Meeting tonight

There's a Harbour Group meeting combined with a Gala Group meeting tonight, so should have more firm information on the Gala Day events programme and will publish this as soon as possible

Meeting commences at the Lampie Hoose commencing 7.30pm - come along if you wish

Picture courtesy of John Gardiner

Tiger Moth

Picture courtesy of Andy Walker (click to enlarge)

The Tiger Moth (pictured above) will be appearing at this years Gala Day (Sunday 26th July 12 noon - 5.oopm) Not sure of the time it will appear but this will not just be a flyby. Plan is for a display, of course it depends on the weather and servicability of the aircraft, however if it all comes together it will be a memorable sight and one well worth seeing

Portgordon Village

Click picture to enlarge

I've decided to have a change - I seem to have spent most of my time going on about Gala Day and the Raft Race, however there's more to Portgordon than a single event.

The view above was taken from the west end of Stewart Street. I've stood there many times in all weathers and always felt this route into the village is the best. This is the point where eastbound walkers along the Speyside Way enter the village, they might even be relieved to be so close to their destination. (the path ends at Buckpool just a few miles away)

Childrens Fancy Dress Parade

Just had confirmation that a new feature for the coming Gala Day (Sunday 26th July) will be a childrens fancy dress parade.

Here are more details

Children's Fancy Dress Parade
Free Entry
Prizes for best fancy dress in 3 age groups:
4 and under
5-8 years
9 years plus
Meet at Village Hall at 1.15pm for judging
Parade following pipers at 1.45pm
Prizegiving at 2.00pm
For further information contact Audrey Murray Tel 01542 836248

Please come along and support this event

Visitors

Click the picture to enlarge

In yesterdays 'Blog' I referred to visitors from various parts of the world and it got me thinking. What is the interest in a small former fishing village on the north east coast of Scotland to an international audience? I'm aware some of the visitors are former residents, so I can understand their interest but the others, I just don't know. What I do know is I have to give as much information as I can to ensure repeat visits from you all and that's quite a challenge though I do enjoy doing it.

More about Gala Day (Sunday 26th July 12 noon - 5.oopm) the pace is picking up, the tents have been inspected/repaired and prepared. Everything is coming together nicely - just need to make sure the weather is good and it will be a great day for all concerned. Got another meeting a week on Monday so should have more information following that unless of course something of note filters through in which case it will be relayed via these pages and/or the main website - please keep looking.

Just had confirmation that 'Flicks Chicks' are taking part in this years raft race. As usual their raft is taking shape at a secret location. so getting a sneak preview is out of the question. In fact it would be easier to get into the Kremlin!

Welcome to Portgordon

Leaving Portgordon Harbour - - -"Haste ye back"

Thank you for visiting the 'Blog' and also the Portgordon Community Harbour Group website.

This 'Blog' is still in its infancy having started a month ago. It remains to be seen if it will continue in its present form.

It has attracted visits from Norway, United States, Australia, New Zealand and of course the United Kingdom. The statistics tell me how long visitors spend on the site, sometimes it's just a few seconds and some have been with the site for more than an hour, I suspect they've left the site on while they've gone to make a cup of tea! Generally though it's usually five or ten minutes so I must be doing something right.

What is interesting to note is the popularity of the 'Blog' pages. There are of course two 'Blogs' running as part of the trial process - they are the most popular pages on the site.

The Group (Portgordon Community Harbour Group) has to decide what will happen in the future, 'though it does appear that at least one of the 'Blogs' is here to stay.

Please let me/us know what you think via the comments page.

Thank you for reading this.

Note: all comments are moderated and will not appear on the site unless you ask for them to be published - simply add 'ok to publish' if you don't then your comment will not be shown

Gala Day Sunday 26th July 12noon - 5pm

Click picture to enlarge

If you enlarge the picture you will probably need to use your scroll bars to see the complete set. I'm experimenting with new software and as you will see I haven't got the setting quite right.

These are pictures from a previous Gala Day - you may even see yourself! It just adds to the flavour in the build up to the big day.

It's likely there will some new offerings this time. Can't say to much yet as a number are not yet confirmed.

As always every effort is made to ensure the published programme of events takes place, however, sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. In which case the team just gets on with it, they have to, there's no other option and most people understand.

Gala Day - The bigger picture..

click picture to enlarge

This is a plan (not to scale) of the current layout for Gala Day. I've been asked to show the entire harbour area for those not familiar with the village.

In doing this the scale changes somewhat and the detail away from the harbour might be lost a tad. Not too much of a problem though as I can place a separate picture of the 'field' area on the 'blog' at a later date. There is still some fine tuning to do. Please bear with me

Gala Day Layout

This is the latest plan

Click picture to enlarge

Whilst the above is described as the final layout things may well change as the day approaches (Sunday 26th July 12 - 5pm) I'm sure you will appreciate there will always be something to add or subtract right up to the last minute

Animal Magic

Great news about the dog display (see yesterdays entry) - this all came about because a member of the local community came up with the suggestion. Any more ideas forthcoming?

picture courtesy of Peter Charlesworth

Remember the ferrets when they first put in an appearence a couple of years ago? I didn't think they would be suited to this kind of event nor did I think they would be popular - How wrong can you be - they proved to be extremely well liked, especially with the youngsters. What a nice way to introduce children to animals they might not see every day.

