Revisit the past in latest book of Caithness photos
THIS latest issue of the Caithness photo book features a wide range of images illustrating many aspects of life around the county over the years.
Published by North of Scotland Newspapers, and compiled for a fifth year by Jean Gunn, the latest volume in the popular local series which has been in production since 1989 is called Let’s Remember Caithness – Volume 2.
As its name suggests, the book is full of pictures that will take local people on a journey back in time, revisiting some old haunts and hopefully conjuring up memories of childhood friends and old workmates.
While many of those featured will be easily recognised, there will be a few that readers may need to ponder over as they try to recall the names of school pals or work colleagues from the past.
This year’s introduction is provided by Wick historian Harry Gray who recalls how he developed an interest in old photos as a youngster as he browsed old Groat Christmas annuals that had been kept by his parents and grandparents from the 1920s and 1930s.
The latest edition has a total of 10 chapters including the usual favourite topics: farming, sport, local places and people, celebrations in the community, galas, old school photos and royalty.
It contains photos submitted by those still living in the county as well as those further afield. In addition a good number of pictures have been sourced from the archives of the Groat.
Caithness Faces and Visiting VIPs is the opening chapter and contains a number of "weel kent" locals from throughout the county over the years, as well as some notable visitors. Among the photos is one of Kitty Maciver, who used to live on the road between Watten and Camster, at Badlipster. She was shown by her mother how to lift and lay peats on the fire in their cottage and it became her job to make sure the fire never went out so there was always a warm welcome for passing folk.
Sportscene features a wide variety of different sports from badminton, Kuk Sol Won and swimming, to volley ball, bowls, golf and knotty. Football also takes its regular top spot with a good number of photos with some easily recognisable players.
Of course the book would not be complete without some royal snaps of the Queen Mother who loved the county so much. Under the heading of Royal Moments, the section contains a number of photos from the Queen Mother's visits to the Castle of Mey during the late 1980s as well as some more recent pictures of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.
A good sample of activities from around the county over the years can be seen in the Celebrations chapter, including the first Herring Queen procession in Wick in 1937. The last Herring Queen was chosen in 1953 and the event was replaced with the galas we know in the town today.
Again we have Galas Galore, always a popular section, and this time there are a few old pictures from events in Thurso, as well as Lybster, Watten and Wick. While the chapter entitled All in a Day's Work features a variety of photos from local businesses, some of which are sadly no longer with us.
Snapshots of County Shows and agricultural social events are highlighted in the Farming Life chapter which also includes a number of pictures of local farming families.
The Back to School chapter has photos from classes in Wick and Thurso as well as rural schools, including Canisbay, Gillock, Halkirk, Killimster, Lybster and Thrumster.
Around the County provides a number of scenes from different locations throughout Caithness, many of then very nostalgic such as the snowy scenes at Wick Airport during Operation Snowdrop in 1955.
Six individual collections are presented at the end of the book, a section which continues to be a popular with people happy to share some photos from their family albums. Sadly, some of those featured are no longer with us, but the memories provided by the pictures are priceless.
The final chapter starts with a very fascinating collection of photographs and other interesting snippets from the Haster joiner's family album submitted by Alison Hunter, Crieff. Alison is the daughter of Alexander Budge Sutherland, who was known locally as 'E joiner, a very innovative person.
As usual readers of the John O’Groat Journal and Caithness Courier have been generous in submitting photographs for the book and hopefully this year’s edition will get others motivated to search through the family albums in readiness for next year.
Let’s Remember Caithness, with a retail price of £16, will make an ideal Christmas present for local mums and dads or grannies and grandads. The book will be available to buy at various shops throughout the country – among the Wick outlets will be the Keystore Express, the Gift House, Malcolm’s newsagents and Best Wishes.
Outlets in Thurso include Bews newsagents, Coo's Tail Gallery, J & A Mackay and Newsbeat, while copies of Let's Remember Caithness will also be available at John O’Groats in the post office and the First and Last Shop, Lybster post office, Dunbeath post office, Castletown Butchers, and Splurge, the Halkirk gift shop.