Issue #213 | Tain & District Picture Post | August 2018 by K & N Concepts Ltd - ePublishing

TAIN & DISTRICT PICTURE POST

ISSUE NO. 213

AUGUST 2018

PRICE £3.75

These youngsters competed at Tain Golf Club last month. Iona Ferries, centre, was the winner of the Raeburn Robertson Trophy.

The Royal Burgh of Tain Pipe Band playing at Katwijkse Fisheries Festival during their trip to Holland.

EDITORIAL

We begin this month’s editorial by extending our heartfelt thoughts and condolences to the family of Murray Macleod, who sadly passed away in July. Without Murray, the Tain & District Picture Post - like many Tain intiatives - would never have been and I am sure you will join us in celebrating his great contribution to the community as a whole. Our first month as editors of the magazine has been an enjoyable one and we have been quite humbled by the response and feedback we have received from readers. It’s good to know we are getting some things right and that the little changes we have implemented have been well received. What we thought would have been a “one-off” bumper size issue size of 44 pages for July has actually been repeated again in this issue - largely thanks to the excellent response we have received again from groups and associations throughout the town. We shall continue to try our hardest to provide a platform for the good work of those who are engaging people in community activities. July of course, has been a very active month for Tain in particular, with the Gala only just coming to an end before the Highland Gathering took place. As most parents will testify, the more there is for kids to do throughout the summer, the better, and there certainly has been no shortage of activities on offer judging by the news and updates that have been sent our way in the past few weeks. In closing, we wish to thank everyone who has continued to support the magazine under our editorial. Confirmation, if ever it was needed, that the printed word hasn’t quite submitted to the more modern of mediums just yet.

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FAREWELL MURRAY We are grateful to Maggie Mercer for sharing this heartfelt tribute to the late Murray Macleod. I find it extremely hard to express the sadness I feel at the recent passing of my cherished friend Murray Macleod. I know everyone will join me in expressing heartfelt sympathy to his family at this time. He was such a giving individual, amiable, thoughtful, trustworthy and dependable, with a fabulous sense of humour - a true friend to so many people. For many years Murray has created and supported local ventures, for instance, he founded The Glenmorangie Tain Highland Gathering, The Royal Burgh of Tain Pipe Band and of course created the valuable local magazine Tain & District Picture Post, which has helped bring community together. Murray was also a founding member of Tain Business Association and of Tain Christmas Lights Committee as well as a member of the TRACC committee as a fundraiser. I started working with Murray as his assistant around October 2002 when he was almost two years into launching the magazine (then called Tain & Dornoch Picture Post). As I stated recently in my final June edition of the Post, I was extremely grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to take over as editor 14 years ago. Fortunately, my recent decision to move on to new ventures did not mean the end for this popular publication, as Niall Harkiss and Lucy Veals were delighted to take over as its new editorial team. Murray expressed extreme pleasure about this when we had lunch a few weeks back – it seems his ‘brainchild’ was still going to survive and evolve. In a professional capacity he worked tirelessly for the area in his role as a photo–journalist. In travel and tourism during the 1990’s he travelled the length and breadth of Britain, Ireland and Europe with the Scottish Tourist Board promoting Easter Ross as a holiday destination, many years later being able to look around and see the results of his efforts. Murray’s passionate affiliation with our beautiful part of the Highlands was given expression with the production

of his Tain Christmas Cards and Tain and Easter Ross Calendars which have travelled the world and graced many a foreign mantle over the festive period. During the latter years of his working life Murray drove the old school bus from Inver, Fearn, Portmahomack and Scotsburn to TRA which he considered a privilege and a pleasure. In his own words he has said of this period “I got on first name terms with every hole in the road, soft verge and field mouse along the way”. Ours was an easy, relaxed friendship from the outset, a comfortable companionship every time we met up. We’ve shared many lovely moments together with numerous great discussions as well as laughs over the years. Murray has been a great support to me, both in practical matters as well as emotionally, during some very tragic family events. I knew I could always depend on him for a listening ear. Due to the busyness of life

in recent years we weren’t able to meet up quite as often, however, we made it our business to check in with each other at least every couple of months. Quite often this took the form of lunch at his home where I enjoyed his delicious homemade soups and on occasion his tasty rock cakes or short bread, baking being another strong talent of his. Murray called me just last week when they sent him home from hospital, they had told him to expect the worst in the weeks or months to come. He said he felt fine so we didn’t realise just how soon that was going to be. I had planned to see him the following week but then heard the devastating news of his passing, less than a week after we spoke. Goodbye Murray, I am heart-broken to lose you, my lovely loyal friend and I will treasure each memory I have of you xxx

In Memory of RUTH LOUDEN, who sadly passed on Sunday 8th July.

The committee, on behalf of friends and supporters of Tain Thistle Football Club wish to acknowledge and give thanks for the kind contributions made by Mrs Louden during the club’s early years. The club will remain eternally grateful.

ABOVE: The front cover of the first issue of the Tain & Dornoch Picture Post, which went on sale in February 2000. RIGHT: Murray Macleod and Alasdair Rhind pictured for an article marking the launch of the new magazine.

DEREK LOUDEN will be holding a surgery in

TAIN SERVICE POINT on Friday 24th August 2018 from 10:00am to 12:00 noon 5

TAIN GALA ASSOCIATION Tain Gala Week was rounded off with a successful Gala Saturday at the Links on June 30th as spectators were treated to an afternoon of centre ring entertainment, complimented by Hercher’s funfair, stalls, hot food and refreshments in the marquee tents.

The Gala Committee were happy with how the week went, especially as the weather was so good. We don’t remember a year when there was no rain and the sun shined throughout. The Children’s Fancy dress on Tuesday evening was particularly good where a great effort was made by the parents to make some stunning outfits. The parade was very impressive. Other regular events, such as Old time dancing, the 10K road race & Fun run, Bingo, Children’s show, Pet show and Teddybear’s picnic were all very well supported. The Friday night marquee was given over to Tain Youth Café who are celebrating 25 years since opening in Tain. They hosted a Family Ceilidh which raised a substantial amount for their funds. The parade to The Links on Saturday was spectacular and delighted the crowds who adorned the whole of the High Street. The Royal Burgh of Tain, Sutherland Caledonian, Aberlour and Nairn Pipebands led the way followed by Kangaroo Kid on quad bikes and Riders of the Storm 3 ladies on their horses. Taking up the rear were an impressive procession of six floats which were all great to see. This was the start of a great afternoon of events which held a happy crowd on the Links till the end of the day. The week was ended with a full marquee of party goers who had a great time dancing the night away to Rhythmnreel, who were supported by The Impact. All this could not have happened if it were not for the many volunteers who gave their time and expertise before, during and after the event. Thank you to you all. Thank you also to our our 2018 Gala Queen - Katie Grant, Gala Attendant - Sophie Skinner and Gala Princess - Anya MacNamara, who did a fantastic job representing the Gala this year. If anyone out there would like to join the “Gala Family” keep a lookout for the AGM date in October. Please come along to show your support.

ANKERVILLE NURSERY Ankerville’s Summer Club has well and truly kicked off to a great start. The children have been very busy exploring outdoors. They have been to Dornoch beach to paint stones and to Embo beach to investigate the rock pools with Go Wild Highlands. We have also been making great use of our local forest walks, Aldie Burn and Skelbo Woods. A bit closer to home the children have

been busy creating their own instruments, playing rounders, baking and having picnics. The summer has only just begun for us here at Ankerville with many more activities planned for the coming weeks. If you would like any more information about the summer club please don’t hesitate to contact us at ankervillenursery@ gmail.com or on 01862 894076

THROUGH THE LENS... WITH MARK JANES (ISSUE 9) sombrero! Of course, you can always print your photos yourself. A4-sized photo printers are very affordable, but bear in mind that paper and ink costs can mount up, and these types of printers do need to be used regularly to avoid the ink clogging up. So it may be more cost-effective to send your pictures out for printing. Finally, don’t just stop at paper. Many firms will now print your pictures onto a whole range of articles, such as mugs, calendars, acrylic blocks, canvas, etc., some of which make great gifts for friends or grandparents. And if you’ve got that really special shot that you’d like hand-finished on top quality paper and mounted into a classic frame, you can always talk to me!

Show The World Your Photos! Last month we looked at some ideas for taking great holiday and travel photos. This time we’re going to talk about what to do with all those lovely photos once you get back home. Personally, my family holiday and special occasion photos are the most precious ones I own. Fortunately, many of them were shot on film and my wife and I have rows of photo albums on our bookshelves that we can pick up and look through any time we want. But I wonder how many of the millions of photos taken this summer will stay forever locked up on our phones or memory cards? Apart from not being as “user-friendly” to browse through as an album, there is a real risk that we won’t even be able to access these photos in years to come. Think about the types of digital storage that were popular just a few years ago, which we now never see; 3.5 inch floppy discs, Sony memory sticks, Zipdrives…the list is long and growing! So, what’s the answer? Get your photos back into their natural habitat; on paper!

It’s pretty easy to get your photos printed. Boots the Chemist, Jessops and even Asda in Tain have machines where you can print directly from your phone or your camera’s memory card. The internet is awash with online printing suppliers. Companies such as Photobox (www.photobox. co.uk) offer prints from around 12 pence each. Or why not treat yourself to a photobook as a great family memory of your holiday. Companies such as Blurb (www.blurb.co.uk) allow you to upload your photos and design the layout of your book online, and it will be shipped to you in just a few days. If you’re reading this before you go away on holiday, you may like to check out firms such as TouchNote (www. touchnote.com) that will let you upload a holiday snap and send it to any postal address as a postcard. A truly personal holiday greeting rather than the standard donkey wearing a

Did you like this article? Why not email me and let me know what you’d like to see covered in future issues. markjanesphotographer@gmail.com. (Please note; the author has no affiliations with, and does not endorse, the suppliers mentioned. They are for example only. Other choices are available.)

