TEN YEARS AGO
Friday October 25, 2013
It’s hall systems go!
A £1 million lottery ‘win’ has Campbeltown celebrating this week.
Now, thanks to a Big Lottery funding award, its residents can secure full use of a proposed refurbished and modernised town hall owned and run by the community.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the rundown B-listed hall, which only four years ago Argyll and Bute Council was set to mothball and possibly sell on.
“This is fantastic news for the town,” said Kintyre councillor John Semple. “It shows what people can do when they work together. We have come a long way from that proposal to mothball the hall.”
South Kintyre Development Trust (SKDT) will use its £1 million award to take ownership of, renovate and redevelop the hall from the ground floor to its roof.
This will create a community hub providing offices to rent, conference and meeting space and a one-stop shop for accessing community activities and services from more than 50 local organisations.
A total of £1.7 million worth of work on the hall could start as early as May and take just over a year to complete.
Tracy Grant, SKDT’S local development officer, said: “This is a tremendous boost to the trust, the volunteers and community members who have helped to shape the project.”
Campbeltown CHORD funding of £300,000 for the hall work has already been approved, as has £378,000 match funding from Campbeltown Townscape Heritage Initiative.
Restoration work on the hall will preserve original features such as the wood panelling in the main chamber and marble panels elsewhere. However, it will also see extensive modernisation, including a new lift installed to improve disabled access.
Teacher retires after 23 years at Tarbert Academy
A teacher who has taught two generations of families at Tarbert Academy retired this month after 23 years at the school.
May Taylor, who spent much of her career teaching primary one pupils, was given a great send off, with a special assembly and a Queen-inspired music DVD.
Pupils, teachers and parents united to perform Queen tracks: ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, ‘Under Pressure’ and ‘I Want to Break Free’.
The musical, which saw teachers dressed in feather boas hovering their classrooms, was a real hit with Mrs Taylor, who described it as “tremendous”.
It was an emotional day for Mrs Taylor as she said goodbye to her class and the children she has watched grow up.
Mrs Taylor said: “Having children coming in at age three and watch them grow and develop and see them leave at 18 is really nice.”
She added: “Some of the children I had when they were five; they are now having families.
“Caden Prentice, who I taught in primary one, I taught his mum in primary one as well. It’s such a lovely thing when you see them come to the school. I will always be interested in the school, the children and their families.”
Neil McKnight, Tarbert Academy head teacher, said: “May always has a smile on her face and if anyone is in difficulty she always offers to help. She is a great colleague and will be sadly missed by everyone.”
TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO
Friday October 23, 1998
Floods hit Kintyre
Kintyre was hit last Friday by what are believed to be the worst floods in the area since 1918.
In some places, flooding was up to five or six feet deep, and many burns burst their banks, leading to major damage to fields and roads.
The most serious incidents resulting from the flooding were a tragic loss of life in Southend and the rescue of an elderly lady from the upstairs bedroom window of her house at Knocknaha near Stewarton.
A morning of torrential rain caused by low-pressure which came over from Northern Ireland saw flooding in a number of places including Machrihanish, Southend, Drumlemble, Stewarton, Peninver and some places on the A83.
In Campbeltown, the worst hit areas were Witchburn Road, Bengullion and Lochend Street.
Despite the flooding in Lochend Street, which saw cars almost submerged when trying to enter the car park at Tesco, the store manager pointed out that although the car park entrance was flooded, the store remained open throughout the day.
The Courier spoke to Campbeltown man Peter Sloss, the well-known meteorologist, at the Glasgow Met Office and he told us that 33 mm is not a great amount of rainfall for a 24 hour period and that such rainfall may occur two or three times each winter in Kintyre.
The reason behind the sudden widespread flooding was that the rain fell in continual torrents for almost six hours and was subsequently unable to drain away quickly enough.
Coupled with a high tide, which meant that drains and streams were already quite full of water, the torrential rain led to the overflow which caused so much damage to property and land.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Thursday October 25, 1973
Two more for shipyard
Campbeltown Shipyard has received two further orders for steel fishing vessels for Scotland’s north-east coast fleet, bringing their total of new orders booked in the past 16 weeks to eight vessels, valued together at more than £1M.
Both of the new fishing boats are to the yard’s Campbeltown 80 design. The first of them, for Skipper Albert Smith of Anstruther, is due for completion in early February, 1975, and the second, for Skipper Bobby Baird of Peterhead, is scheduled for March, 1975.
The vessel for Albert Smith, who at present commands the Contender, is to be powered by a Caterpillar D46 of 480 HP and will be rigged for seine-net fishing, only with a Northern Tool and Gear seine winch fitted in place of the usual combined seine-and-trawl winch.
The boat for Bobby Baird, who at present skippers the Golden Promise, will be powered by a Caterpillar D379 of 565 ho driving a CP propeller.
Five Campbeltown 80s already built by the yard at Trench Point, Campbeltown, are proving successful with the north-east coast fishing fleets.
The sixth Campbeltown 80, for Skipper William Tait of Fraserburgh, is to be launched at the end of this month, after which the yard’s order book will stand at 13 vessels; one of the new Campbeltown 85s for Skipper William Campbell of Lossiemouth, eight more Campbeltown 80s and four Campbeltown 75s.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Saturday October 27, 1923
Dedication of war memorial
The memorial to the men from Campbeltown Burgh and Parish “who, in the Great War, 1914-1919, gave their lives for their country” was unveiled on the 21st and the solemn ceremony which marked the occasion will not soon fade from the memories of the great company who were privileged to witness it.
The wonderful concourse of people who assembled to “keep their tryst with those who lie asleep” far from the place of their birth was probably without parallel in the history of this district.
Many roads in the county of Argyll led to Campbeltown on Sunday. Men of Lorn and Cowal came far distances; Lochfyneside added to a stream that swelled as it poured down the roads of Kintyre to the gathering place at Ceann Loch.
There must have been at least 5,000 people assembled round the monument, which stands on the seaward side of Kinloch Park, a witness for all time to the part borne by the sons of old Campbeltown in the sacrifice which this generation was called upon to make in the testing years of the world’s greatest and cruellest war.
We have raised our memorial. We have dedicated it to its purpose not worthily, for Sunday’s proceedings were proof that the living have not forgotten the gallant dead and that we can still be touched in heart and memory by the tale of the years when we faced the trials and sorrows of war together and by the remembrance of the brave youths who fared forth to the fighting line never to return.