Bring a book or two ; Take a book or four away ; Sit and read – chill out and relax in the totally transformed wee hall at Victory Hall, Benderloch
A few snaps from this afternoon – CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?
bookfestival-4 bookfestival-2 bookfestival-1 bookfestival-3

September 23, 2016 Posted in: Community No Comments

Local history archive open session start in October

Ardchattan Parish Archive

Family, Social and Local history of the area between Loch Etive and Creran, Lochawe & up to Glencoe : learning about the People and Places of Barcaldine, Benderloch, North Connel and Bonawe : genealogy, history, geology, archaeology, ecology, events, stories and images : Big Bang to Present Day !

Things have been a bit quiet around the Archive for the last few years, people visiting, things collected, and some fun on Facebook. The online archive has begun to take a bit of shape. But its time we began doing a little more, maybe?
So the Archive will start being open between 2-4 pm Friday afternoons from the beginning of October, to come and browse the records & books; learn more about your family history; share memories and stories; scan images; help with the cataloguing & transcribing and maybe plan some more activities. There is sooo much to learn, and some fun folk to learn from

This link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XHDV389 is to a very short questionnaire with a list of possible talks and workshops – to find out what folk are most interested in, what times suit you most, and whether there are ideas for possible speakers and workshop leaders. Even if you are unlikely to be able to attend this winter, please fill it in; every response helps us.

We will be using social media as well to help us all stay in touch. Please join the new facebook group here : https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArdchattanParishArchive to share stories, pictures, local family histories – you NEVER know WHO you will meet up with !! It is always fun when cousins make new connections.
Please Feel Free to share this invitation along to anyone else, near or far. I have included people from beyond our parish and our shores, as you may be planning a visit and can get involved online along with the rest of us.

September 23, 2016 Posted in: Community, Genealogy, History, Memories No Comments

Community Council By election – join the CC and help your community

Ardchattan Community Council has space for a couple more representatives of the community to join.
We are a huge diverse community and it would be great to have a full house to deal with all the different issues that arise throughout the year.
Our Community Council meets most months, rotating location between Bonawe, Barcaldine, Benderloch, and North Connel each time. The meetings deal with issues happening in the parish : roads, planning, water, health, police, airport, Community planning, liason with the Councillors, Sustrans and safer Routes to School, noticeboards, flower tubs
Close of nominations is 6th October, so please let anyone you know who may be interested ASAP.
Tim McIntyre the Community Council secretary has a couple of the nomination packs here if you need them, and they can also be downloaded from:-
https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/community-council-elections-thursday-10-november-2016
the official information is here.
oli_notice_of_election_2

September 21, 2016 Posted in: argyll and bute council, Community Council No Comments

Community Council meeting Minutes 18th August 2016

ARDCHATTAN COMMUNITY COUNCIL Minutes of meeting held in Barcaldine Primary School 18th August 2016 at 7.30pm
Present: Margaret Adams (Convenor), Geoffrey Miller (Vice-convenor), Tim McIntyre (Secretary), Anne Hilditch (Treasurer) Robin Dodman (CC), Lachie Strathern (CC), Gordon Wood (CC), John Campbell (CC), Jill Bowis (CC), Tony Dalgaty (CC), Ashley Stones (CC); Councillors Elaine Robertson, Kieron Green, Iain S MacLean; and 2 members of the public
1. Apologies: Colin Morrison (CC), Ronnie Campbell (CC), Sian Griffiths (CC), Councillor Julie McKenzie

2. Declarations of interest: None

3. Minutes of previous meeting: held on 30th June, were approved.

4. Police report: none. Concern has been raised about the road accident rate between Barcaldine and Creagan Bridge.

5. Matters arising: Village Hall Car Park: No update;

6. TIF Oban Airport Update – Ronnie had been approached by some local businesses who had been interested in the new estate at the airport, but had found that there was inconsistency in the criteria being quoted.
Fergus Murray (A & B Council) had expressed a willingness to meet with these businesses and the CC, but the business owners did not want to discuss their concerns at a public meeting.
Cllr MacLean suggested that a possible meeting between Mr Murray & CC be held off for now, because there are ongoing processes to develop the ‘master plan’ for the site.
Cllrs Green & Robertson affirmed that the Council is fully committed to the site and to delivering for the local economy.
Lachie emphasised the urgent need to get the process sped up so that space is made available for local businesses who are crying out for space.
Jill suggested holding a business workshop facilitated by the CC, to discuss the various issues arising within our community council area. Cllr. MacLean suggested this could be done through a ‘Charette’.

7. Scottish Sea Farms, development at MRC Barcaldine – John Rea from SSF has been in touch and offered to attend the meeting, but it was suggested that we await the open day on 25th August, 2-8pm and then discuss any issues raised by the open day afterwards. There is considerable concern about displacement of small businesses on the site which have little alternative provision of premises.

8. Tralee Road link path/ – Argyll & Bute Council have agreed to ‘adopt’ the path once constructed, which will give cover for insurance and maintenance. Sustrans have agreed to provide funding, but construction must be completed by March 2017. Neighbouring landowners have provisionally agreed, subject to right of vehicular access across the path as at present. Bill Dundas (Lochnell parent council) was to meet with the owners of the land for the path itself, and an update from this is awaited. Once all landowner agreements have been finalised, Jonathan Welch (A & B Council) will submit a planning application.

