Calum Petrie

2 weeks ago | pressandjournal.co.uk | Calum Petrie

We have a flawed education system. Or to put it another way: “Education in Scotland is broken.” So said the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) not so long ago. And having spent the last four years as The Press & Journal’s education writer, it isn’t difficult to find evidence to back up such a sweeping assertion.

3 weeks ago | pressandjournal.co.uk | Calum Petrie

An Aberdeenshire postie who is retiring from his rural round after nearly three decades’ service has been hailed as a “superstar” by locals. Bill Reid, 65, has posted his last letter after 28 years as a postman. After 12 years in the air force, and five working for construction company RB Farquhar, Bill picked up his first postbag in 1996 and never looked back. He spent six years doing various rounds in the Huntly area, before making the Forgue-Largue round his own for 22 years.

3 weeks ago | pressandjournal.co.uk | Calum Petrie

An Aberdeenshire teenager who started racing karts when she was just five years old is blazing a trail for young women in a male-dominated world. Sophie Kinghorn, 18, from Rothienorman now has her sights set on becoming a BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) driver – the highest level of saloon car racing in the UK. This would involve racing full-time, taking Sophie away from her day job as an apprentice mechanic at TrustFord Aberdeen.

3 weeks ago | pressandjournal.co.uk | Calum Petrie

Tributes have been paid to a Westhill woman who ran a popular clothes and jewellery shop in Aberdeen, and made wigs for cancer patients on the side. Naomi Bergeron, 88, ran the Bergeron boutique on Thistle Street in Aberdeen with her sister Joan Baillie for 25 years. Her family remembered her as a “hard worker with a great personality” who charmed city customers for a quarter of a century. “I loved her to bits,” said son Steve.

1 month ago | pressandjournal.co.uk | Calum Petrie

It’s often said that having a child is a miracle. But for Ellon’s Karen Gordon, it really was. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer at just 25, she was told treatment would most likely leave her childless. Undaunted, Karen and husband William gave it their best shot. But it appeared the doctors were right. Until they weren’t. Ellon couple’s long and daunting journey to parenthoodIn 2013 Karen, from Ellon, was diagnosed with breast cancer.