Count his blessings

Sir,

I would like to respond to Mr Cowan of Glasgow and Catacol (Arran Banne, June 12).

I think that he should count his many blessings. He is clearly in a very privileged position. Contrary to his opinion that we are all doddering old folks, many of the residents of Arran are young families. Unfortunately, a fair number of those families can barely afford to keep one roof over their heads. Mr ‘two homes’ Cowan probably is unaware that in order to assist these less fortunate people a foodbank has to be maintained here in Brodick.

When next he and his family do get to visit their second home, I would suggest that on his way through Brodick he stops off at St Brides Church and takes a long hard look at the foodbank. Maybe even bring a few bags of shopping to leave as a donation. How about it Mr Cowan?

We the islanders are now into week 13 of the lockdown at the time of writing. Very few of us have been allowed to leave Arran in that time as the restrictions on travel are very strict. About the only reason to get a ferry ticket is by producing a letter of appointment from a hospital. The message from our government is ‘Stay At Home’ and that is what we have done and are continuing to do without whinging on about our rights.

We, the pottering old folks, do the bulk of the considerable amount of voluntary work that goes on here. As for the businesses, we the one home owners do support the ones that stay open during the winter months when the island is quiet.

While Mr Cowan goes on at length regarding the age of the population. Let us consider that Arran suffers the same problems as many

popular tourist areas in that it is his privileged attitude that is largely the cause of the problem. They are happy with their high income level to willingly pay over the odds for houses thereby pricing out the younger Arran people. Then a lot of them stand empty for most of the year.

Surely Mr Cowan and his ilk are aware that the medical facilities here on Arran, while being a superb service, are nevertheless very limited and couldn’t cope if a major outbreak of COVID-19 were to develop with an influx of large numbers people. Hence the ban on holiday traffic. We the islanders will have no say when the island will reopen for business. That is solely a decision for the Scottish Government.

And finally I have no idea how old Mr Cowan is but I would like to share this thought with him. You too will be old one day.

Yours,

Peter Harper, Shiskine.