Districts - week 12

Oban

 

Youth Service protests continue

 

Two Oban teenagers are continuing to fight for Argyll and Bute’s youth services, weeks after the sector was ‘decimated’.

 

Oban High School students Dante Lopez and Rachel Lawlor are asking for the service to be made statutory.

 

Speaking about the service, Dante said: ‘Argyll and Bute already falls behind on youth services compared to other parts of Scotland, such as Stirling.

 

‘If local people, councillors, MSPs and MPs want young people to be more engaged in their local area then having a good quality service like ABYS is paramount.

 

As part of their campaign, the teenagers travelled to Glasgow on Tuesday March 12 to discuss the cuts with CLD Standards Council Scotland – a professional body for people who work or volunteer in community learning and development.

 

While they await the six-month deadline to see if the council will revisit its decision, Dante and Rachel intend to push the topic locally, aiming to increase the interest in Argyll, as well as on a national level.

 

They will do this by having meetings with committees such as the community council, area committee, as well as local councillors.

 

To stay up to date with the campaign to save the service, search #saveABYS, #noBSforYS, or #youthworkchangeslives on social media.

 

Kintyre

 

Seahorses frontman headlining songwriter's festival

 

The former frontman of the band founded by Stone Roses guitarist John Squire will headline this year’s Kintyre Songwriters Festival.

 

Chris Helme, who usually travels to his shows by train, is making an exception to perform at the 12th annual celebration of singing and songwriting, this year from Friday May 3 to Sunday May 5.

 

The Seahorses have supported The Rolling Stones and U2, and enjoyed four UK top-20 hits and a Scottish number one in the late 1990s, including Love Is The Law, Blinded By The Sun and Love Me And Leave Me, co-written with Liam Gallagher of Oasis.

 

Kintyre acts performing at the town hall on Sunday include Gullion, Judith Jones, Under Smoke, Thomas Jordan and Jenni Martin.

 

Discounted early bird weekend tickets are available for £35 from Campbeltown Town Hall and AP Taylor, and online from Ticketweb. Individual event tickets are £20.

 

Kilmartin

 

Pupils visit Oban's Ocean Explorer Centre

 

Pupils from Kilmartin Primary School visited The Ocean Explorer Centre in Dunbeg to find out about microplastics and pollution in our oceans.

 

They participated in four different workshops including ‘microplastic detectives’, the bio-accumulation game, microscope activities and the marine pollution game.

 

They were educated by PhD students Lola and Solene, microbiologist Elaine, and outreach officer Helen, all from The Scottish Association for Marine Science.

 

The pupils have been working hard in their school on a topic about plastics and ‘they impressed us very much with their knowledge and enthusiasm’, Helen said.

 

PIC:

 

Abbie Wood, left, and Christiana Cameron were among the protesters at Oban High School. Photo by Jack MacGregor. NO_T09_Protest