Wanted: Lighthouse keeper and a fabulous individual

Who hasn't dreamed of working as a lighthouse keeper? Now is your chance.

Wanted: Lighthouse keeper and a fabulous individual
Leacnasaide Badachro and beyond | Credit Clare Lumsden

👋 Hello and welcome to the Wester Ross Round-up. This week our newsletter goes out to 723 people. If you've helped to us to reach more local people by sharing it with your friends and relatives - thank you! If you are reading this because someone forwarded it to you and you'd like to get it every week yourself, you can sign-up using the button below.

The snow has mostly gone for the time being, so we can finally get out and about. Here's a quick run down of things that are going on that caught our eye:

🏊‍♂️ Poolewe Pool have published their January to March timetable, if you fancy a swim.

💃🏿 And if you prefer dancing to get fit, Zumba classes are back on in Poolewe and Gairloch.

🍛 It won't get you fit, but The Badachro Inn are holding a curry night on Friday the 17th. You can eat in or order takeaway.

🎱 There's a pool competition in The Links Bar on January 18th. Don't forget to message them before hand to enter.

🐋 On January 23, The High Life Highland countryside rangers are putting on a free online talk billed as a "beachcombers guide to the strange finds on the beaches of NW Highlands." Sign-up here.

🍰 Pool House want you to know that after the ice forced them to close last week, they plan to open the cafe on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the next few weeks.

🎥 The film Outrun was due to show at The Loch Torridon Community Centre earlier, but because of the cold weather they decided to reschedule. It'll now be shown on the 25th. The same venue is also hosting a weekly ceilidh house gathering starting on the same date. Details below.

Ceilidh House gathering flyer

🥃 The Gille Brighde in Diabeg is doing a three course Burns Supper - at lunchtime (!) - for £30 on January 26, with a dram included in the price.

...and of course there's lots more events listed in the What's On guide in our first issue of the Gairloch and District Times for 2025, which our paying supporters can download from here.

Turning to other things that are good to know...

⛯ The Northern Lighthouse Board are recruiting for a retained lighthouse keeper to help maintain Neist Point Lighthouse on Skye, Ornsay  Lighthouse, and Rubha Reidh Lighthouse near Gairloch. The closing date is January 20, so if you've always dreamed of working as a lighthouse keeper - and who hasn't? - you better get your application in quick. Details here.

🛍️ Painted Horse Antiques in Gairloch are looking for "a fabulous individual who would like to sell their products along with mine and share the shop floor space and manning of the premises with me equally this coming tourist season." More details here.

🍻 Someone in Aultbea is looking for planning permission to use a shed as a nano-brewery. More details here on the council planning portal. Comments, for and against, can be submitted until January 28.

📷 Wester Ross photographer Mark Littlejohn has had a book of his remarkable kelp photos published. You can buy it online here. Whilst we're on the subject of photography, we're very grateful to Clare Lumsden who kindly shared her incredible drone photos of Gairloch, Shieldaig, Lechnaside, Badachro and beyond that are featured at the top of this email and in the gallery below.

If you've taken a photo that you'd like us to share with everyone you can send it to us here.

✍️ The Highland Council is currently consulting on the details of how a Visitor Levy might work in the area. Although the "tourist tax" could raise millions for local public services, not everyone thinks it's a good idea. An online petition promoted by the Highlands Hotel Association now has more than 2800 signatures, claiming that the new tax will have, "far-reaching, negative effects on our local tourism, retail and leisure industries."

📚 Each year The Highland Council Charitable Trusts open for applications between January and February. There is funding available for children and young people, schools and community groups from a range of bursaries and grants to support education, sports, travel and other activities. Find out more and apply here.

🤝 Local Youth Club, The Den, is holding it's AGM on Monday 27th January at 7pm in the Lochewe Community Church hall, Aultbea. All Den attenders, parents / carers, Den volunteers and friends of the Den are invited.

💷 The Inverness Courier reports that "high-quality" fake Bank of England £20 notes have been found circulating in the Highlands. The Inverness Business Improvement District warns on its Facebook Page: " These high-quality fake notes, with the serial number BB81 275037, closely resemble genuine notes but lack key security features.The counterfeit notes can pass casual inspection but have discrepancies, including a faulty silver foil patch without the hologram image."

And lastly, here's a video of an otter on Gairloch beach.

If you've found this newsletter useful, please do consider signing up as a paying supporter. We scan the internet for all the local news you can use so you don't have to! At the moment it costs just £2 per month and for that you get digital editions of every issue of the paper that come out, plus this weekly round-up and access to our priceless archive going all the way back to 1978.

Better still, you get a warming sense of tremendous wellbeing for supporting a local charity as a bonus :)