The Postie's Post

WHEN YOU consider that we really don’t have that many roads in the Highlands, the ones we do have seem to get a story from most people you talk to.

Council Gritters Fall Short In Assynt

‘I took to social media in the vain hope that somebody would notice’ — Cllr Currie

Bookends

“She Said He Said I Said: New Writing Scotland 35”, edited by Diana Hendry and Susie Maguire, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2017. £9.95.

Graeme At Large

Graeme At Large

A 19th Century View Of 'Wild' Land

A 19th Century View Of 'Wild' Land

Geopark Means Business This Year

Securing long-term government support is a priority, says new chairman

Fraser Darling's View Of Highland Medical Care

The “West Highland Survey: an essay in human ecology”, edited by Frank Fraser Darling, was published by the Oxford University Press in 1955. Fraser Darling (1903-79) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author who between 1939 and 1943 brought derelict land into agricultural production on Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles. In January 1944 he met Tom Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, who was aware of Fraser Darling’s published works which included a popular weekly column on agricultural science syndicated in several Highland newspapers. They agreed his plan for a social and biological investigation into the problems of the West Highlands and for establishing an agricultural advisory and demonstration centre in the crofting areas. In Fraser Darling’s own words, the West Highland Survey was established “in order to examine in a spirit of scientific inquiry, to gather a solid body of facts for analysis and synthesis, which would serve as a foundation for a future policy for the region”. He continued: “The argument was maintained that if the problem were understood in its wholeness, solution would be possible”. In June 1944, a team which included Frank Fraser Darling as director and four young Gaelic-speaking field officers, began work. The resulting 438-page book includes the following account of the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, launched in 1913 and forerunner of the Scottish National Health Service. After thirty years, the surveyors regarded the service as an unqualified success, an enviable situation underlined by the number of able medics seeking work in the post-war Highlands.

From Our Archives

Long service nurse to be honoured by community

The Postie's Post

IF YOU are a regular reader of my postie’s posts you will probably sigh when you realise that I am talking about roads again this month. But I do have an excuse and that is because the Highland Council aren’t really that good at managing them at times.

Bookends

George Gunn, “The Great Edge”, Grace Note Publications, 2017. £12.99.

Scant Support For Educational Reforms In Highland Schools

Scant Support For Educational Reforms In Highland Schools

Public Road Is Closed For Six Weeks

No temporary bridge means a 28-mile detour for motorists

Bookends

 “The Map and the Clock: A Laureate’s Choice of the Poetry of Britain and Ireland”, edited by Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke, 2017. Faber & Faber. £9.99.

Graeme At Large

WHILE THE cat’s away, the mice will play! It’s that time of year again when I’ve been summoned to the west coast to cook for an eccentric landowner and his landed gentry guests.

Obituary

Sheila Isobel Carney, 1933-2017

Bookends

Caithness Writers Group, “Flights Of Imagination”, Fireflash Publishing, 2016. £6.99.

The Road To Nowhere

Lochinver Church of Scotland with Suilven, shrouded in cloud, providing the background.

Council Fails To Publicise Delayed Works On B871

MOTORISTS attempting to travel on the B871 between Syre and Kinbrace during the first week of December would have met with an unpleasant surprise.

Bookends

Ali Smith: “Winter”, Hamish Hamilton, 2017. £16.99.

Graeme At Large

HYGGE, LYKKE and Lagom are the Scandinavian buzzwords for leading a clean, healthy and fair way of living.

The One That Got Away

The euphoria of the millennial celebrations didn’t linger long in the fishing community of Lochinver.

Loch Duart Uses Science To Deter Rogue Suppliers

Loch Duart Ltd, the Scottish salmon farming company based at Badcall, Scourie (pictured), and in the Outer Hebrides, is taking the fight to food fraudsters to protect the reputation of its salmon.

NHS Out-Of-Hours Rethink On Cards

Local working group to discuss “viable proposals” for urgent care

Graeme At Large

THE EAST Neuk is an area of Scotland that I didn’t know overly well.

Whose Land Is It, Anyway?

Brian MacLeod considers arguments for the proposed buyout of croft land in Tongue from Sutherland Estates

Lord Napier At Kinlochbervie

On Thursday July 26 1883, Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry into the Conditions of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland visited Kinlochbervie. The meeting was chaired by Baron Francis Napier, a former acting viceroy of India. Also present were Sir Kenneth S Mackenzie Bart, Donald Cameron Esq of Locheil, C Fraser-Mackintosh Esq, Sheriff Nicolson and Professor Mackinnon MA. Here we present the evidence of Angus MacAskill of Tarbet, Scourie.

Quick Croft Disposal Begs Questions

‘One of the purposes of the 2010 Crofting Reform Act was to address speculation in land’

Canada's First Premier Under Scrutiny

John A Macdonald accused of abuse of First Nation peoples.

Graeme At Large

KNOWN AS Cottonopolis during the Victorian era, Manchester was the powerhouse that ignited the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the British Empire. There was no other city on the planet during the mid-1800s that could rival Manchester as an industrial city.