At the moment you can access ForArgyll.com on your mobile device by utilising the built in browser. This is fine insofar as you can get the fully-caffeinated website on the go. However, what has become obvious is that this is not as user-friendly as it should be, and a fully-fledged app would ensure our news stories, the comments by our readers, and our special topics, like ‘Save Our Schools’ and ‘Renewables’, gain a wider readership – afterall the use of smartphones to access the internet will only ever increase. And of course we will be developing an Android version.

To check out what we have so far, here’s the link to our test page. Have a look and let us know what you think

The ForArgyll team, spread as it is across the entirety of our topographically challenging have been unable to get online and post stories because all of us have been hit by the great Argyll blackout. We’re not sure what the probability is that this would happen, but we have been very frustrated by the lack of power.

Even now the only reason we are able to post is because we’ve been into Glasgow and bought a genny … so, apologies for the delay, and normal service will resume as soon as Scottish Hydro get their generators out.

Fee: 10K per annum; Start date: End January 2012

The Dunoon Burgh Hall, reopened in May 2009.  The Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust is committed to continuing to return the Burgh Hall to the heart of the community as an accessible arts-led venue delivering a  diverse arts and heritage programme to Dunoon and the wider community.  This position offers the successful candidate the opportunity to be involved in one of the most exciting arts-based  projects in Scotland. Please consult the website to learn more: www.burghhalldunoon.com.

Responsibilities

-        Develop and deliver an Arts-based events programme to encompass the areas of art, photography, music, drama, dance.  Programme development will need to include learning activities for young people and new audiences/participants.  Incorporate heritage-based concepts where appropriate in programme development.

-        Work with National Galleries of Scotland/Tate  ARTIST ROOMS team to coordinate  upcoming, prestigious Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, to run from 24 March 2012 to

8 July 2012.

-        Work closely with Venue Manager to establish programme/events schedule, requirements for readiness of the Hall per event.

-        Work with consultant team to develop Dunoon Film Festival.

-        Develop contacts in all sectors of the Arts.

-        Further develop well-established relationships with all schools and colleges in the area.

-        Knowledge of activities/programmes in other halls, venues.

-        Coordinate advertising/marketing/branding for each event, working with local and national media

-        Suggest volunteer staff requirements for each event and work with Venue Manager to coordinate team.

-        Work closely with Chairman of the Project Group and the Project Group team of volunteers.

-        Report to the Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust Board of Directors.

Experience/Qualifications

-        Qualification in Arts Management or Arts Administration desired.

-        Proven and/or relevant experience in developing/administering arts programmes including financial/budget control essential.

-        Curatorial expertise preferred.

-        1 – 2 years relevant experience essential.

-        Established base of arts and performance contacts helpful.

-        Excellent verbal and written communication skills required.

-        Must be computer literate.

-        Ability to work as part of a team and be able to delegate.

-        Energy, enthusiasm, commitment.  Strong work ethic and ability to work under pressure.

Terms of contract

-        Contract review after three months

-        12 hours per week for 42 weeks

Please submit CV and covering letter by email to: family@jmcsag.demon.co.uk or by post to:

Dava Sagenkahn; 23 Kingsbridge Road; London W10 6PU NO LATER than Wednesday,

11 January 2012.  Appropriate candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Previously we had avoided this because having so many comments on a single post page creates extreme loads on the server. However, since we went to a system of having the last 25 comments shown on the post and all previous ones available via hyperlinks, we changed server. This new hardware should mean we don’t see a reduction in response times for the site with these comment threads being posted in their entirety at the foot of articles, however, if we do, and we’d be pleased to hear your thoughts on the site’s performance in the comments below, we can return to limiting the number of comments shown on a post’s page.

As readers will no doubt recognise this is about technical exigency rather than editorial convenience, and our view is to have as many comments showing as possible so folk can see the full breadth of comment on our stories. Indeed it is better for Search Engine Optimisation that all the comments are shown, however as performance is money in server terms, and we have a limited budget, must needs we give precedence over making sure the website as a whole is accessible and readable — and that is where our priority remains.

Be assured, if things do slow down, we’ll ensure we sign-post the change to the slightly more restricted comments facility when and if it happens.

There has also been some level of delay in the posting of people’s comments. This is unrelated to the issue of the restriction of numbers on comments displaying at the bottom of the posts and has more to do with the spam filter we use being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of spam. The situation seems to have resolved itself, however, if you have a comment which looks as if it has swanned off into the ether, it will only be because we are having to classify comments by hand rather than on an automated basis.

