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LERWICK Up Helly Aa has been immortalised in a new set of Royal Mail collectible stamps.
The fire festival features in a set of eight stamps called Curious Customs, which shines a light on some of the UK’s more unusual events.
Up Helly Aa is joined in the collection by other events such as Gloucestershire’s cheese rolling, bog snorkelling in Wales and Brighton’s Same Sky Burning the Clocks festival.
Royal Mail’s Philip Parker said: “Communities throughout the UK have been coming together for centuries to share distinctive traditions and mark key dates of the year.
“These customs continue to evolve, and our new stamps celebrate their diversity and the communities that maintain them.”
The Curious Customs stamp set can be bought online. https://shop.royalmail.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=curious+customs
THE SNP government has hammered Shetland Islands Council (SIC) with cuts to their budget, putting lifeline services at risk, according to the Scottish Labour Party.
Figures from the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) show that between 2013-14 and 2018-19, the SIC’s budget was cut by £414 per person in real terms.
Scottish Labour Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant said the cuts have put lifeline services at risk and show the SNP has not only failed to stand up to Tory austerity, they have “turbo-charged” it on councils.
“These cuts have put lifeline services like schools and social care at risk. More than £800million has been stripped from councils in real terms in recent years,” she said.
“We know these cuts have been made amid the government sitting on almost half a billion pounds of unspent cash. It’s time for Derek Mackay to listen to Scottish Labour and use this money to properly fund local services.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We continue to ensure that our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement despite further cuts to the Scottish budget from the UK Government.
“We are delivering a funding package of £11.2 billion for all local authorities in 2019-20 — a real-terms increase of more than £310 million for essential public services in Scotland. All local authorities receive their fair share of the total funding available.”
SHETLAND Women’s Aid’s recent trustee recruitment drive appears to be paying off – but the charity is keen to attract someone with financial skills.
Manager Laura Stronach said the organisation is on the lookout for a treasurer.
A recent drive to recruit general trustees to the Women’s Aid board saw a number of people express interest.
“We are delighted to be recruiting trustees at Shetland Women’s Aid and are successfully moving forward with this process,” Stronach said.
“We are keen to recruit someone with charity finance experience. We are looking for a treasurer for our group who together with the other members of the Board would be responsible for the management and administration of Shetland Women’s Aid (SWA) and act with appropriate care and diligence in the interests of SWA and not of any third party. They are collectively responsible for ensuring that SWA complies with the law.
“We are different in that the bookkeeping and accounts are all done by paid members of the team, but we need someone who has a sound knowledge and understanding and is fluent in Excel to oversee this process and be able to answer any financial questions that arise.”
Shetland Women’s Aid can be contacted on 01595 692070 or via office@shetlandwa.org
SHETLAND Arts’ Creativity Camp is back again from 22 to 26 July with its workshop programme for seven to 11 year olds aimed at encouraging creativity and learning across different art forms.
This summer’s camp will be encouraging bairns to express What’s Your Place? which will be a week-long creative exploration of spoken word and rhythm, theatre and film.
The workshops will take place in Mareel from 22 to 26 July, 10am to 3.30pm, and will be led by local arts practitioners, Stephenie Pagulayan, Keiba Clubb and Raman Mundair.
Children will get the chance to create, to play and to explore with an informal sharing of the work created taking place at 3pm on Friday, the final day of the camp.
Clubb said it was important for young people to explore the creative industries in a fun and collaborative way.
She added: “I can’t wait to see what they come up with as it will be predominantly led by them and their ideas around the question ‘what’s your place?’