TAIN & DISTRCT YOUTH CAFE - YMCA P7 Indoor Beach Party - Great result Over 65 children from all the primary schools in the area attended our end of term Beach Party with over 2 tons of Sand BBQ and much more. Overall this was a great success and thank you all those who assisted in this successful event. Volunteers Required Following the end of last term, we said goodbye and thank you to a couple of volunteers and we are now actively seeking volunteers to join us here at the Youth Cafe YMCA. This includes: The Monday night Rota 7-8 pm evening for our very successful P7 transitions night. (This is a term time only programme.) Tuesday lunchtime between 1.15 and 2 pm Please contact Graham with names as the more we have the less you do! Summer Free School meals programme called ‘Lunch Bunch’ This is running throughout the entire 7 weeks of the summer school holiday. We will be opening up the Tain Youth Cafe YMCA between 12-1 pm Monday to Friday to provide free food for all Primary School children but especially those children of P4, 5, 6 and P7 and their siblings who currently receive free school meals. No questions are asked or names taken just free food. Please can we encourage you to ‘spread the word’ to the right folks as we want to ensure that no child goes hungry over this holiday period. This and the summer pilot is funded by MFR Cash for Kids, the Participatory Budget and Tesco store all with our grateful thanks. Call the Youth Cafe YMCA on 894252 for more details. Young Carers Group The weekly Young Carers group re starts on Friday 24th August for the Secondary school age group between 1.30 and 2.30 pm and then on Friday 31st August between 3.15-4.15 for those in Primary school.

Tain Gala Please can we thank everyone for supporting our Tea Tent at this year’s Tain Gala. It was a major success and we raised approx £700 for general funds. We also won the Youth Category for their float and the Community Category float with our very large Birthday cake so a good day all round. Lego Club This is open for all those in P6 and runs form 6-6.45 pm and the costs is £1.00 per person Monday night P7 Transitions group This will restart on Monday 27th August a week after the start of term. The time is 7-8 pm and costs £1.00 per person. There will be no P7 club on Monday 20th August the night before the new term starts. Tuesday S1 group Tuesday nights are for those pupils now in S1 and the aim is to keep together all those who moved up from the P7 year group. The times will be 7-9 pm and is free for the young people. The start date is Tuesday 21st August. Thursday nights Drop In This will be open for all those from the Tain Royal Academy 7-9 pm STEM Club (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) This re starts on Wednesday 29th August 2018 between 3.15 and 4.15 pm This is for those in P6 only costs just £1 per person. Crazy One Hour Disco Friday 31st August between 7-8.30 pm £2 entry and all children must be collected at the end of the Disco. A leaflet will be sent to all schools advertising this event and the theme for this Disco is Back to School. 25th Anniversary events Quiz Night We are now over the £1,000 mark for

our appeal for which we are extremely grateful. The next event is a Quiz night at the Tain Royal Hotel on Saturday 15th September 2018. £10 per team of 4 plus many spot prizes and other games to help raise funds for the Tain Youth Cafe Refurbishment appeal Could your company consider sponsoring this Quiz night or any other events for us? If yes then please can you give us a call. Reminder to local business A letter was sent to 106 businesses within the area asking for requests of help. Did you receive yours? If not please contact Graham on 894252 as we really need your support. Inter-church World Cup 5 a side football competition This took place in July and was won by the Dornoch Free Church Well done all for entering this event Family Ceilidh Dance - featuring the MacGillivrays Ceilidh Band As part of the Youth Cafe‘s 25th Anniversary we ran a very successful Family Ceilidh Dance in the Gala Marquee. A great night was had by those who attended and a special thanks go to the MacGillivrays Ceilidh Band for all their support with this Thanks Ian and team Cage Football This will be up at the Youth Cafe on Friday 10th August between 3-5 pm And then at the Mansfield Hub from 10 am for their Fun Day Footpool This will be at the Fearn Fun Day on Saturday 18th August between 1-4 pm For information on any of these events or about the Tain & District Youth Café YMCA in general please contact Graham on 894252 or via e-mail on graham@ tainyouthcafe.co.uk or Karen on cdw@ tainyouthcafe.co.uk.

BIRTHDAY NOTICES Wishing our beautiful baby girl Jaimie-Rose a happy 1st birthday. Every day you light up our lives with your smiles, your laughter, and your squishy little cheeks. We couldn’t love you more or be more proud of the lovely little bundle of joy that you are. All our love today and always, Muma & Dada xxxx

Awesome creations at new Kids Art Club

Happy birthday Sydney! Wishing you the very best birthday, from your cousin Nikki x Are you or a relative celebrating a birthday or special event in September? Please let us know by sending an email to info@tainpost.co.uk

The new Kids Art Club in Tain got off to a brilliant start! Junk model-making, cardboard castles, plastic bottle rockets - and a quieter drawing and colouring table - set the scene for some AWESOME creations! Meanwhile, the adults could sit down and enjoy a well earned tea, coffee and home baking whilst indulging in some proper grown-up conversation. Bliss! The children took full advantage of the junk ( ahem, treasure, if you don’t mind) and produced a myriad of colourful, clever - nay, INGENIOUS - pieces which they proudly showed to their parents and carers. The marvellous minds of today’s youngsters / tomorrow’s engineers, artists and leaders, if this lot are anything to go by, I’m pleased to say is in VERY GOOD HANDS! Every Tuesday and Friday 10am-11am and 11am-12 noon until 10th August. Duthac Centre Tain. £3 plus £1 for each additional child from the same family. NO BOOKING NECESSARY Article kindly contributed by Jennifer Houliston Ross.

Log onto Facebook at www.facebook.com/tainpost to enter our August prize draw for a chance to win a family ticket for a day at Landmark Forest Adventure Park!

PERFECT PAWS CANINE CLUB

NEWS - "FROM THE ARCHIVES"

Dog agility show held in Tain for first time

Shown below is a cutting from the July 6th edition of the Caledonian Mercury newspaper in the year 1727, reporting festivities which took place in the “city” of Tayn (Tain) on June 24th surrounding the proclaimation of King George II. Report courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.

On a drizzly Sunday morning on July 15th there was a palpable buzz in Grant Park, Tain as dog handlers from as far north as Caithness and as far south as Aberdeen-shire had gathered with their dogs. The occasion was the Perfect Paws Summer Fun Show. Perfect Paws is a local dog training group who also host dog agility shows in the local area. After days of planning and preparation, the competition was ready to begin with Class 1 - Jumping. The scrimer was seated and ready and the judge took her position with a smile of encouragement as the first competitor and dog entered the ring. Dog agility is a sport that appeals to all ages and a variety of breeds of dog. After the Class 2 - Agility competition had been run there was a welcome break for lunch. Perfect Paws had laid on a B.B.Q. and baking stall. This provided an opportunity for everyone to get the craic. The last class was jumping and, revived by lunch, the competition resumed; providing a chance to see if any of the coveted rosettes and trophies could be bagged. After the last dog had run and the last record sheet had been checked it was time to gather and celebrate the winners. Each judge had the pleasure of presenting the winning rosettes and trophies to the entrants in their class. All who had

taken part- and made the day the success it was- celebrated the winners amidst clapping and good hearted cheers. Whether the participants were taking home rosettes or not, everyone agreed it had been a fun day Perfect Paws would like to thank the judges, the Perfect Paws team for planning, setting up and running the show and everyone who helped to clear away at the end.

ANDREW VASS WRITES...

Putting contemplation into perspective

Some Christian churches encourage members to learn lessons from the past. They can acknowledge that possibly Christian ‘witch-burners’ got things wrong. They can even ponder the question why. Contemplation is on the Psychologically-aware side of Christianity. Christian Contemplation has been developed by many Christian writers from the past. Great thinkers such as Anthony of the Desert and the anonymous writer of ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ have explored what it means to be ‘still and know that I am God’. Jesus also pointed us towards that stillness. He said; ‘Come unto me all ye who labour, and I will give you rest’. Contemplation does not ask for definite beliefs. These can be worked out another time. Centring prayer is a simple prayer of silence. If thoughts come one just rests in a meaningful word or phrase. Centring prayer merely asks for one word which symbolises how one wants to picture God. Abba is a favourite word- because it emphasises God’s fatherly love. But people need the kind of phrase which really suits their sense of need. It can reflect their struggle with unmet needs, mood, unsureness, an aroused state or a sense of being cut-off from God. Jesus calmed many storms- so ‘calming God’ can be used. The Samaritan lady was reminded of God’s gift to us. The real nature of that gift can be grasped if we realise God is offering us ‘a homeward turning love’. God is calling us home- away from struggle. ‘Longing for belonging calls us home’. We just need to consent to begin the journey. Modern times has put too big an emphasis on how rational we are. Rationalism has the illusion of making us out to be clever thinking creatures and ‘noble’ by virtue of our reasoning prowess. Whereas Leibnitz (father of Rationalism) told us “nothing is in the intellect except the intellect itself.” Homer, (ancient Greek philosopher) by contrast, told us that ‘reason plagued by anger results in nothing less than tragedy’. Jesus said; ‘out of the depths of a man comes that which defiles him’. Modern people, ‘the sons and daughters of ‘The Enlightenment’ need to know this fact that we are not naturally wise or good. When I sit in church, I often contemplate. I breathe deeply and slow myself down. I take in the beauty of the building, the sombre tones of the organ, and the sense of coming here to worship God. David sung; ‘Be still and know that I am God’. This line seems to capture the essential features of contemplations, stillness and sense of belonging with God. One may allow oneself to focus on a thought or an image, but not with the urgency one usually has when one is trying to work something out. When David sung about meditating on God’s laws day and night, it was this kind of contemplative meditating he was referring to. Contemplation has been defined as a devotional spiritual meditation. Some Christian and Jewish writers through history, have seen contemplation as a way of coping with psychological dispositions. Augustine of Hippo seems to have appreciated the importance of devotional contemplation, as a way of reducing the power of one’s addictive nature. Augustine grew up a citizen of a rich Roman Empire. Looking back on his life, he saw that his parents were only interested in ambition. They wanted him to succeed! Well he did- he became a leading teacher of Roman Rhetoric in the Imperial capital. But later, he looked back on his youth with horror. Peer group influences had shaped his and his friends’ characters. He described how a friend Alypius had become addicted to gladiatorial games, and the effect it had on him. Alypius had been persuaded- against his better judgement to attend such an event. Surprisingly, he became engrossed in the brutal entertainment. Augustine reckoned that the experience lessened inhibition- so that uncaring attitudes set in. Yet Augustine found in the case of his own youthful preoccupation with sex, that different parts of one’s personality disagree. One part might sense the badness of

