THE ARRAN BANNER 20 YEARS AGO

Saturday August 2, 1997 To the wire

The likelihood of the threatened strike of seamen on CalMac’s Clyde ferries has changed from day to day over the last week. At present it is scheduled to start at midnight on Sunday with no further talks arranged to take place before then. On most occasions in the past an agreement has been reached at the 11th hour.

Agreement or not, the likelihood of a strike has created much alarm on Arran over the last week. Hoteliers have been having cancellations and early departures from guests anxious that they may not get away off the island. Restaurateurs have been having issues with buying and securing supplies and even workmen are having to buy regularly used equipment to last them in case supplies are no longer available. The protagonists are CalMac and the RMT union representing about 180 sailors in CalMac’s Clyde ships.

Five more years

Stagecoach Western has secured the Arran bus contracts for the next five years at a saving to North Ayrshire of £50,000 on last year’s cost.

This was decided at meeting of the council’s corporate strategy committee on Tuesday and ends much angst within the council over the last year about who should run Arran’s buses and at what cost.

It was a year ago when NAC would only accept a one-year contract with Stagecoach and encouraged bids from other bus companies. They even went through various steps to run a council bus company. Since 1992 when Arran Transport lost the contract to Western Scottish there has been some uncertainty about who would be running Arran’s buses. Now it has been settled for at least five years.

Citizen’s arrest

Shopkeeper Ian Murchie made a citizen’s arrest this week when he found a youth had broken into his Lamlash store in the small hours of Monday morning. The culprit turned out to be a 15-year-old youth from Royston in Glasgow and it is believed he may have broken into Lamlash Bowling Club prior to his foray into Murchie’s Stores. The youth gave in quietly and Ian handed him over to the police. He will now be reported to the children’s panel. It is believed that this is Ian’s second time that he has arrested someone this year.

Runners are pictured here at the start of the first leg of the Round Arran road race last Sunday.

Nicki Souter, David Milne and Gus Swain from Abertay University have been seen investigating manholes on Arran. They are conducting a study on reducing non biodegradable waste on beaches prior to Arran receiving a proper waste sewage plant.

A large crowd gathered at the annual Lochranza Boat Race to witness the ‘fun boats’ as they prepared to battle each other.

A rare sight: John Smith’s Trichocereus Macrogoniss which only flowers every seven years, and then when the Argentinian and Bolivian native does flower, it only last for 36 hours before quickly wilting and withering away.

Mrs Joan Stuart’s car was found burnt out in the small hours of Saturday morning in Lamlash. The fire service suggested an electrical fault as being the most likely cause.