TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Friday February 3, 1995
Royal Navy visit to town turns sour
Police chiefs have held talks with the Royal Navy in a bid to make sure there is no repeat of last weekend’s fighting in Campbeltown between sailors and local youths which saw 14 people taken to hospital.
The police have asked for assurances they will be given prior notice of large numbers of service personnel descending on the town.
Police arrived in the town’s Main Street at 12.15am on Sunday to find a large group of sailors from HMS Newcastle confronting a crowd of around 200 youths and their friends.
Around 150 sailors were in the town at the time but it was still unclear how many were involved in the disturbance. At the height of the trouble, more than 300 people are estimated to have been in Main Street.
The sailors were shepherded into Hall Street by police.
But a group of youths who had broken away from the crowds in Main Street ambushed the sailors in Hall Street and pelted them with rubble from nearby waste-ground.
‘The sailors were dropping like flies,’ said one witness.
A car which drove into Hall Street was also attacked.
Police took some of the sailors by van back to the NATO jetty just outside the town where HMS Newcastle was berthed.
A Royal Navy spokeswoman said 11 sailors were injured in the disturbance. Nine sailors were treated at Campbeltown Hospital and three were kept in overnight before returning to HMS Newcastle on Sunday morning before she sailed.
One of the injured soldiers is reported to have needed 13 stitches to a head injury.
Three local men also required hospital treatment.
One local man has been charged with breach of the peace and several other people could face similar charges once their cases have been considered.
The trouble is believed to have been sparked by an incident in a local bar earlier in the night. The Royal Navy spokeswoman said the disturbance was the subject of an internal inquiry.
Campbeltown-based Chief Inspector James Dorward said: ‘Although there was a large crowd in Main Street, it was a minority who were involved in any violence.’
He added the Royal Navy had been asked to make sure the police know when it is likely a large number of sailors will be in the town.
‘This incident could have been more serious and we hope that in the future, with prior warning, we would be able to provide additional patrols to contain any similar situations,’ he said.
Portsmouth-based HMS Newcastle is a Type-42 destroyer, with a crew of around 250.
Keeping it in the family
Sixteen-year-old Andrew Ronald has followed in the family tradition of coming top at Kintyre Agricultural Society’s annual Ploughing Match.
Andrew, of Laggan Farm, Peninver, carried on a tradition dating back 123 years and five generations of winning the championship.
Since 1872, the Ronald family has won the championship 23 times.
In 1988, Neil Ronald of Largiebaan followed in the footsteps of the first Ronald to win, Andrew Ronald of Dalmore.
Two great-grandsons and six great-greatgrandsons of his were competing at the society’s ploughing match at East Drumlemble a fortnight ago.