Issue 7

Andrew Binnie has been chosen from a big field of candidates to be the new Marine Project Officer for COAST, the Community of Arran Seabed Trust. (The position is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Underwood Trust.) Conversing amiably on the shore overlooking the No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay last week, his open friendliness, coupled with wide-ranging ideas and knowledge, made him an enchanting person to talk to. He’s already hard at work in the new COAST office, which you can find behind the High School, in the same building that houses Noel Crack’s bookshop – a happy coincidence, since Noel specialises in books on the Scottish natural world.

Glasgow-born, Andrew emigrated to Australia and lived in Sydney for a long time, becoming a naturalised Australian citizen. He worked there for an academic publisher of scientific books and then went to Papua New Guinea, where he helped to set up a successful community publishing enterprise. He is modest about that – ‘I’d never used a Mac before,’ he says, ‘but they taught me.’ It’s easy to see why they found him a natural pupil. Andrew has a direct yet quite un-pushy energy that makes people want to help him find things out. On Arran, hopefully in post for three years, given continued funding, he has immediately started talking to people with practical interest in the natural world, whatever their start-point. He is also working with four post graduate students from York University, but at the same time says, ‘There’s an incredible level of interest from children. They only have to see you poking about on a beach and they come up, wanting to know what you are looking for and whether they can find something, too.’

At the larger end of the scale, Andrew is keen to work with bodies such as the National Trust for Scotland, who have been guiding immensely successful rock pooling groups. ‘Sixty people at Kildonan, all fascinated by rock pools!’ he says, delighted.  He’s been on other islands as well, contrasting the community-bought small isle of Eigg with the slightly more organised equally small Rum, where numbered stones help the casual visitor to find a way through a woodland walk. ‘Some help is useful,’ he says, then adds, ‘but you have to be careful not to over-interpret, which can spoil the fun of discovering things for yourself.’

On the prickly question of fish farms, Andrew is clear and logical. He feels that instead of penning marine creatures in a tightly controlled ‘intensive farming’ system, we should allow fish to breed and grow naturally, free from chemical and organic additives and over-exploitation. ‘COAST is not an anti-fishing group,’ he insists. ‘We are pro sustainable fishing. Once there are plentiful stocks in the sea we’d love to see more people catching fish. That’s what we’re aiming for.’ News this week confirms that there is a big rise in the numbers of young fish in Clyde waters, though they are too small to catch, which suggests that the absence of more mature fish shows the damage done to the stock by over-fishing. [See our report that follows.]

Andrew stresses, too, the hard economic sense of developing a sustainable future for marine life, saying that if the fish stocks are given a fair chance to reproduce themselves, it will provide a viable future for people working in the fishing industry – and can also benefit tourism. '‘It would be good if there was a glass-bottomed boat,’ he muses, ‘so people could see down to the sea bed in the shallows.’ While accepting that punitively high insurance levels have brought about the death of the small boat hire business, he hopes that there may be more use of the sea for exploration and sight-seeing. He recognises the usefulness of fast RIBs and sporting craft of all kinds, but would like to see more ‘utility’ boats as well, able to take people close to the shore and show them things in the shallow water that they can’t see from the land.

Philosophically, Andrew’s view is refreshingly broad. ‘Science and art meet in the middle,’ he says. ‘You need the detailed knowledge and the understanding of how natural things work - that side of it is essential. But so is recognising the beauty of it all, and the sheer fascination. It’s a constant excitement.’ With such enthusiasm and such practicality, Andrew seems like a gentle dynamo of new energy. He makes great possibilities seem a step closer than they ever have been, and that is a rare and highly welcome talent.

This has already started, but from Monday 1st August to the coming Friday, there’s a wealth of marine-related activity available. Please see the links below for more information.

Monday 1st August
Arran Film Evening, 7pm - 8.30pm, Kildonan Village Hall, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756
Arran Sea Shore Safari, 10 am – 12 noon, meet next to RNLI, Lamlash Pier, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756
COAST & Ocean Breeze RiB Tour, Lamlash Pier, trips throughout week, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756

Tuesday 2nd August
Arran Evening Cruise (Lamlash Bay), 6pm – 7.30, Lamlash Pier, Jim Blakey 07970 771960
Ocean Breeze RiB Tour, Lamlash Pier, trips throughout week, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756

Wednesday 3rd August
Arran Sea Shore Safari, 10am -12 noon, Kildonan Village Hall, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756 FREE
COAST stand at Arran Agricultural Show, 10am – 4pm

Thursday 4th August
Rockpooling Extravaganza, 10am - 12 noon, Lochranza Field Centre, Chris Traill, 01770 830637
Otter Discovery Trail with Arran Wild Walks, 12 noon - 4pm, Brodick beach car park, behind small Co-op,Lucy Wallace,  07825 644161
Arran Evening Cruise (Lamlash Bay), 6pm – 7.30, Lamlash Pier, Jim Blakey 07970 771960
Ocean Breeze RiB Tour, Lamlash Pier, trips throughout week, Russell Cheshire 01770 820756

Friday 5th August NTS Seashore Scramble, 10am – 11.30, Brodick Castle Reception Centre, NTS Rangers, 01770 302462

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s wind section played to a packed Whiting Bay Hall earlier this month, and treated the audience to an afternoon of such delight that people are still talking about it. The group of twelve virtuoso players provided such a range of different tones that the absence of any string sound did not matter at all. A splendidly cheerful Baroque Canzona for trumpets and horns began the proceedings, then clarinets and bassoons came on to the scene for the Beethoven Sextet, in which his writing for wind instruments is so delectable that one can only wish he had produced more for these instruments. Two flutes featured in a light and lively take on the well-known arias from The Magic Flute and Charles Gounod’s light-hearted Petite Symphonie included flutes, with a glorious solo for that instrument in the second movement. The entire ensemble came together for a magnificent arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No 1.

