From booze house to coffee house

An application has been received by Highland Council for the former Haddow's offlince building. Before long we could all be enjoying a coffee in the Whyte House.

Nairn Standard Fixed Winter Time returns

NSFWT is back Gurnites. This year someone has decided that 10.17 a.m./p.m will be the time all day in Nairn. What's the time? Yes it's...

The Ward Forum - Archie Tect's view

We will bring you more soon we promise - insights into how Sandy and Laurie see the process but in the meantime here's some comment from Archie Tect who was obviously an eye-witness to the proceedings:

"Well, the Ward Forum at least revealed what Council officials think consultation on the HwLDP consists of...and it certainly isn't a two-way dialogue!

First, a Powerpoint presentation telling the audience that the planners have taken on board all the comments made by the public on the Main Issues Report. Yeah right! Odd, then, how little the latest draft plan differs from the earlier version.

Then, short questions from the audience on familiar and predictable points of detail, which led to long explanatory responses.

First up: how many houses, and why don't the figures add up? Answer: the figures are indicative, estimates, aspirational... (Does that sound familiar?)

Next: why build on prime agricultural land at Broadley/Balblair? Answer: because the plan says so!

Best of all - what about increased Cawdor Road traffic under the railway bridge? The brilliant solution proposed ..... make it narrower, as that will slow the traffic down and protect pedestrians (Yeah, right!). As a member of the public pointed out, if you create worse bottlenecks, you create more back-road rat-runs.

All good entertaining stuff. The meeting was even told that yes, the Council had a vision and a plan for the regeneration of the whole of Nairn town centre. What was it? Answer: well, we plan housing on the King Street site, and we have the Streetscape. And, um, that's it, folks.

After this, the lack of further audience questions was perhaps unsurprising. But when a member of the public sought to offer comments on the Plan, this threw the top table into a tizzy. Comments on the plan were certainly not welcome at a public consultation meeting! Any comments would have to be submitted in writing (it's so much easier then, y'see, to file them away in the WPB without other people noticing). If comments were allowed, then we might (shock, horror!) have a discussion, or even a debate.

And who knows where that might lead? "

Wouldn't be a Ward Forum without torture by Powerpoint would it? A member of HC staff reading out what we are all capable of reading for ourselves, c'est la vie.

Software difficulties at Gurn HQ

We've been trying to bring you some of last night's Ward Forum meeting with the aid of a software program but to date are experiencing some difficulties. However it occurred to us that what we have so far would be more entertaining than the real thing. Here's an extract from the discussion about road safety issues on the Cawdor Road near the railway bridge.

[Speaker 0] they were of the very notion of those who lost limbs are leading an armed man who or what happens to you you know in my entire house to live in peace and we discussed

[Speaker 1] remove Irvine on um not used me more

[Speaker 2] and more bizarre than usual and who should also implement his U you

[Speaker 0] know there are low um um as though he was wounded and

[Speaker 3] I now look forward and what women want and that is expected to

[Speaker 0] overtake the disease very earnest and he did for one admire if I am not at all some of them now the inquiry no no is that he was ambivalent views forward area loses underneath the bridge and what will happen is if there are a lot of wind and the other two are opportunities in places which I will have to stop look now at this time involving the season on the floor so if you know one way my grandfather my house in years there has got similarities in these instances it is an urgent and is popular on the up and view things through in Lahore the

[Speaker 4] judge's fault I know her you know there s this sort of edge and almost imagine themselves

[Speaker 0] as usual we will know who the floor his arm and you Martin Heuvel who now earns another chance for all who love her out er no in her heart about an hour I mean they're you know Steve you know you know he's not been unusual amount of money you know there's time and it means to do with it so yes the move may prove why there is no no no no this is all part of this season they're choosing the Pentagon you all know that initially what had happened no we didn't know where your soul urban Meyer on that and Thaksin wants to go forward the independence of diseases they're not they're interested in moving for me and he's going to see what we're doing that

[Speaker 6] but it is only the CEO or a fruit fly genome that was not that's not where Jesus for movies unless they're an individual always I know what the link below freezing certainly not where it is important your friends in Europe and you know she wants we shall not miss from there there's not much coming to us all well

[Speaker 7] you know how I got down well with their rural area

[Speaker 8] most were always in the year of US recovery of flotations this year but the interest in next Wednesday's meetings

'A different clientele'

At last night's Ward Forum on the Development Plan (more on that soon Gurnites, particularly a few comments on the numbers game that seems to revolve around the projected numbers of houses) a member of the public was concerned about the clash next week between Scotia's Masterplan Modelling workshop summing up meeting and the Ward Forum (Weds 6th) on the Town Centre Plan B proposals.

