Presentation to Ernie Michie on leaving Dornoch
Photograph courtesy of Jean Maclean, Laide
Presentation around Dec 1983 at Invershin Hotel to Ernie Michie, District Officer, Dornoch, on his transfer to South Scotland after 16 years in the northern post.
This was the period when the amalgamation of individual forest management units into single large District Forest units occurred. In the case of Dornoch District there were prior to the change, 5 separate management units of Dornoch Forest (including the Nursery), Helmsdale Forest, Naver Forest, Rumster Forest and Shin Forest each with either a Chief or Head Forester in charge. Each Forest was an accounting and pay centre but this was all scrapped. The District Forest Office became the accounting and pay centre helped over time by the introduction of computerised pay calculation, the move towards cashless pay, monthly pay periods and computerised accounts.
Lined up from the left – Gordon Watson and Ian Forshaw (Head Forester and Forester at Rumster), Mark Potter (Assistant District Officer at Dornoch District, Dave Whitaker( Forest Survey’s Forester based at Dornoch Forest just transferred to Lochaber FD), Keith Mills and Geoff Reid (Forester and Head Forester at Naver), Kenny Maclean (Retired Head Forester at Rumster), Arkle Fraser (Taking over as Forest District Manager of Dornoch Forest District), Ernie Michie (District Officer of Dornoch District then Forest District Manager), Tom Galt (Retiring Head Forester Dornoch Forest), Annie Melville (Dornoch District Typist), John Innes (Incoming Head Forester (Dornoch Nursery), Hugh Mackay and Pete Williams (Chief Forester and Forester Shin Forest), Cathy Fraser (Clerkess at Shin Forest), Walter Paterson (Head Forester Research at Lairg), Willie Cameron (Head Forester at Helmsdale Forest), Mark Banham (Forester at Dornoch Forest) and Steve Stanley (Harvesting Forester at Shin Forest).
Groups: Caithness and Sutherland, Forestry Areas, Groups of people