News for August 1999
Manager to integrate Inverness community school project........August 24th 1999
A MANAGER to spearhead a £600,000, three-year project in the Highlands of Scotland, aiming to create the first community school in the main centre of Inverness, has been appointed by the local authority, Highland Council.
Colin Macaulay, formerly Highland AIDS liaison officer, will co-ordinate the project, which aims to enhance educational attainment and promote social inclusion for pupils attending Inverness High School and more particularly the associated primary schools at Bishop Eden, Central, Dalneigh,
Merkinch and St Josephs, and at Merkinch Nursery.
Based initially at Merkinch Primary, Colin's first task is to
assemble a team of professionals dedicated to the project, who can provide a full range of services, including education, social work, family support and health education and promotion so that young people and their families can play a full and positive role in community life.
One early aspect of the project will be to promote mediation skills in the school settings. This will demonstrate to pupils, teachers and families how to take the heat out of conflict in a non-violent way.
Colin said the main focus of the project would be on the younger age-range to ensure that problems being experienced by pupils or their families were tackled before they reached secondary school stage.
"The project is aimed at picking up problems at an early stage of a
young person's development," he said. "By providing a single team dedicated to the project with a wide range of skills, we can focus on the needs of pupils and their families and raise both the prospects of the children and the community in which they live.
"The 'full service school' has worked well in
America, where it was pioneered, and in many instances has resulted in higher levels of achievement, reduced truancy levels, less crime in the community and better employment prospects. It is seen as the way forward to modernise schools by giving young people the confidence to learn."
He explained his new role when he met the Scottish Executive Deputy Minister for Local Government, Frank McAveety, during a visit by the
Minister to the Merkinch Centre, Inverness, with Sheena Morrison, head teacher of Merkinch Primary, and eight P7 pupils involved in the community school project - James King, Bethany Lyall, Liam MacDonald, John MacKinnon, Leslie Scott, Brian Stewart, Kylie Turner and Caron Woolley.
Also present were members of the Merkinch Social Inclusion
Programme team and the South Kessock Carers' Project.
Youngsters mark start on school........August 24th 1999
FOUR youngsters were the centre of attention as they turned over the ceremonial first turfs at the start of work on a long-awaited new school being built in the heart of a well-known Highlands of Scotland community.
Strathpeffer Primary, which will not only be a community school but a millennium hall, will be the first in the spa, which attained fame for its waters and baths around the turn of the 18th/19th centuries and attracted so many visitors that it had its only special spur line from the nearest railhead, Dingwall.
It never had a school, however.
Fodderty Primary, two miles to the east, was erected for urban and rural areas as more children then lived on the surrounding farms and crofts.
A campaign for Strathpeffer's own school began some 30 years ago, started by the late Councillor Duncan MacGregor, and local farmer John MacGregor sold land for the new school to be built.
So it was a special moment indeed for Kimmie MacGregor as she and Jennifer Warwick, the youngest pupils at Fodderty Primary, with Siobhan Hedges and Declan Wilson, the youngest pupils at Contin Primary, which is two miles to the west, marked the start of work at a gathering at the site of the new school.
Kimmie is the great grand-daughter of Duncan MacGregor and a grand-daughter of Farmer MacGregor.
A £1.74million contract to build the school by August, 2000, has been won by McGregor Construction (Highlands), whose equipment will soon be busy on the building, which will accommodate the 23 pupils from Contin and the 154 from Fodderty, with a wing for wider community use.
Strathpeffer Community Association raised £30,000 towards the cost of the hall - with £150,000 from the Millennium Commission through the 21st Century Halls for Scotland Project managed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, £85,000 from Highland
Council's cultural and leisure services and £35,000 from Ross and Cromarty Enterprise - and will continue fund-raising until next August to ensure it is equipped to the highest standard.
The new school will comprise seven classrooms, a library, two resource areas, a nursery classroom and administrative
accommodation.
The community wing will include a meeting room, children's playgroup area, committee room and a small fitness area with shower facilities, kitchen and toilets.
Linking the two facilities is the multi-purpose hall, which will be available for pupils and the community alike and double as a dining area for the school.
*Work on the £5million community senior secondary school at Ullapool, West Ross, has been completed.
Academy repairs mean removal of asbestos........August 24th 1999
REPAIRS to a school in the Highlands of Scotland in the autumn of 1999 are likely to see low-level asbestos being removed, according to director of education Bruce Robertson. The only disruption to the life of the school would be likely cancellation of evening-class provision in September and October as the heating system would be switched off at night.
Mr Robertson said the work at Dingwall Academy, Ross, where the asbestos was used as insulation in heating pipes like many buildings of its vintage, was essential as some of the pipes were leaking.
The asbestos presented no danger unless disturbed and a carefully planned operation, subject to the strictest health and safety regulations and involving a specialist consultant and contractor, had been planned, monitored by the Health and Safety Executive and imposing no risk to the health and safety of pupils, staff or public.
The work would probably begin on Monday, August 30, and be completed in the October holidays.
Contractors working from 7p.m.-6a.m. and at weekends in sealed areas in the school basement would remove the asbestos, which would be taken away on a daily basis.
There would be the strictest monitoring of air levels to ensure there was no atmospheric risk - checks would far outweigh statutory requirements - and workmen would be off site well before staff and pupils assembled.
Mr Robertson said staff, the school board, trade unions and local Councillor Margaret Paterson, a parent of a pupil at the school, had been briefed by council officials and had agreed that all health and safety issues seemed to have been covered.
Rector Graham Mackenzie had sent letters to parents to allay any fears they may have had.
Arts centre and library planned........August 24th 1999
PLANS have been unveiled for a prestigious arts centre and library, estimated to cost around £5.8million, in a Highlands of Scotland town.
There was encouraging support from Highland Council's Ross and Cromarty area committee when representatives of the Mercat Centre Steering Group presented detailed plans and a model of the building proposed in Dingwall, Ross.
A large proportion of the funding needed is expected to come from the National Lottery, with the organisers on the last stages of an application, and Europe.
Ross and Cromarty Enterprise has pledged support and Highland Council regard the project as essential to its "Hub and Spoke" arts strategy.
If successful, work on the centre will begin on the site in the spring of 2001, with the building open in late 2002.
Chairman Neil McKechnie told the area committee the project was gathering political and community support, and the Earl of Cromartie and Alison Kinnaird MBE had agreed to be patrons.
Close to Dingwall's main by-pass, with the main entrance facing into the town, the centre had been designed to complement the burgh's roof lines and be sympathetic to the traditional architecture while being a striking contemporary addition to the townscape.
If successfully funded, it would house a new library, a performance area for up to 200 people, exhibition space, studios, workshops, rehearsal rooms and classrooms, with a spacious foyer, coffee and licensed bar and disabled access to all parts.
A team of artists would work with the architect to incorporate striking public artwork in the building.
The project had already received generous financial support from the Scottish Arts Council Lottery, Highland Council and RACE to enable the steering group to get the design to its very detailed stage.
Ferry funding gap bridged........August 24th 1999
A FUNDING gap that will allow a contract to be let by the end of 1999 for replacement of a ferry in the West Highlands of Scotland has been agreed by Highland councillors.
The ferry is at Corran, south of Fort William, in Lochaber, linking to Ardgour, Morvern and Ardnamurchan as well as by further ferries to the Island of Mull.
The councillors have asked the Scottish Executive%92s public transport fund for the shortfall of £265,000 towards the ferry cost of £2,650,000 but have also rescheduled their structural renewal spending programme to provide the £265,000 if their bid is unsuccessful. This will ensure European Objective 1 grant timescales are met.
The council had anticipated a Euro grant of 50% of the cost as opposed to the 40% approved by the programme monitoring committee of the Highlands and Islands Partnership Programme.
Roads and transport committee chairman Councillor Charles King said: "The ferry is a lifeline to many remote communities in Ardnamurchan and Morvern, who will benefit from a better and faster service. I would anticipate a significant growth in commercial trade, which will bring economic benefit to the area."
Local Councillor Michael Foxley thanked the committee for supporting "this vital service", saying its replacement recognised the needs of a growing local population and fast-increasing usage, not least through new Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services at Kilchoan and Lochaline to Mull."
It is hoped the new Corran ferry, able to cope with 30 vehicles, including coaches and lorries, will be in place by early 2001, replacing the 32-year-old MV Rosehaugh and the 1974-registered MV Maid of Glencoul.
New strategy agreed for Gaelic........August 24th 1999
A NEW strategy has been approved by the Highlands of Scotland Council to maintain the momentum that has been built up over the last 14 years.
Councillors have agreed that development of Gaelic education continue into the millennium.
A working group has been formed to examine the issues and recommend the way forward to the education committee, which had been told that Gaelic education had reached a crossroads due to general budget pressures, a lack of secure funding from the Scottish Executive and difficulties in engaging staff.
Chairman Councillor Andy Anderson said: "Since 1985, the education authority in the Highlands has led the way in the development of Gaelic-medium education and what we have achieved is a real success story. However, due to a number of circumstances, the expansion of the service has reached a plateau. We need to sit down and decide how best to build on the success of the past 14 years and take Gaelic education into the millennium with confidence and purpose."
Director Bruce Robertson said recruitment of staff was a constant problem but could be eased by establishing a Gaelic-medium teaching training facility in the Highlands.
The council runs 14 Gaelic-medium nurseries and four partner centres for 142 four-year-olds, with further expansion planned for three-year-olds, and 18 primary schools for 704 Gaelic-medium pupils, while 168 pupils are studying Gaelic in secondary schools.
On top of that, Gaelic is taught as a subject to 1,168 pupils at 11 secondary schools, and 800 pupils in 26 primary schools are given a basic grounding in the language.
The total expenditure is £1.86 million per year, of which the council has to bear £570,000 - the balance coming in grant aid from specific grant from the Scottish Executive.
