Isles Views 13.03.09
Norway Day in Whalsay
Teacher Christian Baert said the Norway Day organised at the Whalsay School on 18th February was a great success. Pupils and staff were given the opportunity to go to many workshops to discover many different aspects of Norway.
Two storytellers, Davy Cooper and myself, in their workshops, told traditional tales with a Norwegian slant. The pupils enjoyed them a lot. The little ones had stories too. Izzy Swanson was invited to the school to tell the story of the golden goose. The bairns had to perform the story during the presentation in the afternoon.
The school also invited a specialist in the Norwegian language, Elizabeth Morewood. She taught some pupils how to say hello, goodbye, numbers, parts of the body and kinds of fish. The pupils also had the opportunity to role play a little conversation and sing a song. They found it hard but interesting.
Another workshop focused on Norwegian art. Pupils learned a little about Edvard Munch and his artwork, especially The Scream, his most famous painting and one of the best-known paintings in Norway.
Pupils had the opportunity to handle materials and use colour and shape to practice stained glass models.
Others learned about the explorer Fridtjof Nansen. During that workshop pupils shared readings of Nansen’s attempts to reach the North Pole, modelled a template for a diary and wrote the diary.
“Building a Log Cabin” was another undertaking and it was led by the craft and design teacher. Pupils learned how a joint can be cut into a log to construct corners. They also became aware of how local materials were used in the past for buildings.
Dancing was a big success, with nearly every pupil in the school taking part. Each group successfully learned a Norwegian dance and everyone revisited dances previously learned.
The day would not have been complete without the Vikings. Kirsty Clark was invited to run the workshop with the younger pupils. Kirsty showed them some very interesting artefacts found in Shetland. That workshop was very popular.
The Shetland Bus was also a very important workshop, in which Ian Fraser told everything about what happened during World War Two. One group had visited Scalloway and the museum there and they were able to document that.
Everyone had the chance to taste Norwegian food. The day started a breakfast of salmon, bread, cheese, eggs, ham, pickled cucumber, jam and juice. At lunch time there was soup and fish burgers followed by a pudding.
Norway Day ended with a show that brought the whole school together. Everyone saw plays and listened to a Norwegian song and traditional tunes by the school accordion players. Finally everyone went home with a Norwegian cookie baked earlier in the day. The survey of pupils, staff and guests showed great enjoyment across the board. And a thing or two has been learned.
International cricket match
As part of the exchange visit to Shetland and the North Isles, the school parties from Ghana and Kenya combined to play against the Mid Yell Junior High School in a limited overs cricket match.
The home side won the toss and put the visitors in to bat. From their seven overs they scored 26 for five. In reply the Mid Yell School could only manage 25 for five resulting in the narrowest of wins for the Africans by a single run.
After the match Yell captain Dean Guthrie and vice-captain Jonathan Thomson presented Shetland flags to the Kenyan and Ghanaian school representatives. The Kenyan/Ghanaian select team was coached for the day by PE teacher Alistair Williamson and Matthew Saunders was the official scorer.
Umpire Steve Watkins said that it was fun for all the participants and the match was officially recognised by the ICC as being the most northerly cricket of an international nature to be played in Britain.
Yell water treatment
As we have reported, it is proposed that Yell is to have a single water treatment works.
Scottish Water project manager Raymond Aitken addressed Yell Community Council to outline the plans. The favoured water source is Gossa Water but the testing of water from that loch will go on all summer.
However, if the proposals go ahead as planned there will be a treatment works at the head of Basta Voe and Mr Aitken is keen to keep the Yell folk fully informed of the plans and progress.
As advertised elsewhere in this paper, there will be an open day on Thursday in the Mid Yell Leisure Centre.
It will be a rolling programme open to all and folk can look in any time between 3.30pm and 8pm to find out more and to ask questions.
World Book Day
On Tuesday 5th March World Book Day was celebrated in the Mid Yell School and librarian Janette Novak said it turned out to be very much a day of culture and tradition.
The theme for the day was tartan and Fair Isle with donations being collected for the CLAN 1,2,3 charity appeal. Children from Cullivoe and Burravoe schools joined the celebrations in the afternoon and the canteen staff served up Scotch broth and stovies.
Staff and pupils arrived at the school wearing various garments of tartan and Fair Isle. The prizes for the most effort were won by Dr Ronnie McLean and pupil Logan Spence who each received an Easter egg. A total of £270 was raised for CLAN.
Irish night in Burravoe
The Burravoe Hall is to have a St Patrick’s celebration tomorrow night. It is the nearest weekend to the actual date and it will have a strong Irish theme.
There will be Irish music, both live and recorded, and there will be Irish food on offer. The evening will kick off at 7.30pm and there will be no admission fee but people will have to pay for the supper served around 9 o’clock.
Organiser Rosemary Johnson said that the final total for the St Valentine’s fund raising for the CLAN 1,2,3 appeal came to £1,290.30.
Hats off to Hydro men
Sunday was a wild day with storm force winds causing widespread disruption to ferry services. All ferries were tied up by 11.30am and the Bressay service was the last to resume at 9pm.
Any journey outdoors in the raegin wistie was something of an adventure, and that is what happened at the old Colvister School in Yell.
Halfway between Sellafirth and Basta, it is the only occupied house in the area and now the home of John and Susan Williamson and their young family.
There was dismay in the household when their electricity supply was cut off by the storm. It was not hard to see the fault; the cable from the pole into the house was severed. To make matters worse the engineers could not deal with the problem because the ferries on Yell Sound had been suspended.
In the afternoon when the wind eased a little the ferries came back on so Susan phoned again about the power cut.
The engineers responded promptly, arrived in Colvister and fixed the cable. The weather was still far from good at the time and Susan said it was hats off to the team. She and her family are grateful and very impressed by the service given in their hour of need.
Farmers Market off
The Farmers Market due to be held at Cullivoe this Sunday has been cancelled. The next market will be in the Mid Yell Hall on 12th April. Michelle Morris of Initiative at the Edge said that a market in Cullivoe would take place a bit later on but the date has yet to be decided.
Mothering Sunday
On Sunday 22nd March St Colman’s Church is to have a Mothering Sunday family service at 2.45pm in the afternoon. Alma Lewis said that they hope to see as many folk as possible and she also wants to thank all those who supported the recent coffee morning when they raised £430 for church funds.
Cullivoe Up-Helly-A’ – the last word
It is a feature of Up-Helly-A’s that not only is the Guizer Jarl and his squad very hairy but they raise money for charity by getting it all shaved off.
This year’s jarl Euan Henderson is not noted for doing things by half measure but in this instance he did just that by going around for a week, and working on the ferry, with half a whisker.
He said that he had got some funny looks from passengers but it was all in aid of a good cause. Last Saturday night the job was completed when the remaining half of his beard was shaved off and his hair was severely cut. He is quoted as saying: “Der teen me doon ta da bare wid!”
In the end it was all worthwhile. The chosen charity to support was the CLAN 1,2,3 Appeal and Euan wants to sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the amazing total of £3,170.
Lawrence Tulloch
