Sumos, sweets and pillow fights at Sandwick Fun Day

Sumo wrestling, pillow fights and plenty of good fun is being enjoyed in Sandwick.

The annual fun day kicked off this afternoon after local lad and fundraiser Ollie Jamieson cut the ribbon with the SMUHA Jarl Squad.

Despite the sun only occasionally peeping through the clouds, plenty of folk came to enjoy the attractions at the Sandwick football pitch.

Bouncy castles, a coconut shy, makeovers and homebakes made for lots of smiling faces.

Alison Harding was busy painting nails, dabbing on pirate tattoos and creating colourful hair highlights.

She said it was great to see so many people out to enjoy the day.

“There’s a lot of community effort and every single part of community. It’s a huge effort put into this,” she said.

“The profits are split between the community and Cancer Research UK so the more we take, the more we get.”

Alison’s husband Richard is chairman of the fun day.

“We’re lucky with the weather,” he said.

“We have had it going for six years, we’ve always had it and it’s never been rained off yet, and this year we have just about done it again.”

Fellow organiser Steven Jamieson said money raised over the years had helped to buy marquees and a sound system.

He said about £7,000 had been raised for Cancer Research UK from the events so far, with voluntary groups receiving “in the double figure of thousands”.

“We try and mix it up every year,” said Richard.

“This is the first year for the sumo wrestlers, so we try and mix it up and it gives us a bit of variety. If we can mix it up you get the continued interest from people.”

For more see Friday’s Shetland Times.