Views from the Scord 12.09.08
Charity carwash
FIRE FIGHTERS from the Scalloway station will be washing cars for charity at the waterfront in Scalloway tomorrow. Payment for car washing is by donation and all proceeds go towards the Fire Fighter Charity Fund. The charity provides support for over 13,500 individuals every year and offers a full range of help for fire fighters injured while protecting the public. The Scalloway firemen will be there from 10am to 3pm, giving you the opportunity to spruce up your car and donate to a worthy cause at the same time.
In conjunction with the car washing the Scalloway Station is offering home fire safety checks, a free service to assess fire safety in private homes. By arrangement representatives from the Scalloway station can call at your home to assist with, and provide a report for you on, any hazards that you may not be aware of, or may not have noticed. Please feel free to ask them about this on at the car washing event.
Cats concern
Concerns have been raised, after the recent death of a family pet in the Port Arthur area, about the safe usage and storage of anti-freeze. The time of year may be a factor in an incident such as this as drivers prepare for the winter and renew or replenish their vehicle coolant.
There have been sporadic occurrences of cat deaths in this manner over the years, but this is the first for a while in this area.
Veterinary surgeon Juliet Nicolson of the Westside Veterinary Surgery, which has premises on the Blydoit Industrial Estate, said: “Antifreeze has a sweetness that attracts cats and ingestion is almost always fatal, even just a few drops. It causes crystals to form in the cats’ kidneys and causes renal failure very quickly.” There is effectively no cure for it because of the toxicity of the substance and the fact that by the time an owner may be aware that something is wrong it is almost always too late to do anything.
The kidney failure causes an unspeakable death for the animal. Because of this Juliet urges vehicle owners to exercise the utmost caution in storage or handling of antifreeze as even a slight spillage during a top-up may inflict this cruel death on a beloved pet.
Spillage should be dealt with quickly and completely and containers should be sealed.
Harbour
Scalloway Harbour set a new record for recent years in the quantity of fish landed in the week to Friday. The total through the market ran to a whopping 2,963 boxes, almost six times the total for the previous week and a record for the year so far. The highest totals this year are thought to be the best in over six years. Two noteworthy landings in the week came from, firstly, the Alison Kay with 370 boxes on Monday and then the largest single landing of the week from the Resilient with 426 boxes on Thursday. Other fishing vessels which contributed to the total included the Venturous, Sharyn Louise, Radiant Star, Fertile, Tranquillity, Boy Andrew, Comrades, Opportune and Ocean Way.
Line caught mackerel landings were down this week with 71.5 boxes coming from a variety of small craft.
Other harbour movements: the Ronja Settler continues to use Scalloway Harbour. The sailing charter vessel Eda Frandsen returned to Scalloway briefly during the week. The anchor-handling tug Maersk Advancer returned to collect the trencher machine that had been stored on the pier for several days. The Banff registered Discovery called in to use the net-mending areas, only to return later in the week under tow from the Buckie registered Moray Endeavour.
After a number of weeks on the West Commercial quay, a salmon feeding barge belonging to Skelda Salmon was lifted back into the water and towed out to site. The barge was fully shot-blasted and painted during its time on land.
The survey vessel Sea Surveyor called in to change captains and collect spares. The freight coaster vessel Fame called in with more salmon feed for the Scalloway feed store. Late on Saturday evening another feed barge arrived for slippage and repairs after being towed all the way from Dury.
Charity concert
The Shetland Bus Friendship Society is staging a fund raising concert for the new Scalloway Museum on Saturday 20th September in the Scalloway Hall. The line up will be comprised of some of the wealth of local talent from the area, with music and sketches among the items that will feature. Admission will cost £5 on the door and this will include a supper during the evening. The bar will be open during the intervals and there will be a raffle at the end of the evening. Doors open at 7pm.
Graffiti
Scalloway Youth Centre was daubed with graffiti this week.
The police were involved, as were staff from the NHS and the SIC, but there were no arrests and no complaints.
In fact the culprits have been highly praised for their efforts.
The graffiti art was designed, planned and applied to an area on the inside of the building b y members of the youth club as part of an approved community programme to enable them to express their creative talents and find an outlet for their energy with the assistance of youth centre staff and a visiting artist.
The idea was conceived and co-ordinated by local youth worker Laura Saunders, who provided members of the youth club with a range of options for creative projects and assisted them in realising their goal and overcoming the challenges involved. The youths chose to pursue the option of graffiti-style murals.
Laura said: “We wanted them to experience urban culture in a positive way. The majority of the group are 14-16 years old and this was a means to help them decide more about what they want to do in life and help them to steer clear of anti-social behaviour. This can help them decide things like if they want to go to college or university and for them to experience the kind of things they would south.”
Visiting artist Marc Delaye has travelled up from Inverness to assist, supervise and instruct the group. He has a long track record of projects such as this in Scotland and France. Classified as a spray-can artist, he specialises in banner making, t-shirt stencilling and mural design as well as graffiti. Running the workshops in Scalloway over three nights, he also provided the centre with some of his own signature art before leaving.
The project was funded from the local action fund of the community safety partnership, which Laura contacted. The partnership includes the Police and the NHS as well as the SIC. Though always available to help them, Laura was keen to stress that the youth group, from Brae and Sandwick as well as Scalloway, rose to the challenge and filled in all their own forms and did their own research. “They’ve been having a ball and getting on so well. There’s some really good artists among them and this is giving them confidence.” The murals, in the upstairs billiards room of the centre, are entirely developed by the youth group and combine Scalloway related themes with Manga-style cartoon art.
Mark Burgess
