Rotary donation for Wick Paths Group will go towards Stevenson breakwater plaque
A donation of £500 to Wick Paths Group from the town's Rotary Club will be used to create an information plaque about the historic Stevenson breakwater on the south side of the bay.
The cheque was handed over by Rotary president Kevin McDonald to Willie Watt, chairman of Wick Paths Group, before members of the group joined the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council for a litter pick in the industrial estate area.
Paths group secretary John Bogle said: “We are extremely grateful to the Rotary Club of Wick for this very generous donation which will be used to commission an interpretive plaque for Stevenson’s breakwater.
"The plaque will explain the history of the breakwater for the benefit of locals and visitors and forms part of our larger project to upgrade the paths through the South Head quarries.
"The project has already started, with the community payback team refurbishing a wooden picnic bench and clearing a path from the quarry to the cliff-top. A litter pick has also been carried out in the area.
"The North Highland Initiative has donated £1000 for materials to upgrade the paths and the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council has donated £250 towards the cost of a new recycled plastic picnic bench. An anonymous donation of £500 has also been received.
"With the weather hopefully improving, we expect to be able to make further progress with the project quite soon. As with all our projects we are very grateful to our volunteers, to local contractors for the loan of equipment and to the organisations and individuals who have contributed financially.
"Together we are improving the environment of our town.”
Civil engineer and lighthouse designer Thomas Stevenson – father of Robert Louis Stevenson – experienced a rare failure in his career when his breakwater was ruined by a series of storms in the 1860s and ’70s.
Recalling the breakwater scheme in a 1903 Wick Literary Society publication, local writer Margaret H Roberton stated: “In one of his undertakings Thomas Stevenson proved singularly unfortunate and that was in the erection of the Wick breakwater. Whether he was wrong in his calculations of the currents, the force of the tides, or the strength of his foundations, we leave wiser men to determine.
"Suffice it to say that, after a fortune had been sunk in the bay, the breakwater was abandoned, the workmen withdrawn, and the winds and waves left to work their will with the great engineering enterprise that had been begun with such hope of success and of permanent benefit to Wick.”
Meanwhile, paths group members took part in the fourth and final Wick litter pick as part of Spring Clean Scotland 2022. The Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council (RBWCC) spearheaded the initiative locally as part of a national campaign run by Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Two trailer-loads of rubbish were collected from various locations, including the riverside, the former Wick High School, the shore at Market Street and the North Baths. Allan Bruce, of RBWCC and Wick Paths Group, organised the four events.
