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Peterhead

Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland, Aberdeenshire.

aberdeenshire active life

Aberdeenshire active life is back from 26 April

From next Monday April 26th will begin to re-open Aberdeenshire active

Aberdeenshire active will be back from next Monday (April 26th) Aberdeenshire active will begin to re-open Live Life Aberdeenshire’s leisure facilities. The facilities below will reopen on week commencing April 26th – May 2nd 2021.

For more information, including facility timetables and contact details, promotional offers and how to book your visit, see: https://bit.ly/LLAWBack

If we can do so, some of our other leisure facilities may also open next week, however we plan for all our sites to re-open by the 16th May except for Turriff Swimming Pool which is undergoing essential maintenance and is expected to re-open in July.

Customers are asked to keep following their local Facebook pages for up-to-date information around their own reopening plans.

aberdeenshire active life

All customers are asked to book and pay for their chosen activity before attending via our online system. Bookings for the above facilities will go live 6 days in advance.

For more information, including facility timetables and contact details, promotional offers and how to book your visit, see: http://bit.ly/SPAbook While Live Life Aberdeenshire is operating on a reduced basis, membership options will not be available and participation will be on a Pay as You Go basis until further notice.

Customers who had purchased a festive promotional pass in December will be able to restart their pass, anyone wishing to do so should contact our membership team on 01467 532929 from Tuesday 20th April at 12 noon.

Meanwhile customers who wish to purchase a 30-day pass can do so, options for these can be found by visiting http://bit.ly/SPAbook

A spokesperson for Live Life Aberdeenshire commented ‘We are delighted to be reopening facilities to the public again over the next few weeks.

Customers can be reassured that our staff have been working hard to ensure your visit is a safe and enjoyable one and our staff are keen to see you back as soon as possible’ The alternative swimming lesson programme will re-start as soon as possible in each facility.

Customers who were signed up for the alternative programme will be contacted via email from Wednesday 21st April onwards with plans.

Follow Live Life Aberdeenshire and your local facility page on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates.

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Scotland lockdown updates

Scotland lockdown updates: Peterhead will move to level 3 Covid-19 restrictions on April 26

Scotland lockdown updates Nicola Sturgeon also outlined the potential dates for Scotland’s start From 16 April.

Scottish vaccination

From 16 April – Travel restrictions lifted and more people can meet up

The latest announcement on Scotland’s journey out of lockdown means people will be allowed to meet in groups of up to six adults from six households in outdoor settings from Friday.

In addition, people will also be permitted to travel across Scotland and Aberdeenshire as long as they do not stay overnight.

These changes had not been due to come into force until 26 April but the Scottish government said they were being made earlier than originally planned in an effort to boost people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Scotland lockdown updates: 19 April – All schools reopen

Virtually all pupils will return to school full time after the Easter holidays.

The only exception is for those in the shielding category, who must stay at home until 26 April.

Secondary school pupils will no longer have to follow strict two metre physical distancing rules when they return, but they must wear face coverings at all times.

All primary school pupils had returned full-time by mid March, but before the Easter break secondary pupils were taught using blended learning – a mix of home and classroom study.

Scotland lockdown updates

Scotland lockdown updates: End of April – Shops, gyms and beer gardens

All remaining shops and close contact services like nail salons are due to reopen on 26 April.

Pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants and bars will be able to serve people outdoors – in groups of up to six from six households – until 22:00 from that date. Alcohol will be permitted, and there will be no requirement for food to be served.

Takeaways will be able to resume normal service, with physical distancing and face masks worn in premises

There will also be a partial resumption of indoor hospitality – food and non-alcoholic drinks can be served until 20:00 for groups of up to four people from no more than two households. Contact details will still need to be collected.

Indoor gyms and swimming pools will be allowed to open for individual exercise, driving lessons and tests will take place, and non-essential work in people’s homes can resume.

Scotland will return to a levels system, with the entire country initially moving to a modified version of the current level three restrictions.

Island communities – which have been in level three for some time – will stay in the same level as the mainland at first to allow people to travel between areas.

Non-essential journeys to other parts of the UK and the wider common travel area should also be permitted from 26 April.

Tourist accommodation, museums, galleries, libraries can also open from this date.

The number of people allowed to attend a wedding or funeral rises to 50.

People on the shielding list will be able to return to work, college, school or nursery.

Scotland lockdown updates: Middle of the May – Cinemas, bingo and meeting up indoors

Three weeks later, on 17 May it is hoped most, if not all, council areas will be able to move from level three to level two, allowing much more normality.

People should at last be allowed to meet up inside others’ homes (although this could happen sooner) – initially in groups of up to four people from no more than two households.

