Quarterly Newsletter
Letter from the editor
This is the last newsletter from myself as journalist, editor and printer. After five years of producing the newsletter I think it is time for a change, my skill and information gathering is getting weaker as time goes by, time for a fresh start. Anybody interested in taking over the job , please feel free to do so.
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the distributors of the newsletter for their hard work and giving up their valuable time to keep the people of Quarter informed.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this in the past and it may be that if important announcements are required there may be a special issue in the future.
Congratulations to Carol Cain
Overall Services to the Community Award was presented to Carol Cain by Councillor John Murray.
Quarter Neighbourhood Watch was established eight years ago and with a membership of 800 has excellent relations with the police, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, Councillors, social work and South Lanarkshire Council.
They have assisted other areas to set up Neighbourhood Watch Groups. They work closely with the village school arranging fun days for the children and crime prevention for the pensioners
Quarter Neighbourhood Watch has also been nominated for a national award.
Quarter Boolin Club
This has been a double celebration this year for Quarter Boolin Club. As well as having its centenary they also won the local grudge match against their arch rivals Limekilnburn.
The game is played every year and Limekilnburn have always come out on top. To play in this game you must have proof that you were born in either of the two villages. Recently there have been some doubts about some of the Quarter Players validity to play in this game. When asked to provide a birth certificate they always made some excuse, there have even been some suggestions of fake birth certificates.
As for the game despite Quarter getting all the lucky rubs and wicks and the visitors being constantly barracked by a hostile home crowd the Limekilnburn players kept their usual dignity only losing by 3 shots.
The teams were:-
Quarter Limekilnburn
W. Currie W. Frame
B. McCaig R. Mooney
T. Law R. Dalgliesh
T. Nelson D. McLare
Quarter Play Park
Quarter Safer Community Action Group
Celebrate Summer Fun Day
The Quarter Safer Community Action Group are to host a Summer Fun Day on Saturday 26th June between 12 & 4 p.m. at Quarter Primary School. There will be children's bouncy castle, face painting, disco, hair braiding and the tombola stall. There will be a BBQ and refreshments on sale.
The rides are suitable for 12 years and under and children must be accompanied by an adult.
Entrance fee is £2.50 per child with accompanying adult.
It is hoped that, failing no emergencies on the day, the Fire Brigade and Police will be in attendance.
The committee have been striving very hard to raise funds for the play park and to date we have raised £1732.00. We still have a long way to go but with your help I am sure we will achieve our aims. Further ideas are in the pipeline to raise money and shortly raffle tickets will be on sale with the prize of a weeks holiday for two on a Mediterranean Cruise, very kindly donated by Mr Pat Gillooly of Inland Engineering. Our local Policeman David , whom you have no doubt seen riding round on his bike has very kindly attached a milometer to the bike and who ever guesses the correct mileage done over a month will win a prize.
Quarter Primary School
NATIONAL SPRING CLEAN DAY
The whole school and nursery took part in the National Spring Clean Day on Friday 23rd April. Our children did an amazing job gathering up litter in the village with local volunteers, staff and parents. Twelve bags of litter, an old satellite dish, assorted toys and car mats were collected. As a reward, the children enjoyed a Climbing Tower and Towdabout as well as a visit from the police horses New York and Strathclyde accompanied by their handlers Alison and Kenny. The P.T.A. provided a snack and drink for the children and tea and cakes for the adults. A great day was had by all!!
SCHOOL GARDEN
Mrs Ireland would be grateful for support in the garden from any parent who could spare some time. We have a lot to do from emptying old pots, planting up new ones, weeding, planting seeds and digging and we could do with some help. If you can spare an hour one afternoon, we would be delighted to see you. This does not need to be a regular commitment - even a one off afternoon would be great.
SUMMER TRIP TO DAVID LIVINGSTONE CENTRE
The whole school will be visiting the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre on Friday 18th June. Another letter with more information is following soon.Quarter Primary School
NATIONAL SPRING CLEAN DAY
The whole school and nursery took part in the National Spring Clean Day on Friday 23rd April. Our children did an amazing job gathering up litter in the village with local volunteers, staff and parents. Twelve bags of litter, an old satellite dish, assorted toys and car mats were collected. As a reward, the children enjoyed a Climbing Tower and Towdabout as well as a visit from the police horses New York and Strathclyde accompanied by their handlers Alison and Kenny. The P.T.A. provided a snack and drink for the children and tea and cakes for the adults. A great day was had by all!!
SCHOOL GARDEN
Mrs Ireland would be grateful for support in the garden from any parent who could spare some time. We have a lot to do from emptying old pots, planting up new ones, weeding, planting seeds and digging and we could do with some help. If you can spare an hour one afternoon, we would be delighted to see you. This does not need to be a regular commitment - even a one off afternoon would be great.