Louise Clark's response on the behalf of the Ward Forum was interesting:

"I’m afraid that Scotia didn’t have the foresight to me and I actually knew nothing about it until Cllr Graham (Marsden) mentioned it quite by chance and then I did speak to planning but by that time we had the adverts out and we had the papers ready and I did speak to Scotia as well to say well look there is a clash and they decided, well they said very oddly, 'We have different clientele', which I think was the wrong thing to say. However, they were advised by me that there was a clash but from our point of view they just didn’t speak to us in time, simple as that."

A different clientele? What could they possible mean by that? Scotia's numbers could well be sharply down as many will opt to go to the very important meeting concerning the town centre (including we expect, many of the usual suspects).

Pittodrie's Silent Assassin: Davy Johnston - Aberdeen, Nairn and Caley Sharpshooter

Donald Wilson's book on the soccer career of Nairn County legend Davy Johnston.

Update from Donald: A local launch of the book is being planned ( details to follow ) when it is hoped fans and former players who knew Davy will attend. As well as having spells at Hearts, Aberdeen, Nairn and Caley, Davy was also a very successfull manager of Nairn St Ninian for over two seasons.

Serious concerns at Suburban CC over the Development Plan

We had a piece in from a regular Gurnite expressing concerns over the HWLDP timetable and this was confirmed last night as Dick Youngson held up his copy of the weighty tome that he had only received yesterday morning. The ward forum to discuss the plan is being held in the Courthouse this evening. Doesn’t give you much time to browse the facts and figures does it?
A voice of concern was raised from the public benches that the entire plan still seems to be based on the delusion/illusion of pre credit-crunch projected levels of economic growth and inward migration to the Moray Firth area. Concerns were expressed that all this growth in this area is developer led and to the detriment of the rest of the Highlands. The Suburban CC will be attending the ward Forum this evening (Weds) but will be doing their homework before submitting their thoughts to this stage of the consultation.

Dr Alistair Noble outlined how he would like to see a split on the council between the people that deal with the developers and those that deal with the planning. He went on to say:
"I like the position that this community council has consistently held that there should be no development without infrastructure and the question should now be, is there any money for the infrastructure. If there’s no money for infrastructure then there’s no development."

Alistair is quite right in this observer’s view, how can we realistically allow any serious large-scale development in the ‘Nairn South’ area without a by-pass or adequate sewerage provision? Dr Noble thought that the land-banking by developers was a gamble against the future. He went on:

"We have to plan on some realistic basis that actually makes sense, if planning means anything. If it’s just a developer’s charter then it means absolutely nothing and it would be absolutely crazy, there must be up to 20 maybe 30,000 houses that could be potentially built between Nairn and Inverness which is doubling the size of Inverness. Now I don’t think that is a runner even at the most extreme immigration scenario. It’s certainly not realistic on the former projections of the Scottish population and its ever ageing population. So we would end up with a wee bit in this field and a wee bit in that field and a wee bit in this field and just a mess. Surely if nothing else that is something that planning is meant to be there to make sure doesn’t happen."

We suspect that many others in Nairn and beyond will be experiencing similar worries over the scale of development proposed in this plan and will be wishing to take to task its fundamental assumptions.
The Highland Wide Development Plan – keep your eye on the ball Gurnites.

More recycling facilities needed in Nairn town centre

Recently this observer visited two small towns in the North of England (Settle and Appelby). It was astonishing to compare the poverty of our town centre recycling facilities with those available in those two small communities

From July next year the weekly collection will cease and we will have a fortnightly lift of our green bins. A report in the Courier has attracted a swarm of hostile comments. It may be easier for Nairnites if we could take a few more items down to a town centre recyling centre (eg plastic and cartons) instead of burning carbon and destroying the environment by driving out to the centre on the Grantown Road. If we could do as they are well trained to do in Settle and Appleby and deposit our recycling on normal trips to the town centre then, along with the use of brown vegetable/garden waste bins then perhaps we might only need a once a month service. We believe that Highland Council are trying to get away with providing an inferior service without offering sensible alternatives to the population. Settle town centre car park and the opportunity to recycle plastic