Indoor hospitality is expected to resume with alcohol being served and pubs or restaurants allowed to stay open until 22:30 with two-hour time-limited booking slots.

Cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades can now reopen.

Outdoor and indoor events such as concerts can also restart, but capacity may be limited initially.

Restrictions on meeting up outdoors will ease further. Adult outdoor contact sports and indoor group exercises can resume.

More students will be back at university or college but with blended learning continuing. Face-to-face support services such as counselling can take place.

Scotland lockdown updates: Early June – Almost back to normal

The hope is that from 1 June, all of Scotland can move to level one – and by the end of the month to level zero, the lowest category of the five tier system.

In early June it is hoped up to six people from three households can socialise indoors, at home or in a public place.

Outside up to eight people from three households can meet while for 12 to 17-year-olds the limit on the number of households rises to eight.

Hospitality will be able to stay open until 23:00 and the number of constraints on events such as concerts will be relaxed.

Indoor non-contact sport will resume. Casinos, funfairs and soft play can re-open.

The risk of importing new variants of Covid means a big question mark hangs over non-essential international travel, for instance for holidays.

It will almost certainly not be allowed before mid-May, and the government warns it may not resume for some time after that.

When it is allowed, pre-departure and post-arrival testing will remain a requirement.

From the end of June there will be a phased return of some office staff and increased numbers at places of worship or other events such as weddings.

Arctic explorer

Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh had new ship Eira built at the Peterhead yard.

Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith Expeditions on board the Eira 1880, 1881-82

This gravestone in one of Peterhead local cemeteries hides a tale of Arctic exploration and adventure. The stone commemorates Alexander Robertson, formerly a crewman on the steamship Eira, which was built by the Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith in Peterhead.

Benjamin Leigh Smith paid for Alexander’s headstone.

Leigh Smith was a wealthy man and travelled extensively to the Svalbard and Spitsbergen regions between 1871 and 1882. In 1880 he had the ship Eira (a screw barquentine) built at the Peterhead yard of Messrs Stephen and Forbes. The whaling family, the Grays, helped with the building, with David Gray assisting in the drawing up of specifications. Leigh Smith made his next voyage to the Arctic in 1880, departing Peterhead on board Eira on 22 May.

Arctic explorer
Arctic explorers

On this expedition he took William John Alexander (Johnny) Grant as the official photographer. Grant had established a reputation as a polar photographer, having been on many polar expeditions and exhibited his photographs at the Royal Photographic Society, as well as being a Fellow of the Society and of the Royal Geographic Society.

Leigh Smith and his crew of 24 (mainly Scots and Shetlanders as was common for Artic exploration at the time) aimed to explore Jan Mayen, but this was covered in mist. On 11 July, Eira met up with the Peterhead whalers Hope and Eclipse led by John and David Gray.

The crew of the sailing ship ‘Eira’ dismember a polar bear on the ice at the bows of the ‘Eira’ which is moored to the ice. A crew member stands on deck watching.

Arctic explorers
From left to right are: David Gray at the helm (Capt. Eclipse), Benjamin Leigh-Smith (Capt./owner Eira),  Arthur Conan Doyle (Surgeon Hope), John Gray (Capt. Hope), Dr.Walker and Dr.Neale, and William Lofley (ice master Eira) right at the stern. Pictures: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

They were finally rescued by the Dutch ship Willem Barentzs and transferred to the Peterhead whaler Hope for the journey home. It’s thought Alexander Robertson died of the privations his body had suffered on the ice.

Credit to Kenny Bruce

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Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh had new ship Eira built at the Peterhead yard.

First minister

First Minister confirms almost all Scottish pupils return to school after Easter holidays

First minister announced – there are some changes to the rules, including the removal of the two metre distance between pupils as schools are told to “improve ventilation”.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed today that “virtually all” of Scotland’s high school pupils will be making a full-time return to education after the Easter holidays.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed students will be allowed to return as normal after two weeks off for the half-term break following an assessment of relevant data. There is an exception for children on the shielding list who are recommended to stay at home until April 26.

She said “When the Easter holidays end, virtually all pupils will return to school full-time, so secondary schools will go back to in-person, full-time learning.”

First Minister
First Minister confirms almost all Scottish pupils return to school after Easter holidays

The two-metre physical distancing rule will be scrapped while twice weekly Covid-19 testing is to be introduced in Scotland for staff and students. Nicola Sturgeon said schools should consider how to “strengthen other mitigations” such as ventilation.

Secondary pupils have so far only been able to spend a limited amount of time in the classroom after the Scottish Government closed schools to most pupils for a second time at the beginning of this year.

