The raft race is all set to launch

Time for the Great Oban Raft Race at last.

It’s one of my favourite events of the summer and this year promises to be a good one with a very interesting raffle courtesy of Autoglass they haven’t told us what it is yet but it must be good to top last year’s dinosaur.

The effort everyone puts into their rafts and their outfits is incredible. I still giggle about a pink raft a few years ago which spent the whole race trying to get everyone aboard at the same time – I don’t think they made it off the shore until after the winner was in.

Please come along and show your support. The Oban and Lorn Lions put a lot of time and effort into organising the race and the cheers from the shore help to spur the rafts around the course.

The Lego Club in Rockfield is also celebrating the raft race on Saturday, making rafts from Lego and seeing how well they sail, so it should be lots of fun.

Saturday is going to be a busy day in the town centre, with the Cadet Centre – just up from the beach on Tweedale Street – holding a die cast model show for the Air Training Corps. It’s on for Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 4pm and celebrates 100 years of the Royal Air Force.

If you fancy a wee bit of culture this weekend, then St John’s Cathedral on Sunday is where you should be for the celebrity opera gala, part of the Lorn Live Chamber Music Festival. It begins at 3pm and includes much-loved favourites from the worlds of opera and musical theatre.

The photograph last week pictured above the door in the Municipal Building on Albany Street. It’s beautiful and I’ve walked underneath it for years and not noticed. This week’s is perhaps not as pretty but from one of the older parts of Oban.