Views from the Scord 15.08.08

Society’s Sunday teas

THE SHETLAND Bus Friendship Society is holding teas in the Scalloway Hall on Sunday.

On display during the afternoon there will be a variety of lightsome photo-related competitions including a display of comical photographs, a caption competition and a competition to guess the identity of the people featured in some photographs.

Proceeds for the afternoon will go toward the new Scalloway museum project. The teas begin at 2pm and continue until 4.30pm.

Community council

After the summer break the Scalloway Community Council will meet again on Monday.

Anyone with any issues to bring to the community council’s attention should approach a community councillor or address their points via mail or email to the community council clerk or the Scalloway Hall.

Alternatively, go along to the meeting in person. Don’t hesitate to contact your community council – that’s what they are there for.

Harbour activity

It was a quiet week in Scalloway Harbour with an absence of the oil-related vessels that have been a prominent feature of late, probably due in some part to the fine weather of the period.

The only large vessels to call in were the survey ship Sea Surveyor and the freight coaster Fame, which returned with salmon feed for the Scalloway store.

The pilot boat Lyrie was engaged in a couple of charters to deliver or retrieve crew from vessels Maersk Advancer and fishing vessel Sandettie.

Fishing vessels in the harbour or landing included the Polaris, Fertile, Good Hope, Comrades, Defiant, Radiant Star, Tranquility and Osprey, with landings bolstered to 1,277 boxes by 402 boxes from the Orkney boat Keila in the week to Friday.

Angling news

This week saw the last competition of the year for the Scalloway Boating Club angling section.

A Ling and Tusk competition where only these species count saw 15 anglers take part with 823lb of fish caught.

In the men’s competition Kenny Larenson was victorious with 102.8lb, closely followed by Robert Duthie with 94.8lb and Mark Laurenson with 90.6lb.

Vicky Tyler won the women’s competition with 7.8lb and in the juniors Scott Sandison won with 50lb, Bryan McCaffrey next with 34lb and Liam Fullerton third with 20.8lb.

The heaviest ling taken went to Barry Ward with a prime specimen of 10.2lb while Kenny Laurenson took the heaviest tusk at 4.2lb.

At the other end of the scale the smallest ling went to Mark Laurenson with a tiddler of 7oz with the smallest tusk of the day going to Edgar Cowie at 2.4lb.

The next angling competition from Scalloway will be the Viking Festival in early September. Watch this space for results after the competition.

Meal Beach litter

Local visitors to the Meal Beach in Burra are becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated by the level of littering and particularly broken glass on the beach.

People of the area are having to spend what should be an enjoyable time on sunny days collecting broken glass before they can let children play on the beach in safety. It is thought that the worst offenders are using the beach at night and perhaps not from the immediate area and in highlighting the problem residents hope to raise awareness that someone is having to deal with this dangerous litter and that it is not disappearing of it’s own accord. There have seen to be more people using the beach than ever before this year and as one local source revealed that they had found buried broken glass just below the sand surface, glass on the waters edge where people paddle and glass in the spring that runs onto the beach where young children have always played and explored, all situations that bear unthinkable consequences for toddlers and young bairns. Every countryside user has an obligation to leave the area as they have found it and the point arises that if the offenders found the beach covered in broken glass upon arrival would be unlikely to enjoy the place either. There are bins provided at the roadside above the beach and visitors are asked to place litter in the bins upon leaving. Anyone knowing of people taking glass to the beach is requested to mention the problem and encourage them to consider the small children that play on the beach daily.