SUMMER TRIP TO DAVID LIVINGSTONE CENTRE
The whole school will be visiting the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre on Friday 18th June. Another letter with more information is following soon.
WILDHEARTS IN ACTION
We had a visit from Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Mick Jackson recently. Mick met with Mrs McNaughton, Mrs McKillop and members of our Enterprise group to discuss how we could support his charity Wildhearts in Action. By purchasing office supplies e.g. erasers, pencils and rulers etc. we are able to support the poor in countries like Ghana as his company is non-profit making and all monies go directly to aid the poor. Many thanks to everyone who purchased stationery goods to help Wildhearts in Action at Parents’ Day as we raised approx £60. If you are interested in finding out more about this organisation or if you have a business and would consider ordering your stationery items from Wildhearts, please log onto www.wildheartsinaction.org
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE PUPIL AWARD CEREMONY
Two of our pupils, Jena McClelland and Rachel Chambers have been selected to attend the above Pupil Award Ceremony on Monday 7th June in the Banqueting Hall.
CYCLING PROFICIENCY TEST
Our senior pupils have been busy practising their road safety and cycling skills with Mrs McGill and Mrs McBride. Good luck to them all on Wednesday 9th June when they sit their test!!
INTER SCHOOL P5 PAINTING COMPETITION
Well done to Jennifer Hogg who was our school winner in the above painting competition in Selkirk Street Church. The children had to paint a scene from the story of Samson in the Bible. Jennifer received a beautiful art case as her prize and all the other children received a set of coloured pencils and a certificate.
Faye McNaughton
Head Teacher
Quarter Lunch and Social Club
The Social Club meet every Tuesday in the Quarter Primary School at 1.30 p.m. till about 4.00 p.m. where they have a two course lunch with tea or coffee followed by a variety of games and eventually there will be guest speakers invited to address the members. The club is attracting approx 26 to 30 members who have formed their own committee and will be investigating possible venues for outings. For further information contact Carol.
What Senior Citizens are Worth
Did you know that old folk are worth a fortune? We have silver in our hair, gold in our teeth, stones in our kidneys, lead in our feet and gas in our stomachs. I have become older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life.
Frankly, I have become a frivolous, old woman. I am seeing six gentlemen every day. As soon as I wake up Will Power helps me out of bed, then I go to see Jimmy Riddle. Then it is time for breakfast with Mr Kellogg followed closely by the company of Mr Tetley or my other friend whom I only know by his initials PG.
Then comes someone I don't like at all Arthur Itis. He knows he is not welcome but insists on being here and what is more he stays for the rest of the day. Even then he does not like to stay in one place so he takes me from joint to joint.
After such a hectic day I am glad to get to bed (and with Johnny Walker too). What a hectic life!
The vicar came to call the other day and said that at my age I should be thinking of the hereafter. I told him I did all the time. For no matter where I am the bedroom, the kitchen, the sitting room or the garden, I ask myself "Now what am I here after?"
Well I will close now and I hope that Will Power is your constant companion too but do watch out for that crazy one Gerry Atric!
PTA NEWS
The PTA over the past year has been busy fundraising for the school. The Recipe Book was a great success and a big thank you to all who contributed recipes for it. We have also been busy spending the money raised and over the last few months this has included:
White Boards £500, Buses for the Pantomime Trip £300, Hopscotch Theatre (Tam O'Shanter) £175, Calderwood Puppet Show £100, Fruit for Smoothes on Health Day £32, Coomber CD Player £283, Heinemann Maths Programme £600
Children’s snack on Spring Clean Day £44.
P.T.A BARN DANCE
The PTA are holding a BARN DANCE at Knowetop Farm, Quarter on Friday 18th June, 8pm till late. There is a live band, bar and BBQ burgers. Tickets are on sale at £10 each from any PTA member, or from the school. Please come along for a great night out and help support your child’s school!
Friendship Group
The annual outing of the Friendship group was to the Scottish Air Museum at East Fortune where the Scottish Concorde is housed.
The British Airways Concorde fleet retired in October 2003, the following year Concorde Alpha-Alpha took a seaborne journey to Scotland. The 110ton plane was loaded on to a specialist 2,000ton barge at the Thames port of Isleworth, having been transported at walking pace on a Saturday night along the main A30 and A4 from Heathrow to Isleworth. It travelled down the Thames from Isleworth and sailed up the east coast, arriving on Scottish soil a day early on the following Saturday and rolled ashore at the British Energy jetty at Torness, ending in an hour-long trundle across muddy fields to East Fortune. It was guided by members of 39 Engineer Regiment's 53 Field Squadron (Air Support), with a helicopter hovering overhead, to a greeting by two pipers. At the time, Concorde's journey north was thought to have been one of the most complex of any transport venture undertaken.
