COWBOYS and Indians invaded Aqualibrium over the weekend to celebrate its second birthday.

CAMPBELTOWN Museum is once again open to the public.

The long-awaited re opening ceremony took place on Wednesday with Councillor Douglas Philand, Argyll and Bute’s spokesman for arts and culture cutting the ribbon.

ALTHOUGH the weather was rather dull Campbeltown Lifeboat Gala Day turned out to be a success with plenty of people showing their support.

SEVEN jobs are to be lost at Springbank Distillery, it was announced to staff on Friday.

The distillery has declined to comment to The Courier ever since the news of letters being sent to staff became public nearly a fortnight ago.

CAMPBELTOWN’S farmers’ market will not take place on Saturday after Argyll and Bute Council withdrew permission for the use of Burnside Square.

CAMPBELTOWN Tartan Army lived up to their reputation by holding another fantastic weekend.

KINTYRE councillors have united in protest over ambulance cover in rural areas.

In some cases ambulance cover to Campbeltown has been provided from Tarbert, Lochgilphead and even as far away as Oban.

THE SILVER jubilee of Campbeltown Brass was pure gold.

All the band members performed in a concert at the Victoria Hall and invited guests were Kintyre Schools Pipe Band and the senior choir of Campbeltown Grammar School.

WORKERS at Campbeltown’s famous Springbank Distillery will find out what the future holds for them today (Friday) after being told that the business is looking for voluntary redundancies in its production department.

THE 16th Mull of Kintyre Music Festival promises yet another musical line up to please many tastes and age groups. While headlining at the Victoria Hall on Saturday 23rd with well known prolific artist Justin Currie of Del Amitri, support act, Attic Lights introduces a new up and coming Glasgow band, to Campbeltown audiences.

PROUD students gathered at the Argyll Hotel, Campbeltown last week to see their efforts over the past year pay off.

They received their certificates for courses they have completed and the ceremony was well supported by the family and friends of those receiving certificates.

THE TARBERT Conservation Initiative (TCI) picked up the Volunteer Group of the Year award at a ceremony in Oban.

The hard work of Argyll’s volunteers was recognised at the Volunteer of the Year awards at the Argyllshire Gathering Halls, which was attended by Jim Mather MSP.

COUNCILLOR Donald Kelly asked Jim Mather MSP for a firm plan of action to combat the problems of the A83.

IF you fancy running an award-winning pub on a Scottish island, the dream is yours for offers over £3.2million.

The Gannon family are selling Sanda after 19 years, which have seen them transform the island’s fortunes.

KINTYRE’S most popular beach may be restricted to the public in the future if wild camping and parties are not combated.

SOME multi-million pound spadework has been put in, in Campbeltown this week.

Two turf-cutting ceremonies took place to mark the start of the building of the town’s new police station and the start of the new Argyll Community Housing Association’s (ACHA) homes in the cleared Park Square, Parliament Place and Broad Street area.

TWO Campbeltown Grammar School pupils will be among the guests attending the prestigious Capgemini Black and White Ball in August after they got to the final of a design competition.

RESIDENTS of a new housing development in Campbeltown said this week they have put up with their drafty windows and expensive heating bills for long enough.

AFTER Environmental Wardens and the police teamed up to patrol Kintyre’s streets for litter louts five people have been issued with fixed penalties.

CAMPBELTOWN Fish Quay could be set to close in five to seven years time if it is not replaced or repaired.

The state of the pier, which is essential for Campbeltown’s fishing industry, was exposed at the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islands area committee meeting last week after Councillor Rory Colville asked for a report regarding the deteriorating condition of the fish quay.

MODEL flying enthusiasts from all over Scotland gathered at MOD Machrihanish in the fifth annual Fun Fly event at the weekend.

The event, which was run by Kintyre Modelling Flying Club was arranged to raise as much awareness as possible about model flying and to encourage the different clubs to bring their different models and types of aircrafts to the area and have fun for the two days.

THE first ever Kintyre Songwriters Festival took place over the weekend and went better than anyone ever could have imagined.

Many people have described the both nights as ‘the best night they’ve ever had in Campbeltown’ and the organisers have been highly praised for the effort put into the weekend.

INDUSTRIAL action at Campbeltown Airport which could have disrupted flights has been suspended to allow further discussions to take place.

THE rising cost of fuel is having devastating effects on a number of companies in Kintyre.

One company is rumoured to have paid off staff as costs have increase; the fishing industry are struggling to make ends meet and are being forced to make crucial decisions of whether to send their boats out, farmers are finding haulage charges increasing and bus companies have began keeping a close eye on the situation.

