Wet Day Stories for charity

James Arnold, who lives in Whiting Bay, has produced an A4-sized booklet containing five well-written, warmly funny stories. He has put copies of it into local shops, priced at £3.50 – but every penny of the purchase price goes to whatever charity the shop and its local community choose to support. Whiting Bay’s Bay News will give the proceeds (which are mounting fast) to the defibrillator fund, which is seeking to buy this vital piece of life-saving equipment for the local First Response team.

With a disregard for publicity that verges on the magnificent, James – or Jim, as most people call him – shrugs off any enquiries about how the stories were written and whether he has future plans as a writer. An ex-teacher who taught Modern Studies and Economics at Dumbarton Academy for 30 years, there is not much he does not know about kids and about those who take charge of them, sometimes with risible results. These stories are a good read, gentle as well as funny, and filled with a quiet understanding of how children think and feel. Many people on Arran will be grateful to Jim, both for the delightful book and for his generosity.