Business start re-open

Business start reopening after lockdown in Scotland from Monday 5 April

Business start reopening, cautious easing of lockdown

Hairdressers, garden centres, car showrooms and forecourts, homeware stores and non-essential click and collect services will be able to open from Monday 5 April Business start reopening after lockdown, subject to enhanced safety measures including physical distancing, face coverings and pre-booking where appropriate.

More college students will be able to return to on-campus learning and 12-17 year-olds will be able to resume outdoor contact sports from this date.

Restrictions on non-essential travel across local authority boundaries will remain in place.

People must stay within their council area for non-essential shopping and should only travel to another area for essential shopping if there are no practical alternatives.

People should also continue to work from home where they can to prevent unnecessary contact that could risk transmission of the virus.

Business start re-open
Business start reopening after lockdown

The latest easing of restrictions comes as data shows continued suppression of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and progress on vaccination. Virtually all over 65 year olds have now received a first dose of the vaccine, and the average daily case rate is now 539 new cases per day, a decline of more than 75% since early January.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:

“We have made progress both in suppressing the virus and in vaccination, and therefore the changes I previously indicated will go ahead on 5 April.

“The stay at home rule is being replaced by a requirement to stay local – while Covid levels remain high in some areas, and while a lot of people remain unvaccinated, we do not want the virus to spread from areas with relatively high prevalence to areas with low rates of infection. That’s why the current travel restrictions, which prevent non-essential travel outside your local authority area, are really important.

Lockdown Timetable
Business start reopening

“It will be easier to relax more restrictions in the future if case numbers remain under control, so when things open up slightly this weekend please continue to stick to the rules, and follow the advice and the instructions given by store staff to keep you and the other customers safe.

“Stay at home – for now – protect the NHS, and follow the FACTS advice when you are out and about to help save lives.”

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update: First Minister’s statement – 30 March 2021 – gov.scot

Guidance will be updated on Friday and Monday to take account of the changes confirmed today.

During the pre-election period the usual parliamentary protocol applies and draft regulations will be shared with the COVID-19 Committee.

Consultation with sectors still to reopen is ongoing, towards further decisions on easing to be taken ahead of the next review point on 26 April.

scotland pubs

Scotland Pubs and Cafes to reopen for outdoor service on 26 April

Scotland pubs and cafes, restaurants and bars will be able to serve people outdoors – in groups of up to 6 from 3 households – until 10pm from 26 April.

Alcohol will be permitted in Scotland Pubs, and there will be no requirement for food to be served.

There could be limited indoor opening of hospitality from 26 April too.

Scotland pubs

This will be limited initially to the service of food and non-alcoholic drinks until 8pm, and for groups of up to four people from no more than 2 households.

All remaining retail premises are expected to re-open on 26 April.

All tourist accommodation will be able to re-open, subject to any restrictions.

Libraries, museums and galleries will also reopen from 26 April.

Indoor gyms will also reopen for individual exercise on that date.

Monday 5 April will see the beginning of the phased re-opening of non essential retail.

Click and collect retail services will be permitted to reopen, along with homeware stores, and car showrooms and forecourts.

Garden centres will also be able to reopen on 5 April

Hairdresser and barber salons to reopen for appointments on 5 April.

Indoor meeting from 17 May

Up to four people from two household can socialise indoors in a private home or public space from 17 May.

Hospitality venues can open until 10:30 pm indoors (alcohol permitted, 2-hour dwell time) and 10:00 pm outdoors (alcohol permitted)

Outdoor adult contact sport and indoor group exercise can restart.

Cinemas, amusement arcades, and bingo halls can open.

Small-scale outdoor and indoor events can resume subject to capacity constraints.

St Olafs Well

St Olafs Well stay in sand dunes at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire

St Olafs Well, a natural spring, now enclosed within a rectangular concrete wall, 2.5m by 2.0m, a little mark where it is.

St Olafs Well
St Olafs Well stay in sand dunes at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire

On the Buchan coast of Aberdeenshire, Cruden Bay stay to the North of the Bay of Cruden near the mouth of the Water of Cruden, 7 miles (11 km) south of Peterhead.

This is said to be the site of a battle where King Malcolm II of Scotland defeated the Danes in 1012, giving rise to the name – ‘Croju Dane’ meaning slaughter of the Danes.

St Olafs Well

Malcolm buried the dead of his opponents with honour and built a chapel to mark the spot, dedicated to St. Olaf (Olaus).

St.Olafs Well is an ancient site of pilgrimage amongst the sand dunes at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire.

St Olafs Well
Cruden Bay Beach

The nearby beach was the site of a great battle between the Viking army of Prince Canute and the Scots army under King Malcolm the Second of Scotland.

Credit to Kenny Bruce

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Peterhead Community

Peterhead Community Test Centre 1 week

Peterhead Community Test Centre – After a successful first week

Author: Morven Jane

I wanted to share some information about the site to make people feel more comfortable about visiting.

