From the Northern Times 25, 50 and 100 years ago
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25 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of December 25, 1998
A CENTURY of architectural service to Sutherland came to an end last week with the closure of local firm Robert Beaton Architects, Duke Street, Golspie, through the retirement of Mr Robert Beaton and his clerical assistant Miss Wilma Macgregor. Mr Beaton took over from the long-established county business of Horne and Murray, architects, in 1956 on his return from National Service as an officer in the Royal Engineers in Germany. There he had been engaged in the design and construction of NATO bases on the Baltic coastline from Kiel to Lubeck.
A NORTH Coast band has been chosen to kick off Glasgow's Hogmanay celebrations in George Square. A chance tie-up with the promoters of the city centre bash has given Febus the big break to play at the evening concert which is expected to draw 25,000 residents. Febus, which evolved out of the former group Boorach, have a loyal following in the Far North for their firebrand style of music which they describe as "turbo-traditional".
50 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of December 28, 1973
An appeal by Mr Robert Maclennan, M.P. for Caithness and Sutherland to the Prime Minister to exempt the Highlands from the three-day working week for industry coincided with the "shock" news for Brora that Sutherland Bricks, Ltd., were laying off, temporarily, today, 17 men out of a labour force of 23 because of the fuel restrictions. The remaining six will be kept on for maintenance.
For 23 hours on Wednesday of last week, four people from Sutherland were marooned in two cars stuck fast in a deep snowdrift on the highest point of the road passing over the Struie hill. This terrifying ordeal was experienced by Mr John Macdonald, head master of Brora High School and Mr Cameron Murray, Dornoch, education psychologist, who were in one car, and Mr and Mrs Hugh Gunn, Dalchork House, a middle-aged couple from Lairg, in the other car. After the storm abated, the four found refuge in a forester's house at Ardross after walking three and a half miles.
100 YEARS AGO
From the newspaper of December 27, 1923
The statutory meeting of the Sutherland County Council held at Lairg last Tuesday was productive of an interesting discussion on the destitution in the north-west of the county. The distress amongst the people, which is fast developing, is due to a great extent to the failure of the harvest. In many districts of the north-west, hay, corn and potato crops have been an absolute failure owing to the exceedingly cold and wet year.
Embo railway gates were badly smashed last week by the Dornoch train running into them. The station agent at Embo has always a great amount of goods to handle, and if there happens to be a good fishing, the handling is greatly increased.
Dr Ruth Tait, daughter of Pastor D. Tait, formerly of Golspie Free Church, sails for China on 4th January as a medical missionary. Dr Tait is a former pupil of Golspie Higher Grade Public School whence she proceeded to Edinburgh University to study medicine.
