Waverley paddle steamer date and what next for Poolewe loos?

Welcome to this week's Wester Ross Round-up. Each week we do our best to monitor loads of social media feeds and websites to bring you the most useful, interesting and entertaining news about Wester Ross from around the web. We try to keep it brief but include links so that if you're particularly interested in something you can easily find out more.

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🚾 Wester Loch Ewe Community Council are organising a public meeting open to anyone with an interest in re-opening Poolewe Public Toilets. A social media post says the meeting will take place on February 25 at 7.30pm in the Poolewe Village Hall. For background on why they were closed and how much it might cost to reopen them see our coverage in issue 24 from last year.

⚓ The 2025 date for the Waverley Paddle Steamer's annual visit to Gairloch has been announced. It'll be stopping off at Gairloch on May 22nd en route between Kyle of Lochalsh and Ullapool. See the full timetable and book tickets on their website.

⚽ High Life Highland are looking for a volunteer to run lunch time activities for Poolewe Primary School, "who have had a really successful Wednesday lunch time club since November." If interested email the Gairloch Active Schools coordinator, Steven MacDonald, or call on 07780 910952.

🙏 A recent pop-up cafe organised by Bualnaluib Primary School raised a massive £942.66 towards the costs of sending pupils on an outward bound residential trip according a thank you message posted by the school on social media.

⛰️ Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) are looking for input from the public about how they should spend £15m on "undergrounding" electrical cables in Areas of Outstanding National Landscape, National Parks and National Scenic Areas. Most of the Gairloch and District Times patch is eligible for this cash, so if you know of some local power lines that spoil a good view, you can tell SSEN here.

🔌 Whilst we're on the subject of energy, STV report that energy bills are likely to rise by 5% in April.

📻 World Gaelic week is coming up. On Wester Ross Radio, Anne Gray is devoting the whole of her Celtic Weekend Show to songs sung in Gaelic. Tune in on February 28 and March 1 at 8pm.

🗣️ There's also a very impressive full day of Gaelic events on March 1 at the Loch Torridon Community Centre.

🎥 Three Lochs Cinema have confirmed they'll be showing Paddington in Peru on March 15 at the Aultbea Community Hub.

🚲 The Shieldaig Community Trust, the new organisers of the relaunched Bealach na Bà cycle sportive have been delighted to see entry numbers improve on previous years, according to a report by Alasdair Fraser in the Inverness Courier. It's not too late to enter for the May 17 event, should you fancy the challenge.

🚨 Mini First Aid Inverness and Highlands have announced some short courses in Poolewe Village Hall on May 24. There's a Baby & Child First Aid class for parents, grandparents and carers in the morning and a class for kids aged 7-11 in the afternoon.

⛵ Gailoch Sailing Club are running a level 1 dinghy course on April 26-27 and an adult level 2 dinghy course on May 10-11. There are six places on each course. If interested email: [email protected]

🏷️ If you want a stall at this year's Gairloch Thursday Markets you need to send organisers your email so that they can send you a booking form.

🐺 Ecologists from Leeds University generated a lot of press coverage after concluding that if wolves were re-introduced into the Highlands, they would reduce the deer population, enable more trees to grow, and help to tackle climate change. Apparently just 167 wolves would do the trick, according to an article in the P&J. The full scientific paper is here too.

🗺️ Writer John Elledge has published a short history of Cromartyshire, which he dubs Scotland's stupidest county. It's an entertaining read about a quirky aspect of local history.

🔥 The recent spell of dry weather has been good for a bit of muirburn throughout the Highlands, with Wester Ross no exception. This post on Parkswatch Scotland reveals that Scottish Government ministers have so far failed to enact some key parts of a law designed to regulate the practice.

🐟 Fish farm giant Mowi has bought the uninhabited island of Fladda-chùain, which lies off the north coast of Skye. The BBC reports that proposals for what Mowi plans to do with the island are "in development."

📚 Fingers crossed for Ullapool Bookshop as they've made it onto the Scottish shortlist for the Independent Bookshop of the Year gong at the 2025 British Book Awards.

📖 And there's more good news for local book lovers. High Life Highland have confirmed that they will be taking delivery of two brand new mobile library vans this summer, worth £332,000. One of them will likely serve the Wester Ross area.

🏫 Highland Council are advertising for a new deputy head teacher for Gairloch High School, with a £62,556 annual salary on offer. If you, or someone you know, might be interested the details are here.

⛺ Sands Caravan and Camping are looking for seasonal workers. Details on how to apply are in this social media post.

📷 The Overside Wool project, which we covered in issue 23 last year, now has an Instagram account so you can keep up with their exploits. Follow them here.

☢️ SERCO Marine tug boat staff in Kyle of Lochalsh are set to go on strike. The workers provide a service to Royal Navy supporting nuclear submarines and other navy vessels operating in the area. Trade union UNITE say that proposals to cut the number of tugs in the UK-wide service from six to four are being considered behind closed doors and that the move would be in "contravention of nuclear safety legislation," reports Iona MacDonald in the Ross-Shire Journal.

🏥 Health inequalities are sadly growing in the Highlands and overall improvements in life expectancy have stalled, according to the latest annual report from the NHS Highlands Director of Public Health. People living in the richest neighbourhoods of the Highlands tend to live 8.8 years longer than the poorest, a gap that has grown in recent years. Both male and female life expectancy in the most deprived Highland neighbourhoods is now decreasing. The full report can be read here (pdf).

🚚 And lastly, local community councils are being invited to share their views about Scottish Government proposals that would see the speed limit for cars cut to 50mph on single carriageway roads, whilst the speed limit for larger lorries would be raised to 50mph. We want to know what you think about these ideas. To take part in our quick poll by choosing an option below.

POLL: Do you think speed limits should be changed?

🙏 Thanks to Alexander Rae for letting us use his incredible photo of Loch Ewe for our cover photo this week, and thanks also to Alex Gray for sharing his photos of the Waverley at Gairloch harbour. If you've taken a photo of something local that you'd like to share with the world you can send it to us here.

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