AFTER a 60-year-old woman was bitten by Britain’s only native poisonous snake, an adder, at Saddell while walking her dogs, she is warning others to be careful when walking in the woods.

THE Kintyre Schools Pipe Bands, supported by their sponsors R. Leishman & Son, enjoyed mixed fortunes at the annual Scottish Pipe Band Championships held at Levengrove, Dumbarton last Saturday May 24.

GEORGE McMillan is bowing out from the newspaper shop he has owned and run on Main Street after 32 years.

He has run the business with the help of his sister, daughter and grandchildren and a very loyal band of staff

THE driver of a 130 tonne crane came away uninjured after his crane toppled over on a forestry track last week near Lussa Reservoir.

IN THESE days of the internet it’s not often that you hear of the old method of a message in a bottle, but one girl from Prestwick gave it a go.

CAMPBELTOWN’s traders and the Argyll Country Market are to thrash out a solution to the problem of the market’s Burnside Square home at a meeting on Wednesday.

THE AGM of the Kintyre Environmental Group will take place in the community garden, the rear walled garden of the Auchinlee Eventide Home at High Askomill.

CRACKING on the steep hill on the A83 at Bealach a Chaochain ‘is a cause for concern’, councillors have been told.

MEMBERS of the Lodge St John’s 141 in Campbeltown have given a donation of £250 to Macmillan Cancer Nurses based at Campbeltown Hospital.

A PLAN to have two caravans for holiday letting on land north east of Kilchrist Castle Cottages, Campbeltown has been refused by councillors.

COLIN Craig, the managing director of West Coast Motors is adamant that he is not entering into a bus war as his Campbeltown-based family firm stands its ground against Scottish Citylink.

AFTER working at Campbeltown Hospital for nearly 20 years Elsie Campbell is retiring from her post as a personal assistant for the hospital management team.

THE ENORMOUS love and respect for the life and work of former Argyll and Bute MP, Baroness Ray Michie of Gallanach, has been reflected in the powerful tributes paid to her over the past week.

THERE were plenty of tearful farewells when the Dalintober and Millknowe Tenants Association left their flat in Parliament Place when the building was demolished to make way for new housing.

HOMES in remote parts of the UK like Kintyre could end up with post delivered only a couple of days a week, or having to collect mail from Post Offices.

THE LONG-awaited work to breathe life into two iconic Kintyre hotels which have been lying empty began this week at the Ugadale Hotel, Machrihanish.

CAMPBELTOWN BOYS Boys came through last weekends match against Castlemilk Amateurs, (May 2nd), with an excellent win, after coming from behind to win 3-2 at the Meadows.

CAMPBELTOWN Pupils missed a great opportunity to apply pressure at the top of the league when they went down 1-0 to a spirited Moorcroft team at Kintyre Park.

IT’S been a long time coming but on Friday Willie McLaren was given the medal he so rightly deserved for his war work.

THE HUNT is on to find a way to unlock land around the Campbeltown Gas Works for development.

A BRAND new charity has been launched in Kintyre to help women throughout Scotland.

A YOUNG driver causing a nuisance in Campbeltown had his car impounded by the police.

BARONESS Ray Michie of Gallanach, the former MP of Argyll and Bute, died on Tuesday aged 74.

THIS year’s Mull of Kintyre Music Festival promises yet again to have a musical line up that’ll please many tastes and age groups. While headlining at the Victoria Hall on Saturday August 23 with well known prolific artist Justin Currie of Del Amitri support act, Attic Lights introduces a new up and coming Glasgow band to Campbeltown audiences. Justin who will be appearing with his full band The Justin Currie Band, also tours as a successful solo artist.

THE Lemmings headlined at the under 18s disco in the Victoria Hall on Friday night.

A CHARITY darts night was held in Argyll Bowling Club at the weekend to raise funds for two local girls who are suffering from cancer, one from a brain tumour who is only five and the other a young woman who has breast cancer.

THESE old boys at the Milldam in 1968 would have a smile to themselves to think they are now on the wall of the finest of fine art galleries on Savile Row, London.

CANCER campaigner Tina Craig has got a new fight on her hands.

After it was realised that there are no plans to include accommodation for the families of sick patients from Argyll at the new Southern General Unit in Glasgow, Tina and her fellow members of the Kintyre Cancer Concern Group (KCCG) are now distributing a petition to try to get something done before work starts.

CRITICALLY ill or injured patients in Kintyre are going to reap the benefits of extra funds announced for the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS).

