From our 13th February edition
25 YEARS AGO
(February 9th, 1990)
A LANDOWNER’S plan to straighten the course of a scenic waterfall in Loth Gorge to make it easier for salmon to ascend has roused opposition from local residents.
Gordon Carruthers of Kintradwell Estate wants to blast away a tonne of underwater rock at the waterfall known as the "Fairy Dell" at Loth Burn.
He maintains salmon have difficulty negotiating the waterfall because when the fish leap upstream, they hit a rock face and fall back.
Kintradwell Estate has now applied for planning consent to carry out blasting operations to the steep waterfall to create a channel through which fish would be able to swim upstream to spawn.
Scottish Natural Heritage has backed the project. East Sutherland area officer Mr Fraser Simmonds said: "The waterfall is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Our response to this has to be to assess the proposals in terms of whether it is going to affect the interest for which the site was declared. The proposals do not actually affect the interest so Mr Carruthers is going ahead with our approval."
But objections to the scheme have been lodged by Loth residents Mr David Taylor and Mr Robert Innes.
Mr Innes, a Golspie High School teacher, said he was concerned that any blasting operation in Loth Gorge might bring down the rock face. He said: "The line of the gorge is on a geological fault and there are different types or rock on either side. There is an overhang over the waterfall which could quite easily be dislodged."
Mr Taylor, who has spent the last few years planting a great variety of trees around his croft above the gorge, said: "This scheme is to blow a course through the waterfall to allow fish to get up for a fortunate few anglers from the south. It’s not going to provide any local jobs.
A NEW Sunday postal collection service starts this month throughout much of the Highlands, from Wick and Thurso to Inverness. The west coast is not included in this scheme because communities in these areas have objected on religious grounds and, says the Post Office, there is a lack of suitable communication routes.
50 YEARS AGO
(February 12th, 1965)
MR DR FASHAM, Sutherland’s outgoing development officer – he has resigned to go into industry – has told Sutherland County Council that he is prepared to continue to run the Sutherland Pioneer Service privately and voluntarily. The fund at the service’s disposal is a private one and not council money.
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The scheme is to be manned by the International Voluntary Service and work is expected to begin in March with the objective the improvement of such as roads and provision of piped water supplies to remote communities, land drainage and improving and decorating houses tenanted by old folks.
At full strength the team will consist of 12 to 15 volunteers and it is hoped to get the services of a civil engineer for planning water supply schemes.
In a report, Mr Fasham said that the volunteers would be housed in buses supplied very cheaply by Highland Omnibuses. A scheme of adaptation to living and dining quarters had been worked out in association with some caravan makers.
The first bus had been driven to Edinburgh where it was being converted under the supervision of the local International Voluntary Services Group. The second bus was expected to be available shortly and would be sent to Tyneside for similar treatment.
It was proposed to purchase a second-hand tractor and trailer, rock drill and breaker, hand tools and whatever else was necessary to equip the volunteers for the projects which they were to undertake – projects which could be done in no other way and which would not be in competition with organised labour.
In response to a circular to district councils, so far only Tongue and Farr have submitted projects including access paths and roads to sandy bays.
Eddrachilles District council has asked the county council to consider its request for a path to Sandwood Bay.
A project which it is hoped will come high on the list is the treatment of the drifting sand at Clachtoll. As is well known, the erosion is destroying grazing, blowing sand onto adjacent grazing, piling sand round houses and onto the public road.
75 YEARS AGO
(February 15th, 1940)
THE Germans are still busy finding substitutes for materials cut off by the blockade. Among their latest inventions are glass slippers, which they claim to be as supple as leather, and salmon skin blouses. The Nazis, however, have not yet solved the problem of the silk stocking shortage, apart from a special lacquer for painting on the legs.
OWING to the shortage of feeding stuffs, poultry keepers are advised to cull their flocks. Miss J Paterson, North of Scotland College of Agriculture, poultry instructress, will visit Miss Baxter’s, Clynemilton, Brora, next Thursday to give a demonstration on the subject.
THE War Office, in a statement regarding comforts for soldiers, says that these are most useful gifts: mittens (khaki); mufflers (khaki); additional pairs of socks (grey or heather mixture); gum boot stockings (grey or heather mixture), 24" long, 11" foot; plimsoll or canvas shoes, or donations to buy them; chocolate (slabs in cartons); sweets in tins; razor blades, soap and shaving soap; dark coloured handkerchiefs.
IT may interest our readers to know that, when the herring industry was at its peak in Helmsdale, over 100 coopers and 17 apprentices were steadily employed. Of this total there now remain only four of the originals who are now enjoying well earned retirement.
In those days work commenced at 4am, continuing until 3pm. The men usually finished the first part of their day’s work at 9am when they inspected their barrels.
Competition was keen as the best hands could turn out between eight and 10 barrels. The remainder of the day was devoted to preparing staves, hoops, etc, for the following morning.
The number of barrels turned out varied according to the skill of the craftsman, some of whom could turn out as many as 10 while the average was between five and eight.
It took the experts only half an hour to complete a barrel, the price ranging from 9d to 1/8, according to size.
This has all disappeared and what used to be a busy fishing centre is now but a skeleton of itself.
100 YEARS AGO
(February 11th, 1915)
SERGEANT HM Mackay, Golspie, of the 2nd KOSBs, who has been home on sick leave for the past fortnight, as the result of internal injuries which he received at the front through being buried alive by the debris thrown up by shell fire, has been in the fighting zone continuously for over five months.
During that period he passed through revolting and nerve-shattering experiences which would have played havoc with even the most fit, and the wonder is that Sgt Mackay is as physically sound as he is. He certainly looks fit, feels fit and expects to be back again in the fighting line in a short time.
WILLIAM Guilden, or Frederick Dunbar, formerly a commander in the German navy, was removed from Inverness Prison on Friday to an alien interment camp in the south.
He was arrested by the Inverness burgh police over three months ago on a charge of having failed to register himself under the Aliens Act.
He produced an American passport in the name of Guilden and claimed to be an American citizen. It was subsequently discovered that his name was Dunbar and that he had formerly been a commander in the German navy, from which he afterwards retired.
Guilden was then charged under the Official Secrets Act and committed to prison. The criminal authorities afterward handed him over to the military authorities, who have now ordered him to be interned.
Guilden, it is stated, was in Berlin after the war broke out and when arrested he had a model of a war vessel.
A PASSENGER fell out of the night mail train from Perth as it was running between Kingussie and Aviemore on Thursday. There were only two persons in the compartment and one of them, named Moncrieff, was awakened by the wind blowing strongly into the carriage. He observed that the other man had disappeared, the carriage door being open.
On arrival at Aviemore, railway officials were informed. A search was made and the man was found lying injured and unconscious some distance out of Kingussie. He was conveyed to the Northern Infirmary, Inverness, where he lies in a precarious condition.
