St Madoes says 'thanks, but no thanks' to offer of new park pavilion
Residents of a Carse of Gowrie village have voted against plans for a pavilion in their local park.
- By Kirsten Johnson
- Published in the Courier : 28.11.11
- Published online : 28.11.11 @ 10.53am
Pitfour FC parents contacted The Courier to voice their ''relief'' that a local businessman's offer to build the St Madoes community facility has been rejected.
Former St Johnstone FC chairman Geoff Brown said he would carry out the construction work free — but some locals were concerned maintenance costs would cripple the community-led youth team.
Youngsters are not charged for training and matches at Pitfour Playing Fields, which was gifted to the local people in 1960 by the previous landowners, Pitfour Estates.
The club entered into a 20-year lease with Glencarse Playing Fields Association stating that, if the grounds were maintained, no rent would be required.
However, if the idea had been given the go-ahead, extra cash would have been needed to furnish and run the pavilion.
Pitfour FC chairman Innes Ross also warned that the pavilion would render the team's new £40,000 dressing rooms ''obsolete''.
Glencarse Playing Fields Association held an open meeting last week, where people were given the chance to make their voices heard on the issue.
Association chairman Tom McGinnis said he couldn't have ignored Mr Brown's ''kind'' offer but wanted to ensure the public had the final say.
St Madoes couple Peter Allison and Liz Cushnie, whose eight-year-old son John plays for Pitfour FC, started a petition against the proposal at the start of the month.
Mr Allison said: ''The reason this was one of the best-attended meetings in the park committee's history is quite simple — our local club, Pitfour FC, is the most important thing in many of our kids' lives.
''Yet we faced the threat of it being broken up over the imposition of fees to play in the park and having a costly pavilion foisted upon us which we neither need nor want.''
He added: ''Thankfully, due to the parents' and kids' campaigning efforts, we won the battle, if not the war.''
Mr Allison said: ''At their next meeting, how about the park committee members celebrate the fact that a small village community like St Madoes boasts one of the most successful clubs in the league?
''This is a remarkable achievement and is in no small part down to the tireless efforts of our club chairman, Innes Ross, and vice-chair, Fraser Mortimer.''
Mr Allison said the club has just been awarded the highest accolade by the Scottish Football Association, in the form of its Community Quality Mark.
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