Councillors have moved closer to introducing a 20mph speed limit in parts of Lerwick to help improve road safety and combat speeding drivers.

Elected members have opted to consult on whether the reduced limit should rolled out from the North Ness roundabout to the top of Church Road.

The agreement came after one member described the problem of speeding drivers as a “festering sore”.

Jonathan Wills said he had witnessed young drivers using their cars as “a form of mating display”.

He said visitors, as well as locals, were at risk from motorists reaching speeds of up to 50mph or beyond – an estimation roads engineer Colin Gair said was not unreasonable.

Dr Wills told fellow members: “It is a notorious fact there is excessive speeding and extremely bad driving daily in this town centre.”

He blamed young, local men for being the perpatrators behind the behaviour.

The cost of introducing the scheme is estimated to be between £100,000 and £150,000.

Businesses across the isles will be able to find out more about two new financial support schemes next week.

Shetland Islands Council’s Economic Development Service will visit seven public halls around the islands from Baltasound to Boddam, starting on Monday.

The roadshow gives the opportunity to find out more about the kind of support available, including the new schemes designed to support the development of new and existing businesses in Shetland.

The Business Gateway service is aimed at people looking to start up in business or who want to grow their existing businesses. This includes access to free training courses, business information and time with a business adviser.

Executive Manager Economic Development, Douglas Irvine, said: “The service is able to support a wide range of commercial development projects in Shetland and this series of visits to places around Shetland is intended to strengthen that message. These are drop-in events where members of staff will be available to discuss potential projects, help with general enquiries or simply answer questions about what the service currently delivers.”

Chairman of the council’s Economic Development Committee Alastair Cooper: “The council has supported economic development in Shetland since the 1960s and has supported a diverse range of activity over that time. The council feels that it is important to continue to share information with members of the public and businesses about the support we provide and of course to show that the service is still very much open to business in 2014.”

Events will be held, between 2pm and 7pm, at: Baltasound Public Hall (17th March); Mid Yell Public Hall (18th March); Brae Public Hall (19th March); Bixter Public Hall (20th March); Symbister Public Hall (21st March); Scalloway Public Hall (24th March); Boddam Public Hall (25th March).

The NAFC Marine Centre has been awarded over £290,000 from the Coastal Communities Fund to develop seaweed cultivation in Shetland.

The money will be used to establish a communal seaweed rope-seeding centre, perform seaweed ongrowing trials and provide training and knowledge-exchange activities.

NAFC aquaculture scientist and project manager Lesley McEvoy said: “We’re very grateful to the Coastal Communities Fund for supporting this two-year project to encourage product diversification within Shetland’s sea farming companies and also to support existing local seaweed-based businesses.

“The project will create three new direct jobs in addition to other indirect jobs in Shetland. Potentially, existing farm sites can be used for seaweed cultivation during their fallow periods, giving farmers an additional income stream while allowing the seaweed to naturally remediate the site.

“Scottish Sea Farms Ltd has been particularly supportive, making available one of their sites for demonstration purposes. We hope that other businesses will also want to trial our seaweed-seeded strings, when we are properly set up, towards the end of this year.

“We’ve already had enquiries about using bulk seaweed crops in energy plants, both within Shetland and south, and seaweed has many uses within the homeopathic, culinary, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.”

Scottish Sea Farms regional production manager Graham Smith said: “We are happy to be supporting the NAFC Marine Centre’s project and we are extremely interested to see how seaweed cultivation could progress in the future.”

NAFC joint head of marine science and technology Chevonne Angus: “This project is an excellent example of how our department responds to, and meets, the research and development and training needs of local maritime industries.

“Over the last year or so, we have had a steady and increasing number of enquiries relating to seaweed cultivation, ongrowing and processing.”

Dr Angus said the funding was allowing us to respond in a timely fashion to an emerging industry.

She added: “Given the large number of uses of seaweed, there is scope for diversification into, and the sustainable development of, seaweed aquaculture. We are very pleased to be part of that process.”

