Looking Back: Lightning strikes in Watten, electrical issues at Mount Vernon and Bower teddy helps aid effort
Narrow escape after lightning strikes
From the Groat of May 16, 1924
An alarming experience had occurred at Backlass, Hill of Watten, where a crofter and his family were lucky to escape serious injury.
A thunderstorm had passed over the landward area, with the thunder so loud it could be heard in Wick.
The house of William Sinclair was hit by lightning and the “electric discharge first struck and broke down the chimney head, passed through the vent to the apartments and blew out two windows and a skylight. Mr Sinclair, his wife and daughter, who were all sitting in the house at the time, had an alarming experience being thrown off their chairs.
“The two women suffered severely from shock. Fortunately they soon recovered. Outside, the lightning entered a drain, which it tore up and also smashed a rocky part of the surface in its path.
“About the same time a house at Larel, Bower, but on the same estate, and occupied by a shepherd, was also struck, damage being done to a gable and also inside the dwelling.
“Happily none of the occupants were injured. A child sleeping in a perambulator had a narrow escape.”
Elsewhere it was reported that improvements in train services were anticipated with the operator, LMS Railways, reinstating the pre-war timetable and offering an express train once a week between Wick and Inverness.
It was also expected that a dining car would be run on the Wick service.
Mount Vernon shock
From the Groat of May 17, 1974
Thurso Town Council heard that the electricity supply cables to houses in the 12-year-old Mount Vernon scheme were in danger of overloading.
It was reported that the cable rating, only 44 amps between the fuse-board and electricity meter in each house, was too low “and failed to come up to modern building regulations and specifications laid down by the Institution of Electrical Engineers”.
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Architect Peter Knight told councillors that “this was not basically dangerous as the cable could cope with up to 70 amps. However, if the cooker, immerser, lights and other appliances are all used at one time, there is a possibility that the cable could burn out, causing the whole board to fuse.”
Meanwhile, in Dornoch a special guest judge had been arranged for a Sutherland Agricultural Society event. The popular film actress and television star Susan Hampshire had accepted an invitation to judge at the society’s Show Queen final at a marquee dance to be held at Dornoch Links.
In Caithness, titles had been conferred on two young women.
Wick nurse Margaret Mackay (18) had been chosen as Miss Rosebank at a dance held in Wick's Rosebank Hotel.
In Lybster, 16-year-old Verena Angus was celebrating a double success. She had been crowned Latheron Show Queen at a dance in Latheron hall just a week after being elected as Lybster’s gala queen.
Ready, teddy go for aid mission
From the Groat of May 21, 1999
A teddy donated by a four-year-old Caithness lad was the last item to be loaded on board a lorry packed with goods and bound for the refugees in the Balkans.
The youngster had been so touched by the TV pictures of the Kosovo crisis that he donated his furry friend to a collection appeal.
The boy and his mum joined a steady stream of well-wishers depositing clothes, foodstuffs, medical supplies and bedding, as well as toys, at Bower hall.
The bear was the last to board the 40ft trailer before it made the journey to the Albanian border, and so touched were the fundraisers by the gesture that it was decided the teddy should travel in the cab as a symbol of the “outstanding Caithness response”.
Once it reached its destination, the teddy would be handed over, along with the other goods, to aid agencies.
Such was the local response to the appeal that it took several Dounreay workers almost two hours to load the trailer provided by the plant.
The helping hands belonged to Dougie Treasurer, Donnie Sutherland, Ian Cowie, Jim Anthoney and Jimmy Gunn.
Elsewhere, a Caithness firm was planning a £450,000 investment in a fish-processing factory at Scrabster. William Calder Ltd said the venture would provide 10 to 15 jobs.