FIFTY YEARS AGO Thursday January 29, 1970

Comment: Let’s get behind them

The town council is one of those well-intentioned administrative bodies which exists to serve everyone - and yet serves no-one. Or so it would seem.

Too often the errors made by town councils are dragged out into the open and examined under a cold and penetrating light, while the successes achieved by town councils are either taken for granted or ignored.

The editor of this newspaper hasn’t hesitated in the past in publishing adversely critical, and sometimes downright unfair, letters about Campbeltown Town Council and its work.

And opinions expressed in this column haven’t often been appreciative of the handling by the council of some important local issues.

But let’s, everyone, get squarely behind the council in the effort to get Campbeltown’s swimming pool off the drawing board.

Remember the pool is for the good of Kintyre - for its children, for its tourism industry, for its future.

The sacrifices will, in the end, be justified.

Another trawler order for shipyard

Campbeltown Shipyard Limited has received another order for a 50-foot fishing vessel.

This will be the yard’s fourth order since opening in December 1968.

The order has been placed by Eyemouth fisherman John Horne, whose cousin, Charles Horne, bought the former Campbeltown boat, the Gleaner, now called the Golden Years.

The provisional date for completion of the vessel is November/December 1970.

The vessel will be of conventional layout, with the wheelhouse, engine room and accommodation aft, and the fish-room forward.

The main engine will be a Cummins NH250-M, developing 190 shaft hp at 1,800 rpm.

The steering will be by Kort Nozzle, similar to the one on the vessel at present being built for Anstruther fisherman D Tod.

The fish-hold will be fully insulated and will have a capacity of 1,250 cubic feet, enough for about 200 crans of herring or 13 tons of fish and ice.

Navigational aids will include Kelvin Hughes radio transmitter, MS 29 echo sounder and Mark 12 Navigator. The cabin will accommodate six men and will be heated by an oil-fired stove.

The galley will be aft of the wheelhouse.