Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Dangerous condition of county roads
From the Groat of September 14, 1923
The state of the roads in Caithness was described as "dangerous" in a letter to the Groat.
"Roadster" wrote that the highway from Wick to Lybster was "in a wretched condition, the worst, I think, between here and Edinburgh. There are numerous potholes, some of them two feet wide and six inches deep while the great bulk of them are about 12 inches wide and four to six inches deep. Such holes are not few, there are scores of them. In some places 20 to 40 such holes are grouped together."
The writer maintained that "driving at night especially there is great liability to accident, a broken axle or wheel being very likely to happen".
But it wasn't just the Lybster stretch that was the problem. Also on the main road south the area between Mybster and Latheron was in "very defective condition".
The letter continued: "May I remind the council that these roads are the highways to the south and they ought not to be in such bad condition."
He advocated that the roadmen be supplied with "tarred shingle for filling holes on the roads as they occur".
Elsewhere, His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury had delivered a sermon in St John's Episcopal Church in Wick, "to an overflowing congregation". The Archbishop was a guest of Lord and Lady Horne at Stirkoke House.
Prime Minister's Dounreay visit
From the Groat of September 14, 1973
Prime Minister Edward Heath had visited Dounreay as part of a four-day trip to Scotland and predicted a great future for nuclear power in the UK.
He said the experimental fast reactor had been running at the site since 1960 and "if all goes well it should be possible to order the first commercial fast breeder reactor by about 1976. And if we stick to this timetable, and if the experience of the first station is successful, this would allow the possibility of a full ordering programme by the mid 1980s.
"Scotland at Dounreay is therefore making a direct contribution to future energy supplies."
Mr Heath added that, with North Sea oil expected to start flowing the following year, "Scotland will benefit from the revenues and from the savings on foreign exchange which will result. But Scotland will benefit also from the general stimulation to her economy and from the economic activity which the exploitation of North Sea oil is generating."
Meanwhile, Thurso's Municipal Buildings Committee had turned down a suggestion from local dance promoters to form a "disco club with admission to town hall dances by membership only".
Councillor Waters said this would "create an impenetrable monopoly for local promoters".
Demand for Wick classes
From the Groat of September 18, 1998
Thurso College was to add an extra six classes to its evening course schedule in Wick after being "overwhelmed" by the number of people who had arrived to sign up the previous Wednesday.
The new Wick College building at the Camps was packed out on the first of the two-night enrolment sessions, taking staff there completely by surprise.
"The upshot of the massive response to the introduction of the new classes was that many people failed to find a place, and in the case of the most popular choice – Introduction to Computer Applications – the demand far outstripped the 30 places available."
College manager Don MacBeath said that he and his staff "certainly didn't expect anything like that number of people but we're very upbeat about it". He added: "It's a fantastic response and it bears out all the market research we have done."
Meanwhile, shopkeepers in Wick were to be given the chance to help light up the streets for Christmas.
At a meeting in Mackays Hotel, the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council was set to unveil plans to provide "a whole new range of lights for the town's main streets".
Businesses were to be offered the opportunity to sponsor one of the locally manufactured lights or even have one made to their own design.
