CHATTERBOX

No 189 September 2009

www.lochwinnoch.info

Community newsletter produced by lochwinnoch publicity committee for lochwinnoch cc

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ASIST Anti-Social

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Office 8:45am – 4:45pm

Tel: 0141 840 2163

Editorial & copy for Chatterbox Let us have your stories, notices, news, information, events & items of interest — either hand-deliver them to the Chatter-box drop-box in the Library or e-mail to: chatterbox@lochwinnoch.info

To advertise in Chatterbox Tel: 07899 746403 or e-mail:

chatterboxaccount@btinternet.com

Copy Deadline for OCTOBER Issue Is

Wednesday 30th Sept. ‘09

CHATTERBOX

Chatterbox is a free, monthly community newspaper, produced on behalf of the Community Council of Lochwinnoch through support and financial assistance from local sponsors and advertis-ers and distributed by volunteers. The aim of those involved is to produce an informative and en-tertaining journal for those who live, work and visit in this area. The Editor welcomes all items for possible inclusion but will reserve all rights over them, i.e. the right to shorten, edit or not publish any item. Please note, all views are of individuals and the Editor accepts no liability for editorial errors or statements and claims made in advertisements.

What’s On

See centre pages for club activities, village events and classes.

See back pages for

Visitor Centre/RSPB events and outdoor activities.

Originally from Inverness, Omar Bhatia came to Lochwinnoch – via Tanzania - in the 1990’s and attended Lochwin-noch Primary School and nearby Johns-tone High School. Omar’s extensive Further Education culminated in a BA (Hons) Degree from Duncan of Jordan-stone College of Art and Design at Dundee University.

Omar was awarded an Erasmus scholar-ship to study at the Universitatea de Artă şi Design, in Cluj-Napoca, Transyl-vania (Romania) and he has been cho-sen to represent his university at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries exhibition in Edinburgh in spring 2010. Omar’s de-gree show was also ranked in the top 20 in the UK in the current edition of Art World magazine (the most popular art magazine in the UK, if not the world).

Omar has exhibited at Roseangle Gal-lery, Dundee, Lucian Blaga Library, Cluj-Napoca, Aiud, Transylvania, and at Casa Matei, Cluj-Napoca - a critically acclaimed show which also travelled to Zorki Photo Café. In addition, Omar recently had work displayed at the Agacan Turkish Restaurant in Dundee and at an international show in Berlin called ‘Gruntwork 2’. Currently, he has two artist’s books to be seen on the Travelling Gallery (based in Edinburgh but travelling throughout Scotland) and he will shortly be showing at the pres-tigious Embassy Gallery Graduate show

in Edinburgh and the Che Camille Fash-ion House (Glasgow) in October. His exhibition is coming to Lochwinnoch soon.

Recently, Omar’s degree show in Dundee received wide praise and the Scotsman article describing the show said this of his work:

“Omar Zingaro Bhatia paints and draws in a variety of styles: portraits with a nod to Chagall or Soutine, in-vented Tolkienish landscapes and witty captioned drawings à la Edward Gorey, but all this is dwarfed by the way he transforms his space into a "spuriosity shop" crammed full of trinkets, photo-graphs, books and clothes. Oh, and a stuffed magpie”

Omar’s father manages the RSPB Nature Reserve in Lochwinnoch and his mother is a special needs teacher with Renfrew-shire Council.

Lochwinnoch’s Got Talent !

Lochwinnoch Community Council

Notice

LAC REVIEW The Local Area Committees (LACs) recently agreed a consultation report on the review of LACs and included was reference to the drafting of lo-calised area action plans, which would set out the priorities for each LAC area. The content will be influenced by a number of factors, including demo-graphic and health statistics already presented and, most importantly, the views of the LAC community representative membership. To as-sist the preparatory work for the drafting of the localised action plans and to direct the content of the LAC planning conference to be held later this year, the Lochwinnoch Commu-nity Council representative has been asked to provide an indication of the three issues perceived to be most important in our area.

If you feel strongly about any issue that you think should be included, then please let the Community Council know, either by contacting CC members direct or by letting Chatterbox know (via the Chatterbox drop box in Lochwinnoch Library), so that the issues can be prioritised and forwarded to Renfrewshire Council.

Thank you.

Lochwinnoch Community Council

Christmas Lights Competition

With summer holidays over, the Community Council are already looking forward to Christmas. They are organising a competition giving the opportunity to children in the village to design a Christmas Light for the village. The winning drawing will be trans-formed into a professionally manu-factured light display and will be unveiled at the village Christmas lights switch-on in December. Entry forms are available from the Library and various other places throughout the village.

The competition is open to all children living in the Lochwinnoch Community Council area and aged 12 or under on 12 September 2009.

Get your entries in quickly— Closing date for entries is

12th September 2009.

Liz Callaghan DTM. ADCMC. Therapeutic Massage Therapist Therapeutic Massage will directly help with Stress and Anxiety It will alleviate muscle pain, in particular back pain, frozen shoulder and sciatica.

Massage assists with all circulatory problems including varicose veins. It plays a crucial role in the treatment of Sports Injuries and the maintenance of fitness. There are fewer better treatments for the promotion of General Health and Well-Being.

• Fully qualified and experienced Massage Therapist.

• Able to visit you at home or in treatment rooms in Lochwinnoch or Glasgow.

• Introductory Massage Workshops are also run monthly.

Contact Liz Callaghan: 01505 842 052 or email: remedyoptions@gmail.com

Lochwinnoch International Aid News

The group had a recent meeting to discuss its organisation and plans for the future. We intend to remain fo-cused upon raising funds for the direct support of a range of initiatives in poorer parts of the world where, ide-ally, there is a Lochwinnoch connec-tion. We will also continue to cam-paign in support of a wider availability of Fairtrade products in the village and there are still some of the latest reus-able Fairtrade cotton shopping bags for sale in several retail outlets. The group would welcome new people to join us and help with the various tasks that have to be done such as publicity of events, recruiting new members and helping to run the or-ganisation. If you are interested in joining us over the winter, please con-tact the group Chairperson, David Mellor at dgmellor@tiscali.co.uk or, for the Fairtrade campaign, Bob Turner - robert.turner111@btinternet.com Fairtrade Signage for the village Over the Summer, the Fairtrade group has been co-ordinating efforts to high-light the Fairtrade status of the village. Assistance from Councillor Arthur has resulted in Renfrewshire Council tak-ing on the responsibility for manufac-turing, erecting and maintaining Fair-trade road signs at the main entrances to the village in return for a grant we received from LMEG. The sample photo of the Bishopton Fairtrade sign shows how the signs will look when they are completed.

We have also met with representa-tives of the South Renfrewshire Ac-cess Network Initiative (SRANI), and the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, who are interested in developing a partnership with the Fairtrade Steering Group. This is likely to involve alerting visitors arriving by train and recrea-tional users of SRANI's path networks, to the Fairtrade status of the village, by means of information boards and a forthcoming Semple Trail leaflet and guide.

Sky at Night Lochwinnoch

September 2009 Welcome back to The Sky at Night Lochwinnoch. We return after our summer break with more news of what's on in the heavens. So what's up next on the Astro Calendar? Constellations - By 10pm Cygnus - the Swan is overhead and the great square of Pegasus is rising above the Braes. Meteors - No big showers until the Orionids and Leonids and Geminids in October, November and December respectively but you may see sporadic meteors during darkness. The Perseid shower in August was very good, bet-ter than expected. SUN -The Sun remains in deep solar minimum with only occasional sun-spot sightings. The longest spotless period to date has been 52 days and on course to be similar to 1913 when there were 311 spotless days. Moon - this Month's Full moon on the 4th is known as the Harvest Moon. The New moon is on the 18th September. Planets this Month are; Jupiter and four of its moons are visible in the evening above Beith. On the 2nd September, and again on the 30th, Jupiter and the Moon have a close encounter. Mars and Venus are early morning objects rising in the east about 1am and 3am respectively. About 4am on 16th September, just as the crescent Moon rises in the east, you will see Venus shining brightly just below and to the left. Next month on 16th October, the merest sliver of a Moon will be joined by Venus and by Saturn, newly emerged from behind the Sun. Autumn Equinox - when day and night are equal in length, takes place on September 22nd at 22:21:18 GMT International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery- sightings are all early morning. All this and more may be found on the Village website - www.lochwinnoch.info

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Primaver Brings The New World

The spring giant broadens his shoulders with light stretches and lifts the horizons towards the sun his arms bear a million birds and millions more wait in the songs of these birds and in their avid eyes the sky fills with wings and futures and sunrise new flowers prophesy the endless resurrection of the spring there is no time to see if what the petals say is true or if it is merely the gossip of the whole living world returning once more to itself the leaves are opening and the warm wind tangles the hair of sweet mead-ows and caresses the lake the spring giant sleeps under stars softened by southern winds in his arms the poetry of new life the forgiveness of new beginnings the moon is the colour of young grass

the constellations are they dancing

are they crying out

this is spring! Geoff Cooper

THE CHOCOLATE WARS - A TRILOGY IN SEVERAL

PARTS 1. The Battle Of Anthony Burgess's Chocolate Orange They went in by night - Mainly Bournville Dark & After Eights - under cover of the Aeros and the Wispa Stealth Then all the mobiles - Type 47 Wagon Wheels, Hunter Rolos with their infra-red Of course there was substantial earlier reconnaisance and sabotage by elite forces - Green & Blacks Organics and The Special Suchard Squad After the first wave they sent in Yorkie Bars to consolidate the gains The enemy crumbled like old KitKat Dairy Milk and Caramac - the basic khaki Went in to mop it up General Staff were delighted Handed out Smarties by the score Though, moi, I only got the CDM It was considered a great victory Until that irresistible invasion of Martian Easter Eggs

Geoff Cooper

Lochwinnoch Writers Group resumes for the autumn at The

Library on Monday mornings 9.30 - 11.30. All welcome. Tea and Biscuits

LOCHWINNOCH WRITERS

LW

Healing and Creativity Programme

September-December 2009 Workshops: Sundays 9am-12 noon. £15. There will be medita-tion, music, movement and a crea-tive project in a caring, supportive small group. The themes are….. 13th September: Understand, honour and nurture your needs to revive your Life Force. 4th October: Communicate compas-sion with your body and open to your own healing wisdom. 15th November: Centre guidance at the heart of your life to bring clarity to your purpose and Life Task. How to Live a Creative Life? Development Classes: 10 - 12am. £10 each. A small group programme designed to enable you to Live from the Es-sence of your Being. Through expe-riential work & healing you develop your connection to Essence and the transformative power this brings to your life. Mondays 7th September - 9th Novem-ber (9 week course) Meditation, energy work, therapeutic exploration, body consciousness. Designed for those experienced and committed to their own personal growth.

