Monday, August 21, 2017

Turriff 1 Nairn 2 - Pictures from County Chairman and spiritual leader Donald Matheson

Another impressive performance from the Wee County away at Turriff on Saturday. Individual images here. 



Some impressive football from Ronnie and his players this season so far and two home games coming up this Saturday 26th  and the week after too on Weds 30th - please get along if you can.


August 26, 2017 - Highland League

Nairn CountyvsLossiemouth
Kick-Off: 1500
Match Sponsor: Alec Johnston/Boys on the Hill
Ball Sponsor: Nairn Insurance Services/Jessica Cowie - mcinnes/The Havelock/Nairn Laundry

August 30, 2017 - Highland League

Nairn CountyvsWick Academy
Kick-Off: 2000


Duck, Swan and Pigeon news - good and bad stuff going down on the lower river

More here on the swan mannie's blog. 

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Young at Heart BBQ Whinnieknowe

This observer had the pleasure of being invited to the Young at Heart BBQ at Whinnieknowe earlier today. Burgers, cakes and a sing song as the weather stayed kind for an afternoon's activities. Individual images here.

 


Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Objections to high density housing scheme on Jac's former home stacking up

If you have a moment pop along to have a look at the Highland Council e-planning pages for the application for 31 affordable homes on the former Morganti plot just on the left there the other side of the railway bridge on the Forres Road.  Click on the Comments tab and then Public Comments on this e-planning page here to see the objections. 

Wonder what the result will be fellow Gurnites - 31 homes on a wee high density site with the destruction of all the trees or something a lot more sensible with the retention of the trees? Why should folk have to live on high density schemes just because they are tenants in social housing? 

Will the future layout of Nairn be decided on profit alone or will the community have a voice? 

Will Community Empowerment become real and tangible in Nairn or will it become  another centralised service scooped up by the Glenurquhart Road high heid yins and delivered by Death by Powerpoint presentations? People in Nairn need power and influence when it comes to planning for that to happen and for the democratic deficit in Nairn to start to be rectified. The track record is not good, good luck to Tom Heggie and those of his colleagues willing to fight on the town's behalf - we await with interest how this application goes. 

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Please have a read of the information on this fund raiser page.

First pink salmon has been caught on the Nairn

Charlie Black tells the Gurn that the first pink salmon has been caught on the River Nairn (see image below).

He went on to tell us: "if any angler catches one it must be killed , as they are already in the Spey, Findhorn and Ness. Also to report it to the NAA at Pat Frasers, or the Water Bailiff.

These fish are another invasive species and may interfere with our precious Atlantic Salmon that are in the river Nairn. The Fish was caught at Spindrift and others have been spotted there. 

There is currently a project to try and get them out of the river as they are now spawning."

More details about pink salmon in this Daily Telegraph article here.


Saturday, August 12, 2017

Aye "density" - a planning application that just packs them in a bit too much?

Readers here may have seen the article in the Leopold Street Thunderer this week on page 5 which has an Architect's impression of the type of houses that are proposed by Deveron Homes and Albyn Housing for the plot on the vacant ground just past the railway bridge on the Forres road - the former site of the Bungalow that Jacopo Morganti and his family used to live in. 

Get yourself a copy of the Nairnshire to see the drawings or go online and have a browse here on the Highland Council e-planning site. It will be remembered by many perhaps that Deveron Homes received a lot of grief over housing density with their plans for the Sandown Lands. A quick Google search will bring you up to speed with everything that happened there. There was a public inquiry and a lot of suits trooped in for the duration.  It all ended badly.

So here is what the Nairnshire Telegraph had to say in it's editorial this week:

"The old Morganti land's access directly onto  the A96, on  a bend, in between two major junctions, may have been adequate for the traffic from a bungalow. A development of 31 homes is something else. Does the developer remember his Sandown experience?" 

The Gurn would simply like to add that just because social housing is proposed why should it at such a density? Below is a drawing from a previous application that shows five bungalows. That application was successful but nothing ever happened. OK then how about a dozen "social houses" instead of 31 with a bit more room for the bairns and the mature trees and as many as possible of the ones that have grown up in recent years on the site retained. 

Just because these are not private houses it doesn't mean there shouldn't be a decent amount of space for everyone. Let's have space for folk in Nairn be it private or public. If you think 31 houses is a bit too much for this plot then please go along and make a comment on the e-planning site here - alternatively if you think the plans from Deveron and Albyn are cool then go online and support them if you wish but we hope most folk would think a reduction in density appropriate. 



Friday, August 11, 2017

County play Caley Tuesday night at Station Park and entry to the game is free.

Also  - don't forget tomorrow afternoons massive game against Clach though - come and see Ronnie's Revolution in action as the young heroes once again take to the scared Station Park turf. You'll have to pay for that one but children under 14 are allowed free entry if accompanied by an adult.