FROM OUR FILES
TEN YEARS AGO Friday February 7, 2014
Scottish Canals sails in with £1m to transform village
Ardrishaig is to benefit from more than £1 million in investment as Scottish Canals outlines plans to transform the village into “the sailors’ gateway to Scotland”.
Steve Dunlop, chief executive officer of Scottish Canals, was in Ardrishaig on Tuesday and told people the village had the potential to become a cultural, heritage and tourism hub of Argyll.
Speaking at a meeting of Ardrishaig Community Council, Mr Dunlop said Scottish Canals aimed to promote the Crinan Canal as a tourist attraction on a par with Edinburgh Castle.
Explaining the water authority was focused on getting tourists to the canal and spending more money, Mr Dunlop said: “The Crinan Canal is as important as Edinburgh Castle so we are taking this very seriously. More than 2,000 boats went through the canal to Mull last year. What we have to do is find a way to slow them down.
“A typical sailor will spend between £120 to £180 in the area. What we want to do is get them to stay here for longer - that money will come down into Ardrishaig.”
Scottish Canals’ long-term plans will also see a mass programme of regeneration for Ardrishaig and the wider Crinan Canal area. Mr Dunlop said a memorandum of agreement with Argyll and Bute Council, confirming a commitment to invest in the plan, was due to be signed in the coming weeks.
Initial ideas for regeneration include building a heritage centre, yacht chandlery and kiosk at Ardrishaig Pier to welcome visitors.
The Gleaner oil site, meanwhile, will be vacated in December and will offer further opportunities for development.
Mr Dunlop added: “We have a vision to safeguard the past and build on the future. It is about having a strong community to make this happen and it is going to make a really big difference here.”
Scottish Canals’ investment would, Mr Dunlop argues, also bring in capital from private enterprise, government and charitable funding. This, he said, would help make Scottish Canals’ vision a reality.
TWENTY YEARS AGO Friday February 6, 2004
Jobs lost in Inveraray as venison factory closes
Lack of deer in Argyll and an increase in cheap imports has been blamed for the closure of a venison factory in Inveraray.
Rick Bestwick Ltd, game dealer at Upper Riochan, closed this month, but the writing had been on the wall for several years, according to Mr Bestwick himself.
“One of the biggest reasons is cheap imports from Poland and elsewhere in the EEC and the EEC is getting bigger. Those countries have much lower production costs than us,” said Mr Bestwick.
But another major factor was what he called “lack of through-put”: the Inveraray plant just wasn’t getting enough deer in to process, because, he said, fewer and fewer beasts were being culled in Argyll.
“A lot of estates are choosing not to shoot them,” he said. “Like any factory, we can’t cover our overheads without through-put.”
Mr Bestwick, who runs five UK sites in total including another Scottish one in Perth, said that ceasing operations in Inveraray was definitely regrettable, but was part of a much bigger picture.
“I have been in business for about 25 years and have built the work force up to 207 from nothing.
“We have built it up and up and this is the first time, the first area in which we have had to make anyone redundant and it is not a pleasant experience.
“If I had the chance to get back into Inveraray I would, but something has got to change before we can do that.”
He said the number of deer going through his factory was getting fewer and fewer. “It’s a controversial topic, deer in Scotland, with some saying there are too many deer, others saying there are not. You tell me, where are they? What is the truth?”
Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) supplied deer to the Bestwick plant in Inveraray. FCS has a deer culling programme but also strives to maintain a balance between the interests of the deer population and sustainable and commercial woodlands.
Colin Lavin, deer management officer for FCS, said that while there were regional variations, the deer population in Argyll had fallen in recent years because of the commission’s culling efforts but that the number being culled had since reached a stable level.
At a recent Mid Argyll Partnership meeting, Marion Thomson, on behalf of Dunadd Community Council, asked FCS’s Brent Meakin about deer culling because of a perceived increase in the number of vehicles colliding with deer on local roads.
Mr Meakin explained that FCS kept deer numbers low to protect trees but added private estates had their own objectives and therefore their own approaches to deer management.
For example, they might want to maintain higher numbers of deer on their land to make
the beasts are visible when they take clients stalking.
Mrs Thomson said she knew of a Mid Argyll garage that was repairing one car each day in relation to deer collisions.
Police Inspector Eric Dearie said he would speak to his colleagues in the road policing department to find out if the frequency of deer collisions was monitored.
In a recent web poll conducted by The Argyllshire Advertiser, 21 per cent of respondents said they had hit a deer on Mid Argyll roads. Forty six per cent said they knew someone who had hit a deer.
