Tag Archives: Homecoming 2009

Council funds six Cowal events for Argyll Homecoming 2009

Posted on by

Homecoming 2009, which will run from Burns Night to St Andrew’s Day wll see six events in Cowal funded by Argyll and Bute Council to a total of £34,000. The awards are:

  • Cowalfest, £10,000
  • Sandbank Community Development Trust, for a May celebration, £10,000
  • Cowal Open Studios, £6,500
  • Colintraive Village Heritage Exhibition, £4,000
  • Dunoon Rotary Club, for a Cowal Homecoming Ceilidh, £2,500
  • Lochgoilhead Burns Club, for a 50th anniversary event, £1,000

Without in any way questioning the value of the planned ceilidh,  does the Rotarians’ simple application for funding from the local authority represent a dilution of their key objective of raising money for charitable purposes from the resources and efforts of their business members? Your comments would be welcome.

Jim Mather is cover story in Holyrood Magazine and welcomes Argyll’s plans for Homecoming 2009

Posted on by

Jim Mather at Oban PharmacyJim Mather, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and Argyll’s constituency MSP is on the cover of the Holyrood Magazine for October with a five-page feature profile by Mandy Rhodes inside.

What do we learn about him? Anyone who has met the Minister is aware of his speedy use of mind-mapping to record the shape and drive of meetings and this piece does indeed remark on that.

But we discover a lot about the man himself, the specific background in chartered accountancy and in business enterpreneurship and management that equip him for the job he does in the Scottish Government.

We also discover that he broke his back after an overenthusiastic burst of speed on his bike took him into the back of a lorry. This led to six weeks of still life in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, of which he says: ‘I am a great lover of Neil Munro and the Para Handy tales and Para Handy says “We will just pause and consider”. I had never paused to consider. I was living my life 24/7, living a very high-pressured life and I was forced to stop and think because I was left on my back wondering if I would ever walk again and I just re-evaluated what I was about’.

Of his current job, to which he is absolutely committed in back-to-the-days-of-24/7 style, he says: ‘This is the hardest work I have ever done but once you have put your tie in the political wringer, there is no way back out. You are compelled to follow it through’.

He doesn’t believe in slagging off the competition. This comes from days of being a trainer with IBM where showing antipathy or bad-mouthing your rivals was a firing offence. IBM cannily saw such actions as likely to boomerang on them – something George Osborne, Conservative Shadow Chancellor at Westminster must wish he’d thought of before he took a pop at Peter Mandelson.

Mandy Rhodes notes that he ‘does tend to stray into eye-watering management gobbledegook’ but forgives him because of his utter conviction in Scotland’s potential and his ability, calling him ‘a patriot with brains’.

He admits to impatience: ‘What worries me is the the time it is taking to get to independence because I know that it will be transformational when we get there and I want to get there very quickly.’ He has no time at all for companies running major operations in Scotland by ‘remote control’ from elsewhere and is adamant that he will give them an ultimatum to ship up or he will see that competiton to their business develops strongly on the ground in Scotland.

Of the post-banking meltdown produced by lack of proper regulation in the UK, as elsewhere, he sees the future needing to be much more joined up in collaborative strategic planning. He sees the Scottish Government, the banks and the Scottish industries working closely together to ‘optimise the competitive advantage for Scotland’.

When asked if wealth is the route to personal happiness, he answers: ‘Absolutely not – the route to happiness is doing the right thing and enjoying the journey and the respect that comes from that approach’.

In separate information sent to For Argyll, the Minister expresses pleasure and support for Argyll’s planned events for Homecoming 2009 and Argyll and Bute Council’s commitment to this celebration of Scottish life and culture. He specifically cites the Council’s financial suport for:

  • The Oban Hogmanay party, featuring festivals, food events
  • Gaelic and sporting highlights
  • Spirit of the West, an ambitious Whisky event, centered on Inveraray Castle on May 16 and 17. This event is to feature the Whisky industry of the West Coast and will include tasting opportunities, story telling and historic battle reconstructions.
  • A re-enactment of the history of the Clan MacDougall, to take place in July 17 – 23 at Dunollie Castle, close to Oban, with the backdrop of the ruined Castle and the ‘New House’ built in 1746.
  • Oban’s hosting of the 2009 Camanachd Cup Final at Mossfield Park
  • Oban’s hosting the National Mod of An Comunn Gaidhealach in October 2009.

