Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Licences refused in 'dry' Wick
From the Groat of April 14, 1922
A total of 23 licences to sell alcohol were refused by the Wick Burgh Licensing Court.
The decisions came after the failure of a bid by the licensees to have the vote for the town to become "dry" overturned in the Court of Session.
The ruling paved the way for the licensing court to implement the desire of the townspeople for temperance, as voted for in December 1920 but put on hold because of the legal challenge.
There was considerable interest in the sitting of the court and there was a large attendance of licence-holders and the public.
Setting out the court's position, Provost McEwen said that "they were now in a position to give effect to the wishes of the majority of the community, namely to have a 'dry' area. No licences would be granted by the court that day".
And that was indeed the case, as each public house or off-licence was refused one by one.
Applications from hotel licences were adjourned for a fortnight. The Temperance Act allowed the granting of certificates for hotels to sell alcohol under certain conditions and the court wanted more time to satisfy itself that these conditions were being met.
It was reported that the sitting of the licensing court had lasted only around 15 minutes.
Primary schools under strain
From the Groat of April 14, 1972
Pupil accommodation at Wick's three primary schools was inadequate and if the town's population was to rise in the following few years a fourth school would be required.
Members of the Caithness Education Committee heard from the headmaster at Hillhead, Major Ben Manson, that the roll was too heavy for the accommodation at his school, which had only recently opened and was "already inadequate".
Major Manson said he was two classrooms short and suggested he could alleviate some of the pressure by transferring to the North school some of his pupils who lived close to it.
Demountable classrooms were considered to be the answer, prompting Provost William G Mowat to remark: "It is dreadful that we have built a lovely new school and now have to spoil it by sticking on these extra classrooms."
Pulteneytown Academy headmaster George Henderson said that number of pupils in each class at his school was too big for the size of the rooms. He added that the men's staff room was currently being used for remedial work but it had no room for a table, blackboard or storage.
Cash for trash at Wick High
From the Groat of April 18, 1997
Around 7000 discarded cans had been collected by pupils at Wick High as part of a "cash for trash" initiative that had helped tidy up the school.
A group of fifth-year pupils taking part in an enterprise module had hit on the idea as a way of raising money for school funds and getting rid of the unwanted steel and aluminium cans.
The cans had been sold to a company in Invergordon which had offered them a better price than a firm in Thurso.
A competition had been held for the first years to see which class could collect the most cans, with the winners, 1M, getting a trip to Invergordon to see the rubbish being recycled.
Elsewhere, it was reported that taxpayers were facing a bill of at least £300,000 to prevent Highland Council's computer systems collapsing in the year 2000.
As with other organisations using computers, the local authority had to reprogram its entire electronic network to recognise the new millennium.
The root of the problem was the use of two digits for the year, for example 97 for 1997. This meant that the year 2000 would be interpreted as 1900.
Council systems affected included PCs and mainframe computers, telephone systems, fax machines, printers, traffic control systems, parking meters, alarms and any equipment that used electronic processing of dates.