Wick and Thurso New Year celebrations as they used to be... and will be again!

Another New Year has come and gone with, alas, no local street party or community bonfire to mark the occasion. Ongoing concerns about Covid-19, and in particular the need to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, meant that for a second successive Hogmanay it was not possible to hold organised celebrations and so 2022, like 2021 before it, was given a relatively low-key welcome.

We have delved into our picture archives for a reminder of how it used to be... and, all being well, how it will be again. Two years into the pandemic, these photos of carefree crowds – sharing drinks, listening to live music, mingling around a bonfire, exchanging spontaneous hugs or handshakes, and most of all enjoying a sense of togetherness – seem to come from a bygone era. In fact they are from Hogmanay 2017 onwards.

No-one could have guessed that so many restrictions would be placed on our lives when revellers in Wick and Thurso cheered the beginning of 2020 and wished each other well for the future. But, with cautious optimism about a return to greater normality in 2022, let’s hope next Hogmanay can be celebrated in style.

Here’s to happier times ahead!

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