FROM OUR FILES
TEN YEARS AGO Friday June 7, 2013 Medieval Melee recognises hard work of Tarbert Castle Trust
People from across Loch Fyne descended on Tarbert at the weekend as the townsfolk celebrated a number of achievements in the ongoing conservation of Tarbert Castle.
They dressed in period costume as they hosted a Medieval Melee at the hilltop castle.
It recognised the hard work of Tarbert Castle Trust, which has, with the help of volunteers, opened up the site, secured the ruins and improved visitor access in just a few years.
Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, attended the event and said: “The restoration of the castle, the maintenance of the grounds by a community-owned flock of Hebridean sheep and the ongoing inquiry into the history of the area are all great examples of community activism in Argyll and Bute and are much to be commended.”
Mr Russell was welcomed to the event by pupils at Tarbert Academy.
Performing a walking play, the children in P5 and P6 took on the persona of Robert the Bruce and his entourage for the day.
Their play introduced people and told them of the significant events that happened there hundreds of years ago.
The family event attracted 350 people.
TWENTY YEARS AGO Friday June 13, 2003 Argyll fish farmer is new SAOS president
Stewart Cannon, director and founder member of Scot Trout Ltd and managing director of Kilmelford-based Kames Fish Farm Ltd, has been appointed president of the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society Ltd (SAOS).
He becomes the second Argyll president, following in the footsteps of the first Argyll man, Robin Malcolm of Poltalloch, who held the post from 1983 until 1986.
Mr Cannon, who grew up on a family farm in Lincolnshire, started Kames Fish Farming Ltd in 1972 and has been at the forefront of fish farming, pioneering the use of freshwater cage farming and the farming of rainbow trout, mussels and halibut in Scotland, plus sea bream and sea bass in Greece.
Mr Cannon said: “I look forward to promoting the interests of member businesses and helping to achieve better understanding of the fantastic opportunities cooperation provides for independent farmers in the competitive global marketplace.
‘I am well aware that support arrangements to many of Scotland’s farmers looks set to change, permitting greater flexibility and enabling farmers to respond more directly to the market.
“Cooperation will be the route to market for more and more farmers.”
He replaces Gareth Baird who stands down after three years as president.
Ford to lose its village shop
Ford is to lose its village shop after permission was granted this week for it to be demolished and a house built in its place.
Councillors of the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islay area committee approved plans and granted outline planning permission, despite the submission of a petition signed by 33 residents protesting against the loss of the shop.
Councillors were advised that the decision as to whether or not the shop was closed and the building demolished rested with the owner and was not the responsibility of Argyll and Bute Council as planning authority.
FORTY YEARS AGO Friday June 10, 1983 Cousins meet
There was a family get-together last week when American brothers, touring Scotland for their first visit to this country, met their Scottish cousin, Dr Iain MacCammond, of Ardrishaig.
Dr MacCammond, retired physician superintendent of the Argyll and Bute Hospital, only learned of his cousins through a chance remark by a patient sometime ago.
The patient mentioned that he had a friend who had a friend called MacCammond, in America.
Inquiries revealed the friend’s friend of the same name was, unknown to Dr MacCammond, his first cousin.
Their grandfather had immigrated to New
York, leaving the eldest of his four sons, Dr MacCammond’s father, behind.
Eventually he had lost touch with his brothers across the Atlantic.
After the cousins learnt of each other’s existence, a correspondence was started which resulted on Friday with Dr MacCammond and his wife, Margaret, entertaining Mr Kenneth MacCammond, Tucson, Arizona, and Mr Oscar MacCammond known as “Mac”, a teacher, from Dallas, Texas, to lunch at their home in Ardrishaig.
The men, all veterans of the Second World War, also discovered that while Dr MacCammond had been with the Special Forces in Indochina, his cousin Kenneth had been serving nearby with the US Air Force, each man at the time unaware of the other’s existence. The two American brothers spent the holiday as guests of Dr MacCammond’s son-in- law at the Loch Melfort Hotel. Following the family reunion, they were moving on to visit the Isle of Skye.
SIXTY YEARS AGO Tuesday June 11, 1963 Lochgilphead leads in language experiment
An imaginative experiment in the teaching of modern languages at Lochgilphead came in for warm praise at a meeting of Argyll Education Committee held in Oban last Wednesday.
Details of the experiment were divulged by Mr TG Henderson, director of education for the county, during consideration of a circular from Scottish Education Department which advised local authorities to attempt the teaching of languages at the primary level.
Mr Henderson said that this was in fact already being done at two centres in Argyll; at Lochgilphead where Mr Kenneth MacRae was teaching French to primary seven, and at Port Charlotte, Islay, were primary classes were being taught French by Mr Moir. A number of other headmasters have expressed an interest in the idea and it was hoped that quite soon a number of schools in Argyll will be teaching French at the primary stage. Added Mr Henderson: “It is mainly conversational French that is being taught. There is no written work at all.’
Mr Henderson announced that he has now arranged with the BBC for a supply of language tapes, with their associated books, for use at all adult education centres throughout the county, and that he hoped that in time this would come to be used quite extensively in schools. The problem of the schools was the problem of time and it was all a question of priorities.
Mr Henderson disclosed that next week he is sending two teachers to study the new language laboratory in Glasgow Technical College.