Teams on mid-air crash alert
?From 'The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald' of Thursday, October 9, 1986.
RESCUE teams from throughout Scotland converged on Grantown at the weekend for a major training exercise based on a mid-air collision.
The incident left two people dead and 10 seriously injured after a Phantom jet collided with a light aircraft then crashed into a remote cottage.
The pilot and navigator of the light aircraft had died, while four passengers were seriously injured. Also injured were the four occupants of the cottage and the pilot and navigator of the jet, who were forced to eject.
The exercise was the biggest of its kind mounted in Scotland for a number of years, and brought 35 civilian and 40 military rescuers to the scene on Dava Moor.
Civilian teams from Tayside and the Tweed Valley, together with police teams from Strathclyde and Tayside, were sent to trace the crew. They were assisted by a Wessex rescue helicopter from RAF Leuchars and a Sea King from RAF Lossiemouth.
Afterwards, organisers praised the rescue squads in the exercise, designed to test the reaction and capability of the volunteers.
Bus link restored by public demand
GRANTOWN is to get back its bus link with Inverness – but it will be on Saturdays only.
The new Highland Omnibuses operation serving Strathspey will begin on Saturday, and is as a result of public demand.
A bus company spokesman said: "There has been a big demand for an Inverness service, and we hope this will go some way towards filling the gap."
Grantown at present has no direct service to the Highland capital, with passengers having to travel to Aviemore to connect with north-bound Citylink services.
But because of lack of use, Grantown is to lose one of its evening connections with Aviemore.
The 18.45 Aviemore-Grantown service is being taken off so that the last service from the tourist village will be 17.40. This will await passengers from the 5pm Citylink bus from Inverness.
£25,000 averts threat to woods
THE THREAT of clear-felling has been lifted from Carrbridge’s Ellan Wood for the foreseeable future.
The 30 acres of amenity woodland which cosset the village have been bought for safekeeping for around £25,000 by Highland Regional Council.
The former Seafield Estate woodland had been grant-aided and managed for years as a commercial timber crop, and was fast reaching its harvest time.
Local people were concerned that the wood might be clear-felled, and regional planners shared their view of its importance to the town.
"The wood provides the backdrop to Carrbridge, continuing the Scots Pine woodland from Landmark to the local station," said a regional council spokesman.
"It also contains a burial ground and curling pond, and is ringed with walks and pathways. We believe it is a very important piece of amenity woodland."
The possibility of a management agreement with the estate had been considered, but the council felt an annual payment for all time would be too great a burden, and opted instead for outright purchase.
The principal cost to the council was for the value of timber rather than the land itself.
Mapping out the future on route for prosperity
‘GRANTOWN 2000’ could be one of the most attractive tourist towns in the valley.
The Highlands and Islands Development Board, Manpower Services Commission and regional libraries and leisure services are all prepared to help Grantown find its way back to prosperity.
So too are the people of Grantown, who packed the primary school hall last week to answer the question ‘Where now?’ for their town.
Improved sporting facilities were high on the list of priorities needed to bring the town into line with the demands of the modern tourist.
"Grantown no longer meets the needs of the tourists of all ages. What so many people are looking for now is a place with indoor and outdoor sporting facilities," said Mr Gordon McCulloch.
Grantown’s Speyside House could also become a heritage centre of national importance.
"Grantown’s strength is itself. Of all the planned towns and villages in Scotland, there is none to equal Grantown for its surviving layout, early buildings and the extent of its documentation," said local historian Mr George Dixon.
Protection of local woodlands and walks was considered vital to local amenity, and the meeting was reminded of the growth in cross-country skiing for which an area like Grantown was ideally situated.
Most of these ideas form part of Grantown Society chairman Mr Bill Saddler’s all-encompassing "vision of the future" for Grantown.
"These things are not impossible to achieve, but we need a long-term plan making use of our existing strengths and facilities," said Mr Saddler.
Finding a job – by video
THE Manpower Services Commission, which does not have funding to set up a JobCentre in the Spey Valley, is to spend £6,000 on a video service for dole queue folk.
The ‘Videotex’ information service will be installed at Aviemore Library in June next year – four months later than planned. It will be one of four video centres to be established in the Highlands at a total cost of £24,000. The others will be at Golspie, Alness and Mallaig.
Badenoch and Strathspey district councillors have been campaigning for more than two years for a manned JobCentre in the area, where more than 550 people are unemployed.
But the Manpower Services Commission says its funding does not extend to the provision of district offices.
Television screens linked to a terminal at the Inverness office will display job information 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
There will not be any personal contact at any of the units, all communications being made through a computer link to Inverness.
In a report being made to the district councillors this week, Councillor Joe Wainford said: "The views of the council about the lack of personal contact were put to the Commission, but it seems to me that it has been decided that the computer system is all that will be made available.
"A face-to-face method has been ruled out because of budget restrictions."
