Sir, – I have been a regular summer visitor to Montrose for more than a decade and I have enjoyed exploring all of the local attractions, including the Montrose Museum and the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre.
Three years ago I appreciated a lovely visit to the William Lamb Studio, and like many others, I was disappointed to learn that it would not be open to visitors this season.
The studio has a very important place in the town, and it is vital that it continues in an era in which arts, culture and history are often overlooked, if not completely forgotten.
In addition to displaying the work of a fine artist, the studio has inspired many others, including my two young second cousins, who have eagerly entered the William Lamb sculpture competition in recent years.
As for Councillor Bill Duff’s comments, it has been my experience that many of the visitors to Montrose use public transportation. Those who do arrive by private car can easily find parking at their hotel, at the nearby free car park on Lower Hall Street, or on many of the roads just along from the studio.
I won’t even address the rest of Councillor Duff’s comments, as it would perhaps appear he has been spending too much time reading Mr Trump’s Twitter feed.
I do hope that Angus Council will treat this matter seriously and will work closely with the Friends of William Lamb group to ensure that the studio will have a bright future for all to enjoy.
Jeremy Rice.
Rosehill Road,
Montrose,
(via Cayman Islands).
PM’s itinerary open to question
Sir, – News that our prime minister is trying to do business with Nigeria is worrying.
Fraud is reckoned to be Nigeria’s second largest industry, and when I ran a public company in the 1970s, I made the decision to stop dealing with that country, so widespread was the corruption.
Who sends her on these crazy jaunts?
Malcolm Parkin.
Gamekeepers Road,
Kinnesswood.
Stop trying to find excuses
Sir, – Accustomed as I have become to reading letters from your independence-supporting correspondents, blaming all of Scotland’s problems on “the Union”, I was flabbergasted to read the letter (August 28) penned by Alex Orr, suggesting that the GERS figures published recently are either some sort of guesswork or, alternatively, a measure of the state of public finances in Scotland as a consequence of “the Union’s” management of the economy.
Does he not realise that the GERS report (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland) is actually published by a Scottish government department ?
No doubt if the report had shown Scotland’s economy in a better light, he and others would have been verbally patting the SNP on the back instead of trying to find excuses for this party whose grasp of prudent fiscal management, is tenuous to say the least.
It is a matter of record that the Scottish Government budget for 2018/2019 shows expenditure of £31.8 billion, and taxes collected of £12.8 billion.
Where does the shortfall come from?
The bulk of it from the UK Treasury, under the Barnett formula block grant, which incidentally is far more generous to Scotland than it is to Wales and Northern Ireland.
Without the block grant, where would the shortfall come from? Vastly increased taxes? Vast borrowings at rates far above those that the UK Treasury can command? Huge cutbacks in public services?
Rather than trying to find excuses for the poor performance of the Scottish economy under an SNP Government with increasingly devolved fiscal authority, he might consider just how much investment in Scotland’s infrastructure is held back due to the monetary and political uncertainties created by the SNP as a consequence of its mission towards economic and political suicide, otherwise known as sovereign independence from the UK, this small island that we have successfully cohabited with the English and Welsh for so many years.
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm.
Anstruther.
Many reasons for indy belief
Sir, – James Y. Lorimer in his letter of August 27 states that “many (independence supporters) would be unable to articulate their vision for an independent Scotland”.
I cannot speak for the other 40%+ of the Scottish electorate who, in polling, support independence, but my wish is simple – it is that Scotland be in charge of its own affairs, and governed by the party for which the Scottish people have voted.
I was born in 1950, yet in my lifetime, the Conservatives have won 11 out of 18 general elections while Scotland hasn’t voted Tory since I was five years old.
Scotland voted very clearly against Brexit, yet we are being subjected to this miserable project regardless of our wishes.
With Scotland having only 8% of the population, our needs and wishes, along with those of Northern Ireland, and Wales, will always be secondary to those of England. That’s why I believe in independence.
Les Mackay.
Carmichael Gardens,
Dundee.
Plane definitely took flight
Sir, – With reference to the article in the Courier (August 23) regarding the power flight by the Watson Brothers in 1903, on the date in question in July of that year my father Alec Paterson (Eck) and his pal Ernie Bruce were in a horse drawn bus when they encountered the Watson Brothers with a pony pulling a queer contraption taking up the whole width of the road.
Being naturally curious they got off the bus and followed the machine to a farm at East Leys. At the farm they asked the brothers what the machine was and were informed that it was a flying machine and they were going to fly it the next day.
The next day they got up early and went to the farm where the Watson Brothers were wheeling the machine from a shed and tied a restraining rope to a fence. Preston Watson asked my father and his pal if they would assist them in flying the machine by releasing the rope when they started the engine.
What happened next was a bit of an anti-climax as the machine ran away along the ground for quite a distance without taking flight. So after several unsuccessful attempts they gave my father and his pal 6d each for their pains.
The next day they returned to the farm and Preston Watson got into the pilot seat while his brother swung the propeller and my father and his pal released the rope and the plane trundled along without taking flight again.
On the third day James Watson (who was smaller and lighter in stature) got into the pilot seat while Preston swung the propeller.
When the engine was started and the rope released the machine travelled a short distance, lifted and rose to the height of the farm buildings and flew for about 200 yards before the nose dipped and hit the ground, breaking the propeller.
My father was interviewed by a journalist from the Courier and Advertiser at his home in Glasgow Road, Perth, and the story was published in the paper on Saturday February 26, 1966, along with a photograph of my father with an early flying machine.
The interview my father gave and the publication of the same is of considerable length and there are claims and counterclaims.
The flight by the Watson Brothers was definitely in July 1903 as the schools were on holiday and the farmer was exercising a horse for running in the Errol Games the next Wednesday and the Games were always held in July.
This was five months before the Wright Brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Ronald Paterson.
Maple Place,
Perth.
Stop political correctness
Sir, – I am totally fed up of the changes that are happening to society where there seems to be a band of professional offence-takers making trivial complaints and organisations bowing the knee to political correctness.
A recent example of this is University Challenge making sure questions are gender neutral because one person has complained that the answers are skewered towards men,
What utter nonsense.
Gordon Kennedy.
117 Simpson Square,
Perth.
