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First and
third Sunday of every month
1.30pm to
3.30pm
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Spinning Group
 Meet
every 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month from 11.45am to 1.45pm. Returning
spinners and new spinners most welcome.
Come along and have
a try. No wheel needed. Come and be inspinnerised!!
To find out more
and register interest, click HERE
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Castlehill
Archaeology Club
The Castlehill Archaeology
group meets regularly under the guidance of Paul Humphreys. The current
project is entitled 'Uncovering the Garth', and investigates the
possible medieval settlement on the site of Lower Garth, between Castlehill
and Thurdistoft.
Interested in taking
part? - click
HERE
See CAT
website for details.
At the end of the
project soil samples will be processed at the Castlehill Archaeology Research
Facility within the Castlehill Heritage Centre, where volunteers are welcome
to take part in the processing of the excavated materials.
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Monday evenings
Classes restart
on Monday 9 January 2012
7 - 9pm
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Wash
and Brush Up
 Our
very popular painting classes with Helen Moore recommence on Monday 9
January after the Christmas break.
Sessions run from
7-9pm on Monday evenings at a cost of £8 per evening plus materials.
Juniors and OAPs £5. Beginners are especially welcome.
To find out more
and register interest, click HERE
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COMPLETED
2011 EVENTS
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Castlehill
Archaeology Club meeting at Castlehill
On Friday 4 February
at 7pm, Castlehill Archaeology Club met in the Castlehill Heritage Centre
and planned its activities for the coming year. Main topics for the evening
were the development of a Project Design for Lower Garth, and the organisation
of field walking activities near Lower Garth and in the field behind Castlehill
Heritage Centre.
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Castlehill
Archaeology Club meeting at Castlehill
The second meeting
for 2011 of the Castlehill Archaeology Club was held on Sunday 27 February.
A good turn-out
of archaeology group members enabled division of labour on activities
both at Lower Garth and in the field behind Castlehill Heritage Centre.
The first group was
briefed on the intricacies of field walking, walking the length of the
field following a visual line between sets of two markers, scanning the
ground for any fragments of pottery or flint, bagging the finds and marking
the location with a flag. The
second group worked with a will, using secateurs, sickles, scissors and
rakes to reduce the vegetation within the two buildings at Lower Garth
and their immediate vicinity.
At the next meeting
the group will wash and analyse the finds from the field walking exercise.
Also of interest to the study of Garth is the composition of the orchard.
It is planned to take samples of the trees once they are in leaf and have
their type identified. One possible co-operative project might be to graft
cuttings and bring them on in the tree nursery at Dunnet Forest. One particularly
large tree stump appeared to be of considerable age. The group will attempt
to ascertain its age, either by measuring its girth, or by using dendrochronology
ie counting the rings.
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Quiz
Night Fun at Castlehill
 There
was much scratching of heads on Thursday evening at the annual Castletown
Heritage Society Quiz Night. Quizmaster Neil put ten teams through their
paces with ten rounds of topics such as General Knowledge, Food &
Drink, Geography and the Natural World, Sport and Food, Glorious Food.
At the halfway point it was a close thing at the top between 'The Rants'
on 42 and regular competitors the 'Particulars' on 46. After a welcome
break for tea , sandwiches and home bakes, during which the raffle was
drawn, the close rivalry between the two teams started to show, with 'Hopeless'
and 'Eureka' making a late surge. It was the Particulars however who stormed
away, dropping only two points over rounds 7, 8 and 9. Their commanding
lead meant that their (now traditional) poor performance in the Caithness
round failed to change the final order, leaving them in top spot with
a final score of 76. 'The Rant' shared second place with 'Hopeless' (both
on 65) with 'Eureka' (63) just missing out in fourth slot. The 'Booby'
prize went to the 'Oldies', who were slightly disadvantaged by having
only three team members. At least that's what Marjory said.
Pictured above is
the winning 'Particulars' team, holding their prizes - a unique framed
print of a golden sunlit view of the Castlehill Flagstone Works windpump
tower, with Dunnet Head in the background (see report dated 25 Feb below
to see the image).