Plant a bulb and help a child - Focus on Crocus in Nairn

News from Nairn's contribution to the Focus on Crocus initiative:

Members of the Rotary Club of Nairn and the gardening enthusiasts of “Keeping Nairnshire Colourful” will be getting together in Nairn on Saturday 2nd October to participate in the World's Largest Bulb Planting, in the hope of making it into the Guinness Book of Records. They have 10,000 purple crocuses to plant in Nairn. Voluntary organisations and groups, and residents of Nairn, are invited to come and spend some time on Saturday morning helping to plant the bulbs.
This bulb-planting event is part of a nationwide initiative involving Rotary Clubs, the Eden Project, and many other organisations, who will be planting hundreds of thousands of crocuses across the UK during October.

The aim is to add some colour to Nairn’s springtime flower displays, and to draw attention to Rotary's "Thanks for Life" campaign, a worldwide initiative in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to eradicate the scourge of polio from the world.
The colour purple has been chosen because when the Rotary and World Health Organisation teams carry out vaccinations, the little finger of each child is dipped in a purple dye so that people can tell who has been immunised and who has not.

A dose of vaccine for a child costs 20p. The planting teams in Nairn will be inviting donations of 50p or £1 for each bag of bulbs. Next spring, the roadsides and flowerbeds of Nairn should be ablaze with colour - and the beautiful purple crocuses will be a reminder that as well as making Nairn colourful, we are helping to rid the world of one of its most crippling diseases.

Everyone interested in participating is invited to assemble at the Nairn cemetery gates at 10 am on Saturday 2nd October. The planting will be alongside the Grantown Road, and also by the flowerbeds along the A96 opposite Duncan Drive. There will also be an opportunity during October to contribute to crocus bulb-planting at the Nairn Community Centre.
Bring your wellies, come and help plant some bulbs, make Nairn look good and be part of a world record!

No more direct trains from London north of Edinburgh on the East Coast

We've seen how the Inverness Courier has raised alarm over the possible loss of the Clansman service to and from London now a Tayside paper is warning that there may be no direct trains from London to any destinations north of Edinburgh on the east coast line:

'A joint campaign by local authorities and other organisations to keep the direct link has been recommended by Dundee's top planning official.
City development director Mike Galloway, in a report due to be submitted to councillors this evening, said there are three direct daytime trains in each direction between Dundee and London Kings Cross.' More on the other Courier site.

Highland-wide Local Development Plan - Nairn's chance to comment?

We have to confess that the Development Plan has been somewhat to the back of our minds at the Gurn as other subjects have pushed themselves to the fore. The Community certainly has quite a lot on its collective plate at the moment with the Town Centre Plan B and other issues but it is time once again to pay attention to the HwLDP if we are to influence how our community and the region is to grow in the future. The Development Plan will be discussed at the Ward Forum at the Courthouse on Wednesday night (29th) at 7.00 p.m. If you are interested in how Nairn grows in the future why not get along and find out more.

We have a piece in from a regular Gurnite who is more than a little suspicious about Highland Council but then again it was Graham Marsden himself who once said: 'It is very easy to be paranoid about Highland Council.' Here we are often inclined to believe in cock-up rather than conspiracy theories but we freely admit there are many in Gurnshire who are far less charitable when it comes to our local authority. Here's a the contribution we received:

'As if we haven't got enough on our plates with Town Centre, Scotia, and Lodgehill, to name but a few....

Have just spotted that Highland Council has announced the launch of the 10 weeks of public consultation on the substantive draft of the Highland-wide Local Development Plan (what we commented on earlier was the "Main Issues" document which was just a curtain-raiser - this is the real and detailed nitty-gritty).

More consultation - jolly good! The 10 weeks will start from this Friday, 24 Sept, when the document is supposedly available from the Service Point, and as before there will be a string of public forum meetings right around the Highlands until 29 November.

But guess what... the HC is being rather cunning.

They are going to have the Nairn public forum discussion as the very first session, on Wed 29 Sept - a mere three working days after the draft plan becomes available. Which of course means (a) they are giving the absolute minimum of time to interested Nairnites to consider and study the document; and (b) they are putting this to us at almost the same time as we are busy thinking about and looking at the Nairn Town Centre plan.

