An Angus football club has honoured the area’s former provost after reaching its goal of creating new community pitches.
It’s taken a little longer than expected for Carnoustie Panmure Community Football Club to unveil Oswald Park.
This is because the site beside Carnoustie High School gave up an internationally-significant bronze age treasure trove when the diggers moved in.
But on Saturday the club was at last able to honour Helen Oswald, a popular town councillor and Angus Provost who lost a battle with cancer in 2016.
Club figures said the new facility would not have happened without Helen’s support.
Helen’s husband, Ed, and family members were guests of honour at the weekend.
Community land deal
The project planning started in 2014 when former Carnoustie councillor Bill Bowles told the club’s then-chairman, Phil Hope, the land was available for public use for £1.
The deal was part of the community windfall from the housing development between Carnoustie High and Carlogie Road.
Meetings were set up with Angus Council, and after an initial knockback the chairman travelled to Forfar to petition the Provost with the club’s plans.
Current Panmure CRC chairman Scott Arthur said: “Public meetings were held and then Angus Council voted through the purchase.
“It’s fair to say without the support of Helen, we wouldn’t have got it.
“She worked tirelessly in the background to support the club in this.
“Two pairs of weighted goals were purchased using a grant from Carnoustie Co-op.”
And it was a public vote which decided to name the park after the late Provost.
Carnoustie Gala Committee has placed a bench in her name in the park.
Hundreds of youngsters will regularly use the new facility.
Carnoustie Panmure Youth Teams, Panmure FC girls’ section and the YM adult amateur team have made the two Oswald Park pitches their home.
The Carnoustie hoard
But the project’s early progress was stalled by an unexpected discovery when the diggers moved in.
It turned out the land on the west side of Carnoustie was an archaeological hotspot.
And wider excavations uncovered evidence of Neolithic settlements experts said made the site one of the most extensive ever unearthed in Britain.
An array of valuable items were unearthed in the internationally significant find.
They included a gold-decorated spearhead and bronze sword.
A leather and wooden sword sheath from the site is the best preserved late Bronze Age scabbard in Britain.
Round houses, jewellery and pottery dating from around 2200-800BC were also found.
The long-term future of the Carnoustie hoard remains undecided but there have been calls for it to return to Angus to go on display.