For details or to book a place, please call Becky on: 0141 8816700

or Libby on: 015105 842604. Venue: Lochwinnoch.

Live locally? Try shopping locally and save on fuel, time and temper in a pleasant village environment with good,

old-fashioned personal service.

With Christmas on the horizon, why not start early and investigate our huge selection of gift ideas? We also have cards for every occasion plus the perfect finishing touch for an outfit or home?

Different, affordable and interesting.

Gifts Cards Jewellery Leather Home

8 Church Street Lochwinnoch 01505 843311

Administration Clerk Lochwinnoch Out of School Club is look-ing to recruit an Administration Clerk to assist with the running of the Club. Role description: This post requires someone who is reli-able, efficient and meticulous with a good understanding of general administrative tasks. The successful candidate should be able to work independently and must have good IT skills. The position requires someone who can demonstrate a level of confidentiality in dealing with issues re-lated to the Club and its clients. The role will be on a flexible and part-time basis and will include supporting the Manager and Treasurer of the Club. The appointment will be dependent on a suc-cessful Disclosure check from Disclosure Scotland. Key Tasks: Preparing staff shifts ensuring adequate cover for child numbers, Allocation of any Flexi-time hours where appropriate, Planning and maintenance of Staff holi-days, Conducting basic Finance tasks such as: • Paying invoices • Preparing Wages • Reconciling Bank Statement (income

and expenditure) • Reconciling Petty Cash • Identifying and highlighting any

Debtors • Preparation of monthly invoices to all

Parents • Requisition forms • Actions in relation to the appointment

of new staff or committee members (including Disclosures)

• Ensuring necessary Insurance is in place and renewed as scheduled

• Update committee on system and issues at committee meetings

• Backup of all admin system files • Ensuring all requirements of Compa-

nies House are actioned timeously • Any other necessary admin tasks. Should you be interested in this role please contact the Secretary Gillian Cruickshank via email -‘cruicky1902@hotmail.co.uk’ Closing date: Monday 14th September Other Key Contacts: Gillian Penny – Chairperson Tony Synnott - Treasurer

BEITH ARTS GUILD PROGRAMME

2009/10

ALL PROGRAMMES COMMENCE AT 2.30PM IN

BEITH COMMUNITY CENTRE UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

Sunday 27th September The Swing Cats – Andrew Sisters Style. Sunday 18th October Emma Veerstag (soprano), Robin Veerstag (piano), and Louise Burnett (flute). In Beith Trinity Church. Sunday 22nd November Pat MacMahon (soprano), Walter Blair (piano and organ), and Mark O’Keeffe (trumpet). In Beith Trinity Church. Sunday 24th January Philip Contini and his Be Happy Band. Popular Italian songs and in-strumental pieces. Sunday 21st February Scottish Reed Trio. Sunday 21st March Bobby Wishart and his Jazz Group. Sunday 24th April A.G.M. and Concert. TICKETS:- £8, CONCESSIONS £6, CHILDREN £1. Can be obtained at the door.

Tai Chi Class

Starts on Thursday 3rd September, from 7.30pm till 8.30pm at Barrmill Community Ctre, Beith Road, Barrmill. Tutor is Linda (who took the class at Lochwinnoch). If anyone is interested in coming along, you would be most welcome. For further information, please contact Jean on 01505 502521 or Margaret on 01505 506923.

Barrmill Community Association

ELDERLY FORUM The Tbar resumes on Tuesday 8th September at 10am.

The Forum monthly meeting is on Thursday 24th September at 1pm in the McKillop. At the time of writing, we are looking forward to the bus run to Oban. Over 50 of the members have booked a place hop-ing it will be a dry day. There should further news of the opening of the ROAR (Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire) lunch club, which is likely to be in late Oc-tober. This gives time for all admini-stration etc. to take place. We now have 71 members. £2 buys membership for the year to include the meetings (usually with a speaker), Christmas lunch and at least one outing. Anyone over 55 can join either at the Tbar or at one of the meetings. Gordon Nicholl Tel: 842632

La Dolce Vita enters national

Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition

  La Dolce Vita in High Street, Loch-winnoch has joined the fish frying elite from across the UK by participat-ing in the Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition 2009. The Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition, now in its 22nd success-ful year, recognises the shops produc-ing the best fish and chips across the UK. Shops are judged on their sustain-able sourcing practices, customer ser-vice, hygiene, staff training and most importantly the quality of their fish and chips. Fish and chip lovers help choose final-ists by voting for their local fish and chip shop throughout the summer and the competition reaches its nail-biting climax at the prestigious awards cere-mony in London in January 2010. The accolade of the best fish and chip shop in the UK can have an enormous impact on business. Previous winners have seen their sales increase by 40% within months of winning the compe-tition. The whole team at La Dolce Vita will be working extremely hard to promote their business and encourage their val-ued customers to take part by voting for them. The customer voting round runs from 21st August to 4th September. To register your vote, head down to La Dolce Vita and complete a voting form whilst collecting your delicious fish and chips!

LOCHWINNOCH SWRI

The first meeting of the new session is on Wednesday 16th September at 7.30pm in the McKillop Hall and will feature local designer, Katherine Hardie, and her hand-crafted silver jewellery. As well as telling us all about her craft, Katherine will have her jewellery for sale.

There will also be an exhibition of items made by Rural members, showing an impressive range of crafts and skills.

The competitions are: a Jar of Apri-cot Jam and a Fresh Flower Arrange-ment in a Miniature Bottle. Visitors are always welcome so why not come along and see what we do?

SILENT AUCTION On Saturday 17th October

from 10am to 3pm at Lochwinnoch Parish Church

Halls

This event was a great success a few years ago and we hope to run it along the same lines. Please look out any quality items, i.e. furniture, pictures, bric-a-brac, jew-ellery - in fact, anything - to help us in this fund-raising project! If you have any problems with stor-age or items too big, etc., please con-tact Norma Bell (Tel: 01505 842558) or a Fundraising Commit-tee Member, who will arrange pick-up/storage. So far, we have got some lovely 3-piece suites, extra bric-a-brac, cooker, 2 coffee tables and, for all the Rangers fans, there is a signed football shirt from Kris Boyd! Come on, start redding-out that attic or cupboard now and help us in this project.

Many thanks from the Fundraising Committee at

Lochwinnoch Parish Church

Lochwinnoch Millennium Events Group

Antiques, Curios and Crafts A dynamic selection of oils, watercolours and

limited edition prints. Bespoke crafts by local artisans, vintage and

contemporary jewellery. Well worth discovering for yourself.

The Barn on the Farm, open 10am till late every day

Contact Greta Logan on Tel: 01505 683338 Mob: 07786 720586

e-mail: greta@thestirrupcup.co.uk www.thestirrupcup.co.uk

West Bankside Farm, Geirston Road, Kilbirnie, KA25 7LQ

Just opposite the Golf Course on the Largs Road.

SILVER   (PART 1)

Silver is one of the earliest metals to have been used by man, re-quiring only simple technology to extract it from its ores. Indeed evidence shows use from the 3rd millennium B.C. The ancient Greeks exploited the rich deposits of silver to be found in and around Athens and it was the discovery of a seam at Laurium, near Athens, which paid for a new fleet. It enabled the Greeks to defeat the Persian navy at the Battle of Artemisium in September 480 BC, saving the country and arguably, as a result, saving civilization!! Apart from Greece, other early sources of the precious metal were in Britain and Iberia. The 16th century saw the discovery in the Spanish Americas of new sources and vast quantities were brought back. During the 19th century huge deposits were discovered in Mexico, North America and Australia. It is as a result of all these deposits that the value of silver today per ounce, is far less than it ever has been in the past. Silver is one of the most malleable and ductile of all materials, in other words it can be beaten out into sheets and drawn out into wire with ease – in the case of the former to the thinnest of leaves and the latter to wires so thin that a powerful microscope is required even to see them. One Troy ounce (31.1 grams) of silver may be drawn out into a wire forty miles long!! The properties of silver mean that a craftsman may work it into virtually any shape or form that his imagination can create. When polished it reflects light better than any other material and it grows old gracefully. It does not easily tarnish, especially if stored in pure cotton or acid-free tissue, and cleans up relatively easily. It can be ornamented by engraving, chasing (making marks without taking out any metal) and embossing (raising the surface by using a hammer on the reverse side). To gild it, gold is mixed with mer-cury and spread onto the surface, the article is heated and mercury is dispersed into poisonous fumes leaving the gold clinging to the silver permanently. The great disadvantage with gold is not its high cost, which many over the centuries have been well able to afford, but its weight. Gold after Platinum is the heaviest substance known to man. Vol-ume for volume it is about half as heavy again as silver. It is not therefore surprising that the use of gold is normally confined to small objects such as jewellery and objects de vertu (decorative bottles and containers, etc). There are in fact less than one hundred known pieces of antique British gold in the form of large objects, such as teapots, cups and candlesticks, any number of which are produced in silver. It is easy therefore to see why silver has always been and still is the preferred material of most craftsmen and artisans.

