The History of The Caithness Sports Council

1981. The Caithness District Sports Council (CDSC) came into being as a result of an initiative by the Caithness District Council (CDC) with assistance from the Scottish Sports Council (SSC).
1984. From it’s formation the role of the CDSC evolved from the objectives set out in its constitution. For example, in 1984 when funding was made available from The Beatrice Oil Field Fund to assist in the costs of coaching and the taking part in competitive and representative sport, the CDSC took on the role of disbursing these moneys. In particular they channelled the money available into a Beatrice Travel scheme whereby clubs travelling to competitive events south of Inverness could get assistance with their travel expenses and this scheme ran for some 10 years.In late 1984 the Scottish Sports Council gave the CDSC a 12-seater minibus which enabled affiliated clubs access to cheaper transport. This vehicle was on the road for 10 years until it terminally failed its MOT in 1995.
A replacement 16-seater minibus was provided thanks to funding from the outgoing CDC, Caithness & Sutherland Enterprise and the CDSC minibus fund.
1988. In the late 1980’s, the CDSC took the initiative of employing consultants to devise a plan for a hangar at Wick Airport to be developed as a unique sports facility large enough to accommodate a full sized football pitch. Unfortunately funding could not be found to complete this project.1996. The time of the handover from the old District Councils to a unified Highland Council. This change left the CDSC with £5000 of grant aid from the new Highland Council to dispense towards equipment, coaching and discretionary grants. Unfortunately, they also lost the paid Secretary and his support services which meant the loss of 15 years of continuity and experience. This loss was keenly felt, but the Area Manager cushioned the blow by making some copying and postal assistance available to the CDSC.1998. It wasn’t until 1998 that the Highland Council Culture & Leisure Committee took the decision to distribute all grant money to the 8 Sports Councils in the Highland area by way of a simple population based formula. This gave the CDSC some £10,000 to distribute as Grant Aid to support a range of activities including Excellence and Sports Development. At the same time the CDSC found that CASE were giving financial aid for travel, excellence and equipment to Sutherland Sports Council. CASE immediately agreed to give the same support to Caithness. In almost one month the Grant Aid to be disbursed by the CDSC had increased from £5000 to almost £15000.The CDSC immediately instituted a Discretionary Travel Grant (similar to the old Beatrice scheme) but were disappointed at the lack of interest. In November 1998 they revised the rules for travel grants to include any competitive event outside Caithness and they increased the amount available per trip to 50% of the total cost (up to a maximum of £200) and a cap of £500 per club per year which proved far more popular.Finally, in 1998 the Caithness District Sports Council changed its title and constitution to become the Caithness Sports Council that we know and love today!
Past Chairmen
1981-82Cllr Tom Pollock
1982-83Allan Lannon
1983-84Cllr Tom Pollock
1984-86A.J.Gunn
1986-87Ed Adam
1987-88Lady Margaret Thurso
1988-89Ken Nicol
1989-90Cllr Jim Oag
1990-91Iain Grant
1991-92Miss K.MacDonald
1992-93R.C.MacAuslan
1993-94Nigel Warren
1994-95Sandy Oliphant
1995-97R.C.MacAuslan
1997- 2001Ken Melhuish
2001- 2007Cllr Roger Saxon
2007- presentTom Jackson