For 30 years it was possible to fly at supersonic speeds across the globe. Flying faster than the speed of sound, it was possible to catch up on yourself. You could fly from London after breakfast and arrive in New York well before breakfast – the same day! Between 1976 and 2003 British Airways' Concordes operated close to 50,000 flights, clocked up more than 140,000 flying hours and travelled some 140 million miles.
There are many other very interesting exhibits such as this Lear Jet and the Avro Vulcan B.2A
A Nightmare on The Clyde
I decided to buy a boat so that I could take my family cruising at week ends on the Clyde.
Sam, a very good friend, said his boss had a 32ft cabin cruiser he was thinking of selling. I said I might be interested and where could I see it. After discussion with his boss it was decided that we could borrow the boat for a day and sail it from its berth at Inverkip out into the Clyde.
Myself and four of my mates thought it would be a good idea if we all went out for the day, so early one Saturday morning we all set off from Hamilton and headed for Inverkip. On the way we stopped at a shop in Gourock for provisions, pies and whisky, and proceeded to Inverkip to prepare for our day's cruising.
On board we found a brand new radio, still in its box, so we thought we’d better not touch it as nobody new how to operate it and we were only going out for a wee sail on the Clyde.
On this beautiful sunny Saturday we set sail out into the Clyde and headed for Rothesay.
As we got nearer to Rothesay and the weather was so good we decided to head up the Kyles of Bute, past Tighnabruaich and out into the open sea, we then headed towards Tarbert on Loch Fyne
The sea was lovely and calm, we decided to stop and do a wee bit fishing with some rods we found on board. As we were fishing eating pies and drinking whisky, to our delight along came The Waverley paddle steamer full of punters out for a sail doon the water, and we exchanged waves and cheers to the delight of all on board.
After an hour of fishing and drinking we then checked the time and realized that dusk was approaching and it would be better if we sailed to Tarbert and spend the night there and sail back to Inverkip in the morning, so Tarbert here we come.
None of the crew being sailors, we tied the boat to the harbour wall as tight as we could and proceeded to consume the remainder of our "carry oot".
Pat, being a true patriot, offered the English family on the next boat a drink and proceeded to carry a tray of drinks from one boat to the other but needless to say he slipped on the wet deck and disappeared under the sea, tray drinks and all. Poor Pat actually cracked a couple of ribs but did not tell Annie, his wife, how he got his injury. We then headed to the nearest fish and chip shop; we hadn’t caught any of our own. My mate Sam, an utter gentleman, stood at the back of the queue while the four of us got our fish suppers and said "the guy at the back is paying" unknown to Sam this old lady had nicked into the queue, so when Sam got his fish supper the counter assistant said "that will be 6 fish suppers please".
Now that we were fed we decided that we should inform our loved ones we were staying overnight in Tarbert and we would set sail first thing in the morning. That done we headed for the pub. We visited all of the pubs in Tarbert and were made very welcome, so much so Pat got landed with this old worthy and as we left the pub one at a time, unknown to Pat, he was left with the old guy. On arriving back at the "ship" we discovered that the tide had gone out , and as we were tied up tight to the harbour wall the boat was lying at a angle of 45 degrees, so in the dark and well oiled we had to lower the boat into the water. This done we now had the problem of getting down to the boat and as there was no ladder handy. We tied a rope to the ring on the harbour wall and lowered ourselves one at a time down into the boat.
By this time we were in hysterics and ready for our bed, but this being a four berth boat and there were five of us it was first come first served, I actually do not remember where I slept.
When we woke in the morning we decided to have breakfast at sea so we immediately set sail for the Kyles of Bute.
I was to be cook, so down to the galley I went to light the stove and prepare breakfast while the remainder of the crew were topside trying to navigate us out of the harbour and into the open sea.
Yesterday the weather was lovely but today it was wet, windy and the sea very choppy, so much so I had difficulty, keeping the flying pan on the stove and asked if we couldn’t go a wee bit slower to find out we were hardly moving at all due to the high waves. After a while I gave up and we decided that we should all concentrate on trying to get over the open sea to the safety of the Kyles of Bute.
After about three hours sailing through high seas we managed to get into the shelter of the Kyles and have breakfast.
Now our task was to sail through the Kyles and head for Rothesay for afternoon refreshments before setting sail for Inverkip and home, but disaster was just round the corner.
As we were approaching Colintraive where the ferry crosses from the mainland to Isles of Bute the sea was very rough and the water was splashing all over the boat, the engine stopped. The "crew" on board consisted of a Tool maker ,two Building Site Managers an apprentice Butcher and a lorry Mechanic so the Mechanic was sent to the "engine room" to find out what the problem was.
Apparently because of all the water splashing about while out in the big waves water had got into the diesel and this had caused the engine to cut out. The tool kit on board consisted of one adjustable spanner.
