The Kintyre Forum

i hear the roof blew off the new school last night? wonder who the daft ones are now? maybe we knew what we were talking about when we objected to them building a combined primary and secondary in the school playing field?

haven't checked the depth today but i think the water is about two foot deep, i'm planning on going canoeing across to the hospital and back later, if they had got the go ahead and had built on that site it would have sunk by now, might have saved some of it blowing over last night but if lochgilphead is anything to go by then the roof would be halfway down the cutting or knowing my luck, sitting in my back garden this morning!!!!!

i think they are in the middle of knocking the old one down (having sold it for a pittance i suspect?) so they can't even use that!!!!! extra hols for the lochgilphead kids, won't mummy and daddy be pleased!!

This is posted on the Council's website

STORMS CLOSE LOCHGILPHEAD JOINT CAMPUS AND SPORTS CENTRE
Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:40:04
Lochgilphead Joint Campus will remain closed tomorrow (Thursday 10th January) to enable repairs to be carried out to the roof of the building following severe storms last night.

Steps are being made to make the school wind and water tight and it is anticipated that it will reopen again on Friday (11th January).
Mid Argyll Sports Centre is part of the building which has been damaged by the gales and it too will remain closed until further notice.

Parents will be kept informed of any changes and regular updates will also be published on the Council's website, www.argyll-bute.gov.uk

wasn't gloating that they lost a roof, more thankful that the parents here saw fit to reject a proposal to build on a much less suitable site than the lochgilphead one. from the tv pictures the place looks like a prefabricated shed, if it lost its roof in lochgilphead then the same structure would have been completely demolished if it had been standing in the grammar school playing field, i dread to think how it would have fared if it stood on the site of the current C/town grammar, i'm old enough to remember the years when high winds used to shut the school and the windows regularly blew in, not to mention all the times the roof came off the music block.

my critisicm was aimed at the council and the builders, and i have every sympathy for the teachers and pupils in lochgilphead, anyone who studied the scheme when it was being discussed could see that there was never enough money in the pot to build schools that would outlive the term of the proposal, offhand i can't remember if its 20 or 25 yrs, but i think its a safe bet that in 25yrs time they will be looking for money to build a school to replace the one just opened. in the meantime the pennypinchers will do the utmost least amount of repair and maintenance work on the property, the bottomline being profit.

it was amazing to see the well run dry of money for repairs to C/town grammar and castlehill (i was on that board for 8 years) the moment the parents rejected the plan for the new build, while the respective head teachers had to find ways to make savings from a budget that decreased annually, a small fact but i know castlehill school hasn't had its windows washed in 11 yrs as the £700 in the budget goes to bolster the budget for books and other essentials.

so no, i'm not gloating, but for my money lochgilphead are welcome to their new school, something a bit more substantial, built to last 100 years, not 25 and not built in a field which is flooded 10 months of the year is needed in campbeltown, something with state of the art facilities for the musical side of things, proper rehearsal and recording facilities for our world class bands, at least on par with the size of facility given over to a PE dept, oh and not with a primary school stuck on, integration my arse!!!!