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7 March 2021
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3 March 2021
Community
Groups Benefit From Caithness And North Sutherland Fund
Grants
The CNSFund has committed over
£79k to community groups in Caithness & North Sutherland in its
recent grant rounds. Funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a
wide range of community-led projects throughout the Dounreay travel to
work area are to benefit from the grant support.
Grants have been awarded to
Strathnaver Museum - Farr North
Community Development Trust, - Advocacy Highland,
Wick Gala Committee - Reay Golf Club - Farr High School Parent Council
21 February 2021
Caithness
International Science Festival 2021 Reaches Out Digitally

This year everything is available online. All you need to is book your
FREE places.
Community Index
28 January 2021
Public
Invited To Have Their Say On
Wick Pulteneytown Conservation Area Appraisal And Conservation Area
Management Plan
Members
of the public are invited to view and comment upon the recently created
draft Wick Pulteneytown Conservation Area Appraisal and Conservation
Area Management Plan. Pulteneytown remains a unique area of
considerable architectural and historic interest. It is Thomas
Telford's (1757-1834) only fully executed town plan for the British
Fisheries Society, and its most successful investment; in the 19th
century it was the largest herring fishing port in Europe. Today, the
integrity of the original plan and built form of Pulteneytown remains
largely in place. The design of the 19th century Inner and Outer
Harbours is still intact.
Membership
Of Caithness Voluntary Group Free In 2021
Caithness Voluntary Group has
been around for many years helping many
groups and individuals with help and assistance on a range of projects
and pointing the way to funding and many other sources of assistance.
Funders like to see high levels
of local community support for places they fund. Previously a
smal fee was charged to join but now your group can join FREE.
26 January 2021
Funding
Opportunity Reminder From Caithness Voluntary Group
Beatrice Partnership Fund has
reopened for the final time. The fund supports projects that are based
in the East Coast of Caithness and Sutherland plus the following
Community Council areas in Rosshire, Edderton, Tain, Inver and Tarbat.
The closing date for the fund
is Wednesday 28th April 2021 at 12 noon. You can apply for funding from
£10,000 - £50,000.
25 January 2021
Exciting
new development needs local support - please!



St
John's Pool Bird Reserve near Dunnet is a unique visitor attraction in
the north of Scotland.
With over 200 bird species recorded since 1989, and the largest tern
colony in Caithness, it is a spectacular summer experience for anyone
interested in nature.
But it needs your help to develop into an even more impressive haven
for birds - and for people to enjoy. We just need to show the funding
bodies that there is genuine community support.
If you would like to see the SJP 2020 Project succeed (see below) -
please write a letter or email to smith57ja@gmail.com by 31 January
2021, highlighting the reasons..more
18 January 2021
Support
For Taxi And Private Hire Drivers
New fund to support taxi and
private hire drivers affected by the pandemic will launch this week.
Local authorities will directly
approach an estimated 38,000 private
hire and taxi drivers inviting them to claim a £1,500 grant to assist
with fixed costs, boosting the support from other funding for loss of
income available through the Scottish and UK Governments.
A
new total of £57 million has been allocated by the Scottish Government
- three times more than the allocation announced in December.
Councils will start contacting eligible drivers this week to brief them
on their potential entitlement and ask them to provide supporting
information and bank account details. They do not need to apply, or
contact the local authority.
Inverness
Castle - Update
Statutory applications lodged
today with The Highland Council signal progress in the planned
transformation for Inverness Castle to become a tourism gateway for the
Highlands. The applications are for:
Listed building consent
Building warrant approval.
The applications, submitted by project architects LDN Architects, are
in preparation for the main building works contract. This contract will
be subject to a tender process beginning in spring of 2021.
More
architect pictures of how the castle will look
Earlier
Views of Inverness
15 January 2021
Regulator
Appoints
Manager To Charity Wick Academy Development Fund As
Part Of Decade-long Inquiry
The
Scottish regulator has appointed a manager to take over a charity as
part of a decade-long inquiry to ensure its trustees do not part with
its property without consent.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator opened an inquiry into
Wick Academy Development Fund in September 2010 after concerns were
raised about its public benefit, and a failure to make use of its
accumulated funds.
