Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Deserter apprehended in Wick
From the Groat of July 20, 1923
A trooper from the King's Hussars was apprehended by local police after he approached them asking to be supplied with a train ticket south.
Thomas Jones told officers that he had travelled north as far as Thurso trying to trace his mother. Upon investigation it was revealed that Trooper Jones was alleged to have deserted his regiment at Tidworth earlier in the month and he was immediately arrested.
An escort arrived from Tidworth a few days later and left by train with the prisoner. When apprehended, Jones had only one penny in his possession.
Elsewhere it was reported that a Wick man living in Brazil had appeared in "a large and beautifully illustrated publication descriptive of the British Pavilion at the Brazilian Centenary Exhibition".
Mr P Swanson, son of Inspector and Mrs Swanson, Newton Cottage, Wick, had been president of the chamber of commerce in Rio de Janeiro during the celebrations, and the success of the event had been largely due to the chamber's efforts.
The Groat stated that "it is gratifying to friends in the home town to hear of Mr Swanson's welfare and success, and to know that he is worthily maintaining the high reputation of Scotsmen in that as in other parts of the world overseas for business ability, high integrity of character and activity in the public interest".
Dornoch bridge petition
From the Groat of July 20, 1973
An all-party petition calling for the construction of a road bridge across the Dornoch Firth was being circulated in the north. It was eventually to be presented to the House of Commons by local MP Robert Maclennan.
The petition, which was being signed by residents and visitors, claimed that a bridge over the firth would "bring great economic and social benefit to the people living and working in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty".
It added that the bridge was urgently required to link Sutherland with Ross and Cromarty because of the expanding oil-related industrial activity in the area. The document claimed that "the consequent shortening of the A9 would increase the prosperity of all industries in the northern counties".
Elsewhere, John O'Groats Pier and Harbour Association had appointed a four-man delegation to meet with Caithness county clerk R H Stevenson to seek information about plans for major improvements at John O'Groats.
The delegates were chosen at the first public meeting of the group since it was set up in June.
Among the priorities the association had identified for inclusion in the improvement scheme were the provision of a shelter for those waiting for the ferry and the extension of the pier to allow its use by local fishing vessels "at all states of the tide".
Job fears in NHS shake-up
From the Groat of July 24, 1998
Jobs could be lost in Caithness if control of the local NHS trust was moved out of the county. That was the warning made after Highland Health Board recommended that one acute and one primary care trust should be set up in its area.
The move would have meant that the management and administration of the three existing trusts would be centralised, probably in Inverness.
Such a scenario concerned Caithness and Sutherland NHS Trust chairman George Bruce, who argued that the change could affect local staffing.
He said jobs in finance and personnel would be lost to the north in favour of the Highland capital. He also worried about the future of clinical services.
Mr Bruce said: "One of my main concerns is that a body based in Inverness could, despite the pledges given, run down services in the northern counties at a future date. Indeed, a submission to the board from the Raigmore NHS Trust suggests that midwifery-led services could be introduced."
He added that he felt the health board's recommendations were "totally inadequate for Caithness and Sutherland" as the northern counties would "lose their local control".
Meanwhile, local GP Dr Peter Joiner had urged the public to bombard health minister Sam Galbraith with letters in a bid to overturn the board's recommendation.