selfish drives, another part might want to indulge them. We become ‘conflicted’ as they say nowadays. Augustine found that his ‘better nature, needed a relationship with God to create a satisfactory balance between his cold instinctive state and better self. How can one overcome the restlessness which often makes one head for the pub, or ‘comfort eat’? Augustine’s answer is; Be restless for God. The spectacles that God provides; the wonders of Creation, the glorious stories of Reformers, or, saints and martyrs, the Christian liturgy, songs, fellowship and meals together, can bring relaxing, calming, contemplative, and peaceful experiencing for those who go through the disciplined transition- of acclimatizing to the culture. So, for Augustine, just being in church, can be contemplative, if one fully immerses oneself in ‘the spectacles God provides.’ When Jesus had his feet washed with oil by a disreputable lady, he said of her; ‘I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little.” Luke 7.36-50. The implication is that the love one develops through awareness of being forgiven is crucial; ‘those who are forgiven little will love only a little’. One has to work one’s heart and not simply conclude that everything has been done for one by conversion and the work of the Holy Spirit. One has to be psychologically- aware. The aim of the forgiven Christian is to be loving and forgiving- and know when he/she is not. Anger (particularly at self) needs to be insightfully understood. Anger comes in the subtle form of frustration, impatience, perfectionism, and a constant wish to mould oneself (or others) to meet some demands. John Ross was a 19th century missionary to China and Korea. It was said that when missionaries began work in China they often had hard hearts and soft feet. But after some time travelling through China they developed hard feet and soft hearts. John Ross’ love for Asians meant that he endeavoured and succeeded in sending Bibles through the dangerous routes in Korea. He clearly had developed hard feet and a soft heart. Contemplation helps us develop that heartfulness and centring prayer is one of its techniques. Centring Prayer starts with a ‘consenting to God’, and a ‘coming back’ from the worldly obsessions (of frenzy and overwhelm) which have given us soft feet and hard hearts. You know how easy it is to get overwhelmed. You come home after a hard day at work and the kids have Rock Music C. D’s blaring. Old emotional tapes of anger and disappointment can cause a rush of blood to the head. The frenzy becomes a habit. It affects your relationships. By contrast Centring Prayer helps us reduce the frenzy- just sitting in silence helps us to become still. So why does the Psalmist advise us to be still? Should we consider why he tells us ‘to be still and know that I am God’? Some might claim stillness involves the laying aside of all thoughtsperhaps unthinkable to theologians of the Reformationwho believed thinking is reliable and mere feelings or images were not. But laying aside thoughts does not mean the mind is blank. Instead of doing nothing, one uses affectionate words to help one get into stillness and love. One counters negative feelings and ambivalence in this stillness. For example, one can be anxious about what is required to practise this new skill. In that case just saying; ‘I will be still Lord’ might be a good phrase to use. Centring Prayer can be done in the traditional Roman Catholic way in which the emphasis is on the ‘sacredness’ of chosen words. They try to use one word as their sacred symbol. Alternatively, it can be used as a way of drawing our attention to key phrases-phrases which in the past have had meaning for us. When my late aged mother felt shame (and depression) about being so dependent on her relatives for support, I invited her to say gently to herself the following prayer phrases. I TRUST THAT I AM STILL HERE BECAUSE OF HIS LARGER PLAN, I AM

TASKED WITH BRINGING LOVE, I AM GRATEFUL FOR GOD’S GRACE, FORGIVENESS AND PEACE. Centring Prayer is centring! If you prefer phrases to sacred words that’s fine. If it feels centring, then it is right for you. Be iconoclastic- the Reformation after all was iconoclastic. ‘A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do’. But equally if you don’t like words such as saint or mystic be careful that you are not being judgemental. I use the word saint as a reference point. People can find St. Francis on Google easily. All who die in Christ will be saints. But do I know that an individual has become a saint? No. That is in the hands of God. Some don’t like the study of Christian history and characters. But it is through studying Christian history that we come to understand how certain works became canonical. So again, we can’t be too cut and dried. Equally there are lessons to learn from great Christians- but the lessons are personal- and Protestants may learn lessons from Protestant Christians, and vice versa for Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Buddhists have a curious idea that we don’t always ‘turn up in our lives’. Perhaps our behaviour can at times not be that of our best self. The Bible has a similar idea that we need to see ourselves in the mirror. James wrote in 1.24 of his Epistle; ‘For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholds himself, and goes away, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was’. Therapists would agree with both these religions, that we are better to be mindfully aware, (even if it’s not always enjoyable)- rather than mindless. Many characters in the Bible have been in denial at times. Jonah was in denial when he was angry at God when asked to preach in Nineveh. Peter was in denial when he denied Jesus was his Lord at the time of Jesus’ trial. Usually we are not very aware of the problem when we are in denial. For example, people can judge with their emotions and think that such judgements are objective. People can have inner conflict and not understand that a still small voice is trying to tell them something. For this reason, it is important to know that one can be ‘in two minds’ and sense that you perhaps have two different possible ways of looking at things. In Psalm 32, we find a writer who has caused his own problems. He is responsible for something that has gone terribly wrong. The writer knows that his response to having done something hurtful is to cover it up, but this strategy just creates an internal nagging conflict. The psalm describes this internal struggle vividly: “When I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.” That is a very insightful picture which king David left for us to mull over! The turning point came when the writer confronted his demons, faced unpalatable facts, and took responsibility. Mindful self- awareness and balanced judgement had been necessary to help him get a new perspective. So, we can have emotional minds, reasonable minds and wise minds. Being in wise mind happens when one decides to get out of lazy thinking and gets perspective. Wise mind can be different from reasonable and emotional mind. In wise mind one senses what one doesn’t know, realises that we all look through glasses darkly some of the time- particularly when we look through them broodingly. A contemplation can help us to be ‘perspectives-aware’. One can meditate for a while on a concern with a calming phrase. Then one can transition back to real life. This involves imagining or sense a challenging problem. Ask for God’s blessing in dealing with it and just sit there taking stock, allowing thoughts about the problem to surface if they will. One gets perspective on Contemplation when one realises it helps one be perspectives-aware. One does contemplation with an awareness of the subjectivity we have due to emotions. Then it is with these emotions that we come closer to God.

tain task force In the last month the roses in the Rose Garden have got through their first flowering of the season and now are largely green as they have been “dead headed”, hopefully to bring on a second flowering later. On the 21st July the Rose Garden was host to the second Tain Community Market and the garden, the street planters and baskets received lots of compliments. The baskets have provided a fine display despite this being the most challenging season we have had in a long time. Wind, high temperatures and little rain make managing the baskets difficult and much of the credit must go to our dedicated team of waterers who go out at 6:00am 4 days a week. If you have been to the Rose Garden recently you will have noticed that the play area has been refurbished with a layer of fine bark. Thanks to Bannerman Bark Products for donating this to the Rose Garden and to Roddy, Heather and especially George Amos for their work in collecting and spreading it. If you think you can help with watering, bark spreading or just half an hour’s weeding please contact: Membership Secretary: David McAllister Tel: Tain 892302 or e-mail david@davidmcallister.co.uk

tain gardeners' club Summer Show (Non competitive) Saturday 25th August Tain Parish Church Hall 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Free Admission Donations in aid of The Highland Hospice Displays will include National Vegetable Society Garden Photography by the Seaboard Camera Group Scarecrows by Knockbreck Primary School & Tain Gala contributors and others Floral Art and Demonstration by the Flower Club For Sale: Plants, Produce, Preserves & baking Raffle Teas & home baking – £2 For details contact Heather McAllister (Chair, Tain & District Gardeners’ Club)

Phone: Tain 892302

GRANTS BAKERY Sandwiches & Hot Snacks

Winners of the Silver Award for Scotch Pie Competition High Street Tain (01862) 892315 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Liz Craig sent us an email with her memories of the Royal Hotel, and a recommendation for local reading ahead of Golf Week.

This past month, we received a lovely letter from one of our subscribers, Mr Doug Rankine, who lives in Goswells, West Australia.

The Stotters Story 50 yrs of Golf in Minutes, By Hamish Robertson I am currently reading and enjoying this book. Although I am not a golf fan, I know Golf Week is coming up, and the book is an interesting walk down memory lane. It talks about some of the local Tain people I know and has lots of funny anecdotes. The ‘Stotters’ were a group of golfers who would meet up each year to play golf in Tain. I remember the Robertsons and other families would come to Tain every year for golf week and they would stay in the Royal Hotel. I worked in the Royal from 1966-1967 under Mrs Chalk. Sadly she died in 1971. I remember the Robertson clan well, as they literally took over the Royal and there was quite a few of them. Lovely people. Back in 1966, the dining room was upstairs, and you could see right down the High street from there. Sheena Simpson and I worked from a wee cubby hole of the dining room, with a shaft (dumb waiter) coming up from the kitchen. Mary Ross was the cook. I remember she made a fantastic Baked Alaska. These were fun days in the Royal. If you can get a copy AND are interested in golf - it is a good read! I understand it is for sale down at Tain Golf Club and in the bookshop in Dornoch.

Hello Niall & Lucy, I was born in Tain in 1938. I attended Tain Primary School and TRA and left the Royal Burgh in 1954 when my parents moved to the village of Lochcarron on the West Coast. As a teenager, I was not impressed by this move, but consoled myself by joining the Merchant Navy in 1955. During my travels, I was lured ashore in 1964 by “a craft Aussie Sheila” and since then, apart from five years in the Bush in West Australia’s North, I have lived in Goswells, a suburb of Perth. Over the years, I have been back to Tain several times, alone or with my family. My last visit was in November 2013. There certainly have been many changes over the years. I nearly drove off the road when I first encountered traffic lights at the A9/Knockbreck Road turn-off! I always look forward to receiving my copy of the TDPP and, as an old ****** (sorry, senior citizen!), I particularly enjoy the pictures and stories of by-gone days. The writing of the late Wattie Louden, and his successor, Alex Graham, are of particular interest. By the way, the oft mentioned 13 Fountain Road in Alex’s articles was our residence during my last five years in Tain. We moved there from a pre-fab at 26 Fountain Road (long demolished). It may be that Alex’s family moved in just after we left in 1954? My only surviving relatives in the UK are six cousins who all live in Easter Ross, one in Edderton, two in Invergordon and three in Dingwall. One of my Invergordon cousins sent me a copy of the TDPP in 2001. Within was an Old File Picture of the Tain Cubs pack with yours truly in the front row! Once again, congratulations on the July issue, and keep up the good work!