15 January 2021
Wick
Pulteneytown
Conservation Area Appraisal And Conservation Area Management Plan
Many interesting photos and maps



On
Thursday 21st January Caithness councillors will consider a report
"Wick Pulteneytown Conservation Area Appraisal and Conservation Area
Management Plan" and agree a public consultation that will lay out the
potential for the area in coming years.
The report has two highly detailed appendices. They both contain many
photos and Appendix One also outlines the history of the conservation
area and details many facts about individual buildings.
Caithness
Horizons To
Be Relaunched As The North Coast Visitor Centre
The Caithness Committee of
Highland council will next week a paper covering the present position
of the former Caithness Horizons that closed when it ran into financial
difficulties. The facility closed in February 2019 having operated
since 2008.
The building is owned by the The Highland Council, and THC retains
responsibility for the collections housed therein.
The HLH marketing team will
ensure that the community are kept appraised of developments through
social media and other channels as the facility prepares for
relaunching as the North Coast Visitor Centre.
Caithnes A to Z
7 January 2021
New
UK Government Covid
Testing Site Opens In Wick At Riverside
The
UK Government has today, Thursday 7 January, opened a new walk-through
coronavirus testing centre at Riverside Car Park in Wick (KW1 4EA). The
centre is easily accessible for people without a car.
The test centre is part of the largest network of diagnostic testing
facilities created in British history. In Scotland, this comprises of
six drive through sites, 23 walk-through sites, 23 mobile units, plus
the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab which is working round the clock to process
samples.
4 January 2021
Scotland
In
Lockdown From Midnight Tonight - Stay Home
Mainland Scotland is to go into
lockdown from midnight tonight with a new legal requirement forbidding
anyone from leaving their home except for essential purposes.
More in
Business Section
Coronavirus
Covid-19 - Stay At Home Guidance
To
minimise the risk of spreading the virus, you must stay at home as much
as possible. By law, in a level 4 area, you can only leave your home
(or garden) for an essential purpose.
Retired
Surgeon Pradip Datta Publishes His Memoirs
The Naked Mountain Lands
- This is the unique story of an Indian surgeon, describing
the challenges he faced, whilst achieving his life-long ambition of
higher surgical qualifications in the UK. He worked as a Consultant
General Surgeon in Wick in the Scottish Highlands, where he still
lives. It was here that he established a postgraduate surgical course
for which he was awarded the MBE.
After retirement he was struck down by a stroke, details of which are
described. He subsequently completed this book. The story of a
consultant's life, peppered with anecdotes and interesting facts in
medicine in the far north of Scotland.
1 January 2021
Happy New Year To Everyone From Caithness.org
16 December 2020
Caithness
Health Action Group (CHAT) Petition on Maternity Discussed Today At The
Scottish Parliament
A
petition sent by Caithness Health Action Group (CHAT) was disucssed to
day the Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament. Rhoda
Grant MSP opened the debate and local MSP Gail Ross was amongst the
speakers. Maria Aitken's petition appeared before the Public Petitions
Committee and called on "the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish
Government to ask all relevant health boards to review their maternity
model to ensure that it meets the needs of remote and rural
communities".
The committee heard that the decision to change the status of Caithness
maternity unit from an obstetric unit to a midwife unit in 2016 was
made on the basis of safety. Mothers and/or babies who are assessed as
needing obstetric or neonatal care are transferred to Raigmore
Hospital.
See the petitions and
link to the debate inside.
23 November 2020
Expressions
Of Interest Invited For New Highland Coastal Communities Fund
Caithness Awarded - £409,652
The Council is
inviting communities to come forward with expressions of interest for
projects that, if successful, could receive a share of funding aimed at
supporting coastal communities throughout Highland.
The Highland Coastal Communities Fund has been set up by the Council
following an allocation of over £3 million from the Scottish Government
of Crown Estates revenue funding. Most of the funding (£2.6m) is to be
devolved to Area Committees with a strategic fund of 15% being retained
for Highland wide projects.
The eligibility criteria for deciding which projects go forward for
consideration and the decision on how much funding is available to each
geographic area has been calculated in line with same formula used by
the Scottish Government to allocate the funding across Scotland.