Very clever, as they presumably think by loading the timetable like this the people of Nairn won't have time or capacity to mobilise comments in time for the forum on the 29th (ie next Wednesday).

And to add insult to injury, they are also intending to hold "surgeries" on the HwLDP, where individuals can make appointments to talk directly to an HC planner. Very thoughtful and generous, eh? Until you notice that the Nairn surgery is to be on 29 November - the very last day of the consultation timetable.

If I were inclined to believe in conspiracy theories, I would suggest that this was a deliberate ploy by Highland Council to make it as difficult as possible for Nairnites to make considered comments on the HwLDP and to have them taken properly into account. But no, surely the Highland Council are (as Shakespeare's Mark Antony said of Caesar's assassins) "all honourable men" and would not play such a trick...... or would they?

And if I were to make a point, it would be... if we had a single united Community Council, we would be better placed to handle this workload and deliver effective feedback on the plans. '

We would like to point out to our contributor that although the Nairn surgery is on the 29th of November the last day of the consulation is billed as the 3rd of December on the HwLDP blog. You can view the plan itself here.

Town Centre woes - 'Nairn’s future really does lie in it's past'

We are delighted to publish the following comment from 'Fast & Bulbous' received elsewhere on the Gurn as a post in its own entertaining right:

Town Centre Woes

What about the Regal becoming a nightclub (again!), the Garage becoming additional parking spaces, The old WRVS/Tourist information buildings becoming The Tourist Information Office (Again) with offices for Visit Nairn the Community Council etc and The old Community Centre becoming an Art Gallery/Centre, (Keeping the old hall and adding a nice contemporary build onto the side) it would then work well visually with the new Community Centre and Police station. While were at it let’s make the NCFC a small Cinema again too, word has it even the screen is still there along with the balcony and seats. Nairn’s future really does lie in it's past. Lets not kill the town centre with more flats of questionable quality like the ones at the Harbour, Royal Walk etc, they are the real Eyesores in the town. I happen to Love the Regal building and have many fond Memories of the Cinema, and even Diamonds or Marty’s Disco. It could be made good again without much work. The Bus station could be an indoor (all weather) skate park' no problems at the Riverside then. Oh and while I'm at it I really miss playing Snooker in the Ballerina too. All things that could be enjoyed by Nairnites of all ages all year round in all weather and are currently not available at the Caravan Park for our visitors either.

I guess I'll just have to keep doing the Euro-millions lottery. Common Good money, who’s Common Good? a developer turning a quick profit no doubt. I know I’m an idealist but get something right for a change it’s infuriating to watch our town turn into another commuter town. More houses means more people, what about the infrastructure and facilities that need to be provided to accompany this growth, will all of the facilities I’ve mentioned come along later in some soul-less retail park tagged onto the back of a supermarket development if so we’ll be getting into our cars to drive there and the A96 will be even more clogged up’ but then a by-pass will be surely be needed and who will gain from all the surrounding land of said by-pass suddenly becoming available for development ? Mr Flats and Houses again. See sense min.

As our own Yellow Brick Road up the High Street nears completion the little men pulling the leavers behind the big curtain in Inverness are becoming ever more exposed.

Scottish Cup - Rothes 2 Nairn 2

Pictures from NCFC official photogrpher Donald Matheson. A County fan who was at the game told the Gurn:

'Think it was a deserved draw by Rothes but the pitch was in a poor state and the winner especially when they played 7 or 8 aside across the pitch for about 3/4 of an hour before the match. We were coasting in the first half but a needless challenge (second half) by Donaldson on the attacker in the box after he made a good save gave them the penalty to get it back to 2-1. It wasn't a dirty game but lost count of bookings and Toshy getting second yellow and red for a soft foul.'

A full match report form Kenneth Wales is available on Highland League.net

Energy alternatives that might not spoil the view from Nairn beach so much

We've been into the Gurn archive to bring back a few old favourites that resonate with a recent report in the Nairnshire concerning objections from River CC to a proposed wind farm across the water.

Nimbi = Now I must become involved!

Loads of NIMBY crap in this week's Nairnshire?

Brian over at MyNairn feels there is and expresses his views via the tools of the digital democracy that allows us all to speak out these days - try his post Nairn in Uproar! and see if you agree.

