YOUR VIEWS: It’s time to look at Bank for You and I in strath
I have to commend Drew Hendry MP, for his efforts in highlighting the need for services within our local rural communities.
In his latest article he said ‘when these services are withdrawn, it’s more than an inconvenience; it’s a disruption that risks leaving the rural communities high and dry’.
I would go a step forward and say that it is the death knell for communities.
Just look around the Highlands. The unprecedented withdrawal in the past few years and closures of our Post Offices, banks and local shops on top of poor transport services has meant that many communities in the region are dying.
There seems to be a drive towards full digitalisation but I wonder who is doing the driving? The Highlands has some of the poorest digital coverage in the UK, yet the drive is still on…
Is it time to take control of the car?
I was in Tasmania in January, earlier this year, when I went into a local bank to change some money. There came the usual response of “Do you have an account?”. Not much guessing what happened next.
Walking along the street I came across what I thought was a shop, brightly lit and well set out with ‘staff’ milling about. To my surprise this was a “bank”. I walked in and asked for change; change was given without a thought.
I asked about the ‘bank”’and was told that it was a local initiative, supported by the community and local authority – “The Bank of us”.
Yes, that’s what it was called – so check it out on the web – if you can get a signal!
Instead of what Mr Hendry has highlighted, ‘It is a crisis’, it could be a call for change:
I only hope that the Scottish Government, who set up an Investment Bank to help industry and the local authorities, is listening.
Rural communities need to be saved now!
Mark Duncan
Aviemore.
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‘An unappealing rodent or caper?’
ALTHOUGH not a true countryman, I do have priorities amongst wildlife, in particular, avian.
Apart from one (or two) human birds, I do, for preference, appreciate the magnificent though sometimes comical capercaillie.
Caper numbers are now threatened almost to extinction, it seems mainly by pine marten predation, and conservation attempts have largely failed.
Many people find the pine marten pleasing but to me it is like a rather unappealing rodent. The bird and the beast are both protected by law.
If push was to come to shove which of these critters would Strathy readers prefer to be put down a puckle and which encouraged to prosper and proliferate ?
Charles Wardrop
Viewlands Rd West
Perth.
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A friends group to maintain tidy town cemetery
Iris McIntosh highlights her concern over the state of Grantown New Cemetery (Letters, July 13) in a sharp reminder to us all that the situation is totally unacceptable.
All cemeteries, large or small, require a lot of care and attention.
We all visit them to pay our respects to our departed loved ones, and it is up to all councils to maintain a high standard of ground maintenance.
We have no direct responsibility for the upkeep of this burial ground even though we own individual plots, so maybe the time has come to make our presence felt, with a Friends of Grantown New and Old Cemeteries.
Fellow resident Janet Flannery and I highlighted the need for a proper entrance which would enhance the driveway down to the graves but still no moves have been made to implement this much-needed project.
I know how difficult it is to to convince those who represent us to take responsibility on our behalf and investigate our concerns, but sometimes it falls on deaf ears or is despatched to the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet, never again to be seen.
Ms McIntosh deserves an explanation from Highland Council as to why Grantown New Cemetery did not warrant a high standard of ground maintenance and what plans are in hand to rectify the situation.
As a passionate Grantonian I can assure her that the good folk of the Strathspey capital will do their utmost to bring pressure on the right people to ensure that the cemetery receives the share of tender loving care that it so rightly deserves.
Leonard Grassick
Coppice Court
Grantown.
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Come glide with us
The Cairngorm Gliding Club was founded in 1966 by10 enthusiasts including our President Bill Longstaff, and is therefore 57 years old.
Unfortunately we have come to accept that it is slowly dying, mainly due to lack of interest among local people.
The club operates from Blackmill Airstrip near Feshiebridge on land leased from Alvie estate. We are affiliated to the British Gliding Association, which means that all aspects of the club including training, safety, maintenance and record-keeping take place according to fixed standards.
The club is run entirely by volunteer effort. We are not a business and we have no paid staff. The aircraft are maintained, cleaned and inspected by volunteers. The instructors and the tow plane pilots are volunteers. Grass cutting, firewood stacking, kitchen duties, log-keeping, airfield management, administration and a host of other essential tasks are all carried out by volunteers.
Despite this, nearly all the random enquiries received by the club assume incorrectly that we are a business operating seven days a week, and on some weekend days we already get more visitors than we can handle.
Advertising the club more widely e.g. with printed leaflets would only make matters worse. True, we make a little money from the thrill-seekers, but that does nothing to safeguard the future of the club.
The average age of our membership is in the middle to late 50s and still increasing.
We really need more local members who want to learn how to fly and who will help to keep the club running.
Awareness of the club and its facilities seems very limited within the local community, yet the opportunities are there and the costs are low. This applies particularly to junior members who can usefully begin serious training at the age of 13.
Did you know the minimum legal age for flying solo in a glider is 14? There is no upper or lower age limit for beginners, and if you can drive a car then you can almost certainly learn to fly. We can teach you. We have under-utilised aircraft and well-trained instructors waiting, but where are you?
For more information, stories, pictures and videos see our web site www.gliding.org or contact the club secretary, below.
Phil Hawkins
Main Street
Newtonmore.
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Say ‘Yes’ for Winnie
Following the wonderful memorial service celebrating the life of Winnie Ewing, a lasting and honourable testament to the legacy of Madame Ecosse, Scotland should have the courage and confidence to fulfil its true potential. For those hesitant Scots please remember the once poor and backward country of Ireland.
With independence it developed into a socially democratic and progressive European country. Today, with nothing like the resources of Scotland, the Republic of Ireland has a high-tech economy and the Dublin government commands diplomatic respect when negotiating with the UK, the EU and the world.
This could be the Scotland of tomorrow. However in the UK, directly because of Brexit, we have the highest inflation rate in Europe which devalues the pound, resulting in a staggering cost of living crisis including strikes and mortgage increases, all down to this disastrous dysfunctional Tory UK government.
With the utter disaster of Brexit a united YES independence campaign will lay out the obvious and clear economic argument that Scotland will be better off and more prosperous outside the UK and inside Europe.
Grant Frazer
Cruachan
Newtonmore.