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Temperance in Shetland


MJ
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Been trying to figure out where to start for information on the temperance movement and act in Shetland. Can find plenty of information about Orkney, Wick, Stewarton and Dundee but apart from very brief references, v little online about Shetland.

Anyone know some basic dates that Lerwick was "Dry"? How far did the dry zone stretch, was it all of Shetland?

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I did a Google search on temperance in Shetland and came up with this curious quote from the Wikipedia article on Shetland under Culture

 

Originally a temperance festival held to break up the long nights of winter

 

Up-Helly-AA: Custom, Culture and Community in Shetland By Callum G. Brown mentions letters to the Shetland Times in 1920 about the Veto poll. I don't have a copy to hand but you can see the relevant pagehere. A reference is quoted at the end of the chapter.

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How far did the dry zone stretch, was it all of Shetland?

 

Delting, Nortmavine and one other outlying parish, which I forget, remained wet all through this period. You could by drink wholesale in Lerwick by the case, but not individual bottles. The nearest off licence to Lerwick was Adies in Voe, which allegedly gave raise to the expression "It's aye a fine day in Voe" Incidentally Laureen Johnson wrote a history of Adies Inside the Postcard: Working Life at Adie's, Voe

 

At this time the only pub in shetland was the Booth at Hillswick

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  • 1 month later...

Yeah, Calum Brown's Up-Helly-Aa book has a bunch about the temperance organisations' efforts to pacify the passive drink-and-fire-fuelled antics of early Up-Helly-Aa, which created the whole Viking theme of the event. (it's also a very well written and interesting book regardless)

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