70 Perthshire Advertiser, Friday, July 15, 2011

SCHOOL HOLIDAY FOOTBALL: OurScottish Hydro Football Courses contin-ue at venues throughout Perth andKinross. Places are still available on allremaining courses over the next twoweeks and booking is easy. There areseveral alternatives. You can visit theSaints website and pay online. Altern-atively, you can download the applicationform and send it in with the appropriatecourse fee. Age group is 5 to 16 years anddetails are: July 18– 22: McDiarmid Park(pm); July 19–21: Crieff (am), Auchter-arder (pm); July 20–22: Blairgowrie (am);July 25–29: McDiarmid Park (pm)

Blue Cards in the first week wereawarded to – Kinross: Jack Britton, RyanWestwaters, Brian McCormick, GregorSands, Struan Smith and Fraser Turn-bull; Perth: Andrew Legge, Jamie Mc-Gregor, Cameron Bruce, Jack Simpson,Jack Stuart, Rannoch Ramsay, KairnBrand, Rob Douglas, Finlay Acford, RyanMitchell, Samual Lough and CameronBarclay; Bridge of Earn: Patrick Brown,Greig Ramsay, Aaron Cole, Craig Donaldand Gregor Donald.TICKET CHANGE OF DATE: Every-one who attends our Scottish Hydro Sum-mer Football receives a ticket to a StJohnstone Premier League game at Mc-Diarmid Park. Allocated games this timearound are Dunfermline on August 13,Dundee United on August 27 and Hearts,which has now been rescheduled forSunday, September 25, with a 12 o’clockkick off.STREET FOOTBALL: Our coacheshave been busy delivering football ses-sions at various venues throughout Perthand Kinross. In conjunction with PerthCommunity Safety Partnership, we havevisited Aberuthven, Coupar Angus, Lun-carty, North Muirton, Letham, Glenfargand St. John's in recent weeks, withsmall sided games going ahead on themobile court.SUPER J PRE MATCH CLUBS: Thefirst pre match club of the season will beprior to the Rangers game on July 30 andmembers should note that it will start at11am due to the early kick off. Pre-matchclubs suffered a fair bit of disruption lastseason with match postponements andthe unavailability of the Muirton Gym-nasium, however, with the new pitchlooking good, we are really hopeful thatthings will be very much back to normalin 2011/12.SAINTS TEASERS: Last week: Scorersin the 3-3 draw with Rangers in 1981were John Brogan (2) and Jim Docherty.

This week: Which experienced midfieldplayer did Alex Rennie sign from DundeeUnited in August 1980, who eventuallyleft in 1983 to become manager of Ar-broath?SUPER J OF THE WEEK: This week’sSuper J is Michael Smith (9) – pictured –

COMMUNITYCORNERWith AthollHendersonCommunity coachwith St Johnstone,the SFA andPerth andKinross Leisure.

SPORT

Perth snooker playeraims for top tour spot

A PROMISING Perth potteris in the frame for a place onsnooker’s professional worldtour if he chalks up success inhis latest tournament.

Teenage cueist Scott Donaldsonhas had the highest level in his sightssince taking the tough decision toleave school in February in a bid tofollow his dream.

And now the 17-year-old has theopportunity to secure a main tourspot, where he could potentially facesnooker supremos such as RonnieO’Sullivan and John Higgins, if hepots his way to victory in his firstInternational and Billiards Feder-ation World Under 21 Snooker Cham-pionship.

Speaking from Edinburgh Airport,ahead of his flight to Canada, wherethis year’s tournament will be held,Donaldson was optimistic over hischances.

The confident teenager said: “Idon’t like to say I’m going to beatplayers. But what I will say is that ifI play well on the day then I have agood chance.

“But there are a lot of players whoare capable of beating each other.

“I’ve been playing well and hittingthe ball nicely but it doesn’t matterwhat you do in practice, it only mat-ters what happens how you playwhen you get out there.”

As the PA went to press yesterday,the former Perth High student waspreparing for his first round robinmatches against China’s Wong YunShing and Roy (Lingbin) Zeng ofCanada.

He will play Romania’s Andrei Orz-an tonight and tomorrow will faceNick Jennings of England and KurtDunham from Australia.

Donaldson will then take on Bel-gium’s Kristof Vermeiren, KishanHirani from Wales and Qatar’s Ali Al-Obaidli before the competitionreaches its knockout phase on Tues-day.

Admitting progression on the maintour would be tough, Donaldson, whowill be accompanied by fellow ScotsMichael Leslie and Rhys Clark, ex-plained a little longer at under 21level may benefit him in the future.

He added: “I’d love to be on the tour

but even if I don’t win it’s not a badthing.

“If you go in too young it isn’talways a good thing because you don’thave enough experience to win andmove up the rankings.

“It’s hard to say how I’d get on.“There are a ton of good players but

I wouldn’t have left school if I didn’tthink I could do it.”

