256 January 2016 - Gryffe Advertizer

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Next Issue: No.257 February 2016
Deadline: Friday 15th January 2016
This Month
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contents
local news..........................8-12
what’s on..........................14-21
dental blog.............................13
business news.................24-25
it blog..................................26
financial blog.........................25
on the road...........................30
pets...............................58-59
pet blog...............................58
village news.......................34-43
outdoors..........................44-49
photography hints & tips.........49
sports & clubs news.............55-57
sporting blog..........................57
schools news.....................50-54
business classified................60
property classified.................61
church listings....................61
deadlines dates...................61
sales & wants......................62
advertiser directory................63
Hopefully you are all taking a well deserved breath after all the excitement of
Christmas. Our household was chaotic in the lead-up with me actually forgetting
which week we were on and thinking we still had a week to go before Christmas!
Awkward eh? A mad rush to decorate and shop! Still we got there.
This year again I decided not to send cards but instead make a donation to one
of my chosen charities. This year it is Cancer Research UK. Nonetheless, thank
you to everyone who took the time to send one to me. Bah Humbug! I just feel the
money is better spent on these very worthy causes.
Well..... I did have a bit of a rant last month, didn’t I? However, one result was
the offer of donations to the funds for the bonfire, and hopefully next year a few
more people will take that massive step...... that massive step across the road,
pay their contribution on entry and enjoy the event in the field with the fun that
goes with it!
The rain has been a topic of discussion all over the country, with the Lake District
suffering terribly in the wake of storms. But given the amount of water which fell
here over one weekend in particular, I feel I was vindicated in my rant. Prior to that
weekend Renfrewshire Council had already taken steps to stem the immediate
flow of water onto the road from Houston to Bridge of Weir. This is a temporary
fix and the Council plans to make repairs to the field drainage system between
the flooded area and the gate, and to provide a permanent connection into the
culvert during January; although that timing is weather dependent. However, the
dip at the farm once again was overwhelmed with at least one car being stranded
in the water and the road being closed for most of that dreadful Saturday.
As I said last month, the A761 at Scart Farm was probably the least affected by
the deluge so congratulations to the roadworks engineers for their work there.
However, in Kilmacolm once again the centre of the village was overwhelmed
when the burn from The Moss overflowed into Market Place. This problem stems
from lack of flow capacity where the burn travels temporarily underground on
Gowkhouse Road; once the torrent departs the course of the burn it has nowhere
to go but down Gilburn Road, into Market Place and then down Smithy Brae.
It was ‘barking mad’, but now some ‘parking sense’ prevails. Inverclyde Council
have agreed to suspend the 30 minute parking enforcement in Kilmacolm until
the new 2 hour waiting limit starts in May 2016. The relaxation does not cover
poor parking on the road, in the main car-park, or parking on single or double
yellow lines.
And good news for Lochwinnoch, we hear that work on Lochwinnoch bridge
should commence next May/June taking around 5 months. Points the Council
have had to consider are the timing and timescale of the work and temporary
provision for emergency vehicles and a pedestrian bridge crossing.
With the dark mornings and evenings upon us, it was good to see a post on
facebook offering high visibility vests for primary school children from Bridge of
Weir Primary. The school has these in stock with their logo, on sale from the
school office for only £5 in various sizes - well worthwhile I reckon.
Christmas rubbish collections - in Kilmacolm and Quarriers, the collection day is
usually Monday so no need for any changes there. However, Renfrewshire Council
advise that if your usual collection date is Friday 25th December then bins will
be collected Sunday 27th December, and if usual collection date is Friday 1st
January then bins will be collected on Sunday 3rd January. Also Renfrewshire
Council are suspending the food waste collection service and replacing it by
disposal of food waste in the brown garden bin. This service will be extended to
cover the full year, and the green food bags will continue to be provided.
Houston Community Council has set up a group to protest against the boundary
changes to the village, which would effectively split the village in two. They sent a
Freedom of Information request to the Local Government Boundaries Commission
Scotland and found out that 985 submissions from residents of Houston
expressed opposition to the proposals to split Houston between two electoral
wards while only 2 submissions supported the proposals. A public notice was
placed in the local press on 31 July 2015. The proposals were also available for
viewing in Renfrewshire Council Headquarters, Erskine Community Library and
Johnstone Community Library. However, it transpires that the proposals were not
made available for viewing in Houston. The CC is in discussion over this and we
look forward to hearing an update on this.
Bridge of Weir Community Council has been keeping us up to date with planning
proposals. There is a full report on our village pages which includes information
on the Kilmacolm Road proposal by Gladman Developments Limited and the
Shillingworth development. The CC now has a facebook page set up which is also
regularly updated with local information.
So we start 2016 with plenty of changes coming, hopefully mostly for the better.
All that leaves is for me to say once again, thank you to all our contributors, clients
and supporters, and our contributing Councillors and Community Councils for
their reports which contain more news on these issues.
We look forward to bringing you all the local news through the
coming year. All the best for 2016!
Rona