9. Community Council by-election – Argyll & Bute Council have offered to hold a by-election to fill vacant seats on ACC. Agreed to go ahead with this.

10. Treasurer’s report:-
Balance as at 30th June 2016 3,048.97
less: Scotways annual subscription; (20.00) hire of N Connel Hall for meeting. (20.00)
Closing balance as at 18 th August 2016 3,008.97

11. Secretary’s report – correspondence since last meeting:-
04/07: Letter of representation about Boundary Review 05/07: Letter to roads re. Moss Road verges
18/07: Large-format maps of development zones received
26/07: CC training workshops notification (email)
05/08: Expansion of cages @ Etive 3 – planning consultation (email)
18/08: Community Transport Workshop (H & SC) 31st Aug. (email)

12. Health matters – Defibrillators – Tony is hopeful of obtaining permission from BT to mount the defibrillator on the exchange building in Bonawe, and funding is now in place for the first unit at least, and possibly two. It was agreed to proceed with getting the Bonawe unit installed as soon as possible, and to continue looking at options for siting further units elsewhere in the community.

Robin – has minutes from a meeting of Argyll & Bute Health & Social Care Partnership, 1st August, and will forward to CC members shortly.

13. Planning – Dawnfresh – application to increase cage sizes at Etive 3 – CC agreed to raise concerns re: pollution of the loch.

14. AOB – Alan Anderson: Speed at Rhugarbh bend has increased significantly since the rock face was cut away for the cycle path. CC to contact PC Stuart Johnston in first instance.
Lachie: Caravan went off the road on to the cycle track north of Benderloch recently, should there be a crash barrier? Also at Rhugarbh corner. CC to write to Sustrans.
Lachie has received an advance copy of proposals for the Sustrans path section between Benderloch & Connel, which is expected to be sent to CCs shortly.
Lack of late night bus service to Benderloch (last is c. 9pm) for residents and visitors returning from late evening events in town.
Margaret: Transport Scotland have advised that they are considering changing the Zebra crossing in Benderloch centre to a traffic light-controlled crossing (Pelican).

15. Next meeting: 29th September, Ardchattan Primary School 7.30pm
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9:40pm
If you would like to contact the Community Council, please write, email or telephone:- Secretary: Tim McIntyre, Birch Cottage, Barcaldine, OBAN, Argyll PA37 1SG Tel: 01631 720498; Email: t_mcintyre@btconnect.com
ALL COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETINGS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

September 21, 2016 Posted in: Community No Comments

Sealice infestation of Loch Etive reduces wild salmon run

http://www.lochetive.org/pdfs/FoLE_Etive_Sea_Lice_Report_August_2016.pdf
Extract from Friends of Loch Etive sea lice report – In 2016, the River Awe has had a very poor grilse run, where it would expect to get weekly runs of 100-150 salmon, the figures for first two weeks of August have been in single figures. Concerns have been raised that this may be linked to the sea lice problems on the Dawnfresh farms.
“Sea trout sweep netting carried out in 2015 had the worst sea lice infections ever recorded in wild fish and in 2016, the Argyll District Salmon Fishery Board (ADSFB) has reported that it could not catch any sea trout to sample.”

Dawnfresh has applied to increase massively the size of its existing farm at Port na Mine (Etive 3) by increasing the size of the existing cages onto a much larger grid – a 73% increase in the overall size of the farm.

Dawnfresh have declared that they intend to increase the salmon farming in the loch until they are at at least 7500 tonnes at which time they will have the operation so efficient that they will be able to reduce staffing to a third of its current level.

If you are concerned about this and want to learn more about how to effectively object to this overuse of our loch, to the detriment of many other local businesses that employ a lot more people, and use the loch kindly, you may find ideas on how on the Friends of Loch Etive website.
The image below is from their website

September 2, 2016 Posted in: Community No Comments

Accident at the bends by Sutherlands Grove

Car on roof, hoping everyone is all okay.

Police in attendance.

September 2, 2016 Posted in: Community No Comments

Next Community Council meeting – 29th September : Ardchattan Primary School

Will add minutes and agenda when they become available

September 2, 2016 Posted in: Bonawe, Community, Community Council No Comments

Help to develop the Ardchattan Observer this autumn?

Any volunteers who are interested to help develop the Ardchattan Observer this autumn 2016?

sharing events, activities and news
taking photos around the area
developing the local business map
updating a local groups directory and calender
writing posts about local issues
adding poems and stories of the area
what else can you think of ?

September 2, 2016 Posted in: Arts and Crafts, Community No Comments

more Superfibre is coming !!

Update : Good news and bad news : Just been told that more superfibre capacity will be coming online to the village early in October – BUT !! the new green boxes could be as last as middle of next year before they are switched on !!

Another pair of superfibre boxes just been installed in Benderloch area .. hurrah !!
BUT there is now a waiting list to get superfibre in the main village because there is not sufficient capacity !! Why is this happening ? Surely when we were one of the first exchanges to sign up for Infinity all those years ago we showed that this area has a high demand for a decent broadband service. There are a lot of small self employed businesses who need this. How can we attract new people into the area if they are being told there is no Superfibre available?