Take a nostalgic look back at Caithness through the ages with Let's Remember Caithness

The back end of the year again, and the new issue of Let’s Remember Caithness is about to hit the book stands. This is Volume 4 and, like its predecessors, it has images from all aspects of Caithness life – town and country, Thurso and Wick, the land and the sea.

"The photos in this edition will take you to many magical scenes and places and will record forever our most important feature, the people of Caithness, without which the county would not be the special place that it is," writes Willie Watt in this year’s introduction.

The scenes and places include moments from various galas over the years, snaps from family albums, school photos and teams from sporting occasions.

There is a further selection of evocative photos of Stroma from Douglas Nicol and some very dramatic shots from the rescue work of the Wick and Thurso lifeboats.

"Many of the images from the 1960s bring back memories of growing up in Caithness," said James Miller, the book's editor. "How many youngsters of my vintage had their first experience of driving at the wheel of a Fergie tractor?

"The photos of those and of the travelling mill that went from croft to croft to thresh the scroos of corn, with everyone joining in to get the work done, will bring back those experiences. It was the end of an era, in some ways, and we didn’t realise it at the time."

The team is grateful to everyone who helped to put this year’s issue together. As usual, the staff at Nucleus were welcoming, as were the contributors who were always patient and courteous fielding our questions.

"Occasionally a photo comes our way that begs to be used, although we do not know very much about it," said James. "An example this year is the splendid shot of the members of the London Caithness Association, all dressed to the nines, at a dinner somewhere in London.

"The fashions suggest the 1930s. We would love to know more about this occasion."

The success of Let’s Remember Caithness and its predecessors over the year stems from the willingness of Groat and Courier readers to dip into their collections of photos and send them into us. We appreciate everyone’s help and take good care of what we know are precious family pictures.

Many folk are now scanning their photos and sending them in as digital images. We would ask anyone doing this to ensure the resolution is at least 600 dpi, as anything less than this can lack clarity. What looks good on a smartphone does not always come out well in a full-page enlargement. Likewise newspaper cuttings do not always reproduce well.

That said, some images have a historical value that can compensate for the lack of technical properties. We have such an image this year, in the photograph of the herring auction on the quayside at Wick in about 1910. It is blurred and faded but it records what must have been a daily occurrence of great importance.

How many more photographs and mementoes are out there? If you think you have something that you would like to share with other Caithness folk, now is the time to start turning out the albums and choosing pictures to contribute. We always look forward to seeing what comes in.

• Let's Remember Caithness is available from local stores throughout Caithness, priced £17, or via post order by calling 01955 602424.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.