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View Full Version : Fit's in 'e' Groat 'is week?



Nwicker60
15-Jun-12, 09:17
John O' Groat Journal review: June 15, 2012

A CURFEW preventing revellers form entering a nightclub in Thurso after midnight, should be reviewed, to help businesses in the town centre. That is the view of Highland Licensing Board member Councillor Willie Mackay, who has called for the curfew at Skinandi’s to be reconsidered. It comes after campaigners in Inverness won their fight for a review relating to the city’s late-night venues. Skinandi’s, in Sir George’s Street, is presently not allowed to admit people after midnight.

CAITHNESS schoolchildren have been included in a mission to give His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, a special warm Highland welcome – with a Tibetan twist. For several weeks now, local pupils have been painting, drawing and writing brightly-coloured messages on flags called wind horses. The flags will fly around Eden Court Theatre in Inverness when His Holiness visits on Saturday, June 23, when he will meet some of the children who have been putting so much effort into the unusual project. One of the schools where pupils have produced the peace flags, in South School in Wick.

COMPETITORS at the Caithness Music Festival continued to impress judges as the event approached its climax. Adjudicators were delighted with the high standard of entries on show at the Assembly Rooms, Wick and at Thurso High this week. Now in his 33rd year as convener, Trevor Williams said the festival continues to provide a platform to showcase local talent.

AN ambitious Thurso pub has thrashed out a deal with a neighbouring hotel, to secure a late-night licence so it can further its reputation as a live music venue. The Newmarket Bar has received the green light to vary the terms of its licence and avoided a clash with another town business, so it can stage more music acts into the small hours. Hamish Mackinnon, general manager of the nearby Royal Hotel, had objected to the application considered by Highland Licensing Board, because guests staying in rooms above the bar would be affected by the noise of live music. But, at a hearing in Inverness on Wednesday, the board granted the licence after the two sides confirmed they had come to a compromise. If the 103-bedroom hotel has guests booked to stay in the rooms directly above the Traill Street bar, then its live acts will be cancelled.

THE Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is being urged to show its commitment to building a national nuclear archive in Wick by applying for planning permission. Dounreay Stakeholder Group vice-chairman, David Flear stressed the public needed not have confidence the project will go ahead and said that it could be achieved by the organisation making an application to the Highland Council. He spoke out at the DGH meeting on Wednesday night, when members heard the archiving process has been completed.

A NORTH MSP has called on members of the Highlands and Islands Fire Board to apologise to the public and forget about an independent inquiry into the past failings of the region’s fire service. Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon said the councillors on the board, which governs the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, should scrap plans for the probe into the well-documented problems but instead say ‘sorry’ and look to the future.

THIS year’s vintage car rally at John O’ Groats was “one of the best ever”. That’s according to Bert Macleod, chairman of the organising group Caithness and Sutherland Vintage Vehicle Club Ltd, after the event was inundated with entries and visitors on Sunday. This year’s gathering was given a boost, as hundreds flocked to Groats to see the Olympic flame exchange which took place shortly after the rally ended.

SOMETHING had to give as Caithness county heavyweights, Wick Groats and Pentland United squared up to each other at Upper Bignold. Leading 2-0 at the interval, the town men looked set to take a major step in their bid to win the division one title. But United battled back, to win a share of the points following late fireworks at Tuesday night’s eagerly-awaited face-off.