So far,since our Inaugural meeting on 22nd September, 2011, we have had four general meetings.
The first of these was in October and was held at Thurso West Church and we had a talk by Barbara Hiddlestone who is the archivist at the Castle of Mey.
The second meeting, in November, was held at Pulteneytown Church in Wick and we had a talk and slide show on Astronomy by Mike Lunan.
We resumed our programme of General Meetings in March, when Ronnie Johnstone gave an interesting and thought provoking presentation on Ethics. A lively debate followed his talk, and was enjoyed by all members present. Also at the March meeting was a small display of crafts made from re-cycled materials. This hopefully will inspire people to join our new craft group.
At our April meeting we enjoyed a talk on Architecture, given by Lyn Leet, who worked as an Architect until her retirement. She included factual, and some amusing stories in her presentation.
On 3rd, May, we held our first A.G.M., when our first full committee was elected (for details visit the Contacts page). Unfortunately the entertainment for the meeting had to be cancelled and Mrs Mary Smith stepped in at short notice and entertained and amused us (intentionally!) with her recital of Caithness dialect prose and poetry.
On 31st May we held our meeting in Wick and had a very interesting talk on the Coastguard service, this was given by Alison Smith, who was informative and interesting. We were also presented with our Membership Certificate by Graham Clark, who is Chair of U3A Scotland.
On June 28th, Geoff Leet stepped in at short notice and gave us an interesting talk on The Caithness Field Club. This meeting was held at Thurso West Church. We were very grateful to Geoff for helping us out when our planned speaker was unable to attend. Thanks again Geoff for a fascinating insight into the club and it's history.
On 26th July, Cyril Digby-Grant gave a talk on Geology. It was informative, amusing and interesting, and everyone enjoyed it.
On 23rd August oour meeting took place at the Castlehill Heritage Centre at Castletown. Muriel Murray gave a talk on the history of the area that was very well received, and the meeting was well attended. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon.
The meeting on 20th September marked our first birthday and we celebrated with not one but two cakes. The speaker for this meeting was Ed Rollings who is the Enviroment and Consents Manager for Meygen. He gave a very interesting presentation on the plans and the progress for wave energy in the Pentland Firth. It was a lively meeting with a lot of questions being fired at Ed, and a lot of information being passed on by him. After the talk we all enjoyed eating our birthday cake!
On October 11th, Graham Thompson, from the R.S.P.B. Forsinard reserve came and gave us a talk about what is happening at the reserve. He presented a slide show to highlight what is present at Forsinard, along with the work being carried out now, and planned for the future, which will hopefully secure a more sustainable future for the Flow Country.
On 8th November we had an interesting talk by Ben McGregor, 'Out and About with Ralph'. He accompanied his talk with a superb photo gallery. He took us on a tour of some of the islands off the west and north coast of Scotland. The scenery was spectacular and his commentary and anecdotes were very entertaining. We all had a good afternoon thanks to Ben.
The first meeting for 2013 and took place n 10th January at Thurso West Church. Allan Lannon came along and gave us an interesting talk on Genealogy. As it is such a vast subject he gave us a taster so as to whet our appetites. This talk was especially relevant as we are in the process of establishing a genealogy group. It was a lively sessions with lots of interesting questions. Thank you Allan.
At our February meeting we had a very interesting talk given by Joan Speed, her talk was entitled 'The Appliance of Science', and she concentrated on electricity. Joan had brought several fascinating pieces of apparatus with her to demonstrate her subject. Everyone enjoyed it immensely. Also at the meeting we made a presentation to Gavin Pope, from Crossroads Care, Caithness. The Craft Group had been making and selling greetings cards from recycled materials, and the proceeds of their sale, which came to £120, was presented to Crossroads to help with the valuable service that they offer locally.
On 14th March we met at Pultneytown Church where we had a talk by Robin Inglis, on honeybees. Unfortunately the inclement weather rather depleted our numbers, but those of us there enjoyed Robin's talk and demonstration of basic bee keeping. We are all now aware of how fragile is the life of these fascinating creatures and how we can help them by growing a variety of flowers, including dandelions! Thank you Robin.