Last month Donaldson reached thequarter-finals of the EuropeanSnooker Championships in Bul-garia.

After a stunning 5-0 whitewash ofGermany’s Patrick Einsle, the teen-ager fell in a final frame decider tonumber one seed Martin O’Donnellfrom Ireland.

The World Under 21 title is cur-rently held by Newcastle-Upon-Tyne17-year-old Sam Craigie, who se-cured the title at Letterkenny, Ire-land last August. He is currentlyranked 80th on the main tour.

Scottish potters Leslie, Clark andCampbell Dunlop progressed to theknockout round last year, but all lostin their last 16 matches.

SNOOKER

MOTOR SPORTS

Torquil forced out by pitstop woesSCONE rider Torquil Pater-son returned to Scotland torace his YPE Power SuzukiGSXR 1000 Superbike at TheEast Fortune Raceway in EastLothian.

He was back on the bike forthe first time since April andhis time racing the EdinburghHarley-Davidson backed XR1200.

The two-day meeting was tohost two rounds of the ScottishSuperbike Championship andthree rounds of the MelvilleClub Championship. It alsocelebrated 40 years since thestart of motorcycle racing atthe ex-wartime air base.

On Saturday Torquil wentinto the qualifying session andworked with the bike, gettingfaster and faster as he got usedto the lighter and faster ma-chine. On his tenth lap he putin his fastest time and thesecond fastest time of all thebikes.

He started from the all-im-portant front row of the gridbut Torquil wasn’t happy, feel-ing he could not exploit the fullpower of the bike.

The first race was for Scot-tish Championship points andat the start Torquil was away

fast and into second place.He was pushing the bike as

hard as he could but the leaderkept pulling away and Torquilhad to watch as the third placeman was pushing him hard.

As the last lap started so didthe rain and a slippery surfacewarning flag appeared.Torquil lifted off and this rival

zipped through and held hisposition to the flag.

For the next race a few ad-justments were made. But theSaturday races were cut shortand the next race was onSunday morning.

Again Torquil was intosecond at the start and he heldfirm.

He was determined to get tothe front in the next race andpushed hard at the start. Buthe was fourth at the end of lapone. Then he had to pull intothe pits at the end of lapthree.

The securing point on thechassis for the steeringdamper had broken so his race

was over.Torquil must now steel him-

self for the next race in theHarley-Davidson XR1200Trophy Championship at theOulton Park Circuit inCheshire. He currently liessixth in the championship onthe Edinburgh Harley-David-son backed XR1200.

ON CUE: Fair City snooker play-er Scott Donaldson is up againsttough competition at the World

Under 21 Championships.

By Greg Christison

from Errol. Mi-chael attends ErrolPrimary Schooland his hobbies arerunning, footballand swimming. Hewould like to be afootballer when heleaves school. Hisfavourite food is mince and tatties andfavourite group are JLS. Michael’s fa-vourite players are: Present Saints –Steven Milne; past Saints – Billy Dodds;Scotland – Scott Brown; foreign – WayneRooney and favourite football ground –Old Trafford. If Saints had the money tobuy any player regardless of cost hewould like them to buy Robbie Kean.

MIXEDFORTUNES:Torquil Patersonin action.Ray Clark

times“Hopefully a better pitch will

suit us. We want to play a passinggame. Last season there was a lotof long ball stuff because of thepark and that didn’t really suitthe players we have here.

“It was different when we hadthe likes of Kenny Deuchar withhis flick-ons up front. But it suits

us more to play it on the groundand I think you will see that.Guys like Jody Morris, ChrisMillar, Liam Craig, Murray Dav-idson, Jamie Adams and KevinMoon are all comfortable on theball and we had to miss themout.

“They are all good footballplayers but we had to hit it overtheir heads.

“Mooner has been outstanding

in pre-season so we have to keephim fit. He is due some luck. It isa big year for him.

“He only has a short-term con-tract but he will get that ex-tended if he stays fit.

“He has great ability on theball and makes runs forward.

“As he showed in Drogheda hecan also chip in with a fewgoals.”

at the Perth stadium to both sets of fans fromJuly 25 onwards. If one or other set of ticketssell out then the general sale will cease im-mediately.

Prices are as follows: East, North and Or-mond Stand: Adult – £23, Under 18s and Over65s - £11

West Stand Adult – £23, Under 18s andOver 65s – £13 Ticket Office opening hours are9.30am to 5pm each weekday. Tickets can beordered by telephone on 01738 455000.

From page 72From page 72

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Perthshire Advertiser, Friday, July 15, 2011 3

STEM SELL: T in the Park’s official florist Emma Harvey, and Beyonce (top).paf140711emma-5

Knifepoint robber is jailedMINUTES after robbing a man at knifepointof his £900 laptop and £400 mobile phone, aPerth drug addict sold them for £20 each.

Victim Scott Davison was also so terrifiedthat he handed over his rucksack and £30 toknife-wielding Thomas Cummings (25), ofLow Street, Perth.