Thank You for Telling Us What You Think !

Over 200 people have completed the survey, either replying online or on paper. That is an incredible response for any survey so a big thank you to everyone who took part. We are in the process of collating the replies to identify the main areas where people would like to see change in the village. We will publish a detailed review of the survey in next month’s Chatterbox and on the web-site.

You will also be able to pick up a summary of the findings in the library and in the McKillop.

Thanks once again to all those who participated.

Lochwinnoch Scottish Country Dance Club classes resumed on Tuesday lst September

in the McKillop Hall, Lochwinnoch from 7.30pm till 9.30pm with our new teacher,

Mr Les Lambert from Kilbarchan. We meet every Tuesday evening and would be de-lighted to welcome new and past members for an enjoyable evening. This an inexpensive evening out with a very sociable group where we have laughter, exercise and take part in learning tradi-tional Scottish Country Dancing. Why not come and join us.

Bankside Stables is a family run livery yard, approved by the British Horse Society,

with 24/7 supervision. Full-time, Part-time and Assisted Livery at DIY

rates offered.

For further details, please contact John Logan Tel: 01505 685371 Mob: 07990 501240

E-mail: john@thestirrupcup.co.uk www.banksidestables.vpweb.co.uk

West Bankside Farm, Geirston Road, Kilbirnie, KA25 7LQ

Just opposite the Golf Course on the Largs Road.

Councillor Arthur’s Report

I am absolutely ecstatic that, with the support of Lochwinnoch Com-munity Council and the Local Area Committee, the centre of our vil-lage will benefit financially to the tune of £75,000 following the suc-cessful application to the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Re-generation Fund and a contribution from Renfrewshire Council. The Council will manage the delivery of environmental improvement works around the McKillop Hall, which will create a focal point for our village that can be used for public events and other positive ac-tivities and will represent the first phase of a range of community focussed initiatives that will assist the sustained regeneration of the village. The timescale is fairly tight as the £75,000 needs to be spent by April, the end of this financial year. The project is currently at the design stage and once the proposals are available there will be a public consultation/exhibition evening around the middle of Octo-ber. The start date is the beginning of January and the work is esti-mated to take around 4 months to complete. An update will follow in October’s Chatterbox.

Congratulation’s to Lochwinnoch’s Andrew Holmes, for winning a gold medal rowing for Great Britain in the Men’s Junior 4 at the World Junior Rowing Championships which recently took place in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France. Andrew’s crew was the fastest going into the final and they won impressively beating a fast finishing Roma-nian crew by three seconds. Australia took the bronze. Continuing the family’s sporting success, Andrew’s sister Rachel was recently playing for the Scotland under 21 Netball Team at the World Youth Championships in the Cook Islands. Another fantastic achievement, well done Rachel. Two speed-activated signs have now been installed on the Johnshill in Lochwinnoch to encourage speeding drivers to slow down. This was one of the outcomes from the public meeting held by The Loch-winnoch Partnership, which consists of the Police, Renfrewshire Council and Lochwinnoch Community Council. The Johnshill is a very busy road which has a number of drivers who exceed the 30mph speed limit in both directions. These drivers pose a real danger to the pedestrians as well as the residents who have difficulties getting in and out of their own driveways. The purpose of these signs is to encourage drivers to slow down, remain within the speed limit and to drive safely within our village. The signs also allow us to collect data on an ongoing basis. Our work within this area is ongoing and will remain within our focus. I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with 11 International vol-unteers who were carrying out restoration and upgrade work within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park through the auspices of Xchange Scotland. I joined them for a morning’s work within Parkhill Woods where they were resurfacing a path and adding the finishing touches to a drystane dyke seat which overlooks the pond at the grotto. It was not all work however, as the group joined the Sailing Club and Rowing Club on the water as well as enjoying events such as the Knights and Princesses Fun Day and a bit of ceilidh dancing. The volunteers had travelled from Austria, Belgium, Germany, USA, Spain, Catalonia and France. As chairman of Clyde Muirshiel Park Authority, my thanks go to all the staff who made their visit such a great experience for them as well as a roaring success. Congratulations to the following residents who picked up prizes in this the 81st year of the council’s Annual Garden Competition which is run by Renfrewshire Council’s Department of Housing and Prop-erty Services.

Mr & Mrs Parr, 24 Harvey Terrace, picked up the first prize in the category of Best Flower Garden in Lochwinnoch for the second year in a row while Bert Matthews, 60 Crookhill Gardens, is a treble winner, once again. Bert won The Alastair Nimmo Trophy for Best Gar-den in Lochwinnoch for the 3rd year in a row and has won it 6 times overall and also for the last 3 years has won the Gryffe Trophy for the Best Com-plete Garden in the Landward Area and first place for the Best Flower and Vegetable Garden in Loch-winnoch. My next Surgery is not until Saturday 19th Septem-ber at the McKillop Hall, but if you require my help before then, you can contact me on 843507 and we can agree a time when we can meet.

Councillor David Arthur

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Q From the Parish Church

I can make a difference,

you can make a difference, we can make a difference

in this world of ours.

Stephen Fischbacher © Fischy Music 2008, used with permission

During the week beginning 9th August over 50 children came together for the Summer Holiday Club, run jointly with Calder Church and the Parish Church. Using the music of Stephen Fischbacher the children explored the story of Joseph and reflected on what we can learn from that story about our own lives. The story of Joseph is well known through the musical “Joseph and His Amazing Dream Coat”. As many of you will remember, Joseph was Jacob’s favourite son and so he had a coat made for Joseph. Worse, Joseph was a dreamer and he shared those dreams with his bothers including one where his brothers sheaves of corn stood up and bowed down to his own. To make matters worse, he had an-other dream in which the sun, the moon and his brothers stars all bowed down to Joseph. Even I have to agree that I would have found Joseph some-what arrogant and his own father told him to watch what he was saying. His brothers had had enough. They planned to kill him. However, the eldest brother, Reuben, persuaded the others to sell Joseph to a slave trader instead. To cut a long story short, Joseph was bought by Potiphar who was so impressed by Joseph that he put him in charge of his household, until Potiphar’s wife made false accusations against Joseph. Joseph was imprisoned. Yet again he so impressed the gaoler that he was put in charge of the other prisoners. Then there was a glimmer of hope. Two men, who had both worked in Pharaoh’s household had strange dreams. They asked Joseph what they meant. He has good news for the cup-bearer – he would be restored to his former position. Sadly there was bad news for the baker. He would be hanged.

The cup-bearer promised to remem-ber Joseph when he returned to Phar-aoh’s service. Yet as soon as he was restored, he forgot all about Joseph. Day after day, Joseph must have wondered, “Is this the day they will come and set me free?’ And day af-ter long weary day he was left. For another two years. Until Pharaoh had his famous dream about the seven fat cows being eaten by the skinny cows and the seven fat ears of corn being eaten by the sickly corn. Who could explain what this meant? It was then the cup-bearer remembered Joseph. Pharaoh summoned him to interpret the dreams and in an amazing show of faith, Joseph replied, “It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favourable answer.” As we know, Joseph predicted 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. He advised Pharaoh to stock up during the first seven years so that there would be enough to eat during the second. Pharaoh then put Joseph in charge of the famine relief. I have always found the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” to be a little too trite, yet that is exactly what Joseph did every time he encountered a set back. It would have been so easy for Joseph to blame his brothers, to blame Potiphar’s wife, to blame the cup-bearer and above all to blame God for his predicament. Yet Joseph never stopped trusting God. Joseph always accepted the situation in which he found himself and made the best of things. And his dreams did come true. One of the tragedies of life is that bad things happen to good people. One of the strangest things that we experience is seeing people prosper when they have not always stuck to the rules. Perhaps the most difficult thing we can ever do is to let go of resentment and not blame other peo-ple for the situations in which we find ourselves. As the children learned, Joseph let go of any resent-ment and decided he could and would make a difference to the world and he chose to make a differ-ence for the better.

Throughout history men and women have had big dreams and those dreams have come true:

William Wilberforce had a dream to end slavery; Edward Jenner had a dream to end disease and due to his work the world is free of small pox; Nelson Mandela dreamed of a world where all people are born equal; ordinary men and women had a dream of ending fascism in Europe, despite the might of the German army and the strength of the SS. What are your dreams for the world, for our village? In God’s world no-thing is too great – remember ordinary men and women have already eradicated slavery, smallpox, apartheid and freed the world from the Nazi tyranny. So come on, let’s join Joseph, let’s be big headed, let’s dream big and remember that when we dream BIG – God is already in our dreams and we can make a difference to this world of ours!

Enjoy your dreams.

Rev. Christine Murdoch

J Quinn & son Memorials

TEENAGE CANCER TRUST NEWS

Yorkhill Unit Frustratingly, there have been a few problems with the finishing details of the new unit, which has led to a delay in the installation of all the specialist medical equipment. Completion date is now expected to be October, with the formal opening date in November. The good news is that we have reached our target of £350,000 as the local contribution to the cost of the unit construction. The not so good news is that we have to raise addi-tional funds to help pay for specialist staff at Yorkhill and the Beatson, as well as the start of the campaign for the unit at the proposed new Hospital for Sick Children, so the fundraising goes on... The Boston Marathon The date of the rowing marathon is now only a couple of weeks away - 20th September - and what seemed like a good idea 6 months ago is fast becoming a frightening reality. This marathon course is actually 50 kilometres (31 miles) long, which is obviously a fair bit longer than a road marathon, and given that I am a com-plete novice, I need every bit of en-couragement I can muster. There are sponsorship forms kicking about the village, and I have set up another website to accept donations online at: http://www.justgiving.com/ jd-boston-marathon

As ever I am extremely grateful for your help and support.

