Fetlar GARDEN OF SHETLAND Fetlar residents past and present and their families gathered at the hall for the celebration event New residents A warm Fetlar welcome to Tommy Wells and Bev Whittingham who have recently moved to the island. Fetlar shop & cafe The shop in Fetlar reopened in early summer and have recently got their off sales licence, just in time for Christmas! New Years Eve The hall will be open from 9pm on 31st December for the New Year party. Everyone is invited to come along and join in. Cruise ships 2017 has been a good year for cruise ships. With the Berlin our largest cruise ship to date visiting in June. We also had three visits from the Hebridean Sky now in her second season of visits and with at least one visit planned for 2018. The Ocean Nova is also scheduled to visit in 2018 having previously visited in 2016. See page 2. Independent short film Daniel Atkins a film maker who runs production company Louder than Words has been in touch recently. He is looking to shoot a short documentary to be shown in festivals in 2019 The film will consider whether we as a society are allowing ourselves enough time to just stop and breathe from the chaos of modern life. He is looking for people from Fetlar who would like to be included. Get in touch with Robert if you are interested or would like more information. Celebration Event For a full report of this event, see page 4
Visit of the mv Berlin on a National Trust for Scotland cruise in June The Berlin at anchor off Hammers Ness The Mv Berlin, the largest cruise ship to visit Fetlar in recent years arrived on the 8th June. Due to weather and sea conditions experienced en route, the ship arrived over 2 hours late. However with great cooperation from all involved we managed to deliver all the planned activities, albeit that some were slightly shortened. Feedback from the passengers and NTS staff was excellent. To transport everyone around the island we hired in a fleet of buses from Jamiesons and at the request of NTS, tourist guides were available on every coach, providing information on the the island. A range of walks were led by guides from Shetland Nature, the 5 star wildlife tourism company set up by Fetlar man Brydon Thomason. The Fetlar Interpretive Centre was open to all visitors and Fetlar hall was also open. At the hall local ladies provided hot drinks and a fantastic selection of cakes. Fetlar s craft makers put on an impressive display, which was complemented by crafts from other North isles makers. Some of Shetlands finest musicians entertained the guests with some lively traditional music. Passengers embarking on a launch to return to the Berlin Photos courtesy of Keith Nisbet Andrew Morris All of us were stunned when we heard that Andrew had passed away suddenly while away in Inverness. The news was especially surprising as outwardly he always appeared to be the picture of health. Andrew had been a regular visitor Fetlar for many years and regularly undertook challenging walks, including a favourite route he had pioneered himself. Recently Andrew had been volunteering with Fetlar Developments Ltd. Initially helping with information for the website. However lately he had just finished compiling and updating all the information on Fetlar houses and residents into a single volume. This information was initially brought together and displayed for the celebration event. This information that Andrew did so much to prepare and collate will be on display at Fetlar Interpretive Centre during the coming season. By dedicating this project to him, we hope that it will go some little way to preserving Andrews memory on Fetlar where he was a valued volunteers, as well as being a regular and popular visitor. He will be sadly missed by us all.