Alan Barron's Fishertown guided tour - last chance this year next Wednesday (29th September)

Helen tells the Gurn
'There's only one more tour to go but Alan Barron does a great walk round the Fishertown every Wednesday during August and September starting at 2pm at the Little Theatre. Went on it last week and it is just soooo interesting. What Alan doesn't know you could put on a postage stamp. (Costs £3 money goes to the Museum) '

Flats or more flats for Nairn town centre - Highland Council Plan B options not going down well

"Aux armes citoyens!"

There will be a special Ward Forum meeting to discuss Highland Council’s Plan B options for the town centre on 6th October in the Courthouse at 7 p.m. Hat-tip to APT. We detect strong stirrings out there amongst our unreliable sources and some of the more reliable ones too. One wonders if the Courthouse will be big enough as word of the meeting and the mood of discontent spreads.
Iain Bain sums it up well and once again we unashamedly steal from one of his powerful editorials:

'The plans to build flats on the council owned sites are about as unimaginative as you can get and they offer nothing for the town centre. To ask people to choose between the the two near identical options is an insult to their intelligence...'

Well said Iain I’m sure many of those who dwell in Gurnshire will agree with that sentiment. We urge all who browse here to avail themselves of this week’s Nairnshire editorial. Mr Bain seems to have his finger on the pulse on this one.
Liz is on the march too, she is quoted in the Courier today:

‘It is important to take our time and get the right plan for Nairn.’ She also questioned how the development would be paid for, stressing Nairn Common Good Fund should not be part of the deal.

The Courier also spoke to Graham Marsden, he’s obviously sensed that an uprising is in the wind and realises that there is a strong lobby building against housing in this area:
“They would like to see it as a cleared area, with some car parking, but trees, making it into something worthwhile for the town centre,” he said.

That’s it then folks, if we want Nairn to decide what is good for the town centre and not Highland Council, we have to get along to that ward forum meeting on the 6th and let our feelings be known. The previous plans devised by Highland Council came to nothing after nearly 15 years of pain for no gain, now it is time for the people to speak - let's not let HC take control of proceedings any longer - we deserve a better town centre than the present Plan B proposes!

If you can’t make to the meeting you can submit your questions/statements via this Highland Council webpage (thanks again to APT for this link)

Broadband issues in Nairn

Internet access is only marginally better this morning and was awful for most of yesterday. Anyone else having problems?

Soidhne ùr a' cur fàilte oirbh air an Dabhar

Good to see a new bilingual welcome on the Dava

If only we were as lucky as Hawick?

Provost Laurie Fraser’s wee faux pas

To a certain extent we are revisiting old territory here but it is ironic that a few months ago many might have thought it reasonable if Laurie could have had a turn as Provost after the next council elections. By then two of the other three councillors (Liz and Sandy) would have had a stint as Provost and so the chain would quite naturally have fallen into his lap. However, given the well documented way that the civic bling came his way even many of those who had been opposed to Liz in the past jumped to her defence and offered sympathy or practical help in her predicament. Now a new Facebook group dedicated to publicising the gaffe and again calling for Laurie’s resignation slowly gathers momentum.
Here at Gurn HQ we are most annoyed that Laurie’s gaffe vid has been pulled by those with the finger on the digital buttons at Glenurquhart Road. We dearly would have loved to have seen and heard what the councillors had to say about the social club issue. It seems that Liz voiced concerns about the potential noise impact and Lauire maintained his total opposition. There exists a support group on Facebook in favour of the application but no doubt our local councillors thoughts were also influenced by those who generally feel that there is a bit too much noise made at times by those enjoying themselves in the town at the weekends. It isn’t a new problem and there will always have to be a trade-off between those wanting to have a bit more fun and residents wanting a little less noise. What we should have been able to witness online would be the result of the democratic process as both these positions were taken into account in determining the application. Because of comments made by the Provost we no longer are offered that opportunity and that is a shame.
We accept that the comments reported in the press could be conceived as racist but we do not believe them to be so. We agree perhaps with the Inverness Courier in that they are bizarre. In our very own parochial political jungle many participants are used to Laurie, sometimes he can leave you wondering and sometimes he can appear at the top of his game just like the rest. That’s the mix that is the councillor and should he make the odd strange utterance when at a Nairn Ward Forum or a community council meeting then people might try and deconstruct it immediately afterwards or simply allow the conversation to move on. When it happens on a larger stage in such a grand fashion however, it brings attention to Nairn, attention that is unwanted and further focuses on the way the present Provost obtained the chain. One wonders why on earth they didn’t just depose Liz as Chair of the Ward Forum and leave her as a toothless but ever popular civic figurehead? Each ward can make up its own rules and that would have been a perfectly acceptable situation to the electorate. But the deed was done. Will Laurie survive? It is worth considering Iain Bain’s erudite editorial, part of which states after referring to the comments made:
‘Whether or not this now leads to the Provost’s resignation or dismissal is another matter. What is also clear is that Provost Fraser handed his political future to his opponents in no uncertain matter. The sacking of his predecessor now resounds.’

