Despite the unseasonal weather so far the various isles rowing teams have begun preparing for the first regatta next weekend.

The clubs have launched their yoals in all weathers, practising for the Bigton event on Saturday 1st June, held at the St Ninian’s Isle sands.

The Burra rowers feel the strain during one of last year’s races. Photo: Shamim Robertson

The following week Nesting are the hosts on Saturday 8th June, with the races taking place at the old wartime base at Catfirth.

The Nesting regatta is followed by two long-distance races, the Round Trondra race on 21st June, which raises money for charity, and the Brae to Aith event on 3rd July.

July sees two regattas, Yell on the 20th and Skeld on the 26th, while August has four events: Trondra at Scalloway on the 4th, the championships in Unst on the 10th, the inter-club races on the 16th and the Lerwick regatta on the 25th.

A spokeswoman said: “Last season saw the successful introduction of short fun races for the under-12s which, as well as helping build clubs from the bottom, capitalises on the enthusiasm and interest to be found at this level.

“There are 10 active clubs at present and a few which need just a little interest to revive them. There is virtually no age limit to participation, as long as people can manage an oar, and all clubs welcome new members.

“Rowing is a great workout and a very social exercise. Do check out what is available in your area.”

We wish to state our grave fears with regards Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). The name of this new qualification sounds aspiring, but everything we are learning about CfE suggests the exact opposite.

There is very little external examination – none at all until National 5 level. Instead schools teach, measure and award the level of attainment according to criteria that are poorly documented and poorly understood.

How can this benefit the learner? How do they use such “qualifications” to persuade employers or further educators of their base knowledge? When this will be a variable feast depending on the school attended?

We feel they will be subject to prejudice because of this new “qualification” and they will in fact at the end of schooling have to attend some other educational facility to sit for a more recognised qualification.

We are concerned that the number of subjects a learner can pursue at senior school is being set by the council, and not the school, or teachers, and certainly not by the learner.  CfE is a flexible system, allowing learners to study up to eight subjects at N4-5 level.   We deplore that only seven subjects are deemed “sufficient”.

We are dismayed at the policy of deliberate vagueness as to how many of these “choices” are not any such thing but compulsory – like English, maths and second language.

RMPS, social studies, and health & wellbeing may be important to offer for study but we strongly believe it is a mistake to make any of these compulsory over the offering of three science or technology subjects.

A system that is giving learners only a small number of subjects to truly choose at so early a stage cannot produce the focused individuals Shetland and Scotland needs in order to prosper within science and engineering in the future. There can be no excellence if everyone is the same.

We are also concerned that a large number of parents of learners on whom this system is being imposed are prevented from speaking out in opposition to it.

Parents who are teachers, and parents who are council employees, have been “reminded of their obligation to their employers”. Gagged, in other words. Given that a large proportion of parents in Shetland work for the council, this is a large proportion denied their voice.

Teachers are concerned that they have not received sample examination papers, teaching materials, guidance on assessment for the courses they are to be delivering. They have not been given the tools they need to do right by the learners in their charge.

John and Jeanette Clayton
Ingagarth,
Lower Hillside,
Gulberwick.

Shetland Country Club’s latest guest, Irish singer Shawn Cuddy, delighted audiences in the isles over the weekend.

Cuddy, from Camross in County Laois, was making his third visit to Shetland. He performed at the Garrison Theatre in Lerwick on Thursday, the Brae Hall on Friday evening and the Lerwick Legion last night.

Irish country singer Shawn Cuddy.

He sang a wide variety of songs, ranging from old favourite The Leaving of Liverpool to Coast to Coast’s 1981 hit Do the Hucklebuck, and included several tracks from his new album Reflections.

A substantial crowd at the Legion concert included a number Irish people who now live in Shetland, and they very much enjoyed a mixture of Irish and country music from a very slick performer.

One fan described Cuddy as “really, really good” and “more fun than Daniel O’Donnell”.

• See review of the Legion show in The Shetland Times on Friday.