Call for sporting rates to be reinstated........August 24th 1999
A CALL for the Scottish Parliament to consider reintroducing rates for shootings and salmon fishings has been supported by Highland Council convener David Green.
He says more than £1million of rating income could be channelled into promoting wider access to the Highland countryside and other associated issues with the land reform agenda.
Shootings and salmon fishings were removed from the valuation roll for non-domestic businesses in April, 1995, in a Conservative government move that was strongly opposed by the then Highland Regional Council.
Previously, the payments had gone into a Scottish rating pool, but Convener Green argued that a new rating category should be introduced so that the monies could go towards a wide range of initiatives to increase public access to the countryside and promote good management.
He said progress in the land reform agenda meant the time was right to review the rates exemption.
"The land reform debate has moved on significantly since 1995 when sporting rates were abolished and I am aware of a growing lobby of opinion which questions the justification for maintaining the dispensation for sporting estates, when other business people have to pay their way.
"I appreciate the income that is generated through this type of sporting activity but we must be fair to everyone in the tourism industry and treat everyone equally. An important element of our argument is that this new rating income must be reinvested in initiatives which benefit the large majority of countryside users - not those who can afford to shoot and fish - but those who want greater access to the great outdoors in the Highlands."
Highland Council's land and environment select committee chairman Councillor Michael Foxley said: "It is only fair that sporting rates are re-introduced. Everybody else pays through their rates for public services such as police and fire. However, the council should be able to grant rebates of up to 100% for estates with a record of good positive management of deer and salmon, as well as good public access and local employment."
Infirmary ground consultation period extended........August 24th 1999
AN EXTRA four weeks is being allowed by the Highlands of Scotland Council for comment on the future of land and buildings at the Royal Northern Infirmary, Inverness, following the large number of issues raised by a well attended public meeting in Inverness Town House, in August, 1999, and in view of interest in the site.
Local Councillor James Thomson welcomed the extra time, given the huge interest in the future of such a key town-centre site.
Views should be sent by September 10, 1999, to council's director of planning and development, John Rennilson ,at Glenurquhart Road,
Inverness, IV3 5NX.
It is planned to secure a new community hospital and identify a use for Category B listed buildings as well as surplus land.
Successful entrepreneur backs courses........August 24th 1999
NEW COURSES aimed at traimning tomorrow's tycoons have won the support of one of the Highlands of Scotland's most successful entrepreneurs.
Doug McGilvray, chairman and managing director of Weldex Ltd., the United Kingdom's largest crawler-crane hire operator, recognises the value of the Business Start-up courses run by Inverness and Nairn Enterprise, part of the Highlands and Islands Enteprrise network.
Since striking out on his own 18 years ago, Mr McGilvray has built Weldex into one of Europe's top plant-hire businesses, with depots in Glasgow, Leeds, Wolverhampton and London, demonstrating the acumen which INE's courses aim to encourage.
They deliver guidance on a variety of subjects, including financial control, marketing, profit forecasting, cash flows and taxation.
Mr McGilvray said: "Ambition and ideas must be encouraged if we are to see businesses continue to develop and grow. INE's courses promise to help this process and the end result must be a positive contribution to the local economy. This is serious help for an important issue."
The monthly courses are run by INE with training consultants Development Partners in mid-week and on Saturdays, open to anyone considering setting up in business at the initial stages or with a specific idea and needing further advice.
Earlier courses attraced 130 participants, with 20% now running their own companies.
Information can be obtained from INE at The Green House, Beechwood Business Park North, Inverness, IV2 3BL.
Island pier's future still in air........August 23rd 1999
OPTIONS are to be kept open by the roads and transport committee of the Highlands of Scotland Council in negotiations with ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne on the future of the pier at Uig, North Skye, which is one of two locations being considered for a new and larger ferry on the service from Skye to Tarbert and Lochmaddy in the Western Isles.
A Calmac board meeting on Wednesday, September 8, 1999, is expected to decide it it prefers an upgraded Uig pier (likely basic cost: £1.3million) or a new facility at Dunvegan for the Skye end of the triangular ferry service.
The council has discussed leasing the Uig pier to CalMac or selling it to them, and committee members have noted a confidential report and the progress made in talks with the Scottish Executive and CalMac as well as a need to promote harbour orders under Parliamentary procedures should Uig be the chosen location.
The committee wanted to look further into what would happen to any capital receipt and the effect on the council%92s revenue budget, which is partly funded through the grant-aided expenditure (GAE) formula for Scottish local authorities.
Chairman Councillor Charlie King, Mallaig, said: "This is a complex matter and at this stage the council must keep its options open to ensure we achieve an outcome that is best for the local communities who use the ferry service and one that safeguards the council%92s position."
Opening set for Highland Theological College........August 20th 1999
A FORMAL opening has been set for Friday, September 10, 1999, by the Highlands of Scotland Theological College to show off the spacious buildings it has taken over in Dingwall, Ross.
At the same time, the college is starting a new appeal, this time for £600,000 to meet the costs of refurbishing and equipping the buildings for their new role.
God has wonderfully provided for us already, said principal Dr A.T.B. McGowan, and we look to the future with real excitement and enthusiasm as we set out on this new adventure of faith.
The five-year-old college, non-denominational but evangelical and reformed in character and committed to a high view of the authority of Scripture, started on August 1, 1994, in premises given by Moray College in Elgin.
It provided not only degree and post-graduate but also access and part-time courses, and these will be continued and added to in the refurbished building, which will provide open-learning studies by computer and whiteboard as an affiliate of the projected University of the Highlands and Islands, which is due to come fully into being in 2,001.
HTC claims being unique among Scottish theological colleges as both independent, with its own board of governors, and as a constituent part of the new university.
It is also in partnership with the Reformed Theological Seminary in the USA, and room has been made in the 'new' building for lecturers from that seminary and others visiting.
In Dingwall High Street, for many years a bank then an office of North of Scotland Hydro Electric, the building was bought outright in early 1999 for £172,5000 without loan or mortgage from monies given by many individuals and agencies in Britain and the United States.
It is really several buildings - the original three-storey bank, a two-storey office at the rear put up in the 1960s and refurbished in 1986 and a one-and-a-half storey detached building behind which can be a workshop or used for other purposes, plus car-parking and garden space.
There will be a foyer and reception area, classrooms, learning centres, seminar rooms, staff offices, studies, common rooms and computer suite, plus boardroom, conference room, kitchen facilities, first aid/restroom, toilets, shower and locker rooms and technician's space.
Ready access for all, including the disabled, means installation of a lift to the first floors and other facilities, and equipping and redecorating for the new role means large expense, hence the setting up of the appeal fund.
The college [tel. +44 (0)1349 867600, fax. +44 (0)1349 867555, email. htc@uhi.ac.uk] operates a two-semester system, its academic year running from early September to June, and regards Dingwall as an ideal base with excellent road and rail links and Inverness Airport half an hour away.
Loch Ness swimmer beaten by cold........August 20th 1999
A WOMAN bidding to swim the length of Loch Ness, in the Highlands of Scotland, was taken from the very cold water on Thursday, August 19, 1999, with just three miles to go of the 23-mile fund-raising target she had set herself, and was later said to be recovering from hypothermia in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
Ms Loretta Riscombe-Burton, aged 43, from Westerham, Kent, England, was making the marathon attempt to raise money for the Kent and the Scottish air ambulance services, and hoping to become one of only 10 people to have completed the challenge successfully.
She went into the water at 3.30a.m. but after 14 hours and 30 minutes had to be rescued from the chill waters just short of Fort Augustus.
Julie Byford, in an accompanying boat, said the swimmer had no energy left and both her shoulders had frozen up. The conditions had been awful, very cold and blustery, and but for them she would have made her target.
Ms Riscombe-Burton, reported to have been given the all-clear after having had cervical cancer in 1993, was said to have swum the English Channel in 1995; between Kyle, on the South-west Ross mainland, and Kyleakin, Skye, and back in 1996, and around New York in 1997, but to have abandoned a swim between Italy and North Africa in 1998 because of strong winds.
The mother of two said she had taken up long-distance swimming as she felt she had been given a second chance and could be an inspiration to others but the Loch Ness attempt was to be her final effort as she had a full-time job and could not find time to train.
Farmed-salmon disease turning point claimed........August 20th 1999
A CLAIM that a vital turning point had been reached in the battle against Infectious Salmon Anaemia was made by the Scottish Parliament's Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs, John Home Robertson, on Thursday, August 19, 1999, in a visit to Loch Ailort, on the country's West Coast.
He said operating restrictions had been lifted at 83 salmon farms affected by the disease.
It was pointed out that this did not mean a change of policy by the government - time restrictions on movement of fish and production of salmon at affected farms had already elapsed.
The 83 farms include seven sites which had to close operations because of confirmed or suspected ISA outbreaks. The rest, in Loch Snizort, Skye; Loch Nevis, Lochaber, and St Magnus Bay, Shetland, could not move salmon stock because of proximity.
The Minister, who was visiting salmon farms at Loch Ailort, where salmon farming began in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, said all would have to remain vigilant but the eradication policy seemed to be working and he hoped all restrictions would go within a year.
He insisted the £9million allocated by government until 2,002, provided the industry gave a matching amount, would be enough compensation. The issue of insurance was still being considered.
William Crowe, chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Growers' Association, gave a cautious welcome but said he hoped Scottish Parliament-European Commission talks would lead to a relaxation in the culling policy.
The issue of compensation is being looked at by Scottish Parliament partners the Liberal Democrats.
Another CT scanner for Raigmore........August 19th 1999
A £400,000 Computerised Tomography scanner unit has been officially opened at the Highlands of Scotland's Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, with large-scale reductions in the time taken to scan patients and a consequent hope for reduced waiting periods.
