Raploch

The Raploch is a district of the city of Stirling to the south of the River Forth in central Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to by people from outside the area as "Raploch", but locally it is invariably preceded by the definite article "the". It is also known to anyone else in Stirling as the Raptap.

The first houses were built in the late 17th century, after the land had been sold by the Earl of Mar to the patrons of Cowane's Hospital in Stirling. Economic conditions led to stagnation but housing began again in earnest at the start of the 19th century.

The real expansion came in the middle of the 20th century, when council housing replaced decrepit housing in the old town.

Perhaps the most famous person to have come from the district is football legend Billy Bremner who also attended the local St. Mary's Roman catholic primary school.

Police Constable Blair Rennie is currently the Community Constable for the Raploch.

Mags Haney, head of a noted drug-dealing clan in the Stirling area, was a Raploch resident until her imprisonment at Cornton Vale in 2003, where she remains convicted with her daughter. Also known as "Big Mags" she was convicted of running the largest heroin empire in Stirling, on a barter basis, with junkies stealing goods to order to be traded for drugs at the "Haney Hilton" this was a large council housing building the clan forcibly took over, demolishing many internal walls to create a large dwelling. [cite news
date=2003-04-02
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2909767.stm
title= Drugs granny and family jailed
publisher=BBC News
accessdate=2006-12-27]

Mags Haney was thought to be the real life basis for the matriarchal "Mo Harris" character in BBC soap EastendersFact|date=February 2007, after she shot to fame for her tough vigilante style stance on paedophiles in the Raploch.

It is reported that a common shoplifting technique used the dead drop of spy fiction fame, stolen goods would be taken from the Thistle Centre and the shop lifters would run to the train station where they would place the goods in a left luggage locker, texting the pin key to an accomplice who would later pick it up at their leisure. The thieves would then get on the next available train, free from any incriminating evidence.

This system was identified and defeated by co-operation between Central Scotland Police and ScotRail by the removal of the luggage lockers and increased CCTV at the listed station.

The increased terrorist threat was also a factor in the removal of the lockers, and is the reason there are no bins.

The Raploch was the subject of a 2002 BBC Scotland documentary entitled Raploch Stories, and in a 2007 sequel Raploch Stories Revisited.

References

*cite book | author=Mair, Craig | title=Stirling: The Royal Burgh | publisher=John Donald Publishers | year=1990 | id=ISBN 0-85976-420-6

Community Police Officer Blair Rennie, the youngest Community Constable in Central Scotland Police began with the Force as the last ever Police Cadet to be recruited. He served in Stirling and Bannockburn during his probationary period before being appointed as Raploch Community Constable. He has introduced the Raploch Open Youth Forum to the area which encourages positive engagement between young people and the Police in the area. He also introduiced the pilot initiative of joint Police / Community Warden Surgeries in the area.

Constable Rennie aims to positive engage with young people as a priority, and often causes outrage at open public meetings with his no nonsense approach to community policing.

External links

* [http://www.raploch.com Raploch project]