Ralph Coutts - Pictish Stone Tribute

We would now like to continue on (having raised £2000 for a Pictish Stone) to raise a further £600 to continue the work of Ralph Coutts who founded St Vigeans Conservation Network because of his love for the Brothock Burn and the nature trail. The volunteer group he set up in April 2016 has to date removed a huge amount of discarded rubbish from the Burn and around St Vigeans stopping that litter from reaching the sea. The group also brought many other improvements for the benefit of the wildlife by creating natural habitat, planting bluebells to help the bees survive in Spring and installing bird-boxes, to name but a few of the projects carried out on the most meagre of budgets. We volunteers who worked along with Ralph to help bring these ideas to reality were inspired by his total enthusiasm and vision to see the area as it really should be, naturally beautiful. We learned much from him about the species who make their home along the Brothock.

Ralph was also involved in setting up the litter project "Save our Seas" at Gayfield Stadium on match days which has become a great success story and the club and the group were rewarded this season with a national award.

Ralph also helped with the Arbroath Market, keeping the volunteers entertained on market days with his great sense of humour.

Ralph passed away very suddenly on Friday, 8th May at the age of 53, leaving us all shattered. He had so many plans for the future, to bring even more wildlife projects along the burn and along the trail and at Gayfield. We hope to install a permanent reminder of Ralph in the place he loved best, along the nature trail, a Pictish Stone, carved by David McGovern and designed as a tribute to Ralph Coutts, a champion in life and inspirational in what he did for his local community.

Please help us reach the target of £2000 so we can give Ralph the tribute he deserves. As soon as we reach the target, the work can begin. We're so very grateful for any help you can give by donating.

(Ralph is looking up towards the camera in the photo, while clearing rubbish from the Brothock Burn in May 2019, a day on which he'd gathered quite a squad to clear the burn from the top of Wardmill Road to the sea).