The players enchanted everyone, not merely for their astounding musical skill, but for the happy and friendly atmosphere that they created. At one point the tall spotlights that the ensemble carry with them for all performances suddenly failed and the stage was plunged into darkness. The players gamely carried on for a few bars then had to give up, and their electrician moved in quickly with a screwdriver and new cables. Within a few minutes, he had the lights working again, to a well-deserved cheer, and the group, quite unfazed, made a fresh start. The hiccup was at once forgotten and everyone was again listening entranced to the clarity and beautiful balance of the music. A short encore followed the rapturous applause at the end, then people went out into the daylight, exclaiming to each other about the wonder of what they had just heard. A group of this size brings a completely new dimension to chamber music, which is often thought of as designed for no more than three or four players, and it has the additional fascination of working with no conductor. To see and hear musicians in such close touch with each other, perfect in their timing and utterly agreed in the expression of the music’s feeling, is close to miraculous. The SCO sectional summer tours have included Arran three times now, and every time, they have come as a special and exhilarating treat. We can only hope to see them again – and again. Their visits are of huge value, and the Arran Music Society is to be congratulated for the work they do in helping to arrange these feasts of music.

On Tuesday 30th August, Heather Corbett, one of the world’s best known percussionists, will give a concert in the Community Theatre, Arran High School, beginning at 7.30.pm

Percussion is of course far more than drums. It includes ‘tuned’ instruments such as the marimba and xylophone, and the evening will be full of melody as well as exciting and exotic rhythm.

Heather has been playing with the Paragon Ensemble for over 20 years and gave the world première of a new percussion concerto by composer Martin Butler as part of Paragon's 20th Birthday Concert in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

She has played numerous Percussion Concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, including those by Milhaud, Creston, Hovhaness, Ortiz and Howard Blake.  These were all broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and/or BBC Radio Scotland.  Heather has a personal letter from Darius Milhaud, thanking her for playing his Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone.
Heather's talents are in great demand in the world of education for master-classes, seminars and workshops as well as individual tuition and examining.  She is currently Professor of Percussion at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and at the University of St Andrews and regularly makes CDs, BBC broadcasts and television appearances.

website : www.impulse-music.co.uk/heathercorbett

This year, despite formidable funding difficulties, the McLellan Arts Festival is as exciting and varied as ever. The immensely talented students from the Royal Northern College of Music will be here again, contributing an Opera Gala on the Friday night, 9th September, and local singers will be joining them in a performance of the glorious Mozart Requiem the following evening in Lamlash church.

 The festive week kicks off on Friday 2nd with the popular ‘Arran and Beyond’ event in the Ormidale Hotel glasshouse. Music is by the singing group, Wild Myrtles and words are contributed by the well-known poet Alexander Hutchison, together with local poets and musicians and the Wild Myrtles. It starts at 8pm and entry is by voluntary donation.

On the following morning, Saturday 3rd, Alexander Hutchinson will be running a Poetry Workshop in Corrie Hall at 11 am. Everyone is welcome, and no poetry writing experience is called for – though those who do write will find Alexander’s professional insights both valuable and interesting. Admission £5.00. Contact David Underdown tel 01770810640 or email arranunderdown@btinternet.com if you’d like to take part – or just turn up on the day.

That same evening, Saturday 3rd September, will see a great ceilidh in Corrie and Sannox Hall, with the fabulous singing group Wild Myrtles and a guest list of some of Arran’s most talented artistes. There will be supper, entertainment and dancing – all for the modest price of £5 at the door.

On Sunday evening, 4th September the Royal Northern College students with their tutor Peter Alexander Wilson will take part in a Corrie Church Service at 7.30pm. There will also be a reading of a McLellan short story by John Sillars.

Tuesday and Wednesday, 6th-7th September see an amusing McLellan play called Jeddart Justice, directed by John Sillars andperformed with gusto by local players in Corrie Hall. On the same bill is a lovely archive film of the McLellan short story, The Daftie. Entry £5.00. 8.00pm.

For anyone interested in Arran’s history, Arran on Film, onThursday 8th is not to be missed. This showing of archive films made on Arran provides a nostalgic and fascinating glimpse of island life and holidays from 1900 onwards. This, too, is in Corrie & Sannox Village Hall, starting at 8.00 pm. Entry by donation.

Friday 9th September sees the fabulous Opera Gala in the Community Theatre, Arran High School. Anyone who came to this last year and was stunned by the glorious voices of these young stars of the future will welcome a chance to hear them again. The Royal Northern College students will give us golden moments from opera and, in lighter mood, from the classic musical shows. This stunning event starts at 8.00pm. Tickets at £10 include a glass of wine or a soft drink at the interval and are available from the Book and Card Centre, Brodick or at the door.
The festival comes to a climax on the final night, Saturday 10th September, when local singers join with soloists from the Royal Northern College in a performance of the glorious Mozart Requiem, with a small orchestra, in Lamash Church. Entry £5.00.

If you would like to take part in the chorus, please contact Heather Gough on 01770 302 670 or email gough.carlo@virgin.net by 26th August 2011. You will need some ability as a sight-reader.

Children and young people of school age are welcome to all events, free of charge. Please note that a Festival Season Ticket at just £20 gives you admittance to all the events at a truly bargain price!

For latest updates see www.mclellanartsfestival.co.uk

John Kinsman

The historic clipper ship, Carrick, has been lying on a slip in Irvine for many years, and it was until recently feared that she would have to be ‘deconstructed’ – in other words, broken up. However, the fire that destroyed London’s Cutty Sark underlined the fact that the Carrick (or City of Adelaide, as she was originally called) is the last remaining clipper of her kind. Fresh interest came from Australia, where she was built, and now she is to be taken on the long sea voyage to her home port of Adelaide. As she is no more than a hulk, though still with the beautiful lines that made clippers so fast and exciting, she cannot be floated on her own – but her new owners are not daunted by that.

The Australians are building a vast steel cradle to carry the old ship half way round the world. It will weight 100 tonnes and it is being constructed over multiple sites across South Australia,  with the ultimate aim of shipping it to Glasgow in huge containers. The sections will then be assembled underneath the historic Carrick, and once the clipper is safely cradled, the whole assembly will be rolled onto an immense barge. This in turn will be towed to a deep-water port where it will be taken aboard a big ship for the trip to Port Adelaide.

More than 15 engineering companies around Adelaide and South Australia have volunteered to share the work of making the component parts for the cradle. The project was launched with a ceremony at the premises of Samaras Structural Engineers, one of the firms donating both labour and materials, and two ladies who had close connections to the clipper cracked a champagne bottle over the beginnings of the cradle that will bring the old ship home. One of them was Pam Wittle, the great-granddaughter of the Carrick's first captain, David Bruce, and the other was Marion Wells, the great-granddaughter of Matilda Methuen, who had been a passenger on the old clipper's maiden voyage.

