Ganavan mural gets funding
Funding has been secured for a mural celebrating the wartime history of Ganavan.
Oban Common Good Fund’s March meeting agreed £3,456 for the project, and painting on an empty space at the gable end of the car park’s toilet block could start as soon as May.
It has taken one year and five months to get plans for the nostalgic piece of artwork to this stage, said Jane Terris, who is heading up the initiative with the specially-formed Ganavan Heritage and People’s Park group.
Support for the idea to mark the important role Ganavan played during the Second World War and as a show of respect for lives lost has been overwhelming from the public since the start.
Money from the common good fund will cover the costs of the mural as well as scaffolding and a shelter for its creators.
Oban High School pupils will take on the job of artists, said Jane. A series of meetings will be held before the work begins. Watch the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ Ganavan-Heritage for details.
The idea had already received support from Oban councillors.
‘We hope to start it in May and if all goes to plan, it will be finished in summer,’ said Jane.
And she added: ‘We are also hoping to have interpretation boards go up once the mural is finished, giving all the details about the role Ganavan played during the war. We might need to do some more fundraising.’
During the war, Ganavan was used by the Royal Air Force as a training and maintenance base servicing and repairing Sunderland flying boats and Catalinas.
You can still see the slipway, the biggest and widest one, that was built in 1939. The top of the slipway was a critical point for setting the aircraft compasses accurately before they took off on often hazardous flights.
Taking part in the Battle of the Atlantic, their mission was to hunt down U-boats to help protect merchant ships transporting vital food supplies and equipment.
‘Many of those flights got into difficulties. It was a hazardous journey and there were many fatalities.
‘As well as informing people about how important Ganavan was during World War II, it’s also a way of remembering those brave souls who were lost,’ said Jane. In November, the wartime slipway was covered with poppies as a poignant Remembrance Day tribute organised by Oban and Ganavan Heritage Group. The new mural will show a Sunderland flying boat above the town’s McCaig’s Tower.