Picture this: a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, and three foreign cyclists have hired bikes from a Lerwick establishment for a five-day cycling tour of Shetland.

One of the bikes breaks down and is unable to be ridden. They phone the establishment for help and are told that it’s not part of the agreement and it refuses to come and help. The cyclists come into the shop to ask if there are any transport companies locally that can get the bike and rider back into Lerwick before 5.30pm. Luckily we eventually managed to get the bike and rider back to Lerwick.

I think that the bike hire company should be ashamed of themselves and their customer relations. How hard would it have been to come out with a new bike and pick up the broken one? Again Lerwick’s customer relations comes into question.

The company in question was not the Shetland Community Bike Project.

Rhona Anderson
J&K Anderson
Whiteness.

Sixteen Shetland businesses showcased their products to the Serco NorthLink operations team in Lerwick last Thursday.

The “Meet the Supplier” event, held in partnership with Shetland Islands Council’s economic development department, is part of NorthLink’s drive to increase the amount of island-sourced products on board the ships.

While there has been praise for the company’s use of isles crafts and foodstuffs, there has also been concern at some being left out, with Shetland lamb in particular being removed from the menus.

Serco NorthLink Managing director Stuart Garrett said: “The meet the supplier event was a great success and analysis is now on-going from all the produce and services presented on the day. When this process is complete and where commercially viable, it is anticipated to introduce selected lines into the restaurant, bar and shop ranges.

“Our restaurant and bar menus already feature locally sourced produce, the gift shop focuses on a variety of Shetland jewellery, soap and confectionary lines and our bars offer a range of high quality locally brewed beers.

“I can confirm that we plan to hold similar events in Shetland on a regular basis.”

Shetland should make the case for greater financial support from national government to build more homes to tackle its housing crisis, according to SIC councillors.

The council is already fighting to have the debt it chalked up building houses when North Sea oil was getting up and running in the 1970s written office.

If the debt is not addressed, council house occupants – already paying among the highest rents in Scotland – face a hike in rent of 10 per cent or more next year.

Alastair Cooper

You can sign The Shetland Times’ petition to have the debt wiped out here. It has attracted over 700 signatures so far.

Development committee chairman Alastair Cooper said that, while that campaign was ongoing, today’s housing shortage was being exacerbated by the influx of workers to allow west of Shetland gas to be piped ashore.

Mr Cooper said that, aside of redeveloping Hoofields and a small number of homes in Brae, it was unlikely the SIC would build any new houses during this council. Hjaltland Housing is building some homes, but not enough to eliminate a waiting list which stood at 832 in March.

“There should be more emphasis in this on engaging with government and saying we’re the powerhouse of the Shetland economy,” he said at Friday’s social services committee meeting.

Between 1974 and 1989 the council built over 1,000 new homes to cope with a 37 per cent population influx. Mr Cooper drew parallels with the arrival of hundreds of construction workers to build Total’s gas plant.

“We’re fighting for the £40 million [debt] from last time [to be repaid],” he said. “But there needs to be money to enable us to accommodate more folk and provide the services the UK is needing. The UK really needs the gas that Total and BP are coming with. We should be asking them to do more to deal with the housing crisis in Shetland.”

Figures published last week estimate that Shetland’s billion-pound economy contributed £82 million more to the UK state than it received in government funding in 2011.

Social services committee chairman Cecil Smith endorsed Mr Cooper’s plea.

Councillor Allison Duncan, meanwhile, bemoaned the “extortionate” rents being charged by private landlords following the latest influx of oil and gas industry workers.

“If we don’t do something about this very quickly for young people, they’re going to move out of Shetland,” Mr Duncan said. “I hope we can get something done as a matter of urgency here.”

Mr Cooper also wanted to scotch the “popular misconception that folk are coming in the South Mouth, walking into the housing department and getting a house”.

Development director Neil Grant said the housing department stuck rigidly to its procedures. He does not believe there are a “significant number of people that come off the boat and present themselves as homeless”.

The Pacific diver off Grutness. Photo: Roger Riddington

A Grutness resident made an exciting ornithological discovery earlier this month, when he found the first Pacific diver ever to be seen in Scotland.

