The Loch Lomond Shores development at Balloch was built at a cost of £45 million and opened in 2002. The projected £35 million boost to the local economy didn't happen and the centerpiece attraction the Drumkinnon Tower has been turned into a sea life center at a further cost of £3.4 million. The Imax film of the Legend of the Loch, commisioned at a cost of £3 million has been junked.

This vast expense to provide a home for a single mother and her two weans:- Shona is the mother and the bairns are Rhona and Mona. They are the Sea-Life otters. The world's most expensive otter holt has to be air conditioned. If it gets too warm, the otters are going to moult and look scabby, not attractive to the paying punters.

The Sea-Life Aquarium is a welcome addition to the area. It should have been housed in a custom built facility. If the designers don't know what a successful aquarium looks like, buy them a return air fare to Monterey, California where they can have a look at the Monterey Aquarium.

Scotland does have a Scottish Sports Hall of Fame however this is consigned to an obscure part of cyberspace.

Drumkinnon Tower would be an ideal venue for this celebration of Scottish achievement. There is a spiral stairway running down the outside of the tower, ideal space to display photographs and memorabilia of Scotland's greatest sportsmen and women. The Imax cinema has comfortable theatre style seating and could be simply adapted to show archive footage of great moments in Scottish sport. Jim Baxter playing keepy uppy at Wembley, Jim Clark winning the Indianapolis 500, Ken Buchanan's greatest fights, great moments on Scottish rugby, Ian Black's international success. There is space to display the Lotus 38 of Jim Clark, the Manx Norton of Bob McIntyre or the Tyrrell of Jackie Stewart. Let's do something right for a change.

There is an Argyll car, built in Alexandria on display in the National Museum in Edinburgh along with one of Stewart Racing's Formula 1 cars and a driving simulator. Edinburgh has enough for the visitor. These particular items belong in our area.

Other parts of the Lomond Shores complex could be used to portray famous Scots from other walks of life. The list is impressive, Scott, Burns, Wallace, Bruce, Adam Smith, David Hume, James Boswell, Tobias Smollett, McAdam, Livingston, Robert Louis Stevenson to name but a few. Let's tell the world the history of Scotland's people. It has always been about Scotland's people, a renewable resource. 90 million people around the world claim some form of Scottish heritage. A Western Family History Centre (formerly known as The Loch Lomond National Park Headquarters) tied to the data base in Edinburgh would attract those wanting to explore their ancestry.

A Center of Excellence, celebrating Great Scots, their heritage and history. A Center of Inspiration for the present generation.

The buildings are there, the infrastructure is there. Is the will there or the vision?