Arran residents give gifts to power engineers

Residents on Arran who were plunged into darkness during a week-long power cut have given the engineers that helped reconnect them a present from the island to show their gratitude.

Hampers of food produce and cosmetics produced on the island were gifted to all 150 Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) workers who grafted tirelessly in bad weather to restore electricity when a storm brought down power lines and transmission towers last month.

Each hamper includes cheese, oatcakes, preserves, whisky miniatures and toiletries from Arran Aromatics.

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Kenny Bone, chairman of VisitArran, spoke on behalf of the island’s small businesses and traders.

“For 10 days parts of Arran were all but cut off and though the experience really showed the community spirit that is a particular strength of our island, we are enormously grateful to the small army of men and women who worked in some pretty appalling conditions to restore power to our homes and workplaces,” he said.

Gesture

“VisitArran decided that on behalf of the community, we had to make a small gesture of thanks to those who helped us through that difficult period.

“Hopefully as they sample some of the local produce they might be tempted to come back, along with their family and friends, for a more leisurely visit to Scotland’s most accessible island, often considered to be ‘Scotland in miniature’.”

Stuart Hogarth, SSE’s director of distribution, said: “We are extremely touched by the generosity of the Arran community who are very kindly sending hampers to the 150 engineers and support staff who were involved in restoring power to Arran.

“One of the lasting memories we will take away from our time on Arran is the wonderful level of community spirit we experienced.

“Once again we would like to extend our thanks to the community on Arran for the warm welcome and support they gave our team and for their ongoing patience whilst we battled to restore power to their homes and businesses.”

Sheila Gilmore, executive director of VisitArran, said she hopes the publicity from the power cut will help attract tourists to the area.

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“Pictures of our magical island of Arran in what was a winter wonderland were beamed across the UK and around the world,” she said.

Spirit

“We hope that many more people will now have an appreciation of the beauty of our island and the incredible community spirit that exists here.

“We are already starting to see an increase in summer bookings, which is terrific. Whether you want an active holiday with hillwalking, cycling, sailing and some of the best golf courses in the country, or a more leisurely break just admiring our scenery, wildlife, relaxing and sampling our fresh local produce, we want people to give real consideration to visiting Arran.”

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