Andy Flaws was justifiably pleased with himself when he saw what appeared to be a black-throated diver in summer plumage in the bay outside his house. This is a rare bird in Shetland with on average just one or two a year seen in the islands.

Andy mentioned the diver to Paul Harvey, of Shetland Biological Records Centre, who was birdwatching in the Grutness area at the time. Paul soon found the bird but noticed that a number of subtle features suggested it might be a much rarer species. Paul contacted Roger Riddington who, importantly, was able to secure some photographs of the individual.

Unfortunately the diver flew off strongly south just 15 minutes later, but the photographs do indeed confirm that the bird is the first Pacific diver ever to have been seen in Scotland.

Pacific divers breed in far-eastern Siberia and north-western North America where they are the ecological counterpart of the black-throated diver, which breeds across Europe and Asia. The species spends the winter off the Pacific coasts of North America and eastern Asia, as its name suggests, so this individual is some way from home.

The Aith lifeboat was called out in gale force winds today to assist a vessel in difficulties off the West Side of Shetland.

The 38-foot charter vessel Sceptre was carrying 14 people onboard when her engine broke down off the isle of Vementry.

Shetland Coastguard was alterted just after noon and the the volunteer crew from Aith responded to their launch request.

However, the Sceptre crew managed to fix the breakdown before the lifeboat reached the scene and she returned to base, arriving back in Aith by 1pm.

Shetland’s 45-strong island games team will get a £5,000 council grant towards the cost of travelling to Bermuda for this summer’s competition.
A plea from councillor Allison Duncan to raise the grant to £8,060 was rejected by four votes to two at Friday’s social services committee meeting.

The sum granted is far below the level paid in more plentiful times. Waxing lyrical about the games’ benefits to Shetland, Mr Duncan had argued at considerable length for an extra £3,060 to be pledged.

“It is, to me, the Olympics of the islands, and it must be the highlight [of athletes' sporting lives] to represent Shetland,” he said.

But political leader Gary Robinson said that 12 months ago the island games association had been told plainly that finances were “in such a parlous state that, if they planned on getting nothing”, any grant would be “a bonus”.

“We do need to pay tribute to all the organisers and competitors that have put a huge amount of fund-raising effort into this,” Mr Robinson acknowledged. “I understand there is a bit of a deficit in funding [but it's] not one that can’t be overcome with their own efforts.”

Councillor Allan Wishart agreed, saying “how this is interpreted throughout Shetland” was important given the climate of massive cuts in public spending.

Shetland will be competing in eight of the 14 sports to be held across 15 venues in Bermuda between 13th and 19th July. As of last month, more than 2,000 participants had registered to attend the event.

A man who caused the death of his friend through drink driving over five years ago is in custody after being caught behind the wheel again.

Ross Sutherland, 24, of Port Arthur, Scalloway, was warned he faced a lengthy prison sentence when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.

He admitted driving on Scalloway Road and Queen’s Place in Lerwick while disqualified, and without insurance, on 16th May.

Co-accused James Garson, 24, of Walls, admitted permitting Sutherland to commit the driving offences.

Meanwhile, Sutherland also pleaded guilty to possessing the Class A drug diamorphine at the Freefield car park on 27th April.

Sutherland had been released early from a prison sentence of four years and eight months. The prison term was handed down by the High Court in Edinburgh in December 2008 after his friend, Ian Sandison, died in a high-speed crash in the town a year earlier.

Sutherland had also been banned from driving for five years. Lerwick Sheriff Court today heard it would have been August before Sutherland reached the end of his prison sentence.

Sheriff Mann referred Sutherland’s original case back to the High Court. The new complaint was adjourned until 11th July at Lerwick.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie opposed bail. He said: “He is somebody who is disqualified and that follows from an offence where he killed someone driving. Yet he still has the audacity to get behind the wheel of a car and drive unlawfully.”

He added that Sutherland was “not somebody with the necessary maturity to ob-temper [comply with] a court order”.

