The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
THE ARCHIVES
100 years ago
The flax crop in Fife is now past full flower and the harvest will begin soon. Thos. Young, Executive Officer, stated at Cupar District Food Production Committee that more than 1,000 women had been enrolled for the pulling of the flax and more than 800 were resident in the county. It is proposed to have camps at Dunfermline and Leslie, each with accommodation for about 80 women. Where farmers could supply their own labour, it was proposed that women could work under skilled gang leaders.
50 years ago
The hardened criminal should be put away for a long time – 10 years or more – in a hard prison, said the Rev Dr William Morris, minister of Glasgow Cathedral, yesterday. Prison these days was a refuge for many, he told Glasgow Rotary Club. There was no nagging wife or shrieking children and the food was often better than at home. “Prison should be made a place where something is done to make people better,” said Dr Morris, who was visiting chaplain to Peterhead Prison for four years.
25 years ago
One in 10 Tayside soft fruit farmers are facing a disastrous crop because of erratic weather patterns and a disease which kills off berry plants. This is the warning from Scottish Soft Fruit Growers Ltd, the Blairgowrie-based friendly society which promotes and markets the berry industry in the region. Raspberry yields are expected to be down to about 4.5 tonnes per hectare this year from an 11-year high of more than six tonnes last year. Shortage of highquality fruit is worrying farmers.
One year ago
NHS Tayside has been plunged into a fresh staffing crisis after closing the doors of wards at a Perthshire hospital. Health chiefs have been forced to temporarily abandon services at the Minor Injury and Illness Unit at Crieff Community Hospital. Unplanned staff absences led to the conclusion the unit could not be run safely. It is likely to remain closed for at least a week. Patients are being told to travel to Blairgowrie for care – a decision described as “baffling” by Strathearn councillor Roz McCall.