Caithness Courier headlines for April 15, 2015

RESIDENTS at a block of flats in Wick are on the alert after a pet snake went AWOL. Traps have been laid, to try and recapture the north American corn snake since it was spotted by a council worker in an unoccupied flat last Thursday.

A ONE-DAY conference on blogs and social media marketing is to be staged in Thurso later this month. Final preparations are being made for Venture North Byte 2015, food, photography and the blogosphere which takes inspiration from Scotland's Year of Food and Drink, is being held this year. The event, at the Pentland Hotel, on April 26, is part of an educational initiative by Venture North, a tourism co-operative comprising local businesses and people interested in promoting tourism in Caithness and Sutherland.

A STORE has been built for Caithness market traders at the new £8.6 million council offices in Wick - but it has no roof. The situation was yesterday described as "ridiculous" by Highland Council's Caithness civic leader, Gail Ross, who wants the problem to be resolved as soon as possible.

WATER is getting into the new £8.6 million council building in Wick. that was confirmed this week but contractor, Morgan Sindall, stressed the problem relates to what is described as "a very minor leak" The area affected, is the basement of the office premises in Market Square.

A FAR NORTH councillor is among the latest to come a cropper from driving over on the many pothole-blighted stretches of roads in the area. As well as giving him a fright, the broken spring on Willie Mackay's works van cost him £100 to repair.

A WICK woman was mistaken as a dog sitter for one of Scotland's most famous couples when she managed to say congratulations to her tennis ace hero during the wedding of the year. Davina Lyall was holding her border terrier, Aurora, when Andy Murray and Kim Sears rolled down the window of their Rolls-Royce and pointed at the dog in Dunblane town centre on Saturday. The moment sparked big public interest when people thought Mrs Lyall was acting as a dog sitter for one of the couple's two border terriers, Rusty and Maggie May.

A CAITHNESS expat is to return to the county to take part in a John O' Groats to Land's End challenge where she will be joining a celebrity to raise money for charity. Alison Windeatt will be jumping on the saddle alongside TV star Fern Britton, to cycle 874 miles for the Gensis Research Trust. Mrs Windeatt (63) who now lives in Torquay, is originally from Wick and is the daughter of the late Alex and Peggy Steven from Port Dunbar who were associated with haulage firm D Steven & Son.

A NORTH journalist is about to embark on a marathon cycle trip to raise money for a charity close to his heart. John Davidson, a production editor with Scottish provincial Press in Inverness, plans to pedal from Lands End to John O groats in just 17 days. By his efforts , he hopes to raise over £1000 for the special care baby unit at Raigmore Hospital.