Sheriff Mann told Sutherland: “Driving while disqualified is a serious offence and could result in a custodial sentence.

“Having been told of the matter referred to in the previous conviction, it’s my view that a custodial sentence is almost inevitable. You are looking at a lengthy period of custody, I’m afraid.”

Garson was released on bail and will also appear on 11th July.

Dunrossness Primary School has taken the top prize in a national competition asking schools to showcase their commitment to the environment as part of The Co-operative’s Green Schools Revolution.

The school beat off competition from hundreds of schools across the UK to win the £3,000 cash prize.

Green Schools Revolution is a high profile free programme of environmental activities and green school trips designed to inspire the next generation of green pioneers, with close to 6,000 schools all over the country taking part.

Jack Smith, Nathan Watt, Joshua Smith and Fergus Allan in the school garden.

The national competition invited schools to showcase the work they had been doing since joining the scheme, to win funding to help them realise their green ambitions.

Dunrossness was the only primary school in Scotland to be named a winner in the competition and to receive a share of the £18,000 prize fund.

The school impressed judges with its range of activities which are all based on the programme’s key themes. Great examples of the school bringing the programme to life include creating outdoor learning areas, growing vegetables, carrying out regular litter patrols and teaching children about renewable energy.

The school plans to spend the prize money on developing an outdoor classroom.

Scottish Co-operative regional secretary Gerard Hill said: “We had some very strong entries, so Dunrossness Primary School should be very proud of the work it is doing and I hope by winning this competition it can take its eco plans to the next level. The school is a shining example of sustainability in action that will no doubt inspire others.”

Two victories apiece by Spurs and Celtic in the Madrid Cup league stages on Friday and Monday meant they finished strongly and join Whitedale in the last four.

Although losing their final game, Delting also sneaked a semi-final place by virtue of a better goal difference than Scalloway and Whalsay.

Meanwhile in the first leg of the Manson Cup, Whitedale had an important away victory over Scalloway.

Madrid Cup (league stages)

Celtic 2, Whalsay 1
Scorers for Celtic were Paul Leask and Tom Moncrieff. Whalsay replied through
Daniel McDonnell

Delting 0, Spurs 1
James Johnston grabbed the three points for the Milkbags.

Whitedale 0, Celtic 4
With Whitedale having already qualified for the semi-finals, they chose to have an off-night and Celtic certainly benefited. Goals from James Aitken, Roy Wood, Lowrie Simpson and a Greg Tulloch own-goal gave the Hoops a big win.

Spurs 6, Scalloway 2
Iain Goodlad, Connel Gresham (2), Jordan Webb, Dominic Mann and Shane
Jamieson netted for Spurs while the consolations for Scalloway came from a Josie Kay own goal and Rhydian Reynolds.

Manson Cup (first leg)

Scalloway 0, Whitedale 1
Jamie Wilson got the solitary goal for the away side.

A former salmon farm manager was fined £800 at Lerwick Sheriff Court after admitting setting nets which could have resulted in the unlawful killing of seals.

Graham McNally, 52, of Sandveien, Lerwick, committed the offence while he worked as a regional fish farm manager  for Meridian Salmon Farms.

He pleaded guilty to using prohibited, non-selective nets at the salmon company’s Cloudin site in Vaila Sound when he appeared before sheriff Philip Mann today. Doing so could have resulted in the death of grey or common seals as they hunted out valuable salmon stocks.

McNally is the first person in the UK to be convicted of the offence under the Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994 following a police raid and an investigation by the Scottish SPCA. The offence took place between 16th March 2011 and 1st August 2011.

The court heard insufficient care was taken to ensure nets were properly weighted to ensure a minimum danger could have been presented to seals or other wildlife.

McNally was fined despite the sheriff accepting he had not intended to deliberately target seals through his actions. His ruling followed a lengthy submission from defence agent Martin Sinclair.

The sheriff recognised a “tension” between the salmon industry and conservation groups. “I’m not looking at the option of imprisonment. I believe this matter can be dealt with by way of the imposition of a financial penalty,” he told McNally.

