Nwicker60
04-Apr-13, 07:04
Courier headlines April 3, 2013
A BUS driver was killed and another driver airlifted to hospital, after they were involved in a road acciden on the A882, four miles west of Wick, on Monday night. Stagcoach employee Les Davison died when the 25-seater bus on a scheduled run between Wick and Thurso, collided head-on with a pick-up truck at a sweeping bend near the entrance to Thuster Farm between Wick and Watten at 9.15pm The 4 x 4 truck, which was towing an empty stock float was being driven by agricultural contractor and part-time mart worker Andrew Sinclair.
COMMUNITY representatives have gone on the warpath against a proposed new electricity sub-station near Thurso, as they fear it would signal the green light for a new wave of wind turbines in Caithness. The Scottish and Southern Energy development is part of multi-million pound plans to upgrade the grid between Dounreay and Mybster. The scheme, at Geiselittle, has raised the hackles of Castletown Community Council which is to object to the firm's planning application.
DEMENTIA sufferers will no longer be treated at a Wick hospital after it was announced patients will have to travel to Inverness to receive treatment. NHS Highland confirmed patients, who need an acute assessment or have complex needs, will no longer be cared for at the Harmsworth Unit at the Town and County Hospital. The nine-bed assessment unit closed last July due to a lack of staff and attempts to hire enough personnel to reopen the facility, failed.
LANDLORDS of derelict buildings in Wick are to be approached to find out what can done to give eyesores in the town a new lease of life. Historic Scotland announced that, of 45 buildings which are deemed at risk in Caithness, 21 of them are in Wick. Now the town's community council wants to take action to tell property owners about what financial grants are available and what improvements can be made.
PEOPLE with learning difficulties in Caithness and north Sutherland have met with three local Highland councillors and MP John Thurso to discuss how changes to the benefits regime might affect them. People First Caithness, hosted Thursday evenings forums at St Peter's and St Andrews Church Hall, in Thurso to give service users their families and carers the chance to meet their local public representatives to see if they could help solve outstanding issues.
EX-Dounreay employee Kevin Macleod, who was the first graduate of a subsea training centre as a result of a Caithness Chamber of Commerce initiative, has secured a job in the oil and gas industry. The former instrument technician with Johnson Controls at Dounreay has been taken on, as an apprentice ROV pilot technician with oil and gas service firm Fugro.
NEW businesses looking to set up shop in Wick town centre have to consider more about what they offer and the need for customer service if they are to thrive. Far north MP John Thurso believes out-of-town developments and internet shopping are largely to blame for the toll of business failures in the town in recent years. Thurso, he claims, should be used as an example of how to adapt in today's retail environment. He maintains it has not suffered nearly as had its county counterpart.
PEOPLE left financially stricken and struggling to pay for food or heating because of the bedroom tax's impact, can apply for help through a new 'crisis' fund. The controversial and widely criticised UK Government benefit shake-up became law on Monday and about 2000 residents in council or housing association homes in the Highlands will be hit in the pocket. A new scheme giving out grants and loans for people left below the breadline will replace a previous fund run by the Department of Work and Pensions and be run by Highland Council on an interim basis.
THE tenth Northern Nashville Caithness Country Music Festival wsa given a collective thumbs-up by the thousands of people who turned up to see acts from around the world. The weekend festival stage in the indoor riding centre at Halkirk, saw fans of country and western music come from near and far to see the five-star international line-up.
A BUS driver was killed and another driver airlifted to hospital, after they were involved in a road acciden on the A882, four miles west of Wick, on Monday night. Stagcoach employee Les Davison died when the 25-seater bus on a scheduled run between Wick and Thurso, collided head-on with a pick-up truck at a sweeping bend near the entrance to Thuster Farm between Wick and Watten at 9.15pm The 4 x 4 truck, which was towing an empty stock float was being driven by agricultural contractor and part-time mart worker Andrew Sinclair.
COMMUNITY representatives have gone on the warpath against a proposed new electricity sub-station near Thurso, as they fear it would signal the green light for a new wave of wind turbines in Caithness. The Scottish and Southern Energy development is part of multi-million pound plans to upgrade the grid between Dounreay and Mybster. The scheme, at Geiselittle, has raised the hackles of Castletown Community Council which is to object to the firm's planning application.
DEMENTIA sufferers will no longer be treated at a Wick hospital after it was announced patients will have to travel to Inverness to receive treatment. NHS Highland confirmed patients, who need an acute assessment or have complex needs, will no longer be cared for at the Harmsworth Unit at the Town and County Hospital. The nine-bed assessment unit closed last July due to a lack of staff and attempts to hire enough personnel to reopen the facility, failed.
LANDLORDS of derelict buildings in Wick are to be approached to find out what can done to give eyesores in the town a new lease of life. Historic Scotland announced that, of 45 buildings which are deemed at risk in Caithness, 21 of them are in Wick. Now the town's community council wants to take action to tell property owners about what financial grants are available and what improvements can be made.
PEOPLE with learning difficulties in Caithness and north Sutherland have met with three local Highland councillors and MP John Thurso to discuss how changes to the benefits regime might affect them. People First Caithness, hosted Thursday evenings forums at St Peter's and St Andrews Church Hall, in Thurso to give service users their families and carers the chance to meet their local public representatives to see if they could help solve outstanding issues.
EX-Dounreay employee Kevin Macleod, who was the first graduate of a subsea training centre as a result of a Caithness Chamber of Commerce initiative, has secured a job in the oil and gas industry. The former instrument technician with Johnson Controls at Dounreay has been taken on, as an apprentice ROV pilot technician with oil and gas service firm Fugro.
NEW businesses looking to set up shop in Wick town centre have to consider more about what they offer and the need for customer service if they are to thrive. Far north MP John Thurso believes out-of-town developments and internet shopping are largely to blame for the toll of business failures in the town in recent years. Thurso, he claims, should be used as an example of how to adapt in today's retail environment. He maintains it has not suffered nearly as had its county counterpart.
PEOPLE left financially stricken and struggling to pay for food or heating because of the bedroom tax's impact, can apply for help through a new 'crisis' fund. The controversial and widely criticised UK Government benefit shake-up became law on Monday and about 2000 residents in council or housing association homes in the Highlands will be hit in the pocket. A new scheme giving out grants and loans for people left below the breadline will replace a previous fund run by the Department of Work and Pensions and be run by Highland Council on an interim basis.
THE tenth Northern Nashville Caithness Country Music Festival wsa given a collective thumbs-up by the thousands of people who turned up to see acts from around the world. The weekend festival stage in the indoor riding centre at Halkirk, saw fans of country and western music come from near and far to see the five-star international line-up.