More funding will be needed before the dream of restoring the Carrick (or City of Adelaide, as she will again be known) to her original glory becomes a reality but Creagh O'Conner, Chairman of the City of Adelaide Preservation Trust, said he was pleased by the work done so far. He said, ‘We are encouraged by the support being given and we are very pleased with the ever increasing number of firms offering money or in-kind support. It's wonderful to see competing engineering firms joining forces to help secure the City of Adelaide – it's a wonderful good news story.’

Academics at the University of Strathclyde have found stocks of fish in the Firth of Clyde at their highest level since 1927 – but most are too small to be landed. Professor Mike Heath and Dr Douglas Speirs of the University’s Marine Population Modelling Group in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have statistics on fish numbers dating back to 1973, when the landings of whitefish in the Clyde peaked. From that point, Professor Heath says, the stocks went down until ‘the fishery became uneconomic in the mid-2000s.’

This does not mean that the Clyde is now devoid of fish. Since 1995, many of the once-common kinds have dwindled and are now in short supply, so the balance of species has changed. Numbers are growing again, but most of the fish are too small to be legally landed. The Strathclyde study identifies the Firth of Clyde as a region where changes have been more pronounced than elsewhere. ‘Recovery has been underway since about 2000,’ Professor Heath says, ‘but the big question is – how long it will take for before the fish community could once again support a commercial fishery for whitefish, and how productive could that fishery be in the future?’ He continues, ‘A combination of factors is probably responsible for what has happened. These could include both fishing and climate change. We are currently planning research that will help to untangle these factors and discover what is controlling the fish size composition. Then we will be able to recommend actions to hasten the restoration process and advise on sustainable levels of fishing.’

The study was funded by the Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland (MASTS) and its co-author, Dr Speirs, says this organisation is promoting co-operation between Universities and Research Institutes, making Scotland a world leader in marine science.

Needle Weaving on Daisy Stitch

Another interesting weaving activity is for children to create their own warp threads on a piece of fabric.  The fabric needs to be backed with a piece of cotton (I often use old handkerchiefs!) and it must be held taut in a small frame.  Long stitches in the form of a large daisy can then form warp threads which provide the basis for weaving.  Make sure there are an odd number of “petals” on the daisy. Thread a bodkin or large-eyed blunt chenille needle with one or several long threads and weave under and over the threads, round and round until the warp stitches are full.   These attractive pieces make lovely cards when mounted in a card with a cut-out centre so that it acts as a frame.

Older children may like to vary their weaving technique by going back over each warp thread to create ribs, as seen in the blue weaving.

The warp threads can be raised by a large bead, as shown.  The aim here was to create the impression of a shell.

Warp threads can be arranged in any way on fabric.  Parallel lines produce a mini loom that can be worked on to form a square or rectangular weaving.

Next time we will see how other unusual, but simple looms, can be made

If you would like to do some hands-on work with Judith, this month she will be running a two-morning workshop on Beading for Arran Visual Arts. This is scheduled for the weekend of August 20th and 21st, at the Rangers Centre in the Brodick Castle grounds, each morning session running from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.  She’ll bring samples of finished work and lots of materials to be used, and as an additional bonus, members of the Dippen Beaders will be with her to add individual help. 

The single charge for the two-day sessions is £35, or £25 if you are an AVA member. (At only £12 a year, this is well worth doing.) If you would like to come, send a cheque payable to Arran Visual Arts to Alison Barr at 6, Manse Crescent, Brodick, KA27 8AS.

John Kinsman

Seven fishermen were rescued last Monday, July 18th, after their 78ft prawn trawler ran aground in Oban Bay. The Campbeltown-registered Gleaner 11 hit rocks known locally as Sgeir Rathiad at around 10.30am and was listing badly, but all seven members of the crew were rescued by Oban's all-weather RNLI lifeboat, the Mora Edith MacDonald. There were no injuries, and the trawler was later refloated. Tommy Finn, owner of the Gleaner 11, said the mishap was ‘just a misjudgement by the skipper. He just clipped the bank on the side of the rocks.’

North Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Outdoor Access Forum have been reviewing North Ayrshire’s Outdoor Access Strategy – ‘aiming’ they say, ‘to get the best balance between the rights of the public to access land across the area, and the rights and interests of those who own and manage that land.’

They are asking anyone with an interest in the outdoors - from ramblers to landowners, cyclists to canoeists, kayakers to horse-riders – to have their say on the draft strategy. This ‘public consultation’ lasts for 10 weeks until Monday 26 September 2011. It does not, alas, consist of a face-to-face conversation at any point, but your can see the draft proposals online or at Brodick Library. And if you are at the Agricultural Show at Glenkiln in Lamlash on this coming Wednesday, August 3rd, the proposals will be there for you to comment on.

Jim Henderson

There was much interest in Jim’s series about the Arran people who went to Canada in the Clearances, and we are delighted that he is following this with a new series of articles abouto Arran’s early agriculture.

Most people will know of the run rig farming system, used widely throughout Scotland until things began to change at the end of the 18th century. There are many places on Arran where the marks of the ‘rigs’ or long beds of ground are still visible, especially on hillsides no longer farmed. They look like broad parallel ridges, running sideways along the hill to conserve soil and moisture, much as people do the world over when farming hill land. Under this system the landowner allocated each tenant several detached portions of land called ‘rigs’ on a yearly or two-yearly basis. The selection was made by lot or by rotation, and was designed to give everyone a share of the best and worst ground. In some families the ground was shared, passing from father to son. It often led to a communal tenure system in which the rig allocation was shared between several people.

Arran’s population in the 1750s was 3646, and it was self-sufficient. A packet-boat came over from Saltcoats once a week, but people grew their own food, butchered their own meat and made their own clothes. One of the island’s attractions for visitors was the goats’ milk being produced at Cladach, for this was supposed to be good for the health. The Dukes of Hamilton, who had ruled Arran except for a brief period when the Covenanters and the Campbells took over, were content to allocate the rigs and take a small rent, regarding the system as a settled way of life rather than a business. Arran’s farms had until then been let on leases of nineteen years' duration, with an initial payment called a grassum. These leases began to expire in 1766, the greater part of them falling out in 1772, but until then, the system followed its old ways of making a basic living from the land.

