Reflections from Ross-shire: A dip into the old files from 100, 50 and 25 years ago
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Burns really is appreciated in Ross – no matter what anyone says!
From the edition of February 4, 1921
A “sweeping reflection” by the City Librarian of Aberdeen that Burns had no place in the heart of the Gaelic-speaking Celt prompted folk in Ross-shire “to sit up and take notice”, the paper reported.
Most people are surprised to note how widely expressed is the admiration for Burns in the county, extending as it does from Mulbuie to Lochbroom; from the Ord to Bonar. These celebrations are not exceptional. They are more or less constant year after year, and if love for Burns is to be counted as virtue, Ross-shire has exceeded it to a degree not exceeded even by ‘the winding Nith’ or on the ‘Banks and Braes o’ Bonnie Doon’.
First to last there have been recorded twenty Burns celebrations in Ross-shire, most of them in rural localities.
It was time to revise any alleged failure of the Highlanders to grapple with Burns, appreciated in tandem with the great Gaelic bards known to the Highlands.
Alumina coating buildings in Invergordon
From the edition of February 5, 1971
A slight coating of alumina covers many properties in the Invergordon district as the work of unloading the S.S. Richard proceeded at Saltburn Pier.
Residents can be assured it is not harmful to health, the newspaper reported.
Parents of children in Invergordon Primary School are concerned at the condition of the playing field. Since the area was fenced off, most of the 350 children congregate there and it has become a sea of mud.
One parent comments that his children return from school looking as though they had been at the ‘tattie lifting”.
Parents have been informed by the Director of Education that the matter will be considerdd at the March meeting of the Education Committee.
n Work, meanwhile, was under way on making safe ammunition magazines on the wreck of the Natal in the Cromarty Firth off the coast of Invergordon.
Sub-standard housing in Ross-shire a cause for concern
From the edition of February 2, 1996
More than one in 10 houses in Ross-shire are below standard, according to a report before the district council.
The 2227 houses make up just under half of the below-standard stock in the whole of the Highlands.
Fears were voiced by Ross-shire councillors that the new Highland Council would not give the problem the attention and cash it deserves.
Ross and Cromarty housing director Bob McDougall was concerned that since expenditure was no longer ring-fenced it could be lost to other services. “I think below tolerable standard housing is too important an issue for the quality of people’s lives for it to be lost,” he said.
A Care and Repair scheme in the county was the most comprehensive in the country, the paper reported, and had led to considerable improvements.
But the issue remained that houses were getting older at a time when standards were being raised.
Related: Highland Archive Centre preserves precious records that help tell our story
More from the files of the Ross-shire Journal
