Jura for Argyll

And our ferry may have played a part in it. The Tayvallich community, at the other end of our new link to mainland Argyll, has just got almost £200,000 from BIG Lottery toward their buy-out of the shop, post office and cafe in the village. The ferry from there to here has brought both of us new visitors and some more trade. That will have made a contribution to the success of their application to BIG. So - its only been running for a few months but the ferry has already had a real and measurable impact on our two communities. Long may it continue to do so. More please.

The Environmental Health department of Argyll and Bute Council is offering non-means-tested grants of up to £800 to people with private water supplies who are interested in improving them. Phone 01546 604131 for details and enquiries or go to the Private Water Supplies page of the Council’s website.

Seafood Extravaganza tonight - 7th August. All locally caught produce - lobster, langoustine, scallops, squat lobster and mackerel…to raise funds for Cancer Research.

The first of August was our Civic Reception in celebration of the first ferry direct to mainland Argyll for thirty six years. The Herald - in half a page of coverage of the event - has noted that a MacBrayne’s ferry called at Craighouse Pier for the last time in 1972. For Argyll has another news item on it and has carried several news items on the successful new ferry service and our other achievements. We’re on our way.

Civic Reception day went well, started off drizzly, but the sun came out for the funders return trip to the mainland, so they got to experience both kinds of journey. Our resident piper greeted the mainland visitors and the press, the Village Hall committee provided a delicious spread of cakes, sandwiches and nibbles and, with appropriate opportunism we ran a raffle raising £311 towards a new regatta rowing boat. Prizes were donated by Tayvallich Inn, Tayvallich Shop & Coffee Shop and Jura Stores. Jura Distillery marked the occasion with some bottles of 10 year old JURA malt for everyone to have a dram.

That was Friday. Saturday was the Jura Regatta blessed with pleasant weather. The new pontoons (with funding to develop The Antlers they were another achievement celebrated at the Civic Reception) came into their own. They made landing the boats and getting in and out a LOT easier than before. Everyone was able to see the races from the pontoon and the pier without too much congestion. The Wheeries (family entertainment band) kick-started the party in the evening with a midnight ceilidh performed by Tiree’s Skerryvore. In the best traditions, the sun was coming up over the bay as we began to think of going home..

As well as marking our successes in getting the passenger ferry to Tayvallich launched and raising the funding to develop The Antlers, the Civic Reception on 1st August marks our other major achievement in installing eight new moorings and two pontoons woth the landing bridge. These facilities will offer much more support to visiting yachts and make Craighouse a more attractive anchorage. The landing bridge will make it possible for dinghys and small boats from moored off yachts to be able to land in pretty well all weathers. Before this, they just couldn’t get ashore without favourable conditions.

Our twin community in the new passenger ferry from Craighouse to Tayvallich in Kintyre is mounting a determined effort to buy out its village shop, post office and cafe. The ferry traffic coming into Tayvallich has already brought increased trade to the cafe, as people arrive early for boarding. This might make the business prospects brighter, supporting the community’s efforts to raise over a quarter of a million pounds to secure the shop.

The copyright on the photograph above of Tayvallich is owned by E Gammie and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

The new fast passenger ferry from Tayvallich to Craighouse has been running for around a month and has already tripled the numbers carried. We’ve got funding for the Antlers project so now a tearoom, interpretation and craft centre are on the horizon. So - in the Village Hall at Craighouse on 1st August, we’re holding a civic reception to thank everyone who’s helped us and to give ourselves a pat on the back for all our hard work for several years. Everyone on the island is invited as are all our businesses. And some businesses from Tayvallich - at the other end of our new ferry - are coming over. Guess how they’ll be travelling? Our Argyll MP and MSPs are coming along with Councillors and the Council’s Transport Spokesman. Let’s make it a good one.

A meeting about the awful mess that is the damage caused by the new slipway at Port Askaig to Jura’s ferry link with Islay saw plenty of plain speaking from over sixty islanders aimed at two responsible officers of Argyll and Bute Council - Director of Operational Services, Andy Law and Principal Engineer, Peter Ward. It was a classic confrontation between grounded commons sense and defensive waffle by people who cannot admit they were wrong.

