A crowd of up to 300 turned out for Wick’s traditional Hogmanay bonfire – 12 hours later than originally scheduled.
Normally the fire is lit at midnight on December 31, but high winds forced a rethink and it went ahead at midday on January 1 instead.
The attendance was down on 12 months ago when more than 500 people gathered around the roaring flames to welcome in 2024.
As usual, organiser Mervyn Hill and his team of helpers had assembled a large mound of combustible materials at the top of the Bignold Park.
Those who braved the wind and rain to go along to the park in time for midnight on Hogmanay were met by Mervyn, who explained that unfortunately they’d been beaten by the weather.
Speaking on New Year’s Day, as the flames from the delayed bonfire died down and the crowd began to disperse, Mervyn said: “I’m really disappointed it didn’t go ahead last night. But we did it 12 hours later at midday today, and conditions were perfect for it.
“We got a good crowd here, a lot of kids as well. We went through two bottles of ginger wine – last year we went through one with 500 people.
“And we went through all the Christmas cake, black bun and shortbread. The atmosphere was good.”
Some of the crowd gather around the warming fire at the Bignold Park in Wick on the first day of 2025. Picture: Michael Hill
Mervyn, who runs Wick’s Nethercliffe Hotel along with his wife Helen, has followed in the footsteps of his late father-in-law Iain Sutherland to keep the bonfire tradition going.
“It’s not the first time it has been cancelled, but they would postpone it until midnight on the first,” Mervyn explained.
“We thought that families are all getting together around lunchtime so midday would be the perfect time. It worked out fine.”
Mervyn has researched the history of the New Year, a custom that goes back at least 150 years at various Pulteneytown locations.
Bignold Park has been the venue in the post-war period apart from a couple of years around 1969/70 when it was held at the South Head.
The fire taking hold as the rescheduled Bignold Park event goes ahead on January 1. Picture: Michael HillMervyn Hill prepares to start tidying up the Bignold Park bonfire site as the flames die down. Picture: Alan Hendry