Incidentally, our system operates on the basis that a new commenter has to have a comment approved before their comments go through automatically. If you are a regular commenter and your comment has been held, then that means either the overwhelming spam has reared its ugly head again, or you have used different comment details (ie username and email). If it is the latter, bear with us and we’ll get to your comment as soon as possible.

This meant that we have had intermittent to non-existent service for the last 24 hours. Unfortunately because of the way the system works on the internet, once a domain’s DNS settings are changed it takes up to 24 hours for those changes to be registered across the internet. If you then make another change hot on the heels of the last the disruption is extended. We hope that by the end of play today (24/11/11) we’ll be back on line for everyone. The difference between individual users will be due to which DNS database their connectivity provider uses.

And who made the changes? Well, that we don’t know as yet. Once we do, heads will roll. Virtually of course.

The Kindle offers a very different way of experiencing your favourite Argyll-based news source: for a small monthly subscription (£1) you get all of our output without the ads, or any other visual distraction — you also don’t get the comments. This latter may put some off, but the Kindle experience favours a less interactive, more readerly experience, so it seems more appropriate. Having said that, we’ve half a mind to have a separate ‘ForArgyll Comments’ edition, though again you won’t be able to comment on it. Let us know what you think.

So, if you have a Kindle, how do you get FA on it? First, go to the Kindle Store (click menu and select the relevant option), then when the screen refreshes, click ‘Blogs’ (to the right of ‘Books’) and then on the next screen refresh type in ‘ForArgyll’ into the search engine. You’ll be able to take advantage of the normal 14 day trial, and once that’s up you’ll be committed to the blog on a monthly basis.

We’ve also had serious problems ion the newsroom with email for over three weeks and continued attempts to solve an initial problem on a DIY basis has had disastrous results with the account, hard drives and back up progressively fouled.

Rescue services have all but sorted it out and the price of the interventions is being faced with an inbox pf paralysing proportions and the need for thousands of apologies to be emailed out as the backlog gets pulled back.
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Please start with this heartfelt general apology in the meantime. We’ve not been ignoring your news – we’ve just not been able to get it.

ForArgyll became aware of the intense interest in communities around Argyll when 3 separate organisations contacted us asking for publicity for their bid. In each case communities are asking their network of contacts to vote for them by registering with the RBS website. The process which is painless is designed to ensure votes aren’t duplicated and their system doesn’t get spammed.

We decided to publicise all the projects to give everyone of them the best chance of getting the necessary votes and obtaining the funds. This is a great chance for all of Argyll to bring funding into the area — as of today you have 9 days to vote for your favourites.

Here’s the list:

BUTE

• Pass It On (Rothesay)
• Sk8 Bute
• Crew Phoenix

DUNOON

• Three Dolphins Trust
• Blairmore Village Trust Community Interest Company
• Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust
• Dunoon Community Development Group
• Cowal Elderly Befriending Scheme
• Girlguiding Argyll
• CHILDREN 1ST Argyll & Bute Recovery from Abuse and Trauma Service

LOCHGILPHEAD

• Multiple Sclerosis Centre, Mid Argyll
• Ardrishaig Community Council and Community Trust
• Lochgilphead Phoenix Project
• Befrienders

OBAN

• Lorn Toy Library
• Oban Phoenix Cinema
• Soroba Young Family Group Project
• Stramash Social Enterprise

Our policy has been to keep a very light touch when it has come to moderating comments. Spam gets junked, but everything else, so long as it eschews the use of profanity, expletives and defamation has been allowed through. This has been generally successful and our commenters appreciate the fact that each news item can become a forum in and of itself.

However, over the last couple of months it has become more and more obvious that there are levels of discourse which most commenters dislike and refrain from, and which a minority persist in entertaining. We could of course create a blanket ban on such posts, but it seems to us better to make the commenting system as self-regulating as possible, not only because we are human and suffer from human frailties of inattention and lack of time, but also because by crowd-sourcing a second level of post moderation offensive posts will quickly be identified.

How does the system work? If you read a comment which you find offensive, simply click the link under the comment to report it. At a set threshold of reports the comment re-enters moderation and we will look at it again. No reader can report a comment more than once.

We’re going to trial the system for two weeks from today to see whether it is effective. Let us know what you think.

With the arrival of the engineer at half past eight, the ferry was almost immediately up and running.

The twenty or so cars with their passengers made it across shortly thereafter.

The 3rd August saw the ferry pause in its normal service for around 2 hours because of a flat battery. Today it seems that while the fault is still electrical, the batteries are fine.

The local CalMac staff say they don’t know when normal service will resume but they are working very hard to get the route operational again.

Update:
10.03 Calmac will be reviewing the situation at 11 am.

