Lynnside Flood No. 9 - part 2

The saga continues:

 The young lady in these photos gingerly negotiated her way through the ankle-deep water by the strong metal fence. I asked her permission to photograph, which she granted with a big smile.

Flood no 9 - part 1

Hiya again
We're currently experiencing some heavy rains, but this is really only day two after a long spell of very dry weather so I'm surprised to see the burn overflowing already.
Here is a photo taken at 8:15 this morning:

And here is one taken just a few minutes ago, at 11:56AM -- not long now and the footpath will be fully submerged:

And indeed, by 12:25PM, the water flows across the footpath. The car park below the stone wall is half flooded now, also.

PS:
Just before I took the 11:56 photo above, I watched a boy, maybe twelve years old?, in dark-blue track pants and hooded sweat shirt squatting and standing on the edge of this side of the burn. He had climbed across the tall fence separating the Nelson Road housing estate (West Highland Housing Association property) from the burn and was holding on to the fence with one hand. How he got across the burn to the Miller Road side, I do not know. I actually didn't notice him until after I took this photograph, where you can just see him on the very edge of the picture on the right -- a tiny blue dot:

I shouted to the boy but he pretended not to pay any attention. My heart was racing as I watched him brace himself and then jump across the burn, which now flows in full spate along a narrow water channel.
The boy then very, very slowly clambered back over the fence, which is nearly as tall as he. He ambled back into the housing estate before disappearing around the corner of the house nearest the burn.
I tried to call the police but they're obviously busy dealing with flooding elsewhere...
Can I describe my feeling of helplessness as I watched this boy intent on a thrill?

Test Digs done

Hi all

Test digs to assess soil quality at the upper end of our Community Garden were carried out last Saturday, 13th March, 2010, by two faithful garden members -- your usual suspects ... ;)

The results are now with Community Links Scotland and will help them decide on what's best to go where without causing too much cost.

We'll update as soon as we can.

Volunteers wanted NOW for Lynnside Community Garden: 13/14 March 2010

Dear All

The top end of our Community Garden-in-the-making is about to see some serious action, overseen by Community Links Scotland. However, before work can start in earnest, we need to know how deep the soil is there and what its quality might be. 

To find out, we need to dig ten holes of 1 x 1 x 1 (cubic) foot. 

Can you volunteer a couple of hours and some muscle power
late morning/early afternoon this

Saturday/Sunday, 13th/14th March? 

We would love to hear from you! 

Please call 07810 714 421 or e-mail now to mpj1952@yahoo.com

Many thanks.

Oh, and please do pass on the message! :)

 

 

The Lynnside Community Garden is now a member of Argyll & Bute 'Time for Change' Time Banks

Dear All

It's official – the Lynnside Community Garden is now a member of Argyll & Bute Time Banks!
This means that anyone who is signed up with the A&B Time Banks*) can obtain credit for time volunteered for this Community Garden.

Here's a photo of the certificate dated 22nd February 2010.

*) To sign up as a Time Bank volunteer, please contact Yvonne MacLean, Time Bank Co-ordinator, AVA – Argyll Voluntary Action, Office 1, Dunollie Halls, Dunollie Road, Oban, Argyll, PA34 5PH.
Phone: 01631 569 545  •  e-mail: oban.tfc AT tiscali.co.uk [copy this by hand into your outgoing e-mail, replacing " AT " by @]

Spring is in the air

Hello all
Spring is in the air. Our indefatigable gardener, Graham, has been hard at it, tidying up, raking off rotting branches and pulling up plants that didn't survive the hard frost of late December/early January. And he has built several raised beds which will hold leeks and onions and other lovely vegetables.

The weather changes from day to day, from hour to hour. A couple of days ago it was balmy and spring-like, the next day, frost had set in again and everything was covered with an ephemeral layer of ice-crystals. Beautiful, but a reminder that we shouldn't rush into things just yet:

Great good news!

Dear All
Now that Glencruitten Gazette Issue Three has been (or is being) distributed among the residents and tenants of the Glencruitten area in Oban (thank you, Kay, for a good editing and publishing job), I am absolutely chuffed to bits to pass on the following piece of good news:

We have been granted funding of £6,500 from the Fairer Argyll & Bute Partnership via the Fairer Oban Lorn and the Isles Working Group (part of Argyll & Bute Council). In the past few months, we have also received donations from MacQueen Brothers Ltd (£400) and the Oban Round Table (£100). We are so pleased to find that our garden project enjoys the support of the community and the council. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It also means that we can now employ Community Links Scotland to design and oversee the next stages of garden development, including completing the design, sorting out drainage problems, landscaping, furnishing, etc. By next spring we will definitely have a very different-looking community garden. There will most likely be a quiet seating area at the top. The big trees will remain standing in the wedge along the burn, and your blogger very much hopes that the very productive vegetable and flower plot will continue to flourish along the fence to the drying greens of houses 8-12 Miller Road.

The big grant came in due to the initiative of a local resident (M.P.-J.) and two very hard-working ladies (M.E. and J.H.) at the Council's Community Learning & Regeneration Centre, who wrote and submitted the proposal at extremely short notice. Thanks is also due to another hard-working lady (G.H.) at the Oban Volunteer Centre, who made sure that projects to improve the welfare and wellbeing of the local population (youth projects, garden projects, island community projects, etc.) were taken into consideration when it came to allocating moneys that have to be spent by the end of the current fiscal year, i.e. end March 2010.

Someone has been working on the garden quietly and without much credit, growing vegetables and flowers and keeping the weeds in check while we were waiting for some substantial funding to push things along. Graham will be more than pleased to tell you all about his projects to make the productive soil even more so, such as biochar, EM Bokashi and so on.

That's it for now. Do come back soon!