Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Hospital upgrade appeal
From the Groat of May 18, 1923
An appeal had been made for the public to subscribe to a scheme to extend and upgrade the Bignold Cottage Hospital in Wick.
A report said: "As a result of many years' experience of the useful work requiring to be performed in this hospital, and of the constantly increasing calls from all parts of the county upon its limited accommodation, the Trustees have, after consultation with the Medical Superintendent and Medical Staff, and on their urgent recommendation, resolved to proceed with a necessary extension to the hospital building."
It was stated that at the present time all the accommodation for patients was on the first floor and the wards were too small and lighted only on one side. There was no accommodation for nursing staff and domestic servants. There was only one bathroom for staff and patients and this was too close to the operating theatre. There was also a lack of storage.
The advantages of the improvements included modern wards for 10 male and 10 female patients on the ground floor, proper duty rooms, bedroom accommodation for staff, an operating room on the ground floor and convenient kitchen arrangements.
"The necessity for, and the advantages to be derived from, the proposed extension will thus be obvious to the public," it was reported, "and an earnest appeal is now made to all interested in the beneficent work efficiently carried on in this Institution."
It was estimated that the project would cost around £6500.
Serious vandalism in Wick
From the Groat of May 18, 1973
Six new houses belonging to Wick Town Council had been found badly damaged on "the very day that they were to receive their final inspection and handed over by the contractor to the council for letting".
Members of the housing committee were shocked by the news and at their meeting there was "a general call for immediate police action to find who was responsible for this wanton vandalism".
Dean of Guild Miller told his colleagues that he could not understand how any person living in the Kinnaird Street and Grant Street area "did not hear or see the smashing of these windows and doors". He added that in one case "the doors were actually set alight".
However, Robert Durrand said he had spoken to people in the area and they knew who was responsible. Bailie A B Henderson suggested that potential witnesses feared "retribution" should they speak to the police.
It was noted that the windows smashed had been double-glazed, while others were made from reinforced glass – prompting Police Judge A Nicol to remark that "no kids did that".
Elsewhere, Scottish Instruments Ltd, one of the first firms to become established at the industrial site at Wick Airport, had completed a £20,000 expansion programme with the arrival of an automatic lathe.
The installation of the three-and-a-half-ton lathe was described as a "technical breakthrough for the North of Scotland".
Play area dangers
From the Groat of May 22, 1998
Two Thurso parents hit out at council leisure officials for failing to act over repeated safety warnings about children's play areas in the biggest housing scheme in the town.
They spoke out after two youngsters were injured while playing at their local park in High Ormlie.
A girl broke her arm after falling from a chute and ended up with a trip to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, while a younger boy injured his wrist on the same piece of play equipment on the same night.
Ormlie Community Association had asked four months previously that the two-level slide be removed.
The girl's mother said the chute had been the scene of a lot of accidents and that there had been "loads of complaints about the state of this and other parks in the area".
Elsewhere, Dounreay's fuel plants were blacked out for 16 hours because management didn't understand how the electrical system worked. They had shut down the vast complex in the mistaken belief that two supply lines had failed.
The blackout had been caused by a contractor who dislodged a cable while digging a trench, and staff could have restored power within a couple of hours – if they'd had the correct information about how the electrical supply was wired up.
Hundreds of workers were given the day off as a result of the incident, which was described as having originated from a "misinterpretation of the data".
