FROM OUR FILES
TEN YEARS AGO Friday February 3 2012 Villagers toast station couple
A whole village turned out this week to show its gratitude to a couple who have gone above and beyond their normal duties as shopkeepers.
After 15 years of owning and running Clachan Filling Station, Cathy and Calum McLean have passed on the reins to a Lochgilphead couple.
The McLeans have always gone out of their way for the villagers and visitors, and were thanked for their hard work and kindness over the years when the whole village turned out on Tuesday evening.
Calum and Cathy were originally from Islay and have lived in Clachan for 35 years. They first came to Clachan when Calum was in the Merchant Navy.
The couple also carried out a milk run in Tarbert for four years and when the opportunity came to take over the shop they took it.
Cathy said they were so grateful for everyone's support and custom over the years: 'We feel it is the right time and we want time to do things that we don't get time to when we are running a full-time business.'
Taking over will be Rhian Thomas and Eilwyn Davis from Lochgilphead.
Running a petrol station is second nature to Rhian as her family owned one during her time growing up in Wales.
Some may know her from her time as a West Coast Motors bus driver in Ardrishaig.
TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO Friday February 7 1997 Brass band takes fight to the top
The 50-strong Campbeltown Grammar School Brass Band took its case for survival directly to the corridors of power at Argyll and Bute Council this week. As well as impressing councillors and top officials with their virtuosity, the band members handed over a petition with more than 3,300 signatures from local people hoping to save the band.
Council leader Dick Walsh thanked them for giving him the ‘privilege of sampling the excellence' of their music, and said that the 3,374-signature petition – collected in just around a fortnight in Kintyre – would be sent to Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth to underline the council's case for extra finance.
Scrapping instrumental music tuition - saving £183,000 - is one of a raft of education cutbacks under consideration as the council struggles to reduce its spending by over £8 million to meet government financial limits.
In Kintyre alone, the move would spell the death knell for five bands including the school brass band which currently holds the Scottish Youth Champions title.
The band's conductor, Mr Gordon Evans, who has received an MBE for services to music in Kintyre, is one of 22 full-time and part-time staff throughout Argyll and Bute whose jobs are now on the line.
Percussionist Graham Fuge, 18, one of the principal organisers of this week's council concert, said that there was ‘massive opposition' in Campbeltown to the cutbacks and pointed out how inter-linked facilities were in a rural area.
He said that Campbeltown's community education centre, which could also face closure, was used by the bands for practising and music tuition was often started in primary schools, yet school closures were another cutback option under consideration in Argyll.
‘We are here basically to represent everyone in Campbeltown,' he affirmed.
And Graham added: ‘This is not just a school band; it's a town band for a whole community. There isn't another brass band for at least 100 miles so its loss would mean the end of brass banding in the area and I don't think the movement can stand that.'
On February 16 the band will take part in the British Youth Finals and although its fate was finally to be decided in the council's crucial finance committee meeting, scheduled for February 18, the meeting has now been postponed until later this month. Graham added that the band ‘could return to Scotland holding the British Championship title'.
Councillor Walsh said that the move of postponing the finance meeting would give
the authority more time to investigate financial options and to continue with its campaign to convince Mr Forsyth of the strength of the council’s case for an increased financial allocation.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Thursday February 3 1972 Snow cancels BEA Viscount flight
The Campbeltown area had its heaviest snowfall of the winter early on Tuesday morning.
By 9am, burgh streets were under about four inches and a south-easterly wind causing drifting in many parts.
Worst hit by the snow was the Carradale road at Peninver.
School pupils from the village had an unexpected day off when the school coach could not get through. Other pupils were given the afternoon off.
Roads to Southend, Machrihanish and West Coast villages were difficult but were kept open. Mail and bread supplies arrived in the town only minutes late.
BEA’s daily flight from Glasgow was cancelled due to drifting snow on the runway at Machrihanish and poor visibility.
Another record for Belle
Southend’s Belle Robertson, Britain’s number one woman golfer, has added another award to her already impressive total. She was recently named Usher-Vaux Sportswoman of the Year.
Belle, as well as becoming British stroke play champion, won the Scottish championship for the third time, the New Zealand title, and was named British woman Golfer of the Year.
Later this year she will play for the British Isles in the Curtis Cup match against the United States at Western Gailes.
The awards were presented by Mr Douglas Nicholson, chairman of Usher-Vaux Breweries.
SEVENTY YEARS AGO
Thursday February 7 1952 Hardly a dance without court sequel
Sheriff J Aikman Smith fined a 21-year-old man £3 or 20 days (jail) after he admitted threatening violence and committing a breach of the peace at the Victoria Hall, Campbeltown on December 22 the previous year.
The court heard the man was taken in charge and asked to desist following a disturbance at the dance, but 10 minutes later he became troublesome and while police officers were escorting him up the Main Street, he continued to shout and used absolutely filthy language.
The accused told the Sheriff that he blamed ‘the stuff we were drinking’.
The Sheriff, after imposing the penalties, stated: ‘There are far too many of these disturbances at dances in Campbeltown.
‘There hardly seems to be a dance in Campbeltown which does not have a result in this court or in the Burgh Police Court.
‘The Courts will certainly do all they can to stop this kind of thing and to make it possible for decent young people to enjoy themselves without having their evenings spoiled by drunken young hooligans.’
Second term
The reappointment of Mr Andrew Smith, Drumore Farm, Campbeltown, as president of Kintyre Agricultural Society is a tribute to his popularity and drive within the society.
Mr Smith is a well-known Kintyre dairy farmer, with one of the largest Ayrshire herds in the county.
This year, to mark HM Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we are featuring excerpts from The Courier of 1952, instead of our usual 100 years ago, to share how Kintyre celebrated the beginning of her remarkable reign. Make sure you see next week’s edition for our coverage of the death of King George VI on February 6 1952 and the traditional proclamation of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at Campbeltown Cross.