The scanner takes one and a half minutes to do a full-body scan against 20 minutes before and less than a second for partial body scans against up the three seconds, widens the radiology unit's diagnostic remit and enables more complex examinations to be performed.
The unit was officially opened by Lady Cowan, widow of Sir Robert Cowan, who had chaired Highlands and Islands Enterprise when it came into being after heading the Highlands and Islands Development Board for many years and had headed the board of the Highland Scanner Appeal Trust.
Dr David Goff, consultant radiologist, said it was thanks to the generosity of the people of the Highlands and prudent investment by the trust that Raigmore had been able to buy this state-of-the-art scanner.
The Highland Scanner Appeal raised £1.2million for a CT Scanner at Raigmore in 1987, covering the cost of the equipment, the purpose-built unit and revenue for staffing, but the running costs were taken over by Raigmore, so that a sizeable sum was reinvested.
This grew enough to pay for a new scanner and, with the earlier one needing replacement because of increasing servicing costs and the advance of technology, that has been achieved and the scanner suite refurbished at a cost of £400,000-plus.
Oil terminal work cut back........August 19th 1999
STAFF at the Highlands of Scotland oil terminal at Nigg, East Ross, have been told by operator Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd. that it is laying off 14 people, nearly one-third of the workforce.
Poor production levels at the Beatrice oil platform in the Moray Firth just off the Sutherland-Caithness coast were blamed.
The terminal and the Beatrice oil field were bought from British Petroleum in 1997 by Talisman Energy Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, with the Buchan oilfield about 80 miles north-east of Peterhead, and the Clyde field in the middle of the North Sea off Dundee - the trio known as the MAST fields.
Oil from Beatrice, one of the first discoveries in the North Sea, is pumped to Nigg by pipeline.
At about the same time, Highland Council gave outline planning permission for a £2.5million base in Loch Kishorn, Wester Ross, where about 200 jobs could be created by reopening the Howard Doris oil construction yard there after 13 years.
Behind the move is Kishorn Base Ltd., which hopes to use the 130-acre site for oil service and supply and as a base for contractors as the oil search swings west, and more work is predicted once the yard gets into full swing.
There are concerns that spills of oil and ballast water could affect fish-farms employing 100 people locally in Lochs Kishorn and Carron.
Aiming for Highland drugs/alcohol strategy........August 19th 1999
A FIRM of consultants is to get £20,000 to draw up a strategy to tackle drug and alcohol abuse in the Highlands of Scotland which can be considered by a conference in November, 1999, as it is felt an all-Scotland programme does not meet the area's needs.
Highland Council will provide half and the Northern Constabulary and Highland Health Board the rest, according to morning newspaper The Press and Journal.
Its report stated that northern agencies feared a strategy, Tackling Drugs in Scotland - Action in Partnership, was based on the country's Central Belt and failed to address problems posed by scattered communities.
The Highland Drugs and Alcohol Strategy Group expected that a more relevant strategy would take account of the size of the Highlands, the increased need for organisations to work together and differences between communities.
Highland director of education Bruce Robertson was quoted as stating that the group viewed the Scottish strategy as insufficiently relevant to Highland issues, and that there was a lack of commitment because there had been no Highland involvement in its formulation. The Highlands had urban areas like Inverness and remote commmunities as in North-west Sutherland, and the group wanted by the millennium to have a strategy that met the needs of communities across the North.
Northern Constabulary's Inverness operations head, Chief Superintendent George Gough, said the consultants would talk with the group and local drug forums in the coming weeks - there were health, education, enforcement and rehabilitation issues and questions about working with other parties and exchanging information.
The report stated that the consultants initiative was described as "a waste of public money" by Inverness West Councillor Ron Lyon, who maintained alcohol and drug abuse experts in the Highlands were quite capable of coming up with a strategy incorporating elements of the national one.
Natalie Morel, co-ordinator of the only young people's anti-drugs project in the Highlands, was quoted as stating that the difference between dealing with problems in the Highlands and the rest of Scotland was space.
"In the Central Belt, you can travel to meet clients quite easily and vice versa. Someone living in Wick, Caithness, can only reach Inverness on the train and that's £20 return. It also costs us a lot of money to travel around promoting drug awareness."
*A US-style Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency, with £4million funding, 200 officers, an operations wing drawing on the work of the Scottish crime squad and the country's eight police forces and an intelligence wing pooling the work of the Criminal Intelligence Services, Customs and agencies such as Interpol, will operating early in 2000, according to Scots Deputy Justice Minister Angus Mackay.
Book festival planned at Cromarty........August 19th 1999
A TWO-DAY book festival at a town in the Highlands of Scotland is scheduled for September, 1999, with the hope that it will develop into a popular annual event.
The event at Cromarty, in the Black Isle, is among several marking cultural links that have been established between Ross and Cromarty and Roscommon, in Ireland, since an approach from the organisers of a traditional music festival there in January, 1997.
It is planned for the Brewery and Stables in Cromarty on September 24-26, 1999.
On offer are ceilidhs; lectures on poetry, art and sculpture; workshops on drama, music, poetry and novel writing; storytelling, and book production.
It is all happening in the middle of "a renaissance in Highland writing and thought and expression", according to Ross poet Anne MacLeod.
Nursery aids local economy........August 18th 1999
THE HIGH standards of child care at a three-year-old nursery in the West Highlands of Scotland have enabled 29 mothers to return to work after having family, making an important contribution to the local economy.
The Rainbow's End nursery at Mallaig, a West Lochaber fishing port and a major ferry link with Armadale, in the south-east of the Island of Skye, was set up in 1996 by former high school teacher Susan Robertson.
By August, 1999, it had seven staff, full and part-time, including two nursery nurses, and there was a register of 100 children, from a few months old to primary age, covering Arisaig to the Small Isles.
Holidaymakers or parents wishing a few hours on their own could also have their children looked after.
Susan Robertson said: "I am delighted that, by providing a support system for people without family available to look after their children, Rainbow's End has helped people pick up jobs.
"As a mother myself, I know just how they feel. I set up the nursery on the basis of what I would want for my own children in terms of facilities and quality of care.
"I like to think we try to do more than just what is required by the regulations, and among other things we are recognised by the Scottish Parliament's Executive as being of a standard to provide nursery education.
"We also run sessions of fun and play in French for children in Primaries 1-3 and Primaries 4-7, and we would like to start one in Gaelic if a teacher could be found."
The nursery was started with grant aid from Lochaber Limited, part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise network, and has received further aid over the years for staff qualifications and in gaining Investors in People status.
Lochaber Limited skills team leader Morven Camreon said: "The nursery meets a real need in the area and has gone from strength to strength. Susan put a lot of thought into the project at the beginning and has contiually developed the business to meet the needs of the community she serves.
"The nursery has proved very popular with mothers who return to work."
Row over soaring cost of fuel........August 18th 1999
SOARING fuel costs following a hike in the price of oil to more than $20 a barrel in mid-August, 1999, compared to almost $10 at the end of 1998 has led to calls for a new look at fuel pricing in Britain. Fears were expressed that thousands of jobs could be lost in Scotland, particularly in rural and island areas, as higher fuel prices worked their way through transport charges.
It was felt that regional economies and tourism business in particular could be badly affected.
Britain's Office of Fair Trading is already inquiring into fuel pricing, and the chairman of Highlands and Islands Action Group on Hydrocarbons, Mrs Alison Magee, sought an interim report on its findings.
The question that had to be asked, she said, was why petrol companies had not cut fuel prices when crude oil prices were at rock bottom.
Highland Council convener David Green said just about everyone in the North of Scotland would be hit, whether individuals or businesses, and he called for action by Scottish Members of Parliament.
An Inverness Chamber of Commerce spokesman said people were dependent on cars to get to work and to the shops, and he pressed for the government to intervene.
Motoring organisations warned that fuel was likely to cost even more.
The Royal Automobile Club said fuel taxes should be cut as rural garages could not afford to continue. The Automobile Association said British motorists already had the most highly taxed fuel in the European Union.
Eight get land-based skills........August 18th 1999
TO eight people from the West Ross area of the Highlands of Scotland are to be trained in land-based skills such as drystane dyking and forestry.
Applecross Rural Skills Training Programme, managed by the Footpath Trust, Dingwall, will carry out the training, which involves people from the Sheildaig and Applecross peninsula.
Participants in the nine-month scheme will be accredited with vocational qualifications in landscapes and ecosystems as well as getting practical experience.
The £100,000 project is being supported by Ross and Cromarty Enterprise, part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise network, with European LEADER II funding of £47,400 and aid from the National Lotteries Charity Board, Rural Challenge Fund and the Applecross Estate Trust.
RACE LEADER development manager Amanda Bryan said: "This project was developed in response to a local appraisal carried out two years ago and will benefit a wide sector of the community. In addition to creating a local contracting team, a number of projects will be completed, including repairs to dykes and the upgrade of several footpaths."
She said the team had already secured a one-year contract to develop a footpath network in Applecross.
Insight into musical careers........August 18th 1999
Insight into musical careers
A YEAR-LONG initiative is helping young people in the Highlands of Scotland turn pop bands into businesses and get to understand the possibilities of a musical career.
Behind it is MIDAS (Music Industry development and Support), a three-year scheme to develop the music industry in the Highlands set up by Hi Arts (Highland Arts) which, with the support of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Arts Council, is progressing various branches of the arts in the North of Scotland.
MIDAS spokesman Iain Hamilton said few promoters would book young bands so it intended to set up a Youth Tour Circuit for such bands with the help of the Prince's Trust Youth Cafe system, Young Enterprise Scotland and several other youth centres and groups.
The initiative had stemmed from an approach by the Highland Careers Service for advice at a Careers Day in Inverness on careers in music and MIDAS had found that not only was there no representation for music but that no advice was available on careers in the music industry or in arts management generally.
