Lochgilphead High School raise funds for the RNLI
Members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) were presented with a cheque for £560, which was raised by pupils at Lochgilphead High School.
Teenagers completing their Duke of Edinburgh Awards recently organised a coffee morning and non-uniform day at the joint campus to raise funds for the charity.
The money will be put towards general funds and used to provide training for crew members.
George Bradley, lifeboat operations manager at Campbeltown RNLI station, said: "It is a fantastic amount for the students to raise. They are required to carry out a volunteering activity as part of the awards programme so chose to do a coffee morning. We cannot thank them enough for their efforts.
"They have been an absolute joy to work with and have done an amazing job.’
As part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards the students also travelled to Campbeltown to find out how the RNLI operates. They have been learning about staying safe in the water, making 999 calls and how to spot dangers in the water.
Lantern festival saved
Lochgilphead’s lantern festival has been saved. Five women have formed a group and renamed the festival Lanterns @10, as this year’s event will be the 10th festival.
Catriona Gorrie, group secretary, said: "We’ve had a lot of support. Local hoteliers and bed and breakfast owners have once again acknowledged how important the event is to their businesses."
Other committee members include Trish Collins, chairwoman; Ailsa Raeburn, treasurer; Emma Vaughan and Pam Staley.
Catriona said they were planning to do a fund-raising event in June this year, possibly with a comedy theme. She said: "We are following up the possibility of taking part in Let’s do the Show Right Here."
Let’s do the show right here is a fund-raising project by BBC Radio Scotland.
The BBC is keen to team up with community groups cross Scotland which want to stage fund-raising variety shows at local halls.
The BBC would help by taking its host Bryan Burnett along with another celebrity act. They would then make a radio programme following the progress of the group.
The Lanterns @10 group is now looking for local sponsors. Every year a series of lantern-making workshops culminates in a lantern parade in Lochgilphead’s town centre, which coincides with the Mid Argyll Round Table bonfire and fireworks display.
Yard goes under hammer
Tarbert Boatyard, which went into the hands of an official receiver last year only months after the local planning authority had approve ambitious plans to develop the site as a residential and leisure centre, is now for sale.
Advertisements for the sale of the yard have appeared in several national newspapers this week and the selling agents said on Wednesday that the site - although not now operating as a boatyard - could be bought either as a repair yard or as a site for substantial redevelopment.
Only last summer, the site was granted detailed planning permission for a major redevelopment project.
This involved some land reclamation, the building of a substantial flat complex, the development of a small boat repair facility, some space for dinghies and a swimming pool.
However, before any part of this major work could get off the drawing board, Tarbert Boatyard Ltd went into the hands of the receiver.
A spokesman for Montagu Evans & Sons, the Edinburgh chartered surveyors handling the sale of the property, said this week that the existing planning consent - which was granted to the site, not the applicants, and is therefore transferrable with the property, means that any potential purchaser will have two options over what to do with the site.
They could either keep it as a boatyard or carry out the major redevelopment originally planned by Tarbert Boatyard Limited.
If it is bought with the former in mind, the site, which covers slightly less than one acre, contains several sheds suitable for such a business as well as two suitable slipways.
However, it would appear that although the re-establishment of a boat repair yard might be welcomed by some residents of the village, the development potential of the site is what is most likely to attract buyers.
The combination of a sizeable residential development and a leisure site on a popular waterfront could well attract a buyer to carry out the plans, which were warmly welcomed by local people when they were unveiled a year ago.
Mid Argyll public houses may open on New Year’s Day and Tarbert betting shop approved
Members of Mid Argyll District Licensing Court last week approved a proposal by Mid Argyll Licensed Trade Association to amend a byelaw and permit opening on New Year’s Day.
Although the court, presided over by Mr J. G. Mathieson, approved the proposal to permit licence-holders to open on January 1 for the same hours as on Sundays, the Secretary of State for Scotland has to give his consent.
The same court heard that fears the establishment of a betting shop in Tarbert would have a serious effect upon his children, were expressed by an agent for Mr Thomas Jackson, the owner of almost all of the property in Harbour Street in which a Campbeltown bookmaker, Mr Hugh MacKellar planned to start business in the Lochfyneside port.
Objections were also submitted by the Kirk Session of Tarbert Church of Scotland; the Presbytery of Inveraray; and the local Free Church of Scotland.
For Mr MacKellar, it was stated by his agent that by statute, the application must be approved unless it could be shown (a) that he did not possess a bookmaker’s permit; (b) that the premises were not enclosed; and (c) that there was access to them through other premises.
Referring to these prohibitions, the agent went on to say that as far as the Harbour Street premises were concerned, he was prepared to assure the court that they would be constructed in accordance with the court’s requirements, with the only access leading from the street.
Rebutting the objections submitted by Mr Thomas Jackson, the agent said that his main objection referred to the suitability and situation of the proposed betting shop.
"This is no specific objection, for although it may be in a tenement block, it has been held elsewhere that such premises are suitable."
Referring to the contention of Tarbert Kirk Session that there was no demand, the agent dismissed this objection as being totally irrelevant.
"There is no onus on Mr MacKellar to show there is a demand - the onus to show that there is no demand falls upon the objector," he claimed.
A claim that Mr MacKellar aimed to create a demand was expressed by an agent for the objectors, who added that 460 people, all residents of Tarbert, had signed a petition opposing the application.
Commenting on the suitability of the premises, the agent said that Mr Jackson’s objection was serious.
"He is the owner of the property with the exception of that part where it is proposed to establish a betting shop, and he is afraid of the effect it will have upon his children."
For Tarbert Church of Scotland, Rev. William Eadie claimed that 65 per cent of the adult population of Tarbert was opposed to the application.
Adding that the Presbytery of Inveraray also supported the objections, Mr Eadie said that in three days, 460 signatures had been collected in Tarbert, compared with 250 collected by the applicant over a much wider area.
"Had we covered the same area, our numbers would have been very much greater," claimed Mr Eadie.
He added that only 12 of the people approached in Tarbert had said definitely they would use the betting shop.
"If the demand exists, surely it would have been catered for by local people," he said.
Referring to the suitability of the premises, Mr Eadie said that children could not help seeing what business was being conducted as the neighbouring grocer’s shop attracted children who were buying sweets.
"The harbour area is a playground for children and in other parts of the country licences have been refused because the premises were adjacent to a school."
Speaking for the local Free Church of Scotland, Mr Graham, Tayvallich, said that on moral and spiritual grounds, the application should be dismissed.
"We are responsible for the moral and spiritual welfare of the whole community and betting can be a means of money being spent which could have been used for better purposes.
"The Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland regards it as a social evil," said Mr Graham.
No objections were offered on behalf of the chief constable and the licence was granted by six votes to two.
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