Karl Jenkins The great man has again volunteered his time and wonderful talent to help TCT in Scotland. This year, we are flit-ting through to Edinburgh to stage 'The Armed Man' at the Usher Hall on the evening of Remembrance Sunday, 8th November, and all proceeds of the event will go to the TCT's East of Scot-land Appeal. Karl will again be conducting the Scot-tish Philharmonic Orchestra together with massed Scottish Choirs - includ-ing our own St Winnoch Singers! In addition to the main piece, there will be a full programme including Walton's - 'Spitfire Prelude and Fugue', and we are delighted to again have the wonderful young classical guitarist Ian Watt, performing

Vanda’s Mobile Hairdressing Ladies and Gents.

LOCHWINNOCH, BEITH,

KILBIRNIE and HOWWOOD

25 years’ hairdressing experience Book now for an appointment.

Tel: 01505 842329

Villa-Lobos' Guitar Concerto.

Tickets for the concert are now on sale from the Usher Hall Box Office. Tickets can be booked by telephone on: 0131 228 1155 or online at: https://www.tickets.usherhall.co. uk/public/hall.asp As the village choir is taking part, there will be at least one coach going through to the concert from Loch-winnoch. Due to the need for the choir to attend the afternoon re-hearsal - yes, contrary to popular opinion, we do rehearse - the coach will be leaving the village in the early afternoon. Those wishing to come along are welcome to travel on the coach and make a day of it in Edin-burgh. (Apparently it is a nice place to visit, although you wouldn't want to live there.) Alternatively, if there is sufficient demand, another coach can be booked for those who just want to go for the concert in the eve-ning. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. NB. Those intending to travel to Edinburgh should NOT expect to be offered tea ! Thank Youse ! Finally, for the moment, a big thank you to Ann Miller and the staff from Lochwinnoch Surgery for collecting a further £633.50 from the strag-glers in their Round-Cumbrae cy-cle in June. (It must have been right windy around the other side of the island!) That brings the total raised to a magnificent £1,305.50, plus the 'Gift Aid' tax relief, which is yet to be collected from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. Thank you to all who took part, and to all who sponsored them.

Thanks also to everyone in and around the village for the many indi-vidual donations, who have asked not to be named. All are very much appreciated.

John Delaney

BRIDGE CLUB IN LOCHWINNOCH

UPDATE It’s been a number of months since I last provided any information about progress on setting up a Bridge Club in Lochwinnoch. Please accept my apologies for the lack of news but I have been trying to liaise with the Scottish Bridge Union (the official body for bridge in Scotland), to seek their assistance in setting up a new club and I am still hopeful that I may get a response later. Due to the length of time that has elapsed, I would like to get confirma-tion that those people who have al-ready contacted me are still interested, and for new people, who didn’t contact me before, to get in touch. My inten-tion is to send out a note detailing what has been done so far and to get your views on a number of issues that will need to be addressed, e.g. most suitable day, venue, etc. Please could you contact me by e-mail at: rogerandjune@ukonline.co.uk or com-plete the slip below and either send it to me at 3 McConnell Road, Lochwin-noch or hand it in to the Chatterbox Drop-box in the Library for my collec-tion. Roger Evans

LOCHWINNOCH BRIDGE CLUB NAME ………………………………. ADDRESS ……………………..………………… ………………..……………………… CONTACT DETAILS -

Tel: …………………………………. E-mail ……………...………………………..

VILLAGE EVENT CALENDAR for 2009

Lochwinnoch Post Office has a wall-mounted planner, where mem-bers of the public can enter details of forthcoming events.

Please use this planner to avoid any clashes when choosing dates to hold events, and to help publicise your own events in and around the village and local area.

LOCHWINNOCH ART GROUP

NEWS The first evening of the new session starts on Monday 7th September at 7.30pm in the McKillop Institute.

The opening topic by Christine Brown will be on Presentation of Artwork for Exhibition and how to price artworks for sale.

Another meeting will be held on the following Monday 14th September. The topic for that evening will be "Holiday Theme" in own choice of medium.

Lochwinnoch Art Group's Annual Exhibition will be held in 'The Library Room', Lochwinnoch Library and will run from -

Wednesday 23rd September until Saturday 10th October.

The next Art Group meeting will take place after the exhibition, on Monday 12th October at the usual time of 7.30pm - 9.30pm. As usual we invite new members to come along and see what we are about. Existing members who wish to exhibit in our exhibition will be able to collect information sheets at our first meeting. If you have not already done so, get those paint brushes out and get paint-ing !

Christine Brown Lochwinnoch Art Group

Chairperson

What’s On

(Regular Clubs, classes and local groups)

• Lochwinnoch Community

Walks - Mondays (ex. Public Holidays), 10.30 am at The Cross.

• Lochwinnoch Playgroup - For under 5’s, every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9.30-11.30am at the McKillop Institute.

• Lochwinnoch Toddlers - Mon-days and Wednesdays from 9.30 - 11.30am, McKillop Institute.

• Lochwinnoch Gymnastics Club - For primary school-age children every Monday,5-8pm at the Annexe. Phone Coby for de-tails on: 0772 9051615.

• Lochwinnoch Writers Group—Monday mornings from 9.30-11.30am in the Library.

• Morag’s Keep Fit - Mondays and Thursdays from 7pm, in the McKillop Institute.

• Lochwinnoch Choral Society. Rehearsals on Monday evenings, Parish Church/ Hall. Juniors 7-7.30pm, Intermediates 7.30-8.30pm and Seniors from 8pm.

• Lochwinnoch Art Group Meet fortnightly on Monday eve-nings, 7.30pm, McKillop Inst. *

• Advice Works - Tuesdays 10am -12.30 at the Library. *

• Drop-in T Bar - Lochwinnoch Elderly Forum. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am-1pm, McKillop Inst. For details, Tel Reta: 01505 842054.*

• Baby and Toddler Rhyme-time - every Tuesday, 2.15pm at Lochwinnoch Library. *

• Linda Margaret School of Dancing - Tuesdays from 4pm-8.45pm, McKillop Institute. For details, Tel: 0141 581 9104.

• TaeKwon-Do Fitness and Self-defence classes for all. Tuesdays from 5-6pm, McKillop Institute. For details Tel: 01259 210716.

• Lochwinnoch Scottish Coun-try Dance Club Every Tuesday, from 7.30-9.30pm, McKillop Inst*

• Boys Brigade - Anchor Boys and Junior Sections meet on Tues-day nights and Company Section on Friday evenings, Parish Church Hall.

• Girls Brigade - 1st Loch-winnoch Company Wednesday evenings from 6pm-9.15pm at the Parish Church Hall for vari-ous age groups.

• Yoga Classes - Wednesday evenings - 2 classes at 6pm & at 7.30pm. Yoga, breathing prac-tice, intro. to meditation. All welcome. For more details, con-tact Mary on: 01505 842877.

• Happy Harminis - Fun for pre-school children. Thursdays from 10am-11am in the McKillop Institute. Contact Frankie Plater for details: 01505 612248.

• Slinky Strollers - on Thurs-days (see back page for details).

• Calder Drama Club—Thursdays, from 8pm-10pm McKillop Institute.

• Scottish Slimmers - Thurs-days, 7/7.30pm, McKillop Inst.

• Lochwinnoch Pre-School Gymnastics ( for children from 18 mths to 5 yrs). Fridays, from 10.15am - 1.45pm at the Annexe. Further details from Coby on Tel: 0772 9051615.

LOCHWINNOCH PARISH CHURCH

We have been celebrating our 200th anniversary on our present site in Church Street and we are finish-ing the year with a Grand Songs of Praise, celebrat-ing 200 years of Hym-nody.

On Sunday 4th October

there will be choir pieces as well as congregational singing. Ian McCrorie will be conduction with Cameron Murdoch at the organ. We are inviting the churches from the surrounding area to join us along with members of the Lochwinnoch Singers. Don’t miss the chance to come and have a good sing, or just listen, and help to start us into the next century. Further information available next month.

5 Church Street, Lochwinnoch Tel: 01505 842047

Beer Garden Open Daily ◊ Kid’s Play Area

50” Plasma Screen ◊ Pool ◊ Darts

LIVE SKY SPORTS ON 2 TVs - SKY + and SKY HD Come and enjoy all sports, all season -

Games & sports showing will be posted on chalkboards weekly.

Meals Served

Monday, Wednesday & Thursday from 12noon - 3pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon - 7.30pm

(closed on Tuesdays)

What’s on Every Monday - FREE PLAY Juke Box

Every Tuesday - FREE PLAY Pool and Darts Every Wednesday - LIVE PUB POKER (MTTP) from 7.30pm

Every Friday - LIVE PUB POKER LEAGUE (LPPL) from 7.30pm

Entertainment

Every Saturday LIVE BANDS & ENTERTAINMENT - check out the chalkboards for weekly details!

Dates for your diaries

• Thursday 3rd September—

Morag’s Keep Fit Thursday eve-nings resume at 7pm, McKillop.

• Saturday 5th September—Krafty Kids morning classes re-sume at the McKillop Inst. from 10-11.30am.

