SUMMER has arrived. According to the clocks anyway. Soon it will be barbecue time, al fresco food, taps aff, and midges.

It will be walks along the waterfront where we can choose any of the wonderful vistas from the Port all the way down to Wemyss Bay.

As Princess Anne was saying to me the other day. Youse, and I paraphrase here, youse have got to make more of your river, she said. The river is your past, but it is also your future.

Wise words indeed from someone who is no stranger to sailing a dinghy up the West Coast.

Very soon those big cruise ships will arrive at the Ocean Terminal. Every individual that they are carrying should be a target to aid our local economy. We have yet to master the art of turning those welcomed tourists upside down and hanging them up by their ankles until every last bit of loose change falls from their pockets, but that’s what we should be doing! In a nice way!

We do this with smiles on our faces whilst giving them all one of the best days of their lives.

So how do we do this?

Well, the first job is to try keep most of them in Inverclyde. We are up against the cruise companies here as they want to sell as many expensive day excursions as they can before their ship even sets sail. We need to set out our stall at the earliest.

We have the highly respected and excellent Inverclyde Tourist Group with their friendly welcomes greeting all the arrivals. They hand out lots of interesting leaflets about all the things to do and see in Inverclyde while at the same time pointing most of the passengers to the train station and the bus stop to Glasgow.

Can we no’ just tell them that yon infamous mountain pass at Cardonald is impassable today due to a sudden snow drift or a landslide?

We need a Daily List. Everything that’s on each day in Inverclyde. Handy for the locals too. We create our own offerings. A guided walking tour of Greenock’s Historic Quarter for a tenner? A taxi tour for four for a hundred quid? Take them up the Lyle Hill, point out the view, tell them about the Free French. Show them the big houses in the west end and tell them about the slave money that built them.

Our Daily List shouldn’t miss anything out. Open your garden or your church grounds for charity and have a tourist/local mingle. If Morton are playing, we let them know. The Wanderers might have a game. Anyone for cricket? Do they want to play golf? Walk The Cut? Is the museum open? Old Fire Engines? Is someone reciting Burns somewhere? Do they fancy a venture into the hills to get a guided Kilmacolm Farm Tour? Do we have a craft fair on somewhere? If not, why not? What’s happening at the Beacon? The opportunities are endless.

Every business or individual with something to offer should be listed. What do you have to offer? An experience? A display or exhibition? A special unique product? Artworks? Each day should stand alone. And we need to get that information out there at the earliest.

We already have a website that now comes under the auspices of Inverclyde Council. DiscoverInverclyde it’s called. It’s actually pretty hopeless. In fact, it’s totally hopeless. Mildly interesting but sells not a jot! Updated every blue moon! We have got to get our act together with this!

A big sheet of paper is what we need. Even two sheets stapled together. Nothing fancy. This is What’s on Today in Inverclyde it will say. Available everywhere. Handed to everyone coming off the ships. The website, we update the info on it as soon as possible. Continually updating. Long before our tourists leave home or book their excursions. A big list for each day a ship’s in port.

Make this someone’s job. Eventually we might charge for the bit of paper. Eventually we might charge you to get your name on it. In the meantime, we need to get it up and running. Let me know if you’re in! We’ve got a lot more here to offer than everyone thinks!