My latest Greenock Telegraph column...

With the Council’s budget put to bed for a few months I have been arranging a series of visits to local businesses and community organisations.

On 18 February I accompanied my colleague Michael McCormick to Ferguson’s shipyard in Port Glasgow to find out how things are going since the takeover by Clyde Blowers Capital in September last year. We met with senior management and were pleased to hear that they are optimistic about the future. We also heard about their plans to invest in the yard itself, in new equipment and in training for staff.

While the markets for ships and related activity appear to be quite buoyant they are also very competitive. It is crucial therefore that all stakeholders in the company work together to ensure that shipbuilding continues on the lower Clyde for many years to come, offering quality jobs to this and future generations.

In the same week I went along to the Waterfront Cinema in Greenock to meet the management team and hear about the good work they are doing supporting local community groups and their plans to continue investing in the cinema to ensure it offers what local cinema goers want and meet the demand for screenings of national and international live events.

Many of the Tele’s younger readers will probably not know that the Council owns the cinema building. When our last commercial cinema closed in the mid 1990s the Council stepped in to provide a new cinema building and bring in West Coast Cinemas to operate it. Nearly twenty years on this partnership is still going strong.

Having a local cinema is important to the quality of life in Inverclyde. Just as important many would argue as having our own local theatre.

Also important to our quality of life are good facilities for young people. I was delighted therefore to get a sneak preview recently of the excellent new Port Glasgow I Youth Zone in the former Boglestone Library building at Dubbs Place. The facility will be officially opened on 23 March by our Young People’s Champion Councillor James McColgan.

My most recent visit was to Inverclyde Foodbank’s base in West Blackhall Street in Greenock.

While I’m sure we would all wish there was no need for foodbanks, it was gratifying to hear about how public and voluntary agencies are working with the foodbank management and volunteers to provide support to hundreds of Inverclyde citizens who find themselves in difficulty.

The Council does its bit by providing financial assistance to the foodbank towards its running costs but it is important to realise that the ethos behind the foodbank is members of the community helping other members of the community who are in need. In this regard the people of Inverclyde have excelled themselves by donating a vast quantity of food since the foodbank was established back in 2012, making it one of the most successful in the UK.

The Foodbank operates on a 100% referral basis from charities, statutory agencies, faith groups, housing associations, voluntary groups and schools and nurseries. I am pleased that Inverclyde Labour Party and the Inverclyde Council branch of Unite the Union are also registered as referring agencies.

Further information on the foodbank can be found at their website www.inverclyde.foodbank.org.uk or by calling 787177/07506530638.