11.20 The part and fitter will be onsite at midday, but no idea how long the fix will take. Best case scenario looks like being 12.30

12.01 The engineer is now on site and things are looking more hopeful. We understand from a local source that the Loch Dunvegan seemed to stall on its last crossing yesterday and that the issue was not looked at until this morning. No doubt all stakeholders will wish for the ongoing electrical faults to be sorted once and for all and in a timely manner.

12.23 We now learn that this is A big job and it won’t be completed until after 2pm. A replacement ship is on route from Roseneath and should be at Colintraive at about the same time.

13.07 The problem part was a starter motor and its replacement is a 2-3 hour job. We’ll update as soon as we hear there is a service running — likely to be 2.30-3.00pm.

15.03 The ferry service has now resumed.

KCFC were rewarded, not only with visitors from Tighnabruaich and Kames, but from Glendaruel, Colintraive, Bute, Strachur and Dunoon. By the end of the day the organisers reckoned attendance topped 1,000 people. If the objective was to show the local community what the organisation had achieved since the purchase of the community forest went through, then the Kilfinan Forest’s board and its employees can tick that one off, and add a big gold star.

Walking between the stands, tents and stalls at the entrance and the offices, poly tunnel and forestry demonstrations further into the site, it became obvious just how well the community organisation has grasped the opportunity to create something longterm and sustainable out of the 130 acres it owns. As Michael Russell intimated in his speech, Kilfinan Community Forest Company has shown what is it possible to achieve in a short time out of community forest ownership, providing an inspirational example both to the community of Colintraive and Glendaruel (which has recently won the right to purchase 600ha of forest at Stronafian) and the Isle of Bute (which already owns 161 ha of forest at Rhubodach). KCFC employs development officers, administrative staff and forestry workers, as well as providing volunteering and learning opportunities for the local community and school children. From what we saw on the day this is a holistic vision of community endeavour and should be applauded as such.

The cookery demonstration from the Walking Theatre Company mixed the contribution the area made during the Second World War with cooking tips and tricks learned during rationing to create three truly delicious dishes, even though all contained powdered egg — by the look of some audience members’ faces they were not anticipating anything so scrumptious as that which they later sampled. By combining the produce from the Poly tunnel, a light smattering of well-judged bandinage and some really interesting cooking and foraging facts our hosts for the afternoon, Edie (Sadie Dixon-Spain) and Rita (Alison Sykora), along with the Kilfinan Forest Land Girls, created a really light-hearted focal point for the afternoon, emphasising how even in the new austerity the food we eat need not be limited by what is on discount at the local supermarket.

The day ended with a flourish from David Blair and Andrew Graham-Weall who presented their newly constructed, Kilfinan timber table in time for tea and cake, or at least what was left of the tea and cake which had been going down a storm all day!

but because like many great Scottish inventions, it developed out of something completely different, almost by accident. Links golf of course, began as a warm up to that other great Scottish sport, shinty. If you read the histories, and there are many, it shows how for the annual New Year’s shinty match players would walk from afar Caman in hand battering a small white ball before them. The skill was of course to get to the match in as few hits as possible and therefore as directly as possible. I don’t suppose it was long before some of the less skillful caman-wielders saw the sport in the walk as preferable to the blood and sweat in the game.

This colourful and probably entirely inaccurate characterisation of golf’s genesis came to mind the other evening as I sat in my car awaiting the arrival of the Colintraive-Rhubodach ferry. With mind in neutral, engine off and Eddie Mair’s well-rounded tones slipping unremarked into the limpid air, it was a bit of a shock to be interrupted by the whistle and smack of wood on dimpled ball, a cheer, a call of “That was four that was!” and, given the precursors, the inevitable, “Go on my son!” I turned in my seat to see what had occasioned such good-natured encouragement to find several men, all middle-aged, all quite obviously unknown to the shinty pitch at any stage in their sporting career, taking it in turns to hit golf balls as far as they could from Rhubodach carpark into the Kyles towards the Seven Sisters. The Sisters it has be said remained serenely and picturesquely unperturbed throughout, being several hundred yards further than the doughty golfers were able to drive.

I was sure this was not the first time golf balls have been driven into the briny, nor the last. I was also sure that had I confronted the party I would have met laughter and ridicule. Afterall golf balls are, to all intents and purposes inert, aren’t they? And if these guys wanted to bash their hard-earned into the sea for kicks, well, why not? It was a joke, a jape, a harmless foolery wasn’t it? Its not as if there were fish in there that we going to suffer concussion was it?