It had decided to try to develop a wider range of skills so that young people would get the business knowledge needed, learn what a career in music might mean and get an insight into possible future careers in music or the arts.
Inverness view on City status........August 17th 1999
THE AWARD of city status for Inverness by the Queen would not only bring great honour to the Highlands of Scotland community but the prestige would be a tremendous boost in helping businesses promote themselves at home and abroad, Scottish Secretary of State Dr John Reid was told when he visited the town on a mission to find a Scottish contender for the United Kingdom's 'millennium city'.
He warned, however, that there would be tough competition -
not only from known applicants Ayr and Paisley but from at least two other towns.
Promoters Highland Council and Inverness and Nairn Enterprise have until Wednesday, September 1, to submit their bid. The Queen will decide the winner from the UK finalists.
Dr Reid was shown the town's growth areas by Provost William Smith,
Inverness area committee chairman; Highland Council convener Councillor David Green, and Grant Sword, chairman of
Inverness and Nairn Enterprise.
Provost Smith said: "We very much welcome the opportunity to show off our town and promote our bid for city status to Dr Reid. To be granted city status from the Queen at the millennium will be a magnificent honour for Inverness and give businesses in the town and beyond a tremendous marketing tool in attracting additional income to our fast-growing economy.
"We firmly believe we have the best claim to city status - not just in Scotland but UK-wide - and will be working hard between now and the deadline for submissions to do justice to our bid."
Convener Green said: "Inverness is the hub of the Highlands and
success in gaining city status will derive benefit throughout the Highlands. It is a historic town, which has moved with the times to enjoy one of the fastest-growing economies in the UK. It is a city for the Highlands and a city for the future. It will also be the first city of the Gaeltacht."
Grant Sword said: "Inverness is approaching the millennium with real
enthusiasm and is a modern city of the future. New technology is providing a catalyst for business growth. Inward investment is creating skilled jobs in industries such as electronics, healthcare and information technology. And advanced telecommunications are encouraging a wide range of developments such as call centres and the highly-innovative University of the Highlands and Islands project.
"Many people will benefit from the honour and prestige
of city status and I am confident we have a great chance of success."
One port of call for Dr Reid was Caledonian Stadium - home of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, whose progress in gaining promotion to the Scottish First Division mirrors the health and growth of the Highland capital.
By coincidence, the club's next two league fixtures are at Paisley
(St Mirren) and at Ayr.
Club chairman Dougie MacGilvray said: "This club is 100% behind the bid and we will do everything we can to help. Our club is delighted to have brought prestige to Inverness by progressing through the leagues and we would love to see our town win city status. It would be good for our residents and good for the business community."
Time running out for waste dump........August 17th 1999
THE LARGEST waste tip in the Highlands of Scotland, the 110-hectare site beside the Moray Firth at the Longman, Inverness, much of it reclaimed from the sea, could be full by the year 2,001, two years earlier than anticipated.
Meanwhile, Highland Council's planned waste-energy incinerator may not be ready until the year 2,006, so waste may have to be transported miles across country to public or private dumps, with attendant costs and continuous liability for environmental controversy.
The Longman site, which deals annually with 72,000 tonnes of domestic waste, 36,000 tonnes of commercial/industrial waste and 76,000 tonnes of construction/ demolition waste, borders an area of special scientific interest and is unable to expand, although raising the waste level, if permitted, could a year to its expected lifespan.
Alternatively, banning of commercial/industrial waste could give about a year's grace, according to council head of waste strategy, Henderson Pollock.
Controversy has already reared its head with strong protests over a scheme to site a land-fill dump at Tollie, Brahan, Ross, near an internationally known Scout camp, two known ecological sites, several farms and a housing community.
Swedish group establish Highland contacts........August 17th 1999
A PROJECT whereby contacts across Europe can be established among fisheries development workers to gain more ideas for quality control, product development and marketing has seen a group of 13 from Sweden on a five-day tour in the Highlands and Islands.
The party of politicians and fishermen toured Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney to meet co-ordinators of a European initiative named PESCA, which is designed to support fishing communities.
It is administered in Caithness and Sutherland by local enterprise company CASE, part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise network, whose PESCA manager, Ian Thomson, said the fishing industry was very important to the economies of both countries.
"This visit is a great opportunity to gain a unique insight into Swedish practices and learn and share ideas about future development."
Cycle network moves on........August 17th 1999
PLANS for 6,500 miles of a United Kingdom cycle-route network have moved forward with approval by Highland Council of a cycle route in the Inverness area.
Promotion of this should bring in cycle tourists, gaining the Highland economy some £4milliom over three years, according to council cycling officer Richard Gerring.
The Scottish part of the National Cycle Route is expected to provide connections to John O'Groats through the spine of Scotland via the A9 and along the East and West coasts.
The Highland network is expected to be not only part of the UK's National Cycle Route but also of the North Sea Cycle Route, in which seven European countries are clubbing together so that cyclists can travel more safely around the North Sea.
The different components of the Highland cycling network have to be approved by each area committee.
Links between north and south and east and west are offered by the cycle routes apportioned around, in and through Inverness, which have been funded by Objective 1, the Millennium Commission, Inverness and Nairn Enterprise and Highland Council.
There are special cycle tracks, and special crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.
Mr Gerring said it was hoped the project would be completed by the summer of 2,000, with a big launch in June and opening of the whole network.
New water safety measures for Inverness ........August 17th 1999
THE POSSIBILITIES of a water safety audit and more safety measures alongside the canal locks are among initiatives around the River Ness and Caledonian Canal discussed at a meeting chaired by Highland Council's Inverness area chairman, Provost William Smith.
It was attended by representatives of the Northern Constabulary, Inverness Harbour Trust, British Waterways, the council and Inverness area councillors.
Provost Smith said there had been a number of incidents in the Canal and River Ness, and the suggestions made would be discussed urgently by the council and British Waterways.
Suggestions included:
*The possibility of undertaking a Water Safety Audit in the Inverness area;
*Investigation by British Waterways Board of additional safety
measures alongside the Canal Locks;
*The scope for greater education and water safety training for schoolchildren;
*Specific consideration of water safety issues in places where
children play near water.
Among those at the meeting were Chief Superintendent Ramsay McGhee, Inverness Area Police Commander; Captain Murdo MacLeod, Inverness Harbourmaster; Richard Sawicki, Caledonian Canal Manager;
Angus MacInnes, Inverness area roads and transport manager;
Fiona Duncanson, representing the area cultural and leisure services manager; Chris Claridge, Inverness area manager, and Councillors Lyon, Thomson, MacLennan, MacDonald, Cumming, Corbett, Davidson
and Shiels.
New bid for Clan Mackenzie centre........August 16th 1999
AN APPEAL for members worldwide has been made in the Highlands of Scotland by the reactivated Clan Mackenzie Society, which hopes that a £2.5million visitor centre can be set up on Brahan Estate, Ross, once part of vast estates overlorded by the one-time Earls of Seaforth, chiefs of the clan.
The earldom went into decline and vanished, and Brahan Castle was demolished after World War II.
The 4,000-acre Brahan Estate still survives, however, and planning permission was gained some time ago for a clan centre, for which society president and retired investment consultant Pedair Mackenzie, Wester Moy, hopes to get sponsorship.
He said such a centre could generate some 10 jobs and he was working to try to achieve it with present clan chief the Earl of Cromartie, Castle Leod, Strathpeffer, Ross, and estate proprietor Andrew Matheson.
It would give the history and lineage of the clan; the exploits in campaigns throughout the world of the Seaforth Highlanders, now subsumed in the Scottish regiment, the Highlanders; the clan's many famed sons and daughters, and various allied clans and septs, such as the MacRaes, who were for long the Mackenzies' Constables of Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie, South-west Ross.
Brahan is the centre of controversy over another scheme - for a 'superdump' by Perthshire firm Binn Landfill (Glenfarg) Ltd., which wants to create a tip for controlled wastes because the Longman, near Inverness, which deals with 70% of the Highlands' waste, has only some three years left.
The 55-acre dump would be at Tollie Brahan near the principal Scout camp in the North of Scotland, which is extremely popular, is used by disabled Scouts, has had 20 years of continuous development, is supported by local and national businesses and benefactors and has international status.
A spokesman for the Scout Association said it intended to object forcibly to the tip scheme, which had already received intense local opposition.
Highland Council's preferred option to replace the Longman tip is a waste energy-producing incinerator.
Proponents of the landfill scheme said the Brahan site would dispose of 100,000 tonnes of waste annually for 10 years, while the local authority's scheme would take years to develop, and it was intended to assist the Scout Association to move if the landfill went ahead.
Gaelic newspaper funding urged........August 16th 1999
SPECIAL funding for Gaelic should be expanded to include a newspaper published in the language, An Comunn Gaidhealach chief executive Donald John MacSween has been reported to claim.
An Comunn set up An Gaidheal Ur in 1998 and, distributed monthly with the West Highland Free Press, it is available on subscription, with a claimed circulation of more than 13,000.
Although it has been reported to have made a loss of £27,000 in its first year, it is hoped to have it published fortnightly and eventually weekly with the help of public funding by a new limited company separate from An Comunn, which financed its first year.
Mr MacSween has been quoted as stating there was a case for special funding for a Gaelic newspaper just as the Gaelic community had for radio and television.
Fight to save coastguard stations........August 16th 1999
THE SCOTTISH Parliament in Edinburgh is being urged by the two main opposition parties, cottish National and Conservative, to fight the decision to axe Oban, West Highlands, and Pentland, Orkney, coastguard stations.
MSPs of both parties hope to persuade their counterparts at Westminster, London, to overturn the decision, which is feared by some will cost lives through a loss of local knowledge.
Recommendations by Scottish Judge Lord Donaldson that the stations, with one in Tynemouth, North-east England, close in the autumn of 2000, but that three others in England be retained, have been accepted in London.
