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What was happening in Sutherland 25, 50 and 100 years ago?


By Caroline McMorran

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25 YEARS AGO

The sky is the limit for the future of Hunters Woollen Mill in Brora, although the company cannot rule out further redundancies until new premises are built, according to chairman Robert Gibbons.

Mr Gibbons was in Inverness last week to discuss the progress of a new £8 million mill with funding partners, only days after Hunters announced the sacking of 23 employees, a quarter of its workforce. Despite the redundancies, Mr Gibbons said the company was in good shape, finishing its financial year on June 30 with turnover of over £3.2 million, 22 per cent up on the previous year.

Railtrack boss Dr Paul Prescott has said that a level crossing in Sutherland where a train collided with a car, complied with health and safety legislation. He queried whether users of the Marrel level crossing at Helmsdale were following proper "gate discipline" and shutting the crossing gates at all times. A local couple, stranded in their car on the crossing, survived a collision with a train.

50 YEARS AGO

A NUMBER of minerals in north west Sutherland could perhaps be exploited, although large-scale employment was not likely, it was stated in the Highland Development Board's annual report. The commercial assessment of the mineral potential of the area was carried out for the board by the Robertson Research company. The survey area extended over 1100 square miles west of a line between Lairg and Tongue.

The report states: "The existence of these minerals – especially feldspar, quartzite, shell sands and garnets, as well as non-ferrous minerals – was drawn to the attention of major mining companies in the United Kingdom and abroad. This aroused positive interest from almost 40 firms with mining connections in Britain, Canada, the United states and Europe.

"Representatives from a number of these companies have now visited the areas in question and provisional agreements have been reached with the owners of the mineral rights for options to extract should it be commercially worthwhile.

100 YEARS AGO

The last and final meeting of Sutherland Local Food Control Committee took place in Golspie on Tuesday. Local food control committees came into being at a critical period of the war, when the food supplies of the nation were in real peril.

The committees were called upon to administer a complicated system of local food rationing to see to the effective enforcement of a large and increasing variety of food orders. They embarked upon their duties with zeal and enthusiasm.

At the close of the final Sutherland food control committee meeting, Mr John Ross, Brora, moved that the thanks of the committee and the community as a whole were due Mr Lindsay, Golspie, chairman, for the painstaking and energetic work he had done in connection with food control since its inception.

Mr Lindsay thereafter thanked the members for their kind appreciation of his work and stated that anything he had been able to do was done for the welfare of the county.

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