• Saturday 5th September - Councillor Neil Bibby’s Advice Surgery, at 9am, McKillop Inst. Tel: Cllr Bibby on 0141 840 3653.

• Sunday 6th September - Lochwinnoch Farmers’ Market - 11am till 2.30pm or sold out at Castle Semple Centre. *

• Monday 7th September - Lochwinnoch Art Group classes resume at 7.3opm, McKillop Inst *

• Tuesday 8th September - The Elderly Forum T-Bar resumes at 10am, McKillop Inst. *

• Sunday 13th September - Healing and Creativity Workshop 9am - 12 noon in Lochwinnoch. * (See main notice for further details of all classes and workshops.)

• Monday 14th September - Lochwinnoch Art Group meeting, 7.30pm, McKillop Inst. *

• Wednesday 16th September - Lochwinnoch SWRI meeting at 7.30pm in the McKillop Inst. *

• Thursday 17th September - Lochwinnoch Historical Society meeting entitled “The Wandering Scot”. 7.30pm, in the Guild Room of the Parish Church. *

• Friday 18th September - Prize Bingo Night at the Masonic Club, 7.30 for 8pm. Tickets from the usual sources.

• Saturday 19th September —Councillor Arthur’s Surgery from 11.30am, the McKillop Institute. *

• Saturday 19th September—Krafty Kids afternoon classes re-sume at the McKillop Inst. From 1.30-3pm.

• Wednesday 23rd September-Saturday 10th October Lochwinnoch Art Group Annual Exhibition at the Library. *

• Thursday 24th September - Lochwinnoch Elderly Forum meeting at 1pm in the McKillop Institute. *

• Saturday 26th—Monday 28th September Lochwin-noch Library will be closed due to Public Holiday.

• Sunday 27th September - Berry Tweed and the Chasers perform at Soul Aid at Paisley Town Hall to raise funds for St Vincent’s Hospice. *(See sepa-rate notice for more details.)

• Saturday 3rd October - Councillor Neil Bibby’s Advice Surgery, at 9am, McKillop Insti-tute. * (Tel: Councillor Bibby on 0141 840 3653.)

• Sunday 4th October - 200th Anniversary Grand Songs of Praise at Lochwinnoch Parish Church. *

• Tuesday 6th October - Loch-winnoch Community Council meeting, 7.30pm in the Guild Room of the Parish Church.

• Saturday 17th October - Silent Auction by Lochwinnoch Parish Church Fundraising Committee from 10am-3pm at the Parish Church Hall. *

* For further details, see separate notices inside this issue of Chatterbox.

THE LEGEND OF THE GREEN LADY OF

SMUGGLER'S GLEN by

DEREK PARKER The meandering Maich Water in the hills above Lochwinnoch is a romantic spot.

Silver summertime cataracts cascade down rocky precipices into sparkling pools overhung by trees. Dazzling sunlight filtering through leaf-laden branches illuminates the gilded waters of iridescent linns. Birds sing merrily in woodland bowers and fragrant flowers like ramsons, bluebells and anemones garland grassy banks by the waterside. But the tree-canopied gorge is less tranquil in winter. Especially when the wild wind howls eerily through leafless branches on gloomy afternoons. Or on dark, starless nights when the spine-chilling screeches of marauding owls and the blood-curdling screams of prowling foxes mingle with the awesome roar of the water in spate plunging into foaming, churning pools with thunderous roars.

That's when you realise Nature has another face - a sombre and fearsome side which the country-side's fair-weather visitor seldom experiences. That's when you remember that dark deeds were perpetrated in the Maich's sable-shrouded ravines in distant ep-ochs.

The forbidding atmosphere of death and doom is especially noticeable at the Smuggler's Glen, just beyond the ancient stone bridge which carries the Lochwinnoch to Kilbirnie Road across the river, close to Lady-land House.

The glen gets its name from the fact that, during the 18th and 19th centuries, it was used as a hiding place for illicit cargoes of contraband goods such as tobacco, whisky, brandy, rum and textiles. The untaxed merchandise was secreted in caves and rocky hollows by

gangs of ferocious rough-and-ready smugglers who were so savage and ruthless that even the customs and excise men who tried to prevent the trans-port of illicit goods were afraid of them. The merchandise, which was brought inland from the Ayrshire coast, was later transported to destinations in Paisley and Glasgow. But the Smuggler's Glen is as-sociated with deeds far more foul - like terrible acts of mur-der, lust, rage, hatred, blood-shed and revenge. So it's no surprise to learn that the vicinity is said to be the haunt of a ghostly Green Lady - a beautiful female phantom wearing an emerald robe who is said to rise from the watery depths and glide across the dark waters of the deep pool at the foot of the waterfall which plunges down the moss-mantled cliff in tumbling torrents. Green Lady ghosts are not un-common throughout the British countryside. Some students of the supernatural identify them with the Earth Mother Goddess of the pre-Christian era who was banished into remote realms of the land after the coming of Christianity. Others believe they are the spectres of naiads, or water goddesses, who dwelled in rivers and burns. These elfin ethereals, who were the ser-vants of the Earth Mother, re-ceived on her behalf jewellery, ornaments and other votive offerings thrown into sacred pools by men, women and

children of prehistoric times wanting to appease the Great Goddess and ensure she would bestow sufficient rain to make their crops grow. Memories of this ancient ritual linger on today when we throw coins into ornamental wells and make wishes. Another theory is that the Green Lady was linked to a pre-Reformation Our Lady or Virgin Mary religious cult in the neighbourhood several centuries ago. Hundreds of years ago there was a little chapel with a statue-studded chapel at a quiet sanctuary in the woodland over-looking the Smuggler's Glen. That is why the area is still known today as Lady Land. It is speculated the Green Lady is a symbolic evocation of the exile of Our Lady from public worship following the triumph of the 1560 Reformation in Scotland. But her spirit lingers on in the neighbour-hood where she was venerated. The Green Lady may also be the ghost of one of the nuns who lived, prayed and worshipped at the little chapel in the greenwood in the days when the Old Faith still reigned. But there are more sinister ex-planations. It was said that the Green Lady was the ghost of a beautiful girl drowned in the Smuggler's Glen by a re-jected suitor. Another story says the girl was a young gipsy slain by an aristocrat who made her pregnant then killed her to pro-tect his social standing in the community. Yet another version says the maiden was herself betrayed by a sweetheart. Broken-hearted and grief-stricken, she leapt into the pool at the Smuggler's Glen and drowned herself. Paisley poet Robert Tannahill, whose mother's relatives lived at Langcroft Farm, Lochwinnoch, was aware of the legend of the Green Lady. He penned a tragic ballad about two rustic sweet-hearts named Connel and Flora

SAVE YOUR REGIONAL PARK

CAMPAIGN

Millour Hill 2 Windfarm, Dalry Community Windpower Ltd (CWL) have appealed to the Scottish Gov-ernment against North Ayrshire Council’s refusal of the Millour Hill application for 6 turbines adjoining their Wardlaw Wood windfarm (6 turbines). Their lawyer is Marcus Trinick, now working for Eversheds LLP. To the Editor, it is extraordinary that Marcus Trinick has taken on this appeal because at the Kelburn wind-farm PLI he and his team main-tained that there was no more room for windfarms in the park other than the Kelburn windfarm, and they were critical of the poor quality of ground recovery schemes at Ward-law Wood windfarm, Dalry which also belongs to CWL. No doubt there will be another Public Local Inquiry in due course. Extraordinary though it may seem CWL have lodged a new application, No 09/00424/PP which was regis-tered by North Ayrshire Council (NAC). It is exactly the same as their previous Millour Hill application which was turned down by NAC ear-lier this year and which is the sub-ject of the appeal. It seems they want to have their cake and eat it. The objections for Millour Hill 1 can-not be transferred to Millour Hill 2 so we have to start again with objec-tions to this second application. Please log onto -www.saveyouregionalpark.com click objections, followed by Millour Hill 2 fill in the form and click send. PLEASE DO THIS NOW or at the very earliest opportunity.

ACCA

Upper Floor 32 High Street

Lochwinnoch PA12 4AA

Tel: 01505 843083 Fax: 01505 843045

E-mail: info@stranvillejohn.co.uk Web: www.stranvillejohn.co.uk

who regularly met in the woods above the Smuggler's Glen and shared lovers' thoughts. One day, an uncouth rival named Donald, accosted Flora as she walked through the trees to meet Connel. He tried in vain to per-suade her to leave Connel and marry him instead. When the girl refused he attacked her. Her frenzied screams as she tried to fight him off attracted Connel as he waited at their place of tryst. He ran to her aid and confronted his sweetheart's evil assailant. But to Flora’s great horror and grief, the wicked arch-villain Donald stabbed Connel with a razor-sharp knife, inflicting a fatal wound described lugubri-ously by Tannahill as 'a deep and deadly gash.' Grasping Flora's hand, Connel whispered a few final words of farewell to his sweetheart then died in the cradle of her blood-stained arms. Her grief knew no bounds. The terrifying attack on her by the vulgar Donald and the awful anguish of seeing her sweetheart murdered so brutally before her very eyes drove her mad. In the haunting words of Tannahill:

'In wild despair, she tore her hair,

Sank speechless by his side - Mild evening wept in dewy tears,

And wrapt in night she died.' But there were those who said that, although Flora died physi-cally, her anguished spirit lived on. Wandering the woods and fields around Lochwinnoch. Pining for her murdered lover. Calling his name. Haunting his slayers' descendents forever. And gliding eternally across the ghostly pool on the Maich Water. In the phantom form of the Green Lady of the Smuggler's Glen.

Derek Parker worked as a country-side ranger at Clyde Muirshiel Re-gional Park, Lochwinnoch, from 1985 to 1999.