A first for the Gala

This is a 'first' - An event featuring local dogs will take place during the afternoon. It's something that's been suggested more than once, however, until now it just hasn't been possible. Things have changed since Gareth Williams came along and started to do dog training courses here in the village. So now there will be dogs and ferrets. The Group committee also wanted a falconry display but I understand it would have been too expensive.

I think this is another piece in the complex gala jigsaw of providing something for all tastes.

Gala Site Plan - Stage 2

click plan to enlarge

More information on the layout. This is not the final version. I have to do this in stages because it's quite complex. (for me anyway)

As I said in a previous post the drawing is to help people that have not been to a previous Gala day here in Portgordon.

There is some way to go in bringing it all together and so it must be understood that all locations on the layout may be subject to change.

I'm now going to pray for good weather!

A Gala Occasion

It's not just about rafts. The classic cars have become an integral part of Gala day. They represent an age when Britain was a dominant force in the manufacturing of motor cars and thanks to their present owners others can marvel at quality engineering. The owners are always pleased to discuss features of the cars with anyone interested in the subject.


This is one of the oldest participants in the parade (not the driver - I mean the vehicle) you won't see too many of these around when you go to Asda. In it's day this really was cutting edge technology.

There is a chance that we shall see some classic motor cycles at this years event though that has yet to be confirmed





On the other hand if you want really fast transport that will beat the jams then how about an RAF Sea King together with Lossiemouths finest as crew. Sadly it looks as though they will not be in attendance this year. We cannot complain they have been very supportive in the past especially the year before last when they combined with the lifeboat and gave us all something to remember.

Gala Day Plan/Layout

I'm attempting to show the layout as plans develop so that anyone not familiar with the setup will get a feel for the event prior to the day.

I know from experience the sketchy plan shown below is difficult to comprehend if you don't know the area so I've added the image from Google earth to help perspective. This was taken from just a little over 2,000 feet. Hope it's helpful.

I'll be showing more of the layout in stages as things progress. The grass area to the right of the harbour is where some of the stalls and stage will be placed and everything tends to build up around this
It's worth noting things are moving along nicely, always like this at this stage - plenty of time for panic in due course!

Mrs 'Blog' did this sketch for me. All I had to do was paint the garden fence in return. It's good to have staff' on-call

The way to see more detail on the plan will be to click on it to increase it's size. This will affect definition but it will show more detail (I hope)
There is a Gala meeting this coming Monday (8th) in the Lampie Hoose commencing 7.30 Come along if you wish

Raft Race entry

How's this as an entry for the Raft Race. I've checked and it seems to comply with the rules except for the sharp bit at the front. They can fix that with foam padding!!!

It's HMS Illustrious taken when she was offshore - think it was around October 2005. The zoom lens made her look a lot closer than she really was.

Interest in the Raft Race is gathering momentum, which is a good sign as it's still early days. Remember if you want to give it a try you can. If you've never taken part in a raft race before don't let that put you off - Portgordon is an ideal place for the novice racer and the entry is limited to fifteen, so no danger of overcrowding.

Thinking of entering the Raft Race???

Picture courtesy of Peter Charlesworth

This is addressed to those of you that may be thinking about entering the Raft race on Sunday 26th July

A raft can be just about anything that floats, see the link on yesterdays post that will give guidance on design/build (it's in the rules under item 2) there is a prize for best raft but thats really a bonus. The idea is to build something and have a laugh at the same time. If you've never done anything like it before now's the time to test yourself. Enlist the help of friends as co-builders and crew - just 'Have a go'

The Group tend to promote this particular aspect of Gala Day because they know it's what most people come to see, especially the youngsters and young at heart, also, experience has shown how much fun the teams get from taking part.

Good luck to all of you when the day comes

Raft Race Entry Form

Picture courtesy of Peter Charlesworth

Entry form for the Raft Race is after this page (you must read the rules first) on the main website. Here's a link:
http://www.portgordonharbour.org/Raft-Race-Rules-2009
More information will follow

Website visits

Click the picture to enlarge

Website visitor numbers are important to the Group, since they give an opportunity to gauge the level of interest in the website. Latest figures show, for the first time, a reduction on month by month year on year figures for May.

Year on year figures do show an increase to date over last year, amounting to 19.5% so thanks to everyone for visiting.

The Group are always interested in new ideas so if you can think of anything that could be added to the site please let us know via the email address below. Just click on the link.

http://www.portgordonharbour.org/Contacts

Just to add a little more, statistics allow the Group to see the most popular pages on its site. Currently most popular, after the home page, is the 'Blog' introduced this year as a trial. The results so far are most encouraging.