North Mainland Notes 05.09.08

Eshaness sale

THE ESHANESS Community Centre is holding a sale tonight at 7.30pm to help raise funds for the centre. Along with bric-a-brac stalls, home bakes and a tombola there will also be a raffle and a sale of craft items.

Splinters SOS

Splinters are holding a snap fund-raiser on Sunday 28th September in Brae Hall. This is to raise money to enable a local family to purchase a special lightweight buggy for a delightful little five-year-old who needs it. The family have been offered the piece of equipment at a vastly discounted price for a limited period, hence the decision to go for it.

The afternoon will consist of traditional Sunday teas with a few surprises thrown in. More details will follow nearer the time but look out for posters locally.

Splinters have raised many thousands of pounds over the years and they really hope this fund-raiser will be as successful, especially as it is so close to home.

Any support from the community would be so welcome, so if you would be interested in making a donation, donating a prize or even a little sponsorship please get in touch with Di Newbold on (01595) 820283.

Wishing Alistair happy retirement

Alistair Williamson is retiring from his job as cleaner/caretaker at Urafirth School after over 40 years in the job.

During this time Alistair has seen many changes, including the construction of the purpose-built new school at Urafirth.

Staff, children and parents would like to thank him for his excellent contribution to the running of the school.

Head teacher Angela Grant paid tribute to Alistair’s work. “During my time here Alistair has always been happy to put up with the mess children (and staff) tend to make and to help out with any queries about our heating/lighting/plumbing system.

“He has always been happy to support us during the various highpoints of the school year such as the Christmas shows, summer fayres and parties. We will all miss him and we wish him well in his next venture.”

With the prospect of retirement, perhaps Alistair will be able to spend more time out in his boat, but given the extent of his community involvement this may not be the case.

Community council

As the nights begin to draw in community groups may be looking towards their next projects and where they might find the necessary funding.

Groups and organisations may be planning events and projects for the winter or starting to think about events for next summer which need pre-planning. Finding the necessary funds is often increasingly difficult.

One avenue for small grant funding is community councils and here we look at some of the funding Delting Community Council can offer community groups.

In Delting many groups and individuals take part in Shetland Amenity Trust’s Da Voar Redd Up and the community council has just received confirmation of the number of groups who have contributed to the magnificent effort in Delting this year.

As well as raising funds from sponsorship, groups who took part in Da Voar Redd Up in Delting can also apply for a £70 grant from the community council. Groups need to complete an application form to qualify for the grant and this is available from the clerk Vera Clark. So if you’ve cleaned an area in Delting this year, please give Vera a phone. As a one-off, to coincide with the publication of The World Needs More Madness to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Da Voar Redd Up, Delting Community Council is inviting individuals who take part annually to nominate a local charity or voluntary organisation to receive a donation of £30 on their behalf.

Individuals must be resident in, and have cleaned an area in Delting. Delting includes Voe, Brae (including Muckle Roe) and Mossbank – but not Sullom as some folk think. People should contact Vera with details of their nominated charity or group. Delting Community Council also has funds to support local groups and organisations with various projects within the community. Again, as part of the conditions for awarding grant aid, the community council requires applicants to complete an application form and groups must be Delting-based.

For further information or an application form, please contact Vera Clark on (01595) 697312.

Ollaberry teas

As the summer officially draws to a close, Sunday is the final chance to sample Ollaberry Sunday teas for this season.

The teas are a fund raiser for the hall and will include a sales table and raffle. The hall will be open from 3pm to 6pm.

Brae Good as New open

The Brae Good as New shop has re-opened in the Brae Youth Centre after the summer break.

The shop is open each Tuesday from 2pm to 4pm as well as the last Saturday of the month also from 2-4pm and has a wide range of clothing in a variety of sizes and styles at very reasonable prices. Currently the group is having a summer sale and many items are on sale for 50p and £1.

Over the years that the shop has been open a Brae, a large number of groups and charities have benefited from the funds raised. Last year alone the shop supported CLAN House, the Ollie Leask Memorial Fund, Cats Protection League, Brae Health Centre Garden, bairns’ Christmas parties in Lunnasting, Sullom, Muckle Roe, Voe and Brae, Shetland Equestrian Association, Aith Lifeboat, Splinters and Brae Play Scheme.

This list extends to a huge range of the Shetland community and the group hopes that with support from shop users, many further groups can be supported over the coming year.

Big Bannock thanks

North Roe is slowly getting back to normal after its Wild West transformation for the Big Bannock.

The boys hope to have matched the fund-raising efforts of last year, but an exact figure will not be known until all the outlay has been accounted for.

