Leadhills

Moves are afoot to revive the Leadhills Panto, but progress is tortuous. Lee Gilmore is fronting these efforts but getting a cast together is proving to be a real challenge. It’s fair to say that there is currently about half a cast and a sore lack of chorus (back stage needed too).

Like many village projects, the Panto is by the village, for the village – in this case for Leadhills and Wanlockhead. The “for” bit is easy, the “by” bit requires a few good souls to give up a few hours a week until nearly Christmas. It won’t happen unless the Panto group can find these souls.

If you are one of these souls (18 or over), residing in Leadhills or Wanlockhead or anywhere else within reason and are willing to supply the “by” bit, please get in touch though our contact form or get in touch with Lee at the Bear shop on Main Street.

Since yesterday, it has come to light that Wanlockhead has been signal free since the 15th July – like Leadhills. Furthermore, the First Responders could be hampered by this lack of signal, being dependent on Vodafone for an important part of their communications – call out.

In the mean time, Vodafone has responded to my email requesting further information – the post code. I replied:

Thanks for your reply.

Leadhills is covered by the post code ML12 6**. Mine is ML12 6YA (Ramsay Road), others include ML12 6XX (Curfew Place) and so on.

Since my last email, I have learned that Wanlockhead, the neighbouring village is also affected (example post code ML12 6UZ, being Burnside Cottages – their Vodafones have also been down for more than a week). Furthermore, this is impacting upon the First Responders, a retained voluntary emergency service. Due to our isolated location, the service was set up to fill the time gap that’s taken for main emergency services to reach the villages of Leadhills and Wanlockhead. The service uses Vodafone to issue emergency calls to volunteers.

On a more positive note, a resident informed me that the signal returned to normal between 10AM and 2PM today; another found the signal present this morning, prior to leaving for work. One possibility that has been suggested is that the works on the Clydesdale Wind Farm at Elvanfoot, may be causing or contributing to this problem – could a judiciously placed 150 foot wind turbine or 30 of the things block a substantial measure of a signal?

I hope the above assists you in getting to the bottom of this affair.

Best regards…….

We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, thanks to all who have answered the call for Vodafone details; but there are many more of you out there. Get in touch with Name, Vodafone Number and address to be added to Angie Purse’s Joint Complaint.

What do Lee, Andy, Sue, Teresa, Angie, Martin and Tom have in common?
They all have Vodafone Mobiles that have no signal in Leadhills.

That was not always the case, it has only been this way for just over a week. But Vodafone it seems, is having none of it. This merry band of Leahillians allege they have also been told that it’s their phones that are faulty and that there have been no other complaints!

Where have we heard that before? Yes that big Water company had a problem with sweeping assumptions too – note the word “had”, they are busy fixing their problems.

Well having had a chat with the wee mob in the square, I suggested a mass, written complaint. It has been suggested that the advent of Vodafone’s internet relay gubbins, for poor reception areas, might be an excuse for letting awkward areas “drop out.” The fact that this would also impact on anyone visiting the Lowther Hills and heaven forbid, getting lost in these hills, would surely make such a policy unthinkable – wouldn’t it? A mass complaint might go some way to clarifying the situation.

Leadhills and Wanlockhead are small communities with strong links with Vodafone; it being the one network that offers workable coverage here – well it did until a week ago. If one were to tot up the Vodafone mobiles owned locally by adults and children, it would likely come to several hundred; many of which constitute life-lines for their owners. So now is not the time for Vodafone, allegedly, to be fobbing users off with thin excuses and evasions.

If your Vodafone is no longer working, please contact me with your name, address and mobile number(s) so that your details can be added to the mass complaint. (Details of and for the complaint will be held by Angie Purse – secretary of the Community Council. No details will be released to third parties under any circumstances.)

Leadhills Miner’s Library was represented at yesterday’s state opening of the Scottish Parliament. The Library was invited to send three representatives, to join 1500 guests from all over Scotland, in the marching of the Royal Mile. The weather was very much with us making it an event enjoyed by all, except perhaps those responsible for security – but that’s another story… It was also an opportunity to rub shoulders with “the powers that be”; which provided some entertainment.

The Library elected to send, James Moffat, Mike Davies and Mike Fuller (me), armed with a large and colourful banner hailing the history and future of Scotland with reference to Southern Scotland and a strong Library bias.

Needless to say, we did wonder if we’d make it onto the telly – we did, but you have to concentrate and no blinking! 1 hour and 24 minutes into the BBC live coverage of the Opening of Parliament, we can be seen on the screen behind the presenter and commentators, strutting our stuff. You can find the BBC coverage here, but only until Friday 8th July.

Here’s a few snaps of our day out….

