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CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Jemma Middleton who has been awarded a ‘Platinum Champions Award’ by the Queen.

The awards were given to 490 people throughout the UK who have given their time and commitment to volunteering within communities.  Of the 490 – 33 were in Scotland and just 2 from Highlands.

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Ullapool Garden of Reflection Summer Fayre
Book a space
We will be holding a Summer Fayre down at the garden site, Ullapool High School on Saturday 25th June from 12pm – 4 pm
If anyone would like to book a space for our sale area please contact Tracy Boa on 01854 612935 or 07375 127705
Spaces are open for local businesses, anyone who would like to promote their products or crafts, also community groups as a fundraising opportunity, meet and greet, or promotion.
We will also have a car boot sale area where an opportunity to sell,
re-home items will be provided.
Spaces:
Business £10
Community /Charity £5
Car Boot £5

EASIER-TO-READ ULLAPOOL NEWS UPDATE
Since January, the Ullapool News has been producing an easier-to-read version of the paper for those who find the regular A4 copy too small to read.  We were alerted to this problem by Lynne Shaw who, in addition to having personal experience of this problem, was aware that there were others in the community who were missing out on being able to read their local paper.
The solution we came up with was to enlarge a copy of the Ullapool News from A4 to A3 size.  Lynne was our “guinea pig” and she pronounced the experiment a success!  The project was raised as a possibility in the Ullapool News and people were asked to let us know if they,  or someone they knew, might be interested in receiving an easier-to-read paper.  Several people responded.
We were keen to keep the price the same as the A4 paper so we looked around for funding and were fortunate in being awarded a Community Benefits Fund from Ullapool Community Trust in order that there could be a trial run.    Since January, the UCT grant has enabled us to produce the required number of copies.  This was made possible with the co-operation and help of the secretary’s office at Ullapool High School, particularly that of Kate Copestake, who has each week uncomplainingly produced the easier-to-read versions.
The verdict from the readers has been a positive one, so it is with reluctance that we have announce that the UCT grant has now been spent.  We are sorry for the disappointment this will cause but we are continuing to look for further funding to cover the gap between the production costs of the two sizes and we will let you know when we have found a way to re-start.
Meanwhile, many thanks to Lynne for voicing this issue, to Gill Wilson and Ullapool Community Trust for awarding us the grant; and to Ullapool High School and Kate Copestake for enlarging the Ullapool News.  Thank you also to Achiltibuie Stores, Parlett’s Newsagents and Tesco for holding the A3 papers until they were collected or delivered by Allister Parlett.
Eds.

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Ullapool Rowing Regatta 2022

From the 20th to 22nd May, Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club hosted its 11th regatta with rowers from 14 clubs from all over Scotland from Orkney to North Berwick.

On Friday night the 6 local youth teams got a chance to race Avoch’s youth teams, and for many of them it was the first real race they had done. 21 of our youth rowers are coming to Kortgene in the Netherlands at the end of June, so our regatta was an important stage in their training. They rowed well and took the Youth Trophy.

On Saturday, Ullapool opened with a win in the Open Men in breezy and exciting conditions. Avoch followed by winning the Open Women. Eastern took both the 40+ Men and the 40+ Women, Orkney the 50+ Women, and the current World Champions at 50+ Mixed, Golspie, prevailed again.

North Berwick beat us to take gold in the 240+ Men and Nairn scored a convincing victory in the 240+ Women. The 240+ category is for crews whose 4 rowers add up to more than 240 years of age, and for every year past 240 they get one second taken off their time.

 

Sunday was calm but very wet, and by Sunday night the umpire gazebo collapsed under the weight of its rainwater puddle. The calm conditions allowed some fast times, with Ullapool winning the U40 Men in 12 minutes 15.1 seconds. Strathpeffer’s strong U40 Women won their race and Gairloch got a creditable second place in the U26 Women.

Ullapool got 90 points in total with joint second place going to North Berwick and Eastern at 89 points, and Golspie and Orkney joint 4th at 81 points.

None of this would be possible without the generous and unstinting support we get from Ullapool Harbour Trust for insurance, loan of the marquee, moving things about, loan of the harbour launch and many other good deeds. An evening and two long days in wet weather were cheerfully endured by Ian Napier in the harbour launch, Mike Peterson and crew in the Wester Ross Salmon launch, Marc Mackay in Jonathan Reid’s boat and Harry Macrae in his own boat (which unlike the others did have a cabin).

Roy Macgregor laid and recovered the anchors for the start line, Heddle Costie laid and picked up the start line on both days, Chris Steventon and Dave Maxwell of Loch Broom Sailing Club organised the tensioning and release of the start line, Andy Rendle of the SCRA supervised the timing and results, Jonathan transported the generator, Scott Fisher and his father transported the tables and chairs and all the youth rowers ran the refreshments and merchandise both days. Thanks also to club members for putting up and taking down the marquee and for supplying soup and home baking to the refreshment stalls.

We thank all the above clubs plus South Skye and Lochaber, Eskmuthe, RowPorty, Cromarty and Bunillidh for taking the time and effort to come to Ullapool. Well done to the rowers who collected 400 medals! Covid has affected all our social activities but it is great to host our regatta and welcome clubs from all over Scotland.

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