A YOUNG UHI student is hoping to bring Bonnie Prince Charlie back to life on the big screen.

POLICE have praised the majority of music fans who enjoyed this year's Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival - despite two people and an officer being assaulted in a disturbance on Sunday morning.

THE family of an Inverness woman who died whilst living in Australia believes she may have known she was going to pass away.

INDIAN restaurants in the Highland capital are under such hot competition from each other they are having to pull out all the stops to pull in curry-loving punters.

A DISABLED football fan and his cousin who raised over £3,000 for Highland League club Clach handed over their money last week.

BUSY Inverness mum-of-two Alison Gordon laughs when she describes her home as a "madhouse".

A LOCAL DJ has taken his love of a cult 1980s television show to another level - just in time for the release of its blockbuster movie.

THE winner of a Highland News Group competition which made her look 10 years younger has renewed her wedding vows.

WORD of a Highland woman's campaign for new NHS treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) has spread globally - and has inspired another patient to share her story of successfully undergoing the surgery.

THE RockNess festival has been hailed a massive success after only 14 arrests were made over the weekend.

A HIGHLAND News Group competition to make a woman look 10 years younger with an £8,000 makeover has left her feeling 21 again. And you can watch the video here of her remarkable transformation.

HIGHLAND News Group 10 Years Younger competition winner Yvonne McLeod is almost at the end of her 12-week makeover, with the big reveal taking place next week.

THE Strictly Come Dancing Inverness charity extravaganza at the weekend was an outstanding success.

IT'S been a nail-biting week for the competitors taking part in Strictly Come Dancing Inverness as they prepare for the curtain to be raised on the glitzy charity event.

A HIGHLAND postie has become a tourist guide in his home town.

OUR 10 Years Younger winner says she looks better than actress Angelina Jolie after getting her lips done.

THE looming shadow of former psychiatric hospital Craig Dunain has played a big part in the life of former psychiatric nurse Rod MacLean.

THE winner of our fabulous 10 Years Younger competition will have a huge smile on her face at the end of the transformation - and not just because she has been pampered and preened to perfection.

BECOMING a local celebrity was not what our 10 Years Younger winner was banking on when we announced her as our champion.

WE are just a week into our £8,000 makeover for our 10 years younger competition winner - but she is feeling 10 years older!

SPOOKY encounters at a haunted Highland house are being investigated by a London-based playwright for a broadcasting project.

ITALY is going Loch Ness monster mad over a 1940s charcoal drawing of Nessie claimed to be by world-renowned Dutch artist MC Escher.

A HIGHLAND pupil who has ambitions to become an opera singer has been selected for the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

TARTAN Army members in the Highlands have been dealt a blow after the Euro 2012 qualifying fixtures were announced.

A HIGHLAND rambler who has trekked to Mount Kilimanjaro will head for the French Alps in September to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Care.

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle clearly knows how to change her looks... The Britain's Got Talent favourite tamed her wild woolly grey hair and pulled off an incredible transformation from frumpy to funky.

WORKING with impoverished African children in a rural village has taught a Highland cosmetics worker a life-changing lesson and has inspired her to continue drumming up cash for the cause.

SITTING together with their 20-month daughter Tilly clambering between them, Elaine and Dan Mason openly admit there was a time when having a child of their own was a distant dream.

A DISABLED young city football fan has set the date for a gruelling sponsored walk in an effort to save a city team from folding.

A NORTH psychic who claims murdered Inverness woman Renee MacRae talked to her from beyond the grave is now concentrating on children's special powers.

A NORTH pupil has gone platinum after becoming the first person to receive the top honour from the Young Highlander Project for his commitment to volunteering.

A HIGHLAND student nurse will be getting first-hand care experience on the trip of a lifetime to Africa.

WHILE most of us this Christmas were in the warmth and comfort of our own homes with family and friends, a small section of the community will be trying to survive the rigours of the winter on the streets of Inverness.

A STALWART of the Highland News team and dedicated charities fundraiser has retired after 19 years' service with the company.

FRONTLINE staff from a city leisure centre are turning themselves into Santas and asking their customers to acts as elves to help collect gifts for the homeless.

A CHARITY shop in one of the most deprived areas of Inverness is holding a silent auction of designer goods worth thousands of pounds.

RAY Collier - the Highland News Group's nature expert - has won a rare wildlife medal for his work on bird conservation from the British Trust for Ornithology.

AS blonde-haired Phoebe Macaskill plays happily with her toys, she looks no different to any other energetic toddler who likes to keep her mum on her toes.

A CELEB who hails from the Highlands has swapped swanky home interiors for the creepy-crawly infested jungle after becoming one of this year's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! contestants.

