From our August 21st edition
25 YEARS AGO
(August 17th, 1990)
ONE of the last places on the British mainland where mermaids are reputed to have been sighted is currently being offered for sale.
Parts of the Kinlochbervie Estate are offered by land agents Finlayson Hughes in four lots, comprising the sandy beaches at Sheigra and Polin and backed by heather moor intersected with small streams and lochs.
Offers for the whole, comprising some 7200 acres, are invited in excess of £520,000.
ON honeymoon at Lochinver Holiday Lodges is Warren Macleod and his wife Kari. He is the son of Helmsdale born Dennis Macleod, president of the Doelcam Gold Corporation of Toronto, Canada, and he showed keen interest in Ardvreck Castle, ancestral home of the Macleods of Assynt. "I would like to have a home in Sutherland, particularly in the west," he told friends.
WORK to restore the eroding sand dunes at Clachtoll beach will continue next month when a group of conservation volunteers returns there for 10 days. The workers, organised by Scottish Conservation Projects, are undertaking the work on behalf of Highland Regional Council.
A CAR said to be the most valuable in the world might call at Helmsdale Highland Games tomorrow and at Dunrobin Vintage Car Rally on Sunday.
The 1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost is due to set off from John O’Groats on the latest end-to-end charity marathon to Land’s End tomorrow.
Its most famous film appearance was in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines with Terry Thomas.
It has been used to chauffeur the Queen and other members of the Royal Family. The car has clocked up a number of marathons with the present bid a mere sprint compared to its setting of a new non-stop distance record of 15,000 miles.
Englishman David Preston is to be at the wheel on the circuitous 1300 mile route to Land’s End. The first leg will take him to Dornoch.
The venture is being financed by Rolls Royce with the proceeds going to the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
50 YEARS AGO
(August 20th, 1965)
PLANS are already in hand for the rebuilding of the seven bedroom Garbet Hotel, Kinlochbervie, which was destroyed by fire early last Friday morning. A 10-bedroom annexe was saved from the blaze.
Proprietor Mrs L. M. Neilson said: "I want to get cracking with another hotel as quickly as possible." She said it would not be much bigger than the previous building because the fishings available could not carry any more guests.
Mrs Neilson said that, despite the publicity after the fire, guests were still arriving and the big problem was the lack of cooking facilities.
"We are in such a muddle we don’t know if more guests are coming or not. We are trying to cope as best we can and we have 25 for dinner tonight," she said.
Three of the staff who slept in the hotel raised the alarm after flames broke out near the back of the hotel.
The blaze took hold very quickly and there was little that could be done when Dornoch Fire Brigade arrived. The smoke was so dense that firefighters could not get in to save any furniture.
The guests, who lost all their possessions, escaped through their bedroom windows. Arrangements were made to accommodate them in houses in the area.
NOW that Sutherland Education Committee has officially welcomed the new Dunrobin School for boys into their administrative scheme, the way is open for the beginning of a partnership which should be fruitful both academically and on the social and games side.
We are sure that the Countess of Sutherland and her husband Mr Charles Janson, the sponsors and backers of the project, will be rewarded for their foresight and enterprise.
There are critics who feel that the days of fee-paying schools are limited but how would these self same critics use such a potential as Dunrobin Castle?
The school will bring trade to Golspie and round about. It will provide more jobs and, much more important for a county so sparsely populated as ours, it will bring newcomers in the shape of pupils and staff from all parts of Britain.
75 YEARS AGO
(August 22nd, 1940)
YOU will not be able to buy cream after 1st October. Cream is purely a luxury product and the milk is wanted for more important uses such as liquid milk, butter and cheese. About 70,000,000 gallons of milk will be saved in a normal year.
THE Brora young ladies who volunteered to give a hand with the ingathering of the harvest could be seen during the evenings of last week busy in the hay fields. If the evening is unsuitable for outdoor work, they are not to be found idle. They take their knitting with them and pass the evening making comforts for Clyne boys on active service.
CONGRATULATIONS are extended to Mrs Campbell, Station House, Ardgay, on receiving news of her husband, Sergeant Alister Campbell, Seaforths, posted missing, June 4th. He has been a prisoner of war since the retreat on the Somme.
EVERYONE must now carry their identity card and gas mask. Another point is that, after lighting-up time, householders should every night inspect their windows from the outside to see that no lights are showing. It is reported that some lights can be seen eight miles away.
AS the hairdresser in Helmsdale has been called to the colours and had to close his business, his services have been missed by many in the district. It is pleasing to note that one of the "Boys of the Old Brigade" has volunteered, an obligement, to undertake the duties of hairdresser for his comrades and serving members of Helmsdale on furlough.
He saw active service in France during the last war and maintains that he has not lost the art of haircutting which he performed in the trenches.
100 YEARS AGO
(August 19th, 1915)
THE volunteer training units in Sutherland continue to make progress. The first muster of the Golspie company is to take place on Saturday evening in the large coal shed, West End, Golspie, which has been fitted up as a temporary Drill Hall, when it is expected that drill will be followed by miniature rifle shooting.
A number of former members of the Volunteer Force, the Territorial Force and Lovat Scouts have joined the movement.
Lads between the ages of 15 and 19 are also available for service in the corps. It is proposed that drill should take place in Golspie on Tuesday and Saturday evenings of each week.
The advisability of having a parade once a week for the Kirkton, Culmaily and the Mound members at a convenient centre has been discussed and if sufficient members enrol the proposal may be carried into effect.
IN Bonar Bridge district, the Twelfth was generally a day of rain, thunder and lightning.
Sir Henry Bax-Ironside and party (two guns) in a few hours on Braelangwell Moor, bagged 16 brace of grouse and sundries; on 13th 11 and 1/2 brace grouse and sundries and on 14th, 17 brace and sundries.
On the 12th, Mr F. T. Gervers of Amat (two guns) in two hours bagged 28 and 1/2 brace grouse and Mr C. M. Buckworth of Gruinards (two guns) in two hours, 10 brace and sundries.
SINCE the beginning of hostilities the Golspie Red Cross Work Party has been exceptionally busy making garments for the soldiers.
These garments have been distributed form time to time and among the many acknowledgements received were the following:
3rd July, 1915
Dear Miss Anderson, – Please convey to the Golspie Red Cross Work Party my sincere thanks on behalf of my Battalion for their handsome gift of 25 shirts and 20 pairs socks which arrived last night. They will be distributed to the most needful this afternoon as requested and will be much appreciated. – Yours sincerely, JAS. DAVIDSON, Lt.-Col., 1/5th Seaforth.
Scottish Women’s Hospital for Foreign Service acknowledged receipt of 14 flannel shirts, 2 petticoats, 1 cardigan, 4 body belts, 1 muffler, 15 pairs socks.
Belgian Consultate, Leith, gratefully acknowledged a quantity of comforts. Twenty-one scarves and 11 pairs wristlets have been sent to mine sweepers.
