A CHILDREN'S charity walk last Sunday helped raise funds for a school set up in Cambodia in memory of Inverness man Rudi Boa, who died tragically in a stabbing incident in Australia in 2006.

A WORKER at the Lifescan factory in Inverness is giving up his day job to take wealthy tourists swimming with sharks in the Philippines.

TRAINEE beauty therapists are set for a beast of a challenge next week as they try to raise money for a worthy cause.

PUPILS at a city primary have been learning all about playground games from around the world in a bid to pass on their new-found skills to their younger counterparts.

AN Inverness mum who has twice battled cancer is set for a new challenge – a 1,000 mile cycle to help two local charities.

BUDDING Inverness movie-makers have been treated to expert training as they prepare to make a film about their city school.

FIREFIGHTERS from Inverness treated a group of children from Chernobyl to a tour of their headquarters and even gave them a smoke alarm to take back to Belarus.

A CITY schoolboy had a close shave last week whilst raising almost £300 for charity.

A MUM whose daughter is in hospital battling a life-threatening and incurable liver condition is urging people to support a charity close to her heart.

A PHOTO exhibition that draws inspiration from the Camanachd Cup Centenary goes on display from Saturday at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

IF you've ever had buzzing in your ears after a loud music concert, you'll know how annoying it can be.

THE Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles later this month looks like it is going to get another snub from Nairn.

A NAIRN schoolboy has won a dream trip as a mascot to Scotland's Six Nations clash with France at Murrayfield this Sunday.

A CULLODEN couple have raised more than £500 for charity after asking for donations instead of presents to mark their golden wedding anniversary celebrations.

A HIGHLAND woman is once again proving she can hold her own in a man's world after going into battle against what she describes as the "world's best fighters".

A FORMER commanding officer of the Inverness Air Cadets who dedicated his life to working with young people in the community has been remembered at a ceremony at the renal unit at Raigmore Hospital.

AS the festive season swung into gear a year ago, Inverness woman Suzanne was in a bad way.

CLEAN-CUT Inverness barber David Fisher swapped the street lights of Inverness for the bright lights of Hollywood to interview the stars of five US sitcoms.

A CHIEF Petty Officer with Inverness Sea Cadets has hung up her cap with the youth organisation after 15 years' service.

PUPILS from secondary schools across the Highlands transformed Inverness High Street into a mini market at the weekend.

TWO Highland women put their best foot forward in the Big Apple to raise thousands for a children's charity.

INVERNESS man Ron Bridle has raised £6278.53 for Alzheimer Scotland, after an epic walk from Brighton to Inverness.

A TOP award has been handed to a member of staff at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for reducing hospital waiting times for patients across the Highlands.

A HIGHLAND honey proved she's got all the right assets this week – when she scooped first prize in an underwear modelling competition.

HUNDREDS of die-hard Highland Rangers fans clubbed together to charter a plane to Barcelona this week for possibly the biggest match of the season.

GUESTS sporting the tartans of Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic will attend a ceremony in Inverness this month when a couple who eloped from Glasgow 30 years ago renew their marriage vows.

THE Highland News Group recently highlighted that increasing numbers of younger people are seeking help from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

IN THE last of our series, Roger Bamfield, an advisory teacher with Highland Council's autism outreach education service, tells of his experience of teaching in a school in Malawi during the summer holidays.

WE continue our series in which Roger Bamfield, an advisory teacher with Highland Council's autism outreach education service, tells of experience teaching in a school in Malawi during the summer holidays.

A CULT American TV presenter arrived at Loch Ness this week pledging to woo a whole new generation of Nessie hunters.

IT TOOK years before Jay Muirhead felt she could share the horror of the domestic violence which is at the heart of her first book, To Hell And Back.

YOU can't hear Julia Baird talking for long before you imagine the voice of her half-brother John Lennon in your head.

JENNY MacKenzie is the closest you'll ever get to meeting a true supergran.

A RETIRED joiner who can lay claim to having been the first musician to perform in Eden Court Theatre made a return to the revamped entertainment complex this week.

A TINGLING down her side was Pam Clay's first sign that years of painful muscles and crippling tiredness was over.

AN Inverness bus driver will be on top of the world if he successfully completes his next charity challenge.

A CITY woman who has twice battled cancer is hosting a fashion extravaganza to raise funds for the charity who helped her through her ordeal.