19 November 2020
New
Guide "Worrying About Money" Highlights Help Available
A
new useful guide has been produced to provide people across the
Highlands with information and advice on the financial and other
support that is available to them.
The Highland Council, along with NHS Highland Public Health,
Independent Food Aid Network and the Trussell Trust, have brought a
wide range of relevant financial advice and support with contact
details together in a user-friendly format aimed at people who are
struggling to make ends meet.
The Worrying About Money? guide covers information for people waiting
for claims to be assessed as well as those already receiving benefits.
Topics including advice on what to do if anyone finds themselves having
a sudden loss of income or if their statutory sick pay does not cover
their living expenses. There is also information on how to apply to the
Scottish Welfare Fund, maximising income and benefit advice, debt
advice and how to challenge a decision.
15 November 2020
Otter
Spotted Between Bridges At Wick

6 November 2020
Caithness
Health Action Team Petition To Scottish Parliament on Maternity
Services - Sign HERE
Earlier
this year CHAT had planned to hold another march and public meetings ut
the pandemic halted any action like that. To make sure the
ongoing issues connected to maternity in Caithness are not forgotten
and
to highlight more of the data that continues to be brought forward by
families a petition has been laid at the Scottish Parliament.
Read
the full petition application HERE
Comments
can be left on the CHAT Facebook page
Chairman
of CHAT Bill Fernie and Vice-chairman Ron Gunn will meet with the new
chief executive of NHS Highland Pam Dudek on 12th November to discuss a
range of issues
including maternity.
29 October 2020
Coronavirus
Covid-19 Allocation Of Levels To Local Authorities Areas
Highland Placed In
Level One
New
protection levels that will apply in each local authority area in
Scotland from Monday 2 November 2020.
Daily
Covid Data for Scotland
25 October 2020
No
Thurso Community Fireworks Display this year
The
Rotary Club of Thurso is sad to announce that we are unable to present
a public Fireworks Display this year, due to Coronavirus. Like all
other events in our calendar which have been lost to the virus, our
annual Fireworks Event will be greatly missed.
As an alternative to the Fireworks, Thurso Rotary are inviting the
public to participate in our Create a Scarecrow Guy Competition, which
runs until 5th November. There are cash prizes for the best entries and
Thurso Rotary will donate an additional £100 to the charity of the
winner's choice.
22 October 2020
Scottish
Urban Legends: 50 Myths And True Stories
Caithness
residents have shared their scariest paranormal experiences in a new
book released this week by former Wick High School pupil Aaron Mullins,
which has gone straight into a top 100 bestsellers list on Amazon.
Scottish Urban Legends: 50 Myths and True Stories features legendary
stories that reveal Scotland's mysterious past. It also contains
exclusive personal tales from Caithness residents, their stories
published for the very first time, including a haunted Wick primary
school and a scary premonition.
This new release follows on from the success of his bestselling
Caithness-inspired book, Mysteries and Misadventures: Tales from the
Highlands.
Caithness is represented in the new book with a pretty gruesome tale
about Adam Melrose, a former bishop of Caithness, based in Halkirk,
back when Caithness was still part of the Jarldom of Orkney, which
belonged to the Kingdom of Norway.
Lyth
Arts Centre Look To The Future Following Funding Award
Worries over the financial
outlook for Lyth Arts Centre (LAC) have been eased for the time being
after the venue was awarded £97,000 in Scottish Government funding.
The sum - from the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund - represents the
full figure requested by co-directors Charlotte Mountford and Tom
Barnes, who say the money secures LAC's short-term future up to the end
of March next year.
They acknowledge there is still much uncertainty in the performing arts
sector as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but say they will
remain "agile, flexible and optimistic".
The Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund, which is run through Creative
Scotland and has a total budget of £12.5 million, seeks to bridge the
financial gap for venues until they have a clearer idea of their
reopening plans and income projections.
Welcoming the £97,000 package in a statement on the LAC website,
Charlotte and Tom said: "It is the figure we calculated which would
enable us to remain solvent, avoid redundancies, and continue some form
of creative output while we are closed up to March 31, 2021 (a date
defined by the fund).
21 October 2020
Posties
To Collect As Well As Deliver The Mail On The Door
Royal Mail announces one of the
biggest shake-ups to the daily delivery since the launch of the postbox
in 1852.
