TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO Friday April 17, 1998

Mart to reopen

The Kintyre farming community was this week celebrating the news that Campbeltown Mart is to reopen.

Campbeltown Auction Market, which was previously run by Argyll Auctions, which leased the premises from AJ Wilson of Paisley, closed almost two years ago.

And with farmers constantly being bombarded with a lack of subsidies, food scares and other attacks on their livelihood, the reopening of the mart has definitely come as welcome news for the Kintyre farming industry.

The Glengyle Street market is due to reopen for a sale of store cattle on Friday May 1 following the conclusion of successful negotiations to purchase the mart by Penrith Farmers and Kidd's PLC.

The company plans to hold monthly sales of store and breeding stock with extra sales planned for the busy autumn months. In addition, an application has been made to register them out as a collection centre under the over 30-month scheme.

The reopening will see a familiar face returning to continue. Steven Aitken, who is a former mart tenant, will run the Campbeltown mart.

Auction manager Steven, who works for Penrith Farmers and Kidd's PLC, will also continue in his current position running Stokesley Mart in North Yorkshire.

He said: “I am looking forward to offering a top quality marketing service to clients old and new in the Kintyre district.

“It is a first-rate stock area and I am confident that the purchasers who used to support Campbeltown Mart will return with extra clients being attracted by virtue of Penrith Farmers and Kidd's contacts in Cumbria and Yorkshire.”

Farmers in Kintyre are delighted with the

2013: A happy Nicola Sturgeon in Campbeltown with harbour master Stephen Scally, left, and Sandy Mactaggart, Argyll and Bute Council’s executive director of development and infrastructure.

1998: As much of the sport throughout Scotland was affected by bad weather, Kintyre did not escape unaffected. The Campbeltown Boys’ fixture scheduled for the Meadows was cancelled because the opponents were unable to make the journey. Instead the Boys used the vacant slot as an opportunity to get in some match practice.