Liz Craig

As a follow up to the photograph included in Alex Graham’s July issue article, Vivianne Reid got in touch to identify some faces.

Doug Rankine

To get in touch with the editorial team of the Tain & District Picture Post, please email info@tainpost.co.uk or send a letter via post to Wyvis View, Main Road, Fearn, IV20 1TG. 18

Some names for the photo in Alex Graham’s July issue article. The girl in the (Menzies) tartan skirt, also wearing a tie, is Wilma Dargavel, (now Sommer and living in Germany), and the girl in front of her in the black anorak is called Renee and was her Belgian exchange student in 1956 when the photo was taken, before their departure for Belgium. The lady in the hat is a teacher and Alex already named his late brother, Gordon. The lad in the kilt jacket and wearing specs is the late Roger Shivas and the lad on the right, in front of the Tain sign, is the late Leslie Corbett. In an email a couple of years ago, Wilma told me that Morag Bannerman and Jean Cameron also appear in the photo - I think Jean may be far left, with Morag behind her but I’m not sure. Looking back, I see I mention in my original email to Wilma that there was a photograph relating to the same trip taken in the Parish Church (then) manse garden in the May issue of the TDPP in 2016. Vivianne Reid

Boogie Bounce Xtreme Tain

Classes – TAIN ~ DORNOCH ~ALNESS The Boogie Bounce Xtreme programme is FAB, FUN, FUNKY AND FAT BURNING. It is a complete exercise programme on a mini trampoline, with a safety bar, choreographed to chart topping inspiring music which includes an extremely effective cardio section, and a really powerful bums, tums and thighs section too! Every muscle in the body is worked. EVEN THE FACIAL MUSCLES! Boogie Bounce uses High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T) techniques to maximise the most effective fat burning process in the cardio section, whilst using the pliable surface of the mat to perform a range of core stability exercises, thus engaging more of the deep core muscles. The programmes have been a hit since 1996 with countless success stories from regular attendees amazed at the ‘all over’ health and fitness results achieved. There are types of classes to suit all ages and abilities. There is Boogie Bounce Xtreme, Boogie Bounce Beginners, Boogie Bounce Kids, Boogie Bounce Birthday Parties, Boogie Bounce Hen Parties, and many more.

Contact Debbie 07889630919 or Find us on Facebook FACEBOOK.COM/PG/BOOGIEBOUNETAIN

PATRICK VICKERY WRITES...

A twitch, a wink, a grimace and a grunt I met him in the local supermarket in Tain, a chance encounter between chicken buyer (me) and chicken seller (Jed), a nice guy who had sold us four hens, lovely birds, vaccinated, too. He was buying croissants, French sticks, medium sliced Hovis, that sort of thing. “How are the chickens?” asked Jed. “Dead, Jed” I said, speaking into his eyes. “Dead!” said Jed incredulously, his French sticks wavering. “They dropped dead, Jed,” I said. And with that we parted company, Jed to the frozen food cabinet, me to the biscuit aisle. I attach no blame for this dead chicken scenario - such things happen in the rurals. There is something appealing, of course, about having your own supply of free range eggs, as long as your chicken’s don’t drop dead; and even then, if you have enough of them, the occasional ‘drop dead’ event has little impact on overall egg production. Our first batch of chickens – prior to Jed’s batch - came from the Isle of Skye, and our chicken house was acquired from an auction in Inverness. We had never been to an auction before, very exciting, so the prospect of taking part in one was too good an opportunity to miss. We witnessed the traditional bidding rituals of twitching, winking, grimacing and grunting, and after engaging in such rituals ourselves came away with a chicken house for fourteen pounds suitably pleased with our efforts. Next we needed chickens for the new chicken house. I spotted an advert in the newspaper - “Chickens for sale, £3 each” - so I phoned up and ordered six. A lorry load of chickens would depart from the

Isle of Skye the following Tuesday, I was informed by a transactional voice, with six being dropped off at the local shop. They had an ‘arrangement’, apparently, and often delivered livestock in this way. The local shop was twenty miles away, so hardly very local to me, but of little consequence if it meant acquiring six fine egg-laying birds from the Isle of Skye. On the Tuesday I presented myself at the shop. “Six chickens from the Isle of Skye, please?” “Chickens, is it?” said a square headed woman with a screwed-up nose and a screw-down hairdo. “Aye, aye,” I replied, very serious, with a twitch, a wink and a grimace. “Round the back then,” she grunted. And, sure enough, there was a cardboard box round the back with my name on it. Somewhat incredulous that anyone could leave six chickens in a cardboard box in the care of a square headed woman with a screwed-up nose and a screwdown hairdo, I opened the box and out popped six healthy chickens, none the worse for their journey. These chickens lived happily ever after, or at least three of them did. One was killed by the neighbour’s dog, a tragic incident; one run over by a local car, a tragic accident; and one dropped dead for no apparent reason whatsoever. The others, Heinz, Gobby and Salad Cream, all lived to a ripe old age. Whenever I pass that village shop, which isn’t very often, given that it is twenty miles away and not very local to me, I always have a look round the back in case someone’s forgotten to collect their box of chickens. A habit, I’m sure, that will stay with me for years.

EASTER ROSS MUSICAL THEATRE Hello everybody, from the folks at Easter Ross Musical Theatre (ERMT). We hope you are having a great summer and are enjoying the good weather. Easter Ross Musical Theatre, formerly known as the Garrick Singers, is an exciting amateur Musical Theatre group with big hopes and dreams. We are pleased to announce that we have been granted the license and will be performing the new musical comedy, THE ADDAMS FAMILY in 2019. The show dates will be as follows; 28th, 29th and 30th March 2019. Our rehearsals are due to start on Thursday 6th September 2018 at 1930 hours at the Duthac Centre in Tain. We are actively seeking new members to come and join in the fun and join our group. Our rehearsals take place every Thursday night at the Duthac Centre, with breaks during the school holidays. If you fancy coming along and giving it a try, please be our guest. We would make you feel more than welcome. If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can message the Easter Ross Musical Theatre Facebook page or alternatively email E.R.M.T@ btinternet.com. We hope to see you in September. Much Love from Easter Ross Musical Theatre

TAIN & FEARN FREE CHURCH

KNOCKBRECK PRIMARY Knockbreck Primary School celebrate cultural diversity and we would be keen to hear from anyone in the community who might be interested in sharing information about their religion and practices at an age appropriate assembly in collaboration with Mrs Mackay or Mrs Macaskill. Please contact the school office if interested? Knockbreck Primary 1 are looking for loose parts for their play garden. If you have any old or spare plastic drain pipes that you no longer need we would love to make use of them.

Around 70 children attended this year’s Free Church Holiday Club at the start of the school holidays. The club had a pirate theme and ran in the morning at Hilton School with an afternoon session at TRAAC in Tain. Each day included a sing-a-long, of a song written specially for the club. There were daily crafts, games, yummy snacks and some Bible teaching. The children learnt the story of Pirate Paul;

a rebel whom you would not want to be friends with, but who was completely changed after meeting Jesus. The club took place during what was probably the hottest week of the year, and that enabled all the games to take place outside which was great fun. After the last day of club there was a barbeque with bouncy castle at both venues with parents and families invited. The week’s events concluded with

a family service at both churches, in Hilton and in Tain on the Sunday at which the children did readings and sung the songs they had learnt during the week. There are lots more pictures available on the website of Tain and Fearn Free Church or on their Facebook page. - Written by Alasdair MacAulay

TAIN & DISTRICT KIDS’ PAGES

EASY FAT FREE NATURAL ICE-POPS Ingredients Fat Free Natural Yoghurt Strawberries Ice pop moulds Knife Mixer

Instructions Wash and chop a small handful of strawberries. Pour half a tub of fat free natural yoghurt into your mixer, add the chopped strawberries and blend. Pour some of the reserved yoghurt into the ice pop moulds. Fill them about 1/3 full. Chop another handful of strawberries and place a few into the ice moulds.

QUICK QUIZ

Pour in the strawberry yoghurt mix on top of the fresh strawberries until the ice moulds are 2/3 full.

1. From what tree do acorns come? 2. Which river flows through London? 3. Which Italian city is famous for its leaning tower? 4. What is the name of Harry Potter’s pet owl? 5.What type of animal is Bullseye in the Toy Story films? 6. What was the name of the monk in the Robin Hood legend? 7. The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the United States by which country? 8. In The Jungle Book, what kind of animal is Baloo? 9. Who painted the Mona Lisa? 10.Who was created by Gepetto the woodcarver?

Fill up the ice pop moulds with the remainder of the plain yoghurt. Place in the freezer for 6+ hours until frozen.

Every contribution to our Kids’ Pages will be rewarded with a £2 voucher to spend at Sweet Celebrations in Tain! 22

Bruce’s Bargains Raven and the Daddy Long Legs By Raegan, aged 7

One night a girl called Raven was sleeping in her bed. She woke up to a strange noise, “whirr” and “tap tap.” It was coming from outside her bedroom window, so she went to check. It was a giant daddy long legs. He had a saddle on his back. He asked Raven if she would like to come on an adventure. He promised Raven she would be back before her mum and dad woke up. She decided to go so she quickly put some socks on and grabbed her dressing gown. She climbed onto his back. “Hold on tight” he said. They flew very very high. His wings were noisy, so she blocked her ears. Her house looked so tiny. They flew past the clouds. They kept going higher and higher. Soon they were in outer space. “Do you want to visit the moon?” asked the daddy long legs. Raven said yes. She was very excited to visit the moon. They landed on the moon. Raven could see the whole Earth. She couldn’t see her house, it was too far away. They built some moon sand

castles and played in a huge crater.The daddy long legs picked up a sparkly moon rock. He gave it to Raven to remember their adventure. They had lots of fun, but it was time to go home. They started to fly home, Raven fell asleep on his back. She woke when they were passing the clouds. She could see her house. They landed on he window and gave each other a huge hug. Raven said thank you for the adventure, she went back to bed. In the morning her Mum woke her for breakfast. Raven told her Mum and Dad all about her adventure. Her Mum and Dad said it was just a dream. She said it wasn’t, but they didn’t believe her. She was brushing her teeth and felt something in her pocket. She pulled it out. It was the moon rock! She was so happy it wasn’t a dream she showed it to her Mum and Dad. They said it was cool. Raven knew they still thought her adventure wasn’t real, but she was happy anyway because she knew it was real. She couldn’t wait for her next adventure.

