I WRITE to say how saddened I was to hear that Blairvadach Outdoor Education Centre is to close.

The Blairvadach project really grew out of the ground-breaking work of the dedicated volunteers who set up and ran “The Brassbounders”, a sailing club for Glasgow schoolchildren.

Originally the brainchild of art teacher Donald Bruce, the club was begun in the late 1950s and based at Hogganfield Loch where, every weekday evening between Easter and the end of September, a small band of teachers and policemen worked in their own time to bring the wonderful sport of dinghy sailing to ordinary Glasgow kids. I should know, because I was one of those kids.

The club was transformative for my life and I don’t doubt it was equally so for the many other youngsters who first learned to tack and gybe within the narrow confines of that little loch. It began with six Enterprise Dinghies, but by the early seventies, and with grant aid from Glasgow Corporation Education Department, the club had a fleet of 12 fibreglass Kestrels which made for exciting, but safe instructional platforms.

Fortnight-long summer sailing camps were held at Glasgow Education Department’s Residential Schools at Castle Toward, Achnamara and Caol Ruadh, and there we could put what we had learned at Hogganfield into action on what I later came to realise were some of the finest sailing waters in the world. We were so lucky. I met my wife Anne through the club and, now in our seventies, we are still enthusiastic sailors.

The dreadful Cairngorms disaster in 1971 effectively put an end to the Brassbounders. The whole area of outdoor education was tightened up and it became impossible to operate the club on a volunteer basis.

The emergence of Blairvadach soon afterwards was however a clear sign that the council still had an appreciation of the value of the kind of work the Brassbounders had been doing. Strathclyde Regional Council came into being in 1975 and continued Glasgow’s enlightened policies towards outdoor education.

Since then Blairvadach has introduced many thousands of Glasgow’s youngsters to the whole gamut of outdoor pursuits as well as to dinghy sailing and to close it now for a saving of £200,000 or so a year seems desperately short-sighted. I don’t suppose there are many of those far-seeing ‘Brassbounder’ pioneers left now, but those who are still around will surely be shedding a tear over this silly decision.

John Urquhart, Helensburgh.

I HAVE been following with interest your coverage of the recent council budget cuts and your excellent ‘’Race to Save Music in Schools’’ article (February 23).

The same headline could equally apply to outdoor education with the shocking announcement by Glasgow City councillors that they plan to axe Blairvadach Outdoor Education Resource Centre on the edge of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, which councillor Frank McAveety rightly describes as ‘’one of the major institutions of Glaswegian childhood.’’

I read with disbelief that the SNP and Green councillors have joined forces to vote through the closure of Blairvadach at a time when the Scottish Government is placing a greater emphasis on issues such as health, wellbeing and environmental education.

This decision seems to fly in the face of these priorities and the “annual saving” of £212,000 achieved will deprive the young people of Glasgow of life-changing experiences in Scotland’s great outdoors.

For over 45 years Blairvadach has been a leading provider of quality outdoor education and training, which has made an enormous contribution to the personal development of tens of thousands of Glasgow’s young people.

It has an outstanding reputation and is one of Scotland’s largest outdoor education providers. I would urge councillors to think again and keep it open to enrich the future lives of Glasgow’s young people.

James Fraser, Chairman, Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs and Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre

Accent on Scots

GR Weir (letters, February 24) bemoans the lack of “Scots involved as presenters/contributors on UK-wide TV or radio”. It took me about 60 seconds to list Andrew Neil, Andrew Marr, Laura Kuenssberg, Nick Eardley, Nicky Campbell, Iain Watson, Adam Fleming, Sarah Smith, Kirsty Wark, Kirsty Young, Laura Bicker and Fraser Nelson. Apologies to any I have missed.

Willie Maclean, Milngavie.

Never a cross word

ANOTHER definition of optimism for D. Weir (letters, February 25); the puzzler who does the crossword with a pen. Definition of a pessimist: he or she who does the crossword with a pencil.

David Miller, Milngavie.

Cashing in

ARE we to believe it really costs c.£30,000 to install an ATM? (The Herald, February 24). That’s not PIN money.

John Dunlop, Ayr.