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The first thing I noticed as I arrived at the Hunters Quay Holiday Village to attend the environmentally themed, family fun day event was that from the road, I could not see the Holiday Village. Right from the start, the natural beauty of the landscape and the environment had been maintained by our hosts.
Entering Dolphin Leisure Centre I found the atmosphere to be a flourish of activity. Exhibitors and participants were putting the finishing touches on their booths; erecting canopies, placing leaflets, fine tuning their audio & visual equipment and hanging posters. There were over fifty exhibitors setup in the main hall providing both information to raise environmental awareness, as well as fun activities for young and old alike. Exhibits and activities were provided by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue, Scottish Badgers, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scuba Rangers Kids Club and the Cowal Camera Club to name a few. The grown ups were able to enjoy finding out ways to save on their home energy bills through Energy Saving Trust or Re-Lamp or were even able to enjoy a relaxing foot or neck massage from Well Therapies. For the children there were lots of hands-on fun activities such as colouring, ceramic painting, crafts made from the willow tree under the guidance of Ancient Crafts by Denise and the touchy-feely sea life aquarium provided by William & Maricia Cameron. The older kids could try their hand at simulated combat with Lazer HQ. It seemed that there was something for everyone and the information that was readily available was abundant.
The Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue exhibit was manned by Susan and Rob, two local residents from Dunoon. They were busy helping some children put the finishing touches on the hedgehog masks they had just coloured in. Susan took a few minutes to tell me that their organization provides rescue, medical and rehabilitation services to Scotland’s orphaned and injured wildlife. The organization is funded solely from donations, membership and fund-raising events and is always looking for interested volunteers.
Denise of Ancient Crafts was busy working with three young children who were making willow fish. This was done using nothing but the bark and branches of the willow tree. When they were finished they lined up and proudly held their finished willow fish for me to photograph.
Elaine Rainey, Scottish Badger Survey Co-ordinator at the Scottish Badgers exhibit, was also busy helping some young girls to add the string to their recently coloured badger masks. Elaine had driven all the way up from Peebles to help get the word out about the threats that Scotland’s badger population face each day. The Scottish Badgers organization is also in great need of volunteers.
The Walking Theatre Company put on a short play called “The Whiskey Walk”. The play tells the story of smuggling whiskey during the times that the woods were rampant with excise men. There is history mixed with romance as Robert Burns meets Mary Campbell of Cowal. I elected to tag along with the group that accompanied the five players into the woods where they made their stage. Everyone in the group participated in the scenes along with the players. The children in the group added impromptu questions, as children often do, which afforded the players an opportunity to adlib their lines a bit for the amusement of all. The Walking Theatre Company is the smallest theatre company in Scotland; they work primarily outdoors and are sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Walking Theatre Company works with development trusts to promote awareness.
The theme of the event was environmental awareness and how we need to do our part to maintain a sustainable interaction with the environment. This was presented in a way that was both informative and fun for the children that attended. I realized today that sustaining the environment involved more than simply not littering, recycling bottles, cans and plastics, turning off unneeded lights and walking instead of driving to the market.
Speaking with Jackie McBurney, the Event Co-ordinator, and David Dain the General Manager about the event, its conception and its planning; I was amazed at the amount of man hours and work that were involved. The event is hosted by The Hunters Quay Holiday Village which is owned by Cowal Leisure Ltd. This park, along with its five Sister parks, has won the prestigious Gold David Bellamy Award three years in a row. It should be noted that no money is made by the event or its participants. The cost of the event, its advertising and publicity are absorbed completely by Cowal Leisure Ltd and has always been. The event was spawned by a conversation that Jackie had three years ago where it was mentioned that “a wee environmental event would be nice”. Soon Jackie was contacting local environmental and conservation groups and encouraging them to sign on. The groups had to meet a certain criteria; they had to be charitable, local and environmentally friendly. Groups that were under funded could also apply for funding to assist with their organizations costs. Cowal Leisure Ltd. has sponsored the Cowal Camera Club, the Red Squirrel Group and the Bumblebee Conservation trust, to name a few. This event has been a tremendous success for three years running and there is no end in sight. This weekend alone drew in over 3400 people. Although Jackie is the David Bellamy Awards Co-ordinator, the Environmental Projects Manager and the Events Co-ordinator and is involved in events with 25 schools located throughout Cowal and Bute, when you ask Jackie what she does, she modestly replies “I gather like minded environmentalists together to share information with the public”.
In my role as photojournalist for Dunoonpeeps.com, I would like to say I thoroughly enjoyed my two days at Hunters Quay Holiday Village and would recommend that you pencil this event into your diaries for next year.
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