Over 50 Coastal Community Fund winners across the UK were announced last Friday.

The winners will share £27.7 million of funding, supporting over 4,000 jobs and creating over 1,000 new apprenticeships and training places.

It must be soul-destroying, leading to lack of motivation and indeed, leading to the lack of will to live I should think, teaching in one of the schools on one of the outer islands, or a school not near Lerwick.

I see from The Shetland Times that discussion of the threat of closure to the Burravoe Primary School has been deferred until 2015. I’m sure the headmistress at Burravoe can hardly believe her luck. A year’s grace! She must be in despair.

I worked in a secondary school in the north-east of England that was under threat of closure for 14 years before the axe finally fell. The effects of that on the staff cannot be imagined.

I’m surprised that Shetland is still able to recruit teachers.

Closing all the little schools, the hearts of their various communities, will be seen to have been a huge and tragic mistake in future, when it’s too late to do anything about it.

My husband and I have had links with the Burravoe school going back more than 40 years, and it is, and always has been, a first-rate little school, giving its pupils a sound and broad education.

Each Shetland Island Council seems to be more dysfunctional than the last. Each seems to be distinguished by bad decision-making, not to mention wasting millions of pounds.

I’m sure there must be other ways of making savings than by closing schools, penalising pensioners and cutting waste disposal skips.

But for heaven’s sake, keep hands off the schools.

Vivienne Rendall
17 Moor View,
Melkridge,
Haltwhistle,
Northumberland.

Listening to the radio last Thursday, I have never heard so much garbage spoken by two guys who are in charge of Shetland’s money.

Is it not the people’s money? Who owns it? We know it is not the benefits agency. Trustee Bobby Hunter at least got that off his chest.

Could Jonathan Will and Mr Hunter not find a way to help Shetland folk who are having problems to survive, yes survive, on £72 per week?

I challenge Jonathan and Bobby if they could see themselves living on £72 a week.

They were not in the least caring about the pensioners of Shetland. Not once did they blame themselves or the other trustees for the mess of the Shetland Charitable Trust. If the trust is in such a bad way, they have no-one other than themselves to blame for its current state.

Both Dr Wills and Mr Hunter were very quick in blaming the politicians at Westminster for the state of the pensions. I was of the understanding that if the people of Shetland were in need they would get help. This does not seem to be the case.

It is time that Shetlanders got together, not a dozen or so, but everyone who is in need one way or the other, to get rid of this lot. Shetland people don’t hold back. Come forward and let your voices be heard, either by letter, email or any other means.

Let the trustees be told who they represent. Get your councillor involved; he or she was democratically voted in to the position to firstly look after their constituents.

As Mr Hunter stated it is not about saving. Well, why take away what is rightfully the people of Shetland’s money.

Gail McMillan
13 South Lochside,
Lerwick.

A new vessel will replace the 20-year-old Guardian Angell.

A fishing business has secured a £1.1 million loan from Shetland Islands Council to fund a new vessel.

The Cullivoe-based Guardian Angell Fishing Company Ltd has confirmed a build slot at the Parkol Marine shipyard in Whitby. This same shipyard built the Copious, Radiant Star and Prolific, the newest vessels in the Shetland whitefish fleet. It is anticipated the vessel will be ready for sea around August next year.

The 26m vessel will replace the business’s 20-year-old Guardian Angell (LK272).

The SIC’s development committee approved the funding at today’s meeting as part of a substantial funding package with the Clydesdale Bank.

Chairman Alastair Cooper, said: “I am pleased to see this successful business continue its strong commitment to whitefish catching by building a new vessel to join the Shetland fleet. Without reinvestment such as this the fleet cannot rejuvenate and be fit for purpose for the future.”

Michael Henderson, on behalf of the company’s board of directors, said he was delighted.

“The shareholders have talked about building a new vessel for some time. Over the past 10 years we have invested heavily in fishing quota and have built up a substantial track record, most of which is landed in Shetland. Following this investment in quota we now feel that we are in a position to build a new vessel to take advantage of the fuel efficiencies and running costs a new boat can bring.

