TEN YEARS AGO
Thursday April 24 2014
New trails open for amateur and expert bikers
More than 50 mountain bikers took part in a mass ride-out to mark the official opening of two new cross country descent trails at Lochaber’s Nevis Range resort.
The event included families, adults and children - some aged just three - from Lochaber and beyond.
The Cats Eyes green-graded (beginner) and Blue Adder blue-graded (intermediate) trails are part of a larger £229,363 project, funded by sportscotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Nevis Range and West Highland Wheelers, to enhance biking at the resort near Fort William.
A further phase of the project will see the addition of two more jump lines, graded orange, built alongside the World Cup downhill dirt jumps and an easy up-trail to allow mountain bikers an interesting ascent to the beginning of all the new trials.
They will also appeal to a much wider range of mountain biker than the existing trails, including families and small children.
They were built by Highland-based contractors Mark Hedderwick of Hitak Ltd and Beauly and Eenie MacGilivray of Acharacle along with the Nevis Range bike track team.
Both trails are descents, accessed by a 2km climb up a forestry road, and have mini features to encourage the skills of budding down-hillers while remaining in keeping with cross country trail standards.
Nevis Range is already home to the UCI world cup downhill track, the Nevis Red and 48km of cross country trails including the world championships loop, but the majority of these tracks are more suited to committed mountain bikers.
Marian Austin, Nevis Range managing director, said: "Over the last few years, funding has concentrated on retaining the world cup events and building our unique Red Giant cross country trail accessed by gondola.
"It is now recognised we need to encourage more people to develop the skills to be able to ride these world-class trails and they have to start on easier trails with achievable challenges."
Louise Martin, chairwoman of sportscotland, the national sport funding body, said: "Mountain biking in Scotland is going from strength to strength and more people than ever before are keen to become involved, inspired by what they have seen at the Olympics and at Nevis Range at world cup events.
"At sportscotland, we are delighted to invest in these accessible routes to provide more and better opportunities for people to try the sport.
"It’s so exciting to think that someone could go from trying their first trail to riding the tracks used by the best athletes in the world, all in one place."
HIE has invested more than £40,000 in the project and the agency’s development manager Elaine Jones said: "Nevis Range has worked hard to expand the range of ski-ing and mountain bike facilities at the centre.
"This range provides a great opportunity to attract the widest possible groups of people, including getting families and children involved."
TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO
Saturday April 24 1999
Underwater centre homes plea rejected
’On the Waterfront’ is not the place to build houses for key staff, Highland Council’s Lochaber area planning committee decided on Monday.
The councillors dismissed proposals by Don McGregor, group managing director of Underwater Centre operators Stenmar - which last week announced the creation of 12 new full-time diving instructor posts - to build two semi-detached houses adjacent to the premises.
The intended site fronts onto the Loch Linnhe foreshore alongside the Balfour Beatty Pier, which juts out into the loch and from which diving operations are carried out.
At present, diving school equipment and machinery are stored at this location and area planning manager Ken Johnston had recommended the housing plan for approval.
Fort William councillor Neil Clark was against setting what he described as "a quite dangerous precedent" if houses for key workers were built on the town’s foreshore or water-front.
"I’m delighted the Underwater Centre is to expand," said Councillor Clark. "But the Local Plan says the area in question is zoned for business use. Will Lochaber College, McDonald’s and Brewers Fayre want to build houses in this same area? And will Crannog wish to erect houses at the Town Pier?"
His Fort William colleague, Councillor Iain Dubh Macdonald, agreed.
"We’d be opening the floodgates,’ he said. ‘And we have a planned development for the waterfront. I’m in favour of the Underwater Centre, but that doesn’t mean we should change our rules to accommodate key personnel."
Councillor Olwyn Macdonald demurred at that. "I can’t believe what I’m hearing here," she exclaimed. "This is one of the most prestigious things we have in Fort William. I can’t see a problem with this application at all. We should be promoting this. We need homes and we are short of houses to fit a certain wage bracket. I welcome this."
The issue went to a vote with Councillor Macdonald’s motion for approval defeated 4-2.
