Wick could host world skiff championships
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I have multiple interests in the crews from Ullapool, Coigach, Helmsdale and Wick as they are all residents of my constituency, along with 41 others from various parts of Scotland and abroad who use one design of racing skiff. No doubt the Spirit O’ Wick will give as good as many.
The Scottish Coastal Rowing Project uses timber kit-built boats to a standard design known as St Ayles skiffs. These were commissioned by the Scottish Fisheries Museum of Anstruther in Fife from internationally renowned small boat designer Iain Oughtred, who lives in Skye.
The St Ayles is based on the traditional Fair Isle skiff and I first saw skiffie racing on BBC TV’s Countryfile a few weeks back as they took to the waters of the Firth of Forth. Apparently miners from the nearby pits built, launched and raced these craft as a competitive pastime away from the grime of the coal pits.
Now enthusiasts are spreading the skiffie infection to so many airts an’ pairts so that this week teams from other lands were able to crew locally-made boats in the skiffie world championships on Loch Broom.
There was a great buzz about the Wester Ross port, bedecked in flags and bunting, tents and outdoor seating at pubs and restaurants. I was joined by Caithness Highland councillor Gail Ross, wearing her snappy Wick Coastal Rowing shirt, as we checked out some of the sleek craft before the serious racing commenced.
I’d like to hope the success of coastal rowing will eventually become a bigger international sport. Practical boats, unlike the skulls in Olympic rowing, they make a fine, colourful sight on the beaches and waters off our shores.
Time to share the Skiffie World Championships sometime soon in Wick?
FOR many years I have argued that the Scottish Multiple Deprivation Index failed to show how the cost of living in rural Scotland is far more expensive than in urban areas. We need a clearer picture to make the case for public policy to level the playing field.
Now the Joseph Rowntree Trust have produced the evidence we need not just to pinpoint disadvantage in Wick or Bettyhill but to show what needs to be done to provide solutions in a ground-breaking report ‘A Minimum Income Standard (MIS) for Remote Rural Scotland’.
This research takes into account higher fuel bills, travel to work costs and the prices of food and other essential goods which are all critical to life in the north and south of Scotland outside the big cities. And the report also says that tackling any one of these major cost contributors would have a major impact on people’s cost of living.
For pensioners living in remote mainland Scotland towns like Thurso, the cost is just over 10 per cent higher than in rural towns or urban areas elsewhere in the UK. For singles or couples with children living in remote small settlements like Dunbeath, it is 30-40 per cent higher than in urban England and 10-15 per cent higher than in small English settlements.
On the plus side, the report also confirms that social interventions already being made are having a positive impact. The Scottish Government sees the social wage as a way to encourage councils to charge lower rents and freeze council tax bills in comparison with England.
The SNP has also underpinned subsidised transport and free prescriptions and eye tests that are all helping to contain costs.
The report identifies that some costs in rural Scotland are lower – but that these go only a small way to compensating for the areas where costs are higher.
According to MIS, every week a single council or housing association tenant living in a remote Highland town pays about £15 less in rent and £6 less in council tax than their English equivalent, but spends £10 more on domestic energy and £35 more on petrol. This creates much greater budget additions than savings, even before additional food, household goods and clothing costs are taken into account.
HIE’s Alastair Nicolson commented on this key report: “That it costs more to live in remote rural areas will not surprise most people, but the findings have provided us with a quantified and nationally comparable evidence base from which to develop public policy for remote rural Scotland.”
I expect the next Convention for the Highlands and Islands to be held in Lerwick to be an excellent venue to make more of the MIS ideas. I’ll be raising it in Parliament on return from recess.
THE continuing success of Andy Murray in clinching his second Grand Slam tennis title at last in the All England Club – ‘SW19’ is a delight for him, his grit and for sport.
It shows how many of us watch so much sport. Andy was lucky, his mum was determined he should develop his talent despite the odds against the Dunblane boy. The Murrays’ message and that of the SNP Government is to promote a healthier Scotland. That means to get off the couch and get active. With summer weather in short bursts we should make the most of it but closely question the likely sport development funding for our area to tempt young and old alike to take up an outdoor sport with better facilities.
These can only be built when many of us are in work and that we and our employers pay taxes so that public services can underpin clubs, courts and pitches.
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year has to be the spur to active living for many more of us, for all of our health’s sakes.
rob.gibson.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
