Winter festival to go out with a bang

Some of the fireworks from the cancelled Clickimin bonfire night display will be used on Saturday to help the Living Lerwick Winter Festival go out with a bang.

The town centre organisation has received funding from Lerwick Community Council to put the fireworks to good use.

There will be a short display at 4.45pm followed by the last band of the festival – Love Shack – performing at 5pm. The fireworks will be set off from the Lifeboat jetty.

Other bands are scheduled to perform in Harrison Square on Saturday. Although all performances, and the firework display, are weather dependent the timetable is: 11am Catherine and Sarah Brown and Friends, 12pm Teevliks, 1pm Sheila Henderson, 2pm Maggie Adamson and Brian Nicholson, 3pm Vair, 4pm Fiddle Finale and 5pm Love Shack.

Meanwhile Santa will make his final town centre appearance of the year. The grotto on South Commercial Street will be open from 12pm to 4pm.

Living Lerwick events director, Steve Mathieson, said: “We hope that Santa, live music, lights and fireworks will get everyone in town into the festive mood on this last weekend before Christmas. The feedback on the festival so far has been overwhelmingly positive, so we’re looking forward to making Saturday a great finale”.

He said the festival had been a big success all month with great enthusiasm from businesses, the public, those involved in the parade and all the brilliant local artists who have played in Harrison Square. There has been a great turn out for the live music every Saturday, even when there was an “extra festive” feel because of the snow. Living Lerwick was “pleased and impressed with the resilience of everyone involved when the weather took a turn for the worse, clearly no one was going to let snow dampen their spirits.”

Further details, including any changes caused by the weather, will be available on the Living Lerwick Facebook page and www.livinglerwick.co.uk.