Nwicker60
23-May-12, 08:43
Caithness Courier review: May 23, 2012
PARENTS in Bower are “angry and frustrated” over controversial plans to make them pay up to £94.50 a month to transport a child to Thurso High School, after the summer holidays. They expressed their concerns at a meeting in Bower Hall, on Friday night, and are now calling on Highland Council to rethink the proposal. The parents are unhappy that changes to school contracts will mean they will have to pay £51.30 a month for pupils under 16 years of age, and £94.50 for those over 16 who want to go to Thurso High. However, there will be no charge for youngsters from the Bower area who want to attend Wick High School.
ALSO on the front page...Wick councillor Gail Ross in the new civic leader of Caithness. The SNP representative takes over the role from David Bremner who held the post for five years. Mrs Ross was “absolutely delighted” to have been successfully nominated by her Caithness colleagues at a meeting of the business committee in Wick, on Monday.
SOME of the county’s most promising music acts are to get their chance to shine in a brand new event staged as part of HarbourFest 2012. Seafest will kick off the maritime extravaganza which is due to take place over three days, next month at Wick harbour. The music festival, on Friday, June 15, will give local up-and-coming acts the opportunity to play in front of a live audience. Entertaiments co-ordinator Ryan Cook, founder of Wick’s Bfest, and Wee-B is the brains behind the initiative.
THE marathon campaign for Scottish independence will be launched on Friday ahead of the historic referendum, and two Highland MSPs on opposing sides of the argument are poised to make their pitch to local voters. The SNP Scottish Government wants to hold a referendum in October 2014 on whether the country should become independent from the UK. A Yes Scotland website will go live and a launch event will be held in Edinburgh with invited celebrities – one of whom is rumoured to be high-profile Nationalist supporter and former James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery and community and political figures who will sign a “Yes Declaration”.
A DETERMINED husband’s wish to hold an exhibition of his beloved wife’s craft work came true – just weeks after he passed away. Doreen Bremner was known as a talented craftswoman in Caithness, winning a number of prizes for her work at SWRI events and agricultural shows. After the 69 –year-old lost her long battle with cancer, her husband, James, decided to hold a special event to showcase her incredible work. But six weeks after the death of his wife, he too passed away, aged 75 after also fighting a long battle with cancer. The couple’s heartbroken daughters, Alison Bremner and Frances Bannerman, were determined to make their father’s vision become a reality and with the help of members of Scrabster WRI, they made his dream come true.
AFTER being shut to new admissions for almost two weeks, due to an outbreak of a highly contagious virus, a ward at Caithness General Hospital has reopened. The Rosebank Wing is operating as normal, now that the novovirus has been successfully eradicated from the premises. The war had to be closed to new admissions on Wednesday May 9, after 13 people came into contact with the virus more commonly known as the winter vomiting bug.
CAITHNESS Chest and Heart Support Group has received a glowing tribute from its patron, Lord Lieutenant Anne Dunnett. Speaking at the group’s AGM, she declared the amount of hard work put in by volunteers “never ceases to amaze me”. Miss Dunnett referred to the group's fundraising for medical equipment, locally, and said its efforts were much appreciated by the community.
PARENTS in Bower are “angry and frustrated” over controversial plans to make them pay up to £94.50 a month to transport a child to Thurso High School, after the summer holidays. They expressed their concerns at a meeting in Bower Hall, on Friday night, and are now calling on Highland Council to rethink the proposal. The parents are unhappy that changes to school contracts will mean they will have to pay £51.30 a month for pupils under 16 years of age, and £94.50 for those over 16 who want to go to Thurso High. However, there will be no charge for youngsters from the Bower area who want to attend Wick High School.
ALSO on the front page...Wick councillor Gail Ross in the new civic leader of Caithness. The SNP representative takes over the role from David Bremner who held the post for five years. Mrs Ross was “absolutely delighted” to have been successfully nominated by her Caithness colleagues at a meeting of the business committee in Wick, on Monday.
SOME of the county’s most promising music acts are to get their chance to shine in a brand new event staged as part of HarbourFest 2012. Seafest will kick off the maritime extravaganza which is due to take place over three days, next month at Wick harbour. The music festival, on Friday, June 15, will give local up-and-coming acts the opportunity to play in front of a live audience. Entertaiments co-ordinator Ryan Cook, founder of Wick’s Bfest, and Wee-B is the brains behind the initiative.
THE marathon campaign for Scottish independence will be launched on Friday ahead of the historic referendum, and two Highland MSPs on opposing sides of the argument are poised to make their pitch to local voters. The SNP Scottish Government wants to hold a referendum in October 2014 on whether the country should become independent from the UK. A Yes Scotland website will go live and a launch event will be held in Edinburgh with invited celebrities – one of whom is rumoured to be high-profile Nationalist supporter and former James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery and community and political figures who will sign a “Yes Declaration”.
A DETERMINED husband’s wish to hold an exhibition of his beloved wife’s craft work came true – just weeks after he passed away. Doreen Bremner was known as a talented craftswoman in Caithness, winning a number of prizes for her work at SWRI events and agricultural shows. After the 69 –year-old lost her long battle with cancer, her husband, James, decided to hold a special event to showcase her incredible work. But six weeks after the death of his wife, he too passed away, aged 75 after also fighting a long battle with cancer. The couple’s heartbroken daughters, Alison Bremner and Frances Bannerman, were determined to make their father’s vision become a reality and with the help of members of Scrabster WRI, they made his dream come true.
AFTER being shut to new admissions for almost two weeks, due to an outbreak of a highly contagious virus, a ward at Caithness General Hospital has reopened. The Rosebank Wing is operating as normal, now that the novovirus has been successfully eradicated from the premises. The war had to be closed to new admissions on Wednesday May 9, after 13 people came into contact with the virus more commonly known as the winter vomiting bug.
CAITHNESS Chest and Heart Support Group has received a glowing tribute from its patron, Lord Lieutenant Anne Dunnett. Speaking at the group’s AGM, she declared the amount of hard work put in by volunteers “never ceases to amaze me”. Miss Dunnett referred to the group's fundraising for medical equipment, locally, and said its efforts were much appreciated by the community.