Wick is My Kind of Town, as BBC TV show features Caithness location
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Ian Hamilton and his guide dog Major spent time in Wick as part of a new series of the BBC TV show My Kind of Town.
The reporter focuses on the town's seaside location and meets people from the community as he delves into the depths of the Caithness port.
He meets local café owner Morag Mackenzie to find how the town is faring with North Coast 500 trade and discusses the history of the local fishing industry with retired harbour master Malcolm Bremner. Ian also finds out about the development of the marina with Willie Watt, formerly of the Wick Harbour Authority.
The stunning landscape near the town is captured when Ian goes out kayaking with members of the Caithness Kayak Club.
He also spends time with local teacher and amateur archaeologist Chris Aitken, who tells him about the rich abundance of Iron Age and other remains in the area.
Against his better judgement, Ian is persuaded to take a chilly dip in one of Wick’s outdoor pools with local resident Patty Coghill.
With another local, John MacKenzie, Ian also visits the Memorial Garden, created in the memory of those who died in the first daytime bombing raid on mainland Britain in World War II.
Ian’s trip to the far north town also includes a stop-off with the Wick Players drama club, where he hears all about the challenges of local maternity services.
And at Caithness Boxing Club Ian talks to local boxer and coach Liall MacKenzie to find out about how he inspires the younger generation into the sport.
Having learned more about the challenges the town has faced and its changing fortunes and industries, Ian said: “Wick has shown its resilience time and time again.”
For this third run of the popular series My Kind of Town, Ian and Major are visiting places from Caithness to the Borders, getting to grips with local life and aspirations.
Ian said: “Two-thirds of us in Scotland live in small towns or near them. They are the towns that aren’t in the headlines that often and are not always tourist hotspots either, but they are the beating heart of the country in many ways.
“It has been really interesting over the course of the three series to go into these towns, many of which are facing challenges in this post-industrial age or through the drift to bigger cities, and find out how they are fighting back, how they are doing day-to-day, ploughing their own furrow and building on their already strong sense of community.”
The new series started this week in Girvan, on the Ayrshire coast, with Wick featuring in the second episode, and successive episodes featuring Larkhall, Hawick, Cupar and Fort William.
The episode of My Kind of Town featuring Wick will be shown on BBC Scotland on Thursday, January 12, at 8pm, and will be available on iPlayer.