“It’s clear that there’s a significant tension between the fish farming industry and conservation interests. But you are not somebody who deliberately targeted seals for the joy of targetting seals. You are not someone who has gone seeking out seals to put them to death.

“Your motivation was clearly, in my view, to preserve the health and welfare of the fish stocks for which you were responsible. It was not for any personal gain, but for the benefit and gain of your employers.”

Sheriff Mann noted no seals or other wildlife were killed, and added the actions were for the “benefit and gain” of his employers. Adding that the offence had been “technical”, he said: “I am not concerned about punishment for what has been done, but more by sending out a message of deterrent to others.”

He said the maximum fine he could impose was one of £5,000, but added the offence was at the lower end of the scale. “Had it not been for your plea I would have fined you £1,200.”

A not guilty plea from McNally’s co-accused Ross Morrison, 41, of Union Cottages, Lerwick, was accepted by prosecutor Tom Dysart from the Crown Office’s wildlife and environmental crime unit.

Commenting on the investigation and court case, Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: “We welcome today’s conviction, which is a landmark for seal conservation in Scotland and the UK.

“Common seal numbers are decreasing and the illegal trapping and killing of seals is contributing to their decline. We wish to thank the police and Scottish Natural Heritage for their assistance in our investigation.

“This case highlights that we will work tirelessly to pursue anyone involved in wildlife crime. We urge members of the public to contact our animal helpline on 03000 999 999 if they have any concerns in relation to the illegal killing of seals in and around Scottish waters. All information is treated in strict confidence and can be provided anonymously.”

• For full story see this week’s Shetland Times.

A raft of top rock bands from the Scottish mainland are heading north to play the inaugural ShetFest this weekend.

The one-day event will take place on Saturday in Lerwick’s Da Wheel Bar during the afternoon and evening before heading along the road to Baroc for a late-night rock club night and afterparty.

Acts due to play the all-dayer include hotly-tipped Glasgow pop-punkers PAWS, ska act The Hostiles and eccentric rock trio Cuddly Shark. They will be joined by Cleavers and The Fire and I, who both will be returning to the isles, as well as fellow visiting acts The Murderburgers and Halfrican.

The line-up will be complemented by local bands The Last, The Dirty Lemons, Brundlehorse, Casino Feet, Kansas City Shuffle, Toni Sidgwick and Andy Chainsaw.

ShetFest is being organised by local music enthusiasts 45/33 Promotions, who comprise of Marshall Brill, Robert ‘Birdy’ Burgess, John Gair, Sandy Middleton and Jono Sandilands.

Brill said that the event will mark the culmination of months of preparation and hard work. “I’m very excited for ShetFest – it’s going to be a great day and night. There’s some brilliant bands who are up to very exciting things themselves, so it will be great to see them in such an intimate environment. There were a few unexpected things that happened along the way, but we managed to pull through.”

Headliners PAWS will visit the isles ahead of a US tour in June, with the trio also set to support indie icons We Are Scientists and The Cribs in the UK later in the year. NME has previously called their work a “brutal burst of pure emotion that takes no prisoners” while MTV reckon they purvey “stories of self-alienation, paranoia and insecurities slipped in between the rhythmic, fast-paced energy of the Misfits”.

Glasgow based Cuddly Shark, meanwhile, revealed that they have wanted to play in Shetland for some time due to pre-existing links with the isles.

Vocalist and guitarist Colin Reid said: “I’ve always wanted to visit Shetland – our drummer’s family are from there and he has been promising to take me for ages. Plus, we get to see some amazing bands like Halfrican, The Murderburgers, PAWS and our hometown comrades, the wonderful Cleavers.”

The trio’s sound is a jamboree of styles that pivot on a solid base of three-piece rock.

“I guess we’re a punk band with a country tinge, with some pop in there too,” Reid added. “There’s usually a bit of something for everyone. We try and make the live shows as fun as possible.

“The new album’s much more pop than the last one, so it gives us a chance to show off our new skills – being able to play more than just three chords.”

