From our October 14 edition
25 YEARS AGO
(October 11, 1991)
LORD Strathclyde, Scottish Office Minister for the Highlands and Islands, paid a quick visit to East Sutherland last Friday in the course of a north tour.
He visited Timespan Centre in Helmsdale where he told Heritage Society chairwoman Mary Dudgeon and Colin and Moira Mackenzie, secretary and administrator, how impressed he was with the tourist-orientated museum.
Later, on a visit to the wool mill of revitalised Hunters of Brora, he said he was much taken with the firm’s drive and energy following a period of setbacks.
He assisted its marketing drive by purchasing a tweed cap from the mill shop in Station Square.
Lord Strathclyde was shown round the spinning mill by assistant manager Robbie Parkin and Brora-born Susan Smith of Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise and the mill’s British sales manager, Jamie Powell.
A RAILWAY worker has been comm-ended for his quick action in putting out a fire which threatened a redundant
store at Forsinard Station earlier this year.
Leading railway assistant Tony Mackay, who now works at Thurso after 25 years at Forsinard, was at home when he spotted smoke coming from a redundant store at Forsinard Station.
He dashed across the line with buckets of water and put out the blaze which is thought to have been started by a camper using the unoccupied store.
Mr Mackay received a certificate of commendation from Ronald Munro, ScotRail Highland manager.
Mr Munro said: “The property would have been destroyed but for Mr Mackay’s quick action.”
A £200,000 statue of aviation pioneer Captain Edward Fresson has been unveiled on the edge of the apron at Dalcross airport.
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Captain Fresson built up Highland Airways Ltd in the 1930s, using airstrips at Brora, Golspie and Dornoch. He ran the first scheduled passenger service from Inverness to Kirkwall in 1933.
Specially flown north for the occasion was Fresson’s very own Gypsy Moth, which he used for his reconnaissance of possible landing grounds and also a Dragon Rapide biplane of the type he used for his regular passenger services.
50 YEARS AGO
(October 14, 1966)
A CHARMING but unexpected visitor to Golspie on Wednesday morning was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
The purpose of this private visit was to see the mural painted in 1908 by the well-known wild bird artist, Archibald Thorburn, and which is housed in the community centre in Golspie High School.
The mural, 14ft long and 4ft deep, was presented to the centre by W R Sutherland, chairman of Golspie Community Association.
The Queen Mother was welcomed by Mr and Mrs Sutherland, their son Robin, and Mr James Gilmour, the community centre organiser.
The Queen Mother, who wore a pale blue tweed coat and pale blue feather hat, was told by Mr Sutherland how he had acquired the painting when his firm purchased and demolished Salzcraggie Lodge, near Helmsdale.
The Queen Mother expressed her admiration for the furnishings of the community centre and its surroundings.
She was then told by Mr Gilmour how the community centre was used by various clubs and as a meeting place for the old folks of the parish.
David Hadden of Brora found a message in a bottle while walking at Cape Wrath. He spotted a bottle bobbing up and down near the water edge. It
was well sealed and packed with polythene.
Inside was a note in French from two students who had been holidaying on the Norwegian coast. They asked the finder to tell them when and where the bottle had been picked up. Mr Hadden was able to do so.
MOST people by this time appreciate that the future of the hill sheep industry is in jeopardy and that this must affect the economic situation in Sutherland.
Not only farmers but crofters have felt the blast of the unusually low prices at the ewe and lamb sales and now they will be watching, with some degree of trepidation, today’s weaned calf sale at Lairg to see if this downward trend is to switch to cattle.
The poor lamb cheques were a grievous blow at just the time when their financial position needed a decided boost.
When parliament resumes there will be some plain speaking by knowledgeable MPs and it is to be hoped that the government will give more support.
75 YEARS AGO
(October 16, 1941)
TWO Golspie veterans of the Wet Review at Edinburgh in 1881 have now received Diamond Jubilee Medals.
The recipients are Alexander Mackay, 11 Church Street, and Hugh Bannerman, Backies, both of whom served in the Golspie Company of the 1st Sutherland Highland Rifle Volunteers.
The inscription on the medals reads: Diamond Jubilee Royal Reserve – Scottish Volunteers, 1881-1941.
It is worthy of note that Mr Mackay was for many years a leading piper in the unit and the bagpipes used by him during his military career, for which he holds the long service medal, are now in Australia, having been gifted by him to his son, James.
The hope is expressed that these two old campaigners may yet have several happy years in store for them.
HER Grace, the Duchess of Sutherland, president of the County of Sutherland Comforts’ Fund, and the members of committee, would like to appeal to all knitters in the county to send in as many garments as possible as soon as they can, as the stock at the central depot is insufficient to meet the requirements for the Christmas parcels for our men on service.
THE registration of women for war work is to be speeded up by the introduction of fortnightly signings-on instead of monthly.
Women born in 1913 will register on October 25 and they will be followed by the 1912 class on November 8, the 1911 class on November 22 and the 1910 class on December 6.
100 YEARS AGO
(October 12, 1916)
THE war overshadows everything in Sutherland.
One cannot get away from the effects of it even at a county council meeting. At the annual meeting at Lairg on Friday, the convener made beautiful and appropriate reference to the Sutherland men who had fallen in battle and expressed the sympathy of the council with the relatives in their sorrow.
The convener, before proceeding with the business, said since they last met, many of the sons of the county had fallen in the battlefield.
The courage, endurance and self-sacrificing spirit displayed by those young men called for all the honour they could render to them. They revered their names and memory and they would never forget the great service they had rendered to their country.
He said: “That this council expresses its deepest sympathy with all the families in the county whose sons and relatives have fallen in battle, and desire to put on record its grateful acknowledgment of the heroic deeds and self-sacrificing spirit of those young men.”
The motion was cordially approved and unanimously passed.
THE appointment of the Duchess of Sutherland as Mistress of the Robes to the Queen has delighted many in Sutherland. Previously, Anne, Duchess of Sutherland, was a loyal companion to Queen Victoria.
