Girls dominate junior young fiddler competitions

Three young lasses swept the board at the junior section of the Shetland Young Fiddler competition at the Garrison Theatre this morning.

The Junior Young Fiddler of 2015 was Ashleigh Jarmson, 11, from Bell’s Brae Primary School, with eight-year-old Emily Laurenson from Dunrossness Primary School in second place and Emma Leask, 11, of Sound Primary School third.

In the Traditional Young Fiddler of 2015 section the same three triumphed, with Emma being placed first, Ashleigh second and Emily third.

The three judges were full of praise for the competitors. Maurice Henderson said the overall standard had gone up, especially in intonation and tone. He said the winning entries had been a “nice interpretation of old Shetland tunes”.

Catriona Macdonald urged the youngsters to “keep practising – it’s the only way to get to the winning spot”. She added that the standard had been “amazing”, and thanked the teachers.

And Peter Gear said: “It was wonderful to see such showmanship and individual expressiveness, very inspiring.”

Compere and organiser Valerie Watt of the Shetland Folk Society, said the standard of musicianship from the pupils was very high and it was hard to believe the oldest was only in P6. She praised the “impressive” support from family members in the audience, who had made it to the theatre for a 9.15am start.

Later in the afternoon 12-year-old George Spence from Uyeasound was named as winner in the Intermediate and Intermediate Traditional sections.

The competition culminates in a concert tomorrow evening.