Statistics of the Islands crops and livestock recorded in 1880 by the Highland and Agriculture Society of Scotland were as follows:
Recordings of land under crops in Arran in 1855 totalled 6,079 acres Wheat, Oats and Turnips being the main crops with Grass & Hay of some 3,000 acres under rotation. Potatoes were included but only a small proportion.
Livestock was listed as 29,394 head of Horses, Milk Cows, Cattle, Calves, Sheep, Lambs and Swine.

The recorded chart was as follows:

Little birds

Two weeks ago, a baby house martin made a wobbly landing on the rail of the balcony outside the upstairs patio doors. It was still fluffy and had no tail to speak of, and seemed extremely startled – which was understandable, since it had just tumbled out of its clay nest high in the eaves and discovered that it had to fly. I thought it must have siblings, and sure enough, three more little birds arrived, having done a longer maiden flight. The four of them sat side by side, fidgeting and preening and staring about at the sky that had suddenly become their world. They were only a couple of metres from me as I sat at the computer, but seemed oblivious to the close presence of a human. I took a photo of them through the glass.

They stayed there all that day, going on experimental flights from time to time and occasionally tucking their heads under their wings for a little sleep. I watched, fascinated, and slowly started to perceive which one was which. The littlest one that had arrived first looked younger than the others, with more white fluff among its feathers and less skill in the air. The next one up was less fluffy and was growing reasonable tail feathers, the third was more mature and the fourth and strongest looked almost grown up. I can only suppose that the four eggs were laid at a rate of one a day, and because they all hatch together there’s a variation of in-shell development time. Certainly the parent birds knew which one was the most needy, because as they zoomed in to push an insect into one of the gaping beaks, there was obvious care for the most vulnerable one. At one point the mother bird – a little thinner than the male – came to rest on the rail and almost fed the nearest fledgling, then looked again and gave the fly to the smallest one instead. Most of the time, the parents didn’t pause in their flying, just banked up to the rail, popped a morsel into a beak and curved away again.

Martins are talkative birds. A lot of twittering went on, and at one point when a big black-backed gull zoomed over, there was a shriek almost too high to hear and the four baby birds vanished. It happened so fast that I couldn’t see where they’d gone, but after a few minutes they started to return. This time, instead of perching on the open centre of the balcony rail, they all settled at the end where the slant of the projecting roof hid them from the sky. How did they know about that? The parents didn’t guide them, as far as I could see – the little ones had simply understood the danger warning and had picked a safer place.

By this time, of course, I’d been into house martins on the Internet and was full of information about them. An adult bird weighs 63 grammes. About two ounces, for old-fashioned souls like myself. All that strength and speed and intelligence, packed into the weight of a small poke of sweeties. No design engineer could produce anything that worked like that. The remit would be impossible. ‘It has to be self-supporting, living on tiny insects that it catches at a speed of 36 feet per second. It will be five inches long and ten inches across the wing-span. It must be able to fly to Africa and back every year and will build a nest at the junction of a building’s wall and roof, using mud that it scoops from an exposed river- bed. It will be self-replicating, producing and rearing an average of eight new ones of its kind each summer. The new birds will grow in eggs for 14-16 days and are bald and helpless when hatched but the adults feed them for between three and four weeks. After that the new birds will fly and fend for themselves.’ Huh? Even Honda engineers, who are pretty good at robots, would shake their heads at that one. Impossible.

As evening came on my martin-watching day, the four little birds were still there, and the parents were visibly tired. I wondered where they would go for the night. No way could the youngsters, with wings expanded and strong for flying, cram back into the little clay nest. I had to go out that evening, so I never had any answer to that one. Returning in the half-light after the wonderful school production of A Mid Summer Night’s Dream (what could be more suitable?) I looked up at the balcony, but the martins were not there. They haven’t been back since, and I don’t know one from another among the numbers that swoop through the daytime air.

Yesterday the male bird was again sitting on the wire outside the nest under the eaves. I think he and his mate have set about rearing a second brood. Apparently the hatchlings of the first brood often help to feed the second lot, which is a nice thought. During the day when I watched them, the adult birds were working so hard, I felt quite concerned for them – but it’s work or perish, there is no choice. That’s how the species keeps up its success. I wonder if the smallest of the nestlings made it, but I’ll never know. It doesn’t matter. That day of watching the four little birds was magic, and that’s enough.

In our series on sustainable energy, we move on to the question of how hydrogen may be used as an adjunct to engines that don’t run on fuel that has to be mined from the ground.

Hydrogen is well known as the lighter-than-air gas that fills balloons and makes them rush skyward if you let go of the string, but its much more common presence in our lives is in combination with oxygen as H2O – in other words, water.  It’s the lightest and most abundant chemical element, and when you look beyond our own somewhat mundane use of it, you’re into some startling facts. The stars that we see in the night sky mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state, when it has a purple glow.

Plasma? This is what gas becomes if its electrons relax to lower energy states after being heated. You’ll have seen plasma lamps with filaments of colour that have derived from their basic gases. These colours are, to put it simply, the result of gases becoming ‘excited’ and entering a lower energy state. Plasma isn’t a solid or a liquid – it has no shape unless you enclose it in something – but it contains electrically charged particles. Neon signs work on it, but on a larger scale, plasma is the most common state of matter. Hydrogen, as the simplest atom known, in its plasma state constitutes roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. It’s what the stars are made of.

We’ve been artificially producing hydrogen gas  ever since Henry Cavendish recognised what it was in 1766 and understood that it produces water when burned. Its two largest uses at the moment are for fossil fuel processing (e.g. ‘fracking’ to split rocks and release buried oil) and ammonia production, mostly for the fertilizer market. However, on its own, it’s a difficult gas to handle. It embrittle many metals, which means it will quickly eat its way out of storage tanks, so it’s impossible to carry around by road or rail, or to use as a direct fuel in engines. However, it has potential uses as a new form of energy storage that could solve a lot of problems.

Electric cars, as we all know, are being enthusiastically promoted, particularly in cities where recharge facilities can be provided amply enough to reduce the disadvantage of the short battery life. For the designers of such cars, the problem has always been the weight of the batteries they have to carry around. We need a new system of storing electricity – something better and handier than banks of lorry batteries, and more realistic than recharging cars with electricity that may well have been produced by coal, gas or nuclear power stations.

