From our May 15th edition
25 YEARS AGO
(May 11th, 1960)
SKIBO Castle, bought last year by the Rothesay Trust Ltd, is for sale again with an asking price of £3.8 million.
Original parts of the castle date back to 1200, although most of it was built by Andrew Carnegie in 1898 from stone, steel and reinforced concrete.
It still contains many of his paintings, books, curtains, carpets and furniture. Wood panelling throughout is said to be immaculate and an organ in the grand hall was renovated last year.
The castle estate is to be sold in five lots. The first, for £2.8 million, includes the castle, home farm, 10 cottages and the swimming pool.
The second lot is 387-acre Evelix Estate, including Loch Evelix, a cottage, some fishing and two woods. It is priced at £450,000.
Third lot is Pulrossie farms and woods – 462 acres for £200,000. Lot four, incorporating 128 acres, is Overskibo, for £180,000. Lot five is 5320-acre Migdale Moor, costing £350,000.
Although the particulars are not yet ready, over 100 enquiries have already been received from Britain and abroad.
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RATED the top greens in Sutherland over the past number of years, Brora Golf Club nearly lost them all last weekend.
This was due to a freak incident at the sewage pumping station which takes the waste mash from Clynelish Distillery.
With approval from Highland River Purification Board and Sutherland Estates, the club draws water for the automatic sprinkling system from Dalchalm Burn.
But last Sunday night a power failure caused an overflow of the waste from the distillery into the burn.
Fortunately the sprinkling system was not programmed to come on last Sunday night. Had it been, the results might have been disastrous.
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HELMSDALE Heritage Society’s Timespan Centre has taken delivery of a 100-year-old “Fifie” fishing boat, of the type that used to drift to the herring nets in the Moray Firth in the fishing bonanza of last century.
Society secretary Colin Mackenzie said: “For many years now we have been looking for a traditional fishing boat to add to our external exhibits. Eventually we were contacted by the owner of this boat and we are absolutely delighted that we have been able to acquire it at reasonably modest cost.”
50 YEARS AGO
(May 14th, 1965)
THE Wriggley Worm Farm at Sutherland County Council’s craft village at Balnakiel, Durness, is building up a stock of several varieties of worms for immediate sale for breeding and growing to marketable size.
A farm official told a reporter that anyone could gather worms and this offer could provide a useful additional income, particularly to crofters and farm workers.
In some localities it was possible, in favourable weather, to earn as much as 15/- an hour gathering a particular type of worm on the ground surface during the hours of darkness. It was also possible to earn up to about 12/6 an hour digging in suitable soil for another type of worm or by following the plough.
Information on how to gather worms or to collect worms, the types required and other details, may be got from Polyscot Ltd, Balblair, Invershin.
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DORNOCH Town Council want to sell the burgh slaughterhouse to the present contractors, John Grant and Sons, the local butchers.
At present the council is responsible for the slaughterhouse upkeep and rent the building to the firm. But they have been told that the slaughterhouse could not be adapted to comply with the regulations.
Now the council is to ask the Scottish Home and Health Department to agree in principle to the licensing of the slaughterhouse as a private slaughterhouse, if the council can effect its sale.
The council had asked for expert opinion and was told that the requirements of the regulations could not be effected within the slaughterhouse’s present area.
There were residential properties nearby and it was the expert’s opinion that the existing slaughterhouse could not be altered and enlarged to comply with the regulations.
Provost Harry Clunie said it was for the council to decide. They should seriously consider selling the slaughterhouse.
He said: “This has been a sore point for many years. We just cannot keep up with the requirements of the regulations. The rent is fixed. We are spending money all the time.”
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Sutherland County Council is to support a plea by 35 Strathnaver residents for a public telephone kiosk to be sited at Naver Post Office. A petition by the residents has been submitted to the council by Mr Donald Macleod.
75 YEARS AGO
(May 16th, 1940)
THERE was a 30-minute air-raid warning in northern Scotland on Sunday morning when unidentified planes, believed to be hostile, were reported.
One, possibly two, planes flying at a great height behind clouds were over a town for a considerable time and the throb of their engines strongly resembled that of Heinkels. One unidentified machine was seen over an isolated and hilly part. No bombs were reported dropped. British fighters were on patrol.
People remained calm and, half-an-hour after the all clear, went to church as usual. Many carried their gas masks.
The warning was given because of the approach of enemy aircraft to the coast. They disappeared, however, when RAF fighters went up to intercept them.
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Golspie news – new ration books are to come into use on 1st July. It is officially pointed out that, with the new issue, an opportunity is afforded of changing the shop at which rations are at present procured, if by any chance this may be deemed necessary.
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LESS butter and sugar are likely to be available shortly. The butter ration will be marked back to the original 4ozs, and the sugar ration to an unstated quantity.
NO latitude will be given to “blackout” offenders in future. People who now allow chinks of light to escape or lights to glow through inadequate curtains will not be warned but will be summoned.
TWO valuable gold snuff boxes were stolen during the weekend from the Duke of Sutherland’s home at Sutton Place, Guildford. The thieves searched a number of rooms. One of the boxes bore an inscription that it had been left to Earl Grosvenor by his uncle and father-in-law, the second Duke of Sutherland.
100 YEARS AGO
(May 13th, 1915)
THE Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk on Friday afternoon eight miles south by west of Kinsale, on the south coast of Ireland. There were 764 survivors and as there were 2160 persons on board, no fewer than 1396 lives have been lost.
DONALD Grant, a member of a Dornoch family which has responded in a hearty manner to the country’s call, is at present lying wounded in a London hospital.
Mr Grant was at one time employed by Messrs Weir & Co., grocers, Dornoch, and later went to Edinburgh where he was when hostilities commenced.
He joined the 9th Battalion Royal Scots (The Dandy Ninth) and was with his regiment in France. He was severely wounded in the head – whether by a splinter of shrapnel or by a bullet is not known at present – and sent for medical treatment to London. His sister left Dornoch on Sunday morning to see him in London. It is hoped that he will have a complete and speedy recovery.
THE latest intelligence from the 1/5th Seaforth Highlanders is to the effect that the regiment is in the reserve lines near the point where fighting is in progress. Officers and men are in fine form and are eager to have the opportunity of taking part in the active operations in the field.
The 2/5th are encamped in Sutherland and are making good progress with all the movements which are regarded as essential to make modern soldiers thoroughly efficient.
The recruiting efforts of recent weeks have resulted in securing a number of eligible men, but there are still vacant places in 2/5th and a complete third regiment to raise.
Sutherland and Caithness have done well so far. It is expected however, that greater demands will be made on every district in the north in the near future.