Community testing allows for early identification of outbreaks and reassures you that you can safely go about your essential duties.

If you are an employer, encouraging your staff to be tested can give you peace of mind, at no cost to your business.

If you are already being offered testing, e.g. teachers, but are apprehensive, we will guide you through the process and hopefully give you the confidence to test at home in the future.

Our Peterhead Community Test Centre is based in the Rescue Hall on Prince Street and is open 8.00AM – 7.30PM every day, including weekends, until at least late May.

Anyone who lives/works/studies/shops in Peterhead and the surrounding area can come along up to twice a week for a self administered lateral flow test, which obtains results in less than an hour.

Being tested counts as essential travel, but we encourage you to visit as part of another essential journey, such as before a grocery shop or at school drop off.

Peterhead Community - Morven Jane
Morven Jane | Peterhead Community Test Centre
Peterhead Community - Morven Jane
Peterhead Community Test Centre

All ages are welcome, but those aged 12-17 should have consent from a guardian and those under 12 must have a guardian with them to assist with the swabbing process.

If you need additional support, you can come along with other members of your household support bubble, such as a carer or translator (although we do have translation facilities available).

Peterhead Community Test Centre

Please note that staff cannot administer any swab test. To be eligible for testing you must not have any coronavirus symptoms (new persistent cough, fever, loss of change in taste or smell), have had a coronavirus vaccine in the last 3 days, or have tested positive for Covid in the last 90 days.

In addition, avoid eating or drinking anything in the half hour before you carry out the test.

On arrival we will take your name and a contact telephone number (only used if your test is positive, and destroyed at the end of each day).

Scanning a QR code opens the website where you will register your test – staff are on hand to assist with this if needed and tablets are available for those without a smartphone.

The form is quite long, but there’s no rush – you will be asked to stand on one of the socially distanced crosses while you complete it.

After registration, you will be taken to one of three testing booths where an operative will guide you through the swabbing process. Once seated, you may remove your mask and blow your nose.

Open the swab packet AT THE HANDLE END, just enough to pull the swab out.

Swipe the (tiny – see photo!) swab over each tonsil 4 times, taking care not to let the swab touch anything else (hands, table, tongue, teeth, etc.) then rotate the same swab inside one nostril 10 times (only going up until you feel resistance).

Insert the swab (swab end first) into the tube provided, then put your mask back on and wipe down your booth. You will leave the test centre following the one way system, where someone will provide you with an information leaflet. Your test result will be registered after 30 minutes and a text/email automatically sent to you.

Only if you do not have easy access to either of these may you wait in the centre to receive your result.In the unlikely event your result is positive, staff at the centre will contact you to arrange for PCR tests to be sent for all members of your household.

You and all in your household (including in extended household) MUST go home immediately and self isolate. If your PCR tests are negative, you may end your self isolation. A major misconception about community testing is that it is designed to increase the number of positive cases.

Undoubtedly some asymptomatic positive cases will be detected that would not have otherwise, however detecting these prevents them from spreading it to others, causing more positive cases in the following weeks. In addition, by testing asymptomatic individuals, the percentage of positive tests will likely decrease as most at the site will receive a negative result.

I hope this has reassured people who are apprehensive about being tested and highlighted the importance of community testing.

We hope to see you soon!

Peterhead Community Test Centre and Morven Jane

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Peterhead Community Test Centre

Peterhead.Live on Facebook or Twitter to get more actual information

Peterhead Producers Market

Peterhead Producers Market 03 April

Peterhead Producers Market planned for Saturday 3/4/21.

Will be the first market since highly successful launch in November 2020, Rediscover Peterhead is delighted to confirm that the Peterhead Producers’ Market planned for Saturday 03/04/2021.

Here is Last Producer’s Market

This market will focus on Food and Drink and Peterhead Producers’ Market would urge any businesses who are interested in taking part to get in touch as soon as possible.

Peterhead Producers' Market
Peterhead Producers Market last year

First market in November was really successful, with a number of traders commenting that it was their best ever trading day at any market.

Peterhead Producers Market 1
Peterhead Producers Market in November 2020

Priority will be given to those who supported first event and then on a first come first basis with the emphasis being very much on local Scottish produce.

The pitch fee is £40 which includes a fully assembled stall, if required.

Market stall fees have been subsidised by Rediscover Peterhead with the support of funding from Aberdeenshire Council and the NESFLAG Coastal Communities Challenge Fund.

Peterhead Producers’ Market Will be working hard to ensure a well organised and safe market with a one-way system in operation.

Peterhead Producers Market 2
One-Way System

For further information and bookings, please contact Alasdair who is our market operator – alasdair.boyne@outlook.com

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