THE ARRAN BANNER 20 YEARS AGO

Saturday May 9, 1998

A horse named Brodick

Two horses and their handlers visited Arran last week as part of a road safety weekend exercise. One called Argyll and the other Brodick, they are named, like motor cars, with a different letter depending on the year they joined the force. Thus Argyll joined the force one year earlier than Brodick. All Strathclyde horses are named after parts of the region and they used to have a horse named Arran but, as they are now only in the year ‘G’, it will be a long time before there is another one. Brodick and Argyll travelled over on the ferry by horsebox and were stabled at Kingscross. They were the first two police horses to come to Arran and there are no plans to repeat the exercise but they certainly attracted a lot of interest wherever they went.

Arran earthquake

Arran has been struck by an earthquake. The epicentre of the earthquake was half way between Colonsay and Jura and its magnitude was 3.4 on the Richter scale. It occurred on Sunday morning at 3.15am and the first reports came from Lochgilphead to the British Geological Society in Edinburgh. Subsequently, more reports came in with people saying: ‘We were woken in our sleep’ and ‘We heard a rumble like a train passing’. There was at least one report from Arran.

The BGS seismic listening devices had already picked up seismic activity before any reports had come in. With almost all reports coming from Argyll and only one from Arran, it would appear that Arran was on the outer edge of any tremors. As for the actual cause, even the BGS cannot say but it does say it is not to do with tectonic plate movement but with a fault at great depth within the earth.

Outdoor weddings

A proposal to conduct civil marriages outside the office has been put forward to North Ayrshire Council. Up until now the registrar can only marry people only in their office. A minister may marry people in a hotel or other place although often the preference is to conduct weddings in their own churches.

Now a proposal is before North Ayrshire to conduct civil marriages outside the office with mountain tops and country parks listed as venues that have been requested. One couple who went to register their marriage at the Registry Office at Lamlash had to use their own minister to conduct their wedding on Cleats Shore. There was a strong suggestion that they had chosen the location to benefit from the known designation of the beach, but they were not able to ask the registrar to marry them there.

01_B20twe01 Over the past six months, parents and pupils of Arran High School have collected 31,528 Co-op music vouchers which have been used to purchase musical instruments. Pictured outside Lamlash Co-op are Iain Soutter, Robin Smith, Laura Keeney, Richard...

01_B20twe05 Current lifeboat crew line up outside the new station which was opened by Lady Jean Fforde last Saturday.

01_B20twe02 Maryhill Eagles, a women’s league football team from Glasgow which includes Whiting Bay footballer Catherine McBain, visited Arran for a friendly against a men’s team at Sandbraes Park last weekend.

01_B20twe04 Former members of the Arran lifeboat crew attended the opening of the new Lifeboat House at Lamlash Pier. They are Ian Thomson, Archie Stevenson, Ian McNee, Peter McBeath, Jock Kelso, Peter MacKay, Miller Crawford, Ian Wood, John Robertson and Mick...

01_B20twe03 Last week horse riders on Arran enjoyed a road safety weekend organised in conjunction with the British Horse Society and the mounted police section. Pictured are the organisers who helped students attain their BHS road safety badges.