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Lerwick Up Helly Aa


peeriebryan
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Female squad members in Lerwick Up Helly Aa (2022 poll)  

26 members have voted

  1. 1. In principle, should women be allowed to participate in Lerwick Up Helly-Aa as squad members?

    • Yes
      11
    • No
      15
  2. 2. Is logistics (already high numbers of guizers, waiting lists for squads etc) a valid reason not to allow women to participate in Lerwick Up Helly-Aa as squad members?

    • Yes
      15
    • No
      11
  3. 3. The current ‘male only’ squad member demographic of Lerwick Up Helly-Aa is….

    • Sexist
      8
    • Traditional
      18


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https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/uk-drone-laws-2019-3146402

 

Done a little reading at the above link and, it does appear that an offense(?) may have been (inadvertently) committed.

 

The relevant rule, although it appears to be an opinion and not the actual law, seems to be;

"Seen some snazzy airborne footage on YouTube? Well, it might have been captured illegally as, according to UK laws regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, consumer drones (classed as those that weigh under 20kg) must be flown no higher than 400 feet (120 metres), and be kept at least 50 metres away from people and private property, and 150 metres from congested areas and organised open-air assemblies of more than 1,000 people."

 

However, it was dark and, afaik, the arresting officers were not equipped with any device(s) that would allow them to correctly place the drones with regards to distance/altitude etc..

 

Looks like the men might have been charged based on someone's judgement (?).  Questionable to say the least.

 

Also, it appears that these activities might be at risk during other Fire Festivals.  Plenty of Fire Festival drone footage on Youtube if you care to look for it..

Edited by Colin
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

It didn't start to well as the BBC person had to be corrected by one of the lasses very early on.  Researched ?   Anyway, I listened to the first 9 minutes and gave up..  Life's to short.

 

I just think that (UHA) "it is what it is"  and that anyone who feels "hurt", "outraged", "neglected" or that the exclusion of women and girls is "harmfull" to them just needs to get a life and move on.  Go and do something else instead !

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As a non-toonie, who had to jump through hoops, to get in - in the seventies, I am well aware that it is a unique festival, being a group of private parties, co-ordinated and refined over generations. What came across to me was that, the present public assault on it, has probably only served to entrench the current position, making further evolution difficult. If it had remained in the school, then I could have seen the junior UHA evolving first,  but now that's lost too.

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The Lerwick UHA is an annual  festival with long standing traditions and while I care not who participates male or female I cannot see why tradition has to change to suit the "moans" of a few females who may or may not even be able to lift a torch far less carry it for the duration of the parade.  :ponders:

 

Somethings are best left alone, if it ain't broke don't fix it and IMHO it is working fine so why change it .

 

Some of our female politicians come to mind past and present and see the state of the country as a result  :rofl:

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The sad thing about this whole debate is how personal and embittered it's now becoming. Last time I looked on Facebook there were 600 odd comments on the latest Shetland News article on it, many of them (on both sides) of the mud-slinging variety.

 

I'm just not sure what the continuing debate is actually going to achieve. Even if 90% of folk voted to allow women in a properly-conducted referendum, what obligation would the UHA committee have to take that on board? None.

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^ I think when the 'protestors' became their own worst enemy when they began to appear to imply (perhaps unwittingly or by accident) that the women who are already involved with UHA in some way, were some sort of downtrodden '1950's housewife' people, who didn't dare question their man's word, and were in some way 'conditioned' to believe they liked things exactly as they are.

 

The Committee has to represent and act upon the majority will of the participants, nobody else, if they didn't they'd soon be talking to themselves, as the participants would just go and do their own thing. The women who make suits etc, organise and run the venues, and attend as guests are as much participants as guizers in squads, and there's probably more of them than there are participating male guizers. Unless you get a majority of those women supporting change, whom the committee has to listen to, nothing is going to happen, the opinion of non-participants is of no concern to them.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • admin changed the title to Lerwick Up Helly Aa

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