And all the proof of the problem was evident on the day of the meeting - when Jura lost no fewer than eight sailings between Feolin and Port Askaig because bad weather forced the CalMac ferry to stay berthed at the Port Askaig linkspan. With the new slipway unusable by the Jura ferry, it has been having to use the linkspan - but can’t do this when the big CalMac boat is in. Anyway, everyone at the meeting had a laugh when Mr Law tried to explain why no representative from the responsible engineering company, Arch Henderson, was there. He said that they weren’t prepared to come for nothing and he wasn’t prepared to pay them. But he was happy to pay them for the flawed slip that’s the root of the problem. You couldn’t make it up.

Jura Community Council’s Donald Ewan Darroch noted that ‘the Council officials did not admit there is a serious problem which did not exist this time last year, and it is a problem that they have caused’. Chair of the Community Council, Willie MacDonald, said direct to Mr Law, ‘We’re not expecting miracles but we expect something’.

The Jura Development Trust are delighted to announce that they have been awarded a grant of £146,594 from The Big Lottery - Investing in Communities.

The award will provide 50% of capital costs for redeveloping the Antlers building to incorporate a tearoom, craft display and sales area and an Interpretation Display. In addition 75% of core costs over 3 years is included in the award to allow the Trust to deliver the project outcomes.

The proposed work on The Antlers will bring back into use a vital community facility by renovating an existing empty building in the centre of the village to incorporate a Tearoom, craft/gift display and Interpretative display of life on Jura.

The project will provide the community with social and recreational opportunities that are currently lacking and that will be easily accessible to all age groups and levels of mobility.

It will provide employment and enterprise opportunities both in the construction and running stages and provide a retail outlet for local craftspeople.

This is terrific news for the island and we would like to thank the Big Lottery for supporting this project.

Monday 16th June 2008 was a very significant date for the residents of the Isle of Jura and for everyone interested in visiting this beautiful and now far less remote island. Our new fast, scheduled passenger service, operated by Islay Sea Safari and running from Craighouse to Tayvallich on Loch Sween on the Kintyre peninsula launched on this date. The vessel is a comfortable Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) carrying twelve passengers and making the journey in around forty-five minutes. The schedule publishes a one-hour journey, to allow for occasional headwinds and sea conditions requiring a slower speed. With two return trips a day, direct access to Craighouse and connecting bus services to Lochgilphead from Tayvallich, a day trip in either direction is now a real option.

Although the service has only been running for over a week, it has already made a positive impact on the local economies at either end, with shops and hospitality businesses seeing a modest increase in trade from ferry users. We’ll be monitoring the numbers of passengers using the service and the economic impacts so stand by for regular updates.

Service details

• Booking is advised as the RIB carries twelve passengers. Phone 07768 450000 between 8am & 5pm.
• If you have booked and cannot travel, please advise the operator, to free up seat availability.
• The journey takes one hour and costs £15 single, £30 return.
• The schedule sees two return services a day, six days a week - there are no services on Tuesdays.
• Mondays and Fridays see departures from Craighouse at 7.00am and 17.00pm with departures from Tayvallich at 10.00am and 18.15pm.
• Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays see departures from Craighouse at 8.45am and 15.15pm; with departures from Tayvallich at 10.00am and 16.30pm
• Sundays see departures from Craighouse at 9.15m and 17.00pm; with departures from Tayvallich at 10.30am and 18.15pm.

Here are the full timetable details and also the timetables of connecting bus services to and from the nearby town of Lochgilphead and to and from Glasgow. The document in in pdf format. jura-passenger-ferry-timetable

Jura ‘Initiative at the Edge’ wishes to express its gratitude to Argyll and Bute Council, who have backed the project from its inception; HIE; Crown Estate; VisitScotland; and Argyll & Bute Community Planning Partnership who have all played their part. The practical support offered by Tayvallich Bay Association and Jura Development Trust ia also recognised; and this, together with the backing of local Community Councils, elected councilors and members of the communities on both sides of the Sound of Jura, has finally brought this important new service to life.