This is where hydrogen comes in. It can combine with an energy-carrying liquid called N-ethylcarbazole to provide a source of power for automotive engines. The driver seeking to refuel a car would pump out the ‘used’ carbazole at the filling station and replace it with more of the newly-charged, high-energy stuff. Its substance is not burned as petrol or diesel are, butgives out hydrogen that can power a fuel-cell electric drive. The pumped-out carbazole would go off to be recharged and put into the normal tanks for re-use. This is being intensively researched by a university team in Nuremberg. Energy-carrying substances such the trade-named Carbozol can also be used for the stabilization of the electricity system and for energy storage in solar powered homes

Nearer to Arran (though not much, perhaps) is a pioneering project on the small island of Unst, the most northerly island in the Shetland Isles and the last outpost of Britain. After that, you’re heading for Iceland. PURE stands for  Promoting Unst Renewable Energy, and it’s designed to show how wind power and hydrogen technology can be combined to provide the energy needs for a remote rural industrial estate. It has been commissioned by the Unst Partnership Ltd., a community development agency established by the Unst Community Council to support local economic development and regeneration. This is the first community owned renewable energy project of its kind in the world, and its comparatively small project budget of approximately £350,000 included all the engineering and consultancy works surrounding the project, as well as the hardware.

Like Arran, the Shetland Islands have among the highest energy costs in the UK. Over 50% of islanders spend more than 20% of their household income on energy, most of it going on the costs of heating and transportation fuel. At a guess, this may be true of Arran as well. However, it is doing well with its wind turbines, recording an energy output almost twice that of equivalent turbines elsewhere in the UK and Denmark. In fact, Shetland is producing so much energy that its problem is now how to store it and deliver it to demand centres in central UK and Europe. Their electrical network is owned by one of the last independent companies in the UK, and it can’t cope with the amount of current being produced.

This is where the hydrogen comes in. The PURE project connects two 15kW wind turbines to a high-pressure hydrogen storage system, together with a dispensing facility to fill hydride cylinders. The cylinders are used in a fuel cell/battery hybrid vehicle and other hydrogen applications as an alternative to fossil fuels. The system is designed so that any type of renewable resource could be connected to it such as wave, tidal or solar. There’s a back-up power supply installed as well, in the form of a 5kW fuel cell and an inverter. The hydrogen used by the fuel cell is produced from the electrolyser. The inverter was installed to convert the output power of the fuel cell from Direct Current (DC) into mains equivalent Alternating Current (AC).

A battery based electric vehicle was converted to run with a hydrogen fuel cell. This electric/fuel cell hybrid car is now fuelled exclusively by the PURE system, using hydrogen produced from the renewable source.  This makes the electric car one of the only 100% carbon-free vehicles on the British roads.

This extraordinary achievement by a small island with a landscape of Arctic tundra may well be the way forward for the rest of us. There is no reason at all why Arran should not set up a similar system. We have people with the technical know-how, and our fuel costs are at a level that should be causing us to think seriously of devising some alternative. The Pure Energy Centre (PEC) was set up on the back of the PURE Project, using skills and expertise gained during the initial project.  PEC has projects around the globe and has replicated the hydrogen system in many countries. 

Since writing the above, the Voice has been in contact with Elizabeth Johnson of the Unst project, who sends us the following bit of information, pointing out how important it is for communities to share ways to get into the new, clean technologies, for the benefit of everyone. She says,  ‘The PURE Project community project created a springboard for a local company to push forward into the renewable industry and provided the opportunity for job creation, knowledge transfer and local economic benefit.’

With  each voluptuous silky flower up to 8 inches across; these are the gorgeous tarts of the summer garden.

They like to strut their stuff in full sun, in  rich damp  beds with  lots of  manure and home made compost, and they like a drink or six.. Arran's wet  climate and acid soil suits them well. They flash their assets in a range of blue, mauve , violet and white, some spotty and stripey, frilly and blowsy as  petticoats on cancan dancers.  Easy and tough, their only weakness is a tendency to teeter around and fall on their face in summer gales; but even that doesn't detract from the pleasure of their  company.

Lucy Wallace, whose article about Michael in last month’s Voice aroused such interest, sends us a follow-up  on the ascent of Ben Nevis.

It was never going to be easy, but climbing Ben Nevis was a huge challenge for Michael Anderson and his support team because not only is he deaf and blind, but at 70, no spring chicken either. Michael was raising money for Deafblind Scotland, a charity that supports people with dual sensory impairment.  As part of his team I was able to take part in one of the most satisfying challenges of my life, and although it was hard for everyone involved, not least of all Michael, the whole experience was a huge adventure that forged new friendships.

We met at 4.30am at the visitors centre at the foot of Ben Nevis. The team comprised Michael, his daughter Fiona and her partner fun-loving Nina, a cheerful young woman called Meg, George- an experienced mountain walker, Phil - a gear freak and walking guidebook writer, and finally, myself.

We set off in the early morning gloom, grateful for evenness of the initial sections of the path. Michael set a cracking pace for his guides, and not even a peculiar design of stile (hard to describe to a blind man at 5am) slowed him down much. Optimism set in and as the sun rose and we were joined by other walkers on the track, the plan started to look distinctly feasible. By mid morning, Michael was striding out confidently alongside the “Halfway Lochain”.
“Its in the bag,” we thought….

The section of path above the half way lochain is very rocky. Loose boulders of considerable size litter the path despite recent work by the Ben Nevis Partnership. As we wove in and out of the obstacles in our way, progress ground to a standstill. Putting one foot in front of the other, we zig zagged our way up the shoulder of the mountain. I could see that this was taking its toll on Michael and the team and I began to seriously worry whether we would have enough energy left in hand to descend this sort of terrain.  I called a meeting and expressed my concerns.  Anxious that Michael was concealing his physical state from the team I asked him to level with us. Normally a quiet and polite man, he looked uncomfortable. Eventually he spoke: “Please don’t take this the wrong way,” he said, “I feel we are going too slow. I can go faster; I don’t need to go round everything!”

Relieved, we pressed on, and the pace quickened. The support from other walkers on the mountain was fantastic. Phil was also sending out live updates to the internet via a satellite beacon that logged our exact position online. We felt as if the whole world was rooting for us to succeed.