The SNP called on the Scottish Parliament's transport and environment committee to discuss the issue in emergency session, a spokesman stating it was "ridiculous" the parliament could decide fishing matters but not marine safety.
Positive role for social work head........August 16th 1999
A REAL opportunity to make social work services less bureaucratic and more focused on meeting the needs of the public, with the minimum of duplication and waste, is how Highland Council's social work chairman sees the future for new director Harriet Dempster.
Councillor Olwyn Macdonald is confident the service can go forward positively to meet the Government%92s challenging agenda for modernisation under the guidance of Mrs Dempster, head of children%92s services with Dundee City Council, when takes over in the Highlands in November, 1999.
"I am delighted that we attracted such an experienced and able director," said Councillor Macdonald, "and I am looking forward to working with her immensely.
"I will be looking to her to give the inspired leadership and vision that will support staff through the many challenges and opportunities of the next few years, to build on the good work taking place and to put right those issues that are not working as well as we would wish."
A very challenging agenda had been set but "we are extremely fortunate that we have a sound foundation on which to build. We have excellent relationships with the National Health Service, police, Reporter and Children%92s Panel, the voluntary sector and our colleagues in education, and these links will be invaluable to the new director in modernising our social work services to make them fit for the new millennium.
"Social work is the council%92s frontline service for providing care for the most vulnerable people. We need, however, to acknowledge that in taking account of the government reforms we will need to develop much closer partnerships, particularly with our colleagues in the NHS, and this is to be warmly welcomed.
"The government talks about providing seamless community care services to ensure that the public are not faced with a multiplicity of professionals asking them similar questions and completing endless forms and administrative procedures.
"We need to move towards a single-door approach and that can only be achieved by real partnerships, and I am totally committed to developing this approach.
"For children and young people, the challenge and opportunity for partnership working is just as significant. Many children and young people for whom social work carries responsibility have been damaged or put at risk over many years. There are no simple solutions for such problems and the focus of our approach, very much in the spirit of the new Children Act, is to emphasise and support parents who must carry the primary responsibility in caring for their own children.
"Sometimes this will require the intensive support of skilled social work staff. On other occasions, children and young people may require to be 'looked after' either in foster care or residential care. Wherever possible, such care needs to be provided near the family home to maintain links between the children and their own family.
"A major priority for the new director in partnership with the community, education, health, police, Children%92s Panel, foster parents and the voluntary sector, will be to develop new quality alternatives that will give real choice to the Children%92s Panel when they consider the welfare of our most vulnerable and damaged young people.
"It is often forgotten that social work also provides a range of complex and quality services to the criminal justice service, supervising offenders and providing support and guidance to families. The focus must always consider and remember victims and the importance of supporting the police and others to maintain safe communities and this is central to the social work role.
"This responsibility for social work is extremely challenging but the quality of work provided within the Highland community is of a very high order and we have much to build on with confidence and enthusiasm.
"Social work is a high-risk public service. There are no absolute guarantees and social workers sometimes make mistakes. Each day, 24 hours a day, every day of the week, social work staff, on behalf of the whole community, provide caring and quality services in partnership with others for citizens with a wide variety of social care needs.
"I am extremely heartened by the dedication and quality of our workforce and the new director will have a tremendous opportunity to make this social work service one of the best in Scotland.
"This is a time of great opportunity for social work, but the future is not in going back but moving forward in partnership with others to develop services that are based around the individual citizen, the local community and focused on the individual rather than the service, remembering this is why social work services exist."
Highland shop aids street children........August 16th 1999
THE SUM of £3,000 has been raised in two months by a Highlands of Scotland charity shop set up to help a refuge for poor and starving street children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to a report in morning newspaper The Press and Journal.
There has been overwhelming community support for Rio Street Kids, and the woman behind the project, Mrs Yvonne Gordon, Cadboll Road, Invergordon, Ross, said there was a desperate need for more funds.
The planned refuge would cost at least £30,000, said Mrs Gordon, who first visited Brazil with her husband Derek while he was working there and has wished to help for years. She said she might build the refuge or buy a property - it depended which was cheaper.
She has set up a Second Time Around shop in High Street, Invergordon, with six volunteers, and, with rental, insurance and electricity costs met, every penny could now go to the street children.
Ross education overlord named........August 13th 1999
A NEW area education manager for Ross and Cromarty has been appointed by Highland Council in Hugh Fraser, its community and extended education manger.
Mr Fraser, who lives in Marybank with his wife and two children, replaces Donnie MacDonald, recently appointed the council%92s head of support for learners, and will take over early next month.
After gaining an honours degree in languages at the University of Edinburgh, Mr Fraser worked in Lothian as a principal teacher of Modern Languages in 1977-88. In 1988, he moved to Highland as the assistant divisional education officer in Inverness.
Now KLM uk is quitting Aberdeen........August 13th 1999
A SEVERE blow was dealt to North-east Scotland with the announcement that KLM uk was to end its services from Aberdeen to London Stansted on September 12, and Stavanger, Norway, on October 30, 1999.
Further cuts appeared imminent as the budget airline easyJet was rumoured to be on the verge of ending its service from Aberdeen to London Luton.
The closure by KLM uk of four return flights each weekday to Stansted and three to Stavanger echoed the ending of flights by the Dutch airline between Inverness Airport, Dalcross, London and Amsterdam in February, 1998, and claims by easyJet that landing fees at that airport were also too high.
A Scottish spokesman for KLM uk claimed there was over-capacity on the London route and there had been a decline in business because of the oil industry downturn.
The drop in North Sea activity had already seen a fall in Aberdeen Airport usage.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce said the decision, on top of British Airways cutbacks, would mean a serious reduction in choices for air users.
The Aberdeen Airport services to London and Amsterdam
at Schipol had originally been started by Britain's Air UK, flying via Edinburgh and Newcastle. The airline became partly owned by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which eventually took total control.
EasyJet started flying from Aberdeen in January, 1996, and from Inverness in October of that year.
Brilliant finale for tall ships at Lerwick........August 13th 1999
THE VISIT by the graceful sailing ships in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races to the Shetland Isles ended on Thursday, August 12, 1999, as the fleet set off on the next part of the race to the Danish city of Aalborg.
All the pre-planning at the busy port of Lerwick, whose long seafaring history continues into the present oil age, and throughout the islands paid off handsomely with an estimated £1,500,000 boost from a record number of visitors and the never-to-be forgotten spectacle of the sailing fleet's four-day stay.
The finale brought was a brilliant "extra" for the 700 cruise people on board the 240-metre Crystal Sea as the vessel anchored in Lerwick's inner harbour just before the final parade of sail along the waterfront.
The the sailing ships set off for their 480-mile voyage across the North Sea to Denmark.
Organised by the International Sail Training Association, they and their crews had originally congregated at St Malo, in Brittany, France, before sailing for Greenock, at the mouth of the Clyde in West Central Scotland, then northwards up the Scottish West Coast to Shetland.
On the way, various ships had stopped off to call at ports in Skye and Lewis among others.
The festival of sea, ships and youth, with ships from more than 20 countries and almost 3,000 people on board, had previously been in Scotland in July, 1997, when the sailing ships set out from Aberdeen for Trondheim, Norway, then Stavanger and finally Gothenburg, Sweden.
The races have been sponsored since 1972 by Cutty Sark Scotch Whisky.
Ferry firm appointment row grows........August 13th 1999
THE ROW over the appointment of Harold Mills as new chairman of Western Isles of Scotland ferry firm Caledonian MacBrayne shows little sign of abating.
The weekly West Highland Free Press newspaper lambasted it again in an editorial, claiming it had seriously broken "Nolan Rules" governing the proper conduct of such appointments which the Scottish Parliament's Labour executive said had been strictly followed, and that the claimed independent element had been in flawed.
A news report in the paper stated that Mr Mills, a recently retired Scottish Office civil servant, had been chosen for the £22,000-a-year part-time post on the advice of a panel of four which had three former senior colleagues and a man who was extremely well-known to senior Scottish Office civil servants, including Mr Mills, and had been a major beneficiary of the same selection process weeks earlier.
The newspaper also stated that the Scottish Parliament's Transport Minister, Labour MSP Sarah Boyack, who visited the Island of Skye during a three-day tour of it, the Western Isles and Mull in the week August 9-13, 1999, had made clear beforehand on radio that there was no possibility of the appointment being changed.
Princess to visit Royal National Mod........August 13th 1999
ROYALTY is to be seen at Scotland's last Royal National Mod of 1999.
The Princess Royal is to visit the final festival before the Millennium in Fort William, Lochaber, in October during a visit to the Highlands.
She is scheduled to present gold medals to the winners in the solo section on Thursday, October 14, in what will be her first visit to the Gaelic festival organised by An Comunn Gaidhealach.
Lochaber convener John MacLeod said all were delighted that a member of the Royal Family would be attending the final Mod of the MIllennium.
The Lochaber organisers, who have a £120,000 target for hosting the event, are hopeful of reaching the figure shortly.
Highland appoint director of social work........August 12th 1999
SOCIAL work services in the Highlands of Scotland are to be taken over by Harriet Dempster, at present head of children's services with Dundee City Council.
Appointed after interviews in Inverness by the Highland Council, she is expected to take over in November, 1999. The post was previously held by James Dick, who retired in June, 1999.
Ms Dempster, who joined Dundee City Council at the reorganisation of Scottish local government, having previously worked with Tayside Regional Council, acts as the depute to the director of social work in Dundee.
She is responsible for managing all child-care services' family centres, residential units, fieldwork teams, fostering and adoption
services, child protection, services for children with disabilities and services to the Children's Panel and the courts.
During her period with Tayside, she spent a four-year secondment as an assistant chief inspector of social work services at the Scottish Office.
She is also an honorary professor at Stirling University.
