Flying the flag for Blackford

This page has church, Blackford Cares and Blackford Gala newsletters and maildrops. Well down the page, there are some of the sights and sounds of Blackford's COVID experience in a selection of films from 2020 and 2021.

December 2023

We produce a Blackford Village Calendar and Bin Rota once we know the schedule. These have been delivered around the area but you can also download a copy here. If your bins are normally collected on a Wednesday (and Sunday) click here; if normally on a Monday (and possibly brown bin on a Sunday) click here.

November 2023

The current booklet giving details of trades people servicing the village can be downloaded here.

December 2022

The 2023 bin rota (Wednesday & Sunday collections) and calendar for the village can be found here.

If you're on the outskirts of the village, you may have a Monday collection of blue & green topped bins, in which case your rota and calendar is here.

October 2022

A Blackford Cares Newsletter is going round the houses this week. A PDF version can be downloaded here.

We've also kept updating the booklet of local trades and traders and it can be downloaded here. The last few weeks of the 2022 bin rota for Blackford are on the 2021 Church Christmas card below.

June 2022

Blackford Gala Week is now underway - there's a programme link in the paragraph below. If you want to do the walking treasure hunt come to the Bowling Club on Wednesday at 6:30. Or you can download the adult course or children's course and hand in your answers by 8pm on Wednesday.

May 2022

The Blackford Gala Programme has been delivered across the village for a week of activities from the 5th to the 12th of June. Further down this page you'll find the two films referred to with images of the previous scarecrow competitions. To download a PDF copy of the Gala Programme, click here.

In the same maildrop we delivered a flyer about the Blackford Summer Market on Saturday 27th August. The flyer is available here.

April 2022

A Blackford Cares Newsletter pointed ahead to village activities planned by the established groups such as the Gala, Highland Games, Bowling Club and the Church. It can be downloaded here.

In the April 2022 we mentioned the local contacts section of the church's "Welcome to Blackford" leaflets. The current copy of that can be downloaded here. Send any suggested corrections, additions or deletions here.

December 2021

The church Christmas card had the Blackford Bin rota for 2022
on the back. You can download a copy here.

March 2021 Newsletter

One year on and we are distributing a Newsletter pack round the
village again. You can download that here. The accompanying

leaflet called Enjoying Scotland's Outdoors can be downloaded here.

For chocolate buttons click here and for a candle click here.

January 2021 Newsletter and other downloads

Our four page Blackford Cares Newsletter is available to download here.

Four other sources of information from the council can also be downloaded:

Feeling the pinch / Feeling the strain / Feeling the cold / Worrying about money

December 2020 Mail drop

As Christmas approached we delivered a Blackford Cares Newsletter with various updates including news of the Festive 500 and Santa's Crafty Fun; a Community Council newsletter; the church Christmas card; and a sheet of lyrics for Carols on the Doorstep. You can get your bag of sweets here.

October 2020 Flyer

The October flyer can be downloaded here and the associated Scavenget Hunt is here.

September 2020 Newsletter

To download a copy of the Blackford Cares September Newsletter please click here.

May 2020 Newsletter

The second Blackford Cares Newsletter went out accompanied by strawberries from Zed Hussain of Blackford Village Stores. You can download the newsletter here. Two articles for that newsletter had to be edited down to fit so click here for the unpotted story and more photos of the Community Vegetable Garden and click here for the fuller article on Blackford Highland Games.

Friday 8th May - VE Day

The newspaper of Tuesday 8th May 1945 and news of how we might mark the 75th Anniversary were circulated that morning. Click here for a PDF which may be slightly difficult to print as it was created as an A3 document.

Apri 2020 Newsletter

The first Blackford Cares Newsletter that was collated and delivered can be downloaded and read here.

The Antony Gormley art project instructions can be downloaded here and you might also want to click here to download a sheet of blank paper to use for the project.

The first round of three Blackford walks can be downloaded here if you want a version easier read on a tablet, or here if you want to print two A5 copies back to back and not fight over who carries the map and directions.

Monday 23rd March:

As Boris Johnson was announcing "lockdown" we were printing this flyer which brought green thumbs into the village the next day.

Blackford's Lockdown film archive!

We're hosting some of the films posted on Facebook in the Blackford Cares Group or by Blackford Gala Week's page. This makes them available to non-Facebook users.

On the left we have Blackford's 2 minute silence on the Anniversary of VE Day and on the right the story of the Blackford Air Raid Siren that was sounded that day.

Now from the sublime to the ridiculous. On the left some of the photos shared with us on the Blackford Cares Facebook Group as we went out and rediscovered our local area; too many photographers to mention but we thank them all. And on the right, Blackford's tribute to the Full Monty.

Blackford's response to Clap for Carers was sometimes captured with some of the music performed that evening. Here are a couple of examples.

Over 80 scarecrows appeared in the village for Gala Week plus various window decorations. Most are in the film on the left. On the right, one of the live Thursday night performances of the Blackford Lockdown Orchestra at The Cross on Stirling Street. This launched the video version premiered at the Gala Concert and available here on Youtube.

The challenge was laid to the village to complete a 500 mile walk in late June. We walked 500 more. Here (left) is the roll of honour from the slightly damp weekend.

The first film of 2021 brings Easter greetings from across the village and we've put it alongside last year's for comparison; my how that hair's changed.