Aye well, that’s Kennedy’s shop closed after a 63- year sojourn in the High Street. However, Kennedy’s did see and hear an echo of its halcyon days. On Sunday afternoon, just before closing time, an impromptu ceilidh took place in the back shop. Fiddles, accordions, Gaelic singers, buffet, you name it. This, of course, was all happening inside part of the former Caledonian Hotel, so there were drams as well. The Kennedy Caley Ceilidh Band – specially named for the occasion and largely made up of members of the Kennedy Clan – gave the shop a memorable farewell.
Minibus full of pre-Christmas French visitors pulls into the Belford car park, no doubt baffled by the A82 signs. They made themselves understood at reception, however, that they wished to spend a franc apiece. They were, of course, directed to the Viewforth toilets, which just happened to be shut! So instead of ‘oui, oui’ this Entente Cordiale group got ‘non, non’ from Lochaber.
If you blinked last week you’d have missed the demolition of the BA’s carbon factory, that well-known local landmark which arose from the peat. A southbased contractor engineered its downfall in no time. Another outfit had a go at it last year but hardly put a dent on it. Meanwhile, ‘speedy’ is the word for the steel erection of the Marine Harvest plant on the Blar.