From the Northern Times 25, 50 and 100 years ago
25 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of June 4, 1999
A wedding has taken place on Handa Island for the first time ever. Uwe Riek and Julie Stoneman, fell in love with the island, as well as each other, through their work there as summer wardens. The weather and terrain governed their choice of of bridal wear - wellies and waterproofs rather than high heels and boots.
Staff at the Tongue branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland have been officially recognised as providing the best customer service of any Royal Bank branch anywhere in Britain. The four-strong team are headed by manager Alan Smith. The Tongue branch, which celebrated its 75th birthday two years ago, was recognised after the bank ran a national customer service survey.
Preparations to mark the new millennium in the Rosehall district are progressing well with a bonfire and fireworks planned at Hogmanay as well as a family ceilidh and dance in January. Secretary of the local millennium project committee Nan Ramsden said it was also proposed to erect a cairn to commemorate the occasion and install a bench seat.
50 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of June 7, 1974
An electrical contractor was killed recently after he was thrown out of his car as it plunged nearly 100 yards down a steep embankment on the Lochinver-Drumbeg road. His two companions escaped. He was John Joseph Cormack, Dundee, who had been working on the Culag Hotel extension at Lochinver.
Plans are to go ahead for the siting of a shellfish factory at Lower Bora, but as a “second string” Sutherland Development Committee agreed at Brora last Monday to investigate the possibility of a site at Helmsdale. Mr J Green, development officer, had opened the debate by saying that earlier that morning they had looked at two sites in the Lower Brora area defined in the village plan as suitable for industrial development. The feeling was that the better site was behind the sand dunes, on the landward side, lying between the houses and the radio station. ”I would be quite happy to go ahead on that basis, he said.
Mr Jack MacLeod, retired headmaster of Brora High School, is to be made a Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
100 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of June 5, 1924
The Royal Scottish Automobile Club advise that a motor driven ferry boat capable of carrying vehicles up to three ton in weight has been installed by them at the Kylesku Passage, Sutherland, and is now in operation. The ferry service at this place has not been in operation since pre-war days and the want of it has been seriously felt by motor car owners in the north-west and by touring motorists generally. The presence of this ferry now permits a direct circular tour being taken round the extreme north-west of Scotland. Formerly motorists visiting the south-west coast of Sutherland and desiring to continue their journey to Scourie, Durness and Tongue, were forced to return to Lairg to do so. As a result of the ferry service, their journey will be shortened by about 70 miles.
A most pleasing function took place in the Doll School on the evening of Friday, 30th May, when the friends and fellow workmen of Mr Donald McBeath assembled to present him with a token of their good will and esteem before his departure for New Zealand. The present took the form of a wallet containing over £13.
