Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Wick firm blazes a trail
From the Groat of February 17, 1922
Pulteney Distillery was to be adequately protected from fire thanks to the purchase of an "up-to-date horse or hand-drawn petrol motor fire engine".
The distillery's new proprietors, Messrs James Watson and Co Ltd, staged a demonstration of the apparatus before a large gathering under the superintendence of Captain Weir, firemaster of Dundee Fire Brigade, an esteemed Caithnessian, who had journeyed north for the purpose.
The machine was demonstrated drawing water from the mill lade. "Quickly the hoses were fitted on, and within a few minutes two streams of water from the hoses were shooting over 60 feet high above the spectators' heads."
The engine was the first of its kind to be installed in the county, or "probably north of Inverness".
Wick Fire Brigade, meanwhile, had been called out to Albert Street where a fire in the kippering premises of Messrs Saver and Holloway caused over £700 worth of damage.
Employees of the firm had been engaged in "stripping" the kiln, which had been filled with herrings, when it was observed that at some height from the ground the building was on fire.
The brigade was quickly on the scene but "so dry and inflammable was the wood of the kiln that within a few minutes of the alarm the greater part of the building was wreathed in leaping flames".
Workers affected by power cuts
From the Groat of February 18, 1972
In common with the rest of the country, Caithness had been hit by the fuel crisis electricity cuts.
Most of the firms in the county had so far succeeded in improvising to keep staff on but others had been forced to lay off some of their employees.
Among those affected were workers at the Caithness Glass factory at Harrowhill in Wick. The power cuts had had a "devastating effect" on production there and the situation was a "total disaster", according to managing director Alistair Mair.
The company was getting just enough electricity to keep the furnaces "ticking over" and so avoid permanent damage, but not enough to keep production going, which had resulted in 36 glass blowers, their helpers and people in the finishing department being laid off.
He added that if the situation continued it was likely that more of the 100-strong workforce would have to be let go.
Wick Town Council, meanwhile, was continuing with its meetings. Members of the housing and development committee had met in the town hall despite there bring no mains heating or light.
Councillors had kept their coats on to ward off the cold and light came from candles and a Tilley oil lamp borrowed from a council official's grandmother-in-law.
Halkirk meeting planned
From the Groat of February 21, 1997
Feelings were running high in Halkirk about the use of private rented accommodation in the area to house clients of the council's social work department.
A public meeting had been called by a group of parents concerned about the background of some of the people who had moved into the village.
A statement signed by 60 people had been presented to Halkirk Community Council making reference to Braal Castle, a block of rented flats owned by Thurso Estates. A representative from the council was invited to attend the meeting which was due to take place the following week in the local school.
Community council secretary Emily Fraser said it was "a very delicate situation".
Elsewhere, an aircraft wheel and part of the undercarriage had proved to be an unusual catch for Wick-based fisherman Fraser Wilson.
Mr Wilson, skipper of the clam vessel Southards, had hooked what could have been part of a wartime plane off the coast at Clythness, north of Lybster. And, in fact, Pentland Coastguard had reported the "catch" as "a wheel and the hydraulics off the undercarriage of a World War II bomber".
It was likely that someone from the RAF would come north to look at the remains.
