Doonies Adorable Duo

Two lonely farmyard animals have forged an unlikely bond in Doonies Farm near Cove on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

Lisa the lamb and Larry the calf have become best friends after being separated from their mothers. By coincidence both of the babies is a twin and their mothers did not have enough milk to feed them.

This match made in heaven are now sharing an enclosure and keeping each other company.

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North-East Drugs Survey

A major North-East survey could help shape Scotland’s future drug policies.

Members of the public will be asked for their views on drug misuse and treatment.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen will be sending out questionnaires to 3,000 households on a wide range of drugs issues.

People will be asked about their understanding of drug dependency and whether anyone in their family has an addiction.

Views on the use of methadone as a heroin substitute and whether drug users should be detoxified will be among the questions posed.

The survey will also ask for views on treatments such as supervised heroin prescribing.

People will also be asked whether they would be willing to pay towards treating drug users and if so, how much.

Dr Catriona Matheson, who leads the university’s drug misuse research team, said: “We hope our findings will help inform future drugs policy in Scotland.”

Woman Saves Husband from Armed Attackers

A Blackburn woman bravely fought off two assailants after finding her husband severely injured by a gunshot wound.

Lois Smith, 55, who works as a part-time nurse, was horrified to find her husband, Jonas Smith, 54, bleeding heavily after a gun wound to the chest. 

He was shot after going outside to check on the livestock after the couple suspected that a fire had broken out on their farm.

Mrs Smith was alarmed when she heard faint cries from her husband. When she found him she was shocked to discover that he was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the chest.

With no thought for her own safety, Mrs Smith did her best to stabilise her husband’s condition by grabbing some sheets and covering the wound. She then called for an ambulance.

Mrs Smith then ran out to the barn beside the house to free the livestock, where she was attacked by two men.

Because it was dark and the air was smoky, Mrs Smith was unable to identify the two men.

When one man grabbed her, she kicked him, but then the second beat her about the face. Mrs Smith did her best to fight off the two men and bravely resisted their repeated demands for money.

Mrs Smith felt “angry” that they had not only severely injured her husband but that they had also started the fire. She suspected that they had started the fire in an attempt to empty the house, so that they could look for money.
 

It was at this point that the ambulance was heard and the two assailants fled.
 

Both men ran up the hill out of the main gate of the farm.

Mr Smith’s heart had stopped and he had to be immediately resuscitated by paramedics. He is currently in a stable condition at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

It is thought that the attempted robbery occurred as a result of Mr Smith’s win of £500,000 on the popular quiz show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’.

Mrs Smith is very concerned that the two culprits are still at large: “They are very dangerous and will stop at nothing and if anyone can help to catch them they should call the police.”

Barbershop Apocalypse Hitting Aberdeen

Barbershop singers – they wear striped waistcoats and sing about the good old days, right?

Wrong.

The latest batch of barbershop singers still sing in delicious close harmonies, but their choice of material is rather different, and comes served with a large helping of comedy.

Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of 'Barbershopera', a musical quartet who are about to unleash their third a cappella comedy musical on the world – and this time they’ve gone apocalyptic.

In the show, 'Apocalypse No!', which visits Perth, Inverness and Aberdeen over the next few days, audiences will learn that God has had it with the world and summons the four horsemen demanding they sort it out.

Company director of 'Barbershopera' Productions is Rob Castell, who is also an established actor whose roles include playing Tony in 'West Side Story' and Dr Rance in 'What the Butler Saw'.

“I grew up with barbershop music, as my mum is American and my grandad sang in barbershop choirs.” said Rob.

“We used to sing with our friends, but we also enjoyed acting and comedy so wanted to create something which brought all these elements together. The result was 'Barbershopera'.

It was their first full-length a cappella musical and they took it to the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe, where it got rave reviews. A second show, 'Barbershopera II' (subtitled 'In the Mane of the Father', and later re-subtitled 'The Barber of Shavingham'), made its debut in 2009.

It was while touring with that production that the latest show was born.

“We were appearing at Lyth Arts Centre, in Caithness. William Wilson, who runs the centre, is very keen on barbershop singing and let us stay in the centre for a week so we could develop our next show.” said Rob.

“So it was in Caithness that 'Apocalypse No!' was first formed.”

With plenty of laughs, a farcical storyline and lots of close harmonies – along with elements of the blues, boy bands and soul music thrown in for good measure – this show will be unlike any other barbershop show seen before.

Drug Dealing Binman Jailed

A binman who spent two years drug dealing while working for a local authority was jailed for three years at the High Court in Perth today.

John Smith stashed the Class A drug internally and tried to escape from hospital as police officers kept a bedside vigil waiting for him to pass the illicit package.

Smith was arrested by police on April 14 last year after they were tipped off that he had travelled to Inverness to source the Class A drug and would be returning with it to Fort William.

Advocate Depute Laura Thomson said Smith appeared "nervous and uneasy" when he was detained on his return on April 14 last year and was taken to Fort William police station for a strip search and asked to submit to a medical examination.

Ms Thomson said that on April 17 he got up from bed and started to wash his hands. She added: "He then ran out of the room in an effort to escape. He was quickly restrained.

"Almost immediately he passed a green sausage shaped package."

The package contained nearly 23 grams of heroin with a street value of £2,287. Police found out that several drug users would regularly buy 20 pound bags of heroin from Smith. Some of them would get the drug from him several times a week.

Counsel for Smith, Graham Robertson, told the court that his client had started using cannabis to alleviate back pain and had then moved onto heroin. Mr Robertson said: "These are matters he is somewhat ashamed of. He was a recreational user of cannabis but because of a back injury he suffered severe pain.

"It wasn't being alleviated by the medication he was given and his error was to start taking heroin as a pain relieving analgesic. He ended up finding himself addicted.

Smith admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug between April 14 in 2008 and April 14 last year in Fort William and in Lochaber, Aberdeen and Inverness.