As part of their bid to raise £1 million for Help for Heroes, The Horses help Heroes team will be passing through Crawford and Abington during the morning of Sunday 26th.
This is but a small stage in their 1004 mile challenge, to drive a WWI ambulance from Lands End to John O’ Groats. Their itinerary gives their ETA at Crawford as approximately 10AM and Abington, thirty minutes later – though this may be upwards of an hour earlier than their actual time of arrival – be patient.
You can help support this effort by being there and/or making a donation. Weather is expected to be good so how about it?

Come Gala day, we are always at the mercy of the elements. This year did not disappoint – depending on your point of view. Despite a dousing, most of the day’s festivities passed off successfully and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves – that’s a result in my book.

But do spare a thought for what goes into Gala, the raw effort needed to make Gala happen and why so much input is needed to make it work. The fund raising events, meetings, planning, bookings, catering, baking, “gophering” and general donkey work runs to hundreds, perhaps thousands of people hours. Gala is for our community, by our community – and do count Wanlockhead in this, having put in just as much as Leadhills.

On that note, here’s a small taste of some of that effort. Around forty people from Leadhills and Wanlockhead spent around three hours on Friday afternoon, getting the field ready for Gala. This short video illustrates two hours of that – in five and a half minutes.

A Leadhills Gala Gallery would be good – can you offer any nice pics and/or videos? Get in touch here and we’ll see what we can come up with.

The plan is pretty simple, News get now posted on Twitter. If you tweet too, you can keep up with what’s happening in and around Leadhills.

LeadhillsOnline can be found under the name @Leadhills.

Sorry for the delay on this one, but I had a load of other stuff to do and I wanted to ensure that the minutes of the meeting have been accepted as true – no complaints yet. Anyway, here’s the latest.

On 26th June, Aileen Campbell MSP kindly took up the reins previously held by Karen Gillon and chaired a follow-up meeting of the Leadhills Action Group with Scottish Water. This was a most productive meeting with much positive input from Scottish Water representatives, Frank Markey, Mark Petrie and Mark Dickson.

In brief, it is the intention of Scottish Water to act upon the findings of their survey of water provision in Leadhills, correcting the issues of poorly installed supply pipes. Their survey, using radar techniques, identified several areas for concern and a number of “unknowns” which will be addressed by directed and exploratory works. Letters detailing these works are to be expected soon. The works are expected to last some six months.

The minutes for the meeting can be viewed or downloaded here. (Adobe PDF format)

The Leadhills Gala is here again, with the promise of typical Leadhills weather – a bit of a mixed bag.

The Programme for the Week, June 5th to 10th:

Sunday 5th:
The Mark Newell Shield Football Tournament
Bowling Green, Kick-off 1.00PM

Monday 6th:
Children’s Pet Show
Leadhills Village Hall 6.00PM – 7.30PM

Tuesday 7th:
Futures Stars host our Children’s Party Night
Leadhills Village Hall, 6.00PM – 8.00PM

Wednesday 8th:
Quiz Night, Leadhills Primary School, 7.00PM

Thursday 9th:
Clay Pigeon Shoot (Sponsored by Leadhills Sporting)
Meadowfoot, Wanlockhead, 6.30PM

Friday 10th:
Helpers required for field set-up PLEASE!
Marquee teams needed from approximately 3.00PM,
in time for stalls and tea-tent set-up from about 5.00PM

Gala Day Saturday 11th

11.45: Fancy dress Judging in the Village square
12.30: Crowning of the Queen
12.40: Prize Giving
12.55: Procession to the Field
1.00: Queen opens the Field
1.30: Races
2.00: Punch & Judy and Magic Show
2.30: Billy Steel’s Dog Handling Demonstration
3.00: Red Riding hood Puppet and Magic Show
4.00: Punch & Judy, Krafty Kat and Magic Show

Gala Attractions

• Upper Nithsdale Youth Pipe Band
• Climbing Wall
• Craft Fair
• Tea Tent
• Leadhills Silver Band
• Mark’s Burger Van
• Ice Cream Van
• Billy Steel’s Dog Demonstration
• Bouncy Stuff
• Beat the Goalie
• Wet Sponge Mannequin
• Pre-school Soft Play
• Uncle Billy (children’s entertainer)
• Archery

Volunteers Needed

Can you spare an hour and a half on Gala Day? We need 15 marshals for the procession (legal requirement). If you can help, mail me here.

Can you do an hour in the Tea Tent? The rota worked well last year, but we still have a few slots to fill this year. If you can spare us an hour, mail me here.

As we head towards the May election, Crawford Community Council will be having a meet the candidates night on Thursday 14th April 2011 at 7.30 Crawford Village Hall, Carlisle Road, Crawford.

All three candidates for the Clydesdale Constituency have agreed to appear at the Hustings and are as follows

Aileen Campbell (SNP)
Karen Gillon (Labour)
Colin McGavigan (Conservative)

The doors will be open to all members of the public and each candidate will be allowed to say their piece before the meeting is opened to a public question and answer session.

Colin Mackie
Secretary
Crawford Community Council