Well, no. Perhaps not. However, I was left seething. Now, I don’t want anyone reading this to think that I am some radical environmental campaigner who has a hornet in his helmet about our oceans filling with golf-balls (although on reflection I wondered whether they do float, and whether they could get ingested by some unlucky cruising cetacean – as I sat there I did a search on my mobile and it has happened though they’re not sure the ball was the cause of death). No, I think I was more disturbed by the implicit assumption that this wild space in which a few “yokels” might live was at the complete disposal of a group of men who were passing through looking for a moment’s entertainment. The countryside, the place in which I live, at the disposal of, to be disposed by, to be despoiled by a bunch of men who, no doubt, are fine upstanding members of their own community and would never dream of driving golf-balls into their green space / local lake / coastal waters, really offended me.

So what did I do? I took photos on my phone. That’s what I did. And for a while I felt that that was enough. I recorded their disrespect for our environment for posterity to shame them and perhaps shame all those who have done the same or similar for no other reason than that they’re on a ‘Lad’s Tour’. And of course the reason I did no more was the nagging doubt that while I felt the golfers were up to no good, I couldn’t for the life of me see that the no good they were up to was justification for the type of confrontation that would have ensued had I opened my car door, persuade my jelly legs to take me over there and force my cotton-wool mouth to say my piece.

And anyway, surely I thought, justifying my inaction, wasn’t golf originally a matter of driving a ball through the glen and ford, lane and moor, towards a destination with no thought for the consequences to human, salmon or deer? Weren’t these men actually enjoying their sport in its rawest, most noble form? The difference you could argue was that the original ball would have been entirely bio-degradable — not that that would have mattered to the original caman-wielding golfer, and therein lies the equivalency.

Thoroughly puzzled with this mixture of thoughts I took the ferry, went home, discussed the matter with family, friends, colleagues. Feelings were mixed although mostly negative to the golfers’ ‘sport’, so I did some research. Apparently hitting balls into the ocean is one of those things that all golfers do, from piers, from jetties, from ocean liners, from just about anywhere. There must be millions, nay billions of golf balls on the ocean floor sitting inertly there waiting to be picked up by big fish. That’s shocking. There’s a facebook campaign to stop ocean liners allowing golfers to hit balls into the ocean, and there’s a Facebook page encouraging Ocean Driving.

I did however find an answer: bio-degradable golf balls. So they’re Spanish and I am unable to ascertain their efficacy, but this looks like an excellent business: organised, environmental ocean driving. And where better to really get the thing off the ground? Scotland. The place that invented shinty and then golf: why not elaborate further?

Anyone out there fancy helping me develop a bio-degradable one-time only golf ball? No, I am serious! I think I know an excellent spot for the first range, not far from here, and the transport links are excellent!

Here are the photos — in both cases the ball is visible:

Please comment below on the speed of the new servers, and also if you notice anything odd about the site now that we have transferred — odd that is for forargyll.com!

The Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) now has a new project coordinator.

Julie Hope (left)  – who joined them recently, replacing James Thorburn in managing the Scottish Shark Tagging Progamme (SSTP) – is also now editing SSACN’s quarterly  Newsletter

This last quarter has seen a major change in the political position regarding sharks, largely due to SSACN’s consistent programme of research and lobbying.

Fisheries Minister, Richard Lochhead, has recognised that protecting vulnerable marine species is crucially important and that some shark, skate and ray populations are now critically endangered. This is something anglers have been trying to tell politicians and fisheries managers for years -, as SSACN say, better late than never.

For Argyll has already reported on the success of SSACN’s 2011 (and 3rd) Solway Firth  Sharkatag, which saw participants coming from all over the UK – although the weather conspired against them and the Sunday was lost for most boats.

The event, as we said, again showed an almost 50% downturn in the numbers of tope tagged and though there is insufficient data at the moment to advance any particular theory as to why this is so, the trend is very worrying. It  highlights the value of the tagging events run under  SSTP programme and underlines the need for increased levels of research. The total taggings this year, set against those of the last two years, is shown left.

The last three months have also seen a number of significant catches – including probably the largest ever smoothhound caught in Scottish waters – a 15lb 1 oz beaut, caught tagged and released by Guy Stewart, pictured top, an uncommon skate and a mix of interesting recaptures.

Smoothhounds are known as ‘smoothys’ by anglers. We wrote of them once – to much hilarity – as ‘smoothies’. Not the same thing.

It’s been another week plodding away at work, enjoying the sunshine and generally enjoying the summer.

I’ve also been lucky enough to have some lovely sunny days off this week, most of which I have spent lazing in the garden or enjoying the sunshine in town. It’s starting to get a lot busier in Piazza, as we’re getting close to the arrival of West Highland Week, which is always a fast paced week for us in the restaurant.

