TWENTY YEARS AGO Friday March 19, 2004
Members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) have been presented with a cheque for £560, which was raised by pupils at Lochgilphead High School.
Teenagers completing their Duke of Edinburgh Awards recently organised a coffee morning and non-uniform day at the joint campus to raise funds for the charity.
The money will be put towards general funds and used to provide training for crew members.
George Bradley, lifeboat operations manager at Campbeltown RNLI station, said: “It is a fantastic amount for the students to raise. They are required to carry out a volunteering activity as part of the awards programme so chose to do a coffee morning. We cannot thank them enough for their efforts.
“They have been an absolute joy to work with and have done an amazing job.’
As part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards the students also travelled to Campbeltown to find out how the RNLI operates. They have been learning about staying safe in the water, making 999 calls and how to spot dangers in the water.
Lantern festival saved
Lochgilphead’s lantern festival has been saved. Five women have formed a group and renamed the festival Lanterns @10, as this year’s event will be the 10th festival.
Catriona Gorrie, group secretary, said: “We’ve had a lot of support. Local hoteliers and bed and breakfast owners have once again acknowledged how important the event is to their businesses.”
Other committee members include Trish Collins, chairwoman; Ailsa Raeburn, treasurer; Emma Vaughan and Pam Staley. Catriona told us they were planning to do a fund-raising event in June this year, possibly with a comedy theme.
She said: “We are following up the possibility of taking part in Let’s do the Show Right Here [a fund-raising project by BBC Radio Scotland].”
The BBC is keen to team up with community groups cross Scotland which want to stage fund-raising variety shows at local halls.
The BBC would help by taking its host Bryan Burnett along with another celebrity act, before making a radio programme following the progress of the group. The Lanterns @10 group is now looking for local sponsors.
FORTY YEARS AGO Friday March 23, 1984 Yard goes under the hammer
Tarbert Boatyard, which went into the hands of an official receiver last year only months after the local planning authority had approve ambitious plans to develop the site as a residential and leisure centre, is now for sale.
Advertisements for the sale of the yard have appeared in several national newspapers this week and the selling agents said on Wednesday that the site – now not operating as a boatyard – could be bought either as a repair yard or as a site for substantial redevelopment.
Only last summer, the site was granted detailed planning permission for a major redevelopment project.
This involved some land reclamation, the building of a substantial flat complex, the development of a small boat repair facility, some space for dinghies and a swimming pool.
However, before any part of this major work could get off the drawing board, Tarbert Boatyard Ltd went into the hands of the receiver.
A spokesman for Montagu Evans & Sons, the Edinburgh chartered surveyors handling the sale of the property, said this week that the existing planning consent – which was granted to the site, not the applicants, and is therefore transferable with the property – means that any potential purchaser will have two options over what to do with the site.
They could either keep it as a boatyard or carry out the major redevelopment originally planned by Tarbert Boatyard Limited.
If it is bought with the former in mind, the site, which covers slightly less than one acre, contains several sheds suitable for such a business as well as two suitable slipways.
However, it would appear that although the re-establishment of a boat repair yard might be welcomed by some residents of the village, the development potential of the site is what is most likely to attract buyers.