“It is estimated that a new boat will save in excess of £50,000 per annum in fuel costs alone.”

Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Simon Collins said it was good news for the ageing fleet. “Three quarters of our whitefish vessels are over 20 years old and fleet renewal is essential if we are to take advantage of our very healthy fish stocks in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.

“This sort of cooperation between the fishing industry, the council and the banking sector is a vital part of Shetland’s success story.”

Mareel has been awarded a commendation from the Civic Trust Awards for its architectural quality.

The building, managed by Shetland Arts, is one of five Scottish projects to receive the honour.

From 238 applications, 134 were considered by a national panel including 12 from Scotland. In total 79 received an award, commendation or community recognition.

Commendations go to projects that “make a significant contribution to the quality and appearance of the built environment and demonstrate a good standard of architecture or design, sustainability, universal design and provide a positive social, cultural, environmental or economic benefit to the local community”.

Shetland Arts’ director, Gwilym Gibbons, described the building as a huge cultural asset and said the facilities meant it was a “creative hub” in “Shetland and beyond”.

He said: “Mareel is a very special venue. A tribute to the design is the speed and the way in which people have made Mareel their new creative home.”

He added: “It has become a buzzing creative hub with a busy cafe bar which doubles up as an important social and business meeting point. Mareel a huge cultural asset, an asset that has value far beyond Shetland shores and for generations to come.”

In their commendation the Civic Trust Awards described Mareel as: “a key element in the regeneration of [the] waterfront edge of the town.” They added: “The architectural response reflects the tradition of simple, robust forms and echoes the materiality of the fishing industry buildings dotted along the waterfront.”

There may be no future for  Shetland College or the NAFC Marine Centre if funding issues are not addressed.

This was the warning by South Mainland councillor George Smith, who raised his concerns at a meeting of the council’s development committee this morning.

He questioned why the NAFC is to receive four times the amount of funding from the local authority compared to the college for the financial year 2014/15.

Today members agreed to use surplus funds of about £644,000 from the Shetland Development Trust.

The money was requested for running costs for the NAFC – taking the total contribution from the council to about £1.17 million.

George Smith: “Unless we take some swift action we might not have a Shetland College or and NAFC either.”

But Mr Smith questioned why the NAFC was receiving so much more compared to the £296,000 Shetland College was getting – about 12 per cent of its income.

Members discussed the matter against a backdrop of decreasing council finance and a tertiary education review – a proposal to draw together Shetland College, the NAFC and Train Shetland into one entity by 2016.

Council funding to the Shetland Fisheries Training Centre – the trust that operates the NAFC – has been cut by nearly £900,000 but the council pays about £418,00 for the NAFC’s ground rentals and associated costs to property company SLAP.

However there was a warning the NAFC would not be able to continue down the same path in future.

Mr Smith called for a “level playing field” and said there was “no reason” why the NAFC could not look to external funding like Shetland College, for example considering research grants or funding from industry.

Development officer Douglas Irvine agreed that the NAFC had to look at other means of finding money.

“The NAFC must change,” he said.

“The funding package that is available at the moment is not going to be available in future.”

Wary of the funding pressure on both colleges Mr Smith said by the end of the review: “unless we take some swift action we might not have a Shetland College or an NAFC either.”

Afterwards Mr Smith explained that most of Shetland College’s funding comes from the Shetland Funding Council and is reliant on student numbers.

In a college board meeting last week, members were told Shetland College enrolment figures appeared to have peaked in 2010/11, and since then have declined by about 200 enrolments per academic session.

In the report it was stated there has been a “significant reduction” in part-time further education and part-time higher education students.

But a drop in full-time further education enrolments in 2013/14 had “impacted considerably” how much money the Scottish Funding Council should provide the college. That is based on on creating WSUMs activity – a way of measuring student activity.

