Caithness Courier headlines for September 10, 2014

A CYCLIST’S end-to-end charity marathon ended in tragedy, just hours after she set off from John O’ Groats when she was involved in a collision with an ariticulated lorry. Anna Roots and her friend, Rebekah Edgar, were riding through Bettyhill on Saturday afternoon when Mrs RootS’ bike was struck by a timber lorry.

A COMMUNITY website has banned any discussion about the independence referendum on its forum after it reported receiving too many complaints about offensive posts. Caithness.org announced on Monday, it would no longer allow any posts related to next Thursday’s vote. Website administrator, Niall Fernie stated: “Due to the fact that neither side seems to be able to hold a civil discussion about the referendum, the topic is not longer to be discussed on our forum.”

A SWISS firm has won a £500 million order for a subsea power link to connect the electricity grid between Caithness and Moray. As generation of green-powered electricity from on and offshore wind and marine energy, is forecast to significantly grow, a major reinforcement of the transmission network serving the north of Scotland is needed, to provide the necessary capacity.

A CAITHNESS heavyweight athlete, Jamie Gunn, had a royal audience at the weekend as he retained the junior strongman crown for Highland games on the north-east circuit. The Halkirk youngster just edged out Greg Walker, of Fettercairn, to win the Glenfiddich Championship for 18-25 year olds following the last of the 12 events over the summer, at the Braemar Gathering. The Queen was present, as the 22-year-old completed his programme on the Grampian circuit with a points total of 200, 11.25 ahead of his rival.

A FAR NORTH dancing school is celebrating the success of its youngsters after they impressed against performers from Scotland and around the world. Six girls from Wick’s Elise Lyall School of Dancing made the long journey to Dunoon where the Scottish National Highland Dancing Championships were held, just over a week ago. They came home with an impressive array of silverware to add to their collection and Elise Lyall who runs the dancing school is delighted with their achievements.

TWENTY SIX far north secondary school students are better prepared for work, after successfully completing a Ready Steady Work course. The course, sponsored by Dounreay Site Restorations Ltd and North Highland College, was run in Wick and Thurso during the summer holidays.

A THREE-DAY conference – believed to be the first to concentrate exclusively on the history of Strathnaver – took place in Bettyhill hall last week with 94 delegates attending. The event was organised by Dr Elizabeth Ritchie, of the University of the Highland and Islands Centre for History, based in Dornoch, in co-operation with the Mackay Country Project and Strathnaver Museum.

TO win comfortably against Cove Rangers with several key players missing from the squad, is another sign confidence has returned to Wick Academy. Lukasz Geruzel, Jack Halliday, Sam Mackay and James Pickles were all sidelined on Saturday but the Scorries still took a major scalp as they recorded their first win in at Allan Park in over a decade, with a superb 3-1 victory

MICHAEL Shearer is on top of the world after he and his border collie Bob won the top international sheepdog championships at the weekend. The Caithness farmer beat rivals from 23 other countries to land the biggest accolade in his silver-lined career in trialling, having won the Scottish title three times. The 53-year-old, from Lythmore, Westfield, qualified for the four-day world championships at Fearn Farm, near Tain, after he came first and third in the Scottish championships in Kintore last year.