Caithness was everything to Dad
Recorded 3 years ago
About this recording
Sara Sutherland was born in 1937 in Wick. She is the daughter of John Sutherland the first pharmacist to manage Boots the Chemists shop in Wick.
The family lived in West Banks Avenue and Sara and her brother Colin walked each day from there to school at Pulteneytown Academy.
Sara remembers one occasion while walking home from school, on hearing music she was drawn into a Band of Hope meeting, making her very late in getting home. Everyone in West Banks Avenue had been out searching for the absent Sara. Her punishment was to be locked in the toilet for 15 minutes.
Sara also recalls another time went she went wandering. On this occasion, she was found pushing her dolls pram in the vicinity of the Railway Station.
Sara now wonders at the relative freedom she had as a young child in Wick, often making trips to the Cliff Bakery and to Boots shop to see her father.
Sara confesses that her memory of the Boots shop is now a bit hazy, but she recalls what she thinks was the layout of the shop. Woolworths also features in her memory, mainly because the Canadian airmen that were billeted with her family would take her to Woolworths and buy her toys. These Canadian airmen would also appear at the school with a tray of Paris buns for the children.
Strangely, Sara's memories of the war years contain nothing of the Bank Row bombings, but the non-return of these billeted Canadian airmen was something the family felt very emotional about. Sara's father did on one occasion take her and her brother up Newton Hill to see a crashed German aeroplane.
The family attended the Episcopal Church as her parents were friendly with the minister and his wife. Her memory of the minister's name now eludes her, but she is sure someone will know who he was. Sara does remember a MacKay family that were neighbours. They were Free Church people and Sara recalls that on any visit to them, readings from the Bible and the singing of hymns always precluded any other activities.
Sara's father, John Sutherland was the son of the Sutherland family from Buckies Farm. Her grandfather, George Sutherland was the grieve on the farm. John was not interested in farming and with the encouragement of a local Thurso pharmacist, he went south and graduated in the profession. His posting to Boots the Chemist in Wick was welcomed by his family and Sara, today continues to hold Caithness with fond memories.
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