FORTY YEARS AGO Friday February 10, 1984
Serious fire at council HQ
The headquarters of Argyll and Bute District Council at Kilmory Castle, near Lochgilphead, were severely damaged when fire swept through part of the original castle building on Sunday.
The exact value of the damage has not yet been ascertained but office staff were back at work this week and work is currently going ahead on repairing the damage, estimated at more than £100,000.
While the cause of the fire was thought to be accidental, and police said there were no suspicious circumstances, investigations into the cause were continuing this week.
The fire is thought to have started on the roof, with the second floor of the west wing worst hit.
There was extensive fire and water damage throughout the west wing but the rest of the castle and the new extension were not damaged.
The department worst hit by the blaze was the legal section.
Four rooms of the department were completely destroyed and on Monday staff were still trying to establish the extent of their losses.
Also damaged was the finance department, but the council’s computer - housed on the ground floor of the west wing - was saved from water damage as it was covered with polythene during the fire.
The extent of the loss of legal and financial documents is still to be established, but on Monday there was a large heap of charred paper outside the legal department.
Some documents contained in fire proof cabsure inets were intact; many were charred and more water damaged.
Legal department staff were given temporary accommodation in the council chamber, which had been undergoing renovations before the fire.
The finance department members who had lost their rooms were housed in the members’ room next door to the council chamber.
Mr Michael Gossip, chief executive, said all the council staff had been marvellous in the crisis.
Many of them had turned up at Kilmory during the fire and had helped start the clearing up on Sunday.
On Monday morning, the staff had come to work dressed in old clothes and started cleaning and sorting out documents which could be saved.
One of the main losses is a number of title deeds. The majority of title deeds held by the council were stored elsewhere, but those which staff had been using were in the legal department and were destroyed.
Also lost were court records but duplicates are available. Some election records, being used to prepare for the forthcoming district council elections, were lost.
The council’s kitchen, on the ground floor of the west wing was soaked and had no electricity supply and on Monday morning emergency facilities for the staff’s morning cup of tea were made.
The fire started just before two o’clock on Sunday afternoon and the smoke detectors set off the council’s automatic alarm. Lochgilphead Fire Brigade were on the scene quickly and were followed by fire engines from Tarbert, Inveraray and Oban.
A total of 27 men were involved in fighting the fire, which was brought under control in just over an hour.
Firemen then stood by and started clearing work to make the building safe. They finally left Kilmory at 10.30pm on Sunday, having stood by to make sure that there were no further outbreaks.
Mr Gossip said on Monday that the council’s business was going on as usual. Several committee meetings due to be held this week would be going ahead.
The council was due to have budget meetings at which the district rate is fixed - this week and Mr Gossip said the fire would not interfere with these meetings.
The council’s loss adjusters had travelled to
Lochgilphead on Monday and were still at work on Tuesday.
A council spokesman said then it was impossible to put an exact figure on the damages but that they would be “in six figures”.
The section which was destroyed by fire was due to be phase two in the council’s current programme of renovations. Mr Gossip said what he thought would happen now was that phase two would go ahead sooner than expected, at the same time as the first phase.
SIXTY YEARS AGO Tuesday February 11, 1964
Tarbert doctor’s success
Friends in Tarbert and district will be glad to know Donald Smith, Glenmorven, Tarbert, son of Mr and Mrs Dugald Smith, has been successful, at the first attempt, in the recent examinations in Edinburgh and London for membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which is considered a very meritorious achievement.
Dr Smith, who was a pupil of Tarbert JS School and Oban High School, is a graduate of Glasgow University.
At present he is an obstetric registrar in Ayrshire Central Hospital, Irvine.
Agricultural club membership now at 70
Membership of Mid Argyll Agricultural Club stands at 70 and it is hoped to get 30 more.
This was stated by club president Mr Alan MacKenzie, Ormsary, when he welcomed members to the annual general meeting at
Lochgilphead. Mr MacKenzie was re-elected president. This will be his 30th year in this office.
Other office bearers appointed were: vice president, James MacArthur; new committee: Mr Ian MacNicol, Mr W Boyd, Mr John L Campbell and Mr Neil MacNeill.
It was agreed to hold the annual show at Kilmory, Lochgilphead, on Saturday August 8.
Spring is early
The remarkable mild winter season has shown results by the appearance of daffodils outside the house of Mr Archd McMillan, 2 Kingsway, Tarbert.