JOHN CAIRNS replies to Barry Gordon’s observations on Caithness dialect in George Gunn’s Fields of Barley.

I BEGIN this month with an apology. In September, Northings ran a review of a reading of George Gunn’s play Fields of Barley in Thurso. I received an e-mail from John Cairns, writing on behalf of both Grey Coast Theatre and Caithness Arts, strongly objecting to what he saw as “an attack on the use of Caithness dialect”.

THE SUMMER may be wearing on, but there is still plenty going around the area. The Blas Festival takes pride of place this month, with Blair Douglas’s much anticipated Gaelic Mass heading a busy programme.

Dunbeath Heritage Centre, Dunbeath, 1 November 2008

Various Venues, Inverness, 18-22 October 2007

Wick High School, Friday 3 October 2003