Roads and ferries discussed with Minister........August 12th 1999
SCOTLAND'S Transport Minister, Sarah Boyack, has been urged to
upgrade the trunk road network in the Highlands by accelerating
long-awaited new road schemes.
She was advised of Highland Council's priorities for action when she met a council delegation in Portree, Skye, and also while being driven across the island from the ferry terminals of Uig, North Skye, to Armadale, in the south.
The delegation highlighted its perceived need for trunk-road improvements on the A830 between Arisaig and Kinsadel in Morar, West Lochaber; the A9 north of the Dornoch Bridge, particularly at the Ord of Caithness; the main West Highland artery A82 to Fort William and Inverness; the A95 in Strathspey, and the A96 between Inverness and Nairn.
Councillor Charlie King, chairman of Highland Council's roads and transport committee, said: "We welcomed the opportunity of meeting the Minister and promoting our priorities for action ahead of the publication of the trunk-road review.
"Clearly there are pressures on spending but hopefully we have effectively demonstrated the need for investment in the Highlands, where the road network is so vital to our the way of life."
The delegation also highlighted the need for additional funds to maintain the condition of both trunk roads and the regional road network.
The council estimates it needs an additional £6million of funding each year to tackle its crumbling regional road network - it currently spends £20million a year on maintaining 4,050 miles of regional roads.
Spending on road maintenance has been reduced by more than 40% over the past five years while monies available for new road building has been cut from £16million to £3.6million.
Over and above the pressures on maintenance and new road building, £60million needs to be spent on repairs to bridge structures; £28million to allow timber to be hauled from forests, and £3million on coastal protection and flood prevention.
Councillor King said: "We have examples all across the Highlands of roads beginning to disintegrate through general wear and tear and the harsh Highland climate.
"Unless we have the money to take prompt corrective action, we could end up with a massive bill for reconstruction.
"At the same time, our road-building programme is grossly over-subscribed. All this serves to illustrate is that we are in chronic need of additional funding and that policies that might
apply to urban areas in the Central Belt are not appropriate in an area such as the Highlands, where we do not have such an extensive public transport system and depend so much on travel by car on our roads network."
The Minister saw for herself the partially completed Broadford-Armadale road where the southern part of the route remains single track.
Financing of a new ferry at Corran, near Fort William, at an estimated cost of £3million, and plans for a vehicle ferry to the Small Isles of Eigg, Muck and Rum were also discussed, as well as options for a new and larger vehicle ferry from Skye to Lochmaddy, North Uist, and Tarbert, Harris - at Uig, the island's existing port, or at Dunvegan, where a new island facility would need to be built.
Parking to cost at Fort Augustus........August 10th 1999
VEHICLE parking charges are to be introduced in smaller towns in the Highlands of Scotland with a start in Fort Augustus car park from Monday, August 23, 1999, as Highland Council continues implementing its decision to extend charging at council-owned car parks beyond Aviemore, Fort William, Inverness and Portree.
Charges in Fort Augustus will be 60p per day for visitors. Residents and regular users can buy a discount park card offering £24 worth of tickets for £12 (30p per day).
A council statement said no formal objections had been made.
The charges will be levied between May and September each year.
The council also intends to introduce parking at Dingwall, Drumnadrochit, Kyle. Nairn, Thurso, and Wick. Draft orders are being processed and there have been some objections there, which be considered by the council.
The decision to extend charging was taken in June, 1998, to help reduce losses incurred on car parking.
It was agreed that charging be increased at Inverness and Fort William on the basis of introducing charging in other places, where it could be demonstrated that income exceeded expenditure and local or regular users would receive a discount through special cards.
Work starts for funicular railway ........August 10th 1999
SOME six years after the idea was raised publicly, a funicular railway to the summit plateau of Cairn Gorm, in the North-east Highlands of Scotland, is on the final lap.
Years of planning and preparation, discussion and argument, opposition and support have led to this beginning of construction.
The firm which won the civil engineering contract for the first phase of the project moved men and equipment on to the mountain on Monday, August 9, 1999.
The initial work involves installing electrical and communication services and sewerage and water pipes, with a trench being excavated beside the existing hill road.
The project, costed at £14.8million, was mooted in 1993 as a modern, safer and more appropriate replacement for an ageing and obselete chairlift to move skiers and year-round visitors up the mountain.
It was put forward by the Cairngorm Chairlift Company, whose chairman, Hamish Swan, said it gave him a great deal of satisfaction to know that the site preparations were under way and construction work was beginning at last.
"It is five years to the month that the original planning application was submitted and the fact that work is now commencing is a timely reward for everyone who has given this project support.
"The staff and local community in particular must be acknowledged for their calm perseverence and patience throughout this period."
The scheme, which was widely supported in the community, was seen as being as big boost for the area's economy but run a gauntlet over its possible effect on plant, bird and animal life on the summit plateau, with environmental groups accused of trying to derail it and obscuring environmental gains through preventing thousands accessing the unique plateau and nearby sensitive spots and by replacing "hillside scarring" chairlifts.
Opponents had been world-wide, saying the British Government and European Commission should be convinced all other choices had been evaluated.
The plans, however, passed all democratic scrutiny by Highland Council; the Scottish Office and its successor, the Executive of the new Scottish Parliament, and the European Commission.
The visitor management plan was passed by environmental guardians Scottish Natural Heritage, and a scheme regarded as vital for Badenoch-Strathspey's tourism industry was strongly supported by the North of Scotland's development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Commenting on the latest development, chief executive Iain Robertson said: "There can be little doubt that this represents one of the most significant tourism projects in Scotland for some time. We have always been convinced of its economic importance to the area, as well as recognising the protection it can provide for the Cairn Gorm plateau through better control of visitors."
Civil engineering contract winner Morrison Construction Ltd. was the principal contractor in the Aonach Mor ski area development in Lochaber and its methods have been approved by SNH.
Divisional director Hugh England said the firm was "very pleased to see this exciting project come to fruition. Morrison has considerable experience in doing this type of work to a high standard and looks forward to delivering a quality job in this environmentally sensitive area".
Island power outlook brightens........August 10th 1999
WIND POWER is at last about to become a reality on the Western Highlands island of Muck, just south of Skye, after 25 years' dependence on diesel generation, although there is expected to be a six-week testing period before the £236,000 scheme works officially.
The island's 38 residents had hoped for the change some seven years ago and had formed a company to run the expected wind power generated, but the firm involved went bust, leaving equipment lying idle, including a 50ft. turbine tower that had been shipped across.
Now, thanks to a new funding package involving the National Lottery, the European Commission through local enterprise company Lochaber Limited and Scottish Power, according to Ken Jones reporting in morning newspaper The Press and Journal, the wind-power scheme has been revived with a French-made 25kw turbine on the island's highest point at Cairn Dearg.
With all island homes and the three-pupil primary school connected, and residents supplying emergency fuel for their own small generators,the McEwen brothers who own the island said: "We cannot wait to get switched on."
More for remote petrol stations........August 10th 1999
EXTRA AID of £300,000 is being made available by the Scottish Parliament for petrol stations in the Highlands and Islands to help replace old fuel tanks and fund needed upgrading in addition to £400,000 provided in November, 1998.
Transport Minister Sarah Boyack said that in many parts of rural Scotland transport was not available where and when needed so taking a car was often the only way to travel and local fuel supplies were vital.
Widening eligiblity so that petrol stations need be only eight miles from the next nearest instead of 10 is anticipated to make some 30-40 more benefit.
The addition was welcomed, although many stations were reckoned to have already closed, but the question of petrol prices vis a vis rural and urban areas was still reckoned to be an issue which would have to be clarified.
The scheme is administered by development agencies Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise and eight stations in the North and West of Scotland have benefited so far.
Ms Boyack made her announcement before going on a three-day tour of the Western Isles, Skye and Mull.
Defence Ministry cuts hit two islands........August 10th 1999
MAJOR jobs cuts by Britain's Defence Ministry at Royal Air Force radar stations are expected to affect two Scottish islands in the autumn of 1999 - Benbecula, in the Western Isles, with a cut of 81, and Saxa Vord, Unst, Shetland, with a cut of 40.
RAF Buchan, in North-east Scotland, is also expected to be affected.
The island stations are likely to be remotely operated from the mainland, probably from RAF Bulmer, in Northumberland, England.
The islands had become very dependent on the long-range radar stations and this effect of a cost-cutting review following the end of the Cold War had been feared.
RAF personnel on Benbecula is said to be dropping to five, plus one civilian - a loss of 13 civilian jobs.
While the Army's rocket range on Benbecula is not expected to be affected, development agencies are trying to minimise the impact.
House firms deal finalised........August 10th 1999
A MULTI-MILLION takeover involving two Highlands of Scotland housing firms, was finalised, with Tulloch Homes acquiring MacRae Homes, both based in Inverness, and becoming the leading housebuilder in the North.
The deal gave Tulloch over 500 house sites, according to morning newspaper The Press and Journal; MacRae's timber-frame manufacturing operation in Seafield Road, to be renamed Tulloch Timber Systems, and kept 550 jobs in the Highlands.
The report stated that when housing developments were completed in October, 1999, the name of MacRae Homes, a major builder in Inverness over 30 years, would disappear and a family business founded in 1863 would end.
The deal included MacRae's range of house designs, which played an important part in the expansions of Inverness and Aberdeen in the last 25 years.
Highland M.P. congratulated on leadership win........August 9th 1999
MESSAGES of congratulations have poured out from the Highlands of Scotland to Charles Kennedy, the Ross, Skye and Inverness West Member of the Westminster Parliament, on his selection as leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in place of Paddy Ashdown.
Highland Council convener Councillor David Green said: "On behalf of the council, I offer my sincerest congratulations to Charles on being chosen to lead his party. This is a tremendous achievement for an M.P. who has managed to make an impact on a national stage while maintaining vigilance in effectively dealing with constituency matters."