COMMENTS from Duncan McNeil of network manager of Transport Scotland sparked outrage at Friday’s meeting of the Kintyre Initiative Working Group after he claimed it was the driving of people in Kintyre and not the state of the roads that was causing damage to the A83 and their vehicles.

THE CONGREGATION of St Kiaran’s Episcopal Church has embarked on a new chapter in its history, which began on the Sunday after Easter.

For the immediate future, a team of three Lay people will lead the church.

ARGYLL and Bute Council is ‘working on the assumption’ that it is gong to get the £2million it needs to carry out vital improvements to the ferry berth at Tayinloan.

PAY PHONES aren’t paying their way in these days of mobile phones and British Telecom wants to axe 20 in some of Kintyre’s most remote locations – even spots where there is little or no mobile phone signal.

A BUNCH of conmen were thwarted in their plans to stage dodgy auctions in Campbeltown and Dunoon at the weekend.

Lee Roberts, divisional trading standards officer for Argyll and Bute Council was alerted when advertisements appeared in The Courier and The Dunoon Observer.

NICOLA Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for health and wellbeing officially opened the new Community Casualty Unit at Campbeltown Hospital on Monday.

IF THE threat of fuel shortages was not enough as refinery workers threaten industrial action at Grangemouth, Kintyre motorists took another blow this week with massive increases in the price of fuel.

And it is not just the ordinary family motorist who is getting hammered.

THROWING up surprises is nothing new for the Kintyre Piping Society recitals, but on Saturday night in the Masonic Hall, there was one big surprise in the shape of a ladies pipe band. A first for Campbeltown and they certainly showed the boys the way to do it.

BORN in 1937 in Campbeltown, where he went to school and grew up at Main Street, Rodger Gillespie was flattered to receive such a prestigious award.

WORLD class piper Willie McCallum from Campbeltown has added another Donald MacLeod Memorial to his tally.

One of the most prestigious competitions on the piping circuit, this is his seventh win out of 15 appearances.

A VITAL meeting on the future of the Northern Ireland ferry service had to be curtailed on Thursday, to fit in with flight times.

KINTYRE Marine Awareness weekend attracted a good number of people to the various activities organised over last weekend to celebrate Scotland’s seas.

As well as presentations from different people and organisations, children’s workshops and displays were held at Campbeltown Heritage during the Saturday morning.

CAMPBELTOWN’S Accent Players were second for the second year running in the Lorn Drama Festival which was held in Oban last week.

THE OPERATING company responsible for the maintenance of the A83 has pledged to spend nearly £6 million improving the ‘disintegrating’ road.

Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands councillors have declared war on the potholed road from Campbeltown to Ardrishaig, and are demanding action by Scotland Transerv before lives are lost and ‘Kintyre is cut off from civilisation’.

Jacob Eaton, Jordan Galbraith and Grace Eaton were helping to run the Inverloch Cheese Co stall at Saturday’s Argyll Farmers’ Market in Burnside Square, Campbeltown. They had 23 of the company’s 30 cheeses on offer on the stall, which is the first time they have been at one of the market’s regular monthly meetings. New faces at this month’s market included Loch Fyne Oysters and chef Stephen Hampson of the Argyll Hotel, Bellochantuy, who gave a cookery demonstration.

A DELEGATION of politicians, officials and business people from Northern Ireland were due to fly into Campbeltown yesterday to join their Scottish counterparts for a summit meeting on the future of the Northern Ireland ferry.

CAMPBELTOWN Hospital has had to close a ward again after patients fell victim to sickness once more.

KINTYRE Amateur Swimming Club (KASC) travelled to Islay at the weekend for a swimming competition.

CAMPBELTOWN Young Farmers held their first AGM in the Argyll Hotel, Campbeltown last week after a successful year.

ARCHIE a wee lurcher pup was found wandering on the Lochgilphead to Oban road at the weekend and he now needs to be either reunited with his owners or found a new home.

MALAWI came to Carradale when Margaret Richardson and her husband Mike staged a photographic exhibition in Carradale Village Hall on Sunday afternoon.

WHEN Jock Campbell of Kilkenzie and Jean Cameron of Campbeltown were on holiday in New Zealand there was a little piece of Campbeltown history that they had to go and see.

KINTYRE Forum on Community Care is celebrating the success of the Conference and Exhibition it organised.

IN A report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) released last week, the appalling condition of Campbeltown Nursery’s building was not commented on, although the staff at the nursery have been highly commended for their work.

RHUNAHAORINE Primary School celebrated its 100th anniversary on Tuesday with a party at the school.

AS PART of the Kintyre Marine Awareness Weekend a beach clean was held at Westport beach on Sunday morning.

