Fochabers waited through the swinging sixties and the cold war but they got a by-pass

A link to a Scotsman page has been sent in by a regular reader of the Gurn. How long will Nairn have to wait? We do get a mention in the article however.

Local Press review

‘When are the buses coming?’ is the demand that headlines the front page of the Nairnshire this week. John Mackie of the Suburban council is getting his teeth into timetable troubles again and wondering how folk wanting to get to see their GPs in the afternoon will fare when the Lodgehill clinic moves to the new hospital. There is plenty of information this week to get you up to speed with local bus issues. Here at the Gurn we feel that if people are ever to be weened out of their cars in the Nairn and Inverness area then the price of public transport will have to come down and come down a lot.

The West Community Council are now backing Murd Dunbar in his efforts to improve things at the Firhall Bridge, he just needs the Suburban on side now and he’ll have a full set of town community councils under his belt. Next to the article about the bridge project is an advert alerting us to the forthcoming Suburban Community Council elections, just as with the River Com C if more than five people put their names forward there will be an election.

Page 3 contains fears Nairn Rersidents’ Concern Group have over the Highland Council’s forthcoming involvement in the Sandown Public Inquiry, i.e. whether they are really up for it. Sandy Park dismisses this fear and thinks someone is being a bit ‘naughty’ here, you’ll have to get the paper to find out more.

Further down the page West Councillor Graham Vine is quoted as saying the he doesn’t support any attempt to reopen the Bailey Bridge to vehicular traffic. A sentiment that won’t go down well with River’s Jean Tolmie. The Gurnmeister has to admit that he prefers the Bailey Bridge the way it is now without cars to worry about. It just adds to the entire holiday atmosphere in that area, let’s leave it that way now!

On to page 5 and more from the West mob, this time details for their submission to the forthcoming public inquiry.

A very good letter this week from former Tory councillor and Provost of Nairn Nigel Graham. The Gurnmeister has had his run-ins with Nigel in the past but would recommend that the Nairnshire Liberation Movement co-opt him as a potential spiritual leader on account of his excellent letter this week.

Plenty of other stuff including details of curling and soccer achievements. Soccer is something we haven’t seen in Nairn for 8 or is it 9 or 10 weeks now? Football withdrawals have long since come and gone. Maybe sometime this month? Well done Kyle Whyte for his appearance in the Scotland U-17 squad and for scoring a goal too!

The Nairnshire, the ultimate 40p treat on a freezing Tuesday morning!

Status Quo - a 29 year gap since the last Nairn gig

The revamped Ballerina Ballroom site (remember the blog for the Rock Exhib that was meant to go ahead alongside the Cinema of Dreams) gives the last gig as August the 7th 1970. I went over to that blog for a look after the following comment came in on the other Quo post.

'Flower Power said...

Elton John, Rod Stewart, Status Quo all wrinkly rockers what next
in the highlands LADY SAGA.
*****
Saw The Quo twice in The Ballerina
& also would you believe in The
Town Hall, Cullen when i had hair.'

Just wondering where the bands used to stay after the gigs. B&Bs in Nairn? Did the Quo stay somewhere in Nairn?

Gurn Potholes 2010

We've started Gurning to Fergus Ewing MSP about the state of the potholes on the town bridge. The Gurn will continue to do so from time to time when we come across other dangerous potholes on the roads in Nairnshire. You can find Gurn Potholes here on Flickr.

These holes on the bridge started forming before the recent cold spell and they should now be a priority as they are growing dramatically every day. Drivers are swerving to avoid them thus presenting another danger to pedestrians that use these paths everyday, many of those pedestrians being children. There's no shortage of potholes in the country now but surely the like of these on a trunk road in a town centre should be a priority?

Miracle of reincarnation in Harbour Street

It may be a wee shoppie but it has a reputation as a 'super' store for many Nairnites. Good luck to the next reincarnation as Fishertown Stores. Picture will enlarge.

Highland Council pays £22,000 per day on consultants

We keep hearing there's no money but the Press and Journal has come up with some alarming statistics:

'Highland Council is spending almost £22,000 a day on consultants – £5,000 more than the average annual salary of workers in the region.
It spent £9.5million hiring outside experts over a 20-month period between April 2008 and November 2009 – the equivalent of £21,883 every working day.'

Five days worth of consultants would fix the Links School roof then? You'll get the full story on the Press and Jounal site.

A free Tilda film

Tilda goes barefoot in a film made by Ryan McGinley for Pringle of Scotland. 

Rocking all over the Carse! - The Quo for McDermott's yard!

Seems the stuff of dreams but Status Quo will be playing this year at the former McDermott's Ardersier site known these days as Whitness Head.

'A charity concert to be headlined by veteran rockers Status Quo is to be held in a former oil platform construction yard near Ardersier.
Rock 4 Life's organisers, Caledonian Productions, had planned to stage the event at Bogbain Farm off the A9 near Inverness. '

'The former McDermott construction yard at Whiteness on the Moray Firth is earmarked for a housing development. The developers have donated the site for Rock 4 Life on 1 and 2 May. '

More on the BBC site, thanks to Nairni49 for forwarding the good news to the Gurn. Man those Dolphins sure rock! Anybody looking for accomodation for this event and has just landed on this post then try www.visitnairn.com for a wide range of delightful places to stay. If you want to see a few pictures of our area and Nairn the nearest town to this Status Quo event (a town with two delightful beaches) then try a few of the picture sets on this page. Nairn is a really friendly town, we look forward to seeing the Quo fans!

Can Gurnites think of any appropriate Quo lyrics that could be adapted to commemorate the occasion?

Now you can recycle batteries in Nairn

Now at last you don't have to wait until you go to a neighbouring town to recycle batteries. The co-op will accept them from you. Today Britain comes into line with the rest of Europe and retailers have to have collection points. Just hand your used batteries in at the co-op counter.

Nairn swans needing a bit of space

The swans are encouraging their young to leave now. Here's a video from yesterday and further images here.

And some images of yesterday's hight tide on the Gurn flickr pages.