Nairn County climb up the table

Brora 0 County 4 (Saturday 18th September)

Nairn now lie in 6th position in the Highland League as their goal tally mounts up this season, they are now joint top scorers equal with Cove on 28 goals. Read Allan Ross's report over on Highlandleague.net. Here's another stunning set of pictures from NCFC photographer Donald Matheson. To see individual pictures in larger sizes click here.

Three-all thriller at Station Park - Nairn 3 Deveronvale 3

The exciting season continues, Highland League reporter Kenny MacLeod's summary here and below a slideshow of NCFC photographer Donald Matheson's pictures. For individual pictures click here

Highland Council - more cuts needed over and above the £31 million that went out to consultation

Looks like there's been a rethink at Glenurquart Road over how much needs to be saved, it seems cuts will have to bite deeper than we were told at the public meeting in Rosebank this summer.

'Mr Alston said that proposals which went out to public consultation amounted to £31million of cuts, leaving a further £11million to be found.'

There's more in the P&J including news that a proposal to cut councillors' wages by 10% was voted down. Cllr Roddy Balfour was also complaining that Highland Council was failing local democracy since changes to its structure in 2007.

Troubled times ahead as the Council searches for more savings?

Bottled water for Cawdor and Piperhill yesterday

The Press & Journal has a report about the water main bursting at Whitebridge yesterday:

'HUNDREDS of Nairnshire residents were left without water for several hours yesterday after a major pipeline burst, cutting off the supply for many households in the area.'

More on the P&J site

That Lenticular moment over Nairn again with Jinglebangles

We're delighted to be able to link to Jinglebangle's series of Nairn material on Picassa. A wide range of this photographer's work is available to view. For a real treat we recommend going to the Lenticular Clouds folder from September 25th last year and viewing the slideshow option.

Update: and for a further treat how about Alsation meets juvenile cormorant - Keep your cormorant on a lead please? (at the bottom of this page)

Other digital news in Nairn

Other Nairn blogs linked in the sidebar, today the ANB seem to have inside info on how the the schedule for Highland Council's Plan B for the town centre will go forward.

Firefox in Gaelic - Firefox ann an Gàidhlig

'Thàinig an latha, mu dheireadh thall, gun gabh sibh tlachd ann is sgaoilibh am facal!'

Ùraich gu brabhsair a bhruidhneas riut 'nad chànan fhèin! 'S e Firefox an dòigh nas luaithe, nas tèarainte 's nas fhearr a chum brabhsadh an lìn. Firefox 3.6 sa Ghàidhlig

Always had some or just learning? Give a Gàidhlig browser a go!

Life without RAF Kinloss, Lossie and the army at Fort George?

The military presence at Fort George, RAF Kinloss and Lossiemouth has been a feature of life in this area for a long time. Now however one, two or all three of these military facilities may fall victim to defence cuts. Moray obviously would lose the most with the effect that the two bases have on the local economy. The P&J reports on efforts to highlight the dangers of closure by community leaders in Moray. Is it possible that we could face a future with no significant military bases in the Moray Firth area? How would closure of any of these bases affect us here in Nairn? Would high-flyer Danny Alexander be able to influence the Fort George decision?

Should we, however, perhaps be more concerned at other cuts in the public purse and how that will affect local government and civil service jobs in Inverness where many Nairnites commute for work?

Dawn Sunday morning from behind the Old Bar

Thanks to David Brownless for sending us this picture. David had spent a windy night out there he says: 'The Picture was taken at about 6.30, after a very windy night. The boat only finally stopped wandering about on its anchor chain when it sat on the sand as the tide ebbed away. We woke to a perfectly calm, albeit very cold and early morning.'

