Dunblane

I called in at Another Tilly Tearoom  in Dunblane on my way south a couple of weeks ago. I like Dunblane. It is a great shame that, for many, the only thing that it means to them is the terrible Dunblane Massacre 21 years ago when 16 schoolchildren and one adult lost their lives. 

It has an attractive Cathedral, The Leighton Library, A Museum, (the last two of which I have never visited). However, although it is doubtless a pleasant place to live (and about 50 minutes by train from the centre of Glasgow) it's not a great tourist attraction and the main street has little to offer except several first class butchers (selling famous pies and the like in addition to raw meat), some small shops and charity shops and some cafés.

I have stayed and visited many times (a number of times with CJ) and passed through many times in the last half century. I hope it continues to prosper.

The gold post box painted in honour of Andy Murray's Gold Medal 2012 Olympics win over Roger Federer. The tearoom is on the left up the road just past the red car (in case you are ever looking for it).

Dunblane in Bloom

Dunblane’s gardens produced a blaze of colour in June.

The Dunblane Commemoration

The inscription reads: He called a little child to him, set it down in their midst and said, "Hear the truth. Unless your hearts are changed and you become little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all"

On our travels North CJ and I visited Dunblane between Stirling and Perth in the Scotland . In the Cathedral is a commemoration of the Dunblane Massacre. The Dunblane Massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by the attacker, Thomas Watt Hamilton, before he committed suicide. It remains the deadliest single targeted mass murder of children in the history of the United Kingdom.

It consists of a Clashach sandstone stone two metres high on a Caithness flagstone inscribed "The Tragedy of Dunblane 1996". It was dedicated on 12 March 2000.

It was indescribably moving and made the events seem like only yesterday .