North Mainland Notes

Kirk and community

The Church of Scotland would like to invite residents of Mossbank, Firth and Toft along for a discussion evening at the Mossbank kirk on Wednesday at 7.30pm.

The aim of the meeting is to discuss how the kirk can play a part in the community and everyone is welcome. Anyone who would like to attend but is unable to can contact the Rev. Bob MacGregor on (01806) 522604 for further information.

Water great day

The midgies came out to play again for the second North Mainland Playday at Voxter, but a peerie breeze soon got rid of them. The event was well attended with people coming from all over Shetland for the outdoor playday.

This year a water slide proved very popular, as well as two sailing trips in the voe, courtesy of Delting Boating Club. This was really appreciated by the bairns as many of them had not been sailing before and organisers would like to say a big thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

Jo Jack and her daughter Tamson provided a craft room full of nets and fish to keep the bairns busy. There are also plans that anyone attending Children and Families Day can add to the haul.

Many of the bairns had fun in the burn with duck fishing and bridge-building. House-building with cardboard boxes also provided lots of enjoyment and although staff and parents could not see the bairns inside their cardboard home, they could definitely hear them.

All in all it was a very relaxing day for everyone and a great end to the summer holidays. Anyone who may have left anything at Voxter should get in touch with Patti Wright on (01595) 473918 or 692408.

September brunch

American-style brunch will be available at Muckle Roe hall on Sunday, 6th September from 10am to 2pm.

For those of us who aren’t sure, American brunch is a cross between breakfast and lunch with delicious sweet and savoury foods on offer. Proceeds from the brunch will be used for hall refurbishments.

Committee members will be frying up a range of cooked food including bacon, sausage and eggs with toast as well as home-made waffles, pancakes and muffins with maple syrup. All this will be washed down with a plentiful supply of orange juice, tea and coffee.

So why not call along Muckle Roe for a good feed to start off the day or banish the morning-after blues.

WRVS club restarts

After a summer break the WRVS Northmavine Club will resume again.

The club is a chance for anyone over 60 or with reduced mobility to meet in Northmavine for a yarn over a cup of tea.

Members meet fortnightly at various hall venues throughout the parish and transport may be available to anyone who needs it.

Staff at WRVS would also like to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer to help run the fortnightly club, as well as folk who may be able to provide transport.

If you require transport or would like to help in any way, please contact the WRVS office on (01595) 743915 or e-mail shetland.admin@wrvs.org.uk

Club dates and venues are as follows: Wednesday, 26th August – North Roe Hall, 3-5 pm; Wednesday, 9th September – Ollaberry Hall, 3-5pm; Wednesday, 23rd September – Hillswick Hall, 3-5pm; Wednesday, 7th October – Eshaness Hall, 3-5pm; Wednesday, 21st October – North Roe Hall, 3-5pm; Wednesday, 4th November – Ollaberry Hall, 3-5pm.

Further dates will be decided at the club.

Fishy catches at Voe

Although conditions were good for the Voe Pier Trust eela competition last Saturday night, the fish were evasive and scarcer than usual.

A hungry crowd needn’t have worried though – catches were large enough to ensure a good supper at the Pierhead afterwards. Interestingly, no cod, haddock or whiting were landed.

Main trophy winners were: heaviest basket (men), Martin Miles; heaviest fish (men), Alex Couper; heaviest basket (women), Deborah Johnson; heaviest fish (women, Helena Johnson; most species, Stuart Hay.

Market reminder

The Vidlin Farmers’ Market will be open for business tomorrow from 10am to 2pm at the Vidlin hall.

As well as a good selection of local produce, there will also be cookery and pottery demonstrations and a variety of snacks and refreshments.

Teas and ice cream

Fund-raising efforts towards the cost of refurbishment work at the Ollaberry hall are pushing ahead in earnest. The hall will be open from 3pm to 6pm on Sunday for Sunday teas with a car boot sale. There will also be a selection of ice cream sundaes, smoothies and ices, so there’s something for everyone.

To reserve a car boot space call (01806) 544322.

Missing claes?

