Happy Shetland Flag Day
Stuart Prestidge
As if anybody needs reminding but today marks the 15th annual Shetland Flag Day, when we celebrate all that is great about our isles.
Created by Roy Grønneberg and Bill Adams in 1969, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the transfer of the islands from Norway, the flag combines the blue of the Scottish flag with a white Nordic cross to symbolise Shetland’s historical and cultural ties with Scandinavia.
In 2007 Shetland Flag Day was introduced by the SIC, who hope the day will be used to ‘celebrate all things Shetland’.
After almost forty years of unofficial use, the flag was formally granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the heraldic authority of Scotland, on 1st February 2005, in time for the Island Games in July 2005 in Shetland.
