TWENTY YEARS AGO Friday April 30, 2004
Auchindrain Museum saved
The future of Auchindrain Museum has been secured this week after receiving financial support from Historic Scotland.
Auchindrain Trust, which runs the open-air museum, has been in discussions with Historic Scotland since June last year, when a financial crisis meant closure was imminent.
The cash injection comes in the 50th year of Auchindrain being classified as a preserved site; it is Scotland’s only remaining 18th century rural settlement which shows how people lived before the Highland Clearances.
The amount of money provided by Historic Scotland has not been revealed, but a spokesman for the national agency said: “We have worked closely with the trustees to secure the immediate future of Auchindrain with a view to the township becoming financially stable and self-sustaining by the end of the two-year period.
“It is now vital for the trust to use this period to implement a development that will secure them longer term through new income sources and increased footfall.”
Alison Hay, convener of the trust, said: “We are not going to be worrying about whether or not we will be open. We have to produce a forward plan which will give some indication of how we see fundraising going, how we manage the buildings.
Two young lads who love chocolate and Lego raised £100 for charity by combining their two favourite things and opening their own sweetie stall.
Toby MacDonald, nine, and Christopher McCarthan, eight, opened up “Chocoblock” on Saturday to raise money for the Mthunzi and Lilanda Initiative (MALI).
The Lochgilphead boys, who are both Argyll 19th Cubs, sold delicious chocolate cakes and chocolate Lego blocks from their stall at Lochgilphead Parish Church coffee morning.
Toby said: “We came up with the idea after Marian Pallister, the founder of the charity, gave a presentation to the Cubs. We really wanted to do something for the charity, so we decided to open a chocolate stall.
“We made the chocolate Lego blocks using ice cube trays we bought on a trip to Legoland.”
The fundraising event will also contribute to their community Cub badge.
Tarbert juniors’skiff launched
A great deal of hard graft went into two craft, Red Rocket and Blue Flash, which had maiden voyages on Loch Fyne on Saturday.
The two skiffs, funded by an Awards for All grant, were built by Tarbert Loch Fyne Yacht Club juniors with supervision from professional boat-builders A and R Way of Cairnbaan.
Construction began back in February on yacht club premises, with instruction sessions on Saturday mornings and work parties during the week required to meet the completion deadline of mid-April.
Three hundred working hours were put in by the 19 juniors that took part, supported by some 50 hours of professional guidance and volunteer adult help.
Boat builder Adam Way instructed the youngsters on marking out and measuring, cutting and shaping, glueing, fixing, sanding and finishing.
The eight-oar boats, complete with metal fittings and warps provided by W B Leitch Sailmakers, were finished in time for the yacht club’s opening muster on Saturday.
Their names, carved onto the vessels by D G Farrar and Co, and taken from the colour finishes supplied by sponsor International Paints, had been chosen by the project’s keenest workers, who hoped the titles Red Rocket and Blue Flash would also reflect the skiffs’ performances.
Commodore Robert McPhail said: “We plan to use the skiffs in our beginners introduction programme and have been asked to organise rowing races at the Scottish Series in Tarbert at the end of May and again at our Traditional Boat Rally during the Seafood Festival at the beginning of July.”
The skiff launch took place at the start of Tarbert Loch Fyne Yacht Club’s open day, during which there was also dinghy sailing and keel boat races.