March to Save Castle Toward

On Saturday 30th January 2010 at 3pm their will be a public meeting on the council’s plans to sell Castle Toward. The meeting will take place at Innellan Village Hall in Dunoon.

A march to protest against the closure of Castle Toward has been planned to take place prior to this council meeting, join us at 1pm in Dunoon on Saturday the 30th to show the council that we will not stand for the Castle being lost for future generations.

  • Start Time: 30 January at 13:00
  • End Time: 30 January at 16:00
  • Where: Dunoon Band Stand (by the CalMac terminal)

Please, bring your friends, family, neighbours, drums, whistles, foghorns, leghorns. We can’t let the council get away with this.

As a theme, we’ll be wearing blue to match the current seagull logo of the Castle, so if you can wear something blue.

Castle Toward is one of the most important educational facilities in Scotland. Disgracefully it has been closed by Argyll and Bute Council since the 13th of November.

Join the fight to save Castle Toward!

Argyll & Bute Council Acts on Castle Toward

Argyll & Bute Council has engineered the closure of Castle Toward, taking effect from 13th November 2009.  Ever since 1996, the Council seems to have been determined to sell the historic premises and estate to the highest bidder as a housing development or a caravan park, or anything else, so long as it is not an education facility.

Throughout this period attempts made to purchase this unique facility have been thwarted by the Council.  The under-handedness of the Council must be highlighted, to be challenged.  This is no more apparent than in the most recent sequence of events regarding fire safety precautions and the Council stalling over the action required and requested by Actual Reality, which has brought about the recent closure.

The following pages detail the way in which the Council has contradicted itself throughout the period in question, how it has caused intentional delays in the attempts at progress made by Actual Reality and the Castle Toward Trust, and the way in which deception continues by denying the public information it is entitled to.

Save Castle Toward Online Petition

Please add your support to the online petition to save Castle Toward.

Please Sign the Petition

Please help the campaign but please only sign once. Signing multiple times throws doubt on the validity of this petition.

For 60 years Castle Toward has played host to music, drama and arts groups from across the country as well as operating as a very successful outdoor centre, changing the lives of countless numbers of children along the way. However, since 1996 when Argyll & Bute Council took over as landlords of Castle Toward as a result of the reorganisation of local authorities they have been determined to sell it.

In the latest twist they are using an inspection of the castle which identified some repairs needing done as an excuse to close Castle Toward down and claim it as an unaffordable luxury.Worst of all this is all being done behind closed doors.

We are looking for people involved in the arts at all levels to show their support and sign this petition, whether you are a professional, amateur or a supporter.

Please sign this petition if you yourself have been to Castle Toward or anywhere similar, if you know anyone who has, or even just if you believe in the value of these type of centres. If you feel you can make a comment explaining why you’ve signed it that would also help.

Please show your support and stop Argyll and Bute Council ending 60 years of music, drama, acting, learning and most importantly the fun and the experiences that children get at Castle Toward.

Please Sign the Petition

Public meeting on Council plans to sell Castle Toward

On Saturday 30th January 2010 at 3pm their will be a public meeting on the council’s plans to sell Castle Toward. The meeting will take place at Innellan Village Hall in Dunoon.

If you want to show your support for Castle Toward we urge anyone who can make it to Dunoon on Saturday 30th January 2010 to come along to that meeting and show Argyll and Bute council the level of support that exists.

If you cannot make it along please email or phone South Cowal Community Councillor, Elizabeth Carey. She will record and report the numbers who could not make it. This is just as important as getting there. It’s all about people power now.

Email:  elizabeth@carey13.plus.com or Phone:  013469 870 360. If you get her answering machine, just leave your name and number, and say you wish her to record your opposition because you are unable to attend.

A march to protest against the closure of Castle Toward has been planned to take place prior to this council meeting, get more information on March to Save Castle Toward

Join the Save Castle Toward Facebook Campaign

Save Castke TowardSo far over 4,500 people have joined the “Save Castle Toward” campaign on facebook which was set up by one of 1000’s of people who as children enjoyed Castle Toward. Add your support now. Visit the “Save Castle Toward” facebook

Castle Toward until it’s recent closure was as a residential training centre operated by Actual Reality giving children all over Scotland the chance to enjoy such activities as kayaking, orienteering, high ropes as well as access to all local wilderness and hill walks.

As well as an outdoor education centre, Castle Toward has been used for many years as as a residential centre for young musicians and artists, helping Scotland talented youngsters realise and develop their potential.

If you as a child did not visit Castle Toward you will almost certainly have known someone who did, maybe your dad, your daughter or even your grandmother. Many generations have enjoyed Castle Toward and we must now fight to ensure that our children and their children can also experience this unique learning centre.

Add your support now. Visit the “Save Castle Toward” facebook

Summary of Events Leading to the Closure of Castle Toward

  • Joint Management Committee of Castle Toward is dissolved on the guarantee that a ninety-nine year lease is granted to Actual Reality to ensure the continuation of the outdoor education centre - Get more detailed information.
  • Ninety-nine year lease is denied –  Get more detailed information
  • Argyll & Bute Council moves to sell Castle Toward as residential property - Get more detailed information
  • Argyll & Bute Council ignores the bid made by Actual Reality to buy Castle Toward in order to maintain the outdoor education facility. Get more detailed information
  • Argyll & Bute Council purposefully brings about the closure of Castle Toward by causing delays in upgrades required so that Actual Reality are no longer able to function from the centre – Get more detailed information
  • Argyll & Bute Council now proposes to market Castle Toward once more

Argyll & Bute Council have relentlessly pursued an alternative agenda for Castle Toward, designed to achieve the voluntary exit of its operator so that the authority can claim to be legitimately pursuing alternative uses for the estate.

In pursuit of this outcome, Argyll & Bute council has misled members of its own council and had faced-down opposition from the other authorities it was in partnership with.

Health & well-being, team working, confidence and affective learners, music and drama, sport and environmental education do not feature in the vocabulary of this exercise and neither, it seems, does ethical, moral, trustworthy, integrity, fairness, justice, public service, transparency or vision.

The options are:

Roll over and let these inglorious people succeed, or,

Rise to the challenge of overcoming their disagreeable goings on.

What We Can Do to Save Castle Toward

The first two very simple things that you can do right now to help save Castle Toward is to show your support online

Let other people know about this situation, facebook has done well to alert those people who use facebook, but the majority of the country do not actually have a facebook account and even less use it regularly. Alert those people to Castle Toward’s plight and at the very least ask them to sign the petition

  • Tell anyone you think will care about Castle Toward

We are up against powerful people who genuinely do not care about Castle Toward. So, the magnitude of our opposition has to be seen everywhere possible – we must make an impact.

If you are free on Saturday 30th January 2010 then you can make your voice heard in opposition to the closure.

  • Attend the public meeting at Innellan Village Hall Saturday 30th January 2010 - Get more details

Send letters and write emails to people who can help change Argyll and Bute’s money grabbing attitude. We will be adding some details of the Argyll and Bute counsillors who are responsible for deciding the fate of Castle Toward.

  • Send letters / emails to Argyll and Bute Council
  • Send letters / emails to your local press
  • Contact anyone with influence

Most importantly – do not let Castle Toward go quietly!

If you have any more ideas, add your thoughts on the facebook page or add a suggestion below.