Irene Peterson said the college has met its WSUMs targets in the last few years, but student numbers this academic year are looking lower than this time last year – which means there may be a clawback from the Scottish Funding Council.

Last week’s report stated it was highly likely that the college would fail to meet its WSUMs target this academic year, leading to a potential clawback of funding of up to approximately £311,000.

This would be in addition to the already forecast deficit of £269,000 in the current financial year.

Mrs Peterson added the college had known for a year or two that people are tending to stay on for 5th and 6th year at school and not necessarily doing a wide range of higher and advanced higher qualifications.

“That may have an impact on the number of young people coming to the college, and who knows definitively, but Shetland has got high employment levels.”

She added although a lot of workers in the oil and gas industry are incoming, there will be a “spin off” from that.

“Anecdotally we do hear that young people are benefitting from the opportunities for employment, maybe not necessarily in the lines they want to go into ultimately, but there are jobs if they want them.

“That could be a factor.”

Mrs Peterson said more youngsters could be staying at school to get qualifications that will help them to leave the island for further study or possibly to come to the college for further study.

She said it could also be because pupils like being in a school environment or like being in their own community.

Uptake on some Train Shetland short courses is also lower, she said.

“That could relate to the fact…the council is tightening its belt, the council is reducing what it’s spending on training and that’s having a knock-on effect here [Train Shetland] and on the college.”

She said SVQ course numbers – courses for people who are employed by the council – have dropped.

This is because the council is reducing its training and there is less training being directed towards the college therefore affecting part-time student numbers.

Shetland College was not alone in having a challenge in relation to meeting its WSUMs targets for 2013/14, said Mrs Peterson.

Meanwhile full-time higher education course numbers for the college are now greater than full-time further education numbers.

Higher education courses cover degrees, HNCs and HNDs.

“There is a gradual trend in relation to the number of full-time students that are going on and doing HE in Shetland through Shetland College… hopefully into the future there will be more growth in that area but we obviously want to pick up our numbers again on the FE front.”

Post Office mortgages will be available to some folk in Shetland following a change in policy.

The company has decided to extend its coverage to Scottish is­lands including mainland Shetland, but other islands will be considered on a case-by-case basis, according to Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael.

Mr Carmichael said he had spoken to chief executive of the Post Office Paula Vennells for a second time, after raising his concerns last week.

Mr Carmichael said previously that he was “alarmed” that the Post Office did not provide mortgage services to the Scottish isles, and a public service should not deny people access becuase of where they live.

He said: “I am delighted that the Post Office chief executive has confirmed to me that she has already been able to extend the availability of these mortgages to mainland Orkney and mainland Shetland. She continues to work on the widest possible coverage and in the meantime all applications, wherever they come from, will be considered on a case by case basis.”

The issue came to prominence earlier this month after Highlands and Islands MSP Jean Urquhart also raised concerns. This was after a woman in Shetland had tried to apply for a mortgage but was told she was not eligible.

Mrs Urquhart’s office said the Post Office had agreed to change its policy to include Scottish Islands including mainland Shetland. But she had been told by the Post Office that provision to remaining islands would be kept under review.

She said: “We desperately need alternatives to the big banks, and Post Office financial services could play a big role in that. It’s great news that at least some islanders will now be able to benefit from that greater choice.

“But there remain many islands still excluded from the Post Office’s mortgage services, including all of Shetland other than the mainland. So I’ll keep pushing to persuade the Post Office to stick to its roots as a truly universal service.

“After I raised this issue last week, the Post Office listened, and responded quickly. They’ve shown they are willing to engage, and I understand they are keeping their island mortgage rules under review.

“So I would urge Shetlanders from the outer islands who would like the choice of a Post Office mortgage to contact them and tell them the demand is there.

“The islands continue to be discriminated against in everything from delivery charges to LPG prices. This good news just makes me more determined to keep fighting for a fair deal for island consumers.”

Last week Mr Carmichael explained the conditions were constructed by the Bank of Ireland, who are the actual mortgage providers.

