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Glusstonberry Festival - 20th & 21st July 2013 - It's all about music, fun, food, family, tents.......and possibly gutter! Come along and be part of the first 'Glusstonberry' Festival in Gluss, Shetland. Bring your tent, make a weekend of it. We’ll have an incredible local lineup with over 20 bands……..there’s everything from traditional to rock! First Foot Soldiers will headline on Saturday night and the full-scale, Fullsceilidh Spelemannslag will headline on Sunday. Lots more activities and entertainments over the weekend for bairns of all ages! More info at www.glusstonberry.com Tickets are available from the Shetland Box Office, but be quick! All funds raised will help the Northmavine Community Development Company keep supporting the Northmavine community. The NCDC has brought in almost £700,000 of external funding for projects in the area since 2009. We'd like to do more, so please support this event in any way you can. Hope to see you there!

^^ Totally agree tlady. Gorgeous scenes o Shetland in this FICTION drama. Well done to all concerned - especially Steven Robertson and the 'Shetland Fixer'

Although I wish the SIC would treat all community buildings fairly, I wish we could get away from this 'halls v mareel' discussion. Re the comparison though, there really is quite a bit to compare. It matters not how many days community halls are open, but rather what they mean to rural communities when they are. A community hall is the place where school events, social evenings and events, teas, craft fairs, markets, a range of sporting activity, drama, arts events, and youth clubs happen. It’s also the place where you might get your Chinese take away fae in rural areas, old folks clubs meet; it even used to be the place where films where shown in Shetland. It’s a music venue; bands, discos, Folk Festival, Fiddle & Accordion Festival, Blues Festival, even many of those who also grace the stage at Mareel perform in public halls. Halls are often the place where weddings are held, christening celebrations and for some it’s where their funeral takes place; cradle to grave............these are just the things that come to mind after thinking about it for 2 minutes. Folk from all over Shetland and beyond are using these buildings and whilst the user numbers might never be as high as those using Mareel, the community hall is of equal importance to those that use it.

@Shetlandpeat. This meeting is too important to the Shetland public to be covered by just a minute. It's the last item on the agenda so perhaps a way could be found to exempt any commercially confidential information from public viewing? I have no wish to get create halls v mareel, but to answer your question, I would think that each of the 52 'public' or community halls are owned by their community. With regard to the original funding, I understood that the SIC was assured that no further funds would be asked for, following the initial grant funding for the capital costs. Recent decisions by SIC councillors have shown that the days of 'the council should release funds, especially of they in turn release other funds' are over. Many councillors have also made it clear that funding for non-statutory spending will no longer be considered. I disagree that there's 'hatred against a cinema.....' Merely a desire to see a sustainable business that can stand on its' own two feet. I know of at lease one community-owned building in Shetland with a decent business plan that secured a commercial loan to help its' purchase. Why can't a similar 'public' building, exceeding cinema sales etc and expected to return a small surplus, do the same?

Any decision taken by the Council on this funding request needs to be taken in public. A lack of transparency will only add to the inevitable post-decision hoo-haa this request will cause. I would agree with those that have suggested a commercial loan to would be the best outcome.

Agreed. The only sensible way forward is for the Council to find a way to resolve the problem that will (importantly) not lose this community the £600K or so of external funding that's already been offered. There may be more than one way to do that, but it would be utterly irresponsible to walk away. @ Ariel. We've invested in a lot of major assets throughout Shetland over the years that bring value to many communities in lots of ways. The time has sadly come when we can't support them all. Even those buildings that have been budgeted for are having to find other ways of continuing, due to recent decisions. Perhaps a 'massive popular family culture hub' could consider a commercial loan to bridge the gap between funding offers and the final amount required? @ Symbister. I agree that a way forward needs to be found, but I think that it is up to the Shetland Arts Development Agency to find an alternative way to Council funding. Many SIC members have made it clear recently that non-statutory spending has to cease. I am vexed that our finances have resulted in the need for this view by a number of our elected members, but if it is to be applied, it needs to be applied fairly.

Training for polling station staff included information that staff should read the instructions at the top of the ballot paper to each voter before they were given the paper. This included: Three (or four in the case of Lerwick) candidates will be elected; You can choose as many or as few as you wish; Candidates should be ranked by choosing 1 for your first choice, 2 for your second, 3 for your third and so on

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I phoned the box office today and was told that tickets might be on sale from 19th March but there wasn't a definate date yet. The wife said I should keep an eye on the local press and the box office website. Hope this helps you get a good nights' sleep

Shouldn't we be looking at the long game here and, rather than relying on the Tesco manager to provide fuel at mainland prices, we should continue to lobby and support our MSP/MP to pressure the UK govt into giving rural areas parity with the rest of the UK when it comes to fuel prices. There are signs that there may be some sign of movement on that front. If we can achieve equalised pricing, perhaps the customer here in Shetland can benefit and our current fuel stations can stay in business?

