Saturday morning miscellany

A new website for the Arts Society. “ Find out about membership, classes and workshops. Pop by and paint! “ they tell the world on Twitter. The website is here.

A big test for the Wee County as they take on Fort William today at Station Park. With fan discontent still smouldering on social media and two hefty defeats over the last week every game is massive now and Fort William recently scored three against Brora and although they lost that game who knows what might happen at Station Park tomorrow if the Wee County get off to another bad start. Here’s hoping for good weather for the spectators as there is still no sign of the structure of the new Cow Shed going up yet. There are serious rumblings of discontent in fan circles too about delays in this project. Recently a statement from the club chairman, Peter MacKintosh, appeared on the official site:

“Moving onto the next important project being addressed by the Club. Progress with the most expensive capital investment the Club has undertaken - namely the new Spectator Enclosure to replace the Cowshed - has taken longer than originally programmed. The site demolition completed by the last week of June, was followed in July/August with the initial site engineering works to establish the underlying ground conditions which to our delight proved better than originally anticipated. The opportunity was therefore taken by the structural engineers, along with the contractor, to reconfigure the raft foundation design which during September time has allowed the ordering of all the steelwork materials for offsite cutting and thereafter galvanising in readiness for delivery on site. As additional constraint to contend with is that the site itself is extremely narrow and therefore everything has to be planned meticulously to allow a creeping west to east construction. In the end, it will all be worth waiting for.”

UPDATE: further Cowshed comment now on the County site.

Here's a few images from the heavy defeat on Wednesday night at Pitmeddan. Formartine 5 Nairn 1. Pictures from Donald Matheson.

Another Facebook page out there this week – this time a group of folk aiming to restore the riverside BMX track. Maybe their aims could cross-fertilise with the nascent Nairn River Enterprise? The Nairn BMX renovation page states:

This page has been created to generate interest in renovating the Nairn BMX track. As part of the recently formed cycling group in Nairn, Revolution CT, we want to approach the council and other bodies that could help in funding a revamp of the BMX track AND the riverside area in general. We have ideas for the 'cycling proficiency track' and space nearby but we need backing. If we can show the council that there's keen interest in this then we have more chance of getting somewhere. 'Back in the day' when bmx racing was at its peak there has been near 700 riders in Nairn for National races, thats how good the track was! It would also mean more for local businesses too.”

That BMX page has attracted over 200 followers in a short amount of time. It goes to show that if you have a point of view or initiative you are looking for backing for then Facebook is becoming an increasingly popular and practical tool to use. It doesn't reach everybody but it generates initial momentum that used to take weeks to achieve. Even if you think back to the likes of the "Save McLean court" campaign's use of facebook a few years ago it is obvious that the effect of such pages has increase exponentially. What used to take a few days to build up on social media is now ready overnight for public consumption. The difficult thing is perhaps sustaining interest. 

A headline in the Courier "Treatment Plant blamed for poor water quality at Nairn" examines recent SEPA test results on the beaches. The paper talks to Tommy Hogg and Liz MacDonald; Tommy puts the blame on development while Liz seems to be looking to the heavens. She is quoted:

"Heavy rain has a big impact and the drains overflow, I would like to see more investment in the plant and managing our water in general."

UPDATE: Water Quality article now online here. 

Have a good day Gurnshire, a bit of a cloudy one is predicted but perhaps the Moray Firth will perform again and let a bit of sun through.