North Mainland Notes

Babushka helps Haiti

After being postponed more than once due to the wintry weather of late, the North Roe School Concert took place on Friday night in the North Roe and Lochend hall.

A good audience turnout was entertained by a lively performance of Babushka, who spends many sad and lonely days in her little Russian house until she goes on a journey that fills an empty place in her heart.

Pupils at North Roe Primary once again excelled themselves in providing an evening of brilliant entertainment. The enjoyment of the audience was evident in the amazing amount of money the concert generated: by the end of the night £550 had been raised.

The sum of £350 will be sent to help the people of Haiti, recently devastated by the earthquake, and the remainder will be used through the school fund. Pupils and staff at the school wish to thank everyone who so wonderfully supported the concert.

Mossbank’s got talent

Pupils at Mossbank Primary School are working together to organise a talent show in the Mossbank hall next Friday to help raise money for the Haiti earthquake appeal.

The show is being organised by primary six and seven pupils at Mossbank and they are encouraging lots of their fellow pupils to take part.

The show will feature a variety of talents from singing and fiddle music to joke telling and dancing. Each act will be numbered and will also have a correspondingly numbered tin. The audience will be asked to vote for their favourite act by donating money to their tin and the winner will be the act with the most money. The show begins at 6.30pm and promises to be a great family night out.

Good as New on Saturdays

As of tomorrow the Good as New shop at the Brae Youth Centre will be open every Saturday from now until the end of February.

Brae High School prelims will take place in the centre for the next few weeks, so members of the Good as New shop committee have decided to move the usual Tuesday openings to a Saturday instead. Opening hours will not be affected and the shop will still be open, as usual, from 2pm to 4pm.

Northmavine prepares

As January draws to a close, it is now only three weeks until the Northmavine Up-Helly-A’ takes place on Friday 19th February.

Preparations are on schedule for this year’s Guizer Jarl, Brydon Anderson of Eshaness, and the festival committee is now dealing with the business of organising programmes, tickets sales, squad numbers and a multitude of final preparations. This year North Roe, Sullom and Hillswick halls will be open.

Committee members are reminded that their meeting will take place next Friday in the Hillswick hall at 7pm. This will be followed by the mass meeting at 8pm. All squad leaders should attend the mass meeting with the usual fees. Squad names should be registered with Derek by Thursday on (01806) 503268.

This year Up-Helly-A’ tickets will be sold on a different basis than in previous years. Rather than being on sale in local shops, tickets will be on sale in each of the open halls. Hillswick, Sullom and North Roe halls will be open on Sunday 7th February from noon to 3pm, selling tickets for the respective venues.

The hop will take place at Hillswick on Saturday 20th February. During the day the North Roe and Lochend hall will be open from 1pm to 8pm for fun, food and music. A bus will leave the hall at 8.30pm for the hop at Hillswick.

Winter ball success

Many pupils from Brae High School were barely recognisable recently as they donned their glad rags to celebrate the school’s third winter ball.

The night started with some pumpin’ beats from the DJ and as the evening moved on, the Northmavine Fiddle & Accordion Club took to the stage to provide some very welcome tunes for the Shetland dancing. A spokesman said Brae High School would like to thank the club members for coming to play at such short notice. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Shetland music and the dance floor was crowded throughout the night.

The event, held in the Brae hall, was branded a great night by all who attended and pupils raised over £800 for local charities.

Delting silverware

Delting Football Club held the annual presentation and buffet dance in the Northern Lights function room at the weekend.

The event is a great opportunity to recognise the achievements of all those involved in football at Delting, from the juniors, coming up through the ranks, to the seniors and even a few golden oldies.

Despite the disappointment of narrowly missing out on what would have been Delting’s eighth time to lift the league trophy, there was still plenty to celebrate. The club had a successful season, during which they brought home the Highland Fuels Cup, the Fraser Cup and the Parish Cup.

Top scorers during the season were: under-14 Darren Farqhuar; under-16 Liam Stewart; under-18 Stuart Lavender; B team Brydon Mowat; and A team Ross McDougall, who also took the title of top goal scorer for Shetland during the season.