* ShetFest is due to kick off at midday in Da Wheel before finishing between 9-10pm and heading to Baroc until 2am. Limited tickets will be available from Baroc, subject to availability.

Chris Cope

The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess is to play at a gig in Mareel on Friday 27th September.

Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess.

He is currently touring his new album Oh No I Love You, which will be released on 2nd September, around the UK with his five-piece band including Charlatans guitarist Mark Collins.

Burgess, who recently published his autobiography Telling Stories, worked with Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner on the record.

He says: “The root of this album goes right back to a Kurt Wagner show in Manchester … I carried Kurt’s guitar to the car for him. I took the chance to ask him if he would ever consider writing a song with me. He said ‘Sure Tim, you write the music and I’ll write the words’. That one song turned into an album and almost 10 years after we first talked about it, the album is ready.”

Recorded in Nashville with producer Mark Nevers, Oh No I Love You features members of Lambchop, Clem Snide, and My Morning Jacket.

Chris Scruggs, grandson of the legendary banjo player Earl Scruggs, who starred at the Thomas Fraser Festival in Burra a few years ago, also plays on the album.

The concert has been promoted by DF Concerts & Events in association with Shetland Arts.

A former Bressay man who carried out an early-morning stabbing is beginning a prison sentence of over three years.

Scott Anderson, 23, whose address was given at Lerwick Sheriff Court as Aberdeen Prison, was today sentenced to 40 months imprisonment by sheriff Philip Mann.

Anderson attended his victim’s home in Pitt Lane, Lerwick, on 16th January. He had been drinking with two friends until the early hours, but at 5.30am said he was going to speak to the complainer. However, he took the knife before leaving his address.

There had been a history of bad feeling between Anderson and the complainer. The court had heard there was evidence Anderson had previously been threatened by his victim.

Sentence on Anderson had been deferred to allow the sheriff to consider whether a supervised release order might be appropriate when Anderson is eventually allowed back into the community.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said the order would benefit Anderson, adding it would offer him the support he needed. He admitted Anderson was facing a prison sentence from the start.

“The question is not to deal with whether he gets a custodial sentence or not, but to set out the terms of it,” he said.

Mr Allan said Anderson’s guilty plea was tendered on the basis that there had been provocation from his victim.

However, sheriff Mann highlighted that Anderson had been seen readying the knife at the top of the lane and putting it back in his pocket before he knocked on the door.

“I accept the plea was tendered on the basis there was provocation, but the provocation happened some time prior to the offence taking place,” the sheriff told Anderson.

“It is just marginal provocation because, in reality, there was no need for you whatsoever to go to your victim’s address armed with a knife. To that extent, provocation is a fairly minor aspect to this case.

“On approaching the complainer’s address you actually took the knife out, and you took the blade out of the knife, and put the knife back in your pocket in preparation for your conflict with the complainer.

“At the end of the day, you took the knife and I must regard the situation as being that you had intention to cause harm.”

Sheriff Mann added that Anderson’s background of drink and drugs meant he was “amply justified” in imposing a supervised release order.

The order will last for one year on Anderson’s release, during which time he must comply with any requests that he attend drugs and alcohol counselling. His sentence was back-dated to 18th January when he was first taken into custody.

Sentence on a Yell man who knocked his victim unconscious with a single blow to the head has been delayed after an attempt was made to influence the sheriff’s ruling.

Euan Henderson, 33, of Gloup, Cullivoe, was due to be sentenced today at Lerwick Sheriff Court after he admitted causing his assault victim severe injury and permanent impairment. Henderson launched the attack as his victim tried to drive away in a van.

Sentence was previously deferred for background reports when sheriff Philip Mann had warned Henderson he could be facing a custodial sentence.

But in court today the sheriff said he had received correspondence from someone who had tried to influence the outcome of the case.

He described the communication as “inappropriate” and “reprehensible”, adding that the end result was that Henderson’s sentence would have to be delayed a further two weeks while another sheriff was called to deal with the case. Only that way could the court be seen to be free from any outside influence.

