Swifts vs Castletown

League leaders Thurso Swifts beat Castletown 3-1 tonight at the Dammies. Mark Nichol scored a hat-trick against stand-in goalkeeper Chris Sutherland. Castletown missed great chances in the first half and should have wrapped up the match by half time.

Mark Nichol tussles with Castletown's Stuart Florence

Gavin Henderson hits a volley wide of the Swifts goal

Scott Mackay-Steven celebrates his side's opening goal

Pher Nicholson beats goalkeeper Brian Mackay but his effort went wide. The best chance of the match!

NPS Scottish Show

The National Pony Society held its annual Scottish Show last weekend at Strathallan Castle. My daughter Jillian along with Halkirk's Alasdair Matheson competed at this prestigious and huge event. Over 800 horse and ponies from all over the UK competed in 9 rings from 8am until 6pm. Both riders came away with reserve championship rosettes. Halkirk's James Munro also attended as one of the judges.

Jillian Gunn on Willoway Chatterbox - reserve champions in the New Forest in-hand section & 3rd in intermediate ridden class

Alasdair Matheson on Scarlet O'Hara, reserve champions in the ridden part bred arab section

James Munro caught in the act of judging the M&M working hunter classes

Halkirk Gala Week

The Halkirk Gala Week fun dog show was held at the Ross Institute on Wed 10th June and the judges were Vet Ken Wilson and student vet May Erridge. There were 10 winners of prizes such as the happiest dog, noiest dog, dog most like owner and waggiest tail.

The kids bicycle treasure hunt was held on Tues 9th June and Gala Queen Lauren MacDonald presented the prizes.

Caithness Riding Club Show

The Caithness Riding club show held on Sat 6th june clashed with my trip to Cyprus for Ashley and Russell's wedding, so Colin Gregory kindly agreed to stand in for me and try his hand at equestrian photos for the first time. Colin found out that it can be a very long day at a horse show and this one finished early after only 6 hours! This is the first of many equestrian shows in Caithness over the summer and I will be at most.

Acks vs Pentland Utd

Acks played Pentland Utd on Wed 10th June in a cup match at the Dammies. It was 0-0 at full time and I left after the first half of extra time when it was still 0-0.

Russell & Ashley's Cyprus Wedding

Russell Miller and Ashley Anderson got married in Cyprus on 4th June at the Cavo Maris Beach Hotel in Protaras. 24 friends and relations from Caithness and Edinburgh attended the wedding, including my family and I. It was the hottest event I have ever been to - the mercury reached 34 degrees and everyone was totally exhausted after the meal! My first ever attempt at taking wedding photos and a small selection is shown here.

Pentland Utd vs Thurso Swifts

A clearance by a Swifts defender via an overhead scissors kick

One half of a big crowd at the match, closely watch the action

Willie Steven tries in vain to stop Pentland Utd's No.10 from scoring the opening goal

The top of the table clash between Pentland Utd and Swifts was played in perfect sunny conditions this evening. I caught most of the second half, but had to leave with 10 mins to go. Pentland Utd were leading 1-0 after their No.10 blasted a screamer into the net - even too quick for my camera! The match was very evenably balanced and it took a brilliant effort to break the deadlock.

I have been trying for the last year to catch an overhead scissors kick and I finally succeeded tonight. These type of kicks are very rare and even rarer to catch on camera.