Cummings, who has a long-standingheroin problem, was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday.

He will be supervised for 12 months afterhe is freed in a bid to “protect the public fromserious harm.”

During that period he will have to takepart in drug counselling and treatment.

He pled guilty to assaulting and robbingMr Davidson at Perth’s Ladeside lastNovember 30.

He backed him up against a wall as hethreatened him with the three-inch longblade and demanded that he hand over hisproperty.

Depute fiscal Alan Kempton said that MrDavidson (42) had left work and, because ofthe bad weather, was walking home.

He was carrying his lunch bag and hislaptop, which was in a case. As he neared theComet electrical store he heard footsteps

rapidly approaching from behind.“He then became aware of two males, one

of whom was the accused, who stood in frontof him and said: ‘You have one choice’,” saidthe fiscal.

“At this point Thomas Cummings bran-dished the knife and asked him what was inhis bag.. he then demanded he hand over thelaptop, which Mr Davidson did.”

Cummings then demanded the mobilephone and cash. As he left, he warned MrDavidson not to contact the police.

The laptop and mobile were later re-covered. Cummings also admitted breakingthe window of a transit van in Arran Road,Perth, on November 29 and stealing a satnavsystem, mobile phone and a CD.

The property, valued at £300, wasn’t re-covered.

Solicitor Alastair Houston said Cum-mings, who has alcohol and drug misuseproblems, had taken Valium and had “norecollection” of breaking into the van.

He also had little memory of the assaultand robbery but accepted responsibility.

Imposing the lengthy jail term, SheriffLindsay Foulis said: “You have an appallingrecord.”

He noted the accused had been given a 33-month sentence in October, 2008, for assaultto severe injury and permanent disfigure-ment.

He also had two convictions for offensiveweapons – one a knife.

The 42-month sentence was backdated toJune 30.

Cummings’ drug addict cousin, GaryCummings (21), of Gleneagles Avenue, Dun-dee, who appeared with him in the dock, wasjailed for 20 months.

He admitted breaking into two trucks atI&H Brown, Dunkeld Road, on November 29and attempting to break into a third.

Property worth a total of £260 was stolen.He also stole a van from the driveway ofhouse in Perth’s Gowans Terrace on Decem-ber 1 and later gave a false name to policewhen apprehended.

He was seen running from the vehiclewhen police came upon it on the A90 Perth-Dundee road, near Longforgan, at 3am thesame morning.

Solicitor Scott Norrie said his client had aserious heroin addiction which had escal-ated to injecting the Class A drug.

Beyoncetickled pinkby Emma’sstar blooms

MEGASTAR Beyonce’s T in thePark dressing room was pretty inpink thanks to a Perthshire wo-man’s flower power.

Grandtully-based Emma Harvey, whoruns Coach House Flowers, supplied 50Asiatic pink lilies to enhance the R&B diva’sbackstage Balado bolthole.

“Beyonce’s dressing room was predom-inantly pink, so we thought that pinkflowers would be a perfect compliment,” shesaid.

“But we decided on Asiatic lilies becausewe didn’t know if she’d like the scent as in asmall area with so many flowers, the smellcan be quite overpowering.”

Originally from Killiecrankie, the floristto the stars returned to her roots whenrelocating to Grandtully three years agoafter running west end Glasgow florist,Grace, for 10 years.

Among the goals she kicked when se-curing clients was Rangers Football Club,where before every home match her teamwould decorate the Ibrox ground’s hospit-ality suites with floral displays.

However, her biggest annual event clientfor the past 10 years has been T in the Park,

By Denis Brown

providing thousandsof stems each yearfor displays in theartists’ village,dressing rooms and“pampering area”.

The initial windowof opportunity at Tcame courtesy of in-terior designerLaura McInnes.

“Laura specialisesin making dressing

rooms look nice for the artists, all thefinishing touches, and she used to come intoour shop to order flowers for bands playingthe SEC, everyone from Travis to Pavarotti,”she said.

“For T in the Park she gives us a brief onthe colour scheme she’s thinking about andthen we work on designs.”

Typically making delivery of stems onThursday morning at the Balado site, thejob is usually plain sailing, although oneband in particular threw a spanner in theworks.

“Oh yes, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers,” shesaid. “They decided they wanted their wholearea filled with trees but they only gave usan hour’s notice.

“So what we did was to gather every lastpiece of greenery we had on hand in the shopand sent it down to the site – I think theband wanted a natural effect.”

Now happily back in the Highlands, MrsHarvey operates a workshop instead of aretail premises, getting all her flowers directfrom Holland via truck twice a week.

Weddings are her main bread and butterand last year, in a T in the Park spin-off, shemade a pilgrimage to the Isle of Bute tobeautify T mogul Geoff Ellis’s wedding toFiona Rosie with gorgeous summerblooms.

So did she get an invite to the reportedlyextravagant event? “No I’m afraid not – itwas strictly business,” she said.

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