Why I love this town

It has been my pleasure to come back to Campbeltown for a week and write for the

Courier while Mark Davey is on holiday. So it doesn’t feel right to sit here and pass comment except to say that I love being back here because:

Of the effort people put into decorating their homes and gardens and giving out sweeties to kids at Hallowe’en.

The mother of a wee kid with autism can have a catch in her voice as she tells me how kind, supportive and understanding people in the town are.

That Cathy Duncan is still brewing up tea and coffee at the luncheon club.

Sunshine on an autumn morning on the stonework of the Highland Parish Church.

It’s the same names on the town’s sheriff court sheet (at least they’re consistent . . . ). Eider ducks on the loch. I can sit in a hotel and listen to a group of foreign tourists get excited about Springbank.

The Royal Navy captain inspecting the Sea Cadets is blown away by how talented they are.

That there are people who give up their time for kids in the Sea Cadets and they still learn how to polish boots to a shine like that, or play the pipes and drums, brass, woodwind, football, swim or run – Army Cadets, Guides or Scouts at any of the other youth organisations in the town.

A skein of geese flying in over the head of the loch and the Front Green.

That the RNLI lifeboat and fire station are staffed by volunteers who are so professional that they will put their lives on the line to save yours.

And that after 143 years the Courier is still here and this is a great place to live and raise a family.