Committee Members: Alan Abernethy Calum MacKenzie Gordon McLachlan

Editor Don Smith

Again we welcome new contributors to our Bulletin; and a widening of the topic range.

Tom Geddes has offered us a detailed insight to the developments in the Caithness building trade and he has also opened up a new category of article, "Caithness Tales"; short but amusing stories. These are very acceptable to the editor; they appeal to my irreverent nature, they serve to leaven the content of the bulletin and, being concise, they fill what might otherwise be an empty space on the page. I have used just two of his in this issue, one of them below. Readers, please let us have some more.

For more than ten years I have edited a Caithness Charity Newsletter. The Charity, in common with similar Societies, now employs professional money raisers. Unfortunately, this is necessary in a world where the total available cash is limited and Charities compete with each other for their share. As part of this "modernisation" I recently received from Headquarters a communication showing how a newsletter should be produced. One useful tip was to recommendation the use of columns, newspaper style. It claimed it is easier to read, even with a smaller font. I looked at the technical, scientific and other magazines that I regularly read, and they all use this style, and with a smaller font than I have hitherto used for the Bulletin. The notable exception are text books but they are usually on pages smaller than A4. One advantage, apart from the alleged improved readability, is the opportunity to use a smaller font and so save space without making undue demands on the reader. I tried the format and agreed with their recommendation.

So here it is for this issue of the Bulletin, The number of words in this edition, initially prepared on a standard word processing facility, is 25% greater than last year's issue but uses 30% fewer pages and is thereby environmentally more efficient. The font has is the same size as is used in "The Groat" and "The Scotsman".