Bikers will have to move

The annual midsummer bikers’ rally known as Simmer Dim, which has been held in Vidlin for more than 30 years, will have to move to another location this summer.

The event regularly attracts more than 300 bikers from the mainland and abroad. They camp in a field opposite Vidlin hall which they use for toilets and cooking facilities.

But landowner Dennis Johnson had written to the committee saying he was unable to make the land available this year.

Committee chairman Michael Leask said the news had come “completely out of the blue”. He said the bikers were not given any specific reasons for not being able to use the land, and said he hoped that they could return to Vidlin next year.

Meanwhile the bikers will know next week whether they can gather in Ollaberry, where the group is in discussions with the hall com­mittee.

This will be only the second time the Simmer Dim has not been held at Vidlin – it moved to Hillswick in the 1990s while Vidlin Primary School was being refurbished and the hall was being used for classes.

The event was cancelled in 2001 due to the foot and mouth epidemic.