In brief for 21 April
Radio station ready for the elections
Local BBC station Radio Shetland is to broadcast a special half hour long programme on the morning after the Scottish Parliament elections, which are to be held on 5 May.
The election special starts at 7.30am on 6 May with all the results and analysis, along with interviews with the victor and all other candidates.
Before that, however, all five candidates will come together for the much debated BBC hustings at the Shetland Museum and Archives, on Friday night.
A station spokesman said that all five candidates would be taking the stage for what promises to be a lively debate.
Mark Inchley will be chairing the hustings which will be broadcast on Monday night at 6.10pm.
Photo: Gearing up for the long election night are, from left to right: Helen Smith, Carol Anderson, John Johnston, Jane Moncrieff, Mike Grundon and Mark Inchley.
Postal votes reminder
AS more than 2,000 postal voting packs start dropping through letter boxes across Shetland, local returning officer Jan Riise has reminded people to read the instructions carefully when casting their vote.
He said that when voting by post, folk need to fill in a form accompanying their ballot paper, giving their signature and date of birth. As a security measure, these are matched against the signature and date of birth the voter provided when they applied to vote by post.
On Thursday, Mr Riise said: “Postal voting is growing in popularity as a convenient way to have your say.
“This year we have 2,035 voters out of a total electorate of 17,489. But at every election, some postal votes are invalid, because the voter either forgot to sign the postal voting statement or wrote down the date they filled it in, rather than their date of birth.”
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By Thursday morning almost 100 postal votes had arrived at council offices in Lerwick.
The council is regularly updating its elections website at www.shetland.gov.uk/elections
SHETLAND Amenity Trust have said that this year’s island-wide spring clean up got off to a flying start with hundreds of volunteers collecting bruck from beaches, roadsides and public areas around Shetland, last weekend.
The trust’s environment project officer Sita Hughson said that some of the rubbish collected was to be re-used such a quantity of rope and netting pupils from Skeld primary school had gathered during their redd up around the local marina.
The pupils plan to re-use this material in weaving sessions as part of a school project with visiting artist Jo Jack next week.
Ms Hughson said: “Da Voar Redd Up has a huge impact, clearing areas of many tonnes of bruck. As well as the bruck which washes up with the winter storms, groups have been reporting that they are picking up a lot of litter which has originated in the isles.”
With 419 groups and over 4,200 volunteers taking part, the 24th annual clean-up operation will continue over the coming weeks.
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