We were joined by Jim, an elderly gentleman who was walking alone and looking for company. As we neared the summit, to my horror Jim took a turn for the worse and collapsed cold and insensible. Concerned that he was hypothermic, we wrapped him in warm layers and gave him sugary food. He perked up a little with some Kendal mint cake, but was hazy and incoherent. He looked in a bad way, but knowing that calling a rescue immediately would guarantee Jim could become seriously cold and ill in the long wait for help, trying to get him moving seemed like a good idea. George and Meg volunteered to descend a little with him.  I suggested that if he showed no sign of improvement in 10 minutes, they call the emergency services. In the event, Jim was able to walk off under his own steam after being fed and watered extensively.  It later emerged that he was diabetic and had not eaten sufficiently for the ascent. I believe he owes his life to George and Meg.

Meanwhile, Michael was nearing the summit of Ben Nevis.  The final undulating plateau seemed to drag on interminably, but eventually at around 1pm the ruins of the observatory loomed in to view through the cloud. It was an emotional moment, with photos and phone calls home. We were even treated to a view, as the mist parted to briefly reveal the magnificent North Face of the mountain.

The descent was as hard as we knew it would be. Every single one of us was feeling the pain as the afternoon wore on in to evening. Michael seemed to have more energy than the rest of us put together.  At dusk, the midges descended hungrily.  We couldn’t escape them so plodded on regardless. Eventually, at half past ten, we crossed the bridge in to the visitors centre car park. For me this was a wonderful moment, tinged with relief and a huge sense of achievement. Michael had climbed Ben Nevis, and in doing so, had become the first fully blind and deaf man to stand on Britain’s highest mountain.

Congratulations to Michael, and a huge well done to the entire team.  I’m looking forward to walking with you all again and eagerly waiting to hear what Michael’s next challenge will be!

To find out more about the work of Deafblind Scotland and the many other fundraising events they organise, visit the website: http://www.deafblindscotland.org.uk/

You can support his incredible effort by donating to Deafblind Scotland on Justgiving.com: http://www.justgiving.com/teams/deafblindclimb

We’ve made a slight adjustment to our advertising rates, which are now as follows:

• A single, one-off commercial advert - £35.00
• A run of adverts, one in each of six monthly issues - £75. (That’s just £12.50 for each edition.)
• Adverts from local, non-profit-making organisations, £10 for either one or two insertions, according to how much notice you give us for your event.
• Adverts from magazine subscribers, £10 for two insertions.

E-mail us on info@voiceforarran.com if you’d like to discuss the content and design of your advert. Payment is easy, through Paypal on this website or by cheque made out to Voice for Arran, sent to Aorangi, Whiting Bay, Arran.

If you or a friend would like to get Voice for Arran in your in-box on the first of each month, just drop an e-mail to us on info@voiceforarran.com and we'll put you on the list for an automatic send.

On a recent visit to Cawdor Castle, just a few miles East of Inverness, we were priviledged to see the beautiful "Tree Of Life" sculpture by local artist Tim Pomeroy. Weighing in at nearly a ton, the tree was installed by helicopter in May this year. It has nearly 100 bronze leaves and a bronze sun which is covered in 24-carat gold leaf and is supported by small plinth which is anchored to over five tons of concrete buried under the ground.

Visiting inside the castle we were pleased to see a small replica of the tree on display on a window ledge.

You can read more on the Cawdor Castle website.

Arran's Taiko drumming group have been in existence for four years. The group was started by Ruth Mae and Dave Samuels following a taster session in Lamlash Church Hall. Over the past couple of years they have given several public performances, the latest being at the Whiting Bay Gala two weeks ago.

Now they have gone public with a video on Youtube. This video is an entry in the "Being 50" competititon, which has been organised by Saga to promote the benefits and pleasures of being fifty to those of different generations.

You can see the competiton entries on the Saga "Being 50" website page. The winner will be decided by a panel of judges, but the number of views and votes by the public will be taken into consideration. You can click on the orange "Vote" button to view the entries and place your votes.

Please also see this month's "Letters" section.

The Dave Anderson Big Band, with support from Arran’s own Jazz Cafe Band, will be performing in Whiting Bay Hall on Sunday 7th of August at 1.30pm. The mid-day start is essential, as they are off on the 4.40 ferry.

The 17-piece outfit draws on musicians from all over the West of Scotland, and the sound is truly exciting. Dave Anderson and his players perform the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington as you would expect, but also range through Swing and Latin grooves to modern day arrangements. In addition to their terrific range of instrumentalists they feature vocalist Eddie Toal, supplying the Sinatra touch. Altogether, it’s a feast of nostalgic, swingy music that looks likely to be a crowd-puller wherever the Big Band goes. Dave Anderson says, ‘We are building a gigging circuit on the West Coast and are happy to liase with The Jazz Cafe Band to bring more jazz to Arran.’

Tickets for the Big Band concert are on sale now at the Book and Card Centre and Inspirations of Arran in Brodick and the Village Shop in Whiting Bay. Or of course you can get them at the door, in time for the 1.30 kick-off.

Greenpeace has e-mailed everyone who joined in a protest to John West about the dreadful way they were catching tuna, using Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) that scooped up dolphins and many other sea creatures as well.

Those of us who support Greenpeace sent over 51,000 emails to John West about this appalling practice, and together with phone calls, facebook messages and text messages, it worked. At last this big firm, the final one in Britain to adopt more humane methods, has agreed to stop using FADs. This is a huge move, as John West produce one-third of tuna tins in the UK

Over 80,000 emails have been sent to both Princes and John West since the tinned tuna campaign launched in January. Together with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight, it has meant the entire UK tinned tuna industry is now phasing out FADs. The supermarkets are cleaning up their act as well, with Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose already sourcing 100% of their tuna from pole and line. Tesco is committed to the same by the end of 2012. Morrisons and the Co-op have pledged to clean up their tuna by the close of 2013, with Princes and Asda going 100% FAD-free and Pole & Line by the end of 2014.

All the supermarkets and tuna brands are backing the creation of more marine reserves, promising not to buy tuna from the protected area known as the Pacific Commons.

Greenpeace will keep up its vigilance, however. For next five years, they will be monitoring the UK's tinned tuna brands closely, to ensure they keep their promises.  If you’d like to see Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s message of thanks to all the people who helped to achieve the abolition of FADs, click on www.greenpeace.org.uk for his video.