AN Inverness-born music composer who can count The Da Vinci Code and The Simpsons movies among his credits is in the running for a top award.

INVERNESS Prison chief Bob Macdougall saddled himself with a "wheelie" big challenge over almost 30 years to make cash for local charities.

FILM director Richard Jobson who heads to Inverness area early in the new year to start filming his third chase movie – has some high-flying hopes.

A TEENAGER who was given a flying start to life when she was born 7,000 feet up on a jet plane has celebrated her 18th birthday midair on a jumbo.

AN Inverness woman who was left paralysed from the chest down after a rock-climbing accident has been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan magazine Ultimate Woman of the Year Award.

AN Inverness restaurant owner has warned that red tape and excessive business rates are killing the city centre.

A GRIEVING dad has been spurred on to live life to the max, months after the tragic death of his nine-year-old son.

GIANT elves, wizards and goblins could soon be skulking a historic woodland on the outskirts of Inverness which was planted shortly after the Battle of Culloden.

A FAMILY is facing a race against time to save a riverside garden and cairn created in memory of their 14-year-old son.

A YOUNG Beauly singer songwriter is rejoicing after becoming a music chart-topper.

AN organic farm is under threat because the credit crunch is biting into its fruit and vegetable delivery business.

STAFF at a city fuel supplier are getting on their hiking boots to support cancer charities after two colleagues were diagnosed with the disease.

LOCAL traders are singing the praises of a local busker whose only source of income was under threat.

THELMA Henderson has taken over as managing director of Scottish Provincial Press, the Inverness-based publishing group whose titles include the Highland News Group.

A GROUP of people who would like to see Nairn ditch its aspirations for a town centre supermarket and build a modern performing arts centre instead has recruited Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton to their cause.

DAREDEVIL sky diver Fraser Mackenzie is on cloud nine as he heads for Spain for training for his latest pursuit.

AN Inverness couple will be flying high next month when they tie the knot at the aircrew memorial bandstand in the city's Bellfield Park.

AN Edinburgh-based newspaper has slammed a North writer for setting his thriller featuring retired spies in Inverness.

A VISUALLY impaired teenager is fighting for equal education opportunities for future generations of disabled children.

IT'S enough to bring an "Ahh" to the most hardened pair of lips – Skye the three-week-old roe deer enjoying one of her first adventures in the outside world.

THE sale of a 1.9-acre plot of land once owned by satanist Aleister Crowley has attracted international interest.

AN up-and-coming Inverness actress has hit the big time by landing one of the most coveted roles on national television.

AT the height of his career, 54-year-old Gordon Mackenzie headed up a school with hundreds of pupils.

IT could hardly be described as in the same league as the tragedies of Baby P or murdered Inverness five-year-old Danielle Reid, but the case before three members of the Children's Panel in the city last week was a difficult and delicate one.

LEARNING how to ride a bike or being taught how to swim are exercises most of us take for granted as a child.

MORE than 700 participants – young and old – from all over the UK and beyond descended on the Highlands at the weekend for the "charity challenge of a lifetime".

CLACH Football Club may be having a tough time on and off the park, but when it comes to the half-time pies, the Merkinchers are in a league of their own.

A TEENAGER who is always giving up her spare time and thinking of others is in the running for a new national award.

AN Inverness marathon runner has had to crank up his training before the Lochaber Marathon on Sunday as he bids to set a new world record.

ACTION man Tim Emmett lives for extreme highs.

A TOP north detective who led a review of the high profile Renee MacRae murder mystery has retired after 34 years with the force.

A GRIEVING couple whose baby daughter died at just nine hours old paid tribute to her short life and the fight to save her by handing over a donation to Raigmore Hospital.

HIGHLAND swimming instructor Rob Worthing is gearing up to do something he thought he'd never be able to: swim 200 lengths of the pool.

AN INVERNESS-based volunteer who has lived with the anguish of self-harm since childhood has praised the launch of a new website dedicated to helping others in her predicament.

AN RAF reservist is taking on the challenge of running in full combat gear for 13 miles on Sunday as a training exercise for an even bigger hurdle.

TWO Inverness women will set out on their own after an organised charity bike ride through Malawi clashed with their jobs at Inverness College.

A HIGHLAND woman who won a ground-breaking victory after her ex-husband ordered the destruction of embryos used in her fertility treatment is ready to fight another campaign.

AN Inverness dentist is offering a controversial beauty treatment – and demand for the service is growing.

BOBBIES are being put in the frame for a photographic exhibition.

INVERNESS student Vicki Folan is a real "sugar babe" whose face will soon be winging its way across the globe to promote one of the biggest whisky festivals in Europe.

