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Ted Briggs has died. He was the last of the three men who were the only survivors from the 1,418 men aboard the Hood when she was sunk in short order by the Bismarck in 1941 in the Denmark Strait.
In paying tribute to Mr Briggs and recalling the epic story of the Hood and the Bismarck, the news article follows the end of the Bisarck’s escort, Prinz Eugen.
Peter MacIntyre from Furnace, a major force in the Gaelic language world who sadly died last year, served on MTBs (Motor Torpedo Boats) during World War II. At the end of the war, it was his boat that sailed into Copenhagen Harbour to take the surrender papers of the Prinz Eugen.
Table three saw off all the opposition. The evening made £115 for the Hall funds. Robbie’s doing the questions and Ann Dodd and friends are doing the tea for the next Hall quiz - on Friday 7th November.
If you couldn’t make it, here are two of Quizmaster Robert Dunn’s questions.
16, 33,45 - what’s the next number in the sequence?
Answer - to give you time to work it out, here’s it is back-to-front: drocer enohpomarg - thgie ytneves
Anagram: NUCLEAR HALF - unscrambles to the name of a famous Scottish building. Work it out.
(And if you’re not on Ronnie Dodd’s email list - yet - ask him for his joke about how Japanese Banks are making out in these difficult financial times.)
Maestro Robert Dunn is question master for a quiz in the Village Hall tonight - 7.30pm. Entrance fee is the usual £2, including tea - from Edith and Pearl tonight. Prizes will be raffled and all proceeds will go to the Hall fund.
Argyll and Bute Council’s Executive has approved the first draft of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan for Loch Fyne. This will go to public consultation for eight weeks from early October. The draft plan has been developed over the past three years in collaboration with local interests and regulators. Its aim is to provide guidance for planning officers, regulators and local interests on the sustainable future use and development of the marine waters and surrounding coast of Loch Fyne.
Good idea to have a look at this. Will it have any impact on the ‘prawn wars’?
The next Furnace Flicks film on 16th October - 7.30pm in the Hall - will be Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It’s one of the all-time action-packed, hilarious, feel-good movies and with stunning performances from Newman and Redford. The Furnace Flicks team accepted Ronnie Dodd’s suggestion that this would be a good film to show now, as a tribute to Paul Newman who, sadly, has recently died of cancer.
Newman was not only an actor, he was a racing driver of real ability and the creator of a food range that earned $220 million for charity.
Anyway - get out the Stetsons, jeans and boots and make it to the Hall on 16th October. Bring a bottle. Bring a life-jacket. You never know - there could be a mass jump into the Leacainn at the end - to recreate the famous scene where Butch and Sundance jump over the cliff into the river below. Only joking.
Monday 6th October sees the start of the 2008 - 09 table bowls season. The Furnace Club wll have two club practice nights in the Hall, at 8.00pm on Monday 6th and Monday 13th October. The first match will be away to Cairndow on the following Monday 20th October. This year\s Club Captain is Alastair McKellar and Club Secretary is John Gillies.
Lots of may have bottled out of the Farida Dance weekend at the Argyll Hotel in Inveraray, promoted by Kerry McKay Hubbard. We could regret that. It was a great success, attracting dancers from Islay, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Haddington. Kay Taylor taught this choreography to a high tempo version of Enta Omri at the Saturday workshop. Here it is performed at the Hafla by some of the workshop participants with Kay guiding.
The shore road through Furnace Quarry between Furnace and the Caravan Park has been closed at two points by padlocked gates. Residents living between the two points and essential services can access the area - which remains open to walkers and cyclists.
The restriction removes the nuisance of weekend visitors diving and camping and leaving huge quantities of litter around - and gives the road surfaces (constantly repaired at their own expense by residents) some chance of lasting longer than usual.
However, it would be unwise, in the longer term, for the Community Council not to explore issues of established rights of public access and the possible legal consequences of changes of ownership potentially resulting from this closure. Argyll and Bute Council and its Planning Department could advise.
Winners of last night’s quiz in The Furnace Inn were: The Whitebridge Quartet. Eddie McCallum claims responsbility for the win since he only decided to come with the others at the last minute.
Questions we all learned from asked for the names of the designer/architects of the Wallace Memorial in Stirling (Answer: J T Rockhead); and of the Forth Road Bridge (Answer: Gilbert Roberts).