At our meeting on 11th April, The Lord Lieutenant of Caithness, Miss Anne Dunnett came along and gave us a fascinating insight into her role and duties when she is 'On Her Majesty's Service'. She also told us about her earlier life and how she became a lawyer and practiced for 20 years. A really enjoyable time was had by all, and the time went too quickly, we could have stayed listening for a lot longer, especially when she told us about her attendance at the Royal Wedding in 2011, and the Jubilee celebrations last year. There was also a display of quilts that had been made by members of the Craft Group, these were all made from re-cycled materials and will be sent to Alzheimer's Scotland who are aiming to cover Hampden football pitch with quilts on 8th June, this is to raise awareness of Dementia and hopefully raise a lot of money in the process.
Our second AGM took place on 9th May, three original members of the Committee stood down, Roy Blackburn, Peggy Lunan, and Fran Smith. They have all worked hard and were instrumental in establishing our branch. Thanks go to all three. Two new members were voted onto the Committee, they were David Lord and Rhona Mason, welcome to both of them. After the AGM, Myrtle Gillies gave an interesting and enjoyable talk on the Sutherland Gold Rush.
On September 12th we had our first meeting after the summer break, this was a slightly unusual meeting as we met at The Wick Heritage Centre, and members enjoyed a guided tour round this fascinating museum. A good time was had by all.
For our October meeting, on the 10th, we returned to more familiar surroundings at Thurso West Church where Sharon Lennie of Pentland Energy Advice gave a talk in which she outlined ways of assessing and reducing domestic energy consumption, an attractive prospect for all in these times of ever-rising charges.
Our meeting in November was somewhat different to our usual, Ruth Manson, a physiotherapist came and gave us a talk on Getting Fit, Keeping Fit. As well as talking about the benefits of keeping fit, she gave us a demonstration and we all joined in the exercises, quite a sight I am sure! Everyone enjoyed it, and hopefully will keep it up at home. Thank you Ruth. We also had a Christmas Craft Stall, put on by the craft group, it was very popular and all proceeds will go to this year's chosen charity, the R.N.L.I.
On December 12th, Peter Almond came and gave us a talk on St. Kilda. The talk was fascinating and his photographs were stunning. Everyone enjoyed it greatly. Thank you very much, Peter. This was our last meeting of the year, so Happy Christmas to all and a peaceful New Year.
Our first meeting of 2014 was held on Thursday 9th January at Thurso West Church. The venue was particularly relevant as the topic of this month's talk was The History of Thurso West Church. Ronnie Johnstone gave us an interesting insight into the events that led to the way the present church looks today. He also tried to enlighten us on the history of the Church in Scotland, which has to be said left a few of us a bit confused, as the history was quite complicated in parts! Nonetheless, we all enjoyed his talk and there were quite a few interesting questions at the end. Thank you Ronnie.
Our February meeting, on 13th at Thurso West Church, included a talk by Alistair MacDonald, on the current and future situation at Dounreay. After an early technical hiccup the talk went very well, and was well received by all present, which included a few ex-Dounreay employees, so they kept Alistair on his toes with some relevant questions after his talk. An interesting afternoon, which was enjoyed by all. Thanks again Alistair.
Our March meeting took place at Thurso West Church on Thursday 13th, and included a talk on The Archaeology of Caithness given by Paul Humphreys. In the time allocated to him he managed to cover almost 2000 years of history, from approximately 500 BC to 1200 AD. He told us some fascinating facts about the history of Caithness and its (known) archaeological treasures. Thank you Paul for your interesting presentation.
For our April meeting, we met, for the first time in St Fergus Church, Wick. Jean McLennan gave a very interesting talk on Crime Writing. She told us how she had got interested in crime, and how she had wanted to write crime fiction, but had started off with a factual book on unsolved crimes in the Highlands. She read extracts from her book as well as well as telling us of her early days in the publishing business. Every one enjoyed the afternoon, and were especially grateful for Jean overcoming her sore throat to give us a wonderful talk. Thank you Jean.
8th May was our AGM and the Chair, Myrtle, reported on how successful the past year has been for the branch. The Secretary, Dave, and Treasurer, Moira, made their reports. Two members, Lynne Hogben and Peggy Lunan, left the committee. Their past work was greatly appreciated, with Lynne having handled the online support. Two new members joined, Jean Castle and Morag Mitchell. Both were welcomed by those present. After the AGM, our latest group - Singing for Pleasure - entertained us all with beautiful performances of popular songs. We were all bowled over by their wonderful singing.
12Jun2014 - John Manson, ably supported by his son, gave a wonderful illustrated talk about family life on Stroma. They were the last folk to leave the island. This was a very evocative talk to end our season.
July / August 2014 - branch summer holiday.
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