Alternatively, If you want to write a letter please send it to:- Mr Ian Mackay, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Protective Services), North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine, Ayrshire KA12 8EE and head it up - Community Windpower Ltd – Millour Hill 2, Windfarm, Dalry 6 x 125m high Turbines, access roads, quarries, trenches, substation & anemometer. Application No: 09/00424/PP

Important Date for your Diary –

Mon 19th October, 7.30 pm at Radio City,

Kilbirnie

Save Your Regional Park cam-paign are holding a public meeting to which all members, friends, MSPs, MPs, MEPs, Councillors, Council offi-cials, Community Councillors, mem-bers of CMRP park authority and staff and all others interested in Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park’s future are invited. This is a unique opportunity to hear and question the Scottish Govern-ment’s Chief Planner for Scotland, Jim McKinnon, who has kindly agreed to give a talk on how he sees the future planning system and the role of Re-gional Parks within the overall plan for Scotland. THIS MEETING IS A MUST FOR ALL INTERESTED IN REGIONAL PARKS.

Baby & Toddler Rhyme time

At Lochwinnoch Library every Tuesday at 2.15pm

Lochwinnoch Library

NORMAL LIBRARY OPENING HOURS :

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 2pm–5pm & 6pm–8pm

Tuesday and Saturday: 10am–1pm and 2pm–5pm

Closed Thursday. Tel: 01505 842305

Renew and Reserve at

www.renfrewshwire.gov.uk/libraries

Library members can view, renew and reserve their library loans online. All you need to get started is your library membership number and a password. If you don’t have a password just ask at any library.

ADVICE WORKS

Tuesdays 10am –12.30pm Advisors are on hand to help fill in claim forms, check and advise on welfare bene-fits/money problems, etc. Advisors can provide expert advice on a wide range of debt related topics, such as credit card, mortgage arrears, council tax, etc. The service is FREE, confidential and open to all Renfrewshire residents.

New Books for September Denise Mina : Still Midnight

Alex Morrow is not new to the police force-or to crime-but there is nothing fa-miliar about the call she has just received. On a still night in a quiet suburb of Glas-gow, Scotland, three armed men have slipped from a van into a house, demand-ing a man who is not, and has never been, inside the front door. In the confusion that ensues, one family member is shot and another kidnapped, the assailants demand-ing an impossible ransom. Is this the ama-teur crime gone horribly wrong that it seems, or something much more unex-pected? David Levien : Where the dead lay

When Frank Behr's friend and mentor is murdered during a suspicious break-in, Behr seeks answers and revenge. But be-fore he can pick up the killer's scent, an exclusive private investigation firm ap-proaches him with a case: 2 of its opera-tives have gone missing. Prodded to take the case by his old boss, the Indianapolis police captain who holds the strings to returning him to the force, Behr accepts. The search for the missing detectives takes Behr into the dark recesses of Indi-anapolis' underbelly, a place rife with shocking brutality and vice. And when Behr uncovers a thread connecting the detectives to his friend's brutal murder, he is forced to confront an ominous, deadly new breed of organized crime. Peter Smalley: The Gathering Storm

Spring 1791. Though deeply disturbed by a terrible incident during his previous commission, James Hayter is nevertheless on the verge of taking command of HMS Sloop Eglantine as Master and Com-mander when personal tragedy shatters his life. The twin blows convince Hayter that he is not fit to command and he must turn his back on the sea forever. Even the in-tervention of his friend and former cap-tain, William Rennie cannot not dissuade him from derelicting his duty. Though repenting in the end of his decision, Hay-ter's career in the Navy appears to be over until the intervention of an agent, Mr Brough Mappin, working for Hayter's old nemesis, the British Secret Service Fund. Mappin's plan offers Hayter a chance to revive his career on a special mission, with the promise of reinstatement in the Royal Naval List if he is successful. But it is also the single most dangerous mission of his life.

Simon Kernick : Target

Did someone try to kill me or am I go-ing mad? When writer Rob Fallon gets drunk one night and ends up joining his friend's girlfriend, Jenny, back at her apartment in London's West End, he's feeling guilty before anything's even happened. But guilt quickly turns to shock when two men break into the apartment, abduct Jenny, and try to kill Rob. Somehow he manages to escape, but when he reports the abduction to the police no one believes him.Jenny's fa-ther claims she's on holiday abroad, her apartment appears untouched, and the doorman didn't see or hear anything. But Rob knows what he witnessed and he can't let things lie - not with Jenny's life in danger………………. Roberta Kray : Strong women

Jo Strong is the youngest widow in the East End. Running her late husband's jewellery shop, mercilessly bullied by her evil mother-in-law, she is trying to get her life back together again. But then the 14-year-old daughter of one of the East end's most notorious gangsters is kidnapped, and Jo finds herself in a deadly race against time to rescue the girl ?before it is too late. And to get her back, she'll have to join forces with damaged but handsome bad boy Gabe Miller, a man who has a dark past of his own...

PUBLIC HOLIDAY LOCHWINNOCH LIBRARY WILL

BE CLOSED ON SATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER AND ON

MONDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER.

FREE Computing Class for Complete Beginners 

 Would you, or someone you know, like to learn to email and surf the

Internet? Classes are held at Lochwinnoch Library:

Wednesdays 9.30am – 11am The course lasts for 5weeks.

For further details Tel: 01505 842305

Reading Roots Homecoming Scotland 2009 A themed collection of books cele-brating great Scottish writers past and present. Currently available at Lochwinnoch & Johnstone Libraries.

Just in ! Marilynne Robinson won the

2009 Orange Prize for Fiction and her fabulous book, entitled

“Home” is now in stock at

Lochwinnoch Library.

Write to: 2014 Mile End Mill, 12 Seedhill Road, Paisley, PA1 1JS Tel: 0141 561 0333. E-mail: dalexandermp@talk21.com

or come to one of my advice surgeries.

L o c h w i n n o c h r e s i d e n t s - Can I help? If so, please don’t h e s i t a t e t o g e t i n t o u c h .

Douglas Alexander, Lochwinnoch’s MP

Lochwinnoch Historical Society

The Society begins the 2009-2010 season with a talk from Jim Grant of the Maritime Museum. It's entitled "The Wandering Scot" The first meeting takes place on Thursday 17th September at 7.30pm in the Guild Room of The Parish Church. Visitors are wel-come for the evening and the £2 charge includes tea/coffee and bis-cuits.

Annual membership, however, is good value at £8 for the seven meet-ings. September - April, excluding December. If interested call Gordon Nicholl on Tel: 842632.

Berry Tweed and the Chasers

UK's biggest Northern Soul Band are playing Paisley Town Hall on the Sep-tember bank holiday weekend on Sunday 27th September for the local St Vincent's Hospice. The event is being promoted as Soul Aid and the big band will be perform-ing Northern Soul classics with a touch of Mowtown to celebrate fifty years of Mowtown for a very worthy local cause. The band have recently returned from playing gigs and festi-vals around the country from Bridling-ton to Blackpool and of course Loch-winnoch with the latest show at the Wickerman Festival in the Scooter Tent.

The band have had their CD, recorded earlier in the year, played live on

ST VINCENT’S HOSPICE NEWS

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Lochwinnoch Shop We are looking for additional volun-teers to help in our charity shop situ-ated on High Street, Lochwinnoch. We also require help at the Hospice in the kitchen, housekeeping and Barn T-Room. How ever much time, great or small, volunteers can offer it is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Please contact Christine Haddock, Volunteer Co-ordinator, on 01505 705635 or call into the shop for an application form. ANNUAL GRAND DRAW RESULTS The Draw took place on Friday 14th August 2009 in the hospice grounds with winning tickets drawn by Trudy Lafferty who is the Director of Hospice Services.

1st Prize – Kia Picanto – winning ticket number 25237 – Mr William Parrott from Kilbarchan 2nd Prize – 32” Television – winning ticket number 31235 – Mr Robert Welsh from Coventry 3rd Prize – Table Football Game – winning ticket number 37919 – Mr Jim Cunningham, Elderslie. On hearing the good news, Mr Parrott said “I am absolutely stunned at win-ning. When I received the phone call from Lorraine it took my breath away. I am overjoyed and glad to be support-ing St Vincent’s Hospice and the great

work they do especially as we have had friends who have had the benefit of the great work they do.” Lorraine Valentine, Fundraiser at St. Vincent’s Hospice added - “We are extremely grateful to Mr Parrott and to all our supporters who entered the draw which has raised £23,000 for St. Vincent’s Hospice. Every penny raised for our work is very much appreciated and much needed to help us to continue to provide the high level of care to our patients and their families. 2009 sees St. Vincent’s celebrating 21 years of providing palliative care to the people of Renfrew-shire, we are extremely grateful for the continued support and generosity we received from our supporters.” RUNNING EVENTS The ‘Great Scottish Run’ on Sunday 6th September 2009 starting in George Square, Glasgow and the ‘Big

Fun Run’ on Sunday 4th of October 2009 in Bellahouston Park are ap-proaching. To enter, all you need to do is call or visit the respective websites - see be-low. Then contact Lorraine or Ashley at St Vincent’s Hospice on Tel: 01505 705635 or by email at: lorraine.valentine@svh.co.uk or ashley.moran@svh.co.uk for sponsor forms and t-shirts. Great Scottish Run – 0845 270 0166, www.runglasgow.org

Big Fun Run – 01620 890 788, www.bigfunrun.com These events are fantastic opportuni-ties to get people running or jogging for a good cause. Last year millions of pounds were raised for charities by runners who went the extra mile for organisations such as St Vincent’s Hospice.

national Italian radio and more re-cently on BBC Radio's Craig Charles show. Berry Tweed and the Chasers were quoted by Craig (of Red Dwarf Fame) on his show as "the funkiest thing to come out of Scotland since the Average White Band!"