Household Items Greeting Cards Accessories OPENING SOON Hartfield Road, Tain (01862) 894125 We would love to hear from you if you have a contribution to make to our Kid’s Pages! Please email us your ideas, jokes, questions, stories or pics to info@tainpost.co.uk

TAIN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Youth group celebrates Year of Young People with festival On Friday 20th July, Tain Youth Forum held their big summer event in the form of “The YOYP Festival”, designed to celebrate the Year Of Young People. It took place at Tain Youth Cafe with lots of things going on such as a music session, smoothie making, face paints, glitter tattoos and a mega obstacle course (with a twist!).

Tain area Youth Forum and Highland Youth Parliament Our regular group of 12 young people, meet every 2 weeks and have been busy with projects and meetings during this period. Among their achievements has been a Young Person’s Mental Health project, which has been delivered to all of S1 in Tain Royal Academy. This has been well received with comments such as “really enjoyable and a great way of getting this across” They met with Local Councillors March and were able to discuss some local issues and find out more about the work and responsibilities of the Members and Ward manager.

Currently the Forum are working on some events for the area for the summer. All of the Forum members have undertaken to complete various awards as they continue their great work, representing their peers. Our 2 HYP reps will be off to the annual conference in Inverness in June and take forward the ideas and thoughts from our area. Awards

Training has recently been delivered to 2 workers in the various awards we promote and deliver, including Saltire Volunteering awards , Dynamic Youth Awards and Youth Achievement Awards. Tain Royal Academy promote these awards to all pupils and we are grateful to them for this, as we are 24

able to reach far more young people this way and recognise what they do outside of the school. We will shortly be able to have a drop-in support regularly in TRA using our newly trained staff. In March, 6 Young People from our area received awards from the Lord Lieutenant at her annual ceremony in Strathpeffer. It was a great night in the company of some very special and dedicated Young People from throughout the region. “It felt really nice to be awarded ” Article contributed by Rob Parkes

ROYAL BURGH OF TAIN PIPE BAND The Royal Burgh of Tain Pipe Band had a very successful week’s tour of the Netherlands in early July. This idea arose following a memorable trip to Germany six years ago and as previously was a combination of playing and exploring the country. Eighteen band members of all ages under the direction of Pipe Major Alasdair Mackenzie travelled along with supporters by bus and ferry to locate in a beautiful chalet park near to Amsterdam. There are pipe bands in Holland,

and we joined up with two of them for unique parades in the towns of Hilversum and Barneveld and also experienced their hospitality. We were guests of honour and paraded at a busy Sea Festival at Katwijk including a rare combined session with a Dutch Folk group. We played at other venues in the week. A poignant day for us all was playing at the Arnhem Airborne Museum which had been central to Operation Market Garden in World War 2. On days off we visited and

experienced lots of attractions in Amsterdam and the surrounding area in fantastic weather. The Dutch were very helpful, appreciative of our skills and intrigued by Pipe Band music. Overall it was a great time to socialise and be on holiday and also improve our playing in a pleasant setting. Bring on the next overseas trip! Article contributed by Sandy Gordon.

Green fingered Finlay! Saturday 28th July proved to be an extremely successful day for Finlay Munro, of Mansfield, Tain. Finlay came home with four prize winner trophies as well as picking up prizes for 20 out of his 21 entries in the Golspie Flower show. The trophies were for: - The best exhibit in the ‘open’ section for his Dahlias - Best Pelargonium in the ‘open’ section - Best Fuchsia in the ‘open’ section - Most points in the ‘open’ section

– therefore overall champion The photo shows Finlay holding his ‘best in show’ cut flowers – three Dahlias he grew from corms this year. Earlier in the month, he won numerous prizes and three trophies at the Dornoch County Show too. Finlay grows his flowers and plants as hobby and gets lots of pleasure is seeing them getting displayed for others to admire. Well done Finlay!

COMMUNITY STARS What a fantastic achievement from these young ladies who have successfully earned their Young Leader certificates having completed the Highlife Highland leadership programme. Congratulations to Caitlin Finlayson, Melanie Groves, Jane Parkes, Antonia Mackie, Hanna Munro and Caitlin Munro.

Also, huge congratulations go to these young ladies for earning their Saltire awards this year. The awards were earned in recognition of the multitude of volunteering that so many young people do locally, ranging from 10-hour certificates to 200+ hours! Fantastic effort from Olivia Macleod, Chloe MacKay, Jocelyn Webster, Emily Vass, Mollie Lauritsen, Leah Mackenzie, Isla Mackenzie and Daria Ruszel.

COMMUNITY STARS

Medical Group marks NHS anniversary with generous donations Tain & District Medical Group wished the NHS a happy 70th birthday this past month. Instead of a tea party, they decided to make a charity donation of £70, with practice staff nominating the charities. Their clinical team nominated Team King’s at the British Transplant Games 2018. The photo to the left is of practice staff including Dr Jesus Ferrer and Advanced Nurse Practitioner Lorna Waddell presenting a cheque to Nicola Gallon. Her amazing daughter Aimee will be attending the Games in Birmingham. Good Luck Aimee! The Group’s admin team nominated Headway Highland - a local charity set up to support people living with a brain injury and their carers/family members. The charity is affiliated to Headway, the brain injury association. Lee Gordon of Headway Highland collected the cheque on the charity’s behalf.

Tesco provide refreshments While local fire fighters battled the huge blaze on Ben Bhraggie near Golspie, Tesco in Tain offered their help by donating some water and sweets to keep their spirits up during the terrible situation. Well done all at Tesco.

Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Macdonald who were the lucky winners of a first aid kit from Tain & District Medical Group at the Tain & District Development Trust Community Market on Saturday 21st July.

Tain & district museum & Clan ross centre

Triumph of the smallholder Over the last few years the museum has been commemorating WWI. Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and the work of many volunteers we have managed to identify almost all of the 120 men on Tain’s WWI war memorial. Over the winter we decided to create a new display in the museum looking at the impact of the war at home. One of the items we researched, now on display in the museum, is a rather plain old ledger book titled, “Old Age Pensions Duplicate Letter Book. The book contains copies of over one hundred letters from W J Munro, Secretary of the Local Pension Committee, seeking Government help for ex-servicemen and their families suffering from hardship due to the war. For this work Mr. Munro was awarded an O.B.E We picked out the following story as an example for our display and started to research the men to see what we could find out. We uncovered this remarkable story, which was far too big for to fit our display but we think it deserves to be told. THE PENSION LETTER Dear Sir, A.J. Macrae, Eater Rarichie, Nigg. I return all the papers in this case which came again before my Committee yesterday – Miss Budge was at the meeting & was able to explain the whole circumstances. – There was no dependence in this case since discharge, & could not possible be, for the simple reason that the soldier had lost a leg & could not work. The committee noted that if he had a wife & family allowances would be granted during the period of training and they quite understood that unless exceptional circumstance’s prevailed this privilege did not extend to the father and mother. In many respects this is an exceptional case, Miss Budge explained that the father was a decent hard working man, getting now advanced in years, both sons had been hopelessly wounded and living at home after their discharge. In the circumstance, the sub-committee were of the opinion that if anything could be done in the way of bringing a little extra comfort into this home it would be well deserved. Yours faithfully, W.J Munro

The letter highlighting the plight of the Macrae family seemed perfect for our display, with two seriously wounded sons at home in the care of their elderly parents who had no income. We were keen to find out more and a quick search on the internet took us to the Ross and Cromarty Heritage website where we found the following article from the newspaper and photographs of the two brothers from Rarichie;

in Malta, we recalled that the museum had a photo of a soldier lying in bed in Malta, which much to our delight turned out to be of Duncan (pictured on page 25).

TWO RARICHIE SOLDIERS

LAND RAIDS IN ROSS-SHIRE The Scotsman, 12th May 1922. Land Trouble in Ross-shire -Exservice men’s resolution During the war there was a large military camp on Pitcalnie Farm, Nigg, Ross-shire. after the huts were removed quite a large number of ex-service men, accustomed to farm work, applied to have the land divided into small holdings. The Board of Agriculture prepared a scheme, which was approved by the Treasury and the men were expecting entry at Whitsunday. When it was reported that the scheme had been turned down by the Scottish Secretary the men held a meeting and expressed their bitter disappointment. They instructed their secretary to wire to the Prime Minister asking for an immediate inquiry to be made, and to Mr Ian Macpherson, MP for the constituency, they wired that serious trouble could only be averted by instant action. A resolution was passed referring to dilatoriness on the part of the Board of Agriculture and the Scottish Secretary in settling ex-service men on the land. They further agreed to send the following resolution to the Prime Minister, Mr Ian Macpherson, Sir Donald Maclean, and Mr Clynes;-”That this meeting of exservice men emphatically protest against the

Private Duncan Macrae mobilised with the Lovat Scouts on the outbreak of war, and proceeded overseas with his regiment in September 1915. He saw much active service at Gallipoli, Egypt, and elsewhere. He was severely wounded on the 6th December 1916, and after lying in a base hospital for a considerable time, was transferred to Malta, where he still is. Pte. Macrae has been operated on several times with some success, but is not yet able to get up. His letters home are always cheerful, and he expressed delight with the kindness of the nurses. Duncan’s younger brother, PTE. Alick Macrae has been on active service with a Seaforth Territorial battalion for more than a year. He went to France in November 1916 and was severely wounded on both legs at the great advance on 9th April. He is now in hospital at Manchester, and his friends are pleased to learn that he is making good progress towards recovery. He hopes to be out of bed by mid-August. Both these lads are sons of Mr A. Macrae, shepherd, Easter Rarichie, Nigg. Learning that Duncan was in hospital

The only thing left was to search the newspapers to see if we could find out what became of the Macrae family. In doing this, we thought we had stumbled on an unconnected story of, “Land Raids at Nigg”. Land raids occurred in the years following WWI when soldiers, disillusioned with politicians’ empty promises, took the law into their own hands and moved onto land they felt was owed to them as recompense for their years of service to their country. We could not ignore this story as we had never heard of Land Raids in Easter Ross before and it seemed so relevant to our research on the impact of the war at home. The first sign of trouble is reported in the Scotsman newspaper after the ex-service men had held a public meeting at Nigg Hall on the 10th May 1922.