In a statement to Ms Urquhart a Post Office spokesman said: “I can confirm that following our review, and in response to customer demand, the wide range of Post Office mortgage products will now be available to customers in Skye, Bute, Lewis & Harris, mainland Orkney, mainland Shetlands (sic), Arran, Mull and Islay.”

Plans to bring a redundant glass­house in Tingwall back to life will be discussed at a public meeting to gauge levels of interest.

Environment action group Tran­sition Shetland wants to turn the 2,500 square metre building into a community growing centre and commissioned a £20,000 feasibility study into buying and restoring the glasshouse.

That has been completed by a team, led by Scalloway-based con­sultants AB Associates, including Richard Gibson Architects, RG Jamieson Engineers, Ness Engin­eer­ing and Stephen Johnston from David Adamson Surveyors.

The study concluded that with significant investment the building, owned by Ghufar Razaq, could
be brought back into use for locals to grow their own food under glass.

Transition Shetland, is confident the money can be raised. However, the organisation says the project will only get off the ground if enough people are interested in getting involved.

Chairman Pete Bevington said: “We’ve spent about two years now raising funds and commissioning this feasibility study from AB Associates.

“What they have discovered is that while we face a big challenge restoring this building, there are a lot of people out there who want to see it happen.

“We now have to make a decision whether to proceed and we need to know how many people are willing to get involved in bringing this tremendous asset back to life.

“We are very confident we can raise the funds to do this as long as we can negotiate a deal with the current owner.

“But the most crucial factor will be people getting involved. We would urge anyone with an interest in the glasshouse to come along on 26th March and find out more and hopefully sign up to getting involved.”

The public meeting will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 26th March at Tingwall Public Hall.

Shetland fishing spokesmen have slammed a “shameful” deal to award a huge increase in mackerel quota to Faroe, saying it has failed to protect the long-term interests of the UK pelagic fleet.

The agreement on mackerel allocations for the north-east Atlan­tic was signed in London on Wednesday evening, bringing an extra 100,000 tonnes of fish to the Scottish fleet. The Shetland quota is likely to rise from over 30,000 tonnes to about 55,000.

According to Holyrood, Scot­land’s most valuable fishery could be worth an extra £83 million as a result of the deal which includes Faroe for the first time. It means Scottish whitefish boats will once more have access to Faroese waters after being excluded for four years.

The mackerel TAC for the entire area now stands at a whopping 1.2 million tonnes – up about 81 per cent with the EU and Norway scooping 71.8 per cent of the fishery on the basis of their current bilateral agreement.

Faroe will receive 12.6 per cent of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and a further 15.6 per cent has been set aside for Icelandic and Russian catches still to be agreed.

Scottish fishermen will see their quota rise to over 210,000 tonnes, roughly equivalent to 42 per cent of the total EU quota.

Shetland Fishermen’s Associ­ation chief executive Simon Collins said Faroe had had its mackerel share doubled and for the first time handed access to Shetland waters to fish that hugely expanded catch.

The deal may pay off in the short term owing to the size of the TAC for 2014, but if quotas go down in future, Faroe will still be entitled to its near 13 per cent.

Mr Collins said: “This cavalier treatment of the UK’s most valuable catch is shameful.  This fishery is far more important to Shetland than it ever was to Faroe. Yet unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, led by an irresponsible fisheries commis­sioner, have been given free rein to betray our community.”

He added that the Commission had made a “right royal fist of this from the beginning”.

Mr Collins said: “We are also angry and frustrated at the Com­mission’s behaviour over recent months. If they had been much firmer from the outset, we might have achieved a much better deal.

“The last thing we want as a result of this deal is Shetland waters full of Faroese boats catching quota that the Commission has handed over to them. Access is just as important as quota share. Once the door is open they will just keep on coming.

“There has been a curious double standard throughout his dispute. Faroe has said it needs more quota because the fish are in its waters, but they also need access to our waters to catch it.”

