FROM OUR FILES

TEN YEARS AGO Friday January 27, 2012 Library housebound book delivery service decreases Parking will always be a problem

The number of people using a local library service for the housebound has decreased.

Over the years, Campbeltown Library has provided a library book delivery service to people who have difficulty leaving their home.

Now it is trying to get more folk using the scheme and get more locals reading again.

There are currently six housebound people in Kintyre who take advantage of this.

The library books are delivered by six volunteers on a three-weekly rota by British Red Cross to people who live in Campbeltown.

Although this service is limited to the Campbeltown area, arrangements for a family member or a carer to collect items can be extended to those outside the town.

Staff at Campbeltown Library are happy to help people select books to suit a reader’s preference.

This service has been in operation for the last two decades and it’s free of charge. The loan period is up to three months to maximise readers’ flexibility and needs. There is no limit on the number of people wishing to enjoy this scheme.

Parking will always be a problem in

Campbeltown, according to the local police inspector. Inspector Tom Harper told last week’s meeting of Campbeltown Community Council there is still a problem in Burnside Square because of the lack of road markings.

‘It is difficult to enforce any parking restrictions,’ he said. ‘It is not going to go away until it’s reviewed and something is done about it.’

Inspector Harper said police in the town were working their way through illegal parking areas like Longrow as and when required.

‘I think the problem has improved to a certain extent; it comes in drips and drabs. A management plan is still being looked at,’ he told community councillors.

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO Friday January 24, 1997 Music instructors might go if proposed council cuts go ahead

Campbeltown’s Gordon Evans is one of 21 music instructors in Argyll and Bute who will lose their jobs if the council’s proposed budget cuts go ahead.

Just one of literally hundreds of cuts, the proposal to withdraw all music instruction will save the council £183,000 out of a total target of £8 million.

Designed to enable the council to reach the government capping limit for 1997-98, it will affect nine full-time and 13 part-time music

In 2012: David Mullen, left, and Dave Ward of Campbeltown Lifeboat Station, testing the crew’s new lifejackets with Finn and Rowan MacKay-Hubbard. Finn and Rowan were visiting Campbeltown with their dad for the day when they got the chance to see the lifeboat team in action. The new lifejackets have been introduced over the last few weeks and each of the 28 crew members had to test the lifejackets as they differ from the old ones, before the new kit can be brought into use. These new ones are more comfortable, have extra pockets and are more ‘user-friendly’.

instructors. ‘I’m obviously devastated,’ said Mr Evans. ‘It’s going to put me out of a job.

‘At the moment we’re told it’s just one of the

options but the ramifications are obviously horrible. It will take music in this area back 100 years,’ he said.