It was interesting to note during last week’s story about a seagull snatching a doughnut from a boy’s hand on Largs prom, that the family had been visiting Largs to go to the defunct bowling alley.

With grey skies, and wet weather having sadly been in abundance during recent months, leaving us all wondering if summer is going to truly arrive at all, Largs as a town might need to look towards providing more in the way of indoor facilities and entertainment, if summers like these are going to become the norm. (Let’s hope that they don’t though!) While there are plenty of great indoor facilities including Vikingar, Inverclyde Sports Centre, Kelburn’s indoor playbarn, councillors are currently looking towards a new plan for the prom and Aubery seafront.

A friend of mine from Fairlie, Jamie Bryceland, has often bemoaned the fact that Largs does not boast much in the way of indoor attractions, and perhaps, after the summer we have experienced so far, this is something we are going to have to seriously look at.

In a letter to the Largs and Millport News, he bemoaned the lack of indoor leisure facilities in Largs, and said that he had to take his three kids to Funworld in Greenock or Pandamonium in Erskine for use of their soft-play areas.

He argued: “If Largs had a state of the art soft play area for children then young families would flock to this area, spend much-needed funds in Largs and boost our town’s economy. This is not pie in the sky stuff. Families with young children from all around this area have to seek better facilities elsewhere. Our local parks are in darkness after 3pm during winter months and there is nothing for the kids.” The loss of the bowling alley for a proposed Wetherspoons development is another blow as it means the loss of a popular amenity which brought people to the town, so we may need to look towards expanding what we already have at the likes of the Vikingar! and elsewhere.

Over the years, there have been many suggestions, such an indoor skating rink - well, with John Cairnie being a Scottish pioneer of curling, it could be an all year round attraction.

The much loved Largs Musuem is again open this summer, but with a vast history incorporating Sir Thomas Brisbane, catalinas in Largs bay during the Second World War, John Cairnie, and much more besides, could we make this a bigger attraction within our midst?

Largs used to boast several cinemas in its town centre, but for many years, has not offered such a facility, although Largs does have a film club which meets at the Vallhaladrome over the winter months.

One of the beauties about the recent Largs Live festival, and the Largs Family Fun weekend, both of which I attended, was that both events could compensate for the poor weather.

The pubs were all packed as the town had a real buzzing atmosphere, and while the weather stayed decent, even if the heavens had opened, Largs Live is an event which could be successful at any time of the year due to most of the events actually taking place indoors.

Likewise, the marquees which are so important for the likes of the Largs Food Fest, Viking Festival and the Garrison at Millport, mean that visitors can still stay dry and enjoy all the entertainment on offer.

Photos of the old Aubery boating pond are as popular as ever on our Facebook page, as many grown-ups hark back to the days of their childhood, and ask if the popular facility could return, with table tennis in the pavilion, and crazy golf!

Again, these are all great ideas, but times change, and inevitably the economy and whether people are actually prepared to pay money for these activities to keep them maintained and active, are usually the reasons behind their demise.

However, if Largs is serious about attracting more visitors to the area, it is important that we can cater for them when the golden globe is in the sky, and also when it is not.