Shetland Fish Producers Organ­isation chief executive Brian Isbister dubbed the deal a “pure smash and grab” that was all about politics and had no basis in stock assessment.

He said: “Hats off to the Faroese for manipulating the situation, but in the long run we will not see this deal as being so clever.”

Mr Isbister said the Commission seemed to have been oddly sym­pathetic to Faroese claims of perip­herality and fisheries dependence.

There had been little pressure for an expanded share from established Faroese pelagic interests, but Faroe would trade much of its new mackerel share for access to whitefish grounds north of Russia, he added.

Mr Isbister said the amount of fish that could be caught meant there would be major restructuring of the market with competition to find buyers and an inevitable dip in price. There would also be long-term unsustainable pressure on the mackerel stock.

He added: “We do not see this providing a solid, long-term benefit to the fleet. We have moved from a very stable situation of mackerel fleet management to a more uncertain one.”

• For full story see The Shetland Times tomorrow.

6 cylinders, lovely car, bespoke leather interior – fitted in 2010, FSH, new back tyres August 2013, new front tyres in
November 2013. Decat exhaust – MOT legal, 6 CD changer.

 4-door saloon, car is immaculate condition for year, car available from 17th March, 2014.

5-door saloon, great for year, very clean vehicle.

A planned performance at Mareel by two members of Irish super group The Saw Doctors has been cancelled.

Vocalist Leo Moran and bass/saxophone player Anthony Thistlethwaite were scheduled to play an acoustic set to a Lerwick crowd tomorrow night.

However, they have called off the rest of their Scottish tour after Moran’s father was taken ill, forcing an unplanned return to Ireland.

The duo are planning to reschedule the performance for later in the year. Tickets bought for tomorrow will still be valid for the delayed performance.

Alternatively, refunds are available through the box offices at Mareel or Islesburgh.

Art and design students Alvhild Bjørke and Inga Århus with David Løvsjø Viken who is this week on a placement with The Shetland Times. Photo: Dave Dondaldson

Seven Norwegian students are spending a month on various work-placements in Shetland, as part of an international education programme.

The group includes media, ICT, and art students who arrived in the isles last week. They are enjoying their stay so far.

Over the last few years, selected students from various schools in Voss, Norway, have received a scholarship to live and work in Shetland for a month. The programme, funded by the EU, focuses on mobility, partnership, and policy.

This year is the first time art and design students have been given the opportunity.

Alvhild Bjørke and Inga Århus are undertaking a placement at Shetland Museum. “People are nice and helpful here, and we feel very welcome,” said Inga.

Being Norwegian in Shetland is far from a bad experience. Homesickness is not a problem either, since all seven of the group are living together at the Decca station. Both the art and design students agreed the only downside about Shetland was the unstable weather.

The stay and work experience will come in handy later, when they are applying for jobs and higher schools. It will also help the students to become more mobile, which is a important aspect of the programme.

Both students are very happy to have received the opportunity. They hope that the different work-placements here in Shetland will give them a more diverse experience for their education.

In return, eight students from Shetland College will be on their way to Voss on Monday to spend a month in work placements.

Funding for the exchange comes from the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci Mobility programme, having been secured by staff from the SIC schools service and Shetland College.

Shetland College students in the fields of Art & Design, Digital Media, Business & Hospitality, Construction and Music are travelling on this occasion.

SIC schools service project officer Brian Spence said: “The exchange offers a tremendous opportunity for students in vocational training. We have a great partner in Voss and I’m sure the whole group will have a rewarding experience over the next few weeks.”

Shetland College acting principal Irene Peterson was delighted that college students have been given this opportunity.

“These work placements in Voss provide students with an excellent opportunity to enhance their employability and personal development skills in an inspiring Norwegian setting. There’s no doubt they will benefit hugely from the experience of living and working in another country.”

The Leonardo Programme is part of the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme. It supports UK vocational education and training organisations, encouraging staff and learners to work together with European partners to improve training, skills and employability.

