News review of 2017
January: One in a million bovine baby
WITH the chances of a cow giving birth to healthy triplets estimated to be one in a million, the Kerr family of Balegreggan Farm, Campbeltown, was stunned to discover that one of its cattle had delivered three bouncing baby bovines in January.
February: Young musician of the year
A GRAMMAR school musician who first tinkled the ivories aged five was named Most Promising Young Musician of the Year in February.
March: Pals honoured by Scottish Golf
A PAIR of Kintyre’s greatest golfing legends and Dunaverty ambassadors received national recognition for their lifetime achievements, as reported in March.
Dunaverty duo, Scotland’s greatest ever women’s amateur player Belle Robertson, and golf writer Jock MacVicar, both received awards at the 2017 Scottish Golf Awards, in recognition of their long-serving efforts on and off the course.
April: Auchinlee jobs saved for one year
IN A LAST minute £291,000 deal, in April, it was announced that Auchinlee care home had been saved until March 2018.
Auchinlee Action Group chairman John Titterton cautiously welcomed the news as he said that ultimately Auchinlee staff will be looking for work.
May: Kintyre’s rescue heroes save surfer
SEARCHERS including Campbeltown lifeboat crews and coastguards worked day and night to locate a surfer who disappeared off Westport beach.
The rescue of Matthew Bryce from Airdrie, 13 miles out in the North Channel by a coastguard helicopter at 7.30pm on Monday night after 32 hours in the sea made headlines around the world.
June: Mascot keeps joggers ‘moo-ving’
SUPPORT from the unveiled MOKRUN mascot proved motivational to the sprinters at the junior races in June, as two course records were smashed.
MOK Coo was designed by Castlehill primary pupil Eoin Quinn, seven.
July: Hickory golf comes to Kintyre
MACHRIHANISH Golf Club welcomed golfers from across America and Europe in July at an opening ceremony for the 10th biannual Hickory Grail competition.
The Hickory Grail, the oldest international hickory match in golf, where players are only allowed to use 90-year-old or older hickory-shafted clubs and gentlemen dress in keeping, such as in plus-fours and ties, with long skirts for the ladies, is competed by a team from the USA and a European team.
August: Kintyre Show’s spectacular sheep
THE 2017 Highland Show female champion in the traditional Bluefaced Leicester sheep section was crowned the champion of champions at the Kintyre Agricultural Show in August.
September: U13s league success kicks off
SEVEN years of training through Campbeltown and District Juvenile Football Association paid off for Campbeltown Pupils Youth Under 13s (2005s), as they thrashed Summerston Boys Club in a 16-goal extravaganza in their first ever 11-a-side league match.
October: Nineties and noughties fundraiser
A FUNDRAISER tapped into the music and culture of the past two decades as she collected nearly £4,000 for charity in October.
November: Mull of Kintyre - 40 years on
THE ANNIVERSARY of the iconic Christmas number one created a mini media storm in November, as the Big Issue sent a team to make a Christmas special feature and the BBC produced a radio programme.
STV video journalist Clare McNeill filmed and interviewed surviving band members John Brown and Ian McKerral, as well as Alastair Cousin, of the Linda McCartney Kintyre Memorial Trust, and Argyll and the Isles Tourism Cooperative director Niall Macalister Hall about tourists on the McCartney trail.
December: Brass is the ‘best in Scotland’
CAMPBELTOWN Brass scaled the heights at the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships in December, retaining its under 12 and under 14 titles.
Two bands were entered into the 12-and-under preparatory section, winners Campbeltown Brass juniors and Campbeltown Brass beginners, which won the silver award, while the 14-and-under band Campbeltown Brass intermediate, competing in the novice section, was also victorious.