Leadhills

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

A public meeting was ultimately declined by Scottish Water – perhaps with good reason. What actually happened was well focussed and appears to be promising.

On Wednesday 2nd, a meeting, chaired by Karen Gillon MSP and attended by a core group along with three representatives from Scottish Water, took place at the Hopetoun. The aim being to discuss what went wrong, how to address the issues arising and the question of compensation.

Scottish Water have conceded and explained the difficulties experienced and were keen to see our survey results for the purpose of further analysis and guidance in their efforts to make improvements. More survey returns would be very helpful; there are still a number of households that lost supply and are not yet represented in the survey.

There is a strong case for the complete overhaul of the Leadhills water supply which appears to have the support of Karen Gillon. Scottish Water is expected to return to Leadhills within a few months to outline what they have done and what they intend to do.

On the question of compensation, there is an existing structure that will be appropriate for a number of households that lost supply (£20 for the first 12 hours then £10 for each successive 12 hours, I am given to understand). But many in the village were off supply for an extended period that we feel to be well beyond the scope of the existing compensation structure. Furthermore, an number of households suffered significant financial loss as a result of extended interruptions to supply. Claims beyond the existing structure have not been rejected at this stage but it has been made clear by Karen Gillon that any such claims can only succeed if they are properly supported with documentary evidence.

If you wish to pursue any claim over and above the existing compensation structure, you will need to keep any invoices, booking records, cancellation records etc,  that relate to your home or your business. If you called out a plumber on the advice of Scottish Water only to be told your pipes were not frozen and that the problem was external, ensure that you have or can get an invoice. If you went to stay with friends or relatives because your home became uninhabitable, write an account of this with dates, times and locations, have your friends/relatives do the same. Any additional documentation that can support your assertions can also be helpful – e.g. you next phone bill might have a gap in itemised calls where you were away from home. Do you know when you called Scottish Water? If you have not already done so, write down dates, times and who you spoke to, to the best of your recollection. If you have a job reference number, keep it. Whatever you offer as evidence should be reasonably verifiable.

If you don’t have complete records, don’t give up. What you do have may still be enough.

Preliminary Results of the Leadhills Water Campaign Survey (PDF document)

Leadhills Action Group & Scottish Water Meeting Minutes (PDF document)

Leadhills became the forgotten community over the Christmas period as water supplies to several homes were frozen. With the response of Scottish Water hobbled apparently by systemic failures, some homes have been without water for the best part of a month. Enter Rab Campbell and Sean Henderson, the brains behind the LWC – Leadhills Water Campaign. Their efforts have made our local problem a national issue and have lead to the arrival in Leadhills of 14 teams of Scottish Water contractors, intent on restoring supplies and addressing the causes of our problems, along with news teams from STV, BBC, The Scottish Sun and the Glasgow Herald.

But it does not end there. It has become apparent that there were significant mistakes made in the upgrading of our water supply in 2005 that have caused our supply problems. The Leadhills Water Campaign is about ensuring that these mistakes are corrected to which end, over the coming days a questionnaire will be circulated in the village, with the aim of securing information on how the village as a whole has faired through the big freeze. This information could well reveal other clues to problems with the water supply which will help Scottish Water to help us as a community. Residents are urged to complete these questionnaires even if they have not experienced loss of supply.

Scottish Water has stated their intention to hold a public meeting in the village within a few weeks to give us the opportunity to raise our concerns and present evidence of failings. A flood of completed questionnaires will help us collate and present a solid base of information on the state of Leadhills’ water supply. Questionnaires can be submitted to the Village Shop, Mike Fuller at 12 Ramsay Road or to Rab Campbell.

Download the Leadhills Water Campaign Questionnaire (MS Word Document).

Leadhills Headlines:

STV 30/12/10, The Scotsman 31/12/10, Scottish Sun 1/1/11, BBC Scotland 1/1/11, STV 2/1/11, BBC Scotland 2/1/11 Scottish Sun 3/1/11, Glasgow Herald 3/1/11

Coming Friday 19th November, 7:30 pm for an 8:00 pm start at the Hopetoun Arms.

Eat, drink and show-off with your quiz master for the night, Lisa.

All proceeds go to the Gala Fund.

The Leadhills gala committee is holding an auction at the Hopetoun Arms on the 27th November. There have already been many donations for the auction, but the more the merrier.

Can you help make this a night to remember? Donations can be just about anything:

• Voucher for products in store
• Cut and blow dry
• Manicure
• Meal for 2
• Bag of coal
• Any labour (gardening, building, odd jobs)
• Firewood
• basically any service or item that might be worth something to someone

Coming to the Village hall

Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December

10am to 4pm

Stalls this year include Hand Made
Chocolates, Jams & Chutneys, Drawings,
Watercolours & Oils, Wooden & Silk
Flowers, Sewing,
Crochet, Hand Knitted Items, Jewellery,
Home Baking, a variety of Xmas &
Greetings Cards and many more
handcrafted items
If you have any questions or are interested in taking a
table for either day please contact Sue Pinkus on
01659 74408.

Welcome to the new-look LeadhillsOnline website.

Over the past few months, life has been pretty hectic so the LeadhillsOnline website development had shifted to the back-burner; not any more.

We’ve trimmed and reorganised the menus to improve navigation and we are aiming to greatly increase info content over coming weeks.

Any suggestions for additional content or corrections for any mistakes will be welcome, or if you are organising an event, please drop us a mail with details through our contact page or call Mike on 74428.

We would especially like to develop our business, services and art and craft listings for Leadhills into something fully comprehensive, we are barely scratching the surface and I still get asked if there’s someone local who can do that job or provide that widget – there usually is, but they’re not on this site. So whatever service or product or creation you have to offer, please get in touch through our contact page or call Mike on 74428; there is no charge for a page on LeadhillsOnline – you have nothing to lose.