Farm, to which it is stated they were to get entry this Whitsunday, and pegged out the holdings for themselves pending cultivation. There was a reply from Sir Donald Maclean saying he was asking a question in the House of Commons on the subject, and also one from Mr Clynes.

proposed expenditure of the nation’s money for transporting ex-service men overseas, and insists that a serious attempt be now made to implement the promise of restoring their land to its defenders.”

it had been halted by the Scottish Secretary, Robert Munro. No satisfactory reply had been received to the men’s resolution and on the 16h they were to show that this was no idle threat.

The story soon became national news and a list of most of the ex-soldiers involved was published in the Aberdeen Journal; Gillies Macbean, Culnaha, Duncan & Alexander Macrae, Easter Rarichie and William & Alexander Macleod, Balnabruich. Duncan and Alexander although seriously wounded in the war still had some fight left in them, the men pegged out their holdings, threatened to drive the livestock from the farm and made it clear they were willing to go to jail if it came to it.

After World War I, the Board of Agriculture had been given powers to break up farms into small holdings for exservice men and their families. Over 20 successful Small Holdings were created, at this time, in Arabella where a few of the old corrugated iron huts from the Nigg camp can still be seen. But for some reason the planned holdings at Pitcalnie although being approved by the Board of Agriculture

The Scotsman, 17th May 1922. Ross-shire Land Trouble - Ex-service Men Peg Out Holdings for Themselves Ex-Service men at Nigg, Ross-shire, met yesterday, when it was reported that there was no reply of any kind to the telegram and resolutions of last Thursday from the Secretary for Scotland, the Board of Agriculture, or Mr Macpherson, MP. Six of the men who were promised holdings proceeded to Pitcalnie

The Board of Agriculture quickly sent representatives to plead with the men not to do anything rash and a tense meeting followed where the ex-service men were promised they would get the holdings in November. Then the newspapers fall silent on the incident and the next time we find the Macrae brothers in the news it is 1936 where the headline is “Triumph of the smallholder”. It certainly was.

nostalgia - Alex Graham

‘Great to see John Gordon’s response to Wilma Dargavel’s 1950s photo in the June TDPP. He spots AV Macleod back row third from left. Stephan Pater tells me that Avie was a keen pigeon fancier when he lived in The Grove back in the ‘50s. By a strange quirk of fate, Avie ended up living in Alness, and can still be seen walking his collie cross on a daily basis. Our Son Christopher used to be a close neighbour, and they would often meet in the woods with their prized pooches. Christopher’s dog Murphy is not a cross, his pedigree name is Kintradwell George. He is, however, not remotely a George. Anyway, Avie, who must now be in his 90s, married a Canadian national called Ellen - she played the organ in Alness Parish church. I think they both taught in Dingwall - Ellen must have been an English teacher, as I remember both of us reciting the last verse of Cargoes by poet John

Masefield when we ran the Health Food Shop on Alness High Street. The first time I delivered a bag of potatoes to them, probably in the 1990s, I discovered that Avie had moved on from pigeons - he now kept geese! And big they were! They were free range, and would routinely surround my Volvo Estate, making my trip from the car to their back door something of a battle of wits. I soon discovered that they meant me no harm, and I was never pecked. However, it was still a tad odd seeing a gaggle of geese roaming free on Willowbank Road!! The photo above is of a model ship built by my uncle Hugh Macangus, who was born at 2 King Street, Hilton. It was the first one he ever made, and he gave it to my Mother, who was his favourite older sister. He went on to build many more elaborate model boats, many of them contained in impressive glass 30

cases, all made from scratch by uncle Hugh. This one would date from the 1930s, and is named “Fern”. I have no reason to believe that Hugh was not a good speller, so maybe he only had enough paint for four letters!! It originally had impressive rigging and sails, but yours truly was allowed to play with it throughout the 1950s, hence their absence now. The remarkable thing about the ship is the attention to detail - it really is a work of art. I am proud to now have it on display in our living room, where it is very much admired. Uncle Hugh would not have had the benefit of electric sanders, Stanley knives, nor indeed spray cans of acrylic varnish. Hard graft would have been the order of the day. OK, the sails are missing, as is one lifeboat, but otherwise the ship remains in great condition - a testament to uncle Hugh’s undoubted craftmanship. The adverts on the next page are

taken from an old 1913 booklet on the Royal Burgh recently given to me by my good friend Dave Ross. The Saint Duthus Hotel was of course well known to us in the ‘60s, being as it was the home of Robert and Marion Turner, friends of our band The Midas Touch. We were only 16/17 at the time, so were denied the delights of the Saint’s legendary public bar - old man Turner didn’t do underage drinking. Not so Mansfield Hotel, where we became the resident band!! I see that in 1913 The Saint had stables, as well as garage facilities

for what would then have been those new fangled motor vehicles!! I am totally amazed to see motor cycles being offered for sale in Tain in 1913. Where on earth on Sutherland Street would D Mackay’s premises have been? Let’s face it, it’s not exactly Oxford Street! The Triumph Free Engine model illustrated appeared in 1911, the year my Dad was born! It looks almost modern - you can just about imagine Barry Sheen sitting on it!! Established pushbike makers started to branch out into building motor cycles when the technology 31

developed. But why would St Duthus Cycle Works sell gramaphones? It really is so desperately disappointing that England failed to beat Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals! I am normally a very sober dresser, but on the night of 11th July I found myself wearing a virtual red and white checquered top! My lovely Wife Christine, an English rose if ever there was one, was tuned to BBC1. I watched the game on ITV in the kitchen!! It’s not the English players I take exception to, it’s the pundits. Very early on, they were speculating as to who England might meet in the final! Er, they didn’t get to the final. But Croatia did, with a population much less than Scotland, and less than one tenth of England. Their lady president looked stunning in her Croatia top and white jeans. Even Emmanuel Macron was moved to hold her hand at the rain drenched Cup presentation. Theresa May in an England shirt? Er, don’t think so. As the excellent Champagne Charlie (aka Graeme Souness) so succinctly put it: Football is not coming home any time soon. In the 1960s, the population of the Royal Burgh was around 1500. There were countless shops - butchers, bakers, and I reckon Wallace & Fraser sold candlesticks - but maybe didn’t make them! I’m fairly sure that Donald Leitch had three grocers shops! One on Tower Street, one on Manse Street, and one next to the Public Library - across the road from Campbell Mackay (aka Radar Lugs!) Like all successful shopkeepers, Mr Leitch knew the right side of a shilling, he was very careful with his takings. His phone bill was minimal. If he needed to contact another branch, he could merely raise his voice!! Three shops?!! And we never learn. Here we are, in 2018, with two Tain chemists barely yards apart.

TAIN ROYAL ACADEMY CLASS REUNION Above is a photograph of a Tain Royal Academy fourth year class in 1966. WERE YOU A MEMBER OF THIS CLASS? A 50 year anniversary re-union has been planned for later this year. Please contact Hugh Skinner (01862 832897) or Ross Balfour (01862 832485) for more details.

BABY & TODDLER GROUPS Seaboard Mother and Toddler Group Seaboard Hall 10-12

Gaelic Playgroup Tain Free Church Hall Thursday 10-11.30

Little Rascals Tain Parish Church Tuesday 10-11.30

Portmahomack Toddler Group Carnegie Hall Fridays 9.30-11.30

Inver Toddler Group Inver Community Hall Thursday 10-12

Book Bug Sessions Tain Library Wednesdays 1111.30

Youth Cafe Parent and Toddler Tain Youth Cafe Wednesday 10-11.30

Adventure Fridays Facebook - Various Outdoor Locations Fridays 9.45

Portmahomack Toddler Group Carnegie Hall Fridays 9.30-11.30

Baby Stay and Play Tain Youth Cafe (upstairs) Friday 10.30-12

tain amateur swimming club During the summer holidays Tain swimmers Maree Wood and Elise Cosens travelled to Aberdeen to compete at the Scottish Summer Championship in events which they had managed to qualify for. Both girls were swimming under the Highland banner at this national long course event at the Aberdeen Sports Village. Day 1 of the meet saw Maree make the 50m Backcrawl evening final (15 year old girls) and manage to win a Bronze medal in a new personal best time. Day 2 and what a day it was for the girls! In the heats Maree qualified for the 50m free & 50m breast evening finals and Elise in the 50m free. Both girls had good PBs in the free heats with Elise going into the final as the fastest qualifier and Maree placed 4th in her age group. In the finals both girls swam great with Maree matching her morning time and finishing 4th and Elise improving once again with a great

time of 27.93seconds taking Gold in the 12-13 year old category. This was the fastest time recorded in Scotland this year by a 12 year old girl and 2nd fastest time in Britian. A fantastic achievement. Day 3 in a scorching Aberdeen heat! Maree had 2 great PB swims in the morning qualifying for the 50m fly & 100m back evening finals. In the afternoon session Elise took part in the 200m free which was a straight final for her age group of which she finished in 6th place with a new PB. In the evening finals Maree improved once again in her 50fly with a time of 30.48 finishing in 6th place and in the 100 back finished in 8th place. An awesome few days for the girls who did themselves, the club and also the Highland swim team very proud. Article contributed by Jonathan Wood

CLASSIFIEDS AGRICULTURAL Robertsons of Tain Shore Road Tel 01862 892276 ANIMALS Tain Cat Protection Tel 0345 3712737 Email jardij@aol.com Aileen’s Pet Exercise Pet Carer & Exerciser Tel 01862 892919 ARCHITECTS Blueprint Architecture Tel 01862 892900 info@blueprintarchitecture.com ARTS & CRAFTS The Shop Around the Corner Dornoch Tel 01862 811413 BAKERS Grants Bakery High Street, Tain Tel 01862 892315 BUTCHERS Highland Prime Village Store, Post Office / Butchers Tel 01862 832061 COMPUTER SERVICES Adept Open Source Solutions Ltd Tel 08707 609467 sales@adeptopensource.co.uk www.adeptopensource.co.uk CAFE Dornoch Patisserie & Cafe 1 High Street, Dornoch Tel 01862 811148 CHIMNEY SWEEPING Highland Chimney Sweep Services Tel 07811 237105 CONFECTIONERS Sweet Celebrations Ice Cream, Sweets, Hot Food Tel 01862 894125 COPY-EDITING, PROOF READING Michael Foster

