Dounreay to produce its first electrical power
Ex-councillor’s generous offer
From the Groat of October 31, 1924
In a letter to Wick Town Council, former councillor Daniel Sutherland, auctioneer, had offered to provide a “double-seated and roofed shelter, capable of holding four six-feet seats, where men could gather in comfort”.
In addition to this gift to the town, Mr Sutherland “was also willing to make over to the council all right and interest he might have in the ground in Market Street between his premises and the river, which includes the site of the proposed shelter”.
Mr Sutherland had advised the council that while on a trip south he had discussed the matter with a native of Wick who had offered to pay half the estimated £60 cost, on the basis that the council would pay for the concrete flooring.
Contrary to local gossip, this did not mean that the bench at the Camps was to be removed, councillors were told. It was agreed to support the plan and thank Mr Sutherland and his friend for their “handsome gift”.
Meanwhile, it was reported that there had been “an increased demand for wireless receiving sets” in Wick.
“Including those who have made their own apparatus, there are now, it is estimated, 35 owners of sets in the burgh,” and it was expected that the demand for sets would continue to increase in the rural districts of Caithness as well.
Those who owned sets reported having had good reception to hear the results of the general election.
Electricity from Dounreay
From the Groat of November 1, 1974
Dounreay was expected to start supplying power to the electricity grid system “shortly”, according to Mr R V Moore, managing director of the reactor group of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
He told a “large group of press, television and Movietone representatives from all parts of Britain and other parts of the world” that “to have a fast reactor producing 250 megawatts coming on power in 1974 is an event of very great importance to us and one of which we can be justly proud”.
The Prototype Fast Reactor was in the process of completing a comprehensive test and commissioning programme.
Mr Moore said the reactor had been “a wonderful investment and really all our knowledge of the behaviour of materials and fuels in a fast reactor environment has been learned from the operation of this plant and the experiments carried out in it”.
Elsewhere, local MP Robert Maclennan had been asked by farmers to set up a meeting between them and the Minister for Agriculture and the Scottish Secretary “to discuss the crisis in the farming industry”.
The move followed a meeting in Inverness at which Caithness farmers had joined some 500 other hill and upland livestock producers at a protest rally.
Calling for the meeting, local farming representatives said they wanted the government ministers “to hear for themselves the real truth of the situation from those farmers most acutely concerned”.
No priority for Caithness culture
From the Groat of November 5, 1999
Visitors were not encouraged to come to Caithness because “its culture and heritage is underdeveloped”, the chairman of the Scottish Arts Council had been told.
Thurso-based playwright George Gunn told Magnus Linklater that Caithness was “the best-kept secret in Britain” because its culture had “never been given the priority it deserves by civic leaders”.
The connection between the county’s culture and the age-old allegations about tourists being told not to bother with Caithness was made during a consultative meeting in Thurso about a national strategy for Scottish culture.
Thurso Town Hall was one of a dozen venues being visited by Mr Linklater as part of preparations for a new policy document.
Calling for the appointment of an arts officer in Caithness and a culture strategy, Mr Gunn said that “if we think we are the poor neighbour of Orkney it is because Orkney got off its arse and did something about it. We have sat here and moaned for far too long.”
Referring to his most recent work staged at the town hall, Mr Gunn said it had attracted 350 people but “the quality of the work we can provide is limited by the building we are sitting in.
“Disabled people could not get in unless they were carried up the stairs. The provision we have in Caithness and Sutherland is appalling and something has to be done about it because the economy of this far north place depends on culture.”
