched Facebook and Twitter pages for the town, and is now encouraging people to use these pages to promote their own events.

As part of the town marketing plan, Huntly Development Trust is working on the improvement of Huntly's online presence. The existing website www.huntly.net will soon be more user-friendly and have more attractive features. With the new website, local businesses will be able to post more detailed advertisement online, which will not only be a useful marketing tool for them but also very helpful for visitors who are planning their trip to the town.

Carolina Kenny, Project Leader for Tourism and Marketing, is currently working on projects for the website upgrade. In the meantime, Carolina has created a Facebook page for the town and a Twitter account, where people can check for events and news update. "We will be posting messages on a regular basis, asking questions on our discussion board and sending updates on events in the area; we also encourage everyone to use it as a tool to promote their own events and to network with not only members of the community but also with the wilder world", says Carolina.

People who are interested in following Huntly on Twitter will find the page under www.twitter.com/huntlyscotland or search for HuntlyScotland on the Twitter website. Those who want to join Huntly Facebook page can search for "Huntly Scotland" in "Pages", and click on the "Become a fan" button.

For more information regarding Huntly's Twitter page, please send an email to twitter@huntly.net For Huntly's Facebook queries, please send an email to facebook@huntly.net

Huntly Flood Appeal

On 1st December, Huntly Development Trust (HDT) opened a bank account to accept donations to support victims of the recent floods in Huntly. The account is with the Royal Bank of Scotland's Huntly Branch in the town square.

Royal Bank of Scotland
Sort Code: 83-23-05
Account No.: 00236015

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so in three ways:

• By bank transfer
• Over the counter at the bank
• By cheque made payable to Huntly Flood Appeal and sent to:

Huntly Flood Appeal
c/o Huntly Development Trust
Huntly Business Centre
Gordon Street
Huntly
AB54 8FG

The Meadows area of Huntly suffered severe flooding at the start of November when the River Deveron and the Meadow Burn burst their banks. The watercourse had to cope November's average rainfall in the course of a few hours. Homes, a residential nursing home, the caravan park and various sports facilities were among those affected.

Development manager with HDT, Donald Boyd, is delighted that the account is up and running to accept donations: "Spontaneous collections from various groups including Strathbogie Drumblade Parish Church and Deveron Arts have already raised over £500. Other groups have indicated that they are willing to support the appeal but were waiting for the account to be opened. Now that there is somewhere to hold donations we really hope that the money will come in."

HDT is holding the funds in a separate account and funds will be disbursed in due course through a steering group made up of community and Aberdeenshire Council representatives. The group is taking advice from Moray Council and the Scottish Flood Forum on how best to distribute the funds.

One of the first special events to be held to raise funds for the appeal is a Soup and Sweet lunch on Sunday 6th December in the Stewart's Hall, Huntly, organised by Strathbogie Drumblade Parish Church. The event runs from 12.00-14.00 and all are welcome.

Huntly Mini Tattoo 2009 Success

Tattoo image gallery by Elaine and Jade Esson now online!
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