HAIRDRESSERS Hair Design 18 Geanies Street, Tain Tel 01862 892228 HOTELS & RESTAURANTS The Royal Hotel High Street, Tain Tel 01862 892013 royalhoteltain@btconnect.com The Burghfield House Hotel Cnoc-an-Lobht, Dornoch, IV25 3HN Tel 01862 811006 www.burghfieldhouse.co.uk The Trentham Hotel Poles, Dornoch Tel 01862 810551 St Duthus Hotel 2 Tower Street, Tain Tel 01862 894007 Carnegie Lodge Hotel Viewfield Road, Tain Tel 01862 894039 info@carnegiehotel.co.uk The Shandwick Inn Kildary, Invergordon Tel 01862 842250 JEWELLERS Forbes Jewellers / Tain Silver Victoria Buildings, High St, Tain Tel 01862 892343 www.maforbes.co.uk LEISURE SERVICES Tain Royal Academy Community Complex (TRACC) Hartfield Road, Tain Tel 01862 893767 METALWORK Metalwork UK Blarliath Industrial Estate, Tain Tel 01862 894123 Email info@metalworkuk.com MORTGAGE SERVICES Ewan A Forrest Financial, Mortgage & Insurance 19-21 Stafford Street, Tain

Email mdf66@hotmail.co.uk ESTATE AGENTS Georgeons Property Tel 01862 892555 FILLING STATIONS Gleaner Oils Tel 01862 (Tain) Tel 01862 (Skiach) FITNESS & EXERCISE Boogie Bounce Xtreme Tain Debbie Stainke Tel 07889 630919 FRUIT & VEGETABLES Empire Foods Contact Michael on 0790 095 8665 FUNERAL SERVICES Alasdair Rhind Tel 01862 892521 (Tain) Tel 01349 853322 (Invergordon) Tel 01862 810300 (Dornoch) Mackay & Macaskill Tel 01862 810492 (Dornoch) GARAGES, TYRES & AUTO Bannerman (Tain) Ltd Shore Road, Tain Tel 01862 892480 Evelix Service Station Tall Pines Restaurant, Evelix, Dornoch Tel 01862 811131 / 810968 Mackintosh Motors Auto Services & Bodywork The Garage, Station Road, Tain Tel 01862 894045 Godsman Tyres & Exhausts Ltd Blarliath Industrial Estate, Tain Tel 01862 892448 Fax 01862 893225 GARDEN SERVICES Patrick Vickery (Aldie Burn Plants) Tel 01862 842346 GRAPHIC DESIGN Gavin Ward Design Associates Tel 07801 190234 www.gwda.co.uk

Tel 01862 893561 PRINTING & REPROGRAPHICS Picture Post Printing Tel 01862 832329 info@tainpost.co.uk PLUMBING & HEATING Highland Heatsave Ltd 2 Port Street, Balintore Tel 01862 832116 Mob 07803 610838 McCue Plumbing & Heating Four Penny Paddock, Skelbo, Dornoch, IV25 3QF Tel 01862 810159 Mob 07990 783097 TAXIS Billy’s Taxis Tel 01862 731081 Tel 07523 125916 DP Taxis Tel 07999 844706 VETS Easter Ross Vets Tel 01862 893142 (Tain) Tel 01349 852204 (Invergordon) Tel 01349 884777 (Alness) WEBSITE DESIGN K & N Concepts Ltd Website & Database Design / Development Tel 07527 134574 Tel 01862 832329 niall.harkiss@kandnconcepts.co.uk

OLD FILE Summer 1949 - The Tain Carnival Queen, Lewis Fraser, along with her Princess and Attendant, making their way down St Duthus Street via Grants Bakery. Picture courtesy of Tain & District Museum

Answers to Kids’ Quiz on Page 22: 1. Oak 2. Thames 3. Pisa 4. Hedwig 5. A Horse 6. Friar Tuck 7. France 8. A Bear 9. Leonardo da Vinci 10. Pinocchio 35

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07527 134 574 Tain & District Branch Cats Protection Telephone: (0345) 371 2737 Email: taincats@aol.com www.tain.cats.org.uk

EMPIRE FOODS TAIN FRUIT VEGETABLES POTATOES AND FREE RANGE EGGS For more information on how you can advertise in the Tain & District Picture Post, please send an email to info@tainpost.co.uk 36

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Louie scoops triple prize Representing Tain and Tain Golf Club, Louie Macleod competed in the Adidas Wee Wonders Final at Gleneagles this past month. Louie also entered the Inverness Highland Games in July. Competing in the disability section, he came 1st in the 100m, 200m and shot putt, and was awarded £30 for his efforts. Well done Louie!

SPORTS “OLD FILE”

A victorious Fearn Thistle Football Club, winners of the Summerhall “2nd XI” Cup in 1928. Having narrowly defeated rivals Balintore 2-1 in the semi final, they won the trophy when they overcame Cromarty in the final.

tain highland gathering Fourteenth July saw all roads leading to Tain with a large turnout of spectators attending the 26th Highland Gathering. The day started with the Chieftain’s parade being led down Tain High Street by Tain Pipe Band. The Committee were delighted that Chieftain for this year was well-known local businessman, Alastair Kennedy, Communications Director with Global Energy Group who was joined by his wife Anne on what was also their 40th wedding anniversary. Secretary Fiona Sutherland reported that the whole day went very well with good numbers of competitors taking part in all the events – heavies, dancing, piping, cycling and track and field. She was delighted to see Sinclair Patience making a welcome return to Tain and winning the overall heavies competition, while the local competition in the morning was won by Jason Young from Inver. Also present was cyclist Kyle Gordon from Ardross who recently represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and who was overall cycling champion at the end of the day. As well as locals, the event was attended by many visitors from overseas who all seemed to enjoy the day and who were kept well informed with all the happenings on the field by announcer Alan Pettigrew who kept the crowd entertained. The Gathering committee are indebted to the sponsors, Glenmorangie, for their continued support and to all the many helpers and volunteers who help out before, during and after the Games. We are also grateful to our past Chieftains who generously donated prizes to our raffle this year. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year! Sadly, the week after our Games, we were saddened to hear of the passing of our Honorary President, Murray Macleod. Murray and the late Wattie Louden were responsible for reinstating Tain Highland Gathering in 1993 and it was their hard work and determination that has brought us to where we are today. He was Gathering Chieftain in 2003. The Committee will be forever grateful to Murray for all his help and guidance over the years and the thoughts of everyone associated with the Gathering are very much with Ewan, Alasdair and their families, and Kenneth, at this sad time.

Local Heavy winner Jason Young, Inver (above), competes in the hammer throw. Open Heavy winner Sinclair Patience (left) pictured with his mother Wilma Patience. His highlights included a 53ft 6’ throw in the light stone.

2018 CHAMPIONS HEAVIES Local HEAVY Open HEAVY

Jason Young, Inver Sinclair Patience, Inverness

TRACK & FIELD Local TRACK & FIELD Finlay Murray, Tain Overall OPEN FIELD Tom Evans, Inverness Overall OPEN TRACK Andrew MacGillivray, Tain Overall TRACK & FIELD Andrew MacGillivray, Tain

PIPING 15 YEARS & UNDER 16-18 YEARS Senior PIPING

Calum Dunbar, Inverness Angus MacPhee, Inverness Cameron MacDougall, Tain

DANCING Local 12 YR & UNDER Local 15YR & UNDER Local 16 YR & OVER Open 12 YR & UNDER Open 15 YR & UNDER Open 16 YR & OVER

Sophia Fraser, Muir of Ord Kirsty Urquhart, Conon Bridge Cara Wilson, Dingwall Lily Kelman, Inverness Keira Gunn, Wick Cara Mackenzie, Inverness

CYCLING Open CYCLING Junior CYCLING

Kyle Gordon, Ardross Lewis, Dey, Forres

TAIN GOLF CLUB

Octogenerian Jean captures Tain club championship crown

It became a season of octogenarian champions across Ross-shire Golf Clubs this summer when Fortrose & Rosemarkie’s champion Morris Brown (83) was joined, and beaten on age, by Tain’s Jean Russell, as the Tain club championships ended last Saturday (June 30th) with a notable mother and daughter family double. In a repeat of last year’s women’s championship between sisters Mary Smith and Anne Ryan, Mary retained her title before they both joined in the cheering when their mother Jean Russell captured the Ladies’ Handicap Championship trophy for a third time at the marvellous age of 89! Jean will celebrate her ninetieth birthday in three months’ time but still holds a handicap of 26. Now continuing to play with the help of a golf buggy she surprised herself at even qualifying for the match-play finals

where she met and beat the Tain Lady Club Captain, Audrey Duncan after 13 holes. “I play two or three times a week and practice every day on my large back garden lawn. I don’t expect to play well every day so I just take what comes along on the course”. She first won the Conon Handicap Trophy forty years ago (1978) then again in 2005. A life time member at Tain, the golf club honoured her with the office of Vice President this year. Mary has two more of a family in Magi Vass, current Tain Club Secretary, a position once filled by her mother’s late husband, Willie Russell, and a son Jimmy who plays his golf on Aberdeen’s Murcar Links. Jean also has 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren all with golfing genes. With Mary and Anne in the Ladies’ Scratch final the family involvement in

the finals totalled four when her son in law, David Vass, featured in the Men’s Handicap final. The gent’s Scratch Championship was won for a second time by last season’s 4-Day Tournament winner, Lyle McAlpine (24) beating débutante finalist and promising teenager Sean Kennedy (19) on the seventeenth green. The women’s final was for a second year contested between the sisters with the eldest sister Mary retaining her title. Kennedy was very impressive in his first final and after the Summer will head across the bridge to Dornoch to begin a four year course in golf management at the UHI Dornoch campus where he will learn that one short missed putt does not lose a match. But it was game changing. He lost his one-hole lead at the tenth hole before McAlpine then went ahead

winning the next - a lead he never surrendered. A birdie two from ten feet on the par three 16th green gave McAlpine the dormy lead and when finding the 17th green first saw Kennedy came up short on the sloppy bank to the right of the green. The youngster skinned his recovery pitch through the green and conceded to a 3 and 1 defeat. Meanwhile the Smith and Ryan final drew to a close on the same hole. From a third shot at the fast running 13th fairway Smith could not hold the par five 13th green to see her lead cut back to one hole. But she won the next par five with birdie four to restore a two-hole lead before exchanging the next two holes

to proceed to the 17th tee dormy two in front. She retained her title on the 17th green by 2 and 1. A second member in his twenties, Fraser Oman (22) was also making a final début in the handicap section, meeting a much older David Vass (61) who had to concede two strokes. They exchanged six of the first ten holes, Oman winning the 2nd, 3rd with stroke, and fourth then Vass recovering to all square by winning the 7th, 9th and tenth holes. The fourth Russell family member and former twice scratch champion bunkered his second to the fourteenth green to go behind again and the next two holes were halved.

