Free drinks all round!

They say that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and this could also be true of my Blip today!

This weekend is 'Keep Oban Beautiful's second 'Oban Spring Clean' and we have high hopes of an even more successful weekend than we did last year. We have more groups, businesses and individuals signed up than we did in 2018 and we've had a lot more local publicity, with BID4Oban, the company which sets out to improve the business environment in the town, sponsoring us with a series of adverts in the Oban Times. Journalists and columnists too from the OT have been supportive with several articles and frequent reminders about the event and the local print company have printed and laminated posters and banners for us free of charge. The only let down was the council's parking supremo. I contacted the council today to ask if I could have a free parking permit as I would be bringing various bits of equipment down to the Black Lynn, where KOB would be working on both afternoons. I was told that I would have to pay like anyone else. Thanks for your help! The Amenity Dept of the council has been much more supportive - they will be picking up all the piles of bags and have also provided a skip for those who can bring their filled bags to a central spot.

A couple of days ago a new shop selling local produce told us that they would give free hot drinks and cakes to anyone coming in over the weekend with a reusable cup and a litter picker. I visited a few more yesterday and we now have five who have agreed to support us. Only one of the cafes turned us down - we'll not say who! They asked how they would know that people were genuine! Mmm, think about it! All those tourists wielding litter pickers!

I'm going to hand out this poster tomorrow to the worthy five and we've announced their names on Facebook. All we need now is a good, dry weekend!