NORWEGIAN vessels have been dominating the scene at Lerwick Harbour.

Four fishing boats from Norway – Fiskebas SF, Fonnes, Haugagut and Havsnurp – arrived at Shetland Catch on Saturday, each carrying a load of mackerel.

A further six landings were made on Tuesday, all of which came from Norwegian boats.

In other news, the reefer Eiger berthed at the Greenhead base after sailing from St Petersburgh to pick up cargo.

She came in last Wednesday, following the departure of British reefer Green Concordia, and is not expected to leave until today.

________________________

Whitefish prices forced down

BUMPER landings at Peterhead …

AN EVENING of three contrasting acts rounded off the third Peerie Willie Festival on Sunday.

The offerings, which started with Shetland favourites Maggie Adamson and Brian Nicholson, progressed to Irish lyricism from Redmond O’Toole and ended with sultry jazz from Martin Taylor and Alison Burns, were all top class and held the audience’s attention from the outset.

Maggie and Brian started with a pacy Hungarian dance which engaged the Garrison crowd straight away. The eastern Euro­pean sound, with which they had also delighted the audience at the recent Fiddle Frenzy, went down a storm.

Their varied set included lots of …

SHETLANDERS’ love of country music continues, or at least Irish country music, or even the blend of folk, Northern Irish and country which was available last weekend.

The mini-festival organised by Shetland Country Music Club took in four venues: Sound Hall in Lerwick on Friday; Scalloway Boat­ing Club and Walls Hall (which was switched to Whiteness following a sudden death) on Saturday; and the finale in the Lerwick Legion on Sunday.

The headline was Susan McCann, making a return to the isles after 12 years, and she was ably supported by the McQuaids, a talented brother and sister duo. There …

SHETLAND Arts’ Film Wednesdays season begins again at the Garrison Theatre next week with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (PG).

Based on the novel by Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a romantic comedy about a lost young New York socialite Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) and the would-be writer Paul Varjak who falls in love with her (George Peppard).

Holly is involved in some pretty shady dealings and some less than satisfactory relationships that she tries to disguise as “having fun” while Paul is in no position to judge her. He is himself little more than …

“IT’S the economy, stupid.” That was the expression, first coined by an aide to Bill Clinton, that came to sum up the debate in the 1992 US presidential election when Clinton beat the first President Bush who was then taking credit for a series of foreign policy successes.

The sentiments at least might also sum up the political debate in this country in the last few weeks. Certainly it was the economy that dominated the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth last week. In years gone by that would have been bad news for the Liberal Democrats as it was a …

25 YEARS AGO

The Civil Aviation Authority is to halve the oil-related passenger load supplement at Sumburgh airport from the middle of October for six months. The reduction is from £26 to £13.

The announcement was made four days before a motion by Councillor Jim Irvine was to be debated by the full council. The motion, which was seconded by Councillor Davy Johnston, stated that the SIC deplored the CAA’s lack of initiative in failing to market the airport for the oil industry and demanded a reduction of charges in Sumburgh to the same level as other airports in the …

Sudden death shocks Skerries
FOLK in Skerries have been stunned by the sudden death of Laurence Henderson.

Laurence was 44 years old and one of the best known men in the isle. He was involved with all aspects of life – he was a community councillor and he was close to receiving long service medals from both the auxiliary coastguard and the fire service.

He was a man ever ready to help others. If someone could not get their car started or had any other sort of a breakdown it was “send for Laurence”. Eight years ago he took over …

Harbour activity
A ROUTINE week in Scalloway Harbour saw a few regular visitors and reasonable total of fish landings through the market.

The Ronja Settler was active all week while the charter vessel Honestas made a return visit on Tuesday. The drama involving the fishing boat Discovery, as reported in last week’s paper, played out on Wednesday after her forward hold started to fill with water while fishing west of Shetland.

She was escorted into Scalloway by the Aith lifeboat after four of the six crew were airlifted. She was said to have approximately five feet of water in her …

A NEW archaeological project got under way this month in the secluded location of Gunnister Voe in Northmavine.

Natascha Mehler, of the University of Vienna, and Mark Gardiner, of Queen’s University, Belfast, are planning a three-year project to investigate sites associated with the Hanseatic merchants. These German merchants traded around the North Atlantic between the 1400-1600s and played a major role in Shetland where they traded for Shetland caught fish.

The Bremen Böd which has been restored and interpreted in Whalsay is one of the few böds, or booths, which survive to any great extent.

Little research has been done …

FARMERS and other people who manage land are being invited to a special land access seminar in Lerwick on Tuesday 7th October.

Delegates will hear how they can accommodate walkers, cyclists, paddlers and horse riders under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, and what help is available for them to do so.

The free “sharing good practice” event has been organised by Scottish Natural Heritage in association with the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association and the National Farmers Union. It is aimed at farmers, estate representatives, rural property managers and land owning public bodies.

Topics covered will include managing public …