 Thanks
go to all the competitors who came from as far afield as Portskerra, Wick,
Thurso, Dunnet to join the local contingent from Castletown. Thanks must
also go to Liz B, Muriel, Liz G, Jane and Sharon for providing splendid
home made fare for our 'pieces', and everyone who donated a raffle prize.
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Sunday 20 Feb to end of
March
Sat,
Sun & Wed afternoons
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Caithness
Amateur Radio Society Exhibition
Caithness Amateur
Radio Society set up a live working radio station and an exhibition at
Castlehill centre to celebrate 50 years of existence of the Club's existance.
The display included material on radio's beginnings, the importance of
war-time military radio communications in Caithness, the ex US Navy Communications
network in Caithness and much more.
The display was manned
by club members during normal Castlehill opening hours.
To
find out more about Caithness Amateur Radio Society click
here
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Gansey
talk and workshop
 A
'gansey' is a distinctive, seamless, woollen pullover, traditionally worn
by seamen and fishermen. It was designed to be practical, comfortable
to wear for work, and provide some protection from the harsh conditions
at sea. Many early fishing communities are thought to have had their “own”
distinctive gansey patterns or pattern combinations. Wearers’ initials
or the name of the boat were sometimes incorporated into a design, and
if a man was lost at sea, this might have helped identify him.
Elizabeth Lovick
from Orkney will not only reveal the fascinating social history concerning
men's ganseys, but also the lives of herring gutters, their ganseys, and
the interconnections of patterns round the coast as far afield as the
northern isles.
Following her introductory
talk, Elizabeth led a practical workshop helping participants perfect
the skill of designing and knitting a gansey. 5
ply gansey yarn was supplied (donated by Frangipani) however participants
werel free to bring along your own wool if desired. In the Northern Isles
ganseys were often knitted in homespun. Needles used were
in the 3-4 mm range or 2.5 for the masochists.
Participants designed
their own mitifs using pencil and paper, or a laptop (designing motifs
is much easier on a computer).
Available for sale
were copies of Henrietta Munro's book on Caithness ganseys, and Liz's
CD on Knitting Ganseys and a CHS selection of her patterns
The cost for the
talk and workshop was £10, including a soup & sandwich lunch.
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Wed April
27 7.30pm
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 Castletown
Heritage Society Annual
General Meeting
The Annual General
Meeting of the Castletown Heritage Society was held in the Castlehill
Heritage Centre on Wednesday, 27 April at 7.30pm.
The guest speaker
was Ian Leith, author of "The man who went to Farr", the story
of Patrick Sellar, the factor who stood accused of culpabable homocide
for his part in the Strathnaver Clearances.
Mr Leith, whose family
belongs to this corner of Caithness, returned to the topic of the Clearances
for his talk "Remove or Improve - the Sellar and Traill approaches."
See the report of
proceedings on the news page.
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Winter Exhibition
Sat,
Sun & Wed afternoons
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 Winter
Exhibition - Domesticity
A fascinating exhibition
illustrating everyday life at home in Castletown in by-gone times.
Featuring artefacts
from the Society's extensive collection of objects, furniture, photographs,
newspapers and other domestic ephemera, some of which may be all too familiar….
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Brough
Bay Association exhibition
 During
May, Castlehill Heritage Centre hosted a special exhibition by the nearby
Brough
Bay Association. Entitled
"Then and Now" the exhibition featured photographs, stories
and exhibits depicting the life and times of the village of Brough and
Dunnet Head and was staged to celebrate the conservation project at Brough
Harbour.
The exhibition ran
until the 25 May and was open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons,
from 2pm to 4pm.
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Saturday
May 28
1/2 day workshop
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Winemaking
1
 Learn
about the traditional methods of making home-made wine from a variety
of berries, fruits and other ingredients - with a little effort the results
can be really rewarding!
Tutor Philip Wright
explained the nature of wine and demonstrated that there is no need to
invest in expensive equipment to make the best out of excess garden fruits
and more unusual ingredients like pea pods, and provided useful advice
on what works well and what best to avoid! Did you know that there is
a even a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding wine?
