On Wednesday 8th September 2010 at 7.30pm, Ardrishaig Public Hall sees a public meeting on ‘a vision for the future’ of the Ardrishaig Waterfront, hosted by Ardrishaig Community Trust.
The proposal, from the evidence of a leaflet vanishing from retails counters in the town ike the proverbial snow off a dyke, is legitimately described as visionary.
It promises:
- Houses for the community
- Jobs and opportunities for all ages and abilities
- Facilities for all of the family
- Better boating for the sailors
- Safer water sports for the children
- An exciting destination for the tourists
- Community development- with money back into the community
The basic thesis of the proposal seems to be a commitment to take forwards to a refocused and energised future the much-loved but down-at-heel and physically incoherent town.
As the Community Trust says in the leaflet, the Ardrishaig of old cannot be put back – and of course the world in which the old Ardrishaig existed is itself long gone.
The prospectus says: ‘Ardrishaig will be a vibrant sustainable community, which is an attractive place to live, work and visit and is connected to Loch Fyne and the Crinan Canal. The Village will provide a tourist destination in its own right as well as providing a gateway to Dalriada and the Isles’.
The schematic model provided in the leaflet is intriguing. It is obviously focused on a well proportioned marina, sheltered from the prevailing winds by a breakwater with a protected opening to the north.
With a recent report showing that boating brings more to the Scottish economy than the high profile golf, the vision of Ardrishaig having the appropriately sized marina the scale of the diagram would suggest, is an astute one.
More than that, it is additionally visionary to see Loch Fyne with a series of marinas for visiting sailors to flit between. Together these would offer explorations of the hinterland of the UK’s longest sea loch, with access to the Kyles of Bute, Arran and Kilbrannan Sound.
A spectrum of marinas opens up the prospect of powerful destination-focused joint marketing initiatives. And inland explorations by visitors arriving by boat opens up a variety of business developments for those with an entrepreneurial nose and an understanding of the need for hard work on sales and well targeted promotion.
And, of course, marina-hopping in Loch Fyne also offers the quick and sheltered access via th Crinan Canal to the glorious sailing grounds of the west coast islands – at Ardrishaig.
The area at the heart of the proposal would seem, from the diagrammatic model, to be exclusively on the lochside of the road through the town; and to run from the immediate south of the Church Hall (opposite the Public Hall) to the border between the present eyesore of the Gleaner site and the charming harbour square by the timber pier.
Even more intriguing, to contain what it shows – and suggesting a grand and sheltered vista through its centre from the main road to the marina and the loch – it must be planning to create an extended land base.
Towns get to a point, as Ardrishaig and other Argyll towns have done, where the sort of regeneration they need is way beyond cosmetic tinkering and needs imaginative re-engineering.
Here, yet again, is evidence of a shift to its communities of the driver of progress in Argyll and Bute. It is nothing less than a joy to see evidence of the ambition and the sweeping yet practical imagination that informs the ideas to be put to the public meeting in Ardrishaig on the 8th September.
This has to be the hottest ticket in town.
I am asking for some help. I am looking for a photo of the lock keepers cottage. My wife and I were in tArgyll this spring, continued research here in the US, and found her forefather, Murdoch Brodie was once a lock keeper. Missed it by this much. Charlotte is completing a time line for her family by the Christmas holiday and would dearly love a photo. Don’t know if this is a public or private building, assume it is still extant. We are willing to compensate anyone for effort or materials involved.
Reading here is very familiar. Our home is Lake City Minnesota. We have a marina here (largest on upper Mississippi) on our lake which is almost precisely the size of Loch Ness. Our small community also looks to move beyond a small tourist draw. We struggle here with the depressed attitude in the midst of our national recession. But I say we are wiser and stronger now than ever. What better time to share our strengths!
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For Michael Eastin: We will go and take a photograph for you tomorrow, Michael, of the lock keepers cottage and will email it to you. Consider it a gift we are glad to make to you. Do you know which lock keepers cottage it is?
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For Newsroom: Murdoch Brodie was “toleman” at Kilduskland in 1808, and “lockkeeper” thereafter (Charlotte Eastin is my cousin). As a historical note for the town of Ardrishaig, Murdoch’s brother Donald Brodie is listed as “merch’t at the Point of Ardrishaig” in 1807, which I believe is very near the founding date of the town? Murdoch’s son George later had the lockkeeper position at Dunardary, and son-in-law Dougald Black was lockkeeper at Cairndoubh. I also would appreciate any photos available.
Very much hoping that I can come see your proposed marina and town some day!
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