David Løvsjø Viken

Ambitious plans have been drawn to raise £100,000 for repairs to the Tingwall hall.

Committee members have already earmarked £10,000 to help restore crumbling concrete works caused by an ingress of water.

They hope the financial gap can be further filled with a “buy a block” scheme for community members who use the 33-year-old building.

Hall representatives say “selling” blocks at £10 each has the potential to raise £30,000.

But they are also calling on anyone who can offer further help to dig as deeply as they can.

The ongoing efforts have been made necessary because of a decision by Shetland Islands Council to cease its support of grant requests for community halls.

A statement from the hall committee said: “The Tingwall Public Hall was built and opened 33 years ago in 1981.

“Due to some noticeable problems with the exterior rendering, a survey of the building was undertaken by Arch Henderson in March 2012 which confirmed that the exterior wall of concrete blocks were crumbling due to the ingress of water, a problem that is not uncommon in Shetland for buildings of this era.

“The proposed remedy is to remove the exterior block work and replace it as soon as possible to ensure that water does not penetrate to the interior wall resulting in the same problem of crumbling block work.

“The hall committee appointed Architects Redman & Sutherland to draw up plans and specifications for the work and to oversee the tendering for the work. The result of this process to carry out the work is a figure of around £100,000 which includes the builders work and appropriate fees.

“The hall committee have accepted that this project is essential for the continuation of Tingwall Public Hall and have already paid some £10,000 on the reports and architects fees for the project and are determined to raise the necessary funds to carry out and complete the work.

“This will be a huge challenge for the committee and the whole of the Tingwall community. Shetland Island Council no longer support grant requests for the community halls, so funding is being sought from local and national bodies and fund raising events will be taking place on a regular basis.

“We are planning a ‘buy a block’ scheme for members of the community which at £10.00 a block could raise £30,000.00.”

The committee is calling on anyone wishing to get involved in fund-raising to contact either chairman Alan Gray, secretary Mandy Thomson or treasurer Moraig Lyall.

Keith Lobban from Gulberwick is the Guizer Jarl for today’s South Mainland Up-Helly-A’. Photo: Kevin Osborn

Like many Up-Helly-A’  celebrations this year, the South Mainland Up-Helly-A’ got off to quite a wet and blustery start.

Such was the wild and wind the bairns at Sound Primary School were unable to go outside for the visit of Guizer Jarl Keith Lobban and his squad.

But, they were not to be disappointed as they waited excitedly in the school hall for the deer-skin, bow-bearing Vikings to appear.

Clearly this was a pretty special way to round off the school week, and after the children warmed up their vocal chords with a rendition of the Up Helly Aa Song, the jarl squad musicians came in to perform for the eager pupils.

They joined in happily with the Up-Helly-A’  tune once more and after Keith and his squad paraded round the hall with plenty of  roaring and sword pumping, the pupils sang the well-known tune back to the squad with gusto.

Keith, who hails from Gulberwick, has chosen to represent one of the most feared archers of the Viking age, Einar Eindridesson Thambarskelfir.

And the squad suit this year represents the jarl’s passion for archery. The bow and arrow is the main weapon of choice and arrows feature on both the helmet and shields.

Red was chosen at it is a favourite colour of the jarl and almost all the suit has been made by the squad – down to the Celtic knot which appears on the quiver, belt, boots and armguards.

Keith, a former pupil at Sound Primary School said it was strange to come back.

His former teacher Sheila Buchan, who taught him more than 30 years ago, wished him all the best for the rest of the day.

“Your singing was brilliant,” Keith told the pupils.

“You’re a lot better than these people behind me anyway,” he joked.

Keith presented the school with a plaque and he and the squad chatted to the children.

He said he was enjoying the day so far and he was looking forward to the rest of the day’s festivities.

Squad member Liam Mullay said: “It’s been excellent, the weather hasn’t been brilliant but we’re making the most of it.”

He said he was looking forward to the day ahead: “If it’s anything like what we’ve done so it’s going to be brilliant.”