Player of the year awards are always difficult to judge, but trophies this year went to: under-14 Liam Sutherland; under-16 Danny Sandison; under-18 Michael Forrester; B team Alistair Williamson; A team Neil Hay. Alistair Williamson also won the supporters’ vote for most improved player.

A spokesman for Delting said: “We would like to thank all the local firms for their support over the past season and special thanks to our main sponsor EMN Plant.

“We would also like to thank the Brae Hotel for the fine buffet and The Experience for their excellent music. The night was enjoyed by all who attended and raised over £1,000 for the club funds.”

Last chance for chips

The fact that the Ollaberry hall is closing on 8th February for refurbishment is testament to the sheer determination of the community and, especially, the hall committee.

Next Saturday will be the last chance to sample the famous Ollaberry fish and chips for the foreseeable future, so call along to watch John Peter have his final fry afore the kitchen changes beyond all recognition.

I caught up with Ollaberry hall secretary Cynthia Poleson to hear how the refurbishment programme for the hall has developed over the past few years, and got an insight into the volume of work the committee has undertaken to get the project off the ground.

Cynthia said: “We started to seriously look into a large project in late 2006. The kitchen was our main area for refurbishment along with replacement of the roof.”

Community consultation began in earnest and the committee wrote to all hall users asking for their support and ideas. They also carried out community surveys and asked for fund-raising ideas.

A design team, comprising Peter Johnson and Theo Smith of PJP Architects LLP and Ewen Balfour of H James Nisbet Assoc RICS MaPS, produced an initial feasibility study for a refurbishment and extension project.

Costings for the proposal were deemed too expensive and the project was then reworked and scaled back. The final proposal will mean the kitchen will be refurbished and extended into the current bar area and a new bar will then be formed using part of the store. The building will be re-roofed, ramp access will be added at the front of the hall and a disabled/baby change toilet will be created.

Sourcing funding for a project is perhaps always the most challenging aspect, but again the committee knuckled down and searched numerous avenues until possible sources were identified. Reams of application forms, months of work and more than a few bitten nails later, and a funding package was finalised.

Shetland Islands Council, SRDP, Awards for All and the Robertson Trust will provide grant funding for the work, Irvine Contractors has been appointed as main contractor for the project and work will start on site on Monday 8th February.

Due to health and safety legislation, during the refurbishment period, the contractors and associated work personnel will be the only persons allowed on site.

The committee, and especially new mother Cynthia, are looking forward to having bit more free time now that Irvine Contractors have been appointed, although they will still be on hand with day-to-day works. Cynthia added: “The committee is looking forward to working with the contractors and design team during the refurbishment and is very excited about opening the updated hall to the public around September.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their support in making this possible, especially Michael Duncan at Shetland Islands Council for all his time and effort over the last few years.”

Hair today, gone tomorrow

A Shetland-born man has decided to start the new decade with a new hairstyle, and as well as donating his locks to help children with cancer he hopes to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

David Odie was brought up in Voe, but now lives in Edinburgh after completing an honours degree in computer science. Since having his last haircut almost six years ago, his hair has grown considerably in the interim and now almost reaches his waist.

Having watched his friends take part in various activities to help raise money for charity, David decided towards the end of last year that he too would like to do his bit.

He said: “With it being a new year, a new decade in fact, I decided that this was the time to do something – now or never. One of the biggest constants for me, the past few years, has been my hair. So in the spirit of change, I decided that was what I’d do – cut my hair.

“I didn’t want to just do it with nothing coming of it. I wanted it to mean something, so I set up the fund-raiser – trying to raise as much money as I can before I cut it off.”

When asked about the inspiration behind his chosen charity, David explained his decision to raise funds for Cancer Research UK is in memory of his cousin, Martin Mills, who lost his battle with the disease when David was young.

He also heard of the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real-hair wigs for children suffering hair loss from cancer treatments.

David said: “It seems a waste to dump the hair if the Little Princess Trust can use it to brighten up a young life.”

Anyone who would like to sponsor David to cut his hair can do so at www.justgiving.com/HairToday-GoneTomorrow. Donations on the web page already total over £300 and he hopes people will add more to the fund before the shears are finally brought out.

David’s parents, John and Julia Odie, also have sponsor forms for anyone who does not have access to the internet, but would still like to give a donation.

Maree Hay