New friendship agreement signed between Shetland and Norway

The bond between Shetland and Norway has been reinforced with the signing of a new friendship agreement.

Whale of a problem

By Adrian Darbyshire

Inconsiderate parking by orca watchers is a Shetland-wide problem, community councillors heard.

This issue was raised at a meeting of the Association of Shetland Community Councils on Tuesday.

A paper presented by Alastair Cooper of Delting Community Council highlighted inconsiderate parking by groups whale watching, bird watching and loch fishing who blocked roads and lay-bys on single tracks lanes.

This, he said, was a Shetland-wide problem, and it required an island-wide solution. Orca chasers were said at the meeting to have made “twitchers look like well-behaved children”.

Delting Community Council has contacted Police Scotland and Shetland Island Council’s highways division about the problem parking.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mark Burgess of Scalloway Community Council spoke of being caught up in the “madness of whale chasing” himself in the past and admitted: “We’ve all been there and all done it – blocked roads, parked where we should not, even gone across people’s gardens.”

He said the same thing happened with those hoping to catch a glimpse of the “mirrie dancers”.

Mr Burgess said it was quite a unique situation to the isles and suggested there should be a Shetland-specific countryside access code.

This could be made available to passengers on the NorthLink ferries, he said.

He also proposed that a responsible wildlife watching video should be produced.

Jubilee street celebration ‘a great success’

The Peerie Jubilee Spree event has been hailed a great success.

The sun even came out to shine on the crowds who gathered to enjoy the festivities at the weekend.

The south end of Commercial Street was busy with hundreds of people of all ages enjoying the music, games, facepainting and fantastic atmosphere.

The “Queen” herself even made an appearance at one point during the day – looking resplendent, complete with a pair of yellow marigolds.

In introducing the event, Living Lerwick chairman Steve Mathieson said that the town centre was delighted to host the occasion and that in addition to the important Jubilee celebrations, the Spree was also a thank-you to the Shetland community for support of local businesses over recent challenging times.

Deputy convener Bryan Peterson formally opened the event.

Living Lerwick Project Manager, Emma Miller said “We had the most fantastic day. The weather really held up for us and the area was really busy all day with families enjoying the event.

“It was just brilliant to see the community coming together and being able to enjoy a public event like this with smiling faces everywhere.

“I want to express our sincere thanks to the Shetland Gymnastics Club and Lerwick Amateur Swimming Club for their volunteer help with set up, take down and stewarding and to the others who dropped in to help out throughout the event.

“The bands who provided such a great line up of musical entertainment and to the bar staff from the Thule who kept everyone refreshed! We are also very grateful to Christena Inkster, Babs Clubb and the volunteers from the Lerwick RNLI who calmly managed the constant, patient, queues of bairns waiting to have their faces painted and play games. “And a massive thanks also to Derek Hendry and his team at Active Audio for help with preparation and PA systems.”