Across
1    Great private investigator is surrounded by mob (6)
2    Reportedly, trial can excite body part! (8)
10  Country where one can find British weather in the east (10)
11  To gripe about vanity.... (3,4)
12  …. can turn on, surround in...whatever, and irritate (5)
13  The French say 'The Swiss dump.... (5)
15  …. in atmospheric sounding Scottish town' (3)
16  Phi (3,11)
19  Face-lifter cuts open a girl badly (7,7)
24  Infant figure (3)
25  Push away regressed outcast (5)
27  Adrian is right to leave confused girl (5)
28  Rather a dizzy and flighty woman (7)
30  Will left, the heartless character! (7)
31  Angry royalist is alone (8)
32  Secret court closed inside (6)

Down
1    Stew as found in muddy lough (7)
2    Vegetable (average) is a bargain (7)
3    Snoopy eats one loudmouth (5)
5    Banish headless outcast (5)
6    Book turns up with love to boot (3)
7    Church right to own Scottish firm (7)
8    Once cheeky, now ace! (6)
9    Capital reportedly needing a replacement restaurant (3,5)
14  The Simpsons' favourite poet? (5)
17  Frame beheaded rat (5)
18  4s missing for singer (8)
20  Coming after Capone, sideways (7)
21  Call up terrorist group to define spring (7)
22  Closest resent a change (7)

Last month's answers
Across
1 A Christmas, 8 Olivier, 9 Abide, 10 Tacit, 11 Domingo, 12 Betray, 14 Hassle, 17 Kitchen, 19 Carol, 21 Nurse, 22 Evident, 23 Dead centre
Down
1 Adopt, 2 Haircut, 3 Idiot, 4 Tirade, 5 Anaemia, 6 Sign, 7 Before, 12 Baking, 13 Achieve, 15 Sargent, 16 Indeed, 18 Tarn, 18 Chide, 20 Litre

There’s still time to see the AVA summer art show in Lochranza Hall, as it runs until and including Thursday of this week, 4th August. It’s well worth seeing. There is an astonishingly wide range of materials and techniques, with many beautiful things that might grace a wall space, stand on a table or even wrap round your shoulders.

The talented Rorie Rutherford keeps alive the old sailors’ skill in the use of yarns and knitting, as is evident in his gloriously lacy open-work shawl, a robust pair of Norwegian gloves and a sweater of hand-spun, warm brown wool that is, as they say, to die for. Subtly and intricately patterned, it is a covetable object of rare beauty. In a wealth of embroidery, silk painting and weaving, Gaynor Harris’s La Fleur was memorable, along with Marion Gentleman’s delectable hand-painted silk cushion.

Paintings, drawings and photography covered a wide range of vision, from great black-and-white cloud studies that would grace a modern hotel to a traditional view of Kilmory Cows (David Penn) that could have been painted at any time in the last two centuries. There is professional work from Ronnie McNiece, his Hill Farm being particularly attractive, and Viv Parks touches a dramatic note in her Approaching Storm over Pladda and Ailsa Craig. Morag Campbell’s paintings included a sensitive study, Lapwing on Nest and Jan MacGregor’s drypoint etching, Geranium Seed-Head, probably derived some of its strength and charm from the drypoint workshop run last month by Tim Pomeroy.

Tim himself was present as the professional (and increasingly famous) sculptor who opened the exhibition, and his short talk was full of practical good sense and artistic insight. Addressing an attentive, sun-tanned crowd that had obviously benefited from the glorious recent sunshine, he praised the range of talent on show and talked about the necessity of sheer practice to ‘get it right’. Combined with the intuition and private vision of the artist, the sheer work of handling the medium is at the very least half the battle, and there was a constant need to keep at it and keep working. ‘Inspiration’, he said, was ‘a difficult thing to talk about’. It came from a personal vision, but the task was always to examine that vision and identify exactly what it is that the artist finds interesting about it. ‘You must always push the boundaries, be more aware of the character of the thing seen,’ he said, adding that everything has its individual identity, to be understood and expressed. He added that ‘to make art without showing it is only part of the story.’ He felt strongly that art belongs to the community and personal vision must be shared, to the benefit of all.

Certainly at Loch Ranza this week, a goodly amount of strong, highly individual vision is there to be shared. And what a setting it is! To come out of the hall and see the evening light spreading across the loch and its silhouetted keep and moored boats is something no city gallery can offer. Don’t miss this show – it really is very good.

Please click on pictures for larger version and more information.

Ingredients:

4 cups boiled potatoes, cubed or cut into wedges
1 cup organic yoghurt
1 tsp gram flour or corn starch
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds (can be replaced by bengali 5-spice or celery seeds or 1 finely chopped shallot)
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1/8 tsp asafoetida (hing)
2 tsp chilli powder (or rather take a finely chopped, deseeded chilli – or less, if you don't like it hot)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
 salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method:

1. In a bowl, combine the yoghurt and gram flour together and whisk well. Keep aside.
2. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, nigella seeds, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and asafoetida and stir for a few seconds.
3. Add the yoghurt and gram flour mixture, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander-cumin seed powder and continue stirring till it comes to a boil.
4. Add the potatoes and salt with 1/2 cup of water and mix well. Bring to a boil.
5. Serve hot, garnished with the coriander.

This is a very simple dish which tastes excellent served with a crisp salad of mixed leaves, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. I usually make a dressing with is only freshly pressed orange juice (or Tropicana) with  a generous amount of freshly grated ginger, a wee bit of salt and pepper. And of course a nice naan bread!

We talked last month about hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) of rocks to release deep pockets of trapped oil, and mentioned the dangers. Three days ago, on Thursday 28 July 2011, Mike Ludwig posted an alarming report on the American site, Truthout. On the previous day, the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission placed a ban on fracking wastewater wells in the area. A sudden change of heart? Er, not exactly. The uncomfortable fact was, fracking wastewater disposal wells in central Arkansas had caused more than 1,200 minor earthquakes of up to 4.7 in magnitude. Fracking produces millions of gallons of highly polluted wastewater, and the gas industry has been experimenting with different ways to dispose of it.