A welcome cuppa was on offer at Gulberwick Hall where the squad made their next stop.

Visitors young and old were treated to a fine display from the squad, including a song about the arrow-shooting jarl with the words “Viking arrows in your quiver, Viking arrows in the air, when you’re out with the Jarl you’ll find arrows everywhere.”

Zoe Galbraith, one of the female Vikings in the squad said it was great to take part.

She was sporting jewellery made especially for the occasion including a necklace, each one being slightly different  and a key.

Married women all carry keys, she said as in Viking times women kept the key to the family chest containing valuable belongings.

The squad will continue its busy schedule this afternoon with the “light up” at 7.30pm.

Some of the students with MSP Tavish Scott at Holyrood.

University students from Shetland have travelled to Edinburgh to take their stand against school closures in the isles to the Scottish Parliament.

Yesterday at Holyrood they presented a “St Kilda mailboat” to education minister Michael Russell and Shetland MSP Tavish Scott, to highlight the risk school closures present to rural communities in Scotland.

In the past, St Kilda mail boats were used as a way for islanders to send information – letters were enclosed in a waterproof container and attached to a buoyant object.

The boat was chosen as a symbol of rural depopulation and clearances of the past and named “Da Slockit Licht” after a tune by the late fiddle player Tom Anderson.

The students believe that, in 2014, Shetland’s young rural people need the support of the Scottish government so they can continue to be educated in their own communities – the alternative is for children to begin, what campaigners describe as, long, slow commutes to Lerwick.

CURE spokesman Gordon Thomson (left) with education minister Michael Russell and MSP Tavish Scott.

CURE – Communities United for Rural Education – organised the boat presentation and will continue to lobby Shetland councillors and the Scottish government to consider the implications of school closures in the future sustainability of rural com-munities.

CURE spokesman Gordon Thomson said: ‘‘We believe that if these school closure proposals are voted for by the Shetland Islands Council that this will set a precedent for the centralisation of secondary education across rural Scotland.

“We want our children to be educated in their own communities rather than have their education hindered by extensive commute times in all weathers as well as isles children having no choice other than living away from home, in a central hostel.”

Scottish fishermen will once more have access to Faroese waters following the first EU/Faroe fishing agreement since 2010.

From 1st April fishermen will have Faroese fishing opportunities worth an estimated £3 million. According to the Scottish government this will reduce pressure on North Sea and West Coast fisheries. The talks took place after a four year hiatus as a result of the recent mackerel international agreement.

The agreement now adds extra quota for the Scottish fleet. The breakdown for the UK fleet is as follows (in tonnes): cod and haddock – 817; blue whiting – 880; saithe – 696; flatfish – 204; others – 189; redfish – 14; ling and blue ling – 85.5.

Under the agreement, Faroe will have 15,000 tonnes of blue whiting and in return the Scottish fleet will benefit from some 2,000 tonnes of whitefish.  

It is thought no Shetland trawlers will be operating in Faroe waters, though some  local boats did fish there in the recent past. The renewed access may offer future fishing opportunities however.

Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “I welcome the first EU/Faroe agreement since 2010 which will soon allow Scottish fishermen much needed access to Faroese waters. This will bring further security to our industry following the historic international mackerel agreement. For four years they have, through no doing of their own, been denied access to waters and quotas that will now be made available again.

“As an added benefit, this will of course reduce some of the fishing pressure on our North Sea and West Coast grounds. This provides significant fresh and new opportunities and perhaps, more importantly, some much needed flexibility for vessels deciding where they fish. These EU negotiations with the Faroe Islands are always tricky and involve give and take but our industry now has certainty to move forward.”

Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: “This is good news for our whitefish fishermen, particularly for the larger Scottish boats that have been denied access through no fault of their own to their traditional fishery in Faroese waters.   This lack of access had been caused by the Faroese over-catching of mackerel, which was resolved in a painful compromise deal yesterday.”

He added that the opening of EU waters to Faroe would “demand a robust enforcement regime to ensure compliance”.