Gavel at the ready for BBC charity auction
IT’S THE BBC’s Children In Need once again today and as ever Radio Shetland has a huge list of goodies to auction off tonight. The auction is split into three parts – one from 7pm-9pm; one from 9pm-11pm and the Star Auction, which runs from 7pm to midnight. Listen in on 92.7 FM to get the details. From 7pm the auction line number will be (01595) 694747.
Travel and accommodation
NorthLink – free return passage from Lerwick to Aberdeen for two passengers, plus a car, premium cabin and £60 meal vouchers.
Two return tickets from Sumburgh to Bergen from Loganair.
Two return tickets from Sumburgh to anywhere on the mainland within Loganair’s network.
A weekend for two in Aberdeen from BP with return flights from Scatsta on Friday and Monday, plus three nights hotel B&B accommodation.
A year’s free parking on Victoria Pier from Lerwick Port Authority.
A VIP trip on Lerwick Port Authority’s tug Knab for up to eight people.
A year’s free travel on the inter-island ferries from Shetland Islands Council for a non-commercial vehicle.
A trip for two on the Coastguard rescue helicopter.
Dinner, bed and breakfast for two at the Busta House Hotel.
From the St Magnus Bay Hotel – dinner, bed and breakfast for two in the hotel’s bridal suite.
A day out on the Dim Riv for up to 12 people. A three-night stay at any of the Shetland Amenity Trust’s lighthouses – Eshaness, Bressay or Sumburgh – accommodates up to six (seven at Sumburgh).
Food and entertainment
A weekender package for two from the Folk Festival, with memberships, tickets to the Sunday night Foy, tickets to any other concert and tickets for the final fling.
A five-course dinner for two with a bottle of bubbly (has to be taken between 1st and 23rd December) at the Hay’s Dock Cafe Restaurant, from the Amenity Trust.
A hamper with items from the Shetland Soap Company and Karabuni, from COPE.
A weekender package for two for the Accordion and Fiddle Festival – club membership for the whole weekend, tickets of your choice for the Thursday and Friday nights, to the Grand Dance on Saturday night and the Sunday afternoon concert.
Shetland Blues Festival – two tickets for Friday night, two for Saturday, plus a mug, t-shirt and sticker.
Scalloway Hotel – gourmet meal for four prepared by their head chef.
Nine Big Bannock mugs, each with a different design, plus a DVD.
Valhalla Brewery – a case of your beer of choice, plus a t-shirt and bar runner.
12lb fresh turkey from Globe Butchers.
Two memberships for the rest of the Shetland Film Club’s season – up to 10 films.
A box of fish from the LHD.
A selection basket from McKnab’s Kippers, with a bottle each of white and red wine, and either a selection of smoked fish or a side of smoked salmon.
Five kilos of freshly-harvested mussels from Blueshell Mussels – can be staggered.
Five kilos of smoked mussels from Demlane.
A hamper from Scoop.
£150 voucher from James S Smith, butchers. A Pudsey Bear Cake – beautifully decorated iced rich cake, no nuts involved! From Jean Saunders.
A six foot fir Christmas tree from Plantiecrub. A bottle of 10 year old Talisker donated by Charlie Inkster.
Four tickets for the last night of Jack and the Beanstalk by the Islesburgh Drama Group on 13th December.
A chance to name a Steven Spence tune, with a personalised CD and framed manuscript.
Health and environment
An environment package from Shetland Amenity Trust: tickets for the bidder plus three others to their Environment Awards Lunch and ceremony on 17th December plus a small or large bruck box/a £50 gift voucher from Enviroglass; a home energy monitoring kit; a stainless steel bag holder; collection of recycled products; a garden plant starter pack (a mix of 50 trees and shrubs, all grown in and for Shetland); plus a bird guide for the British Isles.
A three month platinum card from the Recreational Trust – that’s access to fitness and health suites at any of their facilities, including a swim.
The RSPB are offering two books – Attracting Wildlife to your Garden and The RSPB handbook of British Birds, plus a DVD on sea eagles called The Eagle Odyssey and a singing puffin stuffed toy.
A copy of the newly published Flora of Foula book from Foula Heritage.
Sort all your Christmas presents at once – five vouchers from Crystal Clear Holistic, for Crystal Reiki, Chiropody, McTimony Chiropracty, Reiki and Colour Reading.
A small hand-made birdbox in recycled wood from Martin Gray.