LAST week saw 4000 tonnes of timber being loaded in two days as the Scot Carrier and the Scot Marina docked on Thursday and Friday.

CAMPBELTOWN Lifeboat crews were called to assist a stricken fishing vessel off Pladda Lighthouse, near Arran on Monday.

SATURDAY at the Masonic Hall in Campbeltown was one which will be remembered for years to come by the fishing fraternity of Kintyre. The Campbeltown branch of the Clyde Fishermen’s Association organised a night out to celebrate the old days of ring net fishing to give the older generation the chance to meet up and reminisce. Dinner was served along with a slide show, music and a one act play about the fishing.

THROUGH a youth initiative of the European Union, myself and 30 other sixth year students, accompanied by six teachers of French from across Scotland, travelled to the eastern French city of Strasbourg, the home of the European Parliament, in a visit funded by Rotary Club International and Euroscola.

AT A meeting of the Executive last week education and lifelong learning spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council, Isobel Strong and leader of the council Dick Walsh assured a local Councillor that they would be visiting Campbeltown Nursery in the near future.

TUESDAY’S specially called meeting to try and solve the constant disruption of the Gigha ferry service was told that the £2M previously earmarked is no longer guaranteed.

A HEALTHY contingent of pipers and chanter players from Campbeltown, accompanied by tutor John Brown, made the short journey to Lochgilphead at the weekend to take part in the Mid Argyll Music Festival.

YOUNG thespians took to the stage at Campbeltown Grammar School in the Scottish Community Drama Association Youth Finals (Western Division).

Abbey Youth Drama Group from Kilwinning who represented the Ayrshire District walked away winners with their play, ‘The Willow and the Pomegranate’ by Derrick Brown which was set in Ancient China. They will now go on to represent the West of Scotland in the Scottish finals in Stranraer in June.

Opportunity Kintyre celebrated its first birthday on Monday evening in the Burnett Building in Campbeltown.It is now a year since Lynn Hammal was appointed as ‘Enterprise Facilitator’ for this exciting new project, and what a year it has been. No less than 53 local businesses and entrepreneurs have already benefited from Lynn’s help and she has several more clients on her books.

THE entrance to Campbeltown from the A83 is in the process of being tidied up thanks to the Employability Team.

AFTER playing alongside Madonna on her Re-Invention Tour, local lad Lorne Cousin has been tipped for fame with a new band which will see him illustrate his clear passion for the bagpipes which started under the tuition of the late Pipe Major Tony Wilson.

ACCORDING to William Penman, the secret to a long and happy marriage is to have an argument with your spouse every day.

And he should know, because yesterday, his parents Joe and Netta celebrated their sapphire wedding anniversary.

THIS year is one for the history books for Campbeltown Brass.

The band has won a magnificent victory in the Scottish Brass Band Championships and also celebrates its silver anniversary.

THE future of Campbeltown Nursery and the safety of its staff and children are under threat after the building has been described as ‘not fit for purpose’ by Kintyre councillors.

DAMAGE caused by unauthorised use of forestry tracks in Kintyre by scrambling motorbikes has caused anger from the Forestry Commission.

A RETIRED couple who live at Sound of Kintyre are dismayed at the continuing saga of long distance water bills which they pay via factors in Glasgow to Thames Water.

For the seven years Helen and John Watson have lived in the Sound of Kintyre, ever since the old services’ family accommodation from RAF Machrihanish was renovated and put on the open market.

TO celebrate the life of ring-net fishing in the Clyde, which ended in 1970s, the Campbeltown Branch of Clyde Fishermen’s Association will be holding an event that will see those who were involved across Kintyre gather in the Masonic Hall.

CO-OP customers got the chance to sample free fair trade products on Friday when Jan Nimmo, along with Co-op representatives were present to tell people about fair trade and about the work Jan has been carrying out lately as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.

THE PILOT scheme for cheaper ferry fares to the islands has been branded as ‘inequitable’ amidst a call for the Argyll islands to be included.

At the start of the March meeting of the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islands Area Committee held in Campbeltown members called for Argyll and Bute Council to make strong representation to the Scottish Government, as a matter of urgency, that the Argyll islands also be included.

THE problems of Tayinloan Pier and keeping the lifeline ferry link to the Isle of Gigha open are to be thrashed out at a special council committee meeting called for March 25.

The biggest problem appears to be that there is no money in the budget to do the work but all sides are agreed that something has to be done.

CAMPBELTOWN United were faced with a defeat when they played away to Lochgilphead Wanderers recently.

YOU’VE heard of Piping Live and Piping Hot, but on Saturday night Campbeltown could boast Piping in the Dark.

