Black Isle Show

The Black Isle Show held the light legged horse classes on Wednesday and a record entry of well over 500 horses and ponies pushed the start time from 8.30am to 8.00am. This meant having to leave for the show, with our two ponies, at 4.30am!

The large Caithness contingent won lots of classes and championships at Scotland's second largest agricultural show (after the Royal Highland). This shows how high the standard is in the county.

All the results are published in the Ross-Shire Journal (out this Friday). The main champions from Caithness were;

WH pony & supreme show champion - Rhydspence Ambassador owned by Camila Sinclair and loaned to Georgia Campbell
Coloured horses and ponies, ridden - Marion Chretien & West on a Mission
Coloured horses and ponies in-hand - Diane Ross & Kingston (reserve)
M&M, ridden - Fiona & Ashley Anderson & Dyfroig Tomi
M&M ridden - Lynne Sutherland & Latheron Watermark (reserve)
Arab, Anglo Arab, part bred arab, ridden - Willie Simpson & Scarlet O'Hara ridden by ??
Ridden horses - George Harper & O'Brogain ridden by Louise MacDonald
Show pony - Lisa & Carolyn Coghill & Stemster Millenium Bug ridden by Erika Hay
Show Pony - Willie Simpson & Hollyland Quincy ridden by Beth Simpson (reserve)
Working Hunter horses - Willie Simpson & Starindeye Stormer ridden by Nicola Kemp(reserve)

Circus Berlin 2

After having struggled to get as many good photos as I would like, I went back to the circus the next night for another go. At least I now knew what the acts were going to do. The coloured lighting gave a cast to many pics and converting to black & white is one way around this problem.

Another packed house enjoyed a great evening's entertainment.

Thurso Swifts vs Top Joes

I went back to take photos at the Circus Berlin on Tues evening and during the 20 min interval, I went out and snapped a few shots of the cup match between Thurso Swifts and Top Joes. I managed to capture the Swifts third goal (see above) scored by Michael Petrie. The score was 4-0 to Swifts when I left.

The circus was again packed out and was just as good second time around.

Berlin Circus

The circus came to town last night and a full house enjoyed a fantastic show. The two clowns went down a storm, even with the people who got wet from their antics! Some of the high acts were literally death defying and drew gasps from the crowd.

The lighting conditions were a photographer's nightmare and I struggled to get the ones I wanted, even with a fast f2.8 lens.

The circus stays in Thurso for 2 more days and then moves onto Wick.

Thurso Gala Floats

Lots of fun at the Thurso Gala parade last night. The Aladdin float was the most photogenic and it got the prize for best dressed. The Barbie collection (50 years) won first prize in the foot collectors class. A selection of the more colourful characters are shown here.

Wick Academy vs Strathspey Thistle

Wick Academy played one of the 3 new teams in the Highland League, Strathspey Thistle. Wick scored with nearly every attack and were 8-0 up by half time. Highland league player of the year Richard McAdie scored four goals. The final score was 8-1, which is a club record.

As it was Strathspey's first ever game in the league, the players were piped onto the field and had a guard of honour by 8 scorries, who first appeared at the Wick Gala a week ago.