Various
A year’s postal subscription for the Shetland Times.
A day’s boat fishing on a loch with tuition and all tackle supplied from the Shetland Anglers Association.
Three Burra Bears – Osla and Tirval o’ Pitt Lane and a Peerie Oolit.
£100 of vouchers from Sutherland’s Filling Station.
Driving instructor Petur Petursson is offering four LGV driving lessons – that’s towards a truck licence. You need to be over 21 and have a category C provisional entitlement on your licence.
An art easel, plus starter kits for oils and acrylics from Healthcraft.
Film company Imagineering will provide a complete wedding video with high definition cameras, delivered in a presentation white satin DVD case.
£50 voucher from Frame It.
A Glasgow Rangers FC shirt – signed by the team – size large, from Alex Miller.
A carved wooden bear, representing the one found on a Pictish stone at Scatness, by John Walterson.
A House of Commons goodie bag from MP Alistair Carmichael.
A dinner for two in the Scottish Parliament with MSP Tavish Scott, followed by a tour.
An oil painting of the Ness of Hillswick by Wilbert Leask.
Strictly for the crofters! – two moorit Shetland gimmer lambs from Isobel Holbourn in Foula.
A pair of ladies’ Fair Isle gloves in Shetland colours, knitted by Agnes Walterson of Sandness.
Forty years’ worth of the magazine Seabreezes – the magazine of ships and the sea – donated by Alec Johnson.
Two Jim Tait paintings, The Knab and the Widows Homes, and Leebitton in Sandwick – donated by Jennifer and Bob MacLaine.
Hand-made Fair Isle tank top in heather and natural colours, c32” chest.
Stevie Gordon watercolour of Hay’s Dock, plus a framed Smirk Cartoon.
£20 book tokens.
A professional quality photographic kit – with two cameras, a Nikon F4s and F4e with motordrives; an MF23 back; two lenses – 35-70 mm and 18-35 mm both autofocus; an SB27 Flashgun, a new Laupro bag and other bits and pieces, from Kenny Watt.
Model 1944 Bedford OWB bus, run by Hunters of Baltasound in the 1950s – made by Ian Smith of Troswick (see story).
A painting of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl at the north end of Lerwick by John Sandison.
A Shetland sheepskin rug, made by the late Tammy Nicolson.
Two hand-knitted Fair Isle headbands – one brown, one green – from Jaqui Irvine.
A knitted dolly toilet roll holder and knitted blue and white cushion from Evelyn Georgeson, Sandsound.
24 DVDs and 19 videos from Bobby Fraser – a mixture, with classic British comedy, westerns, travel and Hollywood films.
Two doll’s shawls knitted by Mrs Anderson of Brough, Whalsay.
A bag of tatties and a bag of neeps from Da Flea. The chance to present Give Us a Tune on BBC Radio Shetland.
Bids can only be taken from 7pm onwards and do remember, the list may have been extended since we went to press. Terms and Conditions can be found on the Children in Need Website www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey.
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Busman’s holiday that raised £7,000
IT STARTED as a hobby in the mid-1980s, but Ian Smith’s craftmanship has raised over £7,000 for Children in Need.
Every year since 1985 Mr Smith, or Ian o’Troswick as he is better known, has made scale models of classic Shetland buses. This year’s model, a blue Bedford OWB 1944, is the 22nd.
All the models Ian makes have at one time run in Shetland. The Bedford originally ran in Unst during the 1940s and ‘50s.
It was Ian’s love of the old buses that made him first start to copy them. “They were just disappearing fae history, and they’re such bonie buses.”
As interest in the models grew he decided to sell them for charity. “I first made a model for Children in Need in 1985, it was a Leasks bus. I thought I wouldn’t make any more but folk looked for them, so I made another, and I’ve been making ones ever since,” he said.
Each model takes him around 80 hours and is made entirely from scratch from a piece of 4”x4” mahogany, on a scale of ½”:1ft. His favourite to make is the Bedford OB, which he has made more of than any other model. However he says there are lots more that he hasn’t done models of, and although he needs to wear glasses while working on them now, Ian thinks that as long as folk are interested in them he’ll keep making them.
Asked what he thinks of new buses and the recent incident involving one being blown over, Ian said: “The new buses have no character, they’re just like boxes! They should bring back the old ones.”
For the chance to own one of Ian’s buses and raise funds for a good cause, tune in to Radio Shetland’s Children in Need programme tonight.
