THIS year, calendars have barely been used or needed. We can sum up 2020 with, Happy New Year, worldwide pandemic declared, lockdown announced. Life as we know it was pretty much cancelled.

Hope for a better year to come was, however, discovered during quarantine, and is the inspiration behind a 2021 calendar which will boost the coffers of Peebles High School after it was forced to cancel all its major fundraising events.

Former pupils Claire Barrett and Mark Sansom left the secondary school in the late 80s, but they’ve joined forces to launch a calendar which has now hit the shelves.

Claire looks after fundraising for the school but her job was made much harder this year because of COVID-19 red tape.

“The idea came about because of COVID really, I knew we couldn’t do any big public fundraising events, and it would be inappropriate to ask local businesses for donations to raffles or auctions just now,” she said.

Claire and Mark are work colleagues at Standard Life Aberdeen. She said: “Mark works in multimedia but is an amateur photographer. On his daily walks in lockdown, like many of us, I think he noticed more keenly the beauty of our local area and so he posted these on the Auld Peebles Facebook site for others to enjoy. Mark’s photos are stunning, and when I contacted him with the idea of producing the calendar, he was happy to lend his support by donating some of his wonderful images of the area.

“I’ve also had assistance from Alan at Lemon Digital and my employer at Standard Life Aberdeen with the printing.”

It is hoped that the proceeds will go to spreading some festive cheer after a particularly difficult year for the pupils.

Claire added: “We’ve been liaising with the school and as many of the year end activities will be cancelled, the funds from the calendars may be used to support fun activities in school led by senior students to ensure cheer and happiness in the run up to Christmas.”

The calendars are available for £6 from The Gift Box, Whitie’s Books and Crafts, and via ParentPay.

Calendars can be posted for a small charge. Please email phspc@outlook.com with your order details.