Vintage John O'Groats photo tells the story of young entrepreneurs
A photograph that nearly ended up in the bin has been carefully restored and tells a tale of how a family dynasty achieved commercial success in John O'Groats.
The image showing a young boy was found by Kenny Wilson from East Wemyss in Fife who was raking through a box of his late father's old photographs when he came across it. He almost discarded the aged picture as it was "in a very poor and over-exposed condition" but had second thoughts.
"I carefully and sympathetically restored it using Photoshop, hoping it would be of interest to the local area," said Kenny.
"Sadly, I cannot regale you with some wistful story regarding the picture," he added, remarking how his ancestors lived in the Alness area and the photo must have been taken by one of them on a trip north to John O'Groats.
After restoration work to the two-inch square original, Kenny created a much clearer version of the scene and even made a colourised one as well. In the picture a young boy can be seen squinting, perhaps due to the sun or sand blowing in his eyes, and stands behind a somewhat crude stand with postcards, trinkets and various other ephemera for sale. There is a handwritten sign at the bottom of the stand saying "John O'Groats" and another that says "The Last in Scotland" listing the items for sale such as postcards, seashells, jewellery, car stickers and earrings.
Kenny decided there may be some local interest for the photograph but had no idea how unique it actually turned out to be.
"I did post the photograph on the John O'Groats Development Trust Facebook page and was contacted by one of the admins of that page, a Mr Andrew Mowat. Andrew is a local business owner and he messaged me to say he recognised the young lad as Alistair Mowat, his uncle, who was looking after his big brother Bill’s stall around 1958/1960. This stall turned into the First and Last shop which is still running today."
Andrew, who runs the Seaview Hotel at John O'Groats, was especially pleased as the family had no pictorial record of the stall showing the origins of the business as it is today. He thinks the picture was probably taken in 1959 and said the stall was owned by John and Bill Mowat, who were not related, but was manned this particular day by Bill's brother Alistair.
Andrew added: "Alistair was working on it to earn a few pounds and help his brother out. They sold mainly postcards and 'Groatie Buckie strings' as they called them, where they picked Groaties from the beach at the Ness of Duncansby and then made what I suppose is now modern day jewellery. They had necklaces, brooches, ornamental items, etc."
John moved on to agricultural college in 1958 and Bill went to study at Edinburgh University and in 1966 became editor to the Caithness Courier in Thurso before working at the Daily Record in 1968. Alistair would have been about 11-years-old in the picture and went on to work as a creel fisherman on the Flotta yawl Rosebud.
Walter Mowat, Andrew's father, started working on the stall in 1961 and took over the running of it in 1967 while he was still at Wick High School. In 1977 he built the top half of the First and Last shop, still on the pier today, and then a much bigger addition in 1982.
Andrew said: "From running the new bigger First and Last we bought Seaview Hotel, then furthermore Caberfeidh Guest House next door [and] we also purchased the tourist info building – then in time craft unit 1 [which is] now Groatie Buckie Gift shop. So from Bill’s stall in the 1950s and the brothers – Bill, Alistair and Walter – helping each other out by collecting, making and selling Groatie Buckies, we have been able to move forward and employ around 40 people full-time and part-time in our local area."
Alistair unfortunately passed away in 1985 at the age of 37, just a few weeks after his youngest daughter Julie-Anne was born who is currently a nurse in Caithness General Hospital in Wick.
Atomic Housing: Online exhibition looks at expansion of Thurso with arrival of Dounreay