It’s braaly fertile up north
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ONE issue has dominated life in Northmavine for the past 12 months, and Friday’s local Up Helly Aa was dedicated to the theme – the council’s decision last November not to close two of the three local primary schools.
One of the main arguments for keeping Urafirth school open was the sheer number of bairns being born in the neighbourhood, especially Eshaness, where this year’s Guizer Jarl Magnus Nicolson hails from.
And he made sure that every single one of the area’s 15 bairns joined the 31 men in his squad, as well as his son Peter’s two stepchildren from Chile.
The 57 year old crofter even named himself after the Norse phallic fertility god Freyr, whose influence has been so evident in Eshaness of late.
“I was at the Eshaness school when they closed it 50 years ago. I was eight years old and there were only four bairns,” the jarl said.
“Now look at the place. We have a thriving community, we have two new houses, everyone is working together and we have a lot of bairns to support the school.
“Eshaness is really looking up ee noo and I’ve had a terrible lot of support from the community who have really helped.”
To complete his title, Jarl Freyr chose the name of the god’s pet pig Gullinbursti.
Out of all the livestock on the Nicolson crofts, the pigs are clearly the favourite, and along with the sheep and the cows are added to the menu of the family’s highly successful café and caravan park at Braewick.
Unusually, this is not Nicolson’s first time as jarl, having stepped up to the plate in Nesting back in 1996 when he was farming salmon close to his home at the time in Laxo.
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This time round Jarl Freyr marched forth with his men and bairns wearing black breeks and shoes, green kirtles and fallow deerskins on their backs, though their bare arms goose-pimpled in the cold wind as it blew in from the west.
They visited the local schools after breakfasting at the St Magnus Bay Hotel and then lunched at North Roe before preparing for the burning of the galley Fladda, named after “a peerie rock” aside the Muckle Ossa.
But even after a night of carousing, the celebrations will not be over for the Nicolson family who will watch son Peter marry Maura next Thursday before they fly back home to Chile.
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