Convener of the council's Lochaber Area Committee Councillor Olwyn Macdonald said Mr Kennedy had brought honour and distinction to Lochaber and particularly his home community of Lochyside, Fort William.
She said the area committee would wish to hold a civic reception to mark Mr Kennedy's achievement.
"This is wonderful news for Charles and his family and Lochaber should be proud of the local boy who has done so well in politics, being our first M.P. and now our first party leader. I am sure he will prove to be a very able leader of the Liberal Democrats.
"The council is also delighted to have a Highland ally in such a senior position."
Highlands want more tourism say........August 9th 1999
A STRONG message has been sent by Highlands of Scotland councillors to their executive that not only do they want to retain their tourism funding powers but they want a greater say on developing the industry.
They strongly oppose a suggestion that funding of area tourist boards should be routed via the Scottish Tourist Board rather than local authorities, and they intend to hold a special meeting to identify ways of boosting the industry in the Highlands.
As part of its direct and indirect support for Highland tourism, which it describes as "significant", the council gives an annual grant to the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board (HOST) of £507,000, which enables it to work in partnership with HOST.
Convener David Green, who is a trade member of HOST, said: "I am strongly opposed to any suggestion that funding of HOST should be transferred from the council to the Scottish Tourist Board. This cuts right across local democracy, with no guarantee that £507,000 would be spent in the Highlands.
"The council is best placed to control funding to HOST as this will ensure stronger partnership and genuine local accountability for Highland tourism.
"We must also identify measures that will help promote one of our key local industries."
He said the council's tourism liaison committee would prepare a plan that could be considered by a special meeting of its cultural and leisure services committee and, hopefully, provide "a way forward for tourism in the Highlands."
'Green' award delights hotel........August 9th 1999
A TOP hotel in the North-east of Scotland, the 15-bedroom Knockomie on the outskirts of the town of Forres, has won a silver medal in a Green Tourism Scheme operated by the Scottish Tourist Board.
This encourages establishments to conserve energy, water and waste and look after wildlife and the environment - and the Knockomie recycles bottles, newspapers and cooking oil, installed rainwater butts and 50 bird boxes in its gardens and grounds and has upgraded insulation to more than national average levels.
Proprietor Gavin Ellis said he and his staff were delighted by the award. "Over the past few years, certain companies and clients have been insisting on a 'green policy' before doing business and operating one does not take the luxury out of staying in a hotel. Most of our ideas are commonsense and are appreciated by our guests."
A STB spokesman said concern for the environment was predominant in its aim for quality and the fast-growing Green Tourism Scheme had been devised for hospitality businesses to address environmental issues. Scotland was well-known as a 'green' destination and it was important that providers should match the high expectations of overseas visitors, particularly the very environmentally aware Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians.
Ire over representation as water-use soars........August 6th 1999
THE WATER authority in the North of Scotland has come under fire from several fronts as usage soars - by an estimated 30% along the Moray Firth coast - with a prolonged dry spell, and water-use warnings were aired.
Although there is reported to be ample water in reservoirs, lochs and rivers, the North of Scotland Water Board asked people to be careful about sprinklers and hoses as pumping stations began to find demand troublesome.
A spokesman said a hosepipe ban was "way down the road" but water pressures could be affected as storage-tank levels fell and wise usage could avoid problems later.
The calls added to ire over a lack of a northern voice on NOSWA's new board of 12. There are three local authority representatives but none is from the Highlands, Moray or Western Isles.
During NOSWA's first term, Highland Council had two councillors on the board - Nigel Graham, Nairn, who retired at the local authority elections, and Olwyn Macdonald, Fort William - and Councillors Macdonald and Sandy Park, Nairn, were nominated to serve on the new board. Neither was appointed.
Vice-convener Alison Magee expressed extreme disappointment that Highland Council, which represented such a large part of the water authority's area, had lost its representation. "Three councillors out of 12 does not provide the democratic representation I think is appropriate to oversee such vital services."
The council had benefitted greatly by having two representatives over the first four years and "this direct line into the decision-making process will be sorely missed".
NOSWA defended its investment record, saying a £12million treatment plant was due for completion in Inverness by 2002, £7.5million was going on improving supplies in the Fort William area, £24million had been spent in 1999 on improving water quality, £31million on sewage treatment and £9million on general service improvements and it would be unrealistic to invest heavily for unusually high demand.
It said usage across the country was rising - an average 85 litres per person/day in 1961 had become 160 in 1997 - and current (August 1999) cost to an average household for all the water it wanted, including waste water, was 50p a day.
Further boost for youth hostelling........August 6th 1999
YOUTH hostelling in the Highlands of Scotland is to get further boosts from a £320,000 extension at Glencoe and a beds increase to 126 at Oban, adding to the new face of the Scottish Youth Hostel Association.
A £2million new hostel has been provided in Inverness on the site of a former school hostel.
Where once there were large dormitories of bunk beds for overnighters doing their own cooking and cleaning up, there are now family rooms, en-suite facilities, central heating, television rooms, computers, self-catering facilities and more privacy for visitors from all over the world.
Chairman Philip Lawson said youth hostels - they number 77 in Scotland - had in some ways changed dramatically in 50 years but the SYHA was still totally committed to rural hostels and hill walkers' retreats with basic facilities.
"These little hostels are the core ethos of our existence," he was quoted by reporter Ken Jones in Highland morning newspaper The Press and Journal. "They could not be provided or sustained by any commercial organisation."
The 60th anniversary of the Glencoe hostel, whose 12,000 visitors a year provide £400,000 for the local economy, was being celebrated, with television personality Jimmy Savile, an association member since 1941 who lives nearby, presenting a birthday cake.
He told guests a concerted effort was needed to re-popularise outdoor activities and get younger generations away from play stations and televisions.
*The SYHA can be contacted at its national office at 7 Glebe Crescent, Stirling, FK8 2JA. Phone - UK: 0178-645-1181; International: +44 178 645 1181 or at its website: www.syha.org.uk
Man killed on St Kilda........August 6th 1999
A BELGIAN journalist aged 29 was reported to have fallen to his death on Scotland's remotest island group, St Kilda, out in the Atlantic off the Outer Isles.
He was found at the foot of steep cliffs, reckoned to have been the first civilian death there since 1931 when St Kilda, now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, was evacuated of a population eking out an existence there.
Several planes crashed on the islands during World War II, killing those on board.
An Army outpost of a rocket range on South Uist, in the Outer Isles, was billeted there in the 1970/80s but has been closed for some years.
St Kilda, where many thousands of seabirds, including gannets and puffins, breed on the spectacular cliffs and which has its own mice and sheep, is now a World Heritage site.
St Kilda Parliament discuss future........August 5th 1999
A TRADITION which ended in 1939 was re-established on Wednesday, August 4, 1999, with a sitting of the parliament on St Kilda, the rocky outcrop that sits in splendid isolation some 40 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean off the Western Isles, acording to Highlands of Scotland morning newspaper The Press and Journal.
Two descendants of islanders were among a group of 40 who discussed the future of the archipelago, which was finally evacuated in 1931, after going there on board the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, wrote reporter Donald Wilson.
They included the warden of St Kilda, which is now cared for by the National Trust for Scotland; Donna Brown, a grand-daughter of the Rev. Donald Fergusson (1880-1967), and Norman Charmers, grandson of Christina MacQueen (1895-1960).
The St Kilda descendants recounted stories from their families' histories and outlined their concerns about threats to the island, especially from extension into the Atlantic of the oil industry.
Ms Brown, a researcher in Edinburgh, who said it was her first visit to St Kilda, spoke of it now being a World Heritage site and that she hoped many thousands around the world would take part in the discussions about the best way of protecting its unique environment.
She said oil development in the waters around St Kilda had the potential to cause even greater change than the loss of the original inhabitants.
Mr Charmers, a musician and writer from Edinburgh, said all St Kildans would be in total opposition to the threat from oil drilling.
Greenpeace spokesman Rob Gueterbock said it was a race against time to save St Kilda from the ravages of the oil industry. "No one would contemplate putting an oil rig near the Taj Mahal but that's effectively what the UK is encouraging with St Kilda, our only natural World Heritage site."
Drive for improved tourism gets blow........August 5th 1999
JUST as a major drive has started to try to revive tourism in Scotland, three rented advice centres have been shut down by the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board - at Helmsdale, Sutherland; Kingussie, Badenoch, and Kilchoan, Argyll - and staffs moved to nearby visitor attractions.
Officials arguments were that the move was more cost-effective because visitor numbers had fallen - down about 8%, according to some indicators - although service levels were being retained, but many tourism operators saw it as a big blow.
Chief executive David Noble said HOST had 34 tourist information centres running at a substantial loss and wanted to relocate staffs as opportunities arose.
HOST's annual budget - made up of money from the Scottish Tourist Board, Highland Council, subscriptions and marketing - was given as £3.4million, down £100,000.
The move to revive the industry came from the Scottish Parliament, whose Enterprise Minister, Henry McLeish, called on the industry to provide better marketing and the highest standards of service.
Helping distance learning to work........August 4th 1999
AN INNOVATIVE learning method that could revolutionise training in the northern half of Scotland by creating a massive 'virtual classroom' has been launched by the area's development agency.
Trainees scattered over one-sixth of Britain from Unst, Shetland, to Kintyre, Argyll, can stay in their workplaces while tutors deliver the theory elements of their courses by on-line computer.
This distributed learning project has been developed to tackle the constant problems and costs of access to training and learning in the Highlands and Islands.
The project, based on a software product called Learning Space provided by Spectra Systems Ltd., of Livingstone, near Edinburgh, which has developed an introductory course to enable students to use the technology, involves a partnership of local training providers, colleges, local enterprise companies, Lotus, IBM, Scottish Telecom, the Hospitality Training Foundation and the Scottish Council for National Training Organisations.
