The new Jura passenger ferry service has won a gold award at the annual Argyll & Bute Excellence Awards in the “Vibrant Communities” category. Members of the Jura Initiative at the Edge team and Jura Development Trust were invited to attend, and received a commemorative plaque, a gold certificate and a cheque for £500 to spend on their project.

The Jura Ferry presentation was made by Blair Fletcher of Argyll & Bute Council who emphasised the ‘very positive impact it had on both the Jura and Tayvallich communities’. Deborah Bryce told the Ileach that: “We were overwhelmed and stunned to hear the announcement that the Jura ferry had won. When the first folk to congratulate us were our immediate competitors, it shows what a great spirit of camaraderie there was around the whole event.”

Deborah, who is Development Officer at Isle of Jura Initiative at the Edge continued: “This award has been won thanks to the dedication and commitment of many different people and organisations. From the Development Services group within ABC to the Tayvallich Bay Association; from HIE to the Crown Estate; from Robin Currie and the RSPA fund to Alison Younger of Corporate Services, Community Planning Partnership, Tayvallich Coffee Shop, local community members and community groups; the list is almost endless. It’s been a tremendous team effort with both the community here on Jura and our friends in Tayvallich making a great contribution. And then of course, there’s Nicol and Donnie MacKinnon and the magnificent “Shannick”. So a great big THANK YOU to all who’ve been involved, it was a real pleasure collecting the award on your behalf.

“This was only the first year; now let’s make sure that in 2009 and 2010 the ferry is even more successful! We are also on the long leet for the National COSLA excellence awards, which means that we are in the top 10 of the “Advancing Community and Citizen Well Being” category, for which there were 41 proposals. Apparently the Jura Passenger Ferry is the only one from Argyll & Bute on the long list. It means that we are guaranteed at least a Bronze Award; we’ll know on 15th December whether it’s anything better!”

This story was published with kind permission of the Ileach local newspaper.