Mr Mather notes that: ‘In the current financial situation tourist destinations will need to offer extra to attract visitors and I am delighted to see the Council embracing the concept of Homecoming 2009 and giving proper support to those wishing to enhance the visitor’s experience of Argyll & Bute and of Scotland’.

The photo at the top of this article shows the Enterprise Minister on a visit today (24th October) to a series of pharmacies in Oban. He was there both to learn about the operation of the pharmacy world and to highlight the support pharmacies give to the medical and health services in Scotland. From left to right are: Mary Morton, Head of Community Pharmacy, NHS Highland; Sandra Melville, Clinical Pharmacy Manager of Lorn & Islands District General Hospital and Chair of the Scottish Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB); Jim Mather MSP; Pam McGuire, Clinical Pharmacist, Lorn & Islands Hospital, Oban. Mr Mather also visited Boots Alliance Pharmacy in the town.

First Minister commits to Argyll’s Homecoming 2009 Oban Mod

Posted on by

As he set off for the annual SNP Conference opening today in Perth, Alex Salmond revealed to The Oban Times that he will be present in Oban for the Homecoming 2009 Mod. He said: ‘I always think of Oban fondly. We went there for SNP conferences but when I was a boy I spent many a fine day in the town before we went off to the islands for family holidays.’

Caithness will host the Mod in 2010 and the Western Isles in 2011, it was announced yesterday at the 2008 Royal National Mod at Falkirk.

Argyll’s Walking Theatre Company shortlisted for Highlands and Islands Tourism Award

Posted on by

Argyll’s – and Cowal’s – The Walking Theatre Company (TWTC) is one of only four businesses short-listed in the New Tourism Business Category at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, to be held at the Drumossie Hotel, Inverness on Friday 21st November 2008.

This year has seen the vibrant and progressive new company perform in, among others, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood, St. Giles Cathedral, at the Strathclyde Highland Gathering, Arts in Merkinch and Arts Feast Cowal, entertaining locals, visitors and dignitaries to great effect.

On one occasion the company boldly co-opted First Minister, Alex Salmond (without too much protest) as ‘Banquo’ in Macbeth. Mr Salmond felt that the company’s approach to making theatre:  ‘… adds to the delight by bringing the audience closer to the story than you might imagine’.

Last year the company gave audiences what Mr Salmond also called ‘a feast of surrises’ in Ness Island for Drama N’Alba, whilst a ‘mystery’ play based on the warring Campbells and Lamonts drew crowds to Dunoon and attracted national press coverage for the area.

Co-founded by actor/writer Sadie Dixon-Spain and actor/director Liam Calgie, the company produces low-budget, high-quality work creating a new business model and performance techniques that aim to create sustainable theatre in any environment. This is theatre for the twenty-first century.

The Walking Theatre Company is currently company-in-residence for Cowalfest and are in co-production with the Lismore Youth Theatre producing Lismore’s Armistice celebrations in November.  Homecoming 2009 sees TWTC producing, writing and performing six national events including ‘The Hidden Jewel’ at Dunollie and ‘the Whisky Walk’ for The Whisky Coast at Inveraray Castle.

Being short-listed for this prestigious award is a great achievement for a young arts business operating in a rural community. It shows that Argyll can do it. It reflects the growing interest and appeal of the arts in awakening Scotland’s awareness of itself and in the promotion of Scotland as a destination.

Isle of Lismore 2009 Homecoming Week

Posted on by

As part of the 2009 Year of Homecoming which celebrates emigrants, the places they now link us to and their achievements in their new homelands, Lismore is to run a ‘Homecoming Lismore’ week from 8th – 15th August 2009.

The programme will include a formal reception for the descendants of emigrants, the launch of the island Genealogy Centre, publication of an Emigrants Register and an organised walk to the site of the first clearance at Achanard in the 1780s. There will also be drama and literature events featuring the young people of the island. The week-long celebration will end with a ceilidh in the Lismore Hall, with traditional singers and players – and dancing.