By, this time we had started to drift toward the rocks so we had to cast the anchor and Jack ( the Mechanic) set about getting the water out of the diesel, this took about 30 minutes. By this time the Ferry was ready to move from Colintraive towards the Mainland (it operates on a cable that goes straight across) and as we were stopped right in the middle, it started to sound it's horn for us to get out of the way, so with the engine now working we proceeded to lift the anchor. To lift the anchor there was a ratchet device but no handle to operate it so we had to use "the tool kit" an adjustable spanner, but as I was lifting the anchor the spanner slipped out of my hand and landed in the sea, so lets not break down again as we had no tool kit.
The sea was still very rough and we had lost a lot of time so we decided to forego our refreshment break in Rothesay and head straight up the Clyde towards Inverkip.
In the open sea between Rothesay and Wemyss Bay the engine stopped again and panic set in as we had lost our "tool kit" over the side and as the water was far to deep a this point to cast the anchor we started to drift in the strong current and high waves out towards even wider open sea.
With the high waves crashing over the boat the forward hatch on deck got blown off and the waves were crashing into the sleeping quarters below so Pat and myself went below and tried to stuff the duvets into the open hatch to try to stop the water from coming in. With the amount of water that was coming in the bilge pump that was meant to clear this packed in and we had to try and clear the incoming water with cups and a small pan. By this time the boat was rocking and all the equipment in the galley was starting to fall out of the racks and plates etc., were being smashed all over the place, and the water within the lower deck was rising.
Jack was still in the engine room, using his fingers to try to loosen of pipes to drain the water from the diesel but due to the cold and wet he was struggling, Sam remembered that there was an outboard engine stored below so it was decided that if we could use that it would at least steady the boat and allow us to steer into the waves instead of being tossed about and drifting further out to sea.
We got the outboard engine on deck and threw it over the back of the boat but unfortunately nobody held onto the rope so the engine sunk without trace.
At this point I noticed that beside where the outboard motor was stored there were some life jackets so I put on the first one I found.
When I got on deck Pat said "where did you get the life jacket" I told him, so off he went, when he returned the jacket he, had was far better than mine, it had a whistle and everything so I went back down and put the fancy jacket on top of the one I had on. When the rest of the crew saw us with life jackets on they wanted one as well and they went down to get them, but Jack came back up and said there was not one for him. To this day I have not told Jack that I had two on - tough.
Suddenly we smelt gas, the cooker in the galley had been thrown on it's side and the pipe to the gas bottle was hissing merrily, filling the lower deck with butane gas. The lower deck by this time was totally wrecked and was slowly filling with water so we had to again start baling out the water with cups and the pan.
In those day's we did not have mobile phones and the brand new ship's radio still in it's box was of no use to us, but just as we were starting to panic the only other boat on the Clyde that wild wet windy day saw us and came close by to enquire if we were in trouble, well ask a silly question, but to all our amazement Jack shouted that he was nearly ready to try and start the engine and did not need their help and no need to contact the Coastguard. The truth was that we did not want everybody to know how stupid we were to sail in such bad weather with a crew like we had and somehow we would make it. With the engine now started we were not sure which way to go as it was raining and very misty and we could not see land in any direction so after discussion we decided to sail into the waves as we thought that was the way we were going when the engine stopped. The five of us stood on deck with Jack at the wheel and we were peering into the mist and rain looking in all directions hoping to see land but mainly the big chimney at Hunterston Power Station as that was our landmark for Inverkip.
I was on the right hand side of the boat and as I looked to my right I saw this almighty Container Ship about twenty stories high was heading straight for us. I immediately grabbed the wheel from Jack and tried to turn it to the left so that we could steer away from this monster but due to the noise of the waves and wind Jack could not hear my shouts and thought I was cracking up and we started to fight. Eventually he realized what was happening and we managed to steer clear of this disaster.
Pat, a good living Catholic, was sitting at the back of the boat with his Rosary Beads doing Hail Mary's etc, and me , a good living Protestant, thought if they can do Pat some good well I’ll have a shot when your finished. We both promised if we got safely ashore we would not sail again.
We then presumed that the Container ship was heading for Glasgow so we followed it for about 30 minutes and then to our delight we saw through the mist the wonderful sight of the Hunterston chimney.
In the meantime all our wife's were sitting at home worrying about the weather as it was very windy and wet and Praying for our safety.
When we reached Inverkip and tied the boat up Pat was the first off and ran as fast as he could to the toilet where he was violently sick.
As we left the boat and saw the terrible state the boat was in. Front hatch missing, beds and lower deck soaked, galley wrecked, all dishes smashed, outboard engine missing and new radio soaked but still in its box.
I decided not to buy the boat.
By TJ.
21st Issue June 2010