Pilot projects will be administered by development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise, whose developing skills director, Ralph Palmer, said: "HIE spends about £7million each year on Skillseekers training alone, of which 25% is taken up in travel and subsistence costs. Not all of this will be saved through distributed learning but nonetheless a substantial figure will, which will help us broaden opportunities and get more people involved.
"The Highlands and Islands have a sparsely-spread population less than the size of Edinburgh. We have 90 inhabited islands and have always sought to tackle the challenge of access to training and learning but we face difficulties in resourcing those. We need to widen the range of opportunities and at the same time seek to reduce costs."
Mark Phillips, of Spektra Systems, said: "Learning Space has many features which make it ideal for providing training in an area such as the Highlands and Islands."
Three pilots were planned. . .
One involved 14 Skillseeker trainees on a Scottish Vocational Qualification Level II course in food preparation and cooking who would normally travel to Inverness; Kirkwall, Orkney, or Thurso, Caithness, with costs met by local enterprise companies, but in the pilot would access the training where they worked.
Mr Palmer said: "Trainees won't be alone though - they can talk to each other through e-mail, the tutor can set them assignments and the trainees can work in virtual teams to solve problems etc."
In the second pilot, eight small business owner-managers on a management and development SVQ Level 1V course run by Development Partners, Inverness, would aim to improve how they managed their businesses.
In the third pilot, Shetland Fisheries Training Associations were managing a course for inshore skippers to achieve SVQ Level III Fishing Vessel Operations.
Mr Palmer said: "Cost savings and income generation are not the only advantages associated with distributed learning. It will also enable a wider selection of courses to be offered and increase participation throughout the Highlands and Islands."
Girls and horses get to business........August 4th 1999
NATURE'S original 4 x 4 transporters have made a return to woodlands in the West of Scotland.
A couple of real workhorses are harvesting trees from places where modern vehicles cannot reach near Strontian, Argyll.
Clydesdale crosses Tug and Jake started with Moidart Working Horses in May, 1999, after owners Kirsteen Barr and Catriona Lackie completed a specialised training course to gain a National Vocational Qualification in Forestry Extraction.
Kirsteen said: "The horses are ideal for getting into heavily wooded areas with no or very narrow tracks and dragging wood to a more accessible point for collection by vehicle.
"The training course was excellent and the business is becoming well established. Forest Enterprise has been very helpful in giving us work and advice on how best the job can be done."
Helen Cameron, development manager of local enterprise company Lochaber Limited, part of Highlands and Islands Enterprise network, said Kirsteen already owned a pony-trekking business and both were very experienced with horses. "Developing this further was a good idea and certainly filled a niche in the market."
She said the two had further plans which included using the horses for a firewood extraction service that would be of considerable use in the area.
After Moidart Working Horses had come forward with a very strong business plan, the local enterprise company gave £235 to the total £930 per person cost of the NVQ course and a £4,000 Finance for Business grant, with matching funding from the European LEADER II programme, which had helped buy specialised harnesses and a large horse-box.
Shetland prepares for Parade of Sail........August 4th 1999
PEOPLE in Lerwick, principal town in the Shetland islands, far to the north-north-east of Scotland's mainland, are all fired up for the greatest week of their lives from Monday, August 9, 1999, as the world's largest fleet of sailing ships engages on another stage of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races.
The party, said organisers Sail Shetland, would be out of this world, promising a huge variety of entertainment for crews and visitors.
The busy port, with a wealth of seafaring history behind it, planned to be a spectacular four-day host to the vessels of all sizes, large and small but all driven by sail.
They included Shetland's own tall ship, The Swan, a 67ft. former fishing boat launched in 1900 whose long career came to an end at Hartlepool in Northern England where it was found rotting on the seabed, lifted free and restored in the 1990s by public and private donations to the Swan Trust.
So the port prepared for the influx. Not just the town but throughout the Shetland community as the islanders prepared to outdo themselves in their welcome.
An estimated 15,000 people were expected to be drawn daily to Lerwick's harbour front, providing an economic boom for the town, before the finale Parade of Sail from 11a.m. on Thursday, August 12, as the vessels left for its 480-mile race to Aalborg, Denmark.
The ships had headed for Lerwick from Greenock, in West Central Scotland, having given that port and the River Clyde entry-way an earlier boost as the weather and the sunshine combined for people to turn out in force.
It was a truly memorable sight as these magnificent ships headed out from the Firth of Clyde, and all Shetland hoped the same would be true when the fleet, organised by the International Sail Training Association, gathered there.
It had earlier congregated at St Malo, Northern France, for the race to Greenock - including The Swan, partly crewed by island youngsters who had made the 800-mile journey there, followed by the voyage to Greenock then back to Lerwick.
The festival of sea, ships and youth had previously been in Scotland in July, 1997, when some 100 ships from 20 countries with 3,000 people on board crowded Aberdeen Harbour, attracting huge numbers and providing large amounts of custom and cash over five days before setting off for Trondheim, 644 miles away near the Arctic Circle in Norway, followed by Stavanger and finally Gothenburg, Sweden, where the race ended on August 17.
The North-east Scotland city had laid on a major programme, with land and waterborne activities; folk, rock, jazz, traditional and world music; maritime activities; ship visits; community pageant; fireworks display; quayside performances; sea shanties and street parades.
The races have been sponsored since 1972 by Cutty Sark Scotch Whisky, the longest-running sports sponsorship in the world.
Duke has a day of openings........August 3rd 1999
A HELICOPTER was used by the Duke of York when he visited four places in the Highlands of Scotland, some separated by miles of countryside, to carry out a series of ceremonies.
The first duty of the Queen's second son, Prince Andrew, who is styled the Earl of Inverness when visiting the North of Scotland, was to declare open a race arena for the World Orienteering Championships at Tomich, near Cannich, Inverness-shire, with competition by athletes from 34 countries.
The championships, last held in Scotland 20 years ago, coincided with Scotland's Six-Day Festival of Orienteering, resulting in an influx in the area of competitors, support crews, family and fans.
The Duke planted a beech tree to mark the occasion, emulating a ceremony whereby his great-grandfather, King George V, planted a chestnut tree in the same forest in 1897 when he was Duke of York.
He met officials of the International Orienteering Federation and some of the 5,000 competitors, which was expected to add greatly to the area's coffers.
Then it was back to the helicopter and on to the town of Inverness, where the Duke had double duty.
At Culcabock Golf Club, where he is honorary presiden, he was opening new clubrooms built for the 1,100 members.
The offical ceremony was open to all but woman captain Linda Fraser was the only female member chosen to meet and dine with the royal visitor, leading to accusations against the club of sexism and an archaic attitude.
At the Northern Constabulary's new, £10.7million headquarters in Perth Road, the Duke was given a guided tour and shown new and specialist facilities by Chief Constable Bill Robertson and told something of the force's work and initiatives in the Highlands and Islands.
A short ceremony to mark the official opening included a welcome in Gaelic and prayers, followed by a short speech from the Duke to a crowd of staff, local politicians, councillors and construction officials and the unveiling of a plaque.
Among those at the ceremony was Scottish Executive Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace, who said he was aware of concerns over the future of Scotland's eight police forces, at present the subject of an inquiry, but said there were no pre-conclusions, no hidden agendas and the Scottish Executive realised the importance of policing being rooted in the community.
As well as the new headquarters, an area command headquarters has been built in Burnett Road, Inverness.
Golf rose to the fore again when the Duke went on to open part of a £15million expansion at one of the world's leading carbon-fibre producers, the SGL Technic factory at Muir of Ord, Ross, some 20 miles away - he said the carbon fibres produced there were used in his golf clubs and to make the brakes of the helicopters he flies.
Two production lines are being installed at the factory, whose products have a wide variety of high-tech uses from racing-car and aircraft brake discs to the sports and computer industries, and the Duke, unveiling yet another plaque, said he was glad this very important world technology was happening in Scotland.
The size of the Muir of Ord factory is being more than doubled, with an expectation of 60 more jobs to bring the workforce to about 200. The factory is expected to be in full production by spring of the year 2,000.
A member of the firm's executive committee, Dr Klaus Warning, said: "Our doubling of capacity here at Muir of Ord demonstrates SGL Technic's commitment to developing this site. We are investing in state-of-the-art equipment to maintain the plant's competitiveness while at the same time fulfilling one of the company's important objectives by installing environmental protection measures."
Hall destroyed by fire........August 3rd 1999
FIRE severely damaged a 112-year-old hall in the Highlands of Scotland.
No one was hurt in the early-morning outbreak at the Victoria Hall in Spey Street, Kingussie, owned by Highland Council, but the roof was especially badly affected.
A spokesman said the building was likely to be out of commission for some time although he expected it would be rebuilt.
A restaurant set and equipment used to film an eight-part BBC comedy drama, Monarch of the Glen, was damaged. A BBC Scotland spokesperson said the series was still expected to be shown at the start of the year 2,000.
The hall, which cost the community £1,500 when built to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's coronation, housed the local registrar's office and served as the town%92s community centre, housing community and leisure activities, and as a polling station. It had been used as a cinema and dance-hall until the late 1960s.
Highland Council's cultural and leisure services were setting up alternative venues for activities.
The fire was fought by firemen from Kingussie, Aviemore, Grantown and Inverness.
Six elderly residents in nearby Abbeyfield Housing were evacuated for some three hours as a precaution but were well looked after.
The fire also seriously damaged an unoccupied council-owned flat at the rear of the building.
There was water damage to the registrar%92s office at the front, causing its closure. Calls were diverted for the day to Inverness Registrar%92s Office but from Tuesday, August 3, 1999, registrar Mrs Margaret Campbell operated from 9.30 to 11.30a.m. each weekday from her home at 9 Orchard Court, Kingussie (Tel 01540 661213) until a temporary registrar%92s office could be provided at Kingussie Court House.