Photo gallery: Nesting and Girlsta Up-Helly-A’
Former bomb disposal officer Kevin Bryant led a squad of 22 on Friday as Guizer Jarl of the Nesting and Girlsta Up-Helly-A’.
Kevin adopted the character of Swedish Viking leader Jarl Ingvar Vittfarne, who was the last Viking to invade Persia.
The squad, including two princesses, looked superb in burgundy kirtles worn under steel-riveted black breastplates and boar skin cloaks. The shields were decorated with an intricate Celtic design and the 20 warriors carried swords and six foot spears.
Kevin’s galley was named Fighting Spirit in honour of friend and former member of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, Paul Burns. He was one of six soldiers who survived a roadside bomb in Northern Ireland in 1979, which left 17 dead. His biography was of the same name as the galley.
Fighting Spirit was painted red and blue, the colours of Kevin’s former Royal Engineers’ regiment.
For full coverage of the Nesting and Girlsta Up-Helly-A’, see Friday’s Shetland Times. All photos by Kevin Osborn.
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- Jarl Ingvar Vittfarne and his squad.
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- The Jarl’s Squad visits Whiteness Primary School.
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- The Jarl’s Squad prepares to lead the procession.
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- Up in flames goes the Fighting Spirit.
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- The galley Fighting Spirit blazes behind Guizer Jarl Kevin Bryant.
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- Guizer Jarl Kevin Bryant manages to say a final farewell to the galley Fighting Spirit.
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- The celebrations continued long into the night, including plenty of dancing in South Nesting Hall.
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- Kevin Bryant catches up with Tony Herculson who was the first Nesting Jarl in 1961, and was given the honour again in
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