Chris Cope

2 weeks ago | shetnews.co.uk | Chris Cope

FOUR instances of vandalism have been recorded at historic sites in Shetland over the last couple of years. A freedom of information request by Shetland News to Historic Environment Scotland (HES) shows that three of the four incidents took place at the Clickimin Broch. The other was at Fort Charlotte in Lerwick. HES oversees a number of historic sites in Shetland which also includes Ness of Burgi, Staneydale Temple, Jarlshof and Mousa Broch as well as the castles in Muness and Scalloway.

2 weeks ago | shetnews.co.uk | Chris Cope

PLANS for a trial featuring an electric boat on the Papa Stour ferry route has hit choppy waters – with the project no longer set to take place in Shetland. The company behind the plans, Coastal Workboats, confirmed to Shetland News the project is instead now focusing on two different locations elsewhere in the UK. Local Papa Stour representative Jane Puckey said there had been little support in the community for what she called a “pie in the sky” idea.

2 weeks ago | shetnews.co.uk | Chris Cope

A LOCAL band are in the running to win a spot at one of the UK’s biggest metal music festivals after reaching the Scottish finals of a nationwide competition. Trowsholm have navigated through two rounds so far and will now play at a Scottish final in Edinburgh on 26 April. The act who impresses the most will land a slot at the Bloodstock festival in Derbyshire, alongside other regional ‘Metal to the Masses’ contest winners across the rest of the UK.

2 weeks ago | shetnews.co.uk | Chris Cope

A SHETLAND hydrogen project is one of 27 to advance to the next stage of a UK Government funding programme. The Statkraft project has been shortlisted in the next stage of the Second Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR2). It is understood that the project, on mainland Shetland, is different to Statkraft’s proposed hydrogen production at Scatsta. However, the company was unable to provide any more details as the project is said to be at an early stage.

2 weeks ago | shetnews.co.uk | Chris Cope

CHILDREN’s story writer Ann Marie Anderson collected around 400 kilograms of bruck from the shoreline in Whalsay last year, she reckons. And this year’s haul alone has already reached around 50 kilos. So it is perhaps little wonder that the next book in her Ooricks series, Hirda, revolves around the idea of collecting rubbish. Hirda means ‘chaos and extreme untidiness’ in Shetland dialect, and the book extols the virtues of keeping things clean and tidy – both the landscape and indoors too.