Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

John Sinclair: One of North’s last millwrights and shinty great dies aged 88

John Sinclair.

John Sinclair, one of the North’s last millwrights, and a former vice-president of Caberfeidh Shinty Club, has died aged 88.

He was also a league-winning player with Caberfeidh and his family connection with the club stretched back to 1896.

John was also a skilled craftsman who repaired shinty sticks, created a scale model of a thrashing mill and even built bicycles from wood.

He was known as Johnnie and was born into a crofting family at Lochussie.

John Sinclair, family members and his scale model of a mill.

His father, John, had served with the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War and had been reported missing in action.

Johnnie’s granddaughter, Claire Dwenger said: “A grenade had been thrown into the trench and everyone in his company or platoon was killed.

“My great-grandfather survived but was taken prisoner. Everyone thought he was dead. Years later, he bumped into his officer-in-charge, a captain, in Inverness and he thought he had seen a ghost. The captain was staggered to see him still alive.

Echoes of war

“My grandfather said the experience of war changed his father and what he had gone through played a big part in my grandfather’s life.”

Johnnie had a six-mile return journey by foot to Maryburgh Primary School, Dingwall, from the age of five until a small school opened at Lochussie.

His secondary education was at Dingwall Academy where he was dux of his year in the upper school.

John Sinclair with one of his wooden bicycles.

After leaving school, Johnnie went to study at Balmacara Agricultural School, Kyle of Lochalsh, travelling by train on a Sunday and returning home at weekends.

There he learned both agricultural and agriculture engineering before beginning a millwright apprenticeship with Jimmy Reid of Dingwall.

When thrashing machines gave way to combine harvesters, Johnnie left engineering, took over a croft at Loch Ussie.

Marriage

He met his future wife, Mary Sinclair, of Cromarty, at a dance in Lochussie. The couple married in 1959 and had four sons, John, Donald, Kenneth and Morris.

From the 1940s until the 1970s, Johnnie played for Caberfeidh and was a member of the team that won the Senior MacGillivray League in 1963.

His playing was of such a high standard that he was selected on a number of occasions to play for the North team against the south in the Caol Cup and, in one victory, he captained the North.

Vice-president

After his playing career ended, Johnnie served on the club committee and as a vice-president, helped out with ground maintenance and fundraising.

Claire said: “His scale model of a thrashing mill made from wood and his steam engines proved a draw at agricultural shows and one year, at the Black Isle Show, he won the prize for the most photographed stall.”

You can read the family’s announcement here.