Letters, October 7 2022

Tarbert Music Festival thanks

 

What a weekend! Thank you all for turning up after such a long break, your support of the event makes all the preparation worth while.

 

Thanks to all at West Kintyre Promotions for putting on a great show on the Friday night, Little Fix went down a treat, and DJ Lewis won the crowds over.

 

Thanks to Craig and Sarah for organising the marquee on the Saturday afternoon, also to all who participated (all volunteers) – a good time was had by all.

 

The weather gave us a bit of a headache on Sunday and instead of our usual music on the quay, it was decided to move to the marquee.

 

This seemed to go down really well so, thank you to Tarbert Harbour board and staff for all the help and support getting this put together at such short notice.

 

Thanks also to all the volunteers who helped with the bar and to Zena for continuing to sell our raffle tickets.

 

A huge thanks once again to our own ‘Mrs Brown’ (Margaret) who collected more than £1,300 in her donation bucket!

 

The bands on Sunday were well appreciated by the crowds who gathered to be entertained by a good mix of varied music and it was great to see Anavrin going down so well, and great to see local talent.

 

Thanks to Jamie for organising the PA system, as well as to the Gather and Murphy’s Pakora Bar for providing food for the afternoon, and to the face painter for her great work on both days.

 

We have to show our appreciation to Tarbert Co-op which has supported lots of village events;  it has been so helpful and the money from the community fund helped us greatly.

 

Funding from Argyll and Bute Council was a massive boost to getting the festival up and running again; so another huge thank you.

 

Thanks must also go to local businesses for donations of money and raffle prizes.

 

A final thank you to all of you for just being there and enjoying the weekend. See you next year: September 15 – 17, 2023.

 

Tarbert Music Festival committee.

 

Understanding the difference

 

I wonder how many people truly understand the very significant difference between conventional power stations and wind generators – they are not wind turbines.

 

All fossil-fuel and nuclear fission power stations employ gas – steam – turbines to turn the rotor of their respective generators.

 

Whereas a wind driven generator employs a large aerofoil – propeller – to propel a relatively slow moving shaft, via a gearbox, to a faster turning shaft to turn the rotor of a generator – there is absolutely no turbine is involved.

 

A turbine is a fairly complex piece of machinery consisting of numerous blades along a shaft fitted within a casing i.e. an engine in which steam, water or gas is made to spin a rotating shaft by pushing on angled blades, like a fan; turbines are among the most powerful machines.

 

Charles Algernon Parsons (1854-1931), the inventor of the compound steam turbine, must be turning in his grave – pun intended – at the audacity of the wind industry.

 

The term ‘wind turbine’ is a clever marketing ploy by the wind industry to dupe the public.

 

The limited machines the wind industry employ are simply electrical generators connected directly, or via a gear box and clutch, to a large wind-driven propeller.

 

Dave Haskell, Cardigan.