AFTER more than 100 years in business, the High Street Post Office was the first out of two local post offices to shut.

ITS only once every four years that a woman has the chance to propose to a man, and Stacey Conley took full advantage of that and on February 29, she got down on one knee and proposed to her now fiancee Alex Black.

MONTHS after a Vestas V47 wind turbine bent double at Beinn an Tuirc wind farm in Kintyre, another two collapsed violently in Denmark within a week of one another.

CAMPBELTOWN Hospital’s new £300,000 casualty department is now up and running.

CROSSROADS Dalriada and the Isles is celebrating after being given funds of £40,000 was given them by Macmillan Cancer Support.

Representatives from different organisations gathered at Campbeltown Community Centre during an official launch on Monday, February 25.

CAMPBELTOWN’S sales pitch to try and win the Bell Lawrie Scottish Series did not go unnoticed.

Another company has jumped at the opportunity to include Campbeltown in its yachting regatta next year and could see investment in more pontoons at Campbeltown Harbour.

SOUTH Kintyre Sports Council has been advised by councillors to go it alone if members want to see an all-weather sports pitch in Campbeltown.

TWO members of the Campbeltown fire crew have received their long service and good conduct medals for each completing 20 years service with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.

COMPLAINTS from residents over rooks nesting in a tree in Dell Road, Campbeltown, had Campbeltown Community Council members fluffing up their feathers at their February meeting.

COMPLAINTS from residents over rooks nesting in a tree in Dell Road, Campbeltown, had Campbeltown Community Council members fluffing up their feathers at their February meeting.

MORE jobs have been lost at the Vestas Celtic factory in Kintyre.

The wind turbine tower manufacturer has laid off five men from its transport department; their work saw them supervise the unloading of raw materials and the loading of the finished tower sections onto ships.

LAST year a team from BBC Radio Scotland rolled into Campbeltown and said: ‘Let’s do the Show right Here.’

Lindsay Gillies the producer and his team recorded a show featuring the host of talent available in Campbeltown.

CAREERS Scotland in connection with Campbeltown Grammar School held ‘I’m a CGS Pupil get me out here’ to give third year pupils a chance to think about their career options when they leave school.

The theme was set in relation to the TV programme ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ and the assembly hall was brightened up with suitable jungle decorations.

AFTER 11 years of being involved in the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel (KCPP), Sargeant William Brian has decided to leave Kintyre.

COUNCIL tax has been frozen as Argyll and Bute Council set its budget for the next three years.

Additional investment of £26 million will be allocated for roads and £17 million to the school estate in a unique budget which saw the entire council support the plans.

THE first bi-lateral meeting in Scotland with Northern Ireland has produced more hope that Campbeltown will get back its ferry service to Northern Ireland.

OPPORTUNITIES for children in South Kintyre to learn golf have never been better after seven of the area’s golf club members qualified to become clubgolf volunteer coaches for the PGA’s Level 1 course held at the end of January.

KINTYRE Schools came away from the National Piping Centre’s annual junior piping competition with an impressive amount of prizes.

IT wasn’t just ‘a blast of Januar win’ which blew a large audience into Campbeltown’s Argyll hotel on Burns’ night to celebrate the birth of the National Baird, Robert Burns.

SPECUALTION has been rife over the past few weeks after there has been no evidence of work beginning on the Royal Hotel in the centre of Campbeltown.

THE residents and staff at Auchinlee, Campbeltown, are celebrating this week with the news that the care home has won the Charter Mark Award which is the equivalent of a restaurant winning a Michelin star.

Marjorie Brown, owner of DM Brown, is one of the shop owners in Campbeltown who had switched to the 100 per cent degradable plastic carriers instead of ordinary bags, which can take 300 years to decompose. ‘We are doing our bit to help protect the environment and keep Scotland tidy, so I’m only too happy to support this new campaign,’ said Marjorie. Customer Amy Mouat, right said: ‘I’m quite sure it’s a good thing to have these bags.’ c07bag01

A MOVE to buy the former RAF base at Machrihanish on behalf of Kintyre communities was proposed at Monday’s meeting of the Kintyre Initiative Working Group (KIWG).

LOGANAIR has taken on board the plans to get a weekend flight for the Campbeltown-Glasgow service.

David Neill, chief commercial officer, for the airline, which presently runs the weekday service with a government PSO subsidy said it would be a benefit for the route and economic boost for the area.

PARENTS across Argyll and Bute could face yet another round of fights to keep schools in smaller rural communities open.

A lot was riding on the council’s budget meeting yesterday, as The Courier was going to press, and how much money is available for schools