Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Court a 'pure farce'
From the Groat of February 2, 1923
Councillor T Munro had called on his fellow members of Wick Town Council to discontinue the Dean of Guild Court and establish a new court.
Mr Munro said that "the way business was conducted in this court was a pure farce, and many of the ratepayers were very dissatisfied over it".
He said that recently the Dean of Guild had passed two plans without consulting other members of the court "and this sort of thing would require to be stopped".
The town clerk explained that the Dean of Guild Court was legally constituted but, as in a few other burghs, "the Dean has sole control and the other members of the court were only consulting members without a vote".
He added that a new court under the Burgh Police Act would give members an equal voice with the Dean.
Dean of Guild Davidson told the council he was "very sorry that he had caused annoyance by passing the two plans mentioned by Mr Munro". One had been for a gate in Burn Street and the other a garage in Louisburgh.
"When the plans were for minor details, such as a gate, he thought it was a pity to call the court and, perhaps, waste an hour over it. Before he was Dean this sort of thing was done but he regretted that he had given cause for complaint."
Thurso clubhouse objection
From the Groat of February 2, 1973
Two objections had been lodged against the proposed siting at Millbank of a building for use by the recently formed Thurso Working Men's Club.
The town council had been told that the reason for the objections was that the land was zoned as a public space. Because of this the council was to apply to the Secretary of State for Scotland to change the use of the land and it was likely that a public inquiry would have to be held.
Meanwhile, councillors were to meet with members of the Thurso Society to discuss the society's proposal to convert an old property at Back Shore Street into a folk museum and curator's house.
Elsewhere, a decision had been taken to go ahead with the formation of a Pony Club in Caithness.
Lady Thurso and Colonel Hildreth, of Barrock House, had been appointed as joint presidents with Mr L McClean, Georgemas as district commissioner.
The Caithness Riding Club, meanwhile, was entering its second season and the committee was "pleased to announce an ambitious and varied programme for the coming months".
Among the events was a sponsored ride in aid of Riding for the Disabled.
In Watten, members of the local rifle club celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dinner and dance in Mackays Hotel in Wick.
NHS trust in fight for survival
From the Groat of February 6, 1998
Caithness and Sutherland NHS Trust was facing a fight for survival in the face of government plans to reform the health service.
Ministers wanted to cut the number of trusts by half and were proposing a single trust for acute care and another for primary care in each of the health board areas.
This would mean the present NHS trust in the far north would be divided, with consultant-led hospital services coming under the control of a Raigmore-based body and GP-led functions being controlled by a Highland-wide communities trust.
The government said it would make exceptions where special circumstances prevailed, a pledge that had given hope to those fighting to save the far north-led service.
Local trust vice-chairman John Rosie stressed that trust was in the "hands of local people, who are easily available and who come from the community they serve".
He argued that the proposed changes would lead to areas such as Caithness being unrepresented and therefore the system would be undemocratic.
Mr Rosie said he had been a member of Highland Health Board and "I can honestly say the system we have at present is the best one, with local people providing services for local people".
Trust chief executive Richard Carey said that in its five years of operation the locally run trust had made "significant improvements in the provision of services".
He said that they had "developed a model that works for us" and if it was to be lost then "the future for the health service is not as rosy as it has been for the past five years".