The North Roe and Lochend Hall committee and the Big Bannock committee worked hard for a large part of the week following the event to remove all the equipment and props that had been constructed and set up to add to the atmosphere of the weekend.

Both committees put in a tremendous amount of work, especially the Big Bannock committee but they also recognise the sterling efforts of the wider community and without this input the event would simply not take place.

As well as the large number of folk in Shetland and beyond who give their time as helpers, the number of people who willingly take part in all the competitions and add to the fun of the weekend should also be noted. The committee is particularly blyde of that input as this helps shape this event and add to the overall success.

The committee would also like to thank the following folk, in no particular order: Dr Lowrie and his bar staff; all the helpers at Little Plums Firewater Shack; Red Lowrie and his barbecue crew; the North Roe and Lochend Hall and everyone who helped in the kitchen; Ewan Mowat for his peace pipes; Alice and her stall girls; Gael and everyone who helped in the bairns’ tent; all the bands and musicians who played over the weekend; and the musicians who helped with the Big Bannock DVD this year.

The boys would also like to thank the raffle ticket sellers, everyone who donated items to the raffle and the auction, all the redder-uppers, all the campers who managed to clean up dir truss ahint dem, Lorna Sandison, St Magnus Bay Hotel, Pat and Ivor, Harry Hay, GTL WooHoo, Voe show for use of the barbeques, Scalloway Meat Company, the car park attendants, L Williamson, Scalloway Ltd, Shetland Catch, NorthLink, Shetland Transport, Garriock Bros, Voe Bakery, all who sponsored the event, Laggins Haulage, The Bandit, all who helped with the production of the DVD, Richard Kelly, Islesburgh Fire Skeeters, campsite owners who willingly give up their parks for the weekend – or in some cases the week!, Drew, Liz and dir boy, George Magnus for his driving abilities, Ewan and Duncan of the Bjorgs Railroad Company, Grant Anderson for milk and the BB press officer.

Finally the committee would like to say a massive thank you to the Shetland public for supporting the event. A spokesman said: “We wid like to thank aabody dat cam an managed ta gie so generously and mak it a huge success wance again.”

Chinese night at Hillswick

The ever popular Chinese takeaway nights will take place in Hillswick hall tomorrow night from 4-9pm.

Bar facilities will be available as well as a new menu. Telephone orders will be taken on 503265.

Sullom eela

A successful eela competition took place in Sullom last Saturday.

Despite an unavoidable event clash with the Voe Pier Trust eela, six boats took part at Sullom resulting in large catches for most.

After the weigh-in a fish sale and fry up took place at the hall, raising over £100 for hall funds. The evening was rounded off with music from the Northmavine Fiddle and Accordion Club.

Competition winners were – heaviest catch, Neil and Alan Doull; most piltocks, Isaac Peterson; most species, George and David Robertson; heaviest fish, George Robertson. A special prize was awarded to John Ross Ratter for his peeriest fish and his enthusiasm.

North Mainland youth clubs

With the beginning of the new school term, youth clubs all over Shetland are reopening their doors for the autumn/winter season. This gives young people in Shetland a chance to interact socially, develop and learn new skills.

In the North Mainland there are currently staff vacancies for youth workers. The Mossbank Youth Club has now transferred from the Old School Centre to the Mossbank Hall and three positions currently exist there. Over the summer Hillswick has successfully formed a youth club management committee and the community hope to reopen the youth club in the Hillswick Hall on Thursday evenings during term time. Two sessions will run separately for juniors and seniors during the evening and two part-time youth workers are needed to staff the youth club.

For informal enquiries regarding any of these posts please contact youth services leader Tom Anderson on (01595) 744477 or for an application form contact the SIC staffing section on (01595) 744032 or 744044 or email staffing.section@shetland.gov.uk

Nort Trow

Interpretation Nort is preparing to round off a busy first season of the Nort Trow visitor centre pilot project.

In addition to normal hours, the exhibition in the North Roe and Lochend Hall will remain open until 6pm. Nort Trow will also be open from 10am-6pm tomorrow and Saturday, 13th September with another hands-on day including knitting, spinning, cairding and kishie making from 2-6pm.

The exhibition will close for the season on Sunday, 14th September with Sunday teas in conjunction with the Nort Trow Gairden group. Interpretation Nort would also welcome any local musicians on Sunday 14th.

Change of date

The open evening for all those interested in community care work in the North Mainland will now take place in the Brae hall club room on Tuesday, 16th September from 6-8pm.

Maree Hay