In September there
will be a "wine surgery" where you can discuss your wine making successes
and failures. In a year's time once your wine has matured you can attend
the CHS home-made wine tasting session.
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Sunday 12
June
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Bee
Keeping
in Caithness
 Did
you know there were over 20,000 species of wild bees, and that archaelogical
finds have indicated that harvesting honey from bees took place as early
as 2000BC?
Local apiarist Robin
Inglis kicked off our introductory session and workshop with an illustrated
presentation revealing the fascinating life-cycle of the humble honey
bee. Participants were able to get up close and personal with live bees
in an observation hive.
Part two of the workshop
will focus on the practical side of domestic bee keeping in Caithness.
Robin will demonstrate and provide information and advice on the cost
of starting to keep bees, the purchase of hives and equipment, the care
and handling of bees, and the treatment of parasites and diseases.
The cost for the
introductory session and workshop was £15, including a soup &
sandwich lunch.
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Sunday June
26
1pm - 5pm
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Scotlands
Garden Scheme
 Scotland’s
Gardens Scheme (SGS) is a registered charity created in 1931 which
raises funds for other worthy charities by facilitating the opening of
large and small gardens of horticultural interest throughout Scotland
to the public.
Castlehill Heritage
Centre formed the local base for the event, where a map plus information
and details relating to flagstone village gardens within Castletown that
will be open to the public as a special event, was available on payment
of the admission fee.
A main feature was
the Castlehill Heritage Garden, where light refreshments were served throughout
the afternoon.
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5,6 &
7 August
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Traditional Basket
Making
Like many "End to
Enders" Tim Johnson made
the 600 mile journey to Caithness last week. His destination however was
not John o' Groats but Castlehill Heritage Centre, where he delivered
three days of instruction on traditional basket making. Tim, from the
Isle of Wight, is an internationally renowned craftsman, travelling the
world studying and teaching his art.
 Some
twenty-five students reaped the benefit of Tim's experience at Castlehill,
where they learned to make dishes and bowls from buff willow, bags from
rush and iris stems, and finally a traditional fishing creel for taking
home the catch, made from heather stems or docken stalks, bound by hand-twisted
coir twine. This proved a particularly physical task, as springy heather
had to be subdued, and fingers ached as the twine was knotted and tightened,
pulling the creel into shape.
The creel project
was inspired by the donation of a 100- year- old fishing creel to the
Centre by Sheila Moir of Scarfskerry. Tim stressed the importance of such
projects to keep alive local crafts no longer practised today.
This was Tim Johnson's
second successful visit to the Heritage Centre as part of the ongoing
programme of traditional skills tuition organised by Castletown Heritage
Society. It is hoped that a further visit can be arranged next year.
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29 May to
August
2 - 4pm Wednesdays,
Saturdays & Sundays
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Joint
summer exhibition with Wick Heritage Society
 In
conjunction with the Wick
Society, Castlehill
Heritage Centre will host a special display of photographs from the Johnston
Collection.
The Johnston
Collection represents the work of three generations of Caithness photographers
who captured images of life in and around the area between 1863 and 1975.
During that period they produced around a hundred thousand glass plate
negatives. Of these, around fifty thousand survive and are held in trust
by the Wick Society.
The photgraphic
exhibition will feature images local to Castletown, celebrating our rural
heritage.
 Also
on display will be our own summer exhibition featuring the historic operations
and activities of the highly successful Castlehill Flagstone Works and
the social impact of the flagstone industry on Castletown and the Parish
of Olrig.
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10 &
11 September
Two one day
workshops
10am to 4pm
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It's
not rocket science - well actually, it is!!
 Yes,
you did read that correctly!! On
the 11th and 12th September, Castlehill Heritage Centre hosted something
really different - two amazing one day workshops where participants learned
how to build and fly their own rockets!
Organised by the
Caithness branch of the British Science Association, each day kicked off
with a presentation by Dave Tranter, experienced amateur rocketeer and
member of the Southern England Rocket Flyers. Participants
were then tutored as they build their own rocket.
See the report and
images on the news page.
