Update  > August 2007

  August 2007 Update - by Mary Haggarty (nee Bell) - Group Chairperson

(All items in WHITE are links to pages on the site)

Since the start of 2007 the group has been concentrating on the building of the website - in July we had over 10,000 hits and this is increasing all the time. As chair of the group I am absolutely delighted with all the comments that people from all over the world are leaving on the guest book.

To bolster our funds we have introduced an advertising system on the web site for local businesses costing £15 annually to become sponsors of the website. The take-up on this has been excellent. For individuals our latest funding idea is in the form of asking our web site visitors worldwide to become ‘Friends’ of Arrochar Tarbet & Ardlui Heritage Group by making a small donation to the Group - this can also be done online using PayPal. We are hoping that these two initiatives, along with the membership and our winter evening’s fees, will fund the running costs of the Group.

The part our website that is getting the most hits at the moment is the catalogue of the Arrochar Cemetery. Here there is a picture of each of the stones along with individual biography pages for some of the people. The cemetery pages have created a great deal of interest and we are delighted with the number of people who have been in touch asking for more information on their ancestors. Although time consuming we do try to accommodate all these requests. If anyone wishes to contribute a small article about any family members in the cemetery then we are happy to add this to the cemetery site in return for the contributor considering becoming a 'Friend'.

Other things we've been up to - well we met Roy Humble, Ben Humble's nephew who helped us with information about Ben for his page on the web site. He also waived the copyright of some of Ben's films which we've also added to the site including 'Arrochar Screen Test' which features many local characters filmed in 1949.

We were also kindly donated the Arrochar & Tarbet Golf Trophy from 1911 that was awarded to R. Campbell - thanks to Mr/ & Mrs. Menzies for their kind donation.

The group was asked to help the local Cub pack with work they had to complete in order to achieve a Heritage Badge. We provided old photographs, which they had to identify and take a photograph of how the building looked now. This along with joining the Cubs at one of their meetings where we discussed the way the villages used to be. We hope they were all successful in achieving their badge. 

We have preliminary planned our winter program the subjects we hope to cover are, Football Memories, Medical Records, Wheels of History, Natural Heritage, Arrochar & Tarbet Woman’s Rural, Heritage Quiz and a Question and Answers night.

To end I must say that although we may not be the most structured, disciplined, or organised group we have managed to capture a valuable key to unlock doors that may have remained locked forever without the group’s research. We have realised that it is not only the rich and famous that makes up the social history of a community it is all the people who have passed through the area leaving their tales and memories for the future generations. In this ever-changing world what an asset a Heritage group can be.

We are also looking into arranging an 'Arrochar Reunion' whereby past and present residents can get together - watch this space!

Lastly, don't forget you can keep track of all the new additions to the web site by visiting the Web Site Progress page on the News menu.
 

Please contact us if you have any information, articles or photographs you would like to add to the site.