Mike Ludwig reported: ‘At least three gas companies were injecting fracking wastewater in the area of the earthquake outbreak, including BHP Billiton Petroleum, Clarita Operating LLC and Chesapeake Operating. The companies were injecting fracking wastewater near an active fault.’ He continued, ‘Steve Horton, an earthquake expert from the University of Memphis, told Truthout that continued fracking activity near the fault could have caused an earthquake strong enough to cause property damage. At least one resident in the area is suing the gas companies over damage an earthquake caused to his home.

‘Scott Ausbrooks of the Arkansas Geological Survey said a network of cracks and joints in underground rock formations allowed the fracking fluids to reach the fault and cause earthquakes. The earthquakes began rumbling through the countryside after the injections began.’

In the few days since a moratorium on drilling has been declared, the number of earthquakes has dropped by two-thirds.

During National Marine Week (actually a fortnight, from Sat 30 Jul – Sun 14 Aug), the Wildlife Trusts are running a ‘Petition Fish’ campaign, asking the Government to establish a network of MPAs (Marine Protected Areas) around the UK by the end of 2012.

Simon King OBE, President of the Wildlife Trusts, said: ‘Our marine life is facing so many threats, from destruction of habitat to overfishing. We must ensure there are safe havens below the waves, marine protected areas where populations of species can recover. We want members of the public to “sign a scale” and remind the Government of its commitment to create a well-managed network of MPAs by 2012.’

The sad thing is that other groups are actually lobbying against this proposal, so every signature counts. You can find the petition online at www.wildlifetrusts.org/petitionfish.

Please bear in mind that September will see elections for Arran Community Councillors. Whiting Bay will be losing their sitting CC member, Alison Prince, who is retiring after many years of service, and their other member, Ian McCallum, resigned during the current year.

The minutes of all meetings, current news and a very active feed-back page can be found on the very bright and attractive website www.arrancommunitycouncil.org.uk . It is constantly updated and welcomes any information or enquiries from members of the Arran public – or indeed from further afield.

The Arran Community Council website now has a "Readers' Letters" page and is encouraging contributions from the public on any matters relating to the Community Council business.

Letters can be submitted via the "Contact Us" page on their website. Letters must be accompanied by a name and a valid email address. The contributor's name may be withheld on request and the email address will not be made public.

The website administrators reserve the right to edit any contributions before publication.

Summer Fruits Pavlova

Ingredients

4 medium egg whites.
225g (8oz) caster sugar.
1tsp (1x5ml sp cornflour.
1 tsp (1x5ml sp) white wine vinegar.
1tsp (1x5ml sp) vanilla essence.
400ml (¾ pint) double cream
100 (4oz) raspberries
100 (4oz) blackberries.
100 (4oz) strawberries.

Method

It is a good idea to make the meringue base of the pavolva the night before.

1. Pre-heat oven at 180C/350F Gas Mark 4
Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until they form stiff peaks then gradually add in the sugar until the mixture becomes glossy.
2. Fold in the cornflour , vinegar, and vanilla essence with a metal spoon and whisk it again for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Spoon the mixture onto the greaseproof paper in blobs around the edge and fill the middle shallowly, ensuring that there is a large space in the middle for the fruit
4 Now turn the oven temperature down to 120C/250F Mark ½ and cook for 1hour 30minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the pavlova to cool gradually in the oven, waiting until it is completely cold.
5. When taking the pavlova out of the oven carefully peel off the greaseproof paper and place on a serving dish.
6. Whip the cream until slightly stiff. Fold in the berries, leaving a few for garnish.
Spoon the mixture onto the pavlova, placing some left over berries on top of the cream, then serve.

It was sunshine all the way (well, almost) for the Whiting Bay festivities that have just ended. From the opening Saturday that saw crowds pouring onto the green at Sandbraes to enjoy an afternoon of dog shows, hawks, haggis hurling, market stalls and burger eating, things went on up and up.

On Wednesday the smooth sand behind the shops that back onto the beach was a mass of creativity as people dug, shaped and smoothed their entries for the Beach Sculpture competition. As our photos show, there was a fantastic variety of subject matter, from a pirate ship to a very realistic VW Beetle, and from an otter curled up with its baby to a quite remarkable sand picture of a dove in full flight. Professional sculptor Tim Pomeroy judged the competition and awarded a lot of Highly Commendeds because the standard was so high, but the dove was eventually the winner.

Competition got even hotter – and wetter – on the second Saturday, when the teams mustered, keen as mustard, for the famous Whiting Bay raft race. Raft technology seems to have taken somebig stepsforward since the races of yesteryear when the ropes tying spars and oil drums together tended to come apart and leave a lot of people either raft-wrecked, swimming for shore or scooped up by the Rescue boat. This year saw an arrayof seriously competent-looking rafts, one of them boasting a brown lug-sail and several sporting the skull and crossbones. A racing start saw amotley crew of crews(some more motley than others) legging it down the beach for a racing start.They leapt onto, or in one case into, their rafts and pushed off for what looked a very long way outto the buoy that hadto be circumnavigated. Those using paddles rather than garden spades appeared to be at some advantage, and the dead smooth Pipe Dream, with its fore-and-aft construction of oil drums cunningly cut into individual cockpits, looked to be a hot favourite from the start. There was something about the rhythmic paddle stroke that was just a touch awe-inspiring, though the SSJM team just behind them always looked threatening. (And nobody would want to be threatened by Stevie, Sandy, Jamie and Mark, either on water or off it.) As they rounded the buoy it was still anybody’s race but on the home straight the winners pulled ahead, and it was the Pipe Dream crew who eventually cracked open the champagne and were later seen with their raft in an MBS trailer, heading for the Eden Lodge. One crew ran aground on the submerged jetty and the game little Edinburgh Hawk family staggered ashore looking as if they had been saved by their inflatable crocodile, but everybody made it back to the finish, and there was an invigorating sense of triumph all round.

We have just submitted an entry in Saga's 'Being 50' video competition, promoting Arran as a fulfilling place for more mature people to enjoy life. If we win, the prize money will be shared with those participating in our video, for the benefit of the island.

Will you please take a moment to visit the link below, click on the 'Vote' button and watch our video: 'Being 50+ the Arran Way' (it's only 2 minutes short). To vote for us, please click on the green thumbs up symbol while our entry is selected.

http://www.youtube.com/being50

You can help us much more by forwarding this to your friends, asking them to do the same.

Many thanks!

Chris & Jan