Friends of Balgay Spring meeting

The next Friends of Balgay meeting will be at 2pm on Saturday 28th April at the Mills Observatory.

Author and historian Murdo Fraser will give a talk on ‘Montrose and Argyll’ – his recent book – and all are very welcome to attend.


Scottish Fair Trade Nation Lecture 2018

Fairtrade: enabling sustainable, quality coffee from small-holder value chains
Monday 30th April at 6pm 
Lecture Theatre 1, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee

This year, Ewan Reid, Director of Coffee at Glasgow-based, Matthew Algie, one of the UK’s leading coffee roasters specialising in sustainable sourcing will be speaker. 

With a 20-year Fairtrade heritage starting with the UK’s first Fairtrade espresso in 1997, today nearly 90% of the company’s sourcing is Fairtrade. Matthew Algie supplies coffee to the cafe and hospitality sector including Marks & Spencer coffee shops and around 2,500 independent coffee shops, bars and restaurants.

Ewan has worked for the company since joining as a graduate in 1993 and joined the Board in 2002. 

With a background in food science, he oversees a variety of business areas including roastery operations, quality assurance, green coffee supply chain, R&D and sustainability. A frequent visitor to Matthew Algie’s supply chain partner co-operatives in producing countries, he is also a member of Fairtrade International’s Coffee Advisory Council. 

At the Fair Trade Nation Lecture, Ewan will provide an overview of why Matthew Algie choose to use Fairtrade coffee. He will also explore the Fairtrade coffee market and the challenges and opportunities of the Fairtrade coffee system.

The lecture will start at 6pm and will be followed by Q&A and discussion. 

Tea and Coffee will be served from 5.30pm.    There will be drinks and refreshments afterwards. 

This is a free event.     All are welcome but please do register for a ticket on Eventbrite here.


West End Surgeries #dundeewestend

With the Easter school holidays now over, it is back to West End Ward surgeries this coming week.   My Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy surgeries take place later today.

My full surgery details are below – although I can also be contacted via esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk or phone me at home on 459378 anytime :


Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden event #dundeewestend

Friends’ talk Sunday 22nd April at 2pm 
– the history of the area around the Botanic Garden 

This talk has been rescheduled from 4th March when it was cancelled due to the snow.

Keith Walker, an expert on Dundee’s local history, will talk about Will’s Braes and the lands around the Botanic Garden. He has spent his life researching Dundee’s history, has contributed  frequently to the Craigie Column, and conducts research for the City Archives and local history specialists. 

As usual the talk is in the Education Centre at 2pm – all welcome!


Getting things done – Nethergate #dundeewestend

Residents have drawn to my attention that in Nethergate – north side, between Park Place and bus stop just west of that – one of the large pavement edging stones has been dislodged, probably by heavy vehicle.

As a result, a big hole has appeared between the stone and the pavement, which someone might easily put their foot into and twist their ankle.

I reported this to the council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership and have received the following positive response :

“The Road Maintenance Partnership inspector for the area has raised an order to re-set the whin kerb at this location.”