New arts project to celebrate pre war beaches of northern Scotland

A new £15,000 arts project will celebrate the white, sandy beaches of northern Scotland which were changed forever during the World War Two 'Dig for Victory' campaign.

Sutherland artist Gavin Lockhart has been chosen to head a £15,000 arts project which will celebrate the pre-war splendour of northern Scotland's beaches. The white sandy beaches of the area around John O'Groats were targeted during the government's Dig for Victory campaign, during which the sand was used to grow crops because of its high nutritional content.

The project, part of a Highlands and Islands Enterprise campaign to revamp the area around John O'Groats, will see Gavin Lockhart create a trail of Caithness flagstones along a trail from the Pentland Firth to Orkney. The stones will be carved with images of how the beaches looked before the war. Gavin told BBC Scotland: 'It's a shock to realise that this rugged, rocky shore was in living memory a beautiful white sandy beach and deserves us to look upon this landscape with a little more consideration of its historical sacrifice.'

(Image courtesy of Angus Mackay/HIE)

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