Important contract for Thurso firm
From the Groat of January 9, 1925
The contract for supplying a “large part of the castings required for the northern sections of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company” had been secured by the Thurso Engineering and Foundry Company of Millbank, Thurso.
The contract meant a considerable increase of work and, along with the orders already on hand, would keep the foundry department “fully employed for the rest of this year”.
The railway company had been taking a small portion of its requirements from the Thurso company for several years, but the new order was much larger than previous contracts.
It was stated that “with the present state of trade, particularly in the engineering industry, and the keen cutting of price to secure orders, it speaks well for the local industry that they are able to compete with the firms in the south who have no carriage to pay for delivery of their goods”.
Meanwhile, a temperance association had been formed in Helmsdale following a meeting addressed by the Rev W H Millard of Wick. Mr Millard “illustrated his address with many instances of personal observation of the evils of liquor”.
Office-bearers had been nominated and more than 30 signatures had been obtained from those willing to form the society.
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Anger at demolition plan
From the Groat of January 10, 1975
An application for consent to demolish one of Wick’s best-known buildings to make way for a new hospital had angered conservationists. But a warning had been given that any attempt to block the demolition on the grounds that the hospital should be sited elsewhere risked delaying the project for many years.
The Henderson Memorial Hospital, formerly Rosebank House, was believed to be the only bow-fronted house of its type left in Scotland to have been designed by Thomas Telford. The Scottish Civic Trust had expressed concern about the prospect of losing “the last surviving example of this particular type of Scottish architecture”.
The Wick Society was also up in arms about the proposed demolition of the building and its chairman, Iain Sutherland, called the plan “unmindful of the spirit in which it was bequeathed to the town as a nursing home and which subsequently fulfilled a very definite need”.
Mr Sutherland also said that he had heard “dark hints” that any attempt to block the demolition would set the hospital programme back 10 years. “Somebody is trying to scare us off from looking too closely at the matter,” he said.
Highland Health Board wanted to clear the site for a £2 million hospital offering general surgery, accident, obstetric, gynaecology and general medical services.
Exodus of young people
From the Groat of January 14, 2000
A blueprint for the future development of Caithness had identified a potentially catastrophic drift of young people away from the area as the key challenge facing the area over the next 20 years.
Planners were predicting that the county could become a geriatric backwater unless action was taken to reverse the exodus of young people and their families.
The warning was contained in the first draft of the new Local Plan for Caithness – the document that was supposed to direct the development of the area over the coming years.
The population of Caithness had shrunk by 6.6 per cent during the previous 25 years to just over 25,000, and if that trend continued the area would lose another 3000 in 15 years.
According to Highland Council’s planning department, this would result in a “large decrease” on school rolls and a “big increase” in the number of pensioners, leading to radical changes in the focus of local services.
Caithness area convener John Rosie had pledged to make the depopulation issues a priority of his tenure and the council, the local enterprise company and other groups were working together more closely than at any time in the past to make the area a more attractive place for young people to live.