FORMER employees of noted former businesses in Dingwall have been recalling the old days ahead of a special exhibition.

OVER a hundred years of service in the armed forces was represented by the men and women who received their veterans badges at a special ceremony last week.

THE kirkyard at the East Church in Cromarty is full of life, according to a local historian.

THE burial ground at St Clement's Parish Church in Dingwall has already provided rich pickings for researchers – not least local resident Jonathan McColl of the Highland Family History Society.

MILITARY historians will this week mark the anniversary of the "unimaginable loss" of a battleship well-remembered in Ross-shire.

THE recent eightieth birthday celebrations in Dingwall of local personality Davie Murray who was among the longest-serving postmen of his era gave rise to memories of an area of the town no longer in existence — Warden Street just off High Street.

AN appeal has been made for people who remember the part many Ross-shire railway stations played in community life before their closure to come forward with their recollections.

A QUEST to put a face to a remarkable Ross-shire doctor who was a noted archaeologist a century ago has been successful – thanks to the help of a 102-year-old Maryburgh resident.

A CALL has gone out to find former Ross-shire members of an Army unit of dog handlers who served in Northern Ireland during the height of the troubles.

EXTENSIVE research into the remarkable life and archaeological achievements of a Ross-shire doctor who rose to become the superintendent of Seaforth Sanatorium in Maryburgh at the turn of the last century has unearthed many details about the man expect one crucial fact — what he looked like.

A STRATHPEFFER family will be huddled around the television over the next few days to watch two programmes telling the extraordinary life of a remarkable relative who was the first black commissioned officer in the British Army.

TO celebrate the successful culmination of the WEA Exploring Your Past project there will be a book launch in the Old Library Premises, adjacent to Dingwall Community Centre on Wednesday October 29 from 11am to noon.

PRINCESS Anne delighted onlookers in Dingwall this week as she lingered over a new attraction and gave it the royal seal of approval.

A GLIMPSE into the hard working life of salmon fishers in Wester Ross in the 1950s has been vividly told by Coigach resident Ali "Beag" MacLeod.

RESEARCH into a historic church in Muir of Ord has produced a photographic exhibition, leaflet and archive folder.

THE head girl at Dingwall Academy and her 86-year-old grandmother may be a generation apart but they have a lot in common — they both just missed out on being educated at a new school in the town.

A FORMER Fortrose Academy pupil is planning a reunion with a topsy-turvy twist. She is inviting old classmates to travel thousands of miles to the other side of the world to gather in Fortrose — New Zealand.

THIS photo has recently been contributed by one of the 12 survivors of the US liberty ship William H Welch, which hit rocks in blizzard conditions and sank off the Island of Foura, about two miles from the nearest Wester Ross village of Cove in February 1944.

THE Ross-shire descendants of a war hero whose Victoria Cross ended up in the hands of collectors have been given a pre-Christmas boost.

MORE than 40 years ago a class of Easter Ross pupils wrote down in a school jotter the memories their parents and grandparents told them about life during the busy years of the herring fishing.

A ROSS-shire man who embarked on a painstaking project with a piece of vintage farm machinery he first encountered as a teenager has seen his labour of love reach fruition.

NO STONE is left unturned in Dingwall — that is the motto the town's registrars stick to when they help people trace their family trees.

PAINSTAKING years spent delving into the past are already paying dividends in present-day Portmahomack — and are set to benefit the area in the future, too.

LINKS between a Cold War minesweeper and a small Easter Ross village have been unearthed by a local historian.

THE war-time contribution of a brave young Ross man who lost his life during a daring air attack on German munitions trains will be marked in a quiet corner of France next week.

THIS picture of the former bike shop owned by the Shivas family will doubtless stir a few memories.

A TANTALISING card from Conon Bridge threw light at last on the derivation of the name Carnaby Lodge in Dingwall.

THE door will finally be closed on more than 160 years of history in the Black Isle next week when the school bells rings for the last time in Cullicudden and Newhall primaries.

LAST month’s Ben Bentley story drew a phenomenal response! Among the first to make contact was 82-year-old Ben’s buddy and former workmate, 90-year-old Hugh Forsyth of Culbokie.

PAST pupils from two Black Isle primary schools are being urged to dig out old mementos to help celebrate the institutions ahead of their closure later this year.

A BLACK Isle community aims to put itself in the frame through a unique photography project.

THE grim lessons of history, immortalised in a legendary painting with strong Ross-shire links, are not being learned by Britain's present-day leaders, it has been claimed.

A PRETTILY-embroidered postcard sent to an Alness four-year-old in 1940 by her young soldier uncle from 'somewhere in France' is on the desk.

A MARYBANK mum planning a birthday show with a difference has been given a boost by readers of the Ross-shire Journal.

RUMMAGING through some old photographs dating back decades brought memories of footballing glory flooding back for a Muir of Ord man.