Berry Tweed and the Chasers are all local, living in Lochwinnoch, Johns- tone and the Paisley area and are look-ing forward to playing to a home crowd.

Tickets are only £6 and are available in advance from Laura, (Ms Berry Tweed) the bands singer, at the Brown Bull Pub, or by contacting Lorraine Valentine at the St Vincent's Hospice on 01505 705635 or tickets are avail-able on the door on the night. So dig out the glad rags and dance the night away with Berry Tweed and the Chasers and special guests at Paisley Town Hall on Sunday 27 September.

Bag it and bin it - don't flush it

Did you know? * A staggering 300 million items of sanitary waste are flushed down Scot-tish toilets every year. * The waste water drain which runs from your house is just 4 inches wide, and it's only designed for human waste and toilet roll. * Sanitary waste can cause blockages, damage screens that are used to filter out waste, block sewers and, during heavy rainfall, escape and pollute rivers and beaches. This causes health risks, harms wildlife and is unsightly.

What can be flushed: Human waste; Toilet paper (not too much and not the moist, extra strong type). Never flush: * Sanitary items - towels, tampons, applicators, panty liners, backing strips, * Disposable nappies and liners * All wipes, including baby, bathroom and toilet * Condoms and femidoms * Cotton buds and cotton wool * Razors and toothbrushes * Contact lenses * Colostomy bags & incontinence pads * Used bandages and plasters * Syringes and needles * Medicines The best way to dispose of personal items: * Sanitary towels, tampons and panty liners - bag it and bin it. * Condoms, incontinence pads and used bandages and plasters - bag it & bin it. * Disposable nappies, liners and all wipes - bag it and bin it. * Razor blades - in a solid container and bin it. * Take syringes and needles to a needle bank (ask your GP where your nearest is located). * Return medicines and contraceptives to your local pharmacy.

How is Scottish Water helping? We are committed to tacking the prob-lem caused by waste. We are investing millions of pounds on upgrading and building new waste water treatment works and systems. This investment programme will take years to complete and even then you should always bag it and bin it -don't flush it. Help us to help you - do your bit to help protect your natural environment.

(Information reproduced from website www.scottishwater.co.uk )

LEADER Launch at Loch

Renfrewshire has been awarded £470,000 to pro-mote the quality of the envi-ronment and boost eco-nomic and community de-velopment across its rural areas. The launch for this new funding source took place on Wednesday 26th August at Castle Semple Visitor Cen-tre, Lochwinnoch. The funding allo-cated under the LEADER Pro-gramme is part of the Scottish Gov-ernment’s Rural Development Fund and seeks to encourage new and ex-perimental approaches to rural de-velopment with particular support aimed at small-scale community driven projects. Applications for Grant assistance are now being sought and a Local Action Group has been formed by represen-tatives from local businesses, the local community and public sector organisations, who will consider pro-posals against a set of eligibility cri-teria. Charlie Woodward, Regional Park Manager said -

“As members of the Local Action Group we are delighted to host the launch of this new rural funding scheme.

The Group combines knowledge from a range of sectors and will be instru-mental to ensure funding supports the best projects across rural Ren-frewshire.” This Group will be supported by Ren-frewshire Council and the fund will complement work already being car-ried out by the Council in Ren-frewshire’s rural area. Target groups include women, young people, elderly people, micro busi-nesses, unemployed and underem-ployed people. Councillor Marie McGurk, Ren-frewshire Councillor and Convenor of the Renfrewshire Community Plan Greener Group said - “This is an exciting opportunity for Renfrewshire’s rural communities and the fund will support a number of projects developed by local groups. I would encourage anyone with project ideas to contact the Project Coordina-tor at Renfrewshire House, to see if they are eligible for funding. This fund supports the aims of the Renfrewshire Community Plan and reinforces the commitment that the Council and its partners have to pro-moting economic development and promoting the environment across all of our rural areas.” Renfrewshire Council through the Re-generation and Environment section of the Planning & Transport Depart. will administer the fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. For further details, visit - www.renfrewshireleader.co.uk

Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park

HOMECOMING 2009 Photographic Competition

This competition is part of a Park-wide programme of events and ac-tivities throughout 2009, linking the Park and its people to the national Homecoming Scotland 2009 initiative. The themes are: Scotland’s Culture and Heritage, Great Scottish Minds and Innovations, Golf, Whisky, and Robert Burns. (For more information, visit website - www.homecomingscotland.com) The Brief: Your interpretation of Homecoming 2009 within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. Your entry needs to be an image taken within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park or of a view of the Regional Park. The Prize: The outright winner will receive a prize of £250. Other prizes may be awarded. Competition Rules: pick up an entry form at Castle Semple Visitor Centre. Closing Date of entry to the competi-tion is 4th October 2009. All photo-graphs considered to be of merit will form an exhibition from November 2009 and images may also be dis-played on CMRP website.

For more details, visit www.clydemuirshiel.co.uk

International Volunteers

International Volunteers with Xchange Scotland spent the first two weeks in August working on a variety of conservation projects across the Regional Park, as well as having time to have some fun and to visit other parts of Scotland. The volunteers came from all over Europe and one came all the way from the United States.

They spent their time here re-establishing an old rhododendron Maze, restoring paths and learning some drystone dyking - all in Parkhill Woods at Castle Semple Country Park, as well as restoring pathways and building steps over at the Cornalees Centre and on the sea-wall at Lunderston Bay. They did get some ‘fun’ things too such as lessons in competitive row-ing from Castle Semple Rowing Club, Sailing lessons from Castle Semple Sailing Club, a trip to In-chailloch on Loch Lomond and climbing Conic Hill, as well as days off to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some of the volunteers even assisted at the Castle Semple Summer Fun Day – ‘Knights & Princesses’ and really got into the spirit of the day. At the end of their trip, there was a reception in Castle Semple Centre – on the wettest day of the summer so far, to thank the volunteers for all their hard work, and also to thank the various people who had helped throughout the two weeks. Councillor Arthur, Chairman of the Park Authority, thanked all the vol-unteers for their hard work over the previous fortnight and the Lady Pro-vost of Paisley awarded them with certificates. Later on that evening there was a small ceilidh for the vol-unteers, Park staff and clubs who had been involved over the past two weeks.

Want to climb the Watch Tower or visit a real

archaeological dig site?

Doors Open Day is at Castle Semple Visitor Centre on Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th September The Watch Tower at Castle Semple is normally only open to visitors during the Doors Open day events so this is your one chance per year to climb to the top. Tower Tours will be held from 14.00 hours until 16.00 hours at regular intervals. There will also be an exhibition in the centre entitled ‘Then and Now’ dis-playing old photographs of Lochwin-noch and the surrounding areas with, wherever possible, very recent photos of the same views. Some places have changed forever – buildings torn down or new ones erected - but other parts have changed very little since the in-troduction of photographs in the 19th Century. In addition, the Renfrewshire Local History Forum will be carrying out a geophysical survey in Parkhill Woods on Sunday 13th September, which peo-ple will also be able to watch. Further details of this event will be found in the Visitor Centre on the day. To book a place on a tour or for fur-ther details about the day, please call the Ranger Service on 01505 842 882 ext 22.

Arts and Crafts for Young Teens, Lochwinnoch The Chameleon Club Art Classes are for anyone aged 11+ who would like to try some arts and crafts, e.g. plas-ticine animations, ceramic money banks, printed and folded origami creations, mosaic frames/ boxes, drawing and creating comics. Classes run from 2-4pm at the RSPB Centre, Lochwinnoch and are led by local artist Cáit Gould. The cost is £10 per session, all materials in-cluded. Contact Cáit on 01505 842380 for more details.

Classes will be held on the last Satur-day of each month, except for De-cember when the class will be held on Saturday 19 December.

RSPB LOCHWINNOCH

• Wildlife viewing all year round • Nature trails and hides open at all

times • Visitor Centre open from 10am-

5pm daily • Bird Feeding Station and

Treetop Tower • Daily activities for families • School holiday activities • Superb RSPB Shop.

For bookings and information, Tel: 01505 842663

or visit our webpage at: www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/

guide/l/lochwinnoch/index.asp

Keep up to date with the latest RSPB gossip.

Find us on Facebook: Search ‘RSPB Lochwinnoch’, click on

us and receive regular updates.

Follow us on Twitter: at http://

twitter.com/RSPBLochwinnoch

Subscribe to the RSPB Lochwinnoch Blog!

For weekly updates, visit: http://blogs.rspb.org.uk/ lochwinnoch/default.aspx

and subscribe using the RSS link.

Second Hand Natural History Books & Optics

Sale 2009

12th-20th September We are looking for donations of natu-ral history books to be sold in our sec-ond hand book sale. These can be given as a donation to the RSPB or sold on your behalf (RSPB takes 10% commission). Rare books can be placed into our blind auction with a reserve price set. We are also looking for second-hand optics (binoculars, telescopes, eye-pieces, cases) which can be donated or sold on your behalf.

If you have any books/optics you

would like to put into the sale, please ring Paula or Zul on 01505

842663 for more information.

Farmers’ Market and Artisan Fair at Castle Semple Centre”

on Sunday 6th September from 11 am – 3 pm.

September is often the start of Au-tumn and the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ according to the poets. It is also the time to come to the Lochwinnoch Market held each autumn at the Castle Semple Visitor Centre in Lochwinnoch, where visi-tors can purchase fresh local produce and artisan products directly from the producers.