If you know of anyone who may be going around partially clad and unable to see, please let them know that a number of items of clothing and pairs of glasses have been found at the North Roe & Lochend hall after the Big Bannock.

To be reunited with these possessions, phone (01806) 533221 or (01806) 533260.

Fairy tale comes true

In glorious sunshine last Tuesday, invited guests joined staff, residents and day care clients from North Haven care centre for the official launch of the care centre polytunnel.

Helena Johnson thanked everyone for attending before handing over to Mary Hughson and Lawrie Leask, both day care clients of Nesting, to officially open the polytunnel.

Mary gave an excellent speech of thanks which described the initial fairy tale dreams of folk at North Haven to acquire a polytunnel. Princess Helena, Prince Charming, Tommy Leask and Campbell Johnson, were instrumental in ensuring such a happy ending to the fairy tale and Mary recorded a large debt of thanks to them.

She also thanked those who had supported the fund-raising efforts which included Sunday teas, sales tables, raffles, a musical evening and donations from birthday parties. Both the Delting and Northmavine Community Council contributed to the fund as did the Big Bannock Committee and a Fairy Godmother in the shape of the North Mainland Gardening Club.

Eventually enough money was raised to begin the project. Campbell Johnson laid the foundations, the polytunnel was erected and Garriock Bros at Brae helped out with landscaping materials.

Following on from that, Tommy Leask worked on the fencing and decking whilst Jim and Alan Moncrieff completed the project by laying the final flagstones to allow everyone, including folk in wheelchairs, access to the area.

On Tuesday the beautiful riot of colour on display was a testament to everyone at North Haven and an indication of why the centre was awarded so many rosettes at this year’s Voe Show. Congratulations to everyone at North Haven on such an inspiring fairy tale.

Nature day at Booth

Niki Buchan of Mindstretchers, a company dedicated to providing children with multi-sensory and real-world educational environments, has travelled to Shetland to help enthuse bairns and their parents about the joy of learning from nature.

As part of her time here, Niki is holding an open family day tomorrow from 2pm to 5pm at The Booth in Hillswick. Everyone from pre-school to primary seven is invited to take part in outdoor activities such as hide-building, creating art from recycled materials and even having the chance to toast marshmallows in a fire bowl.

All children should be accompanied by an adult and snacks will be available during the afternoon.

Mindstretchers opened Scotland’s first outdoor nature kindergarten, Whistlebrae in Perthshire in 2006 and in 2008 Auchlone opened near Crieff. The kindergartens offer the best of both worlds as children can enjoy learning in a mixed setting of a natural inside-space, a gently challenging outdoor investigative zone and a wild wood where they can feel the freedom of the natural environment.

According to the Mindstretchers website: “Nature provides a range of purposeful contexts that the children can really become involved in. The planting and harvesting of vegetables, the creation of habitat piles to increase biodiversity in the area and the use of natural streams to explore the properties of water all give children tangible ways of working with and in nature to increase their connection to it.”

The Nature Day is co-ordinated by the Northmavine Community Development Company (NCDC) and has been organised by volunteer Alex Purbrick of Urafirth. She would like to thank all the organisations who provided funding for the event including Scottish Natural Heritage, North Mainland Recycling Centre, Northmavine Community Council and Northmavine Powerdown, The Booth for hosting the nature day and Niki for taking time to visit Northmavine.

Busy time at eela

This weekend is a busy time for eela competitions in the North Mainland.

The Brae Hall eela will be held tonight from 6pm to 8pm. Entry is £5 per boat with a maximum of three crew and boats can start from either the Brae or Muckle Roe marinas. The weigh-in will take place at the Muckle Roe marina at 8.30pm.

The Sullom eela will be held tomorrow night from 5pm to 7pm. Boats can fish anywhere and crews should weigh in at the Sullom hall at 8pm. The kitchen lasses will be on hand to fry up the catches, the bar will be open and music will be provided by the Northmavine Fiddle & Accordion Club.

Finally, the Ollaberry & North Roe eela advertised for last Sunday had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions. It has been rescheduled from this Sunday with fishing from 4pm to 7pm and a weigh-in, fish auction and refreshments at the Collafirth pier afterwards.

Maree Hay