Argyll & Bute, Scotland

Arrochar and Tarbet Calor Village Of The Year Party Saturday 26th September 2009.

The party to celebrate Arrochar and Tarbet being named Calor Village Of The Year 2009-2010 was held on Saturday 26th September 2009. It started with a parade featuring the Inveraray and district pipe band closely followed by other local groups starting with the Scouts. The parade started at the Arrochar Hotel and proceeded past the new village hall which is still under construction and on to the Arrochar Parish Church. the pipe band continued to play outside the Church as local people gathered for the award ceremony. This was held in the Church with Duncan MacLachlan making the introductions. Also speaking was the Scottish Minister for Rural Affairs Mr. Richard Lochhead, and from Calor Gas Alastair Todd plus our very own Councillor Billy Petrie. Also on the stage were James Fisher from Ardlui representing the community Council and Arrochar Primary School Council of which James is the chair, Ronnie Ross the chair of the local Community Council and the two judges who were part of the panel for Calor.

The audio from the awards ceremony including all the speeches can be listened to on line from the bottom of this page.

Following the award ceremony drinks and snacks were served in the specially erected marquees outside the church. The village was also celebrating 10 years since the restoration of the church by the community which saved the church from demolition. Throughout the afternoon local children enjoyed playing at the playing fields where a large bouncy castle was situated. This continued throughout the afternoon. At 6pm local teenagers gathered at The Pit Stop where the participated in Arrochar Rocks - music by and for teenagers.

Meanwhile back in the marquees at the Church local musicians gathered for the fiddlers rally which included fiddlers form Lochgoilhead. The day finished with s firework display over Loch Long. The evening continued at the Village Inn where many locals enjoyed a wee drink. Local band The Cobblers provided live music from the 1960's to the 1990's where people listened and danced to the music until the wee hours. All in all a great day and evening which will be remembered for many years to come.

To view one of the images below click on the thumbnail - to close it click on the close X button in the bottom right hand corner of the picture window.

More picture of the other events including the firework display and the festivities at The Village Inn to follow soon...........

If you would like a high resolution copy of any of the images above simply take the reference number of the image(s) you want - this is located at the bottom left of the window when you are viewing an image and it will begin with P....   and email the references to howard@howardpage.co.uk

Audio of the Speeches
Use this media player to listen to the speeches from the award ceremony in the Church. If you are using Firefox or can't see the wee media player here then you can also listen by clicking here. Please be patient as the audio is 17Mb in size and lasts 30 minutes in total.

The Band were The Cobblers - click here to view their web site

Please visit  www.arrocharandtarbet.co.uk  for further information on the Community Development Trust.
Or click HERE for further information on the new Village Hall.