“Not only must justice be done, but it must also be seen to be done,” sheriff Mann told Henderson. “I can’t afford for there to be any suggestion that I have been influenced by the person who sent the communication.

“I’ve got no option but to defer sentence on you again so that another sheriff can be arranged to the island to deal with the matter, no doubt at great cost to the criminal justice system.”

The court previously heard that Henderson saw “red mist” when he was at a social gathering after a niggling dislike developed between him and his victim.

The man climbed into his van and tried to drive away. But before he could leave Henderson dragged him out of the vehicle and carried out the attack.

Witnesses said the driver had appeared to be unconscious before he reached the ground, as he did not attempt to break his fall. He remained unconscious for around 10 minutes after the assault.

The man was taken to hospital the next day, where he went through a number of CT scans. There is a risk he will develop epilepsy, possible memory issues and a speech impediment.

Henderson will appear again for sentence on 13th June.

A woman who “swerved all over the road” at more than twice the drink driving limit before crashing into an oncoming car has been banned for 16 months.

Suzanne Smith, 49, of Leaside, Mossbank, was also fined £600 when she appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday.

Smith had been driving on the B-road near Voxter on the afternoon of 13th May when the incident happened at 4pm. Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said an oncoming driver saw Smith coming towards him.

“She was effectively swerving all over the road, and that limited the other driver’s ability to predict what was going to happen,” he told sheriff Philip Mann.

Smith drove straight into the witness, Mr MacKenzie said. The police were called and she was taken to hospital after failing the roadside screening test, although she was not significantly injured.

It was not until four hours after the accident that an evidential sample was taken. That showed her to have 78 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Standing in the dock, Smith admitted the drink-driving charge. Mr MacKenzie said the count, although high, would have been significantly higher at the time of the crash.

Defence agent Chris Dowle said there was little Smith could say about the circumstances leading up to the accident. He stressed she was “very apologetic” and was receiving help from the community alcohol and drugs service.

Mr Dowle said Smith was in a position to pay a fine, having returned to Shetland after a spell away only two months ago. She would be willing to carry out the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course.

Sheriff Mann said it was fortunate that nothing else happened at the time of the incident. “A collision occurred as a result of you being substantially over the drink driving limit,” he said.

“I am not dealing with you in regard to the accident, but I have to take that into account, as indicating how intoxicated you must have been. All instances of drink driving are serious, but this is a particularly serious one.”

Smith can reduce her ban to 12 months if she passes the rehabilitation course.

People from Voe believe the prim­ary school there would have twice the number of pupils it does today had it not faced repeated threats of closure.

Olnafirth Primary School.

That was the feeling expressed during an even-tempered public meeting in Voe hall on Wednesday evening, when parents voiced uni­form opposition to SIC plans to shut Olnafirth Primary School and send its pupils five miles up the road to Brae.

Parents also felt the option of sending their children to Mossbank or Lunnasting “might make more sense”. Children’s services director Helen Budge said that point would be taken on board.

Olnafirth’s roll now stands at 13 pupils. Hayfield officials deem that to be just 10 per cent of its capacity, though parents dispute the calculations.

A consultation paper highlighted a significant number of placing requests for children within the catch­ment area to attend neigh­bouring schools. But parents said numbers would be much healthier if the axe had not hung over the school recently.

“If we hadn’t had the years of threat we’d have double the number of pupils,” resident Peter Leask told the meeting. “It’s nearly terrorism of the people.”

Olnafirth was left in limbo when Scottish education minister Mike Russell introduced a country-wide moratorium on closures. Now that has been lifted, parent council vice-chairman David McDowall said an updated consultation document “does not provide a valid case” for closure.

Parent council vice-chairman David McDowall.

Parents were disappointed that, having accepted cuts in resources to safeguard the school’s future, it was once more under threat.
The document suggested any damage suffered by the wider area would be minimal. That was “clearly wrong”, Mr McDowall said, as it would make it more difficult to attract young families to the area.