Royal Mail has launched a parcel pick-up service across the UK in a
shake-up of the daily round.
The new service - Parcel Collect - means postmen and postwomen will now
be able to collect parcels as well as deliver them on their daily
round. It is one of the biggest changes to the daily delivery since the
launch of the postbox in 1852.
As well as offering even higher levels of convenience, the move means
that online sellers and online shoppers will no longer need to leave
the comfort of their home if they want to mail or return a pre-paid
item by post.
Under the ground-breaking initiative, postmen and postwomen will
collect a parcel from the customer's door or nominated safe place for
72p per parcel, in addition to postage costs. Parcel Collect is also
available for pre-paid return items at a cost of 60p per item.
20 October 2020
More
Funding For Those Who Need It Most

A
£30 million package of
funding is being made available to local authorities to support people
facing financial hardship as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19),
including money to provide free school meals over the school holidays.
Local authorities will be given flexibility to use £20 million,
previously held in reserve for the Scottish Welfare Fund, to support
people in their communities.
Free School Meals For Winter Breaks and Over Next Easter.
Financial support to tackle food insecurity or to meet fuel costs, or
boosting local funding for Discretionary Housing Payments
.
Remembrance
Sunday And Armistice Day - No Gatherings This Year In Highland
Remembrance Sunday and
Armistice Day will be commemorated across Highland but in different
ways than usual because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Following the latest Scottish Government guidance on commemorative
events, Highland Council will not be organising any parades, events or
services taking place on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2020 or
Armistice Day, Wednesday 11 November 2020.
Donate direct this year to
Poppy Scotland web site
18 October 2020
Castletown
Heritage Society Moving On Youtube
Technology is changing how we
all work and play and Castletown Heritage
Society like many other groups held its AGM last Thursday on Zoom.
The group are not sitting idly by as things change and have decided to
present more about their area on Youtube. Neil Buchan has launched the
first video to show the area around Castltown and the Heritage Museum.
Other films will follow in the future.
15 October 2020
Third
Sector Master Classes - Free
HTSI are very excited to bring
you a series of Monday Masterclasses, training centred around
supporting community groups.
Set up a new group recently? Working to support your community? Want an
update on current best practice in supporting community groups?
Then HTSI's FREE Monday masterclasses are for you!
Julie at Caithness Voluntary Group is doing two of these classes that
are open to everyone in the Highlands and are free. The Third sector
has played a vital part in supporting their communities this year and
this is an opportunity to ensure organisations are up to date with
current best practice.
Seven FREE sessions covering...
Halloween
Shop Window Competition Thurso For Boys Brigade
This competition is open to
all
Look around the shops
in thurso for letters of the alphabet hidden in
the window displays. Participating windows will display the BB
Logo
13 October 2020
Council
Provides Details On Accessing Covid-19 Self-isolation Support
Grants
The
Highland Council
has published new information on the Coronavirus Covid-19 button on the
front page of its website on how people can access the new Covid-19
Self-Isolation Support Grant.
7 October 2020
Spirit Of The Highlands - Autobiography - Call For Stories
This
"Spirit:Autobiography" will be an authentic insight into life in the
Highlands today, and the heritage that has shaped this unique region,
in the words of people from across the Highlands.
We're looking for stories behind the headlines of history, stories
about people you might hear at a ceilidh.
And we want to hear stories of communities too, large and small - the
local events that shaped it, or how global events have affected it;
about its singing sands or Viking graffiti - the things that give it a
distinctive fingerprint.
4 October 2020
Wick
Community Council Looking For New People

1 October 2020
Hollandmey
Renewable Energy Development - Public Information Event
ScottishPower
Renewables (SPR) invites you to participate in its Public Consultation
on the draft proposals for the Hollandmey Renewable Energy Development
(Hollandmey RED).
SPR is proposing to develop Hollandmey RED, situated approximately 8 km
south-west of John o'Groats and 16 km east of Thurso within the
north-eastern part of the Caithness area of the Highlands.
The proposed Development is anticipated to consist of
approximately 10 wind turbines with tip heights of up to 149.9 m. The
deployment of other renewable technologies within the Site is also
being proposed, including battery storage and solar photovoltaic (solar
PV) generation.
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