Our winners have a wonderful time at Isle of Arran Distillery’s 15th anniversary open day

Jul 23 2010 by Yonnie McInnes, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

OH boy, were the winners of our day out at Isle of Arran Distillery in Lochranza extremely lucky.

The sun-dancing worked, and Cathy and Raymond Sharkey, of Doonfoot; Nigel and Lia Court, Barrhill; and Jessie and David Fleming, from Drongan, all had a wonderful day being part of a VIP group to join the throng who came along to enjoy the distillery’s 15th anniversary celebrations and a special open day which I’m reliably informed no one wanted to leave.

“I have lived in Drongan for over 50 years, and admired Arran’s terrific profile many times from Ayr beach, but had never been to the island. What a wonderful place,” said David Fleming, one of our winners who is a school janitor at Wallacetown Nursery in Ayr.

“I had never tasted Arran whisky either and it was very nice indeed.

“We had a great day, absolutely marvellous, and no midgie bites.

“They were very hospitable and the journey on the speed boat was something else.

“We certainly arrived in style and after a tour around the distillery were treated to lunch.”

Nigel and Lia Court, a cook in a care home in Girvan, settled in Barrhill 18 months ago.

“I was a fruit grower in the Golan Heights in Israel, but we decided to move our family away from the conflict – although things had been relatively quiet there for some time,” said Nigel.

“We trawled the internet for properties in Britain and ended up settling in Barrhill.

“This was the first time we had been to Arran and Lia and I had a wonderful day. We’re still discovering the sights and tastes of Scotland.”

Cathy Sharkey, our third winner, who is retired now but used to own the Shanter Hotel in Kirkoswald, added: “We had an absolutely fantastic time.

“The boat was spotless and a minibus was waiting for us at Lochranza pier when we arrived to take us to the distillery.

“We enjoyed sampling the whisky and liqueur and it went down very smoothly.”

Louisa Young, sales manager, Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd, added: “We were so lucky. Hours after the event closed, high winds and heavy rain began to fall throughout the west coast of Scotland.”

Our winners travelled in thrilling style, making a James Bond entrance to the open day courtesy of the Kintyre Express, travelling from Troon Marina to Lochranza.

Wilson Smith, skipper of the Kintyre Express powerboat – a Redbay Stormforce 11m vessel – transported our lucky group direct to Lochranza in around an hour and took them back again at the end of the day.

The distillery, on the north west tip of Arran, started production on June 29, 1995, and has quickly gained worldwide recognition for producing one of Scotland’s finest single malts.

The distillery visitor centre, opened in 1997 by the Queen, now welcomes over 60,000 visitors from around the world each year.

Our winners also sampled the wares of food and drink producers on the island including Taste of Arran and the Farmer’s Market.

There were pipe and brass bands, story-telling, face-painting, and mountain biking activities from Arran Adventures to keep all ages amused.