New service provision In the new year FDL will be offering a new service to take bulky household items to the recycling centre in Lerwick. Trips will only be made to coincide with other planned off island trips, so may not be at regular intervals. If you have items you would like uplifted please contact Robert at the development office to book space. FDL will make no specific charges but donations would be greatly appreciated. The trailer is rated to take a maximum of 400kg. Individual items should normally be 25kg or below, unless by prior arrangement. Please note that commercial waste and dangerous items such as flares are not accepted. Please check the SIC website using this link to ensure your items can be accepted. http://www.shetland.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling/ default.asp Considering buying a property in Fetlar? Please always take appropriate professional and legal advice, including a building survey. We also recommend that you consult a Scottish solicitor, especially in relation to buildings or land under crofting tenure. Also check out the likely cost of any required repairs as building materials and labour are expensive in Shetland St Sunniva Recently extensively refurbished, This properties commanding location, affords spectacular views, while still being near to amenities. An adjacent garage with studio, which is suitable for use as a home office. http:// www.tait-peterson.co.uk/ South Dale is advertised online use the link below if interested. It does not appear to be listed with any estate agencies http://www.preloved.co.uk/ search? keyword=cottages+fetlar
Celebration event Islanders, their extended families and many ex residents of the island joined together to hold a celebration event, made possible by funding from the lottery. Yell caterers Jill and Lesley provided an outstanding buffet which was greatly appreciated by those attending. With the ever popular Alan Nicholson dance band providing music for a lively dance to end to the night. The event was not only to celebrate the efforts of the community over many years, but also to ensure that those living on the island maintain a strong connection with many people whose roots are here and who still retain strong links with the island. Allowing both islanders and expats to make or renew friendships and recall the first hand memories of the islands history and people from those who no longer live here. As part of the event, displays showing pictures of all the properties on the island, occupied during the last 50 years, along with the people who had lived in them during that period. There were gaps in the information and those attending were asked, where they could to fill in the blanks. All this information has now been assembled into a single volume and will be available for public viewing at the Fetlar Interpretive Centre once it reopens All Celebration event photos courtesy of Charlie Inkster
Fetlar Interpretive Centre 2017 Has been a steady year for Fetlar Interpretive Centre. The additional cruise ship visitors have been a great help with visitor numbers and sales of local crafts in the shop. They also help to create a bit of a buzz around the place. The new layout at the Centre has been working well with free access to the reception area which is where the craft shop, visitor information area and our small cafe area is located. A small charge is made for access to the main exhibits. We have also been updating some of our systems including the provision of CCTV cameras which both helps with security and allows staff to better assist visitors Fetlar s only EV charge point owned by the Museum Trust saw a visitor who had driven all the way from Wales in his all electric Nissan Leaf. We hope that with the advent of an increasing network of charge points and the governments recent announcement on the move to electric vehicles we will see many more in future The Fetlar Museum Trust currently has a temporary website while a new one is developed. We hope that this may be published in 2018. Fetlar Makers Fetlar makers meet every Thursday at various venues, but lately that have been meeting at the cafe. The group are all interested in various types of crafts. If you would like to join in please get in touch with Joanne Bell who can give you more details. The group have been active this year in putting on demonstrations for visiting cruise ships as well as using the Sudoku challenge
Fetlar Festive Crossword 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Return your completed crossword to the Development office by 10th January to be entered in our prize draw 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 29 28 30 ACROSS 4 You should have a good time there 10 Young dog 11 Festive visitor 13 Location of former lairds house and dock 15 Squashed stones 17 They will soon be hard at work 18 The man who found the snowy owls wrote this tune 19 The pier builders 20 Where peat was flit from by horses 26 Very famous song associated with residents of Brough Lodge 27 Award winning location 29 Delayed action drink 30 Where should you be looking DOWN 1 Not been much this year (so far) 2 These ones were not from Notre dame 3 Hazardous to visiting diggers 5 Seasonal log 6 Big brown bird 7 The inhabited island north of Fetlar 8 Shiny mineral 9 From Demerara to Shetland 12 For this beach its all in the name 14 Often seen steamer 16 Resting place for Unst beer drinkers 21 Noted local naturalist 22 They have homicidal tendencies towards their own kind 23 From here he looked north to his brothers house in Unst 24 Loch and fiddle tune 25 Always blows sideways in Shetland 28 Used to be a house for the strong All the clues relate to people, things, or places, with a local or festive connection. Some are in dialect. A chance to win a 20 shopping voucher in our prize draw Please note the Development office will be closing on Friday 22nd December reopening on Tuesday the 9th January. The Directors and staff at Fetlar Developments Ltd would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ROBERT THOMSON DEVELOPMENT WORKER FETLAR DEVELOPMENTS LTD TEL 01957 733369 MOB 07760 767433 email robert@fetlar.org NEWSLETTER NO 23 CHRISTMAS 2017