It was a hard, hard life: Wick herring industry memories

About this recording

Stories of the Wick herring industry are shared in this compilation of short snippets from the Wick Voices collection.

It was put together as part of an exhibition at Strathnaver Museum (April to June 2026) featuring a sound installation by Beverley Carruthers, an artist based in East Anglia. She had conducted a research project, Gu'un the fish n’that, exploring stories of the herring girls inspired by her Nana.

Interviewees in this compilation, in order of first appearance, are the late Harry Gray (born 1937); the late Janet Mackenzie (born 1920); the late Agnes Grant (born 1911); Lily MacGregor (born 1930); Willie Watt (born 1960); Elsie Cardosi (born 1947); Ray Richard (born 1931); and Phyllis Gray (born 1942).

Agnes Grant, formerly Murray, was born in Ness, on the Isle of Lewis, and was interviewed in the 1980s by Kathleen Robertson. That recording was later digitised and added to the Wick Voices archive.

In each case, the full recording can be heard on Wick Voices by searching “Recordings” for the person’s name.

Image: Gutters at work at Wick, from the Johnston Collection, copyright the Wick Society