Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
War memorial row
From the Groat of January 28, 1921
Considerable feeling had arisen in Castletown over the form of the local war memorial.
A number of people in the village and neighbourhood had taken exception to the design in the form of a cross, and as a result a public meeting was held to discuss the matter, which attracted about 300 persons.
"Much excitement characterised the proceedings," it was reported, with those against the design saying that the cross was "an unsuitable emblem for such a memorial in a Presbyterian community".
There was a lot of strong feeling on either side of the debate and at one point one of the objectors, the Rev J P Sinclair, asked the servicemen present if they thought their service was "fit to be classed with the merits of Christ". The reply was "yes", leaving Mr Sinclair "greatly surprised at the response".
It was stated that certain of those who had taken exception to the cross would not permit the names of their sons who had fallen in the war to be inscribed on the memorial if the design remained unchanged.
At the end of the meeting the war memorial committee agreed that nothing more would be done meantime given the state of the feeling in the community.
Apprentices made history
From the Groat of January 29, 1971
The first Caithness group of agricultural apprentices to complete the three-year indenture were presented with their certificates at a ceremony in Wick's Station Hotel.
Robert Dunbar, Cogle, Watten; James Gunn, Whitefield, Reiss; Colin Sutherland, Stempster, Westfield; and Malcolm Wylie, Springpark Terrace, Thurso, had completed courses run by the Agricultural Training Board and had attended day release classes at Thurso Technical College in order to gain their awards.
Five other young Caithness men had also undertaken the training but they were too old to rank as apprentices, and a further 25 others, aged between 15 and 20, had started out on the course.
This was the first time that such training had been available in Caithness, allowing the apprentices to learn without having to travel south.
The venture had been supported by the National Farmers' Union along with local farmers who had given their time, stock and equipment to enable the apprentices to take part in the courses.
It was agreed that the take-up of the scheme "must surely augur well for the future of farming in the county as regards a source of skilled labour, especially as farming had become such a technical and high-mechanised industry".
Wick nightclub fire
From the Groat of February 2, 1996
Local rock groups had lost £9000 worth of equipment and instruments in a fire that destroyed Zig-Zags nightclub in Wick.
The bands – High Spirits, Mr Rigsbi, Deep Golden Fleece and Name Comes Later – were now planning a series of fundraisers to buy more gear.
They had either been performing at the multi-band gig at what proved to be the last dance at the nightspot, or had loaned equipment.
The musicians had left the gear on stage after the dance, intending to pick it up the next day. But a fire had broken out a few hours later and reduced the building to rubble.
A total of 24 firefighters from Wick and Thurso had fought the blaze, described as an "inferno" by one onlooker.
The fire had been brought under control by 8am but it had continued to smoulder throughout the day and part of High Street had to be closed to traffic.
The loss of the building – known as the Pavilion, a former cinema, to most townsfolk despite the conversion to Dominoes nightclub in the mid-1980s and subsequently to Zig-Zags – had caused widespread disappointment locally.
Wick man Drew Macleod wrote: "Many must have felt as I did, staring at the smoking ruin of the Pavilion cinema building, that we had lost an old and dear friend."