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Friday 23
September
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Edwardian Concert
 Following
the discovery of an original handbill advertising a Castletown village
concert at the turn of the previous century, Castletown Heritage Society
hopes to recreate the atmosphere of an Edwardian concert featuring local
acts and performers.
Through our association
with North
Highland Connections we are delighted to have secured the services
of Professor
Chris Underwood, Head of Vocal Studies at the Royal
Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Professor Underwood will deliver
a week of training and coaching to assist performers in preparation for
what will undoubtedly be an interesting and entertaining evening.
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24 September
1/2 day workshop
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Winemaking
2
 Second
in our series of hands-on workshops learning about the traditional methods
of making home-made wine from a variety of berries, fruits and other ingredients.
Focus on material available late in the season.
Includes a "wine
surgery" where you can discuss your wine making successes and failures.
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Sunday 16
October
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Wind
and water power - 19th Century Style
 Guided
walk around Castletown exploring the many and various ways that water
was harnessed to power plant and equipment within the village.
Part of the Highland
Archaeology Fortnight, a programme run sponsored by Highland Council to
raise awareness of local archaeology, history and heritage and encourage
people to discover the historic environment of Caithness.
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Sunday 30
October
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Bobbin
Lace - a talk and demonstration afternoon
 A
talk exploring the traditional craft of Bobbin lace making, tracing its
early origins in 16th century Italy to demonstrations of modern day techniques.
Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of
thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses,
the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement
of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the
pillow.
Demonstration of
bobbin lace by Jean Stitt and Cynthia Hardyman. Examples of crochet lace
and knitted lace will also be on display. Come along and try it out.
To find out more
and register interest, click HERE
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Saturday
November 12
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Pre-Christmas
Craft at Castlehill
 Struggling
to come up with that original Christmas gift for a friend or loved one?
Then why not come along to our pre Christmas sale to peruse our unique
selection of original Christmas gifts with a local focus.
Including:
- Slate and stone
goods from Caithness Stone Industries
- Wood items lovingly
crafted by the North Highland Woodturners Association
- Hand knit hats,
scarves, bags, socks and Christmas ornaments
- Silk scarves,
driftwood art, hand felted items from Castlehill Crafts
- Books and calendars
from Castlehill Heritage Centre
Enjoy a cup of tea
or coffee and home baking as you browse and purchase.
See News page for
report on event
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Friday 18
November
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Traditional
Music Workshop - Bothy Night
 A
traditional skills workshops exploring the social history of the bothy,
and in particular the traditional songs and stories of the workers
and farm servants who used to inhabit them. Featuring local artists and
performers.
Bothies were outbuildings
on a farm or estate, where unmarried labourers and workers used to sleep,
often in harsh conditions. In the evening, to entertain themselves they
told stories, sang old songs and often composed their own songs, occasionally
lampooning their masters, working conditions or day to day events. The
stories and songs were sometimes topically political, and given the single
sex environment, frequently quite rude!
Our first Bothy Night
workshop held last November proved extremely popular, so early booking
is advised!!
See News page for
report on event
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Wed 2, 9,
16, 23 November
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Spinning
lessons for beginners.
Ann Johnston, Dunnet
will be holding four beginners sessions at Castlehill Heritage Centre
on November 2, 9,16 and 23rd from 7-9pm.
Cost £5 per session
for tuition, tea/coffee plus one payment of £5 to cover materials.
A limited number of spinning wheels available.
To find out more
and register interest, click HERE
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Every
Wed, Sat & Sun afternoon
2pm - 4pm
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Winter exhibition
- Castletown in Uniform
 Our
latest themed exhibition, exploring the fascinating social history of
Castletown in uniform - from the postie, to the district nurse to the
RAF personnel stationed at RAF Castletown, and more!!
Now
Open - All Welcome!
[Closed New Year's
Day]
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December
26
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Mulled Wine &
Mince Pies
 Join
us at Castlehill Heritage Centre for mulled wine, mince-meat pies and
a good going chinwag on our festive Boxing Day opening.
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Watch this space for confirmed
dates and further details, alternatively:
CONTACT
US by email or
phone 01847 821120
To book a place on an
event, email or phone as above
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