Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Angus & The Mearns Matters: Festive season stories highlight goodwill of local folk

Will the budget cancel any Christmas cheer?
Will the budget cancel any Christmas cheer?

Courier chief reporter in Angus & The Mearns Graham Brown is already enjoying the festive feelgood factor.

Social media throws up countless images to entertain, amuse, anger and disgust.

This week up popped a Facebook snap of a pile of presents so large they seemed to be almost devouring the Christmas tree behind them.

It was put up to have a go at parents who indulge in the practice of ‘my kid’s pile is bigger than yours’, but since I intend to be closer to a fry-up than Facebook on Christmas morning it wasn’t that part of the post which piqued my interest.

Instead it served to reinforce just how many items had come across the Angus office desk of The Courier over just a few days illustrating the kind, selfless work communities are doing for those at home and thousands of miles away.

The compassion and generosity is evident year round, but appeals for help with festive initiatives had emphasised the breadth and depth of projects being led by local groups and individuals.

Shoeboxes filled with everything from pencils to toothpaste have been collected in their hundreds to arrive in time for Christmas in far-flung parts of the less developed world.

In earthquake-ravaged Nepal, a five-figure sum of Kirriemuir cash is helping rebuild a school in a remote part of the country – and with former Gurkhas spearheading the project there can be absolute certainty that it will be done properly and quickly.

Hundreds of Arbroath cycles which might be replaced with shiny new bikes from Santa have been gathered, refurbished and are wheeling their way to a new life on the dirt tracks of Africa.

This weekend Christmas gift trees will sprout in places like Forfar and Brechin, festooned with tags which folk can pluck from the branches and turn into a gift for a local child on December 25.

In the efforts already mentioned Rotary clubs feature prominently and Angus groups can be proud of more than meeting the international organisation’s motto of service above self.

But there are also countless individuals devoting their time to making the festive season special for others, and keeping alive traditions such as the Brechin Angel Tree which grew out of Cold War compassion shown by US servicemen based in Angus.

All of their efforts deserve praise and, more importantly, support.

For Angus folk there are many opportunities to contribute to a local response which will demonstrate more eloquently the season of goodwill than any Christmas morning snapshot of a mountain of pressies ever will.