SIXTY YEARS AGO Tuesday March 10, 1964
month, and received the approval of the full council two weeks ago when they decided the rates for the coming year.
However, since then they have run into widespread criticism, and it now looks as if the council will be forced to change its mind.
The chairman of the tourism, leisure and recreation committee, Councillor Donald MacPhail, said that he had originally planned to oppose the cuts at the full council meeting, although he had decided not to.
Now, however, he hopes to get a meeting of the committee in April to overturn the decision.
He said this week that he hopes that, by finding alternative cash cuts, the committee and the department can save the required £14,000 without hitting library services too severely.
He commented: “I will be seeking approval at the meeting for an internal financial adjustment which, if successful, could mean that the libraries could remain open completely on Saturdays.”
The position of the proposed cuts in library hours during weekday evenings is less certain, with the possibility that these cuts could still go ahead.
Meanwhile, opposition to the plans having come not only from Mid Argyll, but from all parts of the district, the department have suspended any library cuts until after the meeting on April 12.
Marquis of Lorne engaged
The engagement was announced on Monday of the Marquis of Lorne, son of the Duke of Argyll and Mrs Louise Clews Timpson of New York, to
Miss Iona Mary Colquhoun, daughter of Sir Ivar Colquhoun of Luss, Bt, and Lady Colquhoun.
It is not yet known where or when the wedding will take place and plans are proceeding for Miss Colquhoun’s joint coming-out party at Hemel Hempstead in May.
The marquis, who attended Inveraray Grammar School, rose to the rank of captain in the 1st Battalion, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, before he resigned a few years ago.
Youth club rivalries
Lochgilphead Youth Club is losing membership because of a rival club started by a local minister. This was stated at a meeting of the county education authority held in Campbeltown last week. The Dochas Youth Club – its name means hope – was refused an application for a grant to help them build club premises at a cost of £3,327.
Mr TG Henderson, the director of education, told members that when a grant was made it usually amounted to a quarter of the projected expenditure.
Mr Henderson added that the sub-committee, which had considered the request, did not think they would be justified in spending over £800 on a club which was only meeting one night per week.
The Ardrishaig member, Miss Elizabeth Matheson, said that the Dochas Club was a commendable organisation which had suffered through the formation of a local church club. “Membership has dwindled and the club at the moment is rather down on its luck,” she stated.
Mrs Matheson suggested that if the club could not be given a grant they might be given the promise of premises in the present school once the new one had been built.
If members had a clubhouse they would meet much more frequently than one night a week.
Added Mrs Matheson: “I think the idea is that the proposed clubhouse will be used by other youth clubs as well.
“We must remember that Lochgilphead is going to expand and premises of this kind will definitely be needed.”
Captain PL Mackie-Campbell, of Stonefield, said that this kind of inter-club rivalry was not confined to Lochgilphead. “I think it is a shame that places should have this sort of internal strife between bodies with one single aim.”