“If you keep removing facilities from rural areas, how do you expect to encourage people to move there?” he asked. “It’s a self-ful­filling prophecy. You’re physically almost creating [a housing crisis in and around Lerwick] by closing rural schools.”

Tagon Stores owners Scott and Phoebe Preston pointed out their shop would feel a “direct impact” – in addition to lost footfall, it also supplies the school’s milk. “To say there is little or no effect is, frankly, completely wrong,” Mr Preston said.

As is custom with school closure consultations, parents’ interpretation of the estimated savings was wildly at odds with the council’s.

Mr McDowall dismissed the estimated £91,309 a year savings. He disputed catering and transport costs, said government funding targeted at small schools would go a-begging, and noted the total figure had almost halved since an SIC report last September.

Finance chief James Gray did not accept the figures were inaccurate, but invited parents to visit his department to comb over precisely how the sums were arrived at. Mrs Budge pointed out a big chunk of the fall in estimated savings was down to the number of Olnafirth teachers dropping from two to one.

For Brae to remain a five-teacher primary department, however, its pupil roll needs to stay at or above 100 (it currently has 103 children). Mr McDowall pointed out that, in the second year following closure, a fifth teacher would only be retained thanks to extra children from Olnafirth – meaning savings would be around £40,000 a year lower than predicted.

Education and families com­mittee chairwoman Vaila Wishart and vice-chairman George Smith insisted they were going into the consultation with an open mind.

That was rubbished by one individ­ual who claimed an SIC employee told him last summer that Olnafirth’s closure was “a done deal”.

Mr Smith said: “The one con­sistent thing I hear all the time is that the council has one set of fig­ures and the community consistently challenges and questions those. I want to see us arriving at … an under­standing, if not a liking, perhaps, of what those figures are.

“That’s the only way councillors can have confidence that the information in front of [us] stands up to scrutiny.”

A local businessman is seeking planning permission to build a cafe-bar at a picturesque waterside location across the road from Tesco’s Lerwick supermarket.

Dennis Leask, former owner of the Hub and Sportswise shops on Commercial Street, is hoping to team up with Jonathan Williamson to build a single-storey, timber-clad building. The Fjara cafe-bar would have seating for up to 40 customers.

Mr Leask told this newspaper the idea would be to provide light dining, snacks and a civilised atmosphere for drinking, but it would not cater for the “pub crawl-type market”.

The cafe-bar would go on a small pocket of land opposite Tesco and the Lerwick Fire Station at Sea Road and would include a bar, kitchen, toilets and storage area.

The premises would be open from around 8am to 10pm daily and would provide employment for 10 people, a mixture of full-time and part-time.

If the SIC approves the proposal, Mr Williamson would be its day-to-day manager. Originally from Yell, he is currently employed by deluxe London foodie store Fortnum & Mason, and boasts experience locally in the form of stints working at Tesco and Captain Flint’s in Lerwick.

The food offering would include shared platters, panini, a wide range of cakes and possibly ice creams, Mr Leask said. “We’re not looking to go into a full-blown menu. We’re looking more for light drinking, casual drinking but not the pub crawl-type market.

“None of the bars in town do a lot of food, so we’d try and capitalise on that [and look at a] high level of customer service.”

The location is a popular spot for watching seals, along with other wildlife, and Mr Leask said he hoped to “play on the nature, the fantastic views”.

He continued: “Obviously Tesco has a fairly large footfall, but that whole area of the town doesn’t have services like a bar or a cafe – Nederdale, Sound, Westerloch – there’s nothing beyond the breakwater, really.”

The 57-year-old sold his previous businesses and went sailing around the world with his wife Tess a few years ago. But semi retirement was “not as easy as it sounds”, he joked, and he now feels he “needs something to do”.

No major problems were raised at a preliminary meeting with planners, but “you never know what’ll come out of the woodwork”, Mr Leask added.

A new access road opposite the fire station would be required, and it is proposed that a further 20 car parking spaces would be added to the site’s existing six.

Planners should make a decision by the middle of July. Should the answer be affirmative then a planned 30-week building programme could see the cafe-bar’s doors opened to customers next spring.