There will be a variety of stalls includ-ing Lamb from Dowries Farm, located not far from Cornalees Visitor Centre at Loch Thom, Beef from Linburn Farm beside Erskine. ‘Eastern Twist’ will be coming with a range of eastern inspired products such as samosas and a range of pakoras. Past customers will be pleased to hear that Erincroft Bakery will be returning to the market with their range of delicious home-made breads, freshly baked scones, cakes, puddings and pies. There will also be a specialist shortbread stall. The RSPB will be providing birdseed and cakes to buy for our feathered friends too – all very handy for help-ing our wildlife get ready for winter. The final line up of stallholders is yet to be confirmed, but as always there will be a good mix of products avail-able from farmers and artisan produc-ers such as handmade soaps by Caurnie Soaps of Kirkintilloch.

Park Manager Charlie Woodward said “We are looking forward to welcom-ing our local producers, residents and visitors back to Clyde Muirshiel’s popular Farmers’ Market at Lochwin-noch. We are fortunate in having such a scenic loch-side location where we can host these events.”

For further details please call 01505 842 882 ext 20.

Doors Open Day at the Greenock Cut

Doors Open Day will have an out-door twist at the Greenock Cut, Cornalees Bridge Centre on Sun-day 13th September from 1-4pm.

There are several structures still standing along the historic Greenock Cut between Loch Thom and Green-ock and this autumn there will be some supplementary information on several of the structures near to the Cornalees Bridge Centre, for Doors Open Day.

In addition, don’t miss the new exhi-bition inside the Cornalees Bridge Centre about the history and reasons behind the Greenock Cut. For more details Tel: 01475 521 458.

What’s been happening at

RSPB Lochwinnoch?

Here’s an update of what’s been happening on the Reserve, includ-ing some news from Paula’s weekly Blogs! Ospreys During August, we were lucky enough to have one of the Loch Garten osprey chicks pass overhead (albeit at a height of 225m) on its migration route. Rothes passed by on the evening of Monday 10th August and arrived in Anglesey on the morning of Tuesday 11th. According to the last update, Rothes is now in France and Mallachie is still at Loch Garten (can you blame him after all the rain we’ve had!?) We’ve also had ospreys visiting the Reserve during the last few weeks… at one point it seemed as if one was visit-ing every day! On one day in particu-lar, we saw the same bird three times, at 10.30, 12.30 and 16.00 hrs. The first time it managed to catch a small fish, but this obviously wasn't enough as we saw it again two more times, although it didn't manage to get any-thing as the wind picked up making the water below very choppy indeed - not good for any sort of fishing! Now, with all of the osprey excitement at Loch Garten, this pales in compari-son. So, to put this into perspective we usually (if we're lucky) get about one or two osprey sightings PER YEAR at the reserve, so to see 3 in one day is excellent, and for the bird to keep re-turning to fish in the loch is superb. Our visitors got excellent views and one lucky person even managed to get a few shots of the bird carrying its 'catch of the day.' Some of you may or may not know, that we have erected two osprey plat-forms on the reserve, one next to each loch, in the hope that we might be able to attract a pair to breed here. Fingers crossed with all of the recent activity, one of the birds has noticed our hard work and is considering using it as it nest next year. Kingfishers were also seen there. At the feeding station, the great spotted woodpecker continues to make a regular appearance along with lots of house sparrows.

Lochwinnoch Wildlife Explorers

“It’s a Mystery…” The first meeting of the

Loch-winnoch Wildlife Explorers will take place on -

Saturday 12th September 10am—12noon.

All are welcome to attend for a fun packed morning of wildlife, games and quizzes. To find out more about the mystery meeting or the group, contact Margaret & Michael Jarvis on 01505 842 563 or e-mail them at: mikej@chem.gla.ac.uk Lochwinnoch wildlife explorers is for children interested in all kinds of wildlife from bugs to eagles. They meet one Saturday morning per month from September to May.

Otters Otters have been seen around the reserve, including outside the Aird Meadow hide during the middle of the day! Gary (one of our volun-teers) found some spraints (for those that don't know, that's otter poo!) along the Dubbs Water trail, a sure-fire sign that they are going along that way quite regularly. Excellent! Mink have also been spotted on the reserve, one of the few species that can be easily mistaken for an otter. Mink are non-native predators in the UK and have affected some breeding bird populations. To tell the two species apart, people often say that, 'otters are cute look-ing, mink look mean' - well i guess that depends on you definition of 'mean' (and cute for that matter!). (To clear up any con-fusion, take a look at my Blog “What’a Lotta Otter” for more details.) Bats, Weasels, Butterflies and Bank Voles Last month, we held the second of our Bat and Moth nights for this year, led by the brilliant Clyde Bat Group, who kept everyone thor-oughly entertained. The rain stayed off for us mostly and we managed to get plenty of Soprano Pipistrelles. No Daubentons this year (water level was too high to go to our usual spots.) This morning we came back to empty the moth trap, it looked like it would be a good evening when we left, warm, cloudy and drizzley (perfect moth trapping weather!). We were not disappointed, and got a good variety of moths in the trap, including: - Large yellow underwing, lesser yellow underwing, copper un-derwing, lesser common/common rustic, crescent, double lobed, butterbur, small phoenix, rosy rustic, small square spot, iron prominent, small wainscot, common marbled carpet, flame shoulder and dark arches. It has been great to see so many but-terflies on our buddleia bush this year, including red admiral, painted lady, small tortoiseshell, peacock and large white butterflies. Let's hope they continue to thrive Last month, walking along the trails to investigate a query, I stopped by our woodland feeding station to see what was about and was amazed by the amount of bank voles I saw there.

There must have been at least 5, all of them feeding at some point whilst the others ran in and out of the holes and hid in the bushes. It was fantastic to be able to get so close to them and I can now understand why we ended up with so many pictures of them in our photography competition this year! However, the highlight of the week has to be the weasel v. magpie face-off that I witnessed this morning. On my way out to get the moth trap, I popped into the photography hide to alert the photographers that I was coming, and one of them pointed out that there was a weasel trying to get past a pair of magpies. What followed was hilari-ous; the weasel kept running out of the bushes and leaping into the air at the magpies, which then proceeded to chase the weasel back into the bush. This happened several times, each time the weasel appeared from a dif-ferent spot in an attempt to out-wit the magpies. Finally, the weasel just went for it and shot past both magpies who looked as surprised as the rest of us did! Fantastic! Paula Baker, RSPB Lochwinnoch

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News & Events at RSPB, Muirshiel,

Cornalees & Castle Semple Centres

• Monday mornings - Loch-

winnoch Community Walks - Mondays (ex. Public Holidays), 10.30am at The Cross.

• Thursday mornings - Slinky Strollers - Morning walks, meet at 10.30am at Castle Semple Centre.

• Saturday 5th September - Teenage Volunteers Group join us from 11am-4pm at the RSPB Re-serve and take part in bird survey-ing, outdoor work, etc. Booking essential. Tel: 842663

• Sunday 6th September - Farm-ers Market, Castle Semple Centre from 11am-3pm or until sold out. *

• Saturday 12th September to Sunday 20th September - Sec-ond-hand Book and Optics Sale from 10am—4pm daily at the RSPB Centre. *

• Saturday 12th September - RSPB Lochwinnoch Wildlife Ex-plorers meeting from 10am - 12 noon at RSPB Centre. *

• Sat. 12th and Sunday 13th September - Castle Semple Doors Open Day. Tour of the Tower from 2pm-4pm, Photo-graphic Exhibition all weekend in the Visitor Centre and Geophysi-cal Survey/Dig in Parkhill Wood by the Renfrewshire Local History Forum group on the Sunday. *

• Sunday 13th September - Doors Open Day at the Greenock Cut, Cornalees from 1pm-4pm. *

• Friday 18th September - Bat Walk. Come on a Bat hunt around Lochwinnoch in the company of a bat expert, from 7pm till late. To book a place, Tel: 01505 842882.

• Sunday 4th October - Closing Date for Clyde Muirshiel Home-coming Photographic Competition 2009. *

• Monday 5th October - Wildlife Question Time from 7.30-9pm. Gardener’s question time with a twist! Come along to the RSPB Centre and join a discussion about all things wildlife, with a panel of local natural history experts.

* See inside back pages of Chatterbox for further information

on these events and activities.

VISITOR CENTRES

SUMMER OPENING HOURS

Castle Semple Centre Open daily, 10am-5pm. Tel: 01505 842882.

Cornalees Centre - Open every day from 11 am-4pm (April to Oct ‘09.) Toilets open daily. Tel: 01475 521458

Muirshiel Centre - Open every day from 11am-4pm (April to Oct ‘09.) Park and toilets open daily. Tel: 01505 842803

RSPB Reserve - Reserve is open at all times; Visitor Centre open daily, 10am-5pm. Tel: 01505 842663.

• Sunday 20th September - Beach Watch at Lunderston Bay. Help record findings for a na-tional survey & clean up the beach area. Equipment provided. Meet 1pm, Lunderston Bay.

• Saturday 19th—Sunday 20th September - Amazing Autumn from 11am—4pm at the RSPB Reserve. Stout footwear and waterproofs recommended!

• Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th September - Optics Weekend. Choose from a wide range of competitively priced optics with FREE expert advice, RSPB Centre.

• Saturday 26th September - Chameleon Club workshop 2-4pm with Cáit Gould at the RSPB Centre*

• Sunday 27th September - Archaeology Day at Cornalees Centre from 1pm. Come and see an archaeological style dig and try your hand at the ‘practice pits’ and see if you can use an-cient technology.

• Saturday 3rd October - Teenage Volunteers Group join us from 11am-4pm at the RSPB Reserve and take part in bird surveying, outdoor work, etc. Booking essential. Tel: 842663