Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: August 27, 2020

As ever, to have your say on any topic of local interest, just email your opinions to editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk or get in touch via the Send Us Your News section of this site.

Please remember to include your name and address, and to try and keep your contributions as brief and to-the-point as you can.

We also require a daytime contact phone number in case we need to check any details at short notice, though this will not be published.

Happy writing!

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THE type of bins seen in the other sea-side towns like Largs and Ayr would help.

1 - They are bigger.

2 - They have a lid you must lift so it stops the seagulls getting into them and dragging it all out.

3 - There are plenty of bins.

Norrie Christie

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THE stupid fancy bins don’t help with the seagulls and crows in the town. They are just feeding stations for the birds.

When you see all councillors leading from the front instead of doing nothing then maybe I will consider it, but until then I’m paying high rates for them to do their overpaid jobs plus expenses.

Roland Jones

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READ MORE: Your town needs you: Keep Helensburgh Clean litter campaign begins

IT’S not bigger bins at huge expense that are needed, but smaller packaging from chippies etc.

Not foam boxes, but paper boxes – first, they rot quicker, and second, they can (should, must) be folded down and made small before putting in the bin. Then a lot more stuff fits in.

People don’t make their waste small, they don’t think about space, they just chuck it. These are the bins we have, so we need to learn how to optimise their use.

And if the thing in our hands is too big for the bin, then we need to be responsible enough to either stuff it in our rucksack and take it home, or try the next bin.

I also think that every chippy should have a bin in front of their premises where people can return to for disposing of the packaging.

The cost of this bin would quickly teach the chippies to wrap the food as little as possible!

I always stop them and say the box is enough, I don’t need five layers of paper around it.

Irina Agostinelli

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IT’S not only the rubbish from bins. Outside the shops on the pavements is a disgrace.

In the past each shop had the responsibility of looking after the pavement on behalf of their customers.

Only the odd shop now takes the pride in keeping it presentable.

Robert Wilkie

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LOOK around the square and find a bin that isn’t full on a nice sunny day.

In fact, take a walk around the whole town and find a bin that isn’t full.

Are you as an individual telling me that if you cannot find a bin that isn’t empty, you are willing to carry your rubbish around all day till such a time where you can find a bin that is empty?

Or would it simply be easier if Argyll and Bute Council, instead of emptying the bins we have every two or three days, simply increase the frequency at which these bins are emptied.

Or instead of having stylish looking bins which add nothing to the aesthetics put bins in place that hold a greater volume of rubbish?

The answer to the seagull problem isn’t having an empty bin. It’s to have bins with flaps to stop seagulls being able to get inside the bin.

Derek McKenzie

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: August 20, 2020

I UNDERSTAND the good that the litter pick does for the community, not just the clean aspect, but this is a service we pay for so it should be done.

Scott McMurray

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THE public caused it by being dirty beggars. Why should the council do it with taxpayers’ money?

Name and shame offenders with punishment to do litter picking!

Jane Somerville

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I WENT to Germany 30 years ago, and on a Saturday morning it was compulsory for the kids to go out and pick up rubbish.

This deterred them from dropping litter and when the turned into adults they still didn’t drop litter.

We are a useless country. We cannot teach people not to drop litter when even the adults are to blame.

It’s time to do something about it!

Ian Douglas

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GREAT campaign! We were fed up with folk saying the council should do something about it, however this is not the council’s issue. It’s all of ours!

We wanted our community to come together so we started our beach cleans and have seen a remarkable difference in people’s mental health, taking on new habits, cleaner beaches and regularly joining forces with more groups to take these actions and issues directly to their MSPs.

The Rhu Clean-Up Crew

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IT would be lovely if everyone could pick up their own litter and put it in a bin rather than someone else having to do it.

The number of face masks on the streets just now is utterly shameful.

Every area in Scotland suffers from a serious ignorance problem in that people don’t pick up after themselves.

Whether the bins are full, too small or not emptied enough, we all have a choice. Pick up your litter and take it home with you or have a bit of respect and find another bin.

It’s an easy problem to solve.

Jenni Stewart

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: August 13, 2020

WITH reference to the letter from Neil Smith in your August 6 issue on the scrapping of the RMS Queen of Bermuda at Faslane in the late 1960s, I am sure the date was 1967 that the dining area of the Queens Hotel in Helensburgh was refurbished.

The contract was carried out by R.D. Robertson of Dumbarton, who also had a first class joinery shop.

The Queens Hotel purchased all the tables and chairs direct from the company at Faslane.

I was employed by R.D. Robertson in the office at that time and remember this contract well.

Hugh Orr

Via email

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I WAS struck by the furore this week over the idea that those Scots in in the rest of the UK should be given the right to vote in any forthcoming independence referendum.

This of course highlights the worst excesses of ethnic nationalism. The actions of a British government which, it should be remembered, excluded EU nationals from the right to vote in the EU referendum despite the fact they live here, yet allowed British citizens living abroad the right to participate.

This is opposed to the civic nationalism of the Scottish Government, that those living in Scotland should dictate the nation’s constitutional future, pure and simple.

The precedent for this franchise was established in the devolution referendum of 1997 and the independence referendum of 2014, so it would be odd to alter it on this occasion.

Not trying to be too cynical, but with the Unionist side now well behind, there may be a belief that this vote can somehow be gerrymandered by opening it up to those Scots, however that is defined, living in the rest of the UK.

One can imagine the outcry there would be however should those Scots, who don’t even live in Scotland, tilt the balance in favour of the nation remaining in the Union – or indeed becoming independent.

It is of course only right and proper that those living in Scotland should dictate Scotland’s future, and all attempts should be made to resist any alternative.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

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RECENT research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership found that two-thirds of families with disabled children in Scotland have been providing a lot more care during lockdown – and many continue to do so, despite restrictions easing.

The current national emergency has compounded the challenges many parents of disabled children faced. It has also added layers of new ones as respite, therapies, care and schooling arrangements were largely stopped or changed and usual routines disrupted.

Contact Scotland, the charity for families with disabled children, is offering a helping hand to families in Argyll and Bute during this difficult time.

We’ve launched free one-to-one telephone appointments with a family support adviser for parent carers looking for a listening ear, reassurance and practical and emotional support.

We are running free virtual workshops on topics such as sleep, behaviour, wellbeing, money matters, and speech and language, to provide additional support for families who may be struggling during this crisis.

Families who have a disabled child can make an appointment or find out more details at contact.org.uk/covid-response-services/

Susan Walls

Contact Scotland

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