FARMERS HIT BY DISEASE OUTBREAK
Farmers across the UK are holding their collective breath following the announce-ment exactly one week ago that Foot and Mouth disease had been found in cattle on a farm near Guildford in Surrey.
Acting with a speed born of experience six years ago during the last major outbreak of the disease, both Defra in England and Wales and the Scottish Executive immediately banned all movements of susceptible species, including cattle, sheep, pigs and deer as soon as news broke last Friday.
In Argyll and Bute, the outbreak coincided with the busiest time of the year for local agricultural shows. Both Kintyre and Bunessan shows narrowly escaped the movement ban last Friday, and were held before the outbreak was announced.
Show committees since Friday have been forced into the unenviable position of deciding whether to cancel, or to go ahead minus cloven-hoofed animals. Organisers of the Lorn show went ahead on Saturday without the cattle and sheep lines, with Bute, Salen on Mull and Islay deciding on the same course of action for their shows held on Wednesday, Thursday and today respectively. Organisers of the Mid Argyll show, due to be held tomorrow, took the decision on Monday to cancel the event, with show secretary David Renwick commenting: “It was a difficult decision, but we decided that people’s livelihoods were more important than the show.”
The impact on agriculture locally is certain to become more serious the longer the livestock movement ban is in place.
On Mull, Donald MacLean of Knock Farm said: “We won’t be selling lambs for another two to three weeks, but I am not looking forward to the prices once we are able to move lambs to market. There is bound to be a glut.
“Folk on Iona are in a worse situation, because they were due to sell lambs at Stirling this week. They will struggle to keep them as grass disappears. It’s a worrying time for everybody.”
Others, such as John McNaughton from Colin-traive, have been unable to get their shearing completed. “I’ve still got 550 hill sheep to get clipped, and we can’t get contractors in to either gather sheep or do the clipping due to the restrictions,” says John.
“This will turn into a serious delay and possibly an animal health problem as the queue for contractors builds up,” he continued.
“The worst thing about this situation is not knowing how it is going to go, and my biggest worry is that the market will be flooded when the ban is lifted.”
Councillor Robert Mac-intyre, Depute Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, said: “Of all the lessons to be learned from the 2001 outbreak, the most important must be the need for an early nationwide ban on animal movements.
A farmer himself, Councillor MacIntyre called on the farming community in Argyll and Bute not to be complacent, but to ensure the best biosecurity on farms and to be respectful of the ban, if we are to see an early removal of the movement restrictions and a return to normality.
Councillor MacIntyre went on to say that he was proud of the role played by the Council during the last outbreak, when the Council worked hard to ensure that Argyll and Bute was open to visitors.
This commitment was, he said, evident again over last weekend, when officials made every effort to respond to local show organisers, the police and others faced with responding to the challenges presented by the announcement of the movement ban.
In a fast-moving situation, the government announced a partial lifting of restrictions as we went to press. From Wednesday, animals in Scotland were allowed to be moved direct to abattoirs directly from farms, under strict biosecurity controls. With two confirmed cases and three herds having been culled by that point, Scottish Executive guidance stated that… “the GB-wide ban remains firmly in place for all other animal movements and will be strictly enforced.”
Preliminary investigations into the cause of the outbreak were focusing on the potential spread by staff from the Pirbright laboratoty site in Surrey, shared by the government’s Institute of Animal Health and Merial Animal Health Ltd, a pharmaceutical company - both of which are situated just four kilometres from the site of the first infected farm.


Dunoon lad leads Scotland to World Cup Victory
You probably thought you would never read a story about Scotland winning the World Cup. Well think again.
Last Saturday Paul Smith from Dunoon lifted the trophy after successfully captaining Scotland to the Homeless World Cup championship in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The stunning 9 - 3 victory over Poland in the final capped a magnificent tournament for our young heroes, especially Paul, who was also named Player of the Tournament.
The week-long tournament consisted of 48 nations with over 500 players taking part. Each four-a-side game lasted 15 minutes and was extremely competitive and exhausting; however our boys did the whole country proud winning every game bar one on the way to the final. The team scored a total of 88 goals, losing only 28 in the process.
The final was played in front of a packed crowd and HRH Crown Prince of Denmark, in the City Hall Square. The match was refereed by inter-national referee Kim Milton Nielsen who is famous for sending off David Beckham in the FIFA World Cup against Argentina.
Paul said: “This has been better than I could ever have imagined. The level of skill and quality of football has been exceptional. We have really enjoyed the Danish fans that have also supported us here in Copenhagen.”
Mel Young, President and Co-founder of the Home-less World Cup, said: “It has been a tournament of many great goals, fabulous skill and fair play. Congratulations to Scotland and to the coach for taking the team to victory.”
David Duke, the coach of Scotland, was a player in the Gothenburg 2004 Homeless World Cup and now has led his team to victory in the Copenhagen 2007 Homeless World Cup. “After changing my own life through football and the Homeless World Cup it is just great that I can help others do the same. To take Scotland to victory is just superb.”
Congratulations and well done to everyone involved, especially Paul and John McBride who hails from Rothesay.


SEWAGE PROBLEM RESOLVED
After what seems like an eternity for residents living in Kirk Brae, Dunoon the sewage problem looks like finally being resolved.
For approximately nine months the sewer halfway up the hill has been intermittently overflowing causing raw filth and waste to spew out and run down the road into Argyll Street.
Argyll and Bute Council was advised of the problem and promptly cleaned the drain, however it was ascertained that the problem ran deeper than what was first thought and the matter was passed on to Scottish Water, which has subsequently called in contractors to remedy the problem.
Mario Pellicci who lives on the brae said: “It’s disgusting. It has been going on for months now and just kept on getting worse. The council cleaned the sewer out as best it could but it didn’t stop the problem; it was then passed on to Scottish Water to try to resolve the situation.”
A Scottish water spokesman said: “I can confirm that the contractors in Kirk Brae are repairing a section of sewer.
“Following reports of leaks we carried out cleaning operations and a CCTV camera survey of the pipe. The camera work has revealed that part of the sewer has collapsed and needs to be replaced.
“Work has started now that we’ve received permission from the council to close the road. It should be finished in a few days.”


MATHER BUSY IN COWAL
ARGYLL and Bute MSP Jim Mather held a busy working day in Dunoon on Tuesday, meeting with Sandbank firm GTI, representatives from EnviroKirn and Cowal Marketing Group in the morning, lunch with members of Argyll and Bute Council’s Bute and Cowal Area Committee and an afternoon at the Red Cross Centre with its visually impaired group (where he was pictured) before going on to his Queen’s Hall surgery.
In the evening, he held a public consultation meeting in the Queen’s Hall in front of an audience representing all strands of Cowal society.
For this event, he used a technique which he successfully used recently at a meeting on Mull, and with the Energy and Tourism sectors of the Scottish economy.
The aim was to record the audience’s view of the objectives that Cowal should have, and then list the positive attributes that could achieve these goals and the inhibitors that could get in the way. Talking after the meeting, Jim Mather said: “We are running similar sessions in all parts of Argyll to recognise the strong sense of community and encourage more local people to identify problems and opprtunities - and tackle them both.
“Tonight was a great example - 36 people in a room for 2 solid hours without a break, working together in a very lively fashion to produce a clearer understanding of how to make progress and improve the local economic, social and environmental climate.
“I believe that was a useful exercise that will allow people and organisations to work more closely and more effectively together.
“Certainly that was the objective, to have more people and all organisations start a long term dialogue and take a more co-operative attitude towards each other so that Cowal is more competitive and has better services.
“Hopefully this is just the start.”