A DUTCHMAN who fell in love with Scotland and made the Highlands his home is the new man at the helm of a company which delivers interpreting services to the region’s burgeoning immigrant population.

LONELINESS and a saggy “writer’s bottom” is not what immediately springs to mind when people think of JK Rowling, whose Harry Potter series has made her richer than the Queen.

THOSE in search of fitness may well recognise the station platform at Corrour when they step off the train for a week in the wilderness.

A PIPER who has entertained hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world for almost three decades from his busking pitch on the banks of Loch Ness has been forced to call it a day.

RALPH Crook had a special reason for celebrating the “seventh heaven” date 07-07-07 a couple of Saturdays ago.

WHEN Arthur Fulton joined the scouting movement in 1941, he put his heart and soul into the activities of the organisation founded by Lord Baden Powell a century ago.

WHEN Marie Cruickshank won the Highland Busnesswoman of the Year title, she received a lovely rose bowl and a cheque – which she immediately spent on setting up her latest online business venture.

AN Inverness policeman who was one of the last living investigating officers in the Renee MacRae murder mystery has died in Highland Hospice, aged 73.

BEING a good listener is something we all like to believe we are.

A TEENAGER who was left in a coma from a horrific smash has told how the Highland News Group is helping her come to terms with the accident.

LIGHTS, camera, action... budding film-makers from Inverness are being given a chance to prove their credentials on the silver screen.

MEDIUM Jo Brocas believes Renee MacRae was the victim of hired killers – because Renee says so.

HIGHLAND News Group readers have chosen the 2007 Face of Eastgate – 29-year old Carrie-Ann Ironside from Inverness.

TV reality fashion series Project Catwalk catapulted Fort William design student Gemma Carver (24) into the spotlight before she had even finished her degree.

STANDING on the A9 three hours after a man and a woman have been killed in a road crash and several others have been injured is an eerie place to be.

THE task of piecing together what happened in the fatal crash began almost immediately emergency services arrived on the scene, writes Claire Doughty.

THE hell that the dark nights inflicted on Carly MacDonald left her in despair – until she found the therapist she now jokingly calls "my angel".

WHEN Karen Sellers’ husband put his key in the front door and didn’t hear his new baby screaming the house down, he feared the worst.

NANCY spends her spring and summer days working in her big garden, she dances, goes to exercise class, enjoys Nordic walking and campaigning.

THE team behind the search for the Face of Eastgate were spoiled for choice this week when a bevy of beauties with style and good looks attended the casting at the Inverness shopping centre.

WHEN driving instructor Donnie Ross took to the roads of Inverness with his first pupils, horses and carts were a routine obstacle to be negotiated and there was only one roundabout in the entire town.

INVERNESS B&B owner Ian Barron got a shock when he visited Aya Napa, the Cyprus town infamous for being the playground of outrageous, anything-goes, booze-fuelled British holidaymakers.

NOT a single person in the Highlands has been convicted under the Litter Act in the past five years.

GROUPS of smokers standing outside office buildings and public houses are now a common sight on the streets of towns and cities across the country.

WHEN an old schoolfriend, now a Church of Scotland minister, first mentioned Rwanda, and the plight of its people, I just knew I had to go.

IT WILL be a case of gamekeeper turning poacher for a high profile Ross-shire prosecutor.

SITTING on steps thinking about ending his life by jumping into the Caledonian Canal was ironically what turned life around for Colin MacLeod.

FOUR leading Ross-shire distilleries have united to launch the first Highland Whisky Festival in celebration of the national drink.

A NORTH man has returned from Timbuktu after crossing the treacherous terrain of the Sahara Desert on a motorbike to get there.

A THOROUGHBRED horse which raced all over the world is being nursed slowly back to health at a Kirkhill farm after suffering a horrible freak accident.

A FATHER and daughter from Alness are teaming up to compete in a tough test of driving and navigational ability, the Arnold Clark Snowman Rally.

A GIANT relic which is one of the last visible signs of the Inner Moray Firth’s role in the North Sea oil industry will disappear within the next few weeks.

WHEN professional psychic medium Joanne did a reading for Jock Brocas, the first thing she told him his work would change, he’d go to America and that he’s meet and marry his soul mate.

AMAZING inventions to improve the lives of patients are being created by a group of unsung Highland heroes with a host of bright ideas.

EVEN after a long conversation with Leonard Bowden, you still have no idea what his voice sounds like.

