14 minute read
Get on your Hi-bikes
Getting around is easy on a Hi-Bike.
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Hi-Bike: Bringing electric bike sharing to Fort William
Hi-Bike Fort William electric bike share scheme, with 60 ebikes and eight charging hubs, is being launched this spring by Lochaber Environmental Group (LEG) and Bewegen. To ensure cost is not a barrier to using the Hi-Bikes, LEG will be offering discounted and free memberships to Hi-Bike and equal access passes for anyone that needs them, thanks to funding from Paths For All Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP). LEG will also be running lots of competitions with great prizes, so keep an eye out for more information on Facebook and Instagram @HiBikeFortWilliam as we get closer to launching Hi-Bike this spring.
A range of Hi-Bike membership options provide the first 45 minutes of every ride for free, while a three-hour hire gives time for a longer journey or a ride for leisure. Charging hubs will be located around Fort William and you can find a bike near you by checking bike availability at hubs on the Hi-Bike website or app.
You’ll be able to join Hi-Bike online or over the phone and then unlock the bikes using your smartphone. If you don’t have a smartphone, no problem, membership cards will also be available to unlock the bikes.
The LEG team will be running taster sessions and regular guided rides after the launch to help you use Hi-Bike and show you the best routes to get around Fort William.
Thanks to the SCSP grant, access to the Hi-Bike ebikes will be affordable for everyone. You’ll be able to unlock a bike, ride it to your destination and dock it again. Hi-Bike will make it easier, cheaper and quicker to take short local journeys by ebike, helping you to keep fit and healthy, avoid the traffic jams around town and reduce your carbon footprint.
No need to get in your car, just get on a Hi-Bike. They are great fun to ride.
Smarter Choices Smarter Places is a Paths for All programme to increase active and sustainable travel throughout Scotland. The programme is grant-funded by Transport Scotland. For more info about the Hi-Bike project visit www.lochaberenviro. org.uk or email info@ lochaberenviro.org.uk
Big trucks, little trucks Robert’s perfect replicas!
Neil Adams A Lochaber modeller’s scale creation of a vehicle belonging to Ewan M Bowman of Duisky has been featured in a magazine.
Starting from the base of a 1/50th model of a Scania truck produced by the ‘Tekna’ company, Robert Wilson customised it to produce a perfect replica of a Volvo FH4 with logging trailer.
Known locally for organising model shows in Fort William, Robert, from Tulloch, near Roybridge, has literally ‘built’ up an amazing range of model trucks representing companies from all over Scotland.
From his home workshop/ ‘man cave’, trucks, trailers and wonderful dioramas - small scale representations of real life locations - flow with remarkable regularity and incredible true to life detail. For Robert, modelling is a hobby which he very much enjoys and he only rarely takes on commissions for special vehicles. It is one of these commissions, for a truck operated by local company E M Bowman, which is featured in Model Truck World, where over four pages, he describes and illustrates every aspect of the build.
He often ‘scratch builds’ his models, making parts himself, or adapts parts from a number of commercially available kits to make his own unique creation perfect in every detail as demonstrated in this build.
To get this model just right, he had to buy three different kits of this truck, which gave him, with some adaptations, such as conversion to right-hand drive, about two thirds of the parts he needed. The rest he would have to produce himself. Ensuring accuracy in every dimension, he visited the company’s yard to photograph and measure the actual vehicle he was modelling, not only for technical detail, but also to reproduce the exact company livery plus any personal variations introduced by its driver.
None of the kits came with instructions on how to assemble the parts, but thanks to Robert’s 20-plus years of experience and
knowledge of how trucks are put together, for him, this really wasn’t an issue.
Bowman’s line of work often requires the use of highly specialised equipment and vehicles which aren’t the subject of any kit which saw Robert identifying these particular parts and building them from scratch, demanding a great deal of skill and ‘fiddly’ work.
Taking parts from several kits also meant where identical components such as mudguards didn’t quite fit in slightly different locations on his particular model meaning that he also spent time altering parts of the chassis to ensure an accurate fit.
Other parts, especially for the trailer, which had three axles, not modelled anywhere had to be hand built from materials such as brass, steel, white metal and plastics which had to be shaped, filed and even moulded from liquid metal to make the parts which would then be assembled into the final model.
Using sheets of plastic, he shaped various body panels and used material to simulate the covers across the load. He exactly matched the company colours and painted the model in them and had decals made which were exact scale representations of their logo. Other markings he made himself to give it that final finish, unique to each vehicle.
Internal details of the driver’s cab too were meticulously researched and built by Robert, with one addition which may not feature on the actual truck - a tiny piece of tartan upholstery which is his trade mark on every build.
Working back and forwards amongst many other projects and his working life, Robert lavished care and skill over many weeks before it was completed. He said: ‘This conversion took a lot of work and I must admit there were a few choice words during its construction.
‘However, the positive comments from its driver, who was given it as a Christmas present made it all worthwhile. Other people have also commented on how accurate it is, which is always good to hear.’
He is currently working on another model of a Bowman’s truck as well as a Caley Timber vehicle, while also looking towards this year’s model show, which he hopes will take place at the end of April.
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1,000 reasons to Celebrate
Jo Cowan Talk Lochaber, our talking newspaper, passes a fantastic milestone in early March with its 1,000th edition going out to listeners. This is a huge achievement for the volunteer teams who, over 20-plus years, have issued weekly recordings, apart from a year in abeyance due to the pandemic. Thanks to all volunteers past and present who have contributed to this service – committee members, technicians, editors, readers and administrators – you are fabulous.
