It was a special day in the South Mainland on Friday with its first-ever Up-Helly-A’ festival proving a roaring success.

Firms in Shetland are facing huge rate rises – some by as much as two-thirds – under the Scottish government’s revaluation of business property which will come into force at the beginning of next month.

Already Shetland’s Young Fiddler of the Year, Anderson High School pupil Chapman Cheng added the Young Musician of the Year title to an impressive list of achievements on the penultimate night of the 2010 Schools Music Festival on Wednesday.

It’s been four years in the planning and expects to attract more than 500 people. This summer’s Shetland Hamefarin is set to become the event of the decade for the hundreds of visitors who are eagerly awaiting a chance to visit the land they or their forebears left.

The new Anderson High School could be built closer to the Clickimin Centre on flatter land rather than being dug into the hillside, design experts have advised Shetland Islands Council.

Looking bright and freshly decorated, the newly-renovated aero-generator at Houll in Fair Isle is ready for action again.

Local company Shetland Composites has recently been involved in mak­ing parts of a surf ride which will be installed in Kansas.

The snow may now be disappearing but farmers and crofters are count­ing the cost of extra feed they have had to buy for their livestock during the long-lasting cold spell.

A Brae mussel farmer has come through a programme at one of the world’s most renowned business schools in the USA with flying colours.

The snowy conditions Shetland has experienced this winter may be out of the ordinary for the majority of islanders, but for Captain Gavin Gray from Yell it is nothing unusual.

It was a special day in the South Mainland on Friday with its first-ever Up-Helly-A’ festival proving a roaring success.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SHETLAND

Friday, 12 March 2010 at 10:42

HEADLINES

TODAY: SCATTERED SHOWERS, COOL NW’LY WIND
TONIGHT: LITTLE CHANGE
TOMORROW: SCATTERED SHOWERS, BREEZY
DAYS 2-5: SOME RAIN OR SHOWERS, LIGHTER WINDS
DAYS 6-10: RAIN OR SHOWERS

Firms in Shetland are facing huge rate rises – some by as much as two-thirds – under the Scottish government’s revaluation of business property which will come into force at the beginning of next month.