Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Wick school boots debacle
From the Groat of March 30, 1923
Under the headline "Battle of the boots", it was reported that a lively discussion had taken place at the Wick School Management Committee with regard to the footwear supplied under the Harper Fund.
The fund existed to supply boots to needy children and the contract had been won repeatedly by bootmaker Mr Leith.
However, when representatives of the committee visited the local schools, they found that of the 133 pairs of boots examined just 36 were according to contract.
The committee learned that some parents had been reluctant to take the contracted boots and, in a practice that had developed over a number of years, paid Mr Leith several shillings to substitute them. This practice, members agreed, was not part of the awarded contract and as such they decided to withhold payment.
Mr A Miller said that it was "painfully apparent that Mr Leith had been trafficking in boots" and stressed that the boot fund money "had been raised for the benefit of the poor and not for the benefit of a merchant in Bridge Street".
Mr McGhan, who had raised the issue, said that it was "not fair to other bootmakers of the town that this public body should give out a contract and then allow the person who secures the contract to supply any kind of boots at an extra cost".
Social worker plea rejected
From the Groat of March 30, 1973
Members of Wick Town Council refused a request by Caithness County Council for a house in the burgh for a social worker who had yet to be appointed.
Those against providing a house felt that the district council "should be able to meet the situation themselves through their housing schemes nearby the town".
It was pointed out that the county council had houses in Milton, Haster and Staxigoe, "all within a very short distance of Wick". Other councillors took the view that the house should be given "not for the social worker, but for those who depend on the work of the social worker".
Mr A B Henderson said the social worker would have to "come out at any hour of the day" and it was "not easy to get a message, even to Haster, but it is easy to get in the streets of Wick of behalf of those in need".
The request was refused by a majority of one vote.
Elsewhere, an advert declared that the Norseman Hotel in Wick was to open in May and the management was recruiting staff. Among the jobs available were cook/chef, second chef, breakfast cook, kitchen maids, waitresses, bar staff, reception staff and housemaids.
Quarry continental link restored
From the Groat of April 3, 1998
Large quantities of stone from Weydale quarry were being shipped to the continent for the first time since the collapse of the flagsone industry in Caithness in the 1920s.
Between 1500 and 1600 tonnes had been loaded onto the Limassol-registered cargo boat Carsco for export to Rotterdam.
David Burton, managing director of quarry operator Granit Union, said that most of the stone was for paving, with some for roofing and flooring, and it was being distributed to suppliers in Holland, Germany and Belgium.
The Inverness-based company had reopened the quarry at Weydale two years previously and was now investigating sites for a second quarry in the county.
Mr Burton said the shipment to the continent had been several years in the planning and the company wanted it to be "a regular thing".
He said: "The success of our business has meant that our quarrying operation at Weydale has grown faster than we had anticipated. The dedication and skill of the local workforce, in all weather, has enabled us to fulfil this export order in record time."
Councillor Falconer Waters, Thurso, welcomed the development. He said: "it must be 70 years since flagstone was shipped in commercial quantities and to see history repeating itself is very welcome".
Thurso's Rotterdam Street took its name from the regular trade between the town and the Dutch port in the days of sailing ships.