AN Inverness mum-of-two who ditched her dangerous "superskinny" diet after appearing on TV hopes others in her shoes will seek help after Tuesday's show.

A FORMER Highland woman is hoping to take on the battle of the New Year bulge by bringing a brain-training "boot camp" to the North.

IT'S a tale that could warm the coldest of hearts and perhaps best illustrates the joy "man's best friend" can bring.

A TINY baby has made for extra special festive celebrations by making it five generations of girls in an Inverness family.

SANTA came to town early for one young family after a pensioner with a big heart delivered a sackful of cash.

CHILDREN are being invited to join an army of mini-Highlanders to celebrate a world first at this year's city Hogmanay festivities.

BUDDING young footballers at Inverness Royal Academy teamed up with former pupil and Caley Thistle star Jamie Duff to help raise funds for the Highland Hospice yesterday (Wednesday).

THE Highland News prompted some festive cheer this week after it delivered victory for a dialysis patient who was battling the Department of Health to get a much-deserved weekend break away.

A MAN who has been on the transplant list for four years and needs dialysis three times a week says he is treated like a prisoner.

AN Inverness teenager has been selected for the Team Scotland national cheerleading squad which will compete at the World Cheerleading Championships in Disneyworld, Florida, next April.

A ROYAL Navy veteran who found himself caught up in a revolution at the end of World War II has finally received his medal – 62 years late.

JOLLY joggers are being sought to sign up to a charity event which will see them pound the streets dressed as Santa.

A HIGHLAND globetrotter this week warned anyone heading for the Middle East to do their homework before they go.

A CITY teenager will join six other young Scots who are blind or partially sighted on a special visit to Westminster.

AN Inverness helicopter business made a flying visit onto GMTV this week, as part of a special feature presented by Jenny Falconer.

A WOMAN who should be preparing for the birth of her first child in three weeks' time is instead trying to set up a support group for bereaved parents.

WITNESSING an animal being sacrificed was not what three Inverness pupils expected to experience on a school trip.

A NORTH cop has gone that extra mile to raise almost £8,000 for a local charity.

THE closest most young people get to fighting the enemy and dodging bullets, grenade attacks and bomb blasts is in a computer game.

A LOCAL woman who spent more than 30 years teaching disabled young people to ride is a finalist for the prestigious Local Champion Award as part of the star-studded Pride of Britain Awards 2008.

A HULA hoop star who hails from near Inverness is coming home to support the city's own version of the hit TV talent show he made his name on.

A YOUNG Highland woman whose soldier husband is out serving in Iraq was beaming with pride when she spotted her beloved's picture in the Highland News.

DEER on the Merkinch Nature Reserve are being terrorised by roaming dogs, the Highland News can reveal.

A BIG-hearted cardiac surgeon at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness is getting on his bike to raise money for a vital piece of medical equipment.

A FORMER alcoholic who turned his life around has set his sights on raising money for others in need.

THE thought "I should get a medal for this" must have popped into the heads of more than a few employees.

A SERVICE which brings the Highland News to the visually impaired and disabled is in crisis due to a declining number of volunteers.

A DYNAMIC duo from the Highlands are setting off on a vintage adventure next month in aid of local charity Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) which supported them both through illness.

IT was almost the steal of the century when cheeky Swiss tourist chiefs latched onto Nessie in an outrageous marketing ploy a few weeks ago.

A INVERNESS singer is vowing to prove she has the X Factor after celebrity judge Simon Cowell voted her off the show's new series.

YOUNGSTERS from an Inverness school will be kept bug-free on a trip of a lifetime to a rainforest after a donation by a local firm.

A TEACHER at an Inverness secondary school will blow the whistle for the last time this week after 38 years of service.

SEVENTEEN-year-old Inverness lad Hamish Maclean readily admits he used to be the sort of person others would avoid speaking to if they saw him walking down the street.

PUPILS from a city primary school hopped to it to raise money for charity last week.

AN Inverness pensioner swum to France and back via the English Channel – without even leaving the Highland capital.

FORMER Caledonian Thistle star Richie Hart is appealing for support for a local fun-day which is being held to raise funds for a children's charity.

AN Inverness tattooist had a point to prove — so he got the Highland News design tattooed on his leg.

A YOUNG Inverness mum who is battling cancer was joined by former colleagues at Highland Fuels as around 3,000 women took part in Sunday's Race for Life in Inverness on Sunday.

AN Inverness bus driver has added to the mountain of cash he has secured for Highland Hospice after conquering the world's highest free-standing peak.

A CITY teenager is on target to get a pilot's licence before he is even old enough to start driving lessons.

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