For Argyll

The capacity of Argyll’s Isle of Gigha ferry berth at Tayinloan on the mainland to get badly silted with weed during driving winter storms causes service cancellations each year. With bad weather a further contributor to an unpredictable schedule, islanders are concerned abut the degree of disruption to their children’s education and are exploring arrangements for them to lodge in Campbeltown during the week.

Around twenty years ago this was the pattern of school life for secondary school age pupils from Gigha. (Gigha, of course, was not alone in this. All of Scotland’s islands saw their children leave to go to school and indeed many young children from the Western Isles took the boat from Lochmaddy to Uig to board in Skye for at least a term at a time. Today, though, things are different. The old kind of hostels and lodgings no longer exist and, with dwindling demand, no new variation has emerged. Disclosure requirements would also apply today.

However, the Rector of Campbeltown Grammar, Mr William Crossan says that parents are worried too about their children’s loss of extracurricular activities through the time needed to make daily ferry and bus journeys from Gigha to school. He is inviting Campbeltown people to consider offering this hosting service.