On Wednesday 4th July Daryn Jack (pictured left) had a hole in one at the 139 yards 16th hole at Tain using a wedge and playing with Scott Macdougall & Padraig Murray.

Vass missed the seventeenth green from the tee and his recovery pitch was too strong to lose the hole and the tie to Oman by 2&1. At a much further end of the age scale the picture looks very bright for Tain Golf Club when thirteen year Iona Ferries met and beat 12 year old Max MacAngus in the Junior Handicap final and in the Junior Scratch final two 17 year old teens met, Scott Macdougall and Paddy Murray, with Scott coming out on top. Article contributed by Robin Wilson

TAIN TENNIS CLUB football fixtures Juniors presented with league trophy HIGHLAND After attending a fun doubles event and prize giving day in Grantown, Tain 12U team collected their Division 2 trophy from Highland Junior League sponsors Galbraith. A special mention goes to Marcus McAuley who went undefeated in the singles receiving a small trophy for his efforts.

FOOTBALL LEAGUE U17 NORTH DIVISION FIXTURES for ST DUTHUS FC U17s 19/8 Clachnacuddin (H) 26/8 Lossiemouth (H) 2/9 Fort William (H) 9/9 Wick Academy (A) 16/9 Buckie Thistle (A) 23/9 Dingwall (H) 30/9 Alness United (H) 7/10 Nairn County (A) 28/10 Rothes (A) 11/11 Brora Rangers (H) 18/11 Forres Mechanics (A) 25/11 Lossiemouth (A) 2/12 Clachnacuddin (A) 9/12 Fort William (A) 16/12 Wick Academy (H) 13/1 Buckie Thistle (H) 20/1 Dingwall (A) 27/1 Nairn County (H) 3/2 Alness United (A) 10/2 Rothes (H) 17/2 Brora Rangers (A) 24/2 Forres Mechanics (H)

NORTH CALEDONIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE SENIOR FIXTURES for ST DUTHUS FC

Fixtures are league matches unless otherwise specified. 1/9 Nairn County u20 (A) (FT Cup R1) 8/9 Invergordon (H) 15/9 Alness United (A) 22/9 League game TBC (or FT Cup QF) 29/9 Orkney (H) 6/10 League game TBC (or FT Cup Semi) 13/10 Thurso (H) 20/10 Bunillidh Thistle (A) (or FT Cup Final) 27/10 Halkirk United (H) 3/11 Inverness (A) 10/11 Golspie (H) 17/11 Nairn or Alness (A) (NC Cup QF) 1/12 TBC 8/12 Orkney (A) 15/12 TBC

LOCAL FOOTBALL

Thistle face battle with Helmsdale Utd for title The race for the North West Sutherland Amateur league title is set for a photo finish as just a handful of points seperate Tain Thistle, Helmsdale United and Golspie Stafford. Just a handful of rescheduled games need to be played before the teams move into the final stretch after the league split. Those fixtures are set to take place in August. Tain Thistle had ascended to the top of the table in late June after seeing off an early challenge from Dornoch City, but a stumble away to Helmsdale United has seen the balance shift in the favour of the Helmsdale side, who grabbed the initiative and sit in first place with a one point advantage as at the end of July. The league split will see the top six teams play each other once more to decide the league championship, while the bottom five teams will compete for the consolation prize of the Inchlampie Cup. Rediscovering his scoring form, the experienced Liam Rostock has been a standout for Thistle this summer. The forward man reached a landmark 150 goals for Tain in just under 200 games in July, and is the league’s top marksman with 15 goals this campaign.

Eastern Rose set for Community Cup Ross-shire Welfare football outfit Eastern Rose, form Portmahomack, have announced that they will be entering the Community Cup this winter. They are appealing to players interested in playing winter football to message their Facebook page. Their season is set to start in the 1st week of September.

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Saints keeper earns Highland League switch GOALKEEPER Steven Martin has signed a professional contract with Highland Football League club Clachnacuddin, confirming his departure from Tain’s St Duthus FC after two seasons as the club’s first choice stopper. A Tain native, Steven, 31, came through the youth ranks of Inverness Caledonian Thistle while attending Tain Royal Academy before getting his first taste of adult football with Golspie Sutherland, playing latterly with Tain Thistle and Bonar Bridge. He became involved at Brora Rangers in the Highland League and enjoyed a series of spells over the years, earning several cup medals along the way. Following a stint with Strathspey, Steven was the first signing made by the St Duthus management team of Stuart and Andrew Ross in July 2016 following their appointment, as they began to build a squad for their first North Caledonian League campaign. The faith shown was instantly repaid as he quickly asserted himself as a key member of the team. Across two seasons for the Saints, he played 41 competitive games, keeping 5 clean sheets. In March 2018, he reaped the on-the-field rewards when he collected a North Caledonian Cup winners medal for his part in the Saints’ 3-1 win over Golspie Sutherland. St Duthus manager Stuart Ross said: “It won’t come as a surprise to know that Highland League teams have been sniffing round him over the time he’s been with us, but distance mostly put

paid to many of those opportunities for him. This year, Clachnacuddin have come in at the right time and we applaud Steven for taking the opportunity, as disappointed as we are to be losing him. He’s making the move on merit as a very talented goalkeeper. He had an excellent 2017-18 season for Saints and didn’t put a glove wrong. He was a great voice in the dressing room and on the park, he’s worked hard for us and had a great presence at training. We’re very thankful for the two years he’s given to the club. He goes to Clach with our greatest wishes and we hope he does well.” Speaking on his departure, Steven said: “When I heard that St Duthus were reforming, it was something that really appealed to me. With a young family, the commitment of Highland League was becoming more difficult and playing for my home town team was the logical step to take. I wanted to play regular football and I was delighted when Stu and Andy gave me that opportunity. The club has such a professional set up and it was a joy to be part of it, the Cup Final in the first season and the Cup win in the second being particular highlights.” “The time was right to move on this season, I had made no secrets that I would be interested in a step back to Highland League football and at my age, if I turned it down again, the requests may well have stopped coming.” “Overall, I have really enjoyed my time at Saints and I am grateful to the coaching staff and committee for giving me the opportunity to be part of the revival.”

COMMUNITY EVENTS 2nd August - Tain Library Lego Club 2.30-3.30pm 3rd August - Kids Art Club at Duthac Centre, Tain. Two sessions 10am-11am and 11am-midday for children aged 3-11. - Dornoch Highland Gathering at Dornoch Meadows Park from 10:30am - Fèis Rois Ceilidh Trail at Seaboard Memorial Hall from 8pm 4th August - Craig Smith Memorial Rugby 7s at Invergordon Recreation Grounds from 11:30am 4th - 11th August - Tain Golf Week, sponsored by McDonald Haulage. More info: https://www.brsgolf.com/tain/opens_home.php 6th-10th August - “Space Academy” Tain Parish Church Holiday Club 10am-12pm 7th August - Dornoch to Embo 5.25m Walk from 10am to 2pm (Highlife Highland) - Tain Library Mischief Craft Activities for ages 5-11. From 10:30am to 11:30am. Book online at highlifehighland.com 8th August - Dornoch Community Market on the Cathedral Green from 9:30am 9th August - Gearrchoille Community Wood Bug Hunt in Ardgay, from 11am. (Highlife Highland Counrtyside Rangers) - Seaboard Sessions, Seaboard Hall from 7pm - Tain Library Lego Club 2.30-3.30pm 11th August - Mackenzie & Cormack Tain Ladies Open at Tain Golf Club 12th August - Taste of the Wild at Ledmore and Migdale. For more info visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/events 14th August - St Duthus v Brora Rangers U20s in a “friendly” football match at the Links. Kick off 7.30pm. - Tain Library Writing Group from 10am to 12.30pm 15th August - The Underwater World of Tain Links Pond from 11am (Highlife Highland Counrtyside Rangers) 16th August - Seaboard Sessions, Seaboard Hall from 7pm - Tain Library Reading Group 7.30-9pm 18th August - Tain Community Market at the Rose Gardens from 12pm - Dornoch City vs Tain Thistle in a North West Sutherland AFA league match at The Meadows, Dornoch. Kick off TBC. 19th August - St Duthus U17s v Clachnacuddin U17s football match at the Links in the Highland League North. Kick off 1.30pm. 22nd August - Dornoch Community Market on the Cathedral Green from 9:30am - St Duthus v Clachnacuddin U20s in a “friendly” football match at the Links. Kick off 7.30pm. 24th August - Tain Pipe Band on the High Street.From 7pm. 25th August - Tain & District Gardeners’ Club Summer Show - (Non competitive). Tain Parish Church Hall. 1pm–4pm. Free Admission. Donations in aid of The Highland Hospice - Tain Thistle v Helmsdale United in a North West Sutherland AFA league match at the Links. Kick off TBC 26th August - St Duthus U17s v Lossiemouth U17s football match at the Links in the Highland League North. Kick off 1.30pm 28th August - Alzheimer Scotland - Tain Carers Group. Tain Dementia Resource Centre, Victoria Road from 1:30pm to 3pm. 30th August - Seaboard Sessions, Seaboard Hall from 7pm

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