From "The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald" of Thursday, January 15, 1987.
A LICENCE wrangle could threaten the future of a popular Aviemore nightspot, a court will be told next week.
Badenoch and Strathspey licensing board will be urged to play fair with the Grampian Road nightspot of Winstons over the granting of a late licence.
Club owner Mr George MacLean will be asking the board to reconsider a decision made last October to refuse a 2am licence from Tuesdays to Sundays.
Members ruled that it would create a disturbance on the main road and restricted opening until 1am.
But at the same meeting, approval was given to a 2am licence to the Aviemore Centre nightspot of Rox Disco for a trial period of six months.
Now in a letter to the licensing board, a solicitor for Mr MacLean says the situation is putting the operation of his premises in doubt.
He said reference had been made in the past to disturbances caused by people loitering around late-night fast food premises in Grampian Road, next to Winstons.
But no evidence had been produced to show that people from Winstons had been involved in the disturbances. And if the food premises were in fact the cause of disturbances, the answer would be for the council to enforce earlier closing.
The letter also points out that people attending Rox Disco would also pass along Grampian Road and therefore just as likely to create a disturbance.
Loft surprise ends search for shield
THE LONG search for the missing Abernethy Highland Games Shield is over - the valuable trophy has been found in the loft of a Nethy Bridge house.
While games officials scoured old programmes, newspaper records and false trails which took them all the way to Falkirk, the trophy lay where it must have been for the past 30 years - right under their noses.
The cold weather prompted Mr John Miller, of 32 Lynstock Crescent, to check his loft for dampness, and it was here, under an old newspaper, that he discovered the lost trophy.
Mr Miller, whose wife was at one time games secretary, knows nothing about how the trophy came to be in his loft, and surmises that it must have arrived there years ago with the previous tenant.
The 38-year-old oak-mounted bronze shield was last awarded by the Abernethy Highland Games Association in the mid-1950s.
Mr Miller has now handed the trophy over to present games secretary Mr Michael George.
A delighted Mr George said: "We never expected to find the trophy under our noses. But we are delighted to have it back. It needs some attention to the engraving, but in the meantime we will be looking at what sort of competition we can use it for at the games in August."
American groom comes 'home' to wed
ROMANCE IS not dead - living proof of that is a very special winter wedding at Kingussie next weekend.
American Mr Todd McPherson has travelled thousands of miles to his ancestral homeland in the Spey Valley to marry his fiancée, Miss Kathleen Anderson.
The couple, who have never even visited the area before, are to be married at St Columba's Parish Church, Kingussie, by the Rev Albert Jenner at 11am on Saturday, January 24.
They have even extended an open invitation to anyone who would like to come along to the church to celebrate their union.
Some members of the couple's families are flying in from their home town of Phoenix, Arizona, for the wedding.
"We chose this area because of its heritage," Mr McPherson told the 'Herald'.
"We have never been here before, but friends who have attended the annual Clan Macpherson gatherings have told us how beautiful the area is and how nice the people are.
"It's true, and we're having a wonderful time."
Deadlock in Palace Hotel sale bid
THE SALE of Grantown's Palace Hotel has not yet been concluded, despite news that it was imminent four months ago.
A spokesman for the Clydesdale Bank in Glasgow, who repossessed the 38-room hotel, said there was nothing new on the sale of what was once one of Grantown's top establishments.
Negotiations for the disposal of the property, repossessed from Mr Graham Sword, have been going on since May.
Although there were "several legal matters still to be resolved", in September it was hoped the sale would be completed "fairly quickly", said a bank spokesman.
It was thought the hotel might be sold in separate lots since planning permission existed for the ground floor to be used as a shop with restaurant.
There are also proposals for the remainder of the building to be converted into 11 self-contained flats and for land at the rear to be used for private house-building.
A spokesman for the bank said: "There has been no change in the situation previously reported. There have been no developments and the matter is still in the hands of other people."
Negotiations continue for parking area
INTRANSIGENCE BY national bus companies is blocking a solution to Kingussie's High Street parking problem.
A regulated parking scheme would have to include the re-siting of High Street bus stops to be acceptable to the regional roads authority.
But the bus companies consistently refuse to change their halts, and have threatened to pull out of the town if they are forced to do so.
One councillor, Mr Alistair Young, has threatened to resign if the community council's actions cause that pull-out.
"That would be a major loss to many people in this community, and I for one will cease to be a community councillor if we cause that to happen," he said.
Kingussie community councillors were told by their district and regional councillors that the bus companies "are just looking for an excuse to pull out".
"Highland Region went to considerable trouble to get the buses to come into Kingussie and Newtonmore in the first place," said Kingussie district councillor Tom Wade.
"Some of the companies have made it quite clear that if their stops are shifted they will withdraw their services.
"Nor, it seems, are they bluffing, as they are apparently looking for an excuse to get out of coming into the villages."
"If we don't adopt some kind of parking policy soon our local shopkeepers will be in trouble, as will the whole economy of Kingussie," said councillor John Dallas.
"If we don't decide soon, the police will decide for us."
Saddle 'tramp' clocks miles of adventure
ROBBED THEN used as target practice - but enjoying every saddle-sore minute of it!
That was the message to the 'Herald' this week from another of the Spey Valley's intrepid cyclists.
Twenty-two-year-old Graeme Walker set out from his Gowanlea home at Woodside, Grantown, in July to cycle the 10,000 miles to Australia.
For the Edinburgh University chemistry graduate, it was the ideal medication for "itchy feet" before searching for a job in marketing.
After four months in the saddle, Graeme has filed his first dispatch - 8,000km into the expedition and eight punctures later.
It was written from the comfort of a TWA Jumbo Jet high in the clouds and en route for Bombay.
After leaving Edinburgh on July 23, Graeme cycled to Dover, crossed to Calais, then through Eastern France into Switzerland, then due north to Germany and Stuttgart.
After passing through Southern Germany, he crossed into Salzburg, Austria, then south over the 2,500m Groslockner and into Yugoslavia by August 30.
This was a holiday, cycling down the Adriatic coast and swimming and sunbathing was the name of the game, which made a pleasant change to the snow encountered in the Austrian Alps," writes Graeme.
It was then on to Bulgaria and the first encounter with a true Communist country.
"It is true what the propaganda makes us believe - there are bare supermarkets, food queues and police everywhere," reports the former Grantown Grammar School pupil.
It was a relief to enter Turkey - "an absolutely amazing country. With bread at 10p a loaf and tea at 2p a cup, it was good from a Scotsman's point of view."