Nice one David. The picture will enlarge a little but a larger size can be seen here.

Co-op advertising falls flat in Nairn

Wind, banners and safety fences a good mix do not make. See below for more advertising ideas.

Virtual graffiti on the old petrol station

Many Gurnites who drive along the A96 will notice that the Co-op has strung up advertising banners on the metal fencing around the disused petrol station. Here at Gurn HQ we began to wonder what a different form of advertising might look like in this area.

UPDATE: a few suggestions in now - if more come in we'll add them to this slideshow

UPDATE 09/09/10 More suggestions added to slideshow

County goal feast continues - Nairn 7 Fort William 1

Image will enlarge - for more amazing pictures from the Wee County's club photographer Donald Matheson head over to the Gurn Flickr pages.

Seventh heaven today at Station Park as seven goals take County up to seventh in the league. Joy for Fridge's men as County freeze Fort out. A hat-trick for Steven MacKay.

A match report now available from Adam Hamilton on Highland League.net.

Deveron Homes profits plummet

Deveron Homes of Sandown lands planning application fame saw their profits go down drastically in 2009 but are confident of a comeback. More on the Herald website.

The Co-op: 'Maybe a boycott is the only way to persuade them to shape up'

Comment on the Gurn from Visit Nairn's Rosemary Young - Rosemary refers to this letter in the Courier, Imagination is the Key to the revival of Nairn Town Centre, and also an article we mentioned which is not online.

'I hope you have all read the article in the Inverness Courier. We in VisitNairn are doing what we can but it is frustrating. I feel those that got us into this mess should get us out and pretty quickly too. It is amazing that a supermarket who has the complete MONOPOLY in this town does not seem to care or worry about the disgraceful dump to which they are not only attached but own. Maybe a boycott is the only way to persuade them to shape up. Come on Co-op a lovely paved garden with benches for the good folk of Nairn to contemplate their shopping lists before spending in your stores is all we ask! Surely after years of eyesore this is not much to ask?'

.

Update: comment in from 'Madia Comment'

'Here's what the Co-op says about itself on its website:'We believe that we should offer our customers both value and values. Which makes us a bit different. Our members are our owners; they tell us what is important to them and we listen and act on it.'It's about time that the Co-op started living up to what it calls 'the Co-operative model' and that Co-op members in Nairn tell them loud and clear what really is important to them.'

Time for Nairnites to heap shame and bad publicity on the Co-op throughout Scotland and beyond?

Change your bank - Ken Burnett's campaign

The Scotsman reports today:

AS THE founder of the Change Your Bank campaign Ken Burnett was always likely to put his experience to the test once his bank pushed him too far.
Burnett, from Nairn but now living in London, has been with RBS for 35 years and while not specifically unhappy with its service noticed a decline in service after he sold his advertising and marketing agency in 1999. Burnett, 59, looked more seriously into moving away from RBS once the extent of its difficulties emerged two years ago, followed by revelations over the payments to directors and chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin. More here on the Scotsman site.

Here's the Change your bank facebook page and also the website.

Sunset 03/09/10 Nairn beach

More pictures here

Nairn's Desolation Row

Nairnites wait with baited breath to see if the Co-op will take action to clean up the mess that is their responsibility now.

Update: another article in the Inverness Courier today and a very good letter from the Visit Nairn group. We'll link later if the article and letter go on line.

Glamour tie for Nairn in Scottish Cup

Up to Rothes on the 25th of September. Full draw here on Highlandleague.net plus news that Brian MacLeod is on the transfer list.

I want to be your Sledgehammer...

On a topical subject the Gurn would like to thank the regular reader that reminded us of the lyrics to a Peter Gabriel Song

I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
you'd better call the sledgehammer
put your mind at rest
I'm going to be-the sledgehammer
this can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
let there be no doubt about it
sledge sledge sledgehammer

Here's the full song :-) This request dedicated to the man that wants to set aboot the Regal everytime he passes it. Go for it Graham - just organise a day and we'll see how many Gurnites turn up to help.

Sunset 31/08/10

The ANB's mixed bag

Comment this week from the Chair of the Association of Nairn Businesses on Co-op and by-pass issues. More on the ANB site.