Islanders ready for balloon visit
One of the smallest schools in the UK, Rum primary, which has just four pupils, is to get a visit tomorrow (Friday) from the Ordnance Survey balloon.
The occasion is to celebrate the release of the latest edition of the OS Landranger map of the Small Isles.
Outside Kinloch Castle on the island, the four youngsters, aged 4, 5, 6 and 8, their newly-appointed head teacher Christine MacDougall and the rest of Rum’s population of 25 will enjoy a presentation by the pilot and crew on the history, science and practice of flight.
This will be followed by a practical demonstration of the 31,000 cubic feet hot air balloon, which is brightly decorated with giant mapping symbols.
SEVENTY FIVE YEARS AGO
Saturday April 23 1949
Housing conditions at Kyle – protests at public meeting
Widespread dissatisfaction with the housing situation in Kyle of Lochalsh was expressed at a meeting in Kyle Drill Hall on April 15.
Twenty-nine families had their names down for a four-apartment house due to be vacant at the May term. The house was allocated by the County Council Housing Committee to Mr James Jamieson, fishery officer at Plockton, who had the same number of points - 24 - as Kyle ex-serviceman Mr Donald Fraser.
Residents attended the meeting to protest against this allocation of the vacant house. Mr Turnbull, stationmaster, presided over a large attendance.
County councillor J Douglas MacRae, at the outset, gave a detailed account of efforts made to meet housing requirements at Kyle.
Twenty permit houses had been allocated to the village, but the Edinburgh authorities refused to sanction this on the grounds the cost would be £200 per house over the limit.
Mr MacRae said 20 Swedish houses were soon to be erected on the Plock of Kyle. This number, he agreed, was insufficient. He had always held out for a minimum of 50.
Subsequent speakers made it clear that, while they sympathised with the successful applicant who, with his young family, had suffered much discomfort since coming to the district, they strongly disapproved of a system which could give Mr Jamieson such a points lead over equally necessitous cases.
Mr D Sutherland was loudly applauded when he made an appeal for Mr Hector MacRae. This applicant was living in a small cottage, condemned many years ago, the condition of which was a menace to health and sufficiently serious to jeopardise his children’s future.
In reply, councillor MacRae pointed out that in this case the applicant had impaired his chances by leaving his previous house and entering what he knew to be a condemned cottage.
Mr Hector MacRae answered that the circumstances of his employment demanded a house at Kyle. During the war years he had suffered hardship by having to cycle eight miles to and from his work.
Another applicant, Mr Greer, stated that he had the largest family in the district and that he was forced to live under shocking conditions in an old former Royal Air Force hut.
Several other cases demanding urgent relief were cited.
The meeting agreed that a strong protest should be drawn up and forwarded to every authority concerned. For this purpose the following committee was elected: Messrs D Fraser; D Greer; D Sutherland; F Matheson; J Budge and M MacPherson.
At present, 20 families in Kyle are homeless and living in huts previously used by the forces. Others requiring houses bring the total number of applicants to more than 70.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Saturday April 26 1924
Mansion house destroyed by fire
Early on Friday morning last, Eigg, one of the Inner Hebridean Isles, was the scene of a fire which involved the destruction of Sir William Petersen’s mansion house.
The island is the property of Sir William Petersen, a well-known London ship owner who recently had erected there a mansion house containing about 30 rooms.
It was a composite building of special construction produced by Speirs & Co and known as a Speiresque plasmentic building.
The house was lit by electricity and had central heating.
Mr David Scott, overseer, and a housekeeper were living in the house at the time of the outbreak, which occurred about 2am on Friday.
Mr Scott was awakened by a fit of coughing and on switching on the light he was surprised to find the room full of smoke. Going out into the passages, he again found smoke, although there was no sign of fire.
Concluding, however, something was wrong, he roused the housekeeper and both took themselves to the open.
They had not long left the building when flames burst through the roof and the house and its contents was destroyed in three hours.
The occupants, who were scantily attired, had a narrow escape and lost their belongings.
It was a dark, cold night and although the islanders soon congregated, the task of attempting to save any part of the property or its contents was, from the first, a hopeless one.
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