Frank Anderson, based in Sullom, is the best in Shetland. He's trying to retire but never quite gets roond to it.

ATM's are free to use at da Ollaberry Post Office and Hillswick Shop

I'm off to a 'posh doo' sooth next month and would love to wear a hat of Shetland origin and a lace bolero/cardigan made in Shetland. I can't seem to find anything in Lerwick or online. Can anyone help?

I think Hjaltland Housing Association is the agent to help folk with the RHOG grant, so they might be able to give some further info. Phone HHA and ask for Avril

I seem to mind the beans we had when we were peerie were incased in plastic.......a bit like an antibiotic tablet! We left them in the casing, filled a mug half full with boiling water, placed a saucer or the like on top of the mug to trap the heat and set the peerie beans on the saucer......and waited for the beans to jump. Happy days! Good luck!

I note that Shetland Auctions will soon be under new management. Harry Hay is hanging up his gavel due to ill-health after almost 56 years as an auctioneer. He's not been well enough to preside over the past few sales and Robert Johnson has kindly helped oot, but he now feels it's time to retire. If Harry is feeling well enough tomorrow, he's hoping to auction off one of his gavels in aid of charity. It's one that he thinks was made for him by Jeannie Sandison of Tingwall and has his name and the words 'auctioneer 1986' burnt into the wood using a type of poker work.

Just a thought......257 posts and 11 pages devoted to the seal cull, outraged posters asking for imprisonment/huge fines/dismissal from his job for the defendant. The defendant in court today for allegedly having almost 700 pictures of child ponography hasn't even got a mention on this forum. Have we got our priorities wrong nowadays? Are animals more important than humans/bairns? Or are there just some things that just shouldn't be mentioned on Shetlink?

^^ In both Brae and Northmavine, the up helly aa has been cancelled over the years. The decision to do so was taken by the local up helly aa committees and was greatly supported and respected by the local halls and the communities. It was the right thing to do and UHA still continues to go from strength to strength. Some things in life - like the health and wellbeing of folk in our communities - are just more important than a P*** up.

In that case it must have trekked from miles over the hills before it died.......it was found at Scatsta not Sullom

Fuel comes to Shetland in a single shipment which is then split between highland fuels and the company that used to be s & jd robertson - can't recall the name of the new company. They do both obviously set the price charged to the fuel retailer but then the retailer can decide on his own profit margin after that...........I'm not sure of your point

^^^^ No it probably doesn't cost an extra 20p per litre to deliver fuel to shetland, but unfortunately the actual cost of delivery and the price fuel retailers in shetland have to pay to buy their fuel probably bear little relation to each other. I would hazard an educated guess that fuel retailers here can't buy fuel wholesale for the price you saw in Edinburgh recently. The margin on fuel sales is very slim which is why so many fuel sellers in rural areas have either closed or stopped selling fuel. With regard to the Tesco discussion. Although as a consumer I would very much like to be able to buy cheap fuel from Tesco, as a supporter of rural areas I would see it as another nail in the coffin for rural services.

For some reason best known to the air discount scheme administrators, ADS cards have an expiry date. A large number of them seem to expire at the end of March 08 so the posties sack will be laden with replacements at the moment.

The moral of the story is...........buy local! You may have the same problems, but at least you can nip to lerwick and shoot/punch/kill the seller

With regard to the students you discuss MJ and the fact that they don't feel any safer, I can see why this might be the case. Recently a family member was attacked "doon sooth" (broken jaw - requiring a plate and screws), without any provocation, in full view of cctv cameras. In spite of clear pictures the perpetrator has his hoodie up and identification was impossible! As an aside, we heard Bob Kerr on the radio last night discussing the "Midnight Football" and how the last session saw a large number of kids taking part in the 5 aside sessions at the Clickimin. One of the "problems" on da street seems to be drunken behaviour by young bairns, so projects such as the one Bob is running is one way, I feel, the £200,000 allocated to the cctv systems could be used instead.

This is what I feel the £200,000 would be better spent on. Also, a previous poster refers to "transactions" taking place on the street. IMHO, CCTV won't stop this sort of thing taking place.....it'll merely displace it.