THE ARRAN BANNER 20 YEARS AGO

Saturday April 26, 1997

New development

Arran will once again be considering a housing development in Brodick with the application for a new housing development at Cora Lynn.

Since the old Co-op was pulled down the site has lain bare and has become an eyesore. Celia Urquhart and CU Developments previously submitted plans for Charters Towers on the site which led to protest meetings and culminated in a public local inquiry which eventually found against the development.

The new application is different from the previous large block development. It comprises four pairs of semi-detached houses plus two blocks, each containing eight flats. This makes a total of 24 dwellings on 0.4 hectares with 32 parking spaces being provided.

It looks like another version of Low Glencloy which will leave the people on Arran considering whether this is a beneficial, or merely a commercial development.

Long ordeal

A 72-year-old woman who had spent almost 48 hours on Goatfell this week was found suffering from hypothermia but otherwise well, by the Arran Mountain Rescue Team on Thursday afternoon.

The woman from Kilmarnock had last been seen at home on Sunday and by Tuesday, when relatives had not seen her, they entered her house and found a note that she had gone off to Arran to climb Goatfell.

By Thursday local police had been alerted and a helicopter from HMS Gannet was called in which ferried members of the mountain rescue to the top of the mountain. At around 4.15pm the woman was found alive in the heather on the route to Goatfell. The helicopter returned and took her to Crosshouse Hospital where, apart from the hypothermia, she was found to be okay after her long ordeal.

Water improvements

Arran’s water is not without its problems. There have been criticisms over the number of additives in it and lack of storage also means that, despite a wet climate, a brief drought can mean a water shortage.

The water round the shores is also not as clean as it should be, with untreated sewage pouring into it. West of Scotland Water is working on these issues and this autumn construction will begin on new treatment facilities at Corrie and Lochranza. A new water storage tank using membrane filter technology will be built at Lochranza and a new main laid between Lochranza and Pirnmill.

Water treatment sites are being sought although West of Scotland Water is only legally bound to provide these by 2005. That is a long way off but it is likely that the sites will be in Brodick and Whiting Bay.

B16twe05 Jean and Roger Peacock hosted a dinner for Contact the Elderly in their Brodick home. Pictured are Jean and Roger along with Alex McIntosh, Margaret White, Mary MacDonald, Minnie Coney, Margaret Gray, Eileen Turton, Peggy Dutton, Jan Schofield and Ruth...

B16twe04 Rhod Sharp of Radio 5 Live visited Arran to get material for an article. The picture l to r shows: piper Willie Robertson, Frank Masson, Rhod Sharp and Charles MacVicar of Paterson Arran.

B16twe01 A final polish is given to the new marble memorial at Lochranza under the watchful eye of port manager Robbie Brown. The memorial honours the 37 young men who died when the HMS Vandal sunk on 24 February 1943.

B16twe03 Bryce Walker and Dougie Macfarlane, representing the winning Gift Shop Gladiators, are presented with the Licensed Trade Trophy after their charity golf day last Saturday in Brodick, by club captain Willie Innes and secretary Hamish MacRae.

B16twe02 Pictured at the Drift Inn last Thursday night are all the trophy winners on the final night of the pool season. They are: John Copperwheat and Stuart Kearney, doubles champions, Crawford Duncan and Gordon Davidson, league championship and knockout...