Talk Lochaber produces a weekly audio-recording of local news, mainly from the Lochaber Times, but featuring other local publications such as Lochaber Life, De Tha Dol and West Word. Recordings are posted out on USB memory-sticks
The service benefi ts anyone who has diffi culty accessing the printed word.
Talk Lochaber has adapted over the years – moving from cassette to digital recording and from studio to homerecording. Listeners can now download a Talking Newspaper Federation (TNF) app to listen
A Talk Lochaber social meeting from 10 years ago. to the weekly broadcast via a smartphone or can access it via Amazon Alexa. We continue to send memory stick broadcasts to listeners who prefer this.
All our services are free. Please contact us if you, a relative, friend or neighbour could benefi t from receiving Talk Lochaber.
Our listeners have always been at the heart of what we do and are involved in running our charity. Listener Donald John MacLeod from Glenelg was involved in the early days of setting up Talk Lochaber and has remained a listener through all 1,000 editions. Having lost his sight suddenly, he remembers particularly missing the news from local newspapers that keeps us so connected. He was so keen to help start Talk Lochaber that he travelled 130 miles to attend the steering group meetings two decades ago. ‘Talk Lochaber and other talking newspapers mean that I can stay in touch with the rest of the world. There’s always something in it that interests me. It should also be mentioned that the Lochaber Life editor was a prime mover in getting Talk Lochaber off the ground and a strong supporter ever since. Thanks Iain. For details of how to receive Talk Lochaber please contact John Mortimer, secretary: email john@johnrmortimer. co.uk text: 07745306645 telephone 01855 811213. Please leave a message with a contact number and we will return your call.
OLD LAPTOPS - NEW HOPE FOR YOUNGSTERS
Iain Ferguson Technology moves on at an alarming rate, meaning that the latest super impressive development of today can be outdated and perhaps unwanted as a replacement with even more features coming on the market in a few months.
So what happens to things like old computers and laptops?
In many cases they pile up in a corner, forgotten and unwanted, often with little or no value to sell on due to their ‘perceived’ age and capabilities. They can be difficult to recycle and owners are often worried that the personal details and information stored on them when they were in use will be found and exploited by a criminal.
Now there is a solution which will help children and those who may not be able to buy one for themselves, thanks to a husband and wife team in Caithness who have set up a Small Community Interest company ‘Budding Engineers’ to safely repurpose unwanted computers and supply them to school children.
Their project known as ‘Tech4Tots and Teens’ has already provided much needed laptops to schools across the Highlands, giving many children access to digital technology, while encouraging participation in Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Wick may be quite far from Lochaber, but to donate your old laptop computers you need go no further than your local library, which will be accepting them and sending them off. Thanks to an arrangement with High Life Highland, libraries operated by them are acting as collection centres, including Fort William and Ardnamurchan.
On making a donation, people will be asked to fill in a permission form with their details and in return will receive a certificate from ‘Budding Engineers’ confirming that information on their machine has been securely erased and their computers have been wiped clean. This should give peace of mind and put to rest any worries. David Kerr, who founded the business with wife Liz, said: ‘We know there are a lot of youngsters out there whose parents cannot afford to buy them a computer. ‘The laptops we refurbish are provided with a version of the Linux operating system and are loaded with educational applications which are a fun way to learn in a game format which will help literary and literacy skills in addition to programmes of use to children with special needs. The response from recipients and parents has already been excellent.
If you are able to help, head down to your local library with your old machine.
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Do you know that by reading this you are among a privileged 80 per cent. A fascinating broadcast claimed that up to 20 per cent of adults in the UK can’t read. A young mother, now being helped with her dyslexia, described how being unable to read made her ignore written signs. When younger she even put herself in the way of bodily harm by ignoring: ‘Danger Keep out’.
I loved words and books from an early age but recall an amusing memory of learning to read. On our fi rst family visit to a zoo, I felt uneasy seeing lions and tigers behind bars. I concentrated on trying to read labels and notices. Kangaroo was a challenge. Dad explained it sounded like two Gs Kang-garoo. Another similar looking word on an empty cage puzzled me. ‘Dad what kind of animal is a Dang-ger-ooz?’ I asked. ‘That’s a notice to say the animal is dangerous! ‘Well, how was I to know a ‘g’ in the middle of a word was pronounced like a ’j’?
As I’ve written before, my father enrolled me, aged 7, in Scripture Union, then a Bible reading ‘club’. The same charity SUSCOTLAND now develops free online video resources to help parents and teachers explain the Bible to children. I still prefer words on paper to IT and agree with a minister who said the Bible reading in a service is most important, more even than his sermon. However, English is a diffi cult language to learn to read. I sympathize with brave people like that lady above and Jay Blades, of ‘The Repair Shop’, who is learning to read at 51 and going public about it. Perhaps that diffi cult youthful humiliation has helped him develop the empathy to create that ‘warm hug’ of a TV programme. As someone who struggles with dyscalculia, I salute them both and all adults or children trying to read.
Cutting the fi rst turf on the site of the ‘new’ Kinlochleven high and primary schools.
Photograph: Iain Ferguson, The Write Image.
Pyramid on dome - but where? Last month: Model mountain range at National Trust for Scotland, Glencoe.
