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Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear


By Features Reporter

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An old class photo from Miller Academy in Thurso, likely to have been taken between 1948 and 1951. The photographer is not known.
An old class photo from Miller Academy in Thurso, likely to have been taken between 1948 and 1951. The photographer is not known.

Tenant loses claim against landlord

From the Groat of October 21, 1921

One of the first cases to be dealt with by an arbiter appointed by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland had taken place in Wick.

William Miller, farmer at Achies, Thurso, had made a claim against Sir John Sinclair of Dunbeath, Barrock House, under which compensation was sought for "disturbance in respect of a notice served by the landlord on the tenant asking him to quit the farm of Lochside, on the Barrock Estate".

The landlord maintained he had been justified in serving the notice as the farm had not been cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry.

Having inspected the farm, the arbiter agreed that Mr Miller had failed to cultivate the farm properly and noted that several fields were under a "mass of weeds", all the ditches on the farm required scouring and the whole holding showed unmistakable signs of neglect.

He ruled that Mr Miller was not entitled to compensation and ordered him to pay the arbiter's fees and expenses.

Elsewhere, it was reported that a Dunbeath man, John Mackay Sutherland, a native of Ramscraigs, had died in British Columbia saving the life of a little girl.

The child had got into difficulty while swimming and while Mr Sutherland had succeeded in getting her to the bank he had become exhausted battling the current and drowned.

Licence for riverside hotel

From the Groat of October 22, 1971

A Wick hotel project, already approved by Caithness County Council's planning committee, was unanimously granted a provisional certificate by the Wick Burgh Licensing Court despite two objections.

The scheme consisted of a 30-bedroom hotel to be completed by the end of 1972.

The site was part of the grounds of 9 High Street, the residence of the applicant, Graeme Brown.

Objections had come from the owners of a neighbouring property who maintained there were already "sufficient certificates" in the area, the applicant had no experience running a hotel, the site was unsuitable due to the proximity of Wick Old Parish Church and graveyard, and their property would be devalued.

The Rev Alistair Roy also objected, saying that the hotel's proximity of the municipal car park would encourage motorists to drink and that two church halls close by were used by youth organisations.

After hearing both sides, the court decided to repel the objections and the licence was granted.

Elsewhere, councillors agreed that no smoking would be allowed during the main business at county council meetings and all of the council committees. The decision formalised what was already council practice

Smokers would only be allowed to light up once the meeting had reached the "other competent business" stage.

Wickers set for a winter of discontent

From the Groat of October 25, 1996

The public and local shopkeepers were facing months of disturbance with work set to start in January to turn the centre of Wick into a pedestrian-priority area.

In all the £1.25 million project would take six months to complete and would transform the town centre.

The leaders of the Wick Project assured businesses and residents that every step would be taken to minimise the inconvenience caused by the roadworks in Market Square and part of High Street.

The scheme would see traffic flow in High Street become one-way from the Camps to the Bridge Street junction.

One of the architects involved in the project said that "high-quality and expensive materials were going to be used and that the result would be unique".

Meanwhile, a "new era" had dawned over the public sector in Caithness as councillors and the local enterprise company agreed to set aside their differences and work together to revive the local economy.

A new strategy group was to be set up after Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise chairman Jack Watson had given his support to a plan drawn up by civic leader John Young and local MP Robert Maclennan to rescue the county from "economic stagnation".

The council's and CASE's previous acrimonious relationship had resulted in a number of well-publicised spats.


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