Our best months are pretty much always July and August, so I’m getting ready to start flying around the restaurant with the same speed of service we all had to work up to last year.

Talking of Oban restaurants, I had a lovely lunch in Cuan Mor this week. I was on a split shift, so I was working in the morning and at night, with a few hours break in the middle. For my break I met my Mum and I took her for lunch. It was nice to be able to do this as I had just got my tips from Piazza so I had a bit of extra money that I’m not usually used to having.

After having a quick look at the lunch menu (you can get everything from wraps and baguettes to steak pie on their lunch menu) we both decided to take up one of their lunch deals – soup and a half baguette for £4.95. We both had the Asparagus soup, but I had the Crayfish and Lemon Mayonnaise baguette (below), while Mum had a Bacon, Brie and Cranberry baguette. I can vouch for the tastiness of both and it was the perfect lunch/dinner for me, before heading back to work at 6.00pm.

I’ve also been spending a bit of time playing with my sewing machine, as I haven’t had a lot of time (rephrase: haven’t made a lot of time!) recently to do much sewing, so I’ve been working on making a cushion cover for one of our old ‘in need of T.L.C.’ cushions, to brighten it up a bit.

Sadly, my little car is also in need of T.L.C. at the moment, as it’s currently refusing to start. I took it out for the first time in nearly a year (gulp!) earlier this week, and went for a drive up to Creagan Bridge and round the Loch and back, just to get the feel of car again.

It was a lovely drive, but unfortunately when I went to start the car again later that night to go pick up Mark from his Granny’s, it wouldn’t start. It’s currently being looked after by the garage in Benderloch, so hopefully it will be up and running again soon. If you see a green-y blue Peugeot 106 (circa 1992/93) zooming around town, feel free to wave!

I finished off this week by heading out to catch locally born and bred band Washington Irving at the Corran Halls in Oban. Washington Irving  (pictured top) are Rory MacDonald, Kieran Heather, Joe Black, Roslyn Potter, Martin Anfield and Chris McGarry. Although the band are now based primarily in Glasgow, they started out playing in pubs around Oban, so they got a warm welcome on their home gig last Friday.

After a warm up from support band  The Hollow Mountain String Band, Washington Irving played several songs, including my personal favourite of theirs, Sisi. So far they’ve released their début EP Little Wanderer, Head Thee Home, late last year. The album features five of their songs (all penned by lead singer Joe Black) – Sisi, Phantom Buck, Islands, The Glebe and Dear Lisa. Described as ‘a very promising release’ by Oisín Kealy, of The Skinny, the Glaswegian culture magazine, it’s nice to know that I’m not alone in recognises the talent that these guys have.

I’ll be looking forward to attending more of their gigs in the future, and I’d recommend listening to the band online, or picking up their EP.

Ellis Cameron, Young in Argyll correspondent

The photographs accompanying this feature are also by Ellis Cameron.

Auchindrain township’s new tearoom is well into its stride and proving a great attraction in its own right.

It’s in the reception building at the other end of the township from the cluster of cottages in this photograph – and they were obviously smokin’ at 17.00 last Thursday (21st July 2011) when our photographer shot into a layby off the A83 to catch the shot.

The township wasn’t burning down, though – this was just a domestic. In fact Auchindrain is looking better than ever, renewing almost on a monthly basis. The recent visit of the West of Scotland Dry Stone Walling Association now has the Munro barn – or Martin’s barn – up to wall plate height.

In any weather – and right now it’s the best imaginable – Auchindrain is an intriguing place to visit.

Scotland’s last preserved highland farm township – which stayed resolutely away from ‘improved’ farming methods and stuck to the communal farming of the runrigs, is  time travelling in a place that is rapidly carving out a living operational identity for itself in today’s wider community.

It’s also supporting some highland cattle, hens and sheep – and a crop growing project by three local primary schools, Furnace, Minard and Inveraray, each with their own rigs  – guarded by pretty spectacular scarecrows.

And the tearoom is a great chill-out place – not a pit stop – with fresh coffee, soup and home baking.

‘On behalf of the Scottish Government and the people of Scotland, I extend our deepest condolences to the people of Norway in the wake of this truly horrific and appalling tragedy.

‘We have already offered the Norwegian Government any assistance they may require in the coming days, and we stand ready to help in any way we possibly can.

‘Scotland and Norway enjoy very strong bonds of friendship stretching back over many years, and our thoughts and sympathies are today with the Norwegian people, particularly the families of all those affected by these terrible incidents.’