Thurso Camera Club Exhibition

The Thurso Camera Club is staging an exhibition of member's photos in Caithness Horizons from tomorrow until Sat 10th October. Over 50 photos are on display in the upstairs Art gallery. The top 10 are due to be selected to represent the club in the Highland Challenge photo competition, which is contested between all the camera clubs in the Highlands & Islands.

Thurso has never won the competition, but last year came second.

Three of my photos in the exhibition are shown here. The standard is high and the exhibition is worth a look.

Opening hours are 10am to 6pm Mon - Sat. 11am to 4pm Sun.

MacNab Challenge Success

Michael MacDonald, Halkirk, was successful in the MacNab Challenge yesterday. Derived from a famous 1925 book by John Buchan entitled "John MacNab" the challenge is to bag a stag, brace of grouse and a salmon, all on the same day. Michael raised around £2,300 that will be split between two charities;

Alzheimer's Scotland: The Couthie Corner, Thurso
Palliative Care, Dunbar Hospital, Thurso

Clarence Munro, pictured below, offered his land at Dorrery, Halkirk for the stag and grouse shoot and also helped Michael stalk the stag. Richard MacNicol, Halkirk, ex gamekeeper, assisted with the grouse shoot. Eddy McCarthy, River Superintendent, gave a beat on the Thurso River and Michel's brother, Grant, was the ghillie.

Wick-Thurso Charity Relay Race

The annual Caithness Amateur Athlete Club charity relay race between Wick & Thurso was held today. The winning team won in 1 hour 56mins and is pictured above. 10 teams of at least six members took part. The charity that benefits is Alzheimer's Scotland: The Couthie Corner, Thurso and Longberry, Wick.

TrexTreks charity walk

Came across this unusual sight whilst shopping at Tesco, Wick, on Saturday. Lloyd Scott is raising money for teenager cancer trust and is walking from Lands End to John O'Groats. £150,000 has been raised to date and the walk is due to finish today. The T-rex is life size at 30 foot long and 12 foot high.

See www.trextreks.com.

Caithness RFC vs Highland

Caithness lost 20-26 to Highland (Inverness) today, but still gained a bonus point in the local derby league match. The Greens had 3 key players missing and seemed to miss the hard tackling of Stevie Campbell. The big Highland players were more hungrier to win the game.

Thurso FC vs Tain Thistle

Colin Gregory took some pics of the Thurso vs Tain Thistle cup game played yesterday. Thurso won 3-2 and join Halkirk in the next round as they beat Bonar Bridge 4-1.

Caithness RFC vs Glasgow Accies

I caught the first half action of the Caithness RFC vs Glasgow Accies game today. It was 3-3 at half-time and Caithness went onto win 17-3. The SRU President travelled up to watch the game and ended up running the line.

Halkirk Utd vs Bonar Bridge

Halkirk Utd played Bonar Bridge today. I caught the action late in the first half and for 15 mins of the second. Halkirk were winning 2-1 when I left.

Caithness Car Club - Golspie Sprint

The Caithness Car Club held the Golspie sprint at the Littleferry circuit over the weekend. A full entry of 70 cars from all over Scotland competed against the clock in 18 different classes. The races counted towards the Scottish sprint & speed championships and also the Highland speed championship. The dry weather helped many drivers to smash various track records.

Lots of Caithness drivers competed against the best in Scotland including the Coghill family from Stemster, with George snr, George jnr, Nicola & Carolyn. The top Caithness driver was James Brims in the Gould GR37 owned by Autoparts of Thurso (above), Autoparts of Thurso also sponsored the event.

It was my first time at a car sprint and I tried various camera settings to see which worked best. The very dull weather did not help as the photos tend to come out flat. I have processed some photos to try and make them more dramatic.

Wick Academy vs Rothes

Wick beat Rothes 7-1 in the Highland League today. The Rothes keeper was sent off after 21 mins for a last man foul on David Allan. New signing Sam MacKay (above) made his full debut, scored a hat-trick and was voted man of the match. The fee paid to Deveronvale for Golspie based Sam was undisclosed, but it looks like a shrewd buy.

Subs Gary Weir, Alan Farquhar and Ross Allan tormented the Rothes defence when they came on mid-way through the second half. With Martin Gunn back for the next match, Academy's squad is the strongest they have had. I must find out the odds for Academy winning the league, must be worth a tenner.

It was raining all day in the Thurso area, but Wick was bright and sunny with a strong breeze.