A BRAVE woman who has twice battled cancer celebrated the start of a happy new year this week when she wed the man of her dreams.

A HIGHLAND charity plans to go hi-tech to reach out to more people than ever as it marks its 20th anniversary.

INVERNESS-based building giants Tulloch Ltd has nominated the Highland Hospice as its charity of the year for 2007 when the organisation will celebrate two decades of service.

A POPULAR Inverness councillor has died after a long illness.

A HIGHLAND student was caught up in an earthquake drama that rocked northern Switzerland at the weekend.

IF there is one planet science buff Thomas Riley would like to visit, it’s Mars.

THE lives of Highlanders are being blighted unnecessarily – because of their high-sugar and junk-food diets.

A BIKER is looking for help to find a helmet – for his pet dog who loves nothing more than the feel of the wind in her whiskers.

A QUIRKY new trend which caused a stir in Edinburgh has made it back to its roots – thanks to a little help from the Highland News.

THE Scottish Executive’s decision to create 22 multi-member wards in Highland Council after next May’s electionswas condemned this week as ‘disastrous’.

NESSIE will have clearer water to swim in after millions of pounds was invested in cleaning up her ‘home’.

ONE of the Highlands’ most spectacular birds of prey is being ruthlessly persecuted, it was revealed this week.

A SECRET potion from the Far East could soon be boosting the sex drive of horny Highlanders.

TOMMY Sheridan MSP, star of the defamation court, loves football analogies. Well, his visit to Inverness on Monday for the launch of the Highland branch of the new Solidarity Scotland party was very much a home game.

AN estimated 15,000 elderly people in the Highlands are living alone. Sadly, many of them have little contact with others.

AGROUP of Czech teenagers are paying a visit to an Inverness school in the hope that they can forge an exchange programme.

IT is not easy to "feel good" when you are terminally ill with cancer, but that is the aim for day patients at Highland Hospice.

A NEW era has been signalled for Alness Railway Station with its "adoption" by the local community.

THEY say a happy life is the best revenge. The twist for Ann Jones - whose husband suddenly left after 30 years - is that her happiness multiplies thanks to her website to help others like her.

ONE of the last things PC Gary Fudge expected to experience when he visited Pakistan where 70,000 people were killed in an earthquake last October was a good time.

IT is good to talk, said the hugely successful telephone advert. Well, according to one group based in Inverness, it is so good it can save lives.

VOLUNTEERS are worth more than £1 million a year to a leading Highland charity. That is what it would cost if they were paid for their hard work.

THOUSANDS of young people in the Highlands received their Higher exam results this week - but not all have a clear idea of what they are doing next.

HELPING people cope with anything from the aftermath of murder, rape, house break-ins, serious assault and robbery can all be in a day's work for staff at the Inverness Victim Support office.

A FORMER top Ross-shire policeman who has also seen active service in World War II is convinced one thing has kept him safe from harm over the years - his lucky threepenny piece.

A SPOOKY festival which could put Inverness on the spirit world map and boost tourism during the winter has been proposed by the city's ghost expert.

FRIENDS Ronnie Ross and Carole MacFarlane look like any ordinary pals together.

A ROSS-SHIRE woman this week spoke of her joy at reaching a fundraising target which will allow her to travel abroad for revolutionary treatment which could let her walk again.

It's no longer hard to swallow the idea that women are moving into the industry that makes the nation's favourite tipple. Margaret Chrystall takes a wee dram.

THE family of an Inverness teenager given only weeks to live when he was born are to launch a website about him to inspire others.

TRUE to martial arts tradition, Gordon Faulkner goes about his daily business quietly and draws little attention to himself.

AN Inverness teenager is to make her TV debut soon after getting her first big break in the acting world.

Polish workers are coming to the Highlands in their droves in order to feed their families, reports Graham Crawford.. But they need help to integrate into the community.

THEY might not be as quick on their feet as they used to be but they are well and truly on the move - and there is no stopping them.

SIR John Lister-Kaye, one of Scotland's best known conservationists, has won a literary accolade from the University of St Andrews.

AS a young man, Ron Sinclair had great success in attracting girls, writes Graham Crawford.

THERE IS just no stopping helicopter pilot Peter Clunas when he is in full flight - on his bike.

SWAPPING the bustle of Mayfair for a croft in the Highland hills has not ended pioneer Tuppy Owens’ campaign to help us get real about sex, writes Margaret Chrystall