LOOKING BACK: Beauty contest heralded, Harbourmaster appointed and Setback for ferry scheme
Beauty contest heralded
From the Groat of September 19, 1924
Entries were being sought for the “North’s own beauty competition” which was to be run by the Harmsworth Park Improvements Committee in connection with its festive carnival which was due to take place in the Rifle Hall in Dempster Street, Wick.
An advertisement stated that the contest was the “only event of the kind open to the Northern Counties of Scotland.”
The previous year the winners had been selected by eminent London artist John Lavery and “valuable gold medals” had been presented. This time round the entries would be adjudicated by “a like distinguished personality” and “the number and value of prizes will be regulated by the number of entries in each section”.
The competition was open to residents of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Orkney and Shetland, with Caithness natives also having a “class to themselves”.
The decision was to be made from photographs and people were urged to send in their pictures along with an entry fee of one shilling.
There were categories for ladies and gentlemen as well as three age categories for girls and boys.
Elsewhere, there had been another success in the attempts to salvage the vessels of the German Fleet which had been scuttled at Scapa Flow in the war.
The latest to rise to the surface was a destroyer and it was anticipated that as operations progressed a vessel would be raised every 10 to 14 days.
Harbourmaster appointed
From the Groat of September 20, 1974
A special meeting of Wick Harbour Trust had been convened to appoint Captain James F Moore, of Golspie, to the role of harbourmaster to succeed Mr Neil Stewart, who had intimated his resignation.
A total of 11 applications had been received for the post and Captain Moore had been chosen from a short leet of three.
Captain Moore (50) was the son of the late Rev Gordon Moore who had been minister at Wick Old Parish Church for a number of years.
Captain Moore, a former pupil of Wick High, had worked for a number of years in Singapore and before that was in the Merchant Navy. He had also commanded foreign-going vessels for various well-known shipping lines.
Meanwhile, a message in a bottle launched into the sea by two Wick youngsters had been found in Scandinavia.
William Macdonald (9) and his eight-year-old brother Martin had put the sealed bottle containing their names and address into the water at Broadhaven in April.
It had been found on the north-west coast of Denmark in August by a German holidaymaker.
Wick was the arrival port for a cargo of 1500 tons of pumice stone from the Italian island of Lipari off southern Italy.
The stone was for Watten building contractor D&M Geddes and was to be used as blocks for the internal walls of 70 houses being built at Ormlie in Thurso.
Setback for ferry scheme
From the Groat of September 24, 1999
Orkney businessman Andrew Banks had been thwarted in his bid to launch a new ferry service across the Pentland Firth during 1999.
A delay in obtaining planning consent for the necessary works at Gills Bay had revised the start date to the following summer.
Despite a knockback from funding agencies on both sides of the firth, Mr Banks said his £1 million-plus scheme was set to go as soon as the mainland link was ready.
He had installed a linkspan on the pier at St Margaret’s Hope in South Ronaldsay, where the vessel to ply the new route was laid up.
The former Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, renamed Pentalina B, was due to operate three hour-long crossings a day over the summer as well as a winter freight service.
The vessel, which could carry 250 passengers, was to compete against P&O Scottish Ferries’ year-round service between Scrabster and Stromness, and John O’Groats Ferries’ sailings between Groats and Burwick.
Elsewhere, County Show stalwart Nan Budge had decided to call it a day after a remarkable 30 years’ service.
The management committee of Caithness Agricultural Society had accepted her resignation as secretary and treasurer with “more than a measure of regret” and had agreed the joint post should be advertised.
Society past president Philip Coghill stated it would not be an exaggeration to say that “Nan is, in effect, the show” and said she would be a hard act to follow.
