Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Concern over milk prices
From the Groat of January 20, 1922
Members of Wick Chamber of Commerce agreed to approach farmers to help the poor children in Wick and Pulteneytown after concern was raised that the price of milk in the town was too high.
Councillor Donald Green maintained that farmers in the district would be able to make a profit selling milk at 1s 6d a gallon as opposed to the current price of 2s 4d. He also believed that five out of every 20 milking cows in Wick suffered from tuberculosis.
However, James Budge disagreed with Mr Green's maths and said it would be impossible for farmers to produce milk at the lower price.
Coachbuilder John Dunnet suggested that farmers could be prevailed upon to reduce the cost of milk for the sake of the town's needy children, many of whom were going to school without any breakfast.
Mr Budge said that the majority of the people in Wick were able to afford the current price but "if a list of necessitous children was submitted to the farmers he had no doubt it would be favourably considered".
While on the subject of the town's poor citizens, Councillor PC McGhan suggested that a soup kitchen be provided in the town for adults. It was agreed to remit the matter to the local Soup Kitchen Committee which already provided meals for children.
Ambulance depot plan
From the Groat of January 21, 1972
The St Andrew's Ambulance Service Committee had revealed it planned to build a depot at Golspie as a central point for Caithness and Sutherland ambulances.
The proposal was welcomed by the Sutherland Health Committee, which recommended that the county council help with the provision of a suitable site.
Mr D J Buckley, secretary and treasurer of the Scottish Ambulance Service, had written to the health committee to explain that they were seeking to provide a "more highly trained and equipped ambulance service". Improvements included residential training for all ambulance men, the provision of oxygen, resuscitation and other modern aids for patient care and the erection of new depots.
He said that in the past the ambulance service in many areas had been provided by private contractors with untrained or partly trained staff on an on-call basis, sometimes with a single ambulance covering the needs of a wide area.
This did not provide adequate cover or a properly trained service, so steps were being taken to establish a "satisfactory pattern of ambulance service with an appropriate level of cover so that no area has to rely on its own resources for ambulance services".
Prestigious date for pipe band
From the Groat of January 24, 1997
Members of Wick RBLS Pipe Band were heading south for "the most important engagement they have ever undertaken".
The band had been booked to provide the cabaret, along with well-known TV personality Victoria Wood, at the annual UK Air Cargo Club dinner-dance in the Grosvenor Hotel in London's Park Lane.
Accompanying the band were four young Highland dancers – Elise Lyall, Lynsey Mowat, Emma Miller and Vicky Ronaldson – and local Burns enthusiast Eric Farquhar, who was to address the haggis.
The event organisers had decided to add a Scottish theme to the dinner-dance as it coincided with Burns Night, and, having been impressed with the pipe band's performance at Ackergill Tower during the summer, had issued the local musicians with an invitation.
Pipe Major Bobby Coghill, who was travelling down with Drum Major Raymond MacDonald in advance to finalise arrangements, had landed a late booking to play at a Burns supper in London the day before.
Meanwhile, the tourist trade in Caithness was given a welcome boost when the county was featured in a travel programme broadcast by Scottish Television.
The five-minute segment on